Ummmm ... okay, where do I start?

We're some time in the far future. There are two kinds of people ... "naturals" and "speshes" - those with special abilities that help them navigate through a modern world. Alexander Romanov is a pilot of extreme ability as he is able to communicate directly, mentally, with his ship. But this spesh ability comes at a cost ... he is no longer able to love. He now has a mysterious assignment for which he needs to put together a team, a crew, who will trust him even if he doesn't give them much information. Along the way, he encounters a teen girl who is an assassin spesh but she might just be more than that, which would make her unique even among speshes.

The first part of this book was moderately interesting and I thought I'd be in for a pretty fun ride. I liked the idea of the speshes - even if it isn't the most unique of science fiction themes.

But the book didn't go anywhere! We spend more than half the book with Alexander acquiring his crew and his defending his hiring of the teen girl (with whom he spends some intimate time). And there is a murder, very late into the book, at which point it almost becomes a mystery-in-space novel.

I was reminded, as I looked through my highlights and notes after finishing, that in his dedication Lukyanenko writes: "The author is fully aware that many will deem this novel cynical and immoral. ..." While I didn't get a sense of cynicism and the immoral could be found in his treatment of women throughout the book, this was almost wishful thinking - daring us to be offended by his work. But not for the right reason. I was offended because I didn't go anywhere with this story.

I do often wonder, at books like this, how much of this comes down to the translation and how much of this comes down to different expectations in literature from the prevailing society. Perhaps the Russian readers of sci-fi would find this immoral and cynical.

Mostly we spend time hashing and rehashing the nature of speshes and the relationship between Alex and Kim (the young fighter spesh). And this just becomes so odd. When we are introduced to the character of Kim we see that she is clearly able to defend herself (it's what she was trained for!) and yet she <em>needs</em> to be protected and loved by Alex ... who is incapable of love! It's an interesting theme, but I don't need almost 500 pages to get it.

Looking for a good book? Unless you are really interested in reading Russian science fiction you probably want to pass on <em>The Genome</em> by Sergei Lukyanenko.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Well, clearly I missed something, having read (after I decided not to finish it) that it's a parody of space opera. I didn't know and though/hoped it was - indeed - space opera. And it was good. The spesh part is great and kind of feel like something that could be true in the future (what with science playing with our DNA).

Having said that, I find the writing very good, the characters are well writen and the story was promising. But, I couldn't finish it because of 2 things : there's too much sex involved around a 14 years old girl. And ok, she's a spesh and was created to be sexualy really active, but come on! Couldn't she be a bit older? Ok, it's a fiction and a parody but it doesn't feel right for me (maybe cause I'm a mother... I don't know).

And then, at about 57 % of the book, even if you feel something's about to happen, Alex is still trying to stop Kim from loving him and "how can we play with her mind or genes without her knowing so she'll stop loving me, even if I do want to have sex with her". Yep, that king of sum up the story so far.

And it's a pity since I do love the writing and the world that was very vivid in my mind. There's talent in Sergei's book, so I'll check his other books.