Publisher:
Gollancz
Publisher: |
Gollancz |
|
Date: |
2006 |
|
Size: |
279 Pages |
|
Format: |
Trade Paperback |
|
Price: |
£6.99 |
|
ISBN: |
0-575-07907-X |
|
Reviewed by: |
Rod Cameron |
|
Review Date: |
January 2007 |
Justina Robson has written a number of acclaimed SF novels such as Silver Screen, Mappa Mundi and Natural History. Keeping It Real could be called a Fantasy novel because it has Elves and Demons in it. However, refreshingly there is a hard SF explanation for their existence. In 2015, the Lost Year, following a quantum explosion at a superconducting supercollider the fabric between the dimensions has been ripped apart. Now the people of Earth live with the inhabitants of other dimensions, such as: the alien, dangerous and erotic Elves; the Elementals who are a law unto themselves; and the Demons who are best left to themselves (according to the backcover).
The heroine is special agent Lila Black. Two years ago, she was seriously injured, and her family believe that she is dead. However like RoboCop, and the Six Million Dollar Man, she has been rebuilt as a machine which she can barely control. Lila doesn’t know where she ends and her AI begins. She is having difficulty controlling it, and worryingly when it goes into combat mode she has enough weapons for a small army.
Because of her past experiences in Alfheim the Elven home, she is assigned to protect Zal, a rockstar Elf whose life has been threatened. This task rapidly turns into something altogether more complicated involving a chase across the proscribed world of Alfheim. This is a well characterised story of conflict between magic and hard science. It is great fun and quite sexy. Although the hero(ine) is female, I would not say that the story is specifically “fluffy”. Go on guys, go out and explore your feminine side!
Quantum Gravity Book 2: Selling Out is due out on 17-May-2007. I will be buying it in hardback i.e I will not be waiting for the paperback version.