Book 1 of Jacob's Ladder series
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Spectra Books (31 Dec 2007)
ISBN-10: 055359107X
ISBN-13: 978-0553591071
Copy: Bought online
Reviewer: Cara
From the back of the book:
On a broken ship orbiting a doomed sun, dwellers have grown complacent with their aging metal world. But when a serving girl frees a captive noblewoman, the old order is about to change...
Ariane, Princess of the House of Rule, was known to be fiercely cold-blooded. But severing an angel's wings on the battlefield - even after she had surrendered - proved her completely without honour. Captive, the angel Perceval waits for Ariane not only to finish her off - but to devour her very memories and mind. Surely her gruesome death will cause war between the houses - exactly as Ariane desires. But Ariane's plan may yet be opposed, for Perceval at once recognises the young servant charged with her care.
Rien is the lost child: her sister. Soon they will escape, hoping to stop the impending war and save both their houses. But it is a perilous journey through the crumbling hulk of a dying ship, and they do not pass unnoticed. Because at the hub of their turning world waits Jacob Dust, all that remains of God, following the vapour wisp of the angel. And he knows they will meet very soon.
Is it fair to describe Dust as a Fantasy novel set in a Science Fiction world? For that is how this book feels to me, and that is not a criticism in any way. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dust, finding it to be a very original take on a ‘quest to save the world’ theme. Set in a decaying, broken generation ship, the world of Dust is one of airlocks, varying gravities, and artificial environments. The ship, the Jacob’s Ladder, is populated by two warring factions or Houses; Rule and Engine.
The book opens with the imprisonment of Perceval, an Exalt of noble blood from Engine whose wings have been severed by Ariane, the ruthless princess from the House of Rule. Rien, a lowly servant, or Mean, is tasked with caring for the prisoner until her execution. As stated in the summary, Rien is recognised by Perceval as her long lost sister and, soon into the book, they escape from Rule into the vast and unknown reaches of the spaceship, trying to reach Engine. Along the way they meet various characters… Gavin the Basilisk; Benedick, the girls’ father; Tristen, a missing presumed dead member of Rule’s ruling family and together they attempt to return to the House of Engine. But they are being watched and manipulated by Jacob, a shadowy figure who has god-like powers within the ship and has his own plans for Perceval. The ship is at risk of being destroyed as the unstable binary star system threatens to go nova and so action to save the world must be taken.
There are lots of science fiction elements intertwined with the mythology that has evolved over the 500 years the ship has been stationary (or is it orbiting the binary star?) Artificial intelligence with sentient avatars, humans enhanced by symbiotic nanotech colonies, genetic engineering; these are part of life on the Jacob’s Ladder. Yet they have been absorbed into a quasi-religious mythology of angels and gods in this world. Familiar names like Samael, Metatron and Arianrhod appear over the course of the book. To describe their role would risk a spoiler, so all I will say is that they are fascinating characters with clearly defined roles within the story.
Both Perceval and Rien, the primary characters in Dust, are strong, if flawed young women who find inner resources which help them in their journey through the ship. Their relationship is complicated; they are sisters who had never met prior to the capture of Perceval, and have very different backgrounds. Rien has to cope with the knowledge that she is not the lowly servant she believed herself to be, and after her body is enhanced by the introduction of a symbiotic colony, she to deal with the knowledge that she is now one of the Exalts or ruling class. She grows in strength and character, becoming a leader within her small group. Perceval, with her shorn hair and severed wings, is a broken girl at the start of the book, but her travels with Rien and subsequent involvement with Jacob bring out a side of her she didn’t realise she had. I loved them both, the vulnerabilities and strengths made them very sympathetic characters and I cared about what happened to them.
Jacob, on the other hand, first appeared as a lonely god-like figure, who was in some ways a bit pathetic. However, it soon became clear that he had an agenda, and that it involved Perceval. Revelations about his true role on the ship are dripped out over the course of the book and this had me gripped despite my distaste at his manipulations. His use of tarot-like cards was one aspect I particularly enjoyed, but on the other hand, he seemed somewhat obsessed by Perceval and not in a good way.
It is probably clear, from reading this review so far, that I was entranced by Dust. I am not usually a fan of ‘techy’ science fiction, and it is fair to say that Elizabeth Bear assumes a lot of prior knowledge about what are possibly standard SF tropes; generation ships, artificial intelligence, nanotech symbionts for example; so while I am much more of a Fantasy reader, I have long been a fan of TV shows like Star Trek and Babylon5, so could grasp these concepts easily enough. Indeed, it is a strength of the book that there are no lengthy infodumps, something that is generally guaranteed to put me off reading further. I don’t want to know how something works, that fact that it does is enough for me. Throw fantasy elements such as angels into the mix and I am hooked… hell, there was even a necromancer!
There were some confusing parts in Dust. Very early on was a character called Head, who was referred to by words such as ‘hir’ and ‘sie’. The reason for this became clear later, but at first I did not understand the implication of this. Elizabeth Bear plays with gender and sexuality at various points throughout the book, which I enjoyed as this is not often found in the science fiction or fantasy I have read previously. It meant that I could not make assumptions about any particular character.
So, being the first in a trilogy, am I likely to continue to read through to the final conclusion? The answer is a resounding YES! Dust concludes in a satisfactory manner, but there are still lots of threads to be resolved, mainly relating to the history of the world (as the inhabitants of Jacob’s Ladder refer to their home in the stars). I want to know what happens next, but although there are unresolved issues, the nature of the book and Elizabeth Bear’s great plotting leads me to believe that any guesses I may make are probably way off the mark. Suffice to say I have ordered Chill and plan to have it read before the release of the final book, Grail, which is due out in February 2011.
Plot: 8
Characters: 8
Style: 8
Rating: 8/10
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