The Z Radiant

Like a flower unfolding, this debut by Jessica Reisman starts out densely furled. The first-time novelist spoonfeeds you nothing, dropping you squarely in the midst of a complexly structured and intriguing world. The story, as it unfurls, is captivating, and the ride all the more intoxicating for the sheer quality of the writing. But it's the richness and reality of the characters that will ultimately hold you glued and hoping (as I am) for a second book to follow the journeys of Swan, Ula, and Aryn. This is thinking readers' sci-fi.

Jessica Reisman's "The Z Radiant" is a fast-paced and absorbing novel that reminds the reader of a glimpse through the keyhole. Set on the planet Nentesh during the festival of Ingress, an event that takes place only once every 26 years, "The Z Radiant" follows the lives of a handful of characters as they react to the changes, opportunities, and dangers presented by Ingress. Reisman's style is lush and evocative, filled with vivid description and uniquely pleasing metaphors. She fills out the backgrounds of the people, customs, and cultures of Nentesh fully enough to satisfy the needs of the story, and yet leave the reader tantalized by glimpses into another world. Her characters can shift from easily accessible to opaque in the turn of a page, lending mystery and an undercurrent of tension to the narrative. The slice of Nenteshi life offered to the reader is complex and fascinating, while the main plot offers enough action and adventure to keep the story moving briskly. Highly recommended.

THE Z RADIANT is a commenable and a promising first novel by Jessica Reisman -- well-written, solid, nuanced, and stocked (almost overstocked) with complexly interesting characters caught up in a complexly interesting event: Ingress, the once-every-26-years manifestation of a wormhole through which technologically advanced "outsystem" folk drop in on the otherwise isolated "insystem" ones. There are echoes of Ursula K. LeGuin in its depiction of provincial (but not simplistically conceived) insystem society, and Leigh Brackett probably would have admired the greed-and-vengeance-propelled plot and its attendant brace of tough, scary bad guys. There's also a passing reference to one Darkman Jones, surely kin to C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith and Brackett's John Eric Stark. This is a worthy Planet Story, even if the dustjacket art does stink out loud.

Jessica Reisman has written an intricate story of science fiction that treats the reader to a world of both high tech and ancient magic. Reisman paints exquisite scenarios with her language; be ready for quirky characters in environments ranging from bustling urban to bucolic. The novel really gives a bow to the natural world ... to the power and grace of plants, and to the inevitable connection between nature and man. This book is worth the journey.

The planet Nentesh is located in an isolated part of space that is only accessible to outworlders once every twenty years when the wormhole appears. When it opens, people from all over the universe travel to see this almost mythological orb whose residents welcome visitors with the festival of Ingress. The people of Nentesh trade for new technology, visit family and make arrangements to see the rest of the galaxy.During the last Ingress an abandoned baby was adopted by the locals, and Swan an outworlder came to make a home for herself on this world since her old life was destroyed. Swan has found a mate Ula, who left the outlander tribes to come to the city. Aren, who is friend to both of them, is afraid he is going insane as he sees things that aren't there. Swan is positive that the outworlder who destroyed her world is coming to Nentesh and she has planned for years to make him pay. What she does not know is that her revenge puts not only her own life but Aren's in danger.Readers will feel that the planet Nentesh feels as real to them as Earth does because Jessica Reisman does such a good job of describing the culture and landscape. The characters also seem genuine because they behave in a manner similar to our own. Much of the story revolves around Swan's mysterious plan to get revenge on her enemy but there are many light hearted scenes as the people get ready to greet the outworlders. THE Z RADIANT will be enjoyed by the futuristic crime thriller audience and fans of Brigadoon though in outer space.Harriet Klausner