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Cassandra Kresnov #1
Crossover
Crossover is the first novel in a series which follows the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial person, or android, created by the League, one side of an interstellar war against the more powerful, conservative Federation. Cassandra is an experimental design — more intelligent, more creative, and far more dangerous than any that have preceded her. But with her intellect come questions, and a moral awakening. She deserts the League and heads incognito into the space of her former enemy, the Federation, in search of a new life.
Her chosen world is Callay, and its enormous, decadent capital metropolis of Tanusha, where the concerns of the war are literally and figuratively so many light years away. But the war between the League and the Federation was ideological as much as political, with much of that ideological dispute regarding the very existence of artificial sentience and the rules that govern its creation. Cassandra discovers that even in Tanusha, the powerful entities of this bloody conflict have wound their tentacles. Many in the League and the Federation have cause to want her dead, and Cassandra’s history, inevitably, catches up with her.
Cassandra finds herself at the mercy of a society whose values preclude her own right even to exist. But her presence in Tanusha reveals other fault lines, and when Federal agents attempt to assassinate the Callayan president, she finds herself thrust into the service of her former enemies, using her lethal skills to attempt to protect her former enemies from forces beyond their ability to control. As she struggles for her place and survival in a new world, Cassandra must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence
Her chosen world is Callay, and its enormous, decadent capital metropolis of Tanusha, where the concerns of the war are literally and figuratively so many light years away. But the war between the League and the Federation was ideological as much as political, with much of that ideological dispute regarding the very existence of artificial sentience and the rules that govern its creation. Cassandra discovers that even in Tanusha, the powerful entities of this bloody conflict have wound their tentacles. Many in the League and the Federation have cause to want her dead, and Cassandra’s history, inevitably, catches up with her.
Cassandra finds herself at the mercy of a society whose values preclude her own right even to exist. But her presence in Tanusha reveals other fault lines, and when Federal agents attempt to assassinate the Callayan president, she finds herself thrust into the service of her former enemies, using her lethal skills to attempt to protect her former enemies from forces beyond their ability to control. As she struggles for her place and survival in a new world, Cassandra must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence
467 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Joel Shepherd
26 books731 followersJoel Shepherd is an Australian science fiction author. He moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family when he was seven, where he later studied film and television arts at Curtin University. He now lives in Adelaide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
November 15, 2023
Cassandra Kresnov is a high-grade replicant, a GI super-soldier of the League. Well, ex-League now, or so she devoutly hopes. Ordinary GI's -- artificial humans, with enhanced strength and reflexes -- aren't all that smart, it turns out. Cassandra is an experiment -- what if we build a GI who's really *human*, as best we can, and see what happens.....
What happens is, Cassandra wants out....
This is an absorbing exploration of what it means to be human, as seen through the eyes of a defecting super-soldier, who's really, really sick of war, and just wants to settle down, get a job, get a *life*-- and have sex. *Lots* of sex. Cassandra "liked sex when she was happy, and sex when she was sad, and, most particularly, sex when she was uptight or frustrated."
What she gets, instead, is disassembly by agents of the FIA, a last minute rescue by the CSA, a bogged-down court-case and a political hardball-match. With Sandy as the football. The impasse is broken when Dark Star, her old League outfit, raids Callay to assassinate their President. By chance, Sandy is nearby, and saves the President's life. Which is, after all, a time-tested way to make an ally....
Shepherd is a fine storyteller, and I got misty-eyed more than once over the hard row Cassandra has to hoe. Highly recommended. First of a series, and I'll be reading on. This one, thankfully, is nicely self-contained.
Shepherd has finished the series at #6. I've now read them all. The first 4 and the last are first-rate. I commend them to your attention, as the series has largely escaped notice. I don't know why. If fast-paced military SF appeals to you, with detailed world-building and a thoughtful approach to politics.... Well. Do give the series a try. I've put the series (with #1 as the proxy, and you should start there) on my "Desert Island" list of the 100 Best Ever. If you have missed these, and like this sort of thing, you have a treat in store. High marks.
What happens is, Cassandra wants out....
This is an absorbing exploration of what it means to be human, as seen through the eyes of a defecting super-soldier, who's really, really sick of war, and just wants to settle down, get a job, get a *life*-- and have sex. *Lots* of sex. Cassandra "liked sex when she was happy, and sex when she was sad, and, most particularly, sex when she was uptight or frustrated."
What she gets, instead, is disassembly by agents of the FIA, a last minute rescue by the CSA, a bogged-down court-case and a political hardball-match. With Sandy as the football. The impasse is broken when Dark Star, her old League outfit, raids Callay to assassinate their President. By chance, Sandy is nearby, and saves the President's life. Which is, after all, a time-tested way to make an ally....
Shepherd is a fine storyteller, and I got misty-eyed more than once over the hard row Cassandra has to hoe. Highly recommended. First of a series, and I'll be reading on. This one, thankfully, is nicely self-contained.
Shepherd has finished the series at #6. I've now read them all. The first 4 and the last are first-rate. I commend them to your attention, as the series has largely escaped notice. I don't know why. If fast-paced military SF appeals to you, with detailed world-building and a thoughtful approach to politics.... Well. Do give the series a try. I've put the series (with #1 as the proxy, and you should start there) on my "Desert Island" list of the 100 Best Ever. If you have missed these, and like this sort of thing, you have a treat in store. High marks.
July 5, 2010
I've been a fan of cyberpunk for a while but too much of the genre has been subsumed into the techno-thriller genre. Dropping the philosophical aspects of the early genre in favor of action and little else, which is a shame.
This is definitely not one of those books. It's spent as much, or more, time considering the implications of the heroine's status as an artificial human as it did on the rest of the plot. And it did, if not subtly, then with a degree of skill that made it so compelling that the scenes were as compelling as the action. That question is explored from the macrocosm of the two predominant cultures, locked in a Cold War over the matter, down to the personal relationships the main character has with the people around her. It's a very well done aspect of the book that's worked seamlessly into a compelling plot.
The plot, and the action it drives, does have a lot in common with Ghost In the Shell, particularly the Stand Alone Complex continuity. It's not a carbon copy by any means but Cassandra and Motoko are cut from the same cloth. Which is not a bad thing by any means, the book is hardly derivative.
I won't spoil the plot but suffice to say it's a good one. Cassandra is naturally dropped into the middle of a complex knot of political intrigue. Her personal struggle becomes one of the central elements in deciding how a nasty covert operation goes. There's a good dose of action and a good dose of political intrigue. Both elements are well handled and feed into the overall whole.
It's hard to explain it all with out spoiling it but suffice to say it's well done, and ongoing in the sequels.
I'm impressed with Crossover and am already starting on the sequels.
This is definitely not one of those books. It's spent as much, or more, time considering the implications of the heroine's status as an artificial human as it did on the rest of the plot. And it did, if not subtly, then with a degree of skill that made it so compelling that the scenes were as compelling as the action. That question is explored from the macrocosm of the two predominant cultures, locked in a Cold War over the matter, down to the personal relationships the main character has with the people around her. It's a very well done aspect of the book that's worked seamlessly into a compelling plot.
The plot, and the action it drives, does have a lot in common with Ghost In the Shell, particularly the Stand Alone Complex continuity. It's not a carbon copy by any means but Cassandra and Motoko are cut from the same cloth. Which is not a bad thing by any means, the book is hardly derivative.
I won't spoil the plot but suffice to say it's a good one. Cassandra is naturally dropped into the middle of a complex knot of political intrigue. Her personal struggle becomes one of the central elements in deciding how a nasty covert operation goes. There's a good dose of action and a good dose of political intrigue. Both elements are well handled and feed into the overall whole.
It's hard to explain it all with out spoiling it but suffice to say it's well done, and ongoing in the sequels.
I'm impressed with Crossover and am already starting on the sequels.
February 23, 2017
I almost feel like this book needs a movie style lead - HIGH OCTANE THRILL RIDE!!! Why hasn't this been made into a movie? It would be fantastic!
Cassandra Kresnov is an Artificial Person who was created by the League to be a virtually indestructible soldier. But in Cassandra's case they actually made her sentient and human enough that she had a crisis of conscience and went AWOL. After a year spent on another planet she heads to Tanusha to find the perfect job and perfect life. Unfortunately some bad things happen and she doesn't get the peace and quite she deserves.
I, for one, am thankful for that fact. It would be infinitely more boring to read that book. The really great thing about this book is that it combines some epic action scenes with a really excellent story. I very highly recommend this book. I've ordered the next two, which appear to have been lost by the post office, and I will be reading them as soon as the post office finds them and gets them to me. This is not to be missed.
Edit: It's been over a month since I read this and I keep going back to it as pretty much the perfect book. Upping to 5 stars.
