Glorious Treason

I was shocked at the negative reviews for this book. Strangly, I enjoyed this sci-fi romp. Some reviewers question where the science is: but this whole novel revolves around a rare, generally manually processed, crystal, that is used in Tao space for very very fast space travel. How much more sci-fi can you get? Some reviewers didn't quite like the Dexta bureacracy-yet I think it's a marvelous Machiavellian creation and a nifty counterpoint to an Emperor who holds a lot of power. While it's true there is some sex and details on the skimpy clothing, I don't feel that it is extraneous. It simply clarifies the cultural norms and expectations in the 33rd century. I'm not saying this is some deep 2001 satire on the state of being and the reason for creation-it's not; and CJ Ryan is clearly not trying to go there. But it's definitly a good romp and I recommend it.

Comedy. Tragedy. For best results, mix carefully. The Greeks knew it. Shakespeare perfected it. Dexta didn't quite get the mix right. Glorious Treason did. Glorious Treason is a more balanced book than Dexta. Dexta was full of frenetic ideas, but there were so many stereotypes flying around it was difficult to see the forest for the trees. This is still erotic comedy, but Glorious Treason plays down the Dexta Menagerie, has no genocide and colonialism issues simmering, and above all, it's a human book, full of human conflicts - there are no pigeonholed alien races to distract you from human plotting. And the plotting is MARVELOUS. There is a lot more bureaucratic meddling and bungling and playing several different sides of an issue. In short, there're more shades of gray, particularly from the good guys. The bad guys are still a little overplayed, but Charles makes up for the rest of them. His connection to Gloria adds some style to the crap he's hurling! I look forward to seeing more of him as a villain in The Fifth Quadrant. And because this is such a human story, there's real pathos when tragedy strikes. When things went wrong in Dexta, you felt "Oh, sure, this'll turn out fine!" But this time I really felt it, and that's the way it should be. I felt strongly that that element was missing from the first book, but it comes together here. You also get some feel for the deeper messages here. You really had to ignore the genocide, colonialism, corporate greed, religious, moral and sexual issues in Dexta to have any chance of enjoying it. They bogged it down. But this time you can savour the environmental, corporate greed, and religious themes, because there are fewer messages, and they're more deftly played. Which brings us to the Voice. I gave 2 stars just for the Voice, which really made this book for me - it's hilarious, deftly played, and the commentary on religion is spot on. There's a conversation at the end of the book between Gloria and a Spiritist Bishop that had me busting my sides, and I have the feeling Gloria will live to regret the famous words "I have an idea!" I have one major issue with this book, for which I docked a star. In bureaucratic messes as in life there are no clean endings. What happens to the Five at the end of the book is too convenient. Sure, it wraps things up neatly, but sometimes things should be left dangling. If she set out to do it, maybe Gloria should have gotten away with one or two, but all Five? Cleanly? That was too cute by half. Overall assessment - read this book FIRST - get some pathos for the characters and some comfort with the sexual innuendo - then go back and read Dexta. You'll stand a much better chance of enjoying both books.

In the year 3217 Emperor Charles V wants to make the planet Sylvania Incorporated Imperial Territory so that the twelve big corporations can bid for rights to mine Fergusite, the gemstone that powers the fusion generators enabling spaceships to travel great distances in little time. Until it was discovered on Sylvania, it was manufactured so that quality was standardized. If the big corporations it, there is a good chance that ships will be destroyed, confidence in space travel will plummet and trade fall dramatically. It could also mean the end of the empire which is why Norman Minus, Secretary of Extraterrestrial Afairs, sends Gloria, Director of the Office of Strategic Intervention to Sylvania. Her obvious mission is to see that the Emperor's wishes are carried out but her true purpose is to stop Fergusite from being mined. Gloria knows if she is caught, it would be treason but she believes, like Mingus, that the emperor's greed should not destroy an empire. When she arrives on planet, she becomes enemy to the founding fathers of the planet and the corporations' representatives. As Gloria sees it there is only two ways to carry out her mission. The first using legal methods and if those fail, use chicanery, misdirection and criminal acts (as defined by the emperor). Gloria has a genetically enhanced sex drive which she uses in her mission without any regrets, thinking of it as just another tool in her arsenal of tricks. She admits she's hard, calculating and will do what ever it takes to be Mingus's successor when he retires but her actions show her as a caring beautiful woman and that surface at inconvenient times. There is a lot of action and political intrigue in this erotic outer space crime thriller. C.J. Ryan creates a world with words so vividly that readers can actually imagine being there. Harriet Klausner