Truthseeker rings true

Truthseeker
by C.E. Murphy
Del Rey, August 2010

Reviewed by Deirdre M. Murphy (no relation)

Truthseeker is a story about Lara Jansen, a very unlikely amateur sleuth—she hears a speaker’s truthfulness or falsehood in every utterance as music. How could I not root for her? I was quickly drawn into Lara’s regard for the truth—something that is, to her, a magical absolute, which is quite different from our world where “prove it” means simply, “convince me”. I shared her remembered distress over Santa Claus and other fairy tales, her frustration trying to communicate in a world where white lies are considered a social grace, and her joy in the few friends who believed in her talent and honored her with their truth. I understood her decision to hide in the sheltered world of “bespoke” clothing, making beauty in a world that too often is filled with ugliness and lies.

In addition to loving speculative fiction, I love a good mystery, especially one where an amateur sleuth wanders around talking to everyone, and you get to try to figure out who’s telling the truth and who’s lying before the hero reveals the answer. I’m also a musician, and love the various chords, but especially the bittersweet minor sevenths, which grace my senses like dark chocolate.

I liked how the author portrays Lara’s social ineptness as well as her pedantry about words, both of which follow from her innate and powerful discomfort around everything not-true. I know what it’s like to be socially awkward because you see the world differently than others; to have much of other people’s humor just fall flat for you while they don’t even see the things that make you laugh. I can’t imagine how to overcome that without the insights gained from reading fiction. These aspects of her character made Lara very believable for me, and I sympathized with her from the first page.

As the story opens, Lara is using her talent to help her best friend, Kelly, buy a used car, though she insists she’s really along for the company—after all, used car salesmen always lie. We follow Lara and Kelly out of the car dealership and shortly they run into the local weatherman, David Kerwin, and his cameraman, Dickon. Flirting ensues, until the weatherman introduces himself, and the syllables of his name sound dissonant instead of ringing true.

Lara can’t help but react to the sour notes, and the man quickly admits his name is actually Daffyd ap Caerwyn, and asks her on a date. They forget to exchange contact information, but nonetheless, Daffyd arrives at her office to pick her up at closing time, and it’s not long after that he admits to her that he’s a Prince of the Seelie Court, exiled from his homeland until he can find a legendary Truthseeker to come through the portal to his world, Barrow-lands, with him and discover who murdered his brother.

Lara might have laughed at him, but there were no sour notes in his words. He believed what he was saying. He dropped his glamour briefly for her to see his true form. When he resumed it, his human-seeming visage jarred her vision just the way his lies jarred her hearing. Then he added one more detail to his outrageous—and true—story: His time was running out. He had to have a Truthseeker travel home with him in the next few days or be exiled from the Barrow-lands, his brother’s murder forever unsolved.

The rest of the book is an action-filled romp ; the death of a Prince has precipitated a war in the Barrow-lands. Lara arrives expecting to solve the murder and go quickly home, but she and Daffyd are attacked the moment they step through the portal. Even once she’s welcomed into the Seelie Court, the many true answers she gets to her questions shed no light on the mystery. There are twists and turns to her story, and she sees a lot more of the Barrow-lands than she’d planned to, but no mster how many people she talks with, figuring out the answer isn’t simple, and she is unable to name the culprit until the final, climactic battle.

I won this book in one of those “comment here and the author will draw a random number and send someone a copy of the book” online contests. I hadn’t planned on reviewing the book, since the author and I share a surname (though I’ve never met her unless you count occasional casual online contact between from our separate continents). But I really enjoyed this book, and wanted to share it with you. I am eagerly looking forward to the sequel, Wayfinder, which is expected out September 6th. I plan to start reading on a Friday, since I’m sure I won’t want to put it down.

REDOUBTABLE leaves little doubt

Kris Longknife: Redoubtable

by Mike Shepherd

Penguin USA (ACE) - Oct. 2010

Review by Clare Deming

In a spirited and fun science fiction romp, Mike Shepherd takes us along with Princess Kris Longknife and her troop of marines in a hunt for space pirates. Don't worry - despite the noble title, Kris is no coddled damsel. Recently promoted to Lieutenant Commander, she is there to get a job done - one that usually involves explosives, bullets, subterfuge, and political wrangling.

Kris Longknife: Redoubtable is the eighth volume in the series of this plucky princess' adventures. After dispatching an amateur pirate raid on her ship, Kris leads her marines onto the planet of Kaskatos, where an over-the-top sadistic leader has enslaved the locals with her band of ruthless henchmen. If the novel merely covered the conflict with this ridiculous overlord, I may have been disappointed. However, the situation on Kaskatos is rapidly controlled, while the enemy meets an appropriately inglorious end.

Just as Kris begins to organize the reestablishment of vital services on Kaskatos, Kris' nemesis Lieutenant Victoria Peterwald, heiress of a rival empire , summons her to a meeting. With Kaskatos located on the periphery of the Peterwald's empire, Kris has already grown concerned that her humanitarian efforts would be construed as a takeover of the planet. However, the meeting reveals that there are larger problems looming within the Peterwald empire. Never quite sure who to trust, Kris delves deeper into the pirate problem, trying to track down their ultimate base, while continuing to negotiate with Victoria. When the pirates kidnap the twelve-year-old daughter of one of the crew, the stakes become more personal and desperate for Kris.

As a newcomer to this series, I initially had trouble following the chain-of-command, with marines, navy, and "civilians" all present on one ship. However, it turns out that this assortment of personnel confuses Kris also. While Kris has her own ideas about their purpose, I suspect that they may become important in future volumes.

While the eighth volume can certainly stand alone, this is an open-ended series. Someone - or something - is lurking on the edge of known space, and they don't seem friendly. Unknown to Victoria Peterwald, Kris has secretly communicated with the alien Iteeche and is itching to investigate some jump points that have consumed recent Iteeche scout ships. This larger overarching plot began prior to this book, and while it is not advanced much here, I think this volume is a bridge that puts everyone in place to explore this mystery in a future installment.

Despite the fighting, kidnapping, and sinister mysteries, I found this book to be fun and light, with quite a few lines and scenes that made me chuckle. Though lacking in speculative ideas and innovative fictional technologies that fill some science fiction worlds, I cared about the characters and the pacing never foundered. Overall, this was an exciting and enjoyable book.