Microreview [book]: In the Deep by Kelly Jennings

Conflict, intrigue and intergalactic politics embroil the crew of the Susan Calvin in revolution and a possible outright war.

Velocity Wrachant is doing all right working for the Pirians, having come a long way from the near hand to mouth existence seen in at the beginning of the previous novel, Fault Lines. She still has a measure of independence, at least outwardly, something important for someone who ran away from the bounds and strictures of House life, but she does still have responsibilities and duties. Like, for example, visiting the planet Durbin and making contact with a group of workers seeking to overthrow their tyrannical overlords all the while with the true cover of trying to make trade deals. But not is all that it seems.

In the meantime, Bronte, her charge picked up during the events of the prior novel, is now on a Pirian ship, the Sungai as a general cadet. While she did not test well to be placed in a ranked position on the Pirian ship, being a cadet will give her a chance at a variety of roles and duties. But when the Sungai calls on a mining station that might have some of the cohort of genetically engineered Calypsos, once again, Bronte is in a situation that is definitely not everything that it seems, and definitely not to her advantage.

These are the stories of Kelly Jennings' In the Deep.

One thing I did appreciate right from the get go is the synopsis of the previous book, Fault Lines. While I personally had read the book not long before picking up this second volume, it was good to have this here for those readers who want to start with this novel to start here. For readers who have read Fault lines, the key takeaway is that this tells the reader right off that this new novel is set three years later. The glossary at the beginning of the book also helps the reader get grounded in what is definitely a complex and complicated space opera universe.

That complex and complicated space opera universe seen here, with the aid of the Glossary, does not prevent new readers to Jennings' verse from picking it up, because we are in a new and different area than the previous novel. The ground rules are different, both the planet Durbin as well as the Pirian ship Sungai. The novel immerses us quickly into these two worlds. In the case of Velocity, who is definitely not a planet kind of person, it is through fresh eyes and unfamiliarity with an environment she is not used to.  On the other hand, when we start Bronte's story, she has been on the Pirian vessel for quite some time, and this second narrative (which waits a few chapters to get going and then the narratives start trading off) is a little more "Deep end" in its approach with a protagonist clearly at home in her new environment.

But in both, the deep and immersive worldbuilding building into and through the characters, as seen in Fault Lines is in full effect here. Jennings world once again is a diverse one on all axes, and the tactile and sensory details really bring the experience of living on a spaceship, or visiting an alien planet, home for the reader. This is a space opera universe that really comes alive for the reader, but it is a space opera universe that the characters channel rather than a more impersonal approach. How Bronte feels about various stations as she travels the ship, how Velocity is uncomfortable being on a planet.

Meld that aforementioned worldbuilding with a web of plotting and intrigue, and you have a slowly and steadily building set of narratives that lead to the climactic confrontation as the threats and problems that both Velocity and Bronte face come head to head.  The secret sauce of course is the characterization of course. This is a universe where those plot threads, those moving currents that Velocity and Bronte must face, come from human concerns, human problems and human ambitions. While there are organizations and large entities (like the Combines), in the end it's people making those decisions, wielding that power, and ultimately threatening our protagonists and their goals.

While this all makes it sound like a continuation and an extension of the previous novel (no bad thing, mind you), with In the Deep, theme takes a front row seat for a change in the novel. The hardscrabble life Velocity led in the prior novel and the "take anything to survive" gets inverted and highlighted here in full as both Velocity and Bronte come face to face with the politics, sociology and the human costs of labor and the exploitation of labor by others. The novel explores what those seeking profit or advantage will do to those under them to maintain those profits and advantage, up to the use of force. This is all the richer given both Velocity and Bronte's origins with wealth and privilege in the Combines, and that conflict and dichtomy absolutely does get addressed and called out here. In a time and age as I am writing this with the Pandemic, and workers seeking better ways of working and better compensation for same, the message of In the Deep is especially powerful, and relevant.

In sum, Jennings brings all of the talents seen in her previous novel and stories to fruitful flowering:. Intrigue, adventure,  worldbuilding, strong character focus and development, all within a diverse and rich space opera universe. In the Deep as a novel evoked for me notes of space opera doing space opera at its best: C.J. Cherryh, Lois M Bujold, Arkady Martine, and Frank Herbert's Dune.  Jennings offers character development and worldbuilding in spades to make a fractally complicated and lived-in universe that feels real and lived in.

The Math

Baseline Score: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 for a continued committment to a diverse and rich set of characters and universe

+1 for excellent use of theme in this novel, a levelling up of the writer's talents and skill

Penalties: -1 Some switching of point of views could have been handled a bit better

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

Reference: Jennings, Kelly. In the Deep (Candlemark and Gleam, 2021)

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Microreview [book]: Fault Lines by Kelly Jennings

The first full length novel in the “Velocity Wrachant” 'verse plunges its characters into messy politics that they would rather have left in the rear view mirror.

Captain Velocity Wrachant has a problem and it is, quite bluntly, a cash flow problem. She doesn’t have enough money for dock fees, or fuel costs, or the payments to  liens on her ship. This is a most serious problem, as she can’t get the ship out of the station where it is docked, and if she can’t pay the docking fees, the Susan Calvin might well be seized.  This is intolerable and a desperate situation. 