Cassandra Kresnov is an Artificial Person who was created by the League to be a virtually indestructible soldier. But in Cassandra's case they actually made her sentient and human enough that she had a crisis of conscience and went AWOL. After a year spent on another planet she heads to Tanusha to find the perfect job and perfect life. Unfortunately some bad things happen and she doesn't get the peace and quite she deserves.
I, for one, am thankful for that fact. It would be infinitely more boring to read that book. The really great thing about this book is that it combines some epic action scenes with a really excellent story. I very highly recommend this book. I've ordered the next two, which appear to have been lost by the post office, and I will be reading them as soon as the post office finds them and gets them to me. This is not to be missed.
Edit: It's been over a month since I read this and I keep going back to it as pretty much the perfect book. Upping to 5 stars.
August 29, 2018
A reasonable space opera-cum-cyberpunk novel featuring a artificially created being designed for war coming to terms with not being at war. And then, of course, she ends up in a lot of fights anyway.
Cassandra comes over as sufficiently non-human to make me think the author put some effort in, and sufficiently human to be relatable. She's also suitably kickass.
The society is clearly carefully constructed. A lot of work went into it. I'm not sure I found it entirely appealing, but it is different. There's more of a mix of Asian cultures here where typical sci-fi settings tend to focus heavily on western. And this is Asian as in Indian rather than Chinese, though a whole raft of cultures are actually in there, all trying to maintain an individual identity in the face of ubiquitous communications technology. I'm not sure I really buy that, but it's possible.
I got this as an audiobook, so a comment on the narration: I was not entirely impressed. That said, I think listening to this rather than reading it got me over the 'sentence fragment' barrier that a number of other reviews mention. I'm unsure whether I'll go for the audio or kindle version of the second book, but I'll likely get to that in a bit.
Recommended for people who like their heroines of the female and kickass variety, but aren't too worried over the technology really making sense. This is not even close to hard sci-fi; it's rather more in the William Gibson school of tech (sounds right, but isn't based in reality).
Cassandra comes over as sufficiently non-human to make me think the author put some effort in, and sufficiently human to be relatable. She's also suitably kickass.
The society is clearly carefully constructed. A lot of work went into it. I'm not sure I found it entirely appealing, but it is different. There's more of a mix of Asian cultures here where typical sci-fi settings tend to focus heavily on western. And this is Asian as in Indian rather than Chinese, though a whole raft of cultures are actually in there, all trying to maintain an individual identity in the face of ubiquitous communications technology. I'm not sure I really buy that, but it's possible.
I got this as an audiobook, so a comment on the narration: I was not entirely impressed. That said, I think listening to this rather than reading it got me over the 'sentence fragment' barrier that a number of other reviews mention. I'm unsure whether I'll go for the audio or kindle version of the second book, but I'll likely get to that in a bit.
Recommended for people who like their heroines of the female and kickass variety, but aren't too worried over the technology really making sense. This is not even close to hard sci-fi; it's rather more in the William Gibson school of tech (sounds right, but isn't based in reality).
September 16, 2015
tl;dr it was okay. But if you’re thinking about giving this one a shot I’d say softly but with a lot of feeling don’t. Also this book is like a sedative for me I swear, I slept on top of my kindle no less than five times while trying to read it, make of that what you will.
For as much as this book is technological and futuristic, their societies apparently haven't left a lot of tired shit behind. Sexism and misogyny seem prevalent, as well as racism and a fear of what is "other". A common theme in this new world we're being presented is how they reverence history and culture, Callay is made of what seems to be a mixture of different earth cultures, the author throws the words indian, arabic and asian around a lot, both in architectural references and in how he describes people, though never going further than that. After a while it started getting to me, especially when a lot of his characters would make racist generalizations. I think my main problem is that we’re a billion years ahead of where we are today, but cultures/people that are stigmatized and stereotyped by us in the western part of the world are still being treated just like that. It becomes glaringly obvious that while the author is trying to have us believe that these cultures are very prominent in that world and the citizens of Callay are by all accounts direct descendants and very much trying to keep them alive, he himself can’t get past shallow descriptions rendering the book’s world poor and superficial.
It escalates to the point where you feel like the author is definitely going out of his way trying to make us aware of the irony of the poor development of his own world, of his character looking "european" (white) and being called out on that, like we're all in on the same joke. Nope, dude, you're not being inclusive or clever, you're just being racist, be better than that.
As for Cassandra, she’s an interesting character, because she's an android all the philosophical questions about her not being biologically human are there, which makes for a compelling storyline, definitely. Especially when we learn that her creators, the League, for all they're advanced, treat her and other androids as less, and the federation, for all they're behind, have a problem with androids exactly because they don't.
However, it was her relationship with other GIs (that’s how they call them) that intrigued me the most. Because they’re not built like her, she seems to patronize them as much as humans do her before she proves them wrong. Other GIs don’t have as much critical thinking as she does, don’t experience emotions as she does, and thus she doesn’t believe them capable of much. She isn’t angry at the people who created her for not giving them more, nor seems interested in helping them. She just seems to pity their existences, or get angry at the GIs themselves.
Later it’s proved that one of the GIs Cassandra sort of contempted was capable of much more personal growth than Cassandra thought possible, which was definitely an interesting place for the story to go, but little is explored about that.
I think I’d have liked this book a lot more if it were about a GI rebellion against the people who would create them complete beings made of “different stuff” only to treat them as if they’re less because of it. Maybe that's where the story will go, maybe Cassandra will eventually step up as the leader of a rebellion, but right now it's hard to tell.
Especially because we never have a clear picture of what the conflict between the League and the Federation, the one Cassandra fled in search of a "normal" life, even is about. What can be gathered is that the Federation is conservative and focused on old earth traditions (even if they're willing to use League technology), and the League broke from that to become what you'd expect a futuristic society to be (inclusive, without the old stupid shit, incredible tech etc etc). But the League is apparently losing the war, and reverting back to what they were trying to escape from, and so in their quest to be better they became the same, if not worse. Their fight seems to be ideological, but when it started, how it really is going, among other relevant questions, we are never really told. Everyone in this book is mostly like “politics go right over my head” and yeah, there’s a lot of political talk but it doesn’t explain much, it’s boring and both sides seem terrible.
AND FINALLY my biggest problem with this book: sex and sexuality. From moment one Cassandra is described as a sexual being, she enjoys sex and lots of it, as she reminds you every 5 fucking minutes. Which is fine, I'd never shame a character for being sexual, but it does become a problem when every other sentence in the book reverts back to it. Cassandra wants to get “nailed”, she fucked a lot of guys, she’s so straight and likes so much sex, she wants to fuck every guy she sees. This book is built on the male gaze, and doesn’t stray far from it. Maybe there’s a point to it, I don’t know, Cassandra seems to think she has a healthy relationship with sex, but some passages prove that she’s pretty far from it, I mean look at this for example:
"You’re way off target, Sevi." Blandly, and utterly unhelpful. Ghano had sat on the couch beside her. Brushed affectionately at her hair, smoothing her brow. "Tell me what’s the matter, Sandy." His hand rested upon her cheek, smooth and warm. "You’ll feel better if you tell me, I promise. I want to help you, I hate seeing you this upset." And he’d leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Blatant manipulation," she’d murmured. Ghano had grinned at her, leaning close. "Of course." Another kiss, this time upon the lips. Rarely one to refuse an invitation, Sandy had responded. They’d made love, first on the couch and then moving to Ghano’s bunk, as they had numerous times before. It was hardly a regular patient/psychologist relationship, Sandy knew. And she further knew that with Ghano it was mostly because he and the entire psych department dedicated to her study knew that she — and most GIs, come to that — had precious little compunction about whom she screwed, never having been socialised in the art of being picky. Nor taught a common-sense reason to say no. And GIs were nothing if not logical… and in that sense, she was just like the others. Which was not to say that Ghano didn’t like her — he did. And obviously he enjoyed having sex with her … everyone else did, and she had a reputation to uphold. But mostly, he did it because it was the best way to get information from her. She knew this, and in those comfortable, lingering moments she usually didn’t disappoint him."
WHAT THE FUCK, RIGHT. There are a lot of parts where she mentions she usually had a literal line by her bunk, because that was how her peers knew how to show her their admiration, even if they didn’t get the same thing out of it as she did. So maybe eventually all the sex talk will have a point, but so far it just seems to be there so the author has an excuse to talk about Cassandra’s body and describe lots of dismissable sex scenes. Also, for someone who enjoys orgasms so much, Cassandra talks very little if at all about sex toys and masturbation, which just goes to show a man wrote this book. To say this is problematic is an understatement.
