Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ganymede by Cherie Priest

Ganymede by Cherie Priest
Publisher:  Tor Books
Release Daet:  September 27, 2011
ISBN:  978-0765329462
Pages:  352


The gist of the story is that there's a submarine that the confederate supporters need to get out of New Orleans - this is an alternate universe story.  Josephine, owner of a bordello, recruits an old flame to pilot it out.  There's Texans, Voodoo Queens, Zombies and Pirates. 

With all that going on, why did I get so bored?  It wasn't the writing, Ms. Priest is descriptive and her writing flows easily.  It was mostly the characters.

I couldn't bring myself to care about Josephine.  I wanted to, she's a strong single woman running a bordello in New Orleans, dealing with all the mean Texans and helping the Confederates - what's not to like?  But Josephine just came across as a cold fish.  If Josephine and her old flame, Andan Cly, had such a big love affair, why isn't there more tension between them?  I mean, we actually hear more about their relationship through Cly's thoughts than through Josephine.

There's also very little conflict between the characters - the mainly African-American rebels didn't bat an eye when Josephine brought a mainly White group into their hideout.  Seriously?  Then, when one character turns out to be transsexual, it is presented in a awkward way and then just put aside as if to say 'Oh. I see. Well, carry on.'  I was confused as to why the character had to be outed at all.  I mean, did GANYMEDE need some LGBT-ness?  What was up with that?  It made no sense to the story.

The Voodoo Queen seemed as if she were simply a delivery tool.  There was no way to get from A to B, so she was tucked in to be a bridge.

Overall, the storyline was good, the writing is fabulous, but the characters left much to be desired.

No comments:

Post a Comment