Horizons, by Mary Rosenblum
Book Review by Steven Sawicki
Have you read this book?
Horizons is set in a future where orbital platforms hang above Earth,
each different due to the original group that built and colonized it.
Ahni Huang is the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the solar
system and a class 9 empath with biogenic augmentations to boot. She is,
essentially, a super woman, able to know what others will do before they
even know themselves. This would, you'd think, create a fairly
unexciting life. Not so, for Ahni finds herself given the task of
hunting down her brother's assassins who, apparently, are on one of the
orbital platforms. And this is where things start to go wrong. Ahni
finds herself in alien territory, among people who have adapted to life
in orbit, and in situations where even her high empath rating and
augmentation is not able to keep her from becoming the focus of
political and family intrigue. Things turn out not to be as they seem in
a number of different arenas and Ahni serves as the focal point of them all.
Rosenblum builds a complex story with multiple layers along with the sense that things are constantly in motion even when the focus is on one particular place. Her protagonists are driven by internal beliefs and warped by outside forces yet still retain free choice in unexpected ways. Like Heinlein, Rosenblum believes in the power of the individual which is attractive to the reader who wants to believe along with her. Rosenblum's future is one which is filled with conspiracies, with people acting on their own volition rather than follow rules and with a sense that the constructs of civilization are nothing more than supports for autonomous action provided you have the right background, initiative and circumstances.
The pacing of the novel is fast, with events occurring one after the other, driving the whole thing to an inevitable, although unforeseen, conclusion. This lends itself to setting aside a few hours to sit down with the book and let it engage you from beginning to end. Well written and conceived.
Rosenblum builds a complex story with multiple layers along with the sense that things are constantly in motion even when the focus is on one particular place. Her protagonists are driven by internal beliefs and warped by outside forces yet still retain free choice in unexpected ways. Like Heinlein, Rosenblum believes in the power of the individual which is attractive to the reader who wants to believe along with her. Rosenblum's future is one which is filled with conspiracies, with people acting on their own volition rather than follow rules and with a sense that the constructs of civilization are nothing more than supports for autonomous action provided you have the right background, initiative and circumstances.
The pacing of the novel is fast, with events occurring one after the other, driving the whole thing to an inevitable, although unforeseen, conclusion. This lends itself to setting aside a few hours to sit down with the book and let it engage you from beginning to end. Well written and conceived.
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