That’s not to mention all the queerbating, like this couldn’t get any worse. Up until a certain point of the book, a lot of Cassadra’s statements about sex had me thinking she was queer, and the text did leave this up to interpretation, alas this dream shattered pretty quick, and I made me peace with it, she’s straight, it’s fine. But then, of course, the lady who eventually becomes Cassadra’s friend is revealed to be bi, and this is where it gets fucking stupid. There is a whole scene where Cassandra is topless while Vanessa (the friend) is giving her a massage, and then Cassandra decides to tease her and gets all over Vanessa’s personal space and is like “i wonder what it would be like…” and it’s all downhill from there. They flirt a lot, but reminders that Cassandra is straight and Vanessa has a husband appear at every moment, or Vanessa stops in her tracks when she’s daydreaming about Cassandra, because Cassandra only likes men, you get the picture. By the end of the story they kiss and are mistaken for a couple a few times.
Listen, it's okay to have a character question their sexuality, but the thing is, in this book at no point Cassandra doubts her preferences openly, making the scenes where Cassandra and Vanessa are together troublesome, to say the least. Their relationship could develop organically, it's clear they like each other, but the author's tendency of using them to act out little fantasies and then adding an unspoken NO HOMO after every single one of them ruined anything that could come out of there for me. It was queerbaiting of the worst kind and it's unforgivable.
I won’t extend myself here because I’m already tired and it’s late, but if you’re wondering how Callay and the league treat queer people SO AM I, nothing much is mentioned about it, and what is didn’t give me much hope. Also people who are trans, ace, agender or identify as any other type of gender/sexuality are apparently non existent.
This book has interesting characters that I cared about, but as my wall of text proves it was not an enjoyable read and Crossover just didnd’t work for me. The writing style is less than ideal too, with choppy sentences that instead of making the book flow just distract you with how WEIRD they are. I'd give this one a miss if I were you, there are probably better books about this theme out there.
For as much as this book is technological and futuristic, their societies apparently haven't left a lot of tired shit behind. Sexism and misogyny seem prevalent, as well as racism and a fear of what is "other". A common theme in this new world we're being presented is how they reverence history and culture, Callay is made of what seems to be a mixture of different earth cultures, the author throws the words indian, arabic and asian around a lot, both in architectural references and in how he describes people, though never going further than that. After a while it started getting to me, especially when a lot of his characters would make racist generalizations. I think my main problem is that we’re a billion years ahead of where we are today, but cultures/people that are stigmatized and stereotyped by us in the western part of the world are still being treated just like that. It becomes glaringly obvious that while the author is trying to have us believe that these cultures are very prominent in that world and the citizens of Callay are by all accounts direct descendants and very much trying to keep them alive, he himself can’t get past shallow descriptions rendering the book’s world poor and superficial.
It escalates to the point where you feel like the author is definitely going out of his way trying to make us aware of the irony of the poor development of his own world, of his character looking "european" (white) and being called out on that, like we're all in on the same joke. Nope, dude, you're not being inclusive or clever, you're just being racist, be better than that.
As for Cassandra, she’s an interesting character, because she's an android all the philosophical questions about her not being biologically human are there, which makes for a compelling storyline, definitely. Especially when we learn that her creators, the League, for all they're advanced, treat her and other androids as less, and the federation, for all they're behind, have a problem with androids exactly because they don't.
However, it was her relationship with other GIs (that’s how they call them) that intrigued me the most. Because they’re not built like her, she seems to patronize them as much as humans do her before she proves them wrong. Other GIs don’t have as much critical thinking as she does, don’t experience emotions as she does, and thus she doesn’t believe them capable of much. She isn’t angry at the people who created her for not giving them more, nor seems interested in helping them. She just seems to pity their existences, or get angry at the GIs themselves.
Later it’s proved that one of the GIs Cassandra sort of contempted was capable of much more personal growth than Cassandra thought possible, which was definitely an interesting place for the story to go, but little is explored about that.
I think I’d have liked this book a lot more if it were about a GI rebellion against the people who would create them complete beings made of “different stuff” only to treat them as if they’re less because of it. Maybe that's where the story will go, maybe Cassandra will eventually step up as the leader of a rebellion, but right now it's hard to tell.
Especially because we never have a clear picture of what the conflict between the League and the Federation, the one Cassandra fled in search of a "normal" life, even is about. What can be gathered is that the Federation is conservative and focused on old earth traditions (even if they're willing to use League technology), and the League broke from that to become what you'd expect a futuristic society to be (inclusive, without the old stupid shit, incredible tech etc etc). But the League is apparently losing the war, and reverting back to what they were trying to escape from, and so in their quest to be better they became the same, if not worse. Their fight seems to be ideological, but when it started, how it really is going, among other relevant questions, we are never really told. Everyone in this book is mostly like “politics go right over my head” and yeah, there’s a lot of political talk but it doesn’t explain much, it’s boring and both sides seem terrible.
AND FINALLY my biggest problem with this book: sex and sexuality. From moment one Cassandra is described as a sexual being, she enjoys sex and lots of it, as she reminds you every 5 fucking minutes. Which is fine, I'd never shame a character for being sexual, but it does become a problem when every other sentence in the book reverts back to it. Cassandra wants to get “nailed”, she fucked a lot of guys, she’s so straight and likes so much sex, she wants to fuck every guy she sees. This book is built on the male gaze, and doesn’t stray far from it. Maybe there’s a point to it, I don’t know, Cassandra seems to think she has a healthy relationship with sex, but some passages prove that she’s pretty far from it, I mean look at this for example:
"You’re way off target, Sevi." Blandly, and utterly unhelpful. Ghano had sat on the couch beside her. Brushed affectionately at her hair, smoothing her brow. "Tell me what’s the matter, Sandy." His hand rested upon her cheek, smooth and warm. "You’ll feel better if you tell me, I promise. I want to help you, I hate seeing you this upset." And he’d leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Blatant manipulation," she’d murmured. Ghano had grinned at her, leaning close. "Of course." Another kiss, this time upon the lips. Rarely one to refuse an invitation, Sandy had responded. They’d made love, first on the couch and then moving to Ghano’s bunk, as they had numerous times before. It was hardly a regular patient/psychologist relationship, Sandy knew. And she further knew that with Ghano it was mostly because he and the entire psych department dedicated to her study knew that she — and most GIs, come to that — had precious little compunction about whom she screwed, never having been socialised in the art of being picky. Nor taught a common-sense reason to say no. And GIs were nothing if not logical… and in that sense, she was just like the others. Which was not to say that Ghano didn’t like her — he did. And obviously he enjoyed having sex with her … everyone else did, and she had a reputation to uphold. But mostly, he did it because it was the best way to get information from her. She knew this, and in those comfortable, lingering moments she usually didn’t disappoint him."
WHAT THE FUCK, RIGHT. There are a lot of parts where she mentions she usually had a literal line by her bunk, because that was how her peers knew how to show her their admiration, even if they didn’t get the same thing out of it as she did. So maybe eventually all the sex talk will have a point, but so far it just seems to be there so the author has an excuse to talk about Cassandra’s body and describe lots of dismissable sex scenes. Also, for someone who enjoys orgasms so much, Cassandra talks very little if at all about sex toys and masturbation, which just goes to show a man wrote this book. To say this is problematic is an understatement.
That’s not to mention all the queerbating, like this couldn’t get any worse. Up until a certain point of the book, a lot of Cassadra’s statements about sex had me thinking she was queer, and the text did leave this up to interpretation, alas this dream shattered pretty quick, and I made me peace with it, she’s straight, it’s fine. But then, of course, the lady who eventually becomes Cassadra’s friend is revealed to be bi, and this is where it gets fucking stupid. There is a whole scene where Cassandra is topless while Vanessa (the friend) is giving her a massage, and then Cassandra decides to tease her and gets all over Vanessa’s personal space and is like “i wonder what it would be like…” and it’s all downhill from there. They flirt a lot, but reminders that Cassandra is straight and Vanessa has a husband appear at every moment, or Vanessa stops in her tracks when she’s daydreaming about Cassandra, because Cassandra only likes men, you get the picture. By the end of the story they kiss and are mistaken for a couple a few times.
Listen, it's okay to have a character question their sexuality, but the thing is, in this book at no point Cassandra doubts her preferences openly, making the scenes where Cassandra and Vanessa are together troublesome, to say the least. Their relationship could develop organically, it's clear they like each other, but the author's tendency of using them to act out little fantasies and then adding an unspoken NO HOMO after every single one of them ruined anything that could come out of there for me. It was queerbaiting of the worst kind and it's unforgivable.
I won’t extend myself here because I’m already tired and it’s late, but if you’re wondering how Callay and the league treat queer people SO AM I, nothing much is mentioned about it, and what is didn’t give me much hope. Also people who are trans, ace, agender or identify as any other type of gender/sexuality are apparently non existent.
