Tails You Lose | ||||||||
Lisa Smedman | ||||||||
Roc Books, 288 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Donna McMahon
Tails You Lose follows the story of Alma, a security "counterextractions" specialist who is a loyal
employee of Pacific Cybernetics (PCI), and the parallel story of her nemesis, Night Owl, a shadowrunner
working in the Vancouver underground.
As the book opens, shadowrunners (probably hired by another corporation) have kidnapped PCI's top
researcher. When Alma tries to intercept them, things go terribly wrong. The researcher is dead and,
even worse, PCI suspects Alma of complicity in his kidnapping. She must track down the shadowrunners who
did this, and fast, before the beta-test REM chip in her brain malfunctions or is detonated by PCI.
The setting of the Shadowrun books is North America of the 2060s, after magic was
"awakened" and many humans were transformed into elves, orcs, dwarves, and other mythical
creatures. It's an odd mix of cyberpunk, Tolkien and North American native mythology, but Smedman
melds the elements surprisingly well, in part because of her nice tech details and her deft feel
for pop culture. For instance:
After reading the first two chapters, I thought I knew where Tails You Lose was going, and I wasn't sure
I wanted to go along, in part because Alma is a protagonist who is very difficult to warm to. However the quick
pace of this book kept me reading and Smedman surprised me by adding twists of both plot and character,
building to a satisfying climax.
Donna McMahon discovered science fiction in high school and fandom in 1977, and never recovered. Dance of Knives, her first novel, was published by Tor in May, 2001, and her book reviews won an Aurora Award the same month. She likes to review books first as a reader (Was this a Good Read? Did I get my money's worth?) and second as a writer (What makes this book succeed/fail as a genre novel?). You can visit her website at http://www.donna-mcmahon.com/. |
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