NYLON ANGEL -- Book Review

[lydamorehouse]

This is another one of those books, I should warn you all, that
doesn't really end. The cover announces that this is the first
Parrish Plessis novel, so I was somewhat ready for that going in.
Though I have to say that generally, I'm pretty bummed about what
appears to be a trend of splitting up bigger novels like this.

Okay. Let's see... what is NYLON ANGEL about? Our heroine Parrish
Plessis is a somewhat stock cyberpunk ass-kickin' chick (complete with
heart of gold) who ends up being framed for the murder of media
personality Razz Retribution partly because she stops to help
someone... though she's sort of directed there by a shaman. In the
course of evading capture, she ends up taking on the role of a Goddess
-- Oya, who is meant to be the savior of a certain class of people in
the Tert known as the Muenos.

There's actually more going on, including Parrish's need to escape
from under the thumb of a gang leader, who "owns" her in someway
--although it's never made entirely clear to me why it is she can't
just walk away from the guy, considering the fire power she later
brings out to get out of a house in the suburbs. Parrish's clearly
very traumatized by the fact that he raped her, and rape (and the
threat of rape) is a major theme in this novel.

... Oh, and she gets telepathic messages from an angel, who at first
appears to possess her, voodun-style.

I rolled with any number of somewhat inane genetic mutations (canrats,
for instance which are human, dog, rat or dog-rat intelligences living
in the sewer systems and terrorizing the nighttime populace of the
Tert,) partly because I read the _Melbourne Age_'s blurb on the back
copy which proclaimed NYLON ANGEL to be "...a trashy, imaginative
piece of cyberpunk." For some reason, knowing it was meant to be
trashy from the get-go allowed me to sink in and enjoy the book for
what it was.

However, the angel ended up giving me the most trouble, especially
when it's revealed near the finale that it's meant to be some kind of
intelligent, malevolent parasitic organism that's feeding on Parrish's
adrenaline rushes (in effect it "eats" fear) and this is all part of
some genetic experiment meant to free the people of the Tert from the
effects of living in a toxic environment.

I don't know why, but I think if de Pierres had gone down the fantasy
fusion route and let the angel be some kind of voodun god or
god-conduit, I would have liked it better. Of course, this clearly
betrays my own personal interests -- being a big angel fan, myself.

Similarly, one of the things I really enjoyed about NYLON ANGEL was
some of the background stuff. I'm not particularly familiar with
Australian aboriginal culture and so any bits of information (even
imagined bits) about that magical worldview really piqued my interest.
I really loved what she did with the various shamans Parrish meets,
for instance.

But, generally, this book falls squarely into the category to which it
aimed: trashy fun.

I was somewhat disappointed at the end how much is unresolved, too.
The main conflict as set up by the back jacket copy is still
completely up in the air. The world outside of the Tert still
believes she killed Razz (the media personality). Actually, two pages
before the end our heroine goes through a mental list of all the
things the book did NOT, in fact, resolve. Which, for me, really just
hammered home the feeling of being ripped off. I'm a big fan of
resolution, I guess. Color me old-fashioned.

Comments

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm just about to start on an advance copy of the second book, so it'll be interesting to see how it progresses the storylines. :>
Though I'm a little bugged by how much of what you described from the first book that I'd forgotten until just now. Hmm.

[g33kgrrl]

Lyda, hi! This is Kairsten, Cheri-from-MHS's daughter. I ran into your friend Naomi in bad_feminists and she linked me to your journal. Small world, it is!

Hey

[lydamorehouse]

Cool! Nice to see you on LJ, Kairsten. How's writing going?

Re: Hey

[g33kgrrl]

Writing is going all right, although I realized that I don't want to be a Writer, as such, and am thus keeping it as a hobby than as something to pursue in a more serious fashion. I read an agent somewhere saying that he only wants to work with authors who are really ready to work for their success, and I realized I'd rather be a zookeeper and play with tigers, so that seemed fairly conclusive. Thank you so much for your help with it, though. It's very much appreciated! And who knows, I can always change my mind...