Review: Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum (2006)

Rich Horton

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Feb 11, 2007, 10:21:27 PM2/11/07

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Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum (Tor, 2006, 316 pp, $24.95)

a review by Rich Horton

Mary Rosenblum's Horizons is a near future SF novel with a somewhat
old-fashioned shape and set of concerns. And I liked it for that --
it's very exciting, fast-moving, with some nice speculative elements.
And with an engaging heroine. And really nasty bad guys. (Who espouse
a philosophy I personally find repellent -- but which many might have
at least some sympathy for.)

The heroine is Ahni Huang, daughter of the head of an influential
Taiwanese commercial family. The opening sequence was originally a
story in Asimov's ("Green Shift"), and in it she goes up to the North
American Alliance's orbital platform, NYUp, to avenge her brother
Xai's murder. But there she learns that Xai is actually alive, and
acting against her family. She also discovers a secret on NYUp: a
group of apparently illegally modified humans are living in
microgravity, under the leadership of Dane Nilsson, the still "normal"
chief "gardener" for the orbital.

After a confrontation with her father and mother, who are acting at
mysterious cross-purposes, she returns to NYUp. The platform is under
increasing tension. There is an independence movement, led by Dane,
but it is spiralling out of control, moving too rapidly, apparently as
a result of external agitators. Possibly these are controlled by Xai,
who may be working with Li Zhen, son of the Chinese leader, and the
man in charge of the Chinese orbital platform.

All this moves very rapidly to a confrontation -- the World Council
military is pushed to act against the people of NYUp, particularly
Dane. So Ahni must figure out who is really behind all these problems,
and how or if she can get sufficient cooperation between Dane's allies
on NYUp, between an asteroid-based pilot/smuggler, and between Li Zhen
to prevent a true disaster from destroying everybody's hopes for the
future.

I quite enjoyed the novel. At the same time it shows some of the
weaknesses of the genre ... some due to commercial considerations, and
some more specifically SFnal. The commercial weaknesses lie in such
aspects as the convenient brilliance of the heroine and hero and their
associated, and in their routinely exalted social positions. Also, the
resolution of the plot is quite convenient -- it is exactly what we as
readers want, but it comes too rapidly, too easily, but also after (I
felt) somewhat implausible raising of the stakes, increasing of the
danger to the characters we care about. By which I mean that I think
the end state could have been plausibly arrived at, but somewhat more
slowly, and without the life-or-death confrontation towards the end,
complete with dramatic courtroom intervention. But that would have
been hard to make work novelistically.

The SFnal weaknesses, for me, lie in the nature of some of the
speculation. I didn't really by the rapid evolution of humans adapted
for microgravity (though Rosenblum tries to justify it as expression
of junk DNA or something). And I was turned off a bit by the
convenient presence of empathy and telepathy in many of the
characters. To some extent I suppose this last is a reflection of my
personal tastes -- I have never liked telepathy much as a plot
element. (I think it bids fair to ruin Bujold's Vorkosiverse, for
example, though she seems to have abandoned that for now.)

In the end Horizons is lots of fun, good solid SF -- not a lasting
masterpiece but nice work.

Howard

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Feb 11, 2007, 11:17:20 PM2/11/07

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On Feb 11, 9:21 pm, Rich Horton <rrhor...@prodigy.net> wrote:

>
> In the end Horizons is lots of fun, good solid SF -- not a lasting
> masterpiece but nice work.

This was the conclusion I came to also. Thought it was a nice piece
of SF, but nothing earth shattering. I liked it well enough that I'll
keep an eye open for her in the future.

Justin Fang

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Feb 12, 2007, 11:20:47 AM2/12/07

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In article <ovmvs2h8bm4dajvi4...@4ax.com>,

Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum (Tor, 2006, 316 pp, $24.95)

>The SFnal weaknesses, for me, lie in the nature of some of the

>speculation. I didn't really by the rapid evolution of humans adapted
>for microgravity (though Rosenblum tries to justify it as expression
>of junk DNA or something). And I was turned off a bit by the

That "Human DNA will spontaneously rewrite itself to facilitate OUR
GLORIOUS DESTINY IN SPACE" bit really annoyed me. What part of "Evolution
does not have a specific direction in mind," is so hard to understand?

Also, apparently in this future the whole concept of "passive sensors" has
been completely forgotten. Ships in Earth orbit can go undetected by
dodging sensor beams and zipping from shadow to shadow of other objects.
(Admittedly, their tracking system was built by the lowest bidder, but
still.) If ships have any limits whatsoever with regard to fuel, I don't
recall them. Possibly they're using some kind of magic drive (the author
wisely never says), but then what do they need the beanstalks for?

