Tag: Claudia Gray

by Claudia Gray

ISBN 978-1-4847-2498-9

“Other worlds had to be warmer. Brighter, busier, more fun in every way. He believed this despite never having visited another planet in his life; it was impossible to think that the vastness of the galaxy didn’t contain someplace better to be than here.”

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a boy and girl became friends on the mountainous Outer Rim world of Jelucan. Under normal circumstances, this would never have happened, for the girl was one of the valley people, primitive early inhabitants of the world looked down upon by the boy’s second wave family. But Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell were brought together by their shared love of flight, and the dream of one day flying the best ships in the galaxy by being accepted into the Imperial Academy. Thane is a cynic who dreams only of escaping Jelucan, and sees a term of service to the Empire as a means to that end. But Ciena is much more idealistic, and bound by a strong sense of honour that is deeply ingrained in all the valley folk. The Imperial Academy will test their values and their friendship, but that is nothing to what awaits them on their first posting as Imperial officers, on a top secret, newly constructed space station.

When I finally picked up my copy of Lost Stars from the holds shelf at the library, I was most surprised by the size of it, clocking in at 550 pages. But having finished it, the length now makes a great deal of sense; Lost Stars begins eight years after the fall of the Old Republic, when Jelucan is annexed to the Empire, and Ciena and Thane meet for the first time. From there we follow them, through alternating narrative points of view, to the Imperial Academy, and into the service of the Empire. They take their first postings as Imperial officers on the eve of the events of A New Hope, and continue all through the timeline of the original trilogy, and several years beyond, concluding shortly after the Battle of Jakku. This is a lot of ground to cover—about sixteen years by my brother’s reckoning—offering a whole new perspective on familiar events (and featuring cameos from some familiar faces).

Claudia Gray has the unenviable task of balancing sympathy for her protagonists with the fact that they are both, at least initially, on the wrong side of a war. Even after Thane chooses to defect, his actions are not always exactly heroic. Meanwhile, Ciena remains true to her oath, at increasing cost to herself, and her relationship with Thane. I understood Ciena’s dilemma but at the same time was sad for her, and disgusted by her choices and continued complicity in unconscionable acts. In terms of personality, Ciena is a much more likeable character than Thane, but this becomes more and more complicated as the years pass, the Empire’s atrocities grown, and still Ciena refuses to renounce her oath.
Overall, I think Gray deals magnificently with the moral ambiguity, and that starts with her flipping the original idea of Lost Stars on its head. When she initially took on the project, the concept she was given was that the idealistic character would join the rebellion, and the cynic would join the Empire. By switching that around, we get to see a much more nuanced portrayal of how good people can become complicit in evil causes. This is true of Ciena and Thane, the protagonists, but also especially evident in the character of Nash Windrider, a native of Alderaan who faces a terrible crisis when he is part of the force responsible for the destruction of his home world.

If many people were nervous about Star Wars receiving the Young Adult treatment, I was on the opposite side. As a fan of Claudia Gray’s YA novels, I was beyond excited to see her tackle the story of star crossed lovers on opposite sides of the Galactic Civil War. I have to admit that I haven’t read any other extended universe books, and I probably wouldn’t have read this one if it wasn’t written by Claudia Gray, so I can’t offer much about how this compares to other Star Wars novels. However, the feeling of the story fits in very well with the Star Wars cinematic universe, and Gray herself definitely has the nerd bona fides to pull off this project. She has not shied away from the thorny moral issues inherent in this premise, but she has also delivered the space battles and alien worlds fans have come to expect from Star Wars.

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 You might also like A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

 by Claudia Gray

ISBN 978-0-06-227899-9

“The first time I traveled to another dimension, I intended to take a life. Now I’m trying to save one. But I can’t do that unless I save myself.”

In A Thousand Pieces of You, Marguerite Caine set out to kill Paul Markov, believing him to be responsible for the murder of her father, and the theft of the Firebird device that enables the projection of consciousness into alternate universes. But Paul proved innocent, and now Marguerite must save him from the machinations of Wyatt Conley and the Triad Corporation. In yet another effort to force Marguerite into his employ, Conley has fragmented Paul’s soul, and cast the remnants into four different dimensions. In order to retrieve them, Marguerite will have to do Conley’s dirty work, sabotaging her parents’ research in universes otherwise beyond his reach. With Theo’s help, Marguerite tries to figure out how to retrieve each remnant without betraying her parents or incurring Conley’s wrath. But the dark and violent realities she must visit to fulfill her mission cause her to doubt herself and everyone she loves.

Much of the first volume of this series focused on alternate realities, exploring the many different possible worlds that exist parallel to Marguerite’s home dimension as she chases after a suspected killer. By contrast, Ten Thousand Skies Above You is more focused on alternate personalities, and how the people she knows and loves might have been different in another world. Marguerite must realize that that no one—not Paul, not Theo, and not her—is perfect. There is always a life in which they would or could do terrible things, just as there are worlds in which Wyatt Conley’s ambitions have not destroyed his humanity.

