REVIEW: Green By Jay Lake

Green By Jay Lake
Publishing Information: Hardback; 368 pages
Publisher: Tor; Doherty Tom Associates, LLC; 09 June 2009
ISBN 10: 0765321858
ISBN 13: 9780765321855
Standalone
Copy Out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Inside Cover: "She was born in poverty, in a dusty village under the equatorial sun. She does not remember her mother, she does not remember her own name—her earliest clear memory is of the day her father sold her to the tall pale man. In the Court of the Pomegranate Tree, where she was taught the ways of a courtesan…and the skills of an assassin…she was named Emerald, the precious jewel of the Undying Duke’s collection of beauties.

She calls herself Green.

The world she inhabits is one of political power and magic, where Gods meddle in the affairs of mortals. At the center of it is the immortal Duke’s city of Copper Downs, which controls all the trade on the Storm Sea. Green has made many enemies, and some secret friends, and she has become a very dangerous woman indeed.

Acclaimed author Jay Lake has created a remarkable character in Green, and evokes a remarkable world in this novel. Green and her struggle to survive and find her own past will live in the reader’s mind for a long time after closing the book."




I know it is said to never judge a book by its cover, but in the case of Jay Lake's Green, that is exactly what I did. The cover is gorgeous. The young girl turned tool and weapon of the gods hanging from a pomegranate tree is such a great image. I knew virtually nothing about Jay Green aside from the cover of this novel and went out on a limb to try him out and I am glad I did.

Green starts off fairly quickly, as a small child the 'girl' who would become to be known as Green is sold and taken to a faraway land. Almost the instant you start reading the book the imagery is rather well written. Since the girl is really young we are not given a lot of clear details as to the world outside as she begins her journey the reader begins to learn about the world around the girl just as she begins to learn as well. As she grows and matures so do we and the world becomes much more open to us even though she herself is secluded from the outside in a fancy well-provided house known as the Pomegranate Court. The way in which Lake evolves the way we read the story and how it changes and becomes sharper is very subtle and I really enjoyed that concept as I read it.

Green is the story of a girl going through massive changes as she is taught various skills and knowledge. It is told through the girl and so we are not told everything in the beginning but as you progress through the novel things become much sharper and clearer. By the very end of the story most things are made fairly clear and with a few pages to go it becomes a little obvious as to how things will end but that does not mean the journey was not worth taking. I really enjoyed reading the girl's prospective as you really have a window into her brain and you see how things unfold with her head.

The world building in Green is very graphic at times and very vague in others. The story is told in only two cities and a few small locations. The two major cities are brought to light fairly well but the overall world is not talked about in much detail. From what I gathered the story takes place in a world similar to the Mediterranean Sea as they must travel by ship to travel in between city-states but it only takes a matter of days. They do mention a few other ports of call and cities, but beyond names we have no real concept of what they look like or where they specifically are. Since the other locales were not important to the story they had no real bearing on the story but it would have been nice to have them fleshed out.

With less than 400 pages the book moves at a break-neck pace. There are a lot of details to the girl's education and yet Lake is able to have her do quite a bit more and then some. In the short span of life that the novel occurs in the girl travels far and wide and gains a reputation as she travels. I was impressed with how much was done in such a short amount of text. The book does have a few moments where the pace slows down but then things get picked back up and your are on another adventure. I thought it was all done very well.

While Green is my first Jay Lake novel, I doubt it will be my last. Green was a enjoyable read from a talented writer. A great way to be introduced to the author.

Plot 8
Characters 9
style 8.5

Overall 9/10