KitsuneBae
Written on Oct 21, 2013
This review first appeared on Thoughts and Pens Book Blog.
Note: I received a free copy from the Publisher. THANK YOU!
One’s Aspect to The Sun is perhaps one of the weirdest Sci-Fi novel I’ve read this year. It’s a story of immortality set in a Star Wars like environment. Luta Paixon, a captain of an inter galactic trader spaceship, is already 85 years old but still looks like a 30-year old maiden. While immortality is cool, Luta didn’t feel that way as every day is a struggle to prepare herself for the death of her 90-year old husband or to face her daughter who looked older than her. Her problems were exacerbated by the fact that she’s being hunted by an Earthside company to take a sample of her blood. And her search for the person who knows the truth of her immortality is proving to be more and more difficult as the years passed by. In this world of wormholes, planets and aliens, how will Luta escape her hunters while searching for her mother, prevent the death of her husband and restore the broken bond with her only daughter? Find out!
Although I gave One’s Aspect To The Sun a 3.5 star rating, I can’t hide the fact that I struggled to finish it. There were a lot of strange terms particularly the planets’ names that had me confused and flipping back to the first page just to get a modicum of understanding about what the hell is happening. When I came to the point that I can no longer relate to a particular scenario, I decided to tackle the book in small increments. It worked but my attention is already flying into space.
As a sci-fi novel, One’s Aspect To the Sun is good but I didn’t feel the pull. It was like there’s a barrier between us blocking me to reach out and hold this book. Maybe I am just being weird. Anyway, disregarding my emotions, there are a lot of things that I admire about One’s Aspect To The Sun. Though immortality is already an overused premise for Sci-Fi novels, Sherry Ramsey managed to make it interesting by interlacing it with familial and mystery issues. Luta’s journey in One’s Aspect to the Sun sends the message that immortality isn’t everything particularly if you see your better half dying every day, your children expiring before you and a psycho company is chasing your ass across the galaxy.
Despite my struggle with the terms, I guess I have to give this book a high five for the world building. It thoroughly described the order of the planets inside the Solar System and gave a vibrant account of the Tane Ikai’s route from Earth to the various planets. Minus Darth Vader, the Clone Army, the Jedi and the Phantom menace, this book could’ve been a Star Wars retelling. Hahaha. And well, I have to give the author thanks for widening my knowledge on the Skip, pinholes and wormholes albeit my initial confusion.
While the plot was solidly built, I felt that it lacked the intensity to make things more exciting. It was very linear and thus, failed to fully grip my attention.
It didn’t help that the characters of One’s Aspect to The Sun were kind of meh to me. Luta, the heroine and the narrator, spoke in clipped tones that it was hard for me to glean the extent of her depth as a character. Even Hirin (Luta’s husband), the villains and the secondary characters didn’t manage to break the ice surrounding me. The only one who managed to make a crack was Maja, the daughter.
Until now, I still don’t know how I feel about this book. I appreciated the premise, the world building, the other sci-fi elements and the astronomical knowledge Sherry has imparted but the X-Factor chose to be absent in this book.
To conclude, I highly recommend One’s Aspect to the Sun for hardcore sci-fi fans. If you’re missing the world of Star Wars but with no Darth Vader in it, then do not hesitate to pick up this book.