This book has interesting characters that I cared about, but as my wall of text proves it was not an enjoyable read and Crossover just didnd’t work for me. The writing style is less than ideal too, with choppy sentences that instead of making the book flow just distract you with how WEIRD they are. I'd give this one a miss if I were you, there are probably better books about this theme out there.
April 9, 2010
Australian author Joel Shepherd came to my attention via his excellent current fantasy series, A TRIAL OF BLOOD AND STEEL, which I was so impressed by that I decided to check out his earlier novels. Crossover is the first novel in his CASSANDRA KRESNOV trilogy, and was also his first published book, back in 2001 in Australia. The series is now also in print in the US thanks to Pyr, with lovely and evocative cover illustrations by Stephen Martiniere.
The story revolves around Cassandra (Sandy) Kresnov, a synthetic person: to the naked eye she looks like a normal person, but she's been artificially created by the League to fight in their war against the Federation. She's also the most advanced type of her kind: not only considerably stronger and more intelligent than a normal person, but also gifted with the ability to think laterally, which has given her a more human-like psyche — a conscience, if you will. After deserting the League, Sandy is trying to settle down in the Federation, but she soon discovers that it's just as impossible to abandon her prior life as it is to ignore who — and what — she is.
Crossover is a great example of intelligent, well-written science fiction. Joel Shepherd has created a fascinating multi-dimensional heroine in Cassandra. While many people don't accept her for what she is, whether because of her League origins or because of the simple fact that she's different, her advanced intelligence gives her many of the same traits and drives that regular humans have. At the same time, she is so much more advanced than most other synthetics that she's never fully connected with them either, and despite forming strong emotional and physical bonds with them, they regard her more with worship than love.
Crossover is set entirely in Tanusha, the capital city of Callay, in the Federation. Joel Shepherd does an excellent job describing this fascinating metropolis, and sets some truly riveting action scenes in it – a few rank with the best work of action experts like Peter F. Hamilton. The story is set entirely in the Federation and we get a solid idea of the differences between Federation and League because, just like in his fantasy series, the author doesn't shy away from focusing in considerable depth on the political structures and values of his fictional societies. Some readers may not be as enthused with this level of detail; it noticably slows the story down a few times and also sneaks into some of the dialogue, with the occasional instance of two characters delivering paragraph-length lectures to each other. However, providing this level of detail serves the dual purpose of making the fictional world more "real" and lending considerable depth to the differences between the two opposing sides.
Cassandra is joined by a fairly large cast of side-characters, some of which are better realized (e.g., Vanessa Rice, the executive-turned-SWAT-agent) than others. Especially some of the government officials started to blend together a bit for me, and some minor characters were introduced so briefly and had such similar names than I found it hard to keep track of them. Still, the plot moves along at such a fast pace that it's not a huge problem if you're not entirely sure which SWAT agent made which joke before, and the main characters are always clearly defined.
All in all, Crossover is an intelligent page-turner with a fascinating protagonist, a well-realized world and some of the most exciting action scenes I've read in years. While the concept of an artificial person with more human emotions and intelligence is nothing new, Joel Shepherd has given it a memorable new face with Cassandra Kresnov. I genuinely look forward to finding out how her story continues in Breakaway, the second novel in the series.
(This review was also published at the Fantasy Literature website: www.fantasyliterature.com - come check us out!)
The story revolves around Cassandra (Sandy) Kresnov, a synthetic person: to the naked eye she looks like a normal person, but she's been artificially created by the League to fight in their war against the Federation. She's also the most advanced type of her kind: not only considerably stronger and more intelligent than a normal person, but also gifted with the ability to think laterally, which has given her a more human-like psyche — a conscience, if you will. After deserting the League, Sandy is trying to settle down in the Federation, but she soon discovers that it's just as impossible to abandon her prior life as it is to ignore who — and what — she is.
Crossover is a great example of intelligent, well-written science fiction. Joel Shepherd has created a fascinating multi-dimensional heroine in Cassandra. While many people don't accept her for what she is, whether because of her League origins or because of the simple fact that she's different, her advanced intelligence gives her many of the same traits and drives that regular humans have. At the same time, she is so much more advanced than most other synthetics that she's never fully connected with them either, and despite forming strong emotional and physical bonds with them, they regard her more with worship than love.
Crossover is set entirely in Tanusha, the capital city of Callay, in the Federation. Joel Shepherd does an excellent job describing this fascinating metropolis, and sets some truly riveting action scenes in it – a few rank with the best work of action experts like Peter F. Hamilton. The story is set entirely in the Federation and we get a solid idea of the differences between Federation and League because, just like in his fantasy series, the author doesn't shy away from focusing in considerable depth on the political structures and values of his fictional societies. Some readers may not be as enthused with this level of detail; it noticably slows the story down a few times and also sneaks into some of the dialogue, with the occasional instance of two characters delivering paragraph-length lectures to each other. However, providing this level of detail serves the dual purpose of making the fictional world more "real" and lending considerable depth to the differences between the two opposing sides.
Cassandra is joined by a fairly large cast of side-characters, some of which are better realized (e.g., Vanessa Rice, the executive-turned-SWAT-agent) than others. Especially some of the government officials started to blend together a bit for me, and some minor characters were introduced so briefly and had such similar names than I found it hard to keep track of them. Still, the plot moves along at such a fast pace that it's not a huge problem if you're not entirely sure which SWAT agent made which joke before, and the main characters are always clearly defined.
All in all, Crossover is an intelligent page-turner with a fascinating protagonist, a well-realized world and some of the most exciting action scenes I've read in years. While the concept of an artificial person with more human emotions and intelligence is nothing new, Joel Shepherd has given it a memorable new face with Cassandra Kresnov. I genuinely look forward to finding out how her story continues in Breakaway, the second novel in the series.
(This review was also published at the Fantasy Literature website: www.fantasyliterature.com - come check us out!)
August 29, 2020
This is a reread for me. First time around was when it was first published back in the early 2000s, and I've been a fan of this author ever since. The only books of his I haven't read at this point are books 5 and 6 of this series, so I'm doing a slow reread of them.
Cassandra Kresnov is a GI (General Issue android) from a pro-biotechnology culture called the League. The League had been at war with the Federation, but the war is now over with an inconclusive result. Cassandra has left the League and is now trying to live under a false identity on the planet of Callay in the enormous city of Tanusha. GIs are not legal in the Federation, and a GI as advanced as Cassandra is would be seen by Federation culture as a killing machine. Cassandra is successfully doing so when she's attacked, kidnapped and nearly disassembled by a mysterious group and only saved when a Tanushan SWAT team rescues her. "Rescue" is a difficult word for what awaits Cassandra as a known GI in a culture that's hostile to them.
This is a fairly straight-forward action piece with an intelligence agency from a large interstellar government performing illegal black ops in a major city of one of its member planets. What makes it really interesting, besides the fantastic character of Cassandra herself, is the well-realized multicultural nature of Tanusha as a society where we get to see various Asian cultural elements more dominant than European ones. There's also the element of the status of a GI in an otherwise egalitarian society and whether she can actually belong.
I loved this the first time around, and I still liked it this time, but as you'd expect his later work is much better written.
Cassandra Kresnov is a GI (General Issue android) from a pro-biotechnology culture called the League. The League had been at war with the Federation, but the war is now over with an inconclusive result. Cassandra has left the League and is now trying to live under a false identity on the planet of Callay in the enormous city of Tanusha. GIs are not legal in the Federation, and a GI as advanced as Cassandra is would be seen by Federation culture as a killing machine. Cassandra is successfully doing so when she's attacked, kidnapped and nearly disassembled by a mysterious group and only saved when a Tanushan SWAT team rescues her. "Rescue" is a difficult word for what awaits Cassandra as a known GI in a culture that's hostile to them.
This is a fairly straight-forward action piece with an intelligence agency from a large interstellar government performing illegal black ops in a major city of one of its member planets. What makes it really interesting, besides the fantastic character of Cassandra herself, is the well-realized multicultural nature of Tanusha as a society where we get to see various Asian cultural elements more dominant than European ones. There's also the element of the status of a GI in an otherwise egalitarian society and whether she can actually belong.
I loved this the first time around, and I still liked it this time, but as you'd expect his later work is much better written.
May 27, 2008
Fairly smart science fiction (cyberpunk-ish) from Australia. An artificially intelligent female super soldier android goes AWOL to try and live a non-military life. Of course there's no point in populating a science fiction novel with super soldiers if you're not going to bring on the action, so it is inevitable that Shepherd does so. But he is not impatient about it, taking a fair bit of time to set up his far future conflict between "rationalist" realpolitik-nics on one side and mildly anti-tech multiculturalists on the other. Fortunately, the rationalists are a bit too ideologically driven for their own good, and the multiculturalists are flexible enough in their world view to slowly come to accept the artificially intelligent super soldier as a genuine person. Much conflict, of course, ensues.
