Sharon Shinn's new novel is advertised as "a brilliant new twist on the classic story of Jane Eyre," and is an intriguing blend of science fiction and romance written in a formal style clearly reminiscent of the original. The apparent dichotomy of retaining the strictures of the divisions between the social classes of the mid-19th century and the strata of the interstellar society of the far future is explained by the concept of graded citizenship. In the early days of space exploration, private entrepreneurs financed the prohibitively expensive travel and terraforming; human nature changing least of all, they wished to keep such advantages and wealth as they had accrued. Some centuries later there are five levels of full citizenship; half-citizenship, the have-nots; and non-citizenship -- cyborgs, criminals and the like. Half-citizens are dependent on their own hard work, which may one day permit earning or purchasing an elevation in rank, or luck, being adopted or marrying into it -- but the different levels are held separate by convention, and our half-cit heroine foresees a lifetime of hard work and borderline poverty before her.

Jenna Starborn is a young girl whose costly artificial generation was commissioned by a woman who subsequently succeeded in bearing a natural son. Thereafter ignoring Jenna to the point of maltreatment and refusing to formally adopt her, she denied Jenna the rights and liberties of full citizenship. Jenna is rescued from indifference and brutality when a week of enforced of starvation ends in hospitalisation and the intervention of Social Services. She seizes the opportunity to escape her miserable existence and gladly opts to travel to another planet to enroll as a subsidised scholar for training as a nuclear generator technician. Her life at the Charity school is quiet, ordered and predictable; she has no wealth or privileges other than a couple of friends and her increasing satisfaction as she achieves academic success. She firmly believes in her own worth, however, following the PanEquists' rationale that all things in the universe are of equal importance, neither inferior nor superior to another plant, being or creation. Jenna receives a gift of a handheld electronic recorder, with which she converses, using it as a journal, and allowing the author to incorporate the "Dear Reader" device used by Charlotte Bront�, Jane Austen and their contemporaries!

The tale of human endurance, love, loss and redemption is of no surprise to anyone who has read or seen an adaptation of Jane Eyre. Even so, it is interesting to see how the plot can survive the centuries and emerge transformed into a new, futuristic story. It would not be a demanding read for 12-year-olds and upwards, if the younger readers can adapt to a writing style that mimics the refined formality of the Victorian era. The words themselves are not archaic, but the phraseology is such that one never forgets the delineation inherent in both Bront�'s world, and the brave new worlds of Shinn's imagination.

I truly enjoyed Jenna Starborn. She is a believable character and her circumstances arouse sympathy, while her determination and moral fiber encourage support and admiration. The vagaries of interstellar travel and the contrasting naturally hostile yet artificially decadent environments of the various inhabited planets are quite recognisable to any science fiction reader, and the personalities interacting within and above Jenna's social sphere are unsurprising to those who study human nature in any age. The curiosity of the book is that while the plot and characters are attractive, my foreknowledge of the outcome combined with the deliberate use of such formal language served as devices to hold me at a certain distance; Shinn's decision to retell the tale, and also to imitate the style of writing, risks less than complete immersion in the story for her readers. This was my introduction to Sharon Shinn, but she is a competent storyteller and merits further reading. I would only hope that her own original stories would hold me more in thrall than Jenna Starborn.

[ by Jenny Ivor ]
Rambles: 20 July 2002