So when the young  Brontë offers a staggering sum of money to transport her and her Security Guard to Hokkaido station, even given the issues with such a request (why doesn’t she just take commercial transportation, in luxury?). Velocity has little choice but to accept the job. But when Brontë moves to hijack the Susan Calvin midlight, Velocity learns quickly of the lies and deceptions that her passenger has in her past, present and future. Worse still for her and her crew, Velocity will have to confront her own past in the House dominated Combines as well.

This is the story of Kelly Jennings Fault Lines, a full length novel set in her “Velocity’s Ghost” universe, as seen in the Athena Andreadis 2013 anthology The Other Half of the Sky. 

Like that original story, and like the other stories in that anthology by other authors, the central characters in the universe that Jennings has constructed here and the central characters are women (and note the name of Velocity’s ship). Given the preponderance of men as leads of a lot of space opera to this day, Jennings' work is a refreshing rebalancing of that. The novel is a two-hander, with Velocity Wrachant, captain and owner of the Susan Calvin, and Brontë, a young woman who is far more than she first appears.

The story’s point of view focus on both Velocity and Brontë, although we do not see the latter's point of view until her hijacking, and even then, it is initially months in the past. I didn’t like her at first: after all, she HAD hijacked Velocity’s ship, and I thought at first that the flashbacks from her point of view were merely to flesh her out and give us perspective and point of view to sympathize with her, however grudgingly so. As the back half of the narrative continued to build and events in the present continued, I saw the careful crafting of plot, and the central mystery at the heart of Fault Lines.  Brontë is on the run from her Combine House, but how, and why and who precipitated those actions and those machinations is a slow burn through the novel as Velocity, Brontë and others try and figure out a deadly game of politics, inheritance, and survival. The backstory of Brontë did win me over, helping me to understand her motivations for her hijacking as the desperate act that it turns out to be. I think, though, the sympathy for her plight could have been done a bit better. 

I had, frankly, only dimly remembered Velocity’s own connection to the Combines (as outlined in “Velocity’s Ghost”) and it appears the author does count on the reader not having to have read the story, because it is treated here as a major reveal that shakes up the game board. It’s an interesting balancing act: readers of that story have a key piece of  knowledge that the narrative of this novel doesn't otherwise make plain. Jennings is careful to make sure the reader sees there is something there, and I think that one can deduce the reveal without having read the story.

I should make it clear that this is not a space opera with a ton of action scenes in it. This is a novel far more interested in the political machinations, maneuvers, conversations, revelations and negotiations than in straight up conflicts. If you prefer your space opera with more laser guns and less wrangling, this is not quite the space opera you are looking for. On the other hand, if you want deadly dances of interstellar politics, this novel, this universe, has all you could want, in spades, and will eat up what is offered here with as poon.

It is the worldbuilding and the characters within it that really stand out here. The focus on the technology is much less on hardware and more on software, and on biological wetware. This is not the kind of novel where burn times for a fusion reactor drive are of major interest, but gene lines, genetic engineering and computer system infiltration definitively are. I’ve seen comparisons to Cherryh’s Cyteen in this regard, and I can definitely see that. It’s not quite the “dump in the deep end” that Cyteen does, however. Jennings’ introduction to the universe is much gentler, and the use of the aforementioned flashbacks helps in that regard. At first it is just this Captain, this ship and the greater problems of the universe and its aspects come in a more gradual fashion. However, the Azi from Cyteen definitely have an analogue here in the Ikan16’s. There are deeper parallels, too, that I will leave readers to discover as well.

Velocity and Brontë definitely outshine the other characters on all sides of the conflict. We really see into their minds and motivations to the point that Velocity’s crew and Brontë’s allies, and both of their enemies suffer a little bit by comparison. This is not to say that they are not well drawn, but they come off a little less three dimensional than the lead pair. I mentioned this novel was a “Two-hander” and it really is. This may also be a consequence of the parallels between the two characters and so how they reflect off of each other so brightly. 

The other novel that this all reminds me of, with spacefaring Houses, genetic manipulation, breeding and machinations between and within Houses, is of course, Dune. There is even a trans-House political organization which is not the Bene Gesserit, but clearly has goals and desires which transcend Houses and generations of time. But unlike Dune and more like Cyteen, there is a lack of that fear of technology that the Dune 'verse features. There are sociological and social taboos in this universe every bit as strong as those in Dune, but they are oriented in different directions. Jennings has borrowed from Dune, and Cyteen, and original ideas and worldbuilding in spades to make a fractally complicated and lived-in universe that feels real and lived in. 

Fault Lines is a rich space opera with a canvas and characters that scream for more stories and novels. From what I hear, too, I will get my wish in that regard.  To be clear again, I don’t think you need to hunt down “Velocity’s Ghost” In The Other Half of the Sky (although it is a very good anthology and worth reading on its own merits) in order to read this novel and get on board Velocity’s ship.

The Math

Baseline Score: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for crunchy political machinations and plotting, for those who like that sort of jam.

+1 for strong and rich worldbuilding in a real and abiding universe

Penalties: -1 It took significant time for me to warm to one of the two main characters (Brontë)

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.

Reference: Jennings, Kelly. Fault Lines [Candlemark and Gleam 2018]