The dialogue is fairly deft, and the action is narrated with a measured hand. Point of view sometimes shifts very awkwardly for "Basil Exposition" interior monologues, but despite their irritating lack of integration into the larger shape of the narrative, these exasperating jumps don't last very long. A fairly minor fault in a novel (first of a series, three have been published so far) that is written with a praiseworthy eye on character and ethics despite the science fiction action trappings.
Not brilliant, but I'll be requesting volume two from the library.
The dialogue is fairly deft, and the action is narrated with a measured hand. Point of view sometimes shifts very awkwardly for "Basil Exposition" interior monologues, but despite their irritating lack of integration into the larger shape of the narrative, these exasperating jumps don't last very long. A fairly minor fault in a novel (first of a series, three have been published so far) that is written with a praiseworthy eye on character and ethics despite the science fiction action trappings.
Not brilliant, but I'll be requesting volume two from the library.
July 16, 2010
I must definitely read the rest of the trilogy.
A great SF read. Action and philosophy.
Sometimes I forget to update my reviews. Shame on me!
I wrote a guest review over at Walker of Worlds.
A great SF read. Action and philosophy.
Sometimes I forget to update my reviews. Shame on me!
I wrote a guest review over at Walker of Worlds.
Read
May 16, 2021Irgendwann habe ich nur noch durchgeblättert statt zu lesen, daher keine Sterne-Wertung. Das Buch und ich haben einfanch nicht zueinander gepasst.
Fangen wir mit dem Negativen an, damit danach ein positiver Schluss folgen kann: Das Szenario ist schlicht und entwickelt sich auch nicht überraschend (soweit ich das erkennen konnte). Zwei Mächte stehen einander gegeneinander feindlich gegenüber, die Androidin gerät dazwischen und muss sich behaupten. Das entdeckt man nicht langsam, das wird einem gleich in langen Gesprächen erklärt. Auch, dass die eine Macht gespalten ist und ein Teil von ihr mit der Gegenseite gemeinsame Sache macht, wird offen berichtet, bevor die Action noch richtig losgeht. Es kommt einfach keine Spannung auf, gute Gelegenheiten für überraschende Wendungen werden verschenkt.
Und das ist dann auch schon der zweite Krtikpunkt: Viel zu viele Gespräche, die eigentlich nur Infodump sind und Hintergrundstory und Charaktere erklären. Das langweilt und "Show, don't tell" geht anders.
Nun zu den Stärken: Der Stil ist astrein, die Formulierungen sind prägnant, kein Geschwurbel. Genau das richtige für ein Genre-Buch. Eine Erzählung aus der Perspektive einer Androidin habe ich noch nie gelesen, das war spannend, und die Autorin holt aus der Perspektive wirklich etwas heraus. Die Andersartigkeit des Erlebens wird gut beschrieben, die zusätzlichen Sinne und wie das alles auf ihre Persönlichkeit einwirkt. Und schließlich gefällt mir auch das wenig dystopische Setting. Ist zur Abwechslung mal nett, dass es in der Zukunft zwar weiterhin Konflikte, Spionage und militärische Unterwanderung gibt, dass die Welt sich aber auch positiv weiterentwickelt und schöne, menschenfreundliche Städte und sinnesfreudige Androiden hervorgebracht hat.
Fangen wir mit dem Negativen an, damit danach ein positiver Schluss folgen kann: Das Szenario ist schlicht und entwickelt sich auch nicht überraschend (soweit ich das erkennen konnte). Zwei Mächte stehen einander gegeneinander feindlich gegenüber, die Androidin gerät dazwischen und muss sich behaupten. Das entdeckt man nicht langsam, das wird einem gleich in langen Gesprächen erklärt. Auch, dass die eine Macht gespalten ist und ein Teil von ihr mit der Gegenseite gemeinsame Sache macht, wird offen berichtet, bevor die Action noch richtig losgeht. Es kommt einfach keine Spannung auf, gute Gelegenheiten für überraschende Wendungen werden verschenkt.
Und das ist dann auch schon der zweite Krtikpunkt: Viel zu viele Gespräche, die eigentlich nur Infodump sind und Hintergrundstory und Charaktere erklären. Das langweilt und "Show, don't tell" geht anders.
Nun zu den Stärken: Der Stil ist astrein, die Formulierungen sind prägnant, kein Geschwurbel. Genau das richtige für ein Genre-Buch. Eine Erzählung aus der Perspektive einer Androidin habe ich noch nie gelesen, das war spannend, und die Autorin holt aus der Perspektive wirklich etwas heraus. Die Andersartigkeit des Erlebens wird gut beschrieben, die zusätzlichen Sinne und wie das alles auf ihre Persönlichkeit einwirkt. Und schließlich gefällt mir auch das wenig dystopische Setting. Ist zur Abwechslung mal nett, dass es in der Zukunft zwar weiterhin Konflikte, Spionage und militärische Unterwanderung gibt, dass die Welt sich aber auch positiv weiterentwickelt und schöne, menschenfreundliche Städte und sinnesfreudige Androiden hervorgebracht hat.
February 23, 2015
So I went into this book with as little knowledge as possible. I avoided the reviews, skipped the wiki, and just let the synopsis be my guide. The old school approach, when one was lucky to know someone who had already read the title, especially if it wasn't from one of the big name best-selling authors. And I'm very glad I kept it low tech for this one, as it managed to catch me off guard.
I mean, I knew I was getting a book with a kick ass heroine and some gritty sci-fi action. Hell, the cover practically screams the particulars at you. But a funny thing happened on the way to the warfare...that thing being contemplation. And not just a few pages of random introspection, but some deep rumination on what it means to be sentient, to possess free will, and to have choices between what is easy and what is right. No, it's not Jane Austen, but it's not trying to be. Its an engaging blend of cyberpunk action and heart, combat and the examination of the consequences wrought by that combat, and the search for meaning in a life forged in conflict. A thinking man's action book, if you will.
Most of the book is told from Cassandra Kresnov's point of view, though we occasionally get chapters from supporting characters to help flesh out the plot or provide alternate viewpoints. And it works pretty well, especially when we get to see the world from SWAT Lt. Vanessa Rice's viewpoint. She's a great supporting character for Cassandra to play off of, and has a few of her own moments in the spotlight as well. Their relationship is a bit...forced, but not so much so that it totally breaks the narrative. Cassandra herself is equal parts innocent and deadly. She is new to civilian life, and as she comes across new situations and things, her joy of discovery is palpable. But when it all hits the fan, she is all business and deadly skill (which is what she was made to be). I even managed to feel her frustration when she spoke of her old team and how different she was from them. So it speaks well of Mr. Shepherd that he can handle both the action beats and the thought provoking moments with equal skill.
My only gripe is that at times it can get a little too preachy when driving certain points home, and I think the political maneuvering could have been pared down a bit. But that's about it for negatives. And yes, the sentence structure is a little wonky, but you get used to it (mostly) as you progress through the story.
All in all Crossover was an enjoyable read, and I am definitely up for more time with Ms. Kresnov in the near future.
I mean, I knew I was getting a book with a kick ass heroine and some gritty sci-fi action. Hell, the cover practically screams the particulars at you. But a funny thing happened on the way to the warfare...that thing being contemplation. And not just a few pages of random introspection, but some deep rumination on what it means to be sentient, to possess free will, and to have choices between what is easy and what is right. No, it's not Jane Austen, but it's not trying to be. Its an engaging blend of cyberpunk action and heart, combat and the examination of the consequences wrought by that combat, and the search for meaning in a life forged in conflict. A thinking man's action book, if you will.
Most of the book is told from Cassandra Kresnov's point of view, though we occasionally get chapters from supporting characters to help flesh out the plot or provide alternate viewpoints. And it works pretty well, especially when we get to see the world from SWAT Lt. Vanessa Rice's viewpoint. She's a great supporting character for Cassandra to play off of, and has a few of her own moments in the spotlight as well. Their relationship is a bit...forced, but not so much so that it totally breaks the narrative. Cassandra herself is equal parts innocent and deadly. She is new to civilian life, and as she comes across new situations and things, her joy of discovery is palpable. But when it all hits the fan, she is all business and deadly skill (which is what she was made to be). I even managed to feel her frustration when she spoke of her old team and how different she was from them. So it speaks well of Mr. Shepherd that he can handle both the action beats and the thought provoking moments with equal skill.
My only gripe is that at times it can get a little too preachy when driving certain points home, and I think the political maneuvering could have been pared down a bit. But that's about it for negatives. And yes, the sentence structure is a little wonky, but you get used to it (mostly) as you progress through the story.
