Customer Reviews

The Annunciate

5 star:		(10)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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The Annunciate is really an exceptional book because it combines a fascinating and original SF universe with complex characterizations that are problematic in our own world. Although I'm a fan of Nicole Griffith and other writers who emphasize gender issues, Severna Park assumes most of these issues as a starting point and doesn't shrink from the honest appraisal of the most anguished and perhaps insoluable dilemmas in personal relationships among any gender. While this book is well worth reading simply for the surface fiction, I find its underlying psychological aspect to be its most fascinating aspect.

Humans have traveled throughout the galaxy, but in spite of some incredible technical achievements, Homo Sapiens live in a caste system consisting of the Meshed, Jacked, and Jackless. Technology is the divisor. The Meshed uses nanomachines to link with the sensory and information Net. The Jacked works with a simple computer. The Jackless has no access.

The Meshed is the most powerful and envied of the triad. However, many of the Meshed selfishly and malevolently flaunt their powers by using them for personal gain regardless of the cost to others. The other groups use computer viruses to hunt down the Meshed. Three of the more evil Meshed (Eve, Corey, and AnnMarie) flee to the ThreeSys where they begin to peddle an elixir to end aggressive actions. They actually sell the addictive drug Staze that leaves the user inside an euphoric dream state. The trio finally heads to the planet Paradise where THE ANNUNCIATE and the original Mesh live. Awaiting their arrival is an essence that does not require mechanical means to break down the barrier between reality and virtual reality.

THE ANNUNCIATE is a dark look at the future of humanity and in the fertile mind of Severna Park it appears very bleak. The story line is fast-paced yet thought provoking. The main characters are unappealing including Eve even after she breaks away from Corey and Annmarie. However, that characterization is essential to the overall theme of galaxy growing gloomier wherever mankind is. Not for everyone, Ms. Park is one of the new talents that have energized the SF genre with this novel and the HAND OF PROPHECY.

Park's prose really pull you into the story. You get a real sense of feeling the cold wind biting into your skin, the dirt on your hands, etc. You end up so inside the skin of Eve, the viewpoint character, that you react to everything that happens to her in a very visceral way. It makes for a wild ride as the plot snakes through a dark and harrowing path. This novel is one that you'll recall years later, almost like something that actually happened to you.

Fantastic book.

It wavers on the edge of DUNE or perhaps THE MATRIX. The constant idea that the world we live in is barely separated from the world we could live in if only we knew how to tap into that world. The ideas of control, of classes in society and what happens when the barriers between classes disintegrate, the two sides of drug addiction from the perspectives of the users and the suppliers... Creationism ideas too that borrow from Adam/Eve yet take their own peculiar twist. Give it a go.

This story explores many kinds of relationships, such as lover, mother/child, teacher/student, prophet/seeker, predator/prey. It also explores the effects of need and addiction on these relationships. The main character, Eve, is stuck in an unfulfilling relationship of appeasement with drug suppliers Annmarie and Corey, whose motives in controlling addicted populations go beyond just survival. Eve is desperate for something else in her life (and she's not the only one), and her attempts to change her life without being overwhelmed by what she finds are at the center of the story.

I loved this book. Complex characters, lots of action, and fascinating ideas. The story is told by Eve, and its powerful drive is her need to find her place in a difficult and violent world. And once she escapes her first family (a scene I adored), life doesn't become any easier. The writing is wonderful and the book impossible to put down.

Here's a story with a potentially great premise, a society stratified into three castes largely by virtue of their access to technology... but the story really never goes there. The society acts as a canvas backdrop on a stage that consists of one actor, three cardboard cutout characters, an alien, and a few assorted props.

The story was not compelling, the heroine seems (in a nutshell) to go out and get into trouble and then watch what happens. The supporting characters were ill-defined and generally unlikeable. The alien was kind of neat but really a stretch on the suspension-of-disbelief. Everyone and everthing else was just paint on the background. The story had a couple of mildly tense moments, but I cared so little about the characters that even those moments were largely uninteresting.

It's readable but if I didn't own it, I wouldn't go out and buy it.

Early researchers in virtual reality often wondered how dangerous such a technology could potentially become. In this sci-fi tome, we see future VR engender a class system somehow entwined with the distribution of a horribly enslaving, addictive drug. That plus multi-level relationships make this book a very, very great read. With the advent of this book, Severna Park has become an author worth setting your preferences for. Her previous works are also very much worth reading.

The premise of this book was very interesting, and also a thought-provoking look at the story of the Garden of Eden and the Fall. The author created a very believable universe with all its problems and castes, the haves and have-nots. It was easy to get sucked in to the main character's life and her feelings of hopelessness, hopefulness, desire and more. It was also a very engaging book - I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened... However, the ending was disappointing. I thought - is that it? I want more!

I would recommend reading Suzy McKee Charnas "Walk to the End of the World" instead of this one.

I think of genuine SF as having neat scientific extrapolations with well-rounded characters in dramatic situations that, altogether, helps us examine what it is to be human. That's hard to come by these days, but that's what you've got here -- real, true science fiction. Good stuff.