Spark and Tether, by Lilian Zenzi

[Ulysses]

Spark and Tether (Synchronists 1)
BY Lilian Zenzi
Published by the author
Four stars

What fascinated me most about this book is the fact that a sci-fi mystery adventure set in a space-centered future could have so little actual action, and still be (for me) riveting and compelling. Zenzi is a good writer, and her story pulls you in as you (sometimes desperately) try to grasp the nature of the world in which she has dropped you, as well as all the nuances of her complex and interesting characters.

It's hard to fathom a world in which humans have evolved a necessary symbiosis with technology (this is after all, a place where one could ostensibly go for the weekend to someone’s vacation house on a “luxurious little moon” of an isolated planet. As we learn, the synchronists are a special subgroup within that, which includes protagonist Sacheri and his longtime best friend Paradis. These folks have had extra technology integrated into their nervous systems, giving them the capacity to read both people and machines with far-reaching skill, making them both invaluable and possibly dangerous.

It is also a world in which fai (Friendly Artificial Intelligence) have become citizens in many worlds, in spite of their having no physical presence—existing entirely in code and within digital systems linked to human habitats. The word fai is a favorite for me, invoking the magical people (fae) appearing in an entirely different sort of fantasy fiction. It also touches on the magical quality of all this technology that has become essential to sustaining human life long after earth (Terra).

And then there’s Jin, a highly skilled archivist who is a crew member with Sacheri on a recovery and restoration trip to an abandoned moon settlement. Jin becomes the love interest for Sacheri, and that emotional attachment drives the larger narrative, interweaving with the techno-mystery that is the focus of the plot. It is a suspenseful and engaging adventure.

If there was a flaw in this book for me (an aging, cis-gay Kinsey 6), it was the relentlessly careful avoidance of any physical markers that would even slightly suggest gender presentation. Sacheri is he, Paradis is she, and Jin is they. There’s nothing unusual today about non-binary people, and it’s easy to imagine them fully integrated into future human society. But Sacheri and Jin are drawn to each other for physical reasons as well as emotional ones, and other than the occasional use of the words “handsome” and “beautiful,” the reader is given nothing to illuminate the intensity of their physical closeness. We are told about their love, but we are not really shown it except as a discreet distance. I had trouble seeing Jin as anything beyond “human,” and while that may have been the author’s intention, it doesn’t help sell a romantic pairing for someone like me. The “queer” umbrella is not monolithic, and every letter in the LGBTQ+ rainbow looks for something slightly different in which to find emotional satisfaction. I simply couldn’t fully engage with Sacheri and Jin.

The author promises further adventures of the synchronists, and I suspect they’ll be just as compelling as this first one was.

[Ulysses]

Spark and Tether (Synchronists 1)
BY Lilian Zenzi
Published by the author
Four stars

What fascinated me most about this book is the fact that a sci-fi mystery adventure set in a space-centered future could have so little actual action, and still be (for me) riveting and compelling. Zenzi is a good writer, and her story pulls you in as you (sometimes desperately) try to grasp the nature of the world in which she has dropped you, as well as all the nuances of her complex and interesting characters.

It's hard to fathom a world in which humans have evolved a necessary symbiosis with technology (this is after all, a place where one could ostensibly go for the weekend to someone’s vacation house on a “luxurious little moon” of an isolated planet. As we learn, the synchronists are a special subgroup within that, which includes protagonist Sacheri and his longtime best friend Paradis. These folks have had extra technology integrated into their nervous systems, giving them the capacity to read both people and machines with far-reaching skill, making them both invaluable and possibly dangerous.

It is also a world in which fai (Friendly Artificial Intelligence) have become citizens in many worlds, in spite of their having no physical presence—existing entirely in code and within digital systems linked to human habitats. The word fai is a favorite for me, invoking the magical people (fae) appearing in an entirely different sort of fantasy fiction. It also touches on the magical quality of all this technology that has become essential to sustaining human life long after earth (Terra).

And then there’s Jin, a highly skilled archivist who is a crew member with Sacheri on a recovery and restoration trip to an abandoned moon settlement. Jin becomes the love interest for Sacheri, and that emotional attachment drives the larger narrative, interweaving with the techno-mystery that is the focus of the plot. It is a suspenseful and engaging adventure.

If there was a flaw in this book for me (an aging, cis-gay Kinsey 6), it was the relentlessly careful avoidance of any physical markers that would even slightly suggest gender presentation. Sacheri is he, Paradis is she, and Jin is they. There’s nothing unusual today about non-binary people, and it’s easy to imagine them fully integrated into future human society. But Sacheri and Jin are drawn to each other for physical reasons as well as emotional ones, and other than the occasional use of the words “handsome” and “beautiful,” the reader is given nothing to illuminate the intensity of their physical closeness. We are told about their love, but we are not really shown it except as a discreet distance. I had trouble seeing Jin as anything beyond “human,” and while that may have been the author’s intention, it doesn’t help sell a romantic pairing for someone like me. The “queer” umbrella is not monolithic, and every letter in the LGBTQ+ rainbow looks for something slightly different in which to find emotional satisfaction. I simply couldn’t fully engage with Sacheri and Jin.

The author promises further adventures of the synchronists, and I suspect they’ll be just as compelling as this first one was.