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juushikaTitle: Persona
Author: Genevieve Valentine
Published: New York: Saga Press, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 166,175
Text Number: 486
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In the near future, Faces function as the public personas of nations: political celebrities groomed for public consumption. But Suyana, Face of the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, is engaged in true politics, namely ecoterrorism. I'm unsure if Persona was a mediocre book or simply not the right one for me. I find interpersonal relationships such as these—where affect is micromanaged and scrutinized in service of covert goals—unpleasant and verging on unrealistic; Valentine's emphasis on microexpressions exacerbates this and makes for repetitive pacing. There's a lot of promise in the relationship between the protagonists and in the ecoterrorist plot (although I find the worldbuilding underwhelming), but Persona refuses to coalesce: interpersonal elements are hamfisted, complex politics are smothered, and the overall effect is tiresome. I imagine readers less annoyed by these particular quirks will have far better luck, but I don't recommend this book.
Author: Genevieve Valentine
Published: New York: Saga Press, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 166,175
Text Number: 486
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In the near future, Faces function as the public personas of nations: political celebrities groomed for public consumption. But Suyana, Face of the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, is engaged in true politics, namely ecoterrorism. I'm unsure if Persona was a mediocre book or simply not the right one for me. I find interpersonal relationships such as these—where affect is micromanaged and scrutinized in service of covert goals—unpleasant and verging on unrealistic; Valentine's emphasis on microexpressions exacerbates this and makes for repetitive pacing. There's a lot of promise in the relationship between the protagonists and in the ecoterrorist plot (although I find the worldbuilding underwhelming), but Persona refuses to coalesce: interpersonal elements are hamfisted, complex politics are smothered, and the overall effect is tiresome. I imagine readers less annoyed by these particular quirks will have far better luck, but I don't recommend this book.