All in all Crossover was an enjoyable read, and I am definitely up for more time with Ms. Kresnov in the near future.
November 20, 2023
Right from the beginning I attached to Cassandra (Sandy, April). Yes, she is artificial intelligence but she is just trying to live life, and just experience. But this just cannot happen, instead she is captured and vivisected. After being "saved", she doesn't have freedom or much of a life. It is all politics and not much is on her side until her actions put some strong backing to her side. Only now... she no longer has the freedom to live "her" life, but back to a similar life that she escaped. She has to navigate the politics and figure out who she can trust and who she will back during the severe political conflict that continues to have fire fights on the streets, where there never were fire fights before.
Sandy is a straightforward thinker and has a strong idea of what she considers right and wrong. She has been betrayed and it seems like it might happen again. Right from the start I was routing for her and wanted it to work out for her. It seemed like everything was working against her and perhaps the bad happening in the politics is because of her existence. Where does she fit in this universe. Much of the story revolves around how she deals with her emotions, and how others deal with them. The rest is the politics and trying to stop a coup over the government.
I was riveted from the beginning though it was slower in the beginning as it was one sided. The only issue I really can say is it sometime got mired in the politics, a little less could have been used. I really really liked this one and will definitely go on.
Sandy is a straightforward thinker and has a strong idea of what she considers right and wrong. She has been betrayed and it seems like it might happen again. Right from the start I was routing for her and wanted it to work out for her. It seemed like everything was working against her and perhaps the bad happening in the politics is because of her existence. Where does she fit in this universe. Much of the story revolves around how she deals with her emotions, and how others deal with them. The rest is the politics and trying to stop a coup over the government.
I was riveted from the beginning though it was slower in the beginning as it was one sided. The only issue I really can say is it sometime got mired in the politics, a little less could have been used. I really really liked this one and will definitely go on.
July 31, 2010
Joel Shepherd has written a cool book in CROSSOVER, both a kick-ass android political action tale and a deconstruction of humanity, with both aspects are equally rewarding.
On the one hand, we have the main character, Cassandra Kresnov: She is a badass android — skin and muscles stronger than steel, super
speed and reflexes…the works. Unfortunately, she is too smart for her own good (as an aside, here’s a reminder to future android/artificial intelligence scientists: There’s such a thing as “too smart,” and if you have to ask yourself, “Is my robot killing machine too smart?” then it probably is) and escapes the horrors of war for a quiet normal life. Well, that only lasts for a couple of pages, really, and then we get to see her in full-on ass-kicking action. But in the aftermath of the aforementioned ass-whooping, a strange thing happens: She starts talking to people, and the conversations are interesting.
Hold the phone, what?
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
On the one hand, we have the main character, Cassandra Kresnov: She is a badass android — skin and muscles stronger than steel, super
speed and reflexes…the works. Unfortunately, she is too smart for her own good (as an aside, here’s a reminder to future android/artificial intelligence scientists: There’s such a thing as “too smart,” and if you have to ask yourself, “Is my robot killing machine too smart?” then it probably is) and escapes the horrors of war for a quiet normal life. Well, that only lasts for a couple of pages, really, and then we get to see her in full-on ass-kicking action. But in the aftermath of the aforementioned ass-whooping, a strange thing happens: She starts talking to people, and the conversations are interesting.
Hold the phone, what?
More: http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-f...
June 30, 2022
Cassandra is a great protagonist. An artificial person made for killing and military strategy, she is disillusioned with her bosses. It looks like they have killed all the other artificial people she knows, none of whom had the capacity for independent thinking that she (the only advanced model) has. So she goes AWOL on a peaceful planet, trying to get a job in computer technology and settle down to a peaceful life. Of course this isn't going to happen. After she is almost disassembled by one political faction, another faction, which seems more benign, rescues her and drafts her into their SWAT team. But no, this isn't enough. She gets dragged into political intrigue and mayhem.
The worldbuilding is interesting: a far future with a civilization spanning many star systems, and which tries to maintain an overall connected human civilization. Artificial people are pretty new, and used only for military, and thus controversial - especially Cassandra, whose physical attributes are almost superpowers and who can also evaluate, strategize, and think creatively.
I am not a big fan of military science fiction. But this is written so well, and Cassandra is such an appealing character, that I will continue with the series for now.
The worldbuilding is interesting: a far future with a civilization spanning many star systems, and which tries to maintain an overall connected human civilization. Artificial people are pretty new, and used only for military, and thus controversial - especially Cassandra, whose physical attributes are almost superpowers and who can also evaluate, strategize, and think creatively.
I am not a big fan of military science fiction. But this is written so well, and Cassandra is such an appealing character, that I will continue with the series for now.
August 6, 2009
This is a very good series. I was pulling for Cassandra Kresnov from the first.
January 3, 2014
This is a thinking book. In the opening scenes of Crossover, we follow a woman named April Cassidy as she enjoys a restful morning, interviews for a new job, and peruses the pleasures of a new city. Soon it becomes apparent that April is no ordinary woman and she's chases by federal agents, who she very nearly escapes from thanks to her superhuman strength.
Not to spoil it, but April Cassidy is actually Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial human built specifically for battle situations. Smarter than most artificial humans ('GI's'), she comes to question the reasons for her existence and decides she doesn't want to fight for the people who created her and so escapes and attempts to become a normal human.
That doesn't work out so well for her.
She's dragged back into the lifestyle she fled to fight for the other side--the side that hates her on principle. She must navigate and counter their distrust if she wants any hope for survival, let alone a normal life.
Much of the book revolves around Cassandra's humanity, or lack thereof, and what rights she, and others like her deserve. She's a sentient being, capable of emotion, capable of appreciating art and beauty, and capable of fully integrating into the world around her, but she's also a deadly weapon. Her very existence poses a huge ethical dilemma to those in political power: does she deserve the rights of a sentient human to pursue a happy, productive life, or is she inherently such a danger to those around her that she needs to be removed from larger society for the safety of all? It's a nicely done thought experiment that I think is relevant to modern political thought. Sure, we don't have a class of android superhuman warriors who want to integrate into society, but we do have classes of people (illegal immigrants, ex cons, etc.) and we do have to ask ourselves the question what rights do they deserve based on our shared humanity and what costs are we as a broader society willing to bear to ensure those rights. Fun, thought-provoking. Not a seat of your pants thriller, but thrilling nonetheless. Great way to start the reading year!
Not to spoil it, but April Cassidy is actually Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial human built specifically for battle situations. Smarter than most artificial humans ('GI's'), she comes to question the reasons for her existence and decides she doesn't want to fight for the people who created her and so escapes and attempts to become a normal human.
That doesn't work out so well for her.
She's dragged back into the lifestyle she fled to fight for the other side--the side that hates her on principle. She must navigate and counter their distrust if she wants any hope for survival, let alone a normal life.
Much of the book revolves around Cassandra's humanity, or lack thereof, and what rights she, and others like her deserve. She's a sentient being, capable of emotion, capable of appreciating art and beauty, and capable of fully integrating into the world around her, but she's also a deadly weapon. Her very existence poses a huge ethical dilemma to those in political power: does she deserve the rights of a sentient human to pursue a happy, productive life, or is she inherently such a danger to those around her that she needs to be removed from larger society for the safety of all? It's a nicely done thought experiment that I think is relevant to modern political thought. Sure, we don't have a class of android superhuman warriors who want to integrate into society, but we do have classes of people (illegal immigrants, ex cons, etc.) and we do have to ask ourselves the question what rights do they deserve based on our shared humanity and what costs are we as a broader society willing to bear to ensure those rights. Fun, thought-provoking. Not a seat of your pants thriller, but thrilling nonetheless. Great way to start the reading year!
February 16, 2020
A really fun read by Shepherd! The main lead is Cassandra, an experimental android designed by the League as a hunter/killer with exceptional intelligence. Cassandra 'defects' and moves to the Federation, working as a civilian programmer, until she is abducted by agents and almost killed. I will leave off the plot here, and examine why this is such a good novel (and series).
Many authors explore existential questions and the human condition, but Shepherd does an excellent job in this regard. Cassandra, while a 'machine', is discovering what it means to be human. She was 'programmed' with emotions to make her a better killer, but she to leave her past behind and simply live. Witnessing her struggles, along with those who deny her humanity, really makes the book. Shepherd is not slouch when it comes to prose, and the female characters sparkle, even if there is a lot of sex and sexual innuendo (not graphic, thankfully).
There is a lot of military action here, which I liked a lot, but the real plot concerns the human condition itself. The world building is excellent; a somewhat near future with humanity colonizing some 60 worlds. The planet where the novel takes place is basically one huge city surrounded by wilderness, and high tech dominates the economy. Colonized largely by an East Asian diaspora, the culture blooms. Highly recommended!
