Reviewing “Colony” by Max Florschutz, or: How I Once Again Proved Myself to be a Grade-A Cunt · 7:08pm Oct 4th, 2017
So if you’re an avid user of fimfiction, chances are you’ve at least heard of Max Florschutz – although if you know him, you probably know him by his alias of Viking ZX.
He has written some deservedly beloved fics on this site, but what’s more important, I think, is that in the last few years he’s also jumped head first into actual publishing. To date he has written four books, the most recent of which, Colony, came out in November of last year, with a sequel already in the works. Aside from the above, he also maintains his own blog dedicated to writing with in-depth, highly detailed advice posted weekly for several years running.
When I was writing my own debut novel (shameless plug!) I reached out to Max for general advice on handling this whole self-publishing thing, since at the time it was still very new and arcane to me. He was more than helpful, proving to be a great person as well as a highly regarded writer as he patiently answered all of my queries. I took his advice, published my book, and for a while, that was that.
A few months later, kind of out of the blue, Max approached me with a proposition for a simple book swap, kind of a mutual back scratching, you know: I read his book, he reads mine, we each post a review, the works. At the time, I had to tell him no because I was just too busy with a lot of things related to university and other private matters. But I totally wanted to do this. Frankly, I was kind of ecstatic that sempai noticed me. So we agreed to come back to this in another few months.
Said few months passed, my time freed up, and I enthusiastically messaged him to say let’s do this. So I sent him my book, and he sent me Colony. Colony, by the way, is over 300k words long, and I just so happen to be an abysmally slow reader. So that meant another excruciatingly long wait for our dear Max. And that’s not even the part where I was a cunt.
Now I’ve finally read it. And this is my review.
Colony is a great book. I’m not just saying that because of its astronomical wordcount. It is a legitimately great book that is well worth your time if you’re into Star Warsy or Trekky science fiction. If you take nothing else away from this review, if you stop reading right now, just know that I wholeheartedly recommend Colony.
Colony has fantastic technology, faster-than-light space travel, colonising the galaxy, all that. It also has lots and lots of characters – including three protagonists! – and plenty of character drama, exploration, mystery, conspiracies, all the good stuff. The only reason I’m sort of dancing around calling it a “space opera” is that most of the book takes place on just one planet, and in actually very few locations on that planet, too. That’s not to say it’s a problem.
Okay, so far I’ve talked a lot about the book but said very little. Colony, I find, is a bit of a tough nut to crack due to its sheer scale and size. One can either go into extreme detail – which would quickly get very, very spoilery – or resort to general platitudes like “hey, it’s good!”. That said, I’m still going to try to pick this book apart (without spoilers) and put a magnifying glass on its pieces. So if you’re on the fence about Colony and the above hasn’t sold you, then buckle up. This is gonna be a long one.
THE WORLD OF COLONY
Colony is set in the not-that-far future; I can’t recall an exact year now, but I think it’s the early 2100s. It’s far enough removed from the real world to allow the author to go wild with technology and the play with politics without angering people, but still close enough to keep it grounded in reality and altogether plausible.
As far as Earth goes, you’ve got your usual capitalist dystopia of corporations and corrupt governments ruling the world and going to war over territory and resources, with all the little people caught in the middle. The United Nations itself struggles to maintain order in a changing and chaotic world, ironically becoming everything it stands against as “peacekeeping” subtly turns into “enacting their will.” For the little man, there is nowhere to turn: corporations are essentially slavers, governments crumble and reform across the globe, and no international entity is able to reign in the conflict.
Such it is that, as with so many good scifi, mankind turns to the stars for liberation from this hell of their own making. As of Colony, humanity’s established a solid foothold in interstellar space… and found it empty. There was no Federation to greet us, no Galactic Empire to conquer us, no strangely attractive blue cat people to enslave – only the vast, unexploited reaches of space, planets ripe for our taking.
I imagine it’s about this time that even the slowest readers look at the book’s title and slap their heads going “Oooh!”
All is not well in space, however. As mankind is stretched across the cosmos and millions upon millions of people trade the chaos of Earth for the uneasy peace of the galaxy’s farthest corners, trouble brews. As it turns out, even halfway across the universe, people are still people. The titular colonies descend into infighting and deceitful politicking no better than what is already present on Earth.
Would-be colonists tell tales of planets where the sky is always blue, the grass is green, the seas are beautiful, and the atmosphere and gravity are just right. Downtrodden folks on Earth look to the sky and wonder if they could escape their planet and land in paradise. Meanwhile those who have left Earth look back on our pale blue dot and find new meaning for the word ‘homesickness’.
