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A review by johnayliff
Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells
3.0
A competent but never brilliant debut. A band of astronauts, including the linguist protagonist, explore a semi-derelict alien spaceship, in which they encounter various kinds of peril; the linguist makes telepathic contact with an entity on the ship; meanwhile one of the other astronauts is in love with her.
The first few chapters are a little shaky but the book gets more interesting when the telepathic contact is made. The protagonist feels a little too perfect, even given the fact that she shines most brightly when seen from her lover's point of view, and we're told more than we really need to know about the heroic exploits of her past. The other astronauts, meanwhile, sometimes felt interchangeable. Some of the action sequences felt like a videogame. The prose style is never less than adequate but never much more, either, and descends a bit too frequently into cliche and said-bookisms.
But the book mostly moves along at a good pace, it's always easy to read, and the plot able to sustain interest. The alien universe, when we finally learn details of it, is full of old-fashioned space-operatic wonder, and further exploration of this universe (which is where the sequel hook seems to be pointed) sounds like it would be fun. The prominent romance sub-plot gives the book something that most sf novels don't have, so the book seems like it would be of interest to readers looking for sf/romance hybrids.
The first few chapters are a little shaky but the book gets more interesting when the telepathic contact is made. The protagonist feels a little too perfect, even given the fact that she shines most brightly when seen from her lover's point of view, and we're told more than we really need to know about the heroic exploits of her past. The other astronauts, meanwhile, sometimes felt interchangeable. Some of the action sequences felt like a videogame. The prose style is never less than adequate but never much more, either, and descends a bit too frequently into cliche and said-bookisms.
But the book mostly moves along at a good pace, it's always easy to read, and the plot able to sustain interest. The alien universe, when we finally learn details of it, is full of old-fashioned space-operatic wonder, and further exploration of this universe (which is where the sequel hook seems to be pointed) sounds like it would be fun. The prominent romance sub-plot gives the book something that most sf novels don't have, so the book seems like it would be of interest to readers looking for sf/romance hybrids.