Thank you to BookishFirst and author Lora Beth Johnson for a chance to review the first six chapters!
Goddess In The Machine begins by focusing on two primary characters. The first is a young female future colonist from Earth, traveling with her family in a hundred year space flight to found a new colony. The second is a young man, living in that world, approximately a thousand years after the colony was supposed to have been founded. The female, Andra, was not taken from cyro-sleep with the other colonists, and finds herself awoken a thousand years later than intended, with no one else from her trip with her. The book addresses issues of language drift, change in social roles and values, changes in technology, and introduces other novel threats as the plot unfolds. The male, Zhade, has plans to use his finding and accompanying of Andra to pursue goals of his own, although it is clear that there are other entities that want Andra.
In addressing the issue of language drift, the author forces the reader to learn some new vocabulary and syntax, but not so much as to completely derail the story. Over the course of reading the first six chapters that constituted the preview, I was able to absorb the differences so that it no longer was apparent as I read along. The author bounced the point of view back and forth between Zhade and Andra, to keep both characters actively engaged in the narrative.
The first six chapters were entertaining and I find myself wanting more! This will be on my To Read list when it is released.
Goddess In The Machine begins by focusing on two primary characters. The first is a young female future colonist from Earth, traveling with her family in a hundred year space flight to found a new colony. The second is a young man, living in that world, approximately a thousand years after the colony was supposed to have been founded. The female, Andra, was not taken from cyro-sleep with the other colonists, and finds herself awoken a thousand years later than intended, with no one else from her trip with her. The book addresses issues of language drift, change in social roles and values, changes in technology, and introduces other novel threats as the plot unfolds. The male, Zhade, has plans to use his finding and accompanying of Andra to pursue goals of his own, although it is clear that there are other entities that want Andra.
In addressing the issue of language drift, the author forces the reader to learn some new vocabulary and syntax, but not so much as to completely derail the story. Over the course of reading the first six chapters that constituted the preview, I was able to absorb the differences so that it no longer was apparent as I read along. The author bounced the point of view back and forth between Zhade and Andra, to keep both characters actively engaged in the narrative.
The first six chapters were entertaining and I find myself wanting more! This will be on my To Read list when it is released.