Many authors explore existential questions and the human condition, but Shepherd does an excellent job in this regard. Cassandra, while a 'machine', is discovering what it means to be human. She was 'programmed' with emotions to make her a better killer, but she to leave her past behind and simply live. Witnessing her struggles, along with those who deny her humanity, really makes the book. Shepherd is not slouch when it comes to prose, and the female characters sparkle, even if there is a lot of sex and sexual innuendo (not graphic, thankfully).
There is a lot of military action here, which I liked a lot, but the real plot concerns the human condition itself. The world building is excellent; a somewhat near future with humanity colonizing some 60 worlds. The planet where the novel takes place is basically one huge city surrounded by wilderness, and high tech dominates the economy. Colonized largely by an East Asian diaspora, the culture blooms. Highly recommended!
December 22, 2018
Read for November book group...
...sort of. This was a Did Not Finish (DNF) for me. I tried to finish it, I did. But by Chapter 16 I was done slogging. Just...done.
Now, the book group group enjoyed this one and have requested to read the next in the series, which we probably will.
So, where did this fail for me? I think it was just too much introspection and expository dumping on what it means to be human, what defines being a human, who should be considered human, how humans are afraid of GI's, and how Cassandra/Sandy is or isn't human.
The bits with action were engaging and fun - but they were far and few between.
I liked Cassandra when she was moving and engaged in something. I liked her growing awareness of how she was different from her fellow GI's, what was causing that awareness, and her empathy for her team.
I liked Vanessa Rice. She was spunky, interesting and fun.
I enjoyed the world building and the city of Tanshua (sp?). The air cars, the river winding through, the different cultures all made for a very interesting and colorful backdrop.
Ultimately, I would have liked this selection more if there was less introspection and more character engagement.
Recommended with reservations.
...sort of. This was a Did Not Finish (DNF) for me. I tried to finish it, I did. But by Chapter 16 I was done slogging. Just...done.
Now, the book group group enjoyed this one and have requested to read the next in the series, which we probably will.
So, where did this fail for me? I think it was just too much introspection and expository dumping on what it means to be human, what defines being a human, who should be considered human, how humans are afraid of GI's, and how Cassandra/Sandy is or isn't human.
The bits with action were engaging and fun - but they were far and few between.
I liked Cassandra when she was moving and engaged in something. I liked her growing awareness of how she was different from her fellow GI's, what was causing that awareness, and her empathy for her team.
I liked Vanessa Rice. She was spunky, interesting and fun.
I enjoyed the world building and the city of Tanshua (sp?). The air cars, the river winding through, the different cultures all made for a very interesting and colorful backdrop.
Ultimately, I would have liked this selection more if there was less introspection and more character engagement.
Recommended with reservations.
May 9, 2012
Hovering around a 3.5, I decided to round up for this one. Why? Because at its core, Shepard's first novel is brilliant. Drawing influences from all manner of SciFi traditions and archetypes, Cassandra "Sandy" Kresnov is wonderfully three-dimensional. Unfortunately, the world she inhabits left me baffled far too often.
I felt this was very much a character-driven tale, with the main protagonist and many of the supporting cast well defined and well written. Due to the nature of this type of sub-genre, however, it seemed that quite a good deal got bogged down in the world-building stages. I'm still not entirely sure how that world operates. While I'll be the first to applaud Shepard for creating a political system in the far flung future, it would help if he explained it better. I can only hope he downplays the socio-political thriller angle in favor of the mystery aspect in the sequel. I feel his wonderful characters would be better suited for such a tale.
Somewhere between space opera, hard scifi, and starship military, you'll find "Crossover." It's an awkward position, but a good read.
I felt this was very much a character-driven tale, with the main protagonist and many of the supporting cast well defined and well written. Due to the nature of this type of sub-genre, however, it seemed that quite a good deal got bogged down in the world-building stages. I'm still not entirely sure how that world operates. While I'll be the first to applaud Shepard for creating a political system in the far flung future, it would help if he explained it better. I can only hope he downplays the socio-political thriller angle in favor of the mystery aspect in the sequel. I feel his wonderful characters would be better suited for such a tale.
Somewhere between space opera, hard scifi, and starship military, you'll find "Crossover." It's an awkward position, but a good read.
May 25, 2014
I finshed off Crossover: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Shepherd. Cassandra (Sandy) is a female android that was built to be a killer/assassin, but she went off on her own to live her own life. But it would be a dull book indeed if there were not tons of problems and several different sides out to get her.
A thinking person's sci-fi action book. What rights do androids have (if any)? This is the first of at least 5 books dealing with Caaandra Kresnov (Sandy). The Blade Runner geek in me enjoyed this story. Lucky me my digital library has all of the current Cassandra novels.
A thinking person's sci-fi action book. What rights do androids have (if any)? This is the first of at least 5 books dealing with Caaandra Kresnov (Sandy). The Blade Runner geek in me enjoyed this story. Lucky me my digital library has all of the current Cassandra novels.
July 30, 2017
Sorry Joel,
There were things I liked and things that I didn't. The author spent a great deal of time establishing the backdrop of what reads more Ike a political thriller with scifi elements. I didn't have too much of a problem with that except that it got a little too deep in the weeds. Maybe I'm too cynical but, all politics that doesn't effect you gets boring after a while. Second problem were the characters. I would have liked to see more time spent on the characters on the opposing side to learn their motivations and perspectives vis a vis the heros point of view. On the plus side, the main hero is very interesting and I will continue to follow her adventures.
There were things I liked and things that I didn't. The author spent a great deal of time establishing the backdrop of what reads more Ike a political thriller with scifi elements. I didn't have too much of a problem with that except that it got a little too deep in the weeds. Maybe I'm too cynical but, all politics that doesn't effect you gets boring after a while. Second problem were the characters. I would have liked to see more time spent on the characters on the opposing side to learn their motivations and perspectives vis a vis the heros point of view. On the plus side, the main hero is very interesting and I will continue to follow her adventures.
August 8, 2012
I bought all three books in the Cassandra Kresnov series a couple years back in Amsterdam, but kind of lost track of the books until this summer, when hubby read Crossover and the two sequels in the series back-to-back and declared them to be "really good." I think that for a great many of the "target market" males, nothing will seem off about the character Sandy Kresnov.
Except, she's a dude. In every aspect of her personality, the main character struck me as a male, and turning them and the other main characters into women didn't change the fact that they all thought like dudes. I got what the writer was trying to say about artificial people not being sexually selective, but then later "character development" reveals that Sandy's hyper-sexuality is unique even among her people. And...her sexuality is male. Possibly gay male, but really, given how poorly the author writes a sex scene, I would argue that this story might have been improved without making the heroine a "nymphomaniac."
There are sex scenes in this book that I wanted to end. Me, Miss "I love porn" was instead begging, "Please, make the bad sex scene stop." But it gets worse. The author cannot write a decent chase scene without messing it up. The author spends many, many pages on political lectures, and the biggest "plot twists" in the book are political plays. This book is so, so boring. This writer could make a blow job during a gunfight boring. There's really no help for someone who thinks they're writing "cool" and they are in fact ice cold and killing their story with way, way too many tangential details.
Feeling something for the "heroine's" starting predicament of being violently dismembered, I stuck with this in the hope that maybe there would be some fast-paced payoff for all this slow buildup, but there is nothing this writer touches here that they don't blow badly. This is not to say there aren't some neat ideas in the premise. There are. But when you start a book by ripping the heroine into little pieces, and then insist that she'll get over that a few days later, you've confused a man from an 80s action movie for a woman. In fact, if the main character were a dude in an 80s sci-fi movie, I'd be more likely to believe this ridiculous and contrived plot.
I'm sorry to get harpy, but this is my main point of complaint. Sandy is an artificial person with a human personality imprinted on an artificial brain. The story claims that she has a human sexuality because her brain is a copy of an organic human brain. BUT, Sandy's internal line of reasoning, her method of coping with stress, her hypersexuality and indiscreet need for physical contact; it's all male. Adding breasts, blonde hair, and blue eyes doesn't change this conflict of her character. I don't see a butch woman. I see a character made female simple to satisfy the writer's need for some lame sexual fantasy. After all, Sandy is the ultimate badass, AND she's indiscriminate with who she sleeps with. Dudes in the target audience are sure to love this combination. But to me, Sandy comes across as hugely fake, and I'd be willing to give back a star in my rating if Sandy had been Andrew instead. Because then the character would have been more realistic.
The same is true of the head of SWAT, Vannessa Rice, a character who's "short" "cute," and "considered fluffy" among her troops. This is all strictly male fantasies, and the women don't really behave like women except at very rare moments near the end of the book. The rest of the time, they act like men. So for me, the story just wasn't very believable.
