Indigara, by Tanith Lee
Book Review by Jennifer Hairfield
Have you read this book?
Tanith Lee has done it again with her newest novel, Indigara. She has created an extraordinary world were things aren't as they seem. This novel is set in the future, how far...the reader doesn't know, but hints of our present day movies are deemed classics for them. Throughout the novel the reader follows Jet, the youngest of three sisters, and her robotic dog Otis in Ollywood, her planet's film capital.
While in Ollywood Jet and Otis explore the subways. While there somehow they are transported to the beautiful and sinister city of Indigara which lurks below the studios and lots. Indigara is unique in its own way, considering it has spontaneously generated from the sets, costumes, models, and actual celluloid of fantasy and SF pilot movies that never got made into series. This beautiful place is made from four movies: Into the Depths, Diamond City, Gardens of Babylon, and Race of the Dragons. Jet and Otis go through the whole novel just trying to figure out what's going on and how to get home.
The way this novel is set up is like a diary. The present-day POV helps push the story along but it feels like the reader had stumbled upon it and was reading it. But the most interesting thing in the story is that there is a copy of the main characters in Ollywood when the real pair goes to Indigara. One funny part in the story happens when Jet and Otis hear people speak for the first time -- it's in another language and subtitles are at the bottom of the "screen." Afterwards everything is understood in English. The reader can tell that the places are definitely something from the movies, as an example, people not having problems breathing underwater, or the people who look dirty are actually clean.
This novel was short compared to other books by Tanith Lee but it had her unique world-building, humor, and action, not to mention her mastery of lyricism. With only a short time this author fleshed out her main characters, the new world, and descriptions without a hiccup. She is definitely someone to pick up and read.
While in Ollywood Jet and Otis explore the subways. While there somehow they are transported to the beautiful and sinister city of Indigara which lurks below the studios and lots. Indigara is unique in its own way, considering it has spontaneously generated from the sets, costumes, models, and actual celluloid of fantasy and SF pilot movies that never got made into series. This beautiful place is made from four movies: Into the Depths, Diamond City, Gardens of Babylon, and Race of the Dragons. Jet and Otis go through the whole novel just trying to figure out what's going on and how to get home.
The way this novel is set up is like a diary. The present-day POV helps push the story along but it feels like the reader had stumbled upon it and was reading it. But the most interesting thing in the story is that there is a copy of the main characters in Ollywood when the real pair goes to Indigara. One funny part in the story happens when Jet and Otis hear people speak for the first time -- it's in another language and subtitles are at the bottom of the "screen." Afterwards everything is understood in English. The reader can tell that the places are definitely something from the movies, as an example, people not having problems breathing underwater, or the people who look dirty are actually clean.
This novel was short compared to other books by Tanith Lee but it had her unique world-building, humor, and action, not to mention her mastery of lyricism. With only a short time this author fleshed out her main characters, the new world, and descriptions without a hiccup. She is definitely someone to pick up and read.
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Comment on Indigara, by Tanith Lee
| Comments on Indigara, by Tanith Lee |
| Posted by Diane on 2/27/2010 |
| I have this book it's awesome |
