VLK249 reviewed Sudanna, sudanna by Brian Herbert
Review of 'Sudanna, sudanna' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Oh, "Sudanna, Sudanna" you're such a weird book. An interesting and very weird book. There are several characters that are followed in this novel, but the primary are Prussirian, Hailey, and a Holo cop. Prussirian is the criminal rebel wannabe sort of rockstar guy who plays the forbidden instrument and with it connects with his ancestors. Hailey is the quintessential 40-ish over-bearing father figure, who is paranoid that everything is going to get him. And Holo Cops are the Good Thought enforcers, of which the particular one wants a new, shiny office. Sounds pretty normal...
Except, these are aliens who are flat as a board, eat sunshine, and have emojis for faces.
Surprised yet?
The book is incredibly Orwellian, with a little bit of Scientology's auditing sessions thrown in for good measure. Their "religion" hails to the almighty Mamacita, an aging super computer who has set forth a system of …
Oh, "Sudanna, Sudanna" you're such a weird book. An interesting and very weird book. There are several characters that are followed in this novel, but the primary are Prussirian, Hailey, and a Holo cop. Prussirian is the criminal rebel wannabe sort of rockstar guy who plays the forbidden instrument and with it connects with his ancestors. Hailey is the quintessential 40-ish over-bearing father figure, who is paranoid that everything is going to get him. And Holo Cops are the Good Thought enforcers, of which the particular one wants a new, shiny office. Sounds pretty normal...
Except, these are aliens who are flat as a board, eat sunshine, and have emojis for faces.
Surprised yet?
The book is incredibly Orwellian, with a little bit of Scientology's auditing sessions thrown in for good measure. Their "religion" hails to the almighty Mamacita, an aging super computer who has set forth a system of asinine, personality-crushing rules for its Ut populace to follow. The story touches the system, the world, and the alien life upon it as best as it can in its novel length, and if you viewed this through the lens of the novel "1984" you'd forget the oddities about the planet and its peoples. The characters are incredibly relatable.
But, like 1984, expect this novel to be a downer. There isn't going to be this grand victory, and the wants of the people are piffling yet human and needed. My most major gripe of this book is the stuff around Hailey's nearly 16-year-old daughter... who falls in love with the ADULT rocker guy, marries, does the diddly, and yeah. Gentlemen, teenage girls aren't that stupid. It was so dumb. So very, very dumb. And then she quickly Opheliaed her way out. Like, wow... women are misunderstood and emotional and useless creatures to this author family. That part ages poorly, and this is why I dropped it a star.
Otherwise, you can guess the cons in this by reading it and if you're the right reader for this type of work, which is to say, most people aren't. But I like exploring very alien worlds, and this fulfilled that need nicely.