There really wasn't much I liked about this story, and I find Sandy's reaction to trauma to be the first of many bad character development choices. It's strictly a by-the-numbers formula, and it never rises above a man's fantasy of how awesome women would be, if they only acted more like men.
I give Crossover two stars, and I'm sorely tempted to drop that to one. I can't say that I'd really recommend it to anyone, but as hubby liked it, I'll guess fans of military sci-will think it's "super." Mostly, I was bored to tears, and it's going to be a long time before I bother reading the other books in this series.
Except, she's a dude. In every aspect of her personality, the main character struck me as a male, and turning them and the other main characters into women didn't change the fact that they all thought like dudes. I got what the writer was trying to say about artificial people not being sexually selective, but then later "character development" reveals that Sandy's hyper-sexuality is unique even among her people. And...her sexuality is male. Possibly gay male, but really, given how poorly the author writes a sex scene, I would argue that this story might have been improved without making the heroine a "nymphomaniac."
There are sex scenes in this book that I wanted to end. Me, Miss "I love porn" was instead begging, "Please, make the bad sex scene stop." But it gets worse. The author cannot write a decent chase scene without messing it up. The author spends many, many pages on political lectures, and the biggest "plot twists" in the book are political plays. This book is so, so boring. This writer could make a blow job during a gunfight boring. There's really no help for someone who thinks they're writing "cool" and they are in fact ice cold and killing their story with way, way too many tangential details.
Feeling something for the "heroine's" starting predicament of being violently dismembered, I stuck with this in the hope that maybe there would be some fast-paced payoff for all this slow buildup, but there is nothing this writer touches here that they don't blow badly. This is not to say there aren't some neat ideas in the premise. There are. But when you start a book by ripping the heroine into little pieces, and then insist that she'll get over that a few days later, you've confused a man from an 80s action movie for a woman. In fact, if the main character were a dude in an 80s sci-fi movie, I'd be more likely to believe this ridiculous and contrived plot.
I'm sorry to get harpy, but this is my main point of complaint. Sandy is an artificial person with a human personality imprinted on an artificial brain. The story claims that she has a human sexuality because her brain is a copy of an organic human brain. BUT, Sandy's internal line of reasoning, her method of coping with stress, her hypersexuality and indiscreet need for physical contact; it's all male. Adding breasts, blonde hair, and blue eyes doesn't change this conflict of her character. I don't see a butch woman. I see a character made female simple to satisfy the writer's need for some lame sexual fantasy. After all, Sandy is the ultimate badass, AND she's indiscriminate with who she sleeps with. Dudes in the target audience are sure to love this combination. But to me, Sandy comes across as hugely fake, and I'd be willing to give back a star in my rating if Sandy had been Andrew instead. Because then the character would have been more realistic.
The same is true of the head of SWAT, Vannessa Rice, a character who's "short" "cute," and "considered fluffy" among her troops. This is all strictly male fantasies, and the women don't really behave like women except at very rare moments near the end of the book. The rest of the time, they act like men. So for me, the story just wasn't very believable.
There really wasn't much I liked about this story, and I find Sandy's reaction to trauma to be the first of many bad character development choices. It's strictly a by-the-numbers formula, and it never rises above a man's fantasy of how awesome women would be, if they only acted more like men.
I give Crossover two stars, and I'm sorely tempted to drop that to one. I can't say that I'd really recommend it to anyone, but as hubby liked it, I'll guess fans of military sci-will think it's "super." Mostly, I was bored to tears, and it's going to be a long time before I bother reading the other books in this series.
August 14, 2013
Cassandra : Artificially intelligent female super soldier android disguising herself as a civilian in the megapolis of an enemy planet. Hi-tech IT and weapons give echoes of cyberpunk and space opera.
Plenty right there to go wrong, but Shepherd avoids most of the pitfalls.
Obviously, with a cyborg heroine, you're going to have action and there are some good scenes throughout the book. Those I was expecting and wasn't disappointed.
The city she wants to settle in was well done, and has almost the presence of a character in the book.
The political worldbuilding (The League vs The Federation) was very good on small detail, but it took a while to understand the bigger picture, and this meant that characters motivations were sometimes initially hard to follow.
Major support characters were well rounded and their interactions and dialogue went smoothly.
The sex itself was tastefully done, but re-iterations about Cassandra's sex drive went on too much.
I enjoyed the book's pacing, with a slow warm-up. I understand others feel it's too slow, but personally, by lulling me slightly, it set me up for the *horrific* punch of the first turning point. The pace also kept ticking along nicely after that.
But the real kicker is all in Cassandra's head. It's not the first exploration of the critical points of artificial intelligence or the humanist philosophy of androids, but it's very well done.
No huge cliffhanger ending, but clearly intended to be read as part of the series.
Recommended to a broad spectrum of Sci-Fi folk, because it feels broad in its influences.
Plenty right there to go wrong, but Shepherd avoids most of the pitfalls.
Obviously, with a cyborg heroine, you're going to have action and there are some good scenes throughout the book. Those I was expecting and wasn't disappointed.
The city she wants to settle in was well done, and has almost the presence of a character in the book.
The political worldbuilding (The League vs The Federation) was very good on small detail, but it took a while to understand the bigger picture, and this meant that characters motivations were sometimes initially hard to follow.
Major support characters were well rounded and their interactions and dialogue went smoothly.
The sex itself was tastefully done, but re-iterations about Cassandra's sex drive went on too much.
I enjoyed the book's pacing, with a slow warm-up. I understand others feel it's too slow, but personally, by lulling me slightly, it set me up for the *horrific* punch of the first turning point. The pace also kept ticking along nicely after that.
But the real kicker is all in Cassandra's head. It's not the first exploration of the critical points of artificial intelligence or the humanist philosophy of androids, but it's very well done.
No huge cliffhanger ending, but clearly intended to be read as part of the series.
Recommended to a broad spectrum of Sci-Fi folk, because it feels broad in its influences.
April 1, 2014
Remake of Heinlein's FRIDAY with (even) more sex and violence--plus thousands and thousands of words devoted to explication, sex talk, and building worlds and political systems that are really just standard issue. C-
One line of note: "...your genitals must work like a heat-seeking missile."
One line of note: "...your genitals must work like a heat-seeking missile."
February 12, 2019
Excellent read. Great blend of fast paced action, consistent world building and exploration of what makes us human. Everything good science fiction should be.
August 20, 2013
It was a difficult read in the beginning, but I held on. And I loved everything about Cassandra, Vanessa and the world they live in. Mister
November 26, 2013
4.5 stars. This was very interesting. A little uneven in pacing, but it touched me deeply in the end.
February 19, 2014
awesome fun, unforgettable characters, good action and dialog, sci-fi and philosophy does get heavy handed, but not unbearably so
April 2, 2018
This is my first time reading a Cassandra Kresnov novel. I enjoyed it. As I've found, Joel is an amazing writer and really tells a wonderful story about his characters and their worlds. I especially like feeling I'm getting my moneys worth when buying books these days ... and Joel delivers. While some may find his worlds overly detailed and maybe "slow" in those parts ... I enjoy the detailed worlds and really dig getting as much about them, and where the characters ARE.
Cassandra is a trip, and such a great character ... as are many other characters in the book. You really get to know them, like they're your friends and your team. It's alway sad when one or more is gone ... but huge Kudos for not holding back. Life can really suck when you loose friends, even if they are synthetics! I dig the "keep it real" aspect of life in your books.
I know I'm going to enjoy the whole Cassandra Kresnov series ... and in the mean time, crank those Spiral Wars books out dude. I love that series! Good work! I can't wait to read the next one.
Cassandra is a trip, and such a great character ... as are many other characters in the book. You really get to know them, like they're your friends and your team. It's alway sad when one or more is gone ... but huge Kudos for not holding back. Life can really suck when you loose friends, even if they are synthetics! I dig the "keep it real" aspect of life in your books.
I know I'm going to enjoy the whole Cassandra Kresnov series ... and in the mean time, crank those Spiral Wars books out dude. I love that series! Good work! I can't wait to read the next one.
July 17, 2022
One of my favorite sci-fi authors? Check.
Ghost in the Shell inspired? Check.
Works as a stand-alone but is part of a series? Check
Goes into philosophy and what it means to be human? Check.
Is non-agendaly diverse and political? Check.
A good post-cyberpunk sci-fi? Check.
Ghost in the Shell inspired? Check.
Works as a stand-alone but is part of a series? Check
Goes into philosophy and what it means to be human? Check.
Is non-agendaly diverse and political? Check.
A good post-cyberpunk sci-fi? Check.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews