Customer Reviews

Burning Bright

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most of Scott's writing can be described as competent but uninspired. _Burning Bright_ rises above that level.

Quinn Lioe is a starship pilot on leave while her ship is being repaired. She's also an avid role-playing gamer with a budding reputation for writing good scenarios. The city and planet Burning Bright (there's only one city on the planet, both share the same name) is one of the centers for the Game and Lioe gets the chance to use her new scenario at a prestigious Gaming club.

Burning Bright is important as the trading link between the human Republic and the alien Hsai Empire. Damian Chrestil, a partner in a large trading firm, is trying to smuggle drugs into the Hsai Empire. The drugs are on Burning Bright, brought, not coincidentally, by Lioe's ship. They can't be shipped further on until certain codes are provided by a Hsai official, ji-Imbaoa. For reasons which are not explained, ji-Imbaoa is extremely slow in getting these codes and passing them to Chrestil. Complicating matters is the fact that Burning Bright has periodic, massive hurricanes, and the first storm of the season is rapidly approaching the city.

There's also the Hsai ambassador, Chauvelin, a human who's been adopted into a major Hsai clan. This clan is a rival to ji-Imbaoa's clan. Chauvelin has a protege named Ransome who served time in a Hsai jail for a lese majeste offense against a member of ji-Imbaoa's clan. While imprisoned, Ransome was infected with an incurable lung disease which is slowly killing him. Ransome is a data-miner on Burning Bright's computer nets. Ji-Imbaoa and Chrestil are both concerned that Ransome might find out about the smuggling while wandering through the nets. Since Ransome was a notable Game player who's dropped out because the Game was getting stale, ji-Imbaoa orders Chauvlin to get Ransome back into the Game and off the nets.

Scott uses this to weave a political thriller set in a well-described society. The Game is shown in some detail, but doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story. Lioe and Ransom are three dimensional characters who interact with others in believable ways. As is usual with Scott's novels, the characters are either gay or bisexual, except for Chrestil's mistress, who seems to be the only straight person in the book.

I recommend this book. Of all Scott's novels, it's the only one I would give five stars to.

THIS NOVEL IS BRILLIANT COMBINATION OF FAR FUTURE SETTING AND FILM NOIR ATMOSPHERE. A YOUNG GAME DESIGNER GOES FOR SOME R/R AT THE PLANET BURNING BRIGHT, WHERE A ELABORATE HOLOGRAPHIC GAME IS BEING PLAYED. SHE UNWILLINGLY GETS INVOLVED IN A DEADLY SMUGGLING PLOT AND INTRIGUE.

Sometimes, political intrigue is just an extension of a standard RPG. In the world of Burning Bright, two games absorb the interest of the populace. The first is an immersive form of role-play, enhanced by realistic images pulled from a universal network. The second is political, in many ways similar, but much more deadly. Quinn Lioe is a pilot taking a few days gaming leave on Burning Bright while the ship she works on is being repaired. Running a new scenario she has developed leads her into a larger game she had not expected to be drawn into. This fast paced novel is clever, and easily enjoyed by the long-term sci-fi reader and newcomers to the genre.

Gamers will recognize the dungeon and dragons quality of this future world where scenes from a known set of characters are acted out across galaxies while a gamesmasters on a politically repressive planet is threatened in "real life". Game play and "real life" play mix creditibly here to create an fabric of tales and backdrops that are also tales.

This is quite a wonderful book. Intriguing characters, a good plot, an unusual world-view (yes, there are some sci-fi cliches but they do not interfere much with the story, i think) and good details to keep this futuristic world real for you. I read it with great interest, and would like to keep on reading any new books from Melissa Scott.

The planet Burning Bright has a nice, central location for trade. It is also home to a lot of virtual gaming. A young gamemaster debuts one of her new scenarios here, and becomes an overnight sensation.

She attracts the attention of the glitterati and some of the more dangerous higher ups in society, and is embroiled in some dodgy situations because of this.

In this book instead of pro sports everyone takes part in a great inter stellar virtual reality game that is awesome. U can tell that the author is really into gaming and she describes the whole gaming system so that you feel like your playing in it yourself. Very highly recommended.