When it comes to love triangles and alternate dimensions, you can have your cake and eat it, too—at least for a little while. Gray starts immediately from the action after Paul has been taken and fragmented by Conley, but flashbacks allow us to see the brief interlude Paul and Marguerite were able to spend together between the events of A Thousand Pieces of You and Ten Thousand Skies Above You. However, for those who are pulling for Theo, one of Marguerites biggest moments of doubt comes when she stumbles into a universe where her other self has chosen Theo over Paul.

Although the focus is on people, we still get to visit multiple versions of Marguerite’s world, one delightful—or delightfully terrifying—permutation after another. Her first stop is a war-ravaged California, where all science is bent towards military means. Yet another jump takes her to New York, into a world where Paul never slipped the clutches of the father he never speaks about. The worlds remain intriguing, even as they are designed to cast light on the characters. Gray also never gets too down and nitty gritty about the science of the Firebird, but she does manage to make mathematics and physics both beautiful and romantic, while never belittling the significance of art.

The first half of the book is full of action and romance, with little of the attention to the ethical dilemma of interdimensional travel that involves overtaking the lives of alternate selves that was present in the first volume. But just as I felt that Gray had let a critical aspect of the story slip through her fingers, she drives the seriousness of such meddling home with a ruthlessness that left me breathless when Marguerite briefly returns to the Russiaverse—the world in which she is the Grand Duchess Margarita. Yet another world hints at a reality in which Marguerite’s parents have realized the dire ethical implications of their work, and set out along another path. Taken together, they offer intriguing possibilities for the third volume, and Gray finishes with a twist will leave you dying to read it sooner rather than later.

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Also by Claudia Gray:

 Spellcaster

by Claudia Gray

ISBN 978-0-06-227896-8

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this book at ALA Annual 2014. All quotes are based on an uncorrected text.

“Every form of art is another way of seeing the world. Another perspective, another window. And science –that’s the most spectacular window of all. You can see the entire universe from there.”

Marguerite Caine is the daughter of two brilliant scientists, inventors of the Firebird device, which enables travel into parallel dimensions. However, this powerful invention begets an unthinkable crime when one of the graduate assistants who helped her parents create the Firebird murders her father, and escapes into a parallel dimension, far from the reach of the law.  Unable to rest while her father’s killer escapes justice, Marguerite teams up with Theo, her parents’ other graduate assistant, and uses a Firebird prototype to give chase, dogging Paul’s heels as he skips through neighbouring dimensions. The only artist in a family of scientists, Marguerite is nevertheless determined to master inter-dimensional travel, and find out why Paul betrayed her and her family.

On page one, Marguerite states her mission: “KILL PAUL MARKOV,” and the action and adventure takes off from this dramatic start. Although inter-dimensional travel is undoubtedly science fiction, what Claudia Gray has created here is a genre-bending work that refuses to be pinned down. Each successive dimension represents a unique variation on Marguerite’s home world, as Gray shows off her dexterity with multiple genres, from contemporary, to science fiction, to historical, to romance—adventure is the only constant. The first alternate dimension is a futuristic London that emphasizes technology, yet Gray effortlessly shifts to a historical vibe when the second world Marguerite lands in depicts a still-Tsarist Russia in a universe that has not yet experienced the Industrial Revolution. Yet another parallel world returns to the science fiction vibe, but takes it in an environmental direction, envisaging a world in which accelerated global warming has submerged many of the land masses. These well-realized alternate realities form the backdrop of Marguerite’s quest.

Gray does not spend much time on the math or physics behind the Firebird; the reader is placed in Marguerite’s non-scientist shoes, focused on the practical implications of the device, rather the science that makes it possible. Marguerite can only use the Firebird to project her conscious into other dimensions in which she was born and is still alive, where she inhabits the body of her other selves.  Otherwise, however, the rules of inter-dimensional travel are largely theoretical and untested, and every choice runs the risk of unexpected consequences, making for a high stakes story. Although Gray eliminates the usual problem of encountering the other self in these universes by only projecting the consciousness, inhabiting the lives of the other selves presents its own unique set of problems. Each jump is an ethical dilemma for Marguerite, who questions the morality of invading the lives and hijacking the choices of her alternate selves in pursuit of Paul. Equally problematic is the fact that the man she plans to kill is inhabiting the body of an innocent, alternate version of himself, who will be caught in the crossfire of Marguerite’s revenge. And of course, multiple universes mean multiple versions of Marguerite’s love interest, creating one of the twistiest love triangles in YA.

Despite some thorny issues and a general lack of love for love triangles, the romance proves intriguing, with ample room for both the relationship and the story to develop in the next two projected volumes in this new series.

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Also by Claudia Gray:

Spellcaster