I do give points for having the independance movement realize that,
independent or not, trade with Earth is going to be vital to the survival
of the platforms. Although I'm not entirly clear what the economic
rationale was for building the things in the first place.

>convenient presence of empathy and telepathy in many of the
>characters. To some extent I suppose this last is a reflection of my
>personal tastes -- I have never liked telepathy much as a plot
>element. (I think it bids fair to ruin Bujold's Vorkosiverse, for
>example, though she seems to have abandoned that for now.)

Yeah, the telepathy thing didn't help either. When I picked it up, I
thought the empathy might just be very high skill at reading facial
expressions, body language, and so forth, but no, it's actual psionics
(though I don't think that word is ever used).

>In the end Horizons is lots of fun, good solid SF -- not a lasting
>masterpiece but nice work.

Overall, I'd have to say that as speculation, (one of the cover blurbs,
by some other SF author I can't remember right now, promised "the future
as it might actually look" or something like that) it's a failure.

As cheap entertainment, well, I got it from a library, and it kept me
occupied (if increasingly irritated) on a bus ride.

--
Justin Fang (jus...@panix.com)

Marilee J. Layman

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Feb 13, 2007, 12:28:33 AM2/13/07

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On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:21:27 GMT, Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net>
wrote:

>Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum (Tor, 2006, 316 pp, $24.95)
>
>a review by Rich Horton

Rich, maybe you'll remember. Wasn't it Rosenblum who had shorts in
Asimov's about genetically-engineered humans who lived in the water? I
kept expecting a book from that and didn't see it.
--
Marilee J. Layman
http://mjlayman.livejournal.com/

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Feb 13, 2007, 9:24:28 PM2/13/07

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On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:31:03 GMT, Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net>
wrote:

>On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:28:33 -0500, Marilee J. Layman
><mar...@mjlayman.com> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:21:27 GMT, Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum (Tor, 2006, 316 pp, $24.95)
>>>
>>>a review by Rich Horton
>>
>>Rich, maybe you'll remember. Wasn't it Rosenblum who had shorts in
>>Asimov's about genetically-engineered humans who lived in the water? I
>>kept expecting a book from that and didn't see it.
>
>Was one of them "Gas Fish" or something like that? I think so ...
>certainly could have led to a novel.

I think so. I really liked the stories and kept expecting a book to
turn up.

James Nicoll

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Feb 13, 2007, 10:28:47 PM2/13/07

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In article <8vo4t2tdr0v10pedp...@4ax.com>,

And she came back to SF? Hmmmm. That's highly atypical.

Christina Oxarart

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Feb 14, 2007, 12:39:13 AM2/14/07

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On Feb 13, 7:28 pm, jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
> In article <8vo4t2tdr0v10pedp8k72k429b8qvmo...@4ax.com>,
> Rich Horton <rrhor...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:51:21 +0000 (UTC), jdnic...@panix.com (James
> >Nicoll) wrote:
>
> >>In article <eqsitr$sb...@reader2.panix.com>,

> >>James Nicoll <jdnic...@panix.com> wrote:
>
> >>> Wasn't she a Del Rey Discovery way back in the 1990s? She must
> >>>have something that appeals to editors.
>
> >> Although not so much that there isn't a ten year hole in her
> >>novel publishing.
>
> >She did publish four mysteries as by "Mary Freeman" between 1999 and
> >2002.
>
> And she came back to SF? Hmmmm. That's highly atypical.

How funny that this thread appears right as I'm in the middle of
Dozois's _The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 19_, anthologizing 2005
short stories. Mary Rosenblum's "Search Engine" (first published in
Analog) is included, and I hadn't heard of her previously. But the
story was good enough to make me think that I want to check out some
of her other work.

>From the bio in front of the story, for anyone who might care:

- made first sale to Asimov's in 1990 and was one of their most
frequent contributors with nearly 30 sales
- novella "Gas Fish" won the Asimov's Readers Award in 1996 and was a
Nebula finalist
- notable shorts: "The Drylands" series for Asimov's, "The Stone
Garden," "Synthesis," "Flight," "California Dreamer," "Casting at
Pegasus," "Entrada," "Rat," "The Centaur Garden," "Skin Deep," "Songs
the Sirens Sing"
- first novel, _The Drylands_ in 1993 won the Compton Cook Award for
Best New Novel
- second novel was _The Chimera_; the third was _The Stone Garden_
- first short story collection _Synthesis and Other Virtual Realities_
came out in 1996

Dozois makes no mention of why the apparent long break from SF after
the 90s, but does mention that her most recent novels were the trilogy
of mysteries, and also mentions her then-upcoming SF novel
_Horizons_. I'm guessing the mysteries were to pay the bills; maybe
her financial circumstances have improved since.