It’s a harsh universe all around where nothing is certain and no-one is safe. The invisible hands of corporations and governments reach everyone and everything, and by trying to escape them one might find themselves gripped even tighter in their suffocating claws.
There is plenty to go into here, about the nature of humans, about what petty things divide us, about what can unite even the most disparate groups; it’s the kind of stuff science fiction was made for, and Colony has it in spades. We get to see people from all walks of life, from the richest to the poorest, to those who love the world and life and those who’d damn it all if they could.
Most importantly, Colony has all the above without beating the audience over the head; this book knows how to play such themes subtly. This is not an afterschool special or a kiddie’s show with a moral spelled out at the end (cough); Colony paints a smart, engaging world that gets your gears turning and allows you to come to your own conclusions.
In other words, Colony a world ripe for rich storytelling – and tell stories it does.
THE CHARACTERS
Okay, so that’s all great on paper. But what use is an engaging world you’ve built without characters to populate it? Well, Colony’s massive world is home to a fittingly large number of characters. While there is a lot I could go into in this segment (just as with every segment), I figure it’ll be the best to focus on just the protagonists. Yes, that’s protagonists, plural. And it’s not just two, but three.
I’m going to talk about Anna Neres first because she was my favourite. What you need to know about Anna, on the outset, is that she is a precise, no-nonsense, augmented ex-soldier-turned-mercenary with a heart of gold. It’s the old juxtaposition of a hard exterior and soft interior, but it works really well with Anna, I found, without ever getting trite. In fact I was positively delighted whenever it was Anna’s turn to narrate a chapter; I don’t know if it was something in the narrative voice the author gave her, or just her chapters generally being the most exciting, but whatever the reason, I recall always looking forward to reading more about (and from) this character.
I’d rather not spoil the backstory that gets gradually revealed about Anna, partially for obvious the obvious reason of avoiding spoilers on principle, but also because, at the end of the day, I don’t think her backstory matters all that much. It’s not because her backstory is boring or anything; it’s because Anna is a character with her eyes on the future, and her every action reflects that. Ultimately, how she came to be this way is less important than the fact that she is.
And I suppose I’ve always had a weak spot for hardass characters who slowly learn to relax and open up around others again. It’s not a very complex story archetype, and I wouldn’t say Anna is altogether a very complex characters herself, but I think there is something to be said for the sheer human simplicity of Anna.
There’s a not-too-subtle visual metaphor present throughout the book that concerns Anna’s numerous battle scars that she’s acquired over the years; she wears them with a sort of pride – “whatever doesn’t kill you…” and all – but she doesn’t flaunt them, and in fact she gets rather flustered about ever showing a certain specific few. It ties in neatly with her greater narrative of being reserved and her preference to working alone. Over time, as she grows to trust her partners – the other two protagonists whom I’ll get to in a bit – Anna starts to show and even talk about her scars with more and more confidence. Scars on the outside, scars on the inside – hard shell, slowly opening up to others.
It’s delightful in its simplicity, and if I had to pick one, I’d say Anna is the single most human of all the protagonists. Ironic that this turns out to be the cyborg’d up supersoldier. Whether that was intentional or not, I cannot say – but it worked really well for me.
The second protagonist is Jake Tames, whom I always affectionately referred to while reading as “Captain Hammer.” A bit of a cock-sure space James Bond, or “corporate investigator” if you prefer. He’s part accountant and part headhunter, always thinking on his feet and eager to take charge – which just becomes all the funnier when a single stare from Anna makes all that confidence evaporate.
There’s some friendly, unspoken rivalry between Jake and Anna as to who will get to lead the group throughout the book, and there’s also a bit of a “will they, won’t they” going on between them, but it never gets obtrusive. It helps with making these people really feel like people. Interestingly, Anna seem to grow gradually fond of Jake over the course of the book based on his personality and actions, while Jake pretty much immediately finds Anna attractive.
Given that Jake shows no sexual interest in anyone else throughout the book (other than briefly calling former employer beautiful, oh dear), it really made me wonder what sort of fetishes the guy has. Anna is supposed to be an augmented supersoldier, so I can’t imagine her having any sort of classically attractive feminine silhouette, and she’s specifically stated to have short hair, too. Low body fat and high muscle naturally makes breasts disappear, and if you’re further augmenting your soldiers for efficiency, there’s really no reason (other than vanity) not to get rid of the breasts through surgery altogether. Maybe I’m thinking too deeply about this, or maybe my idea of combat augmentations is just a lot more radical than what they have in Colony, however we never really get a good idea of what Anna looks like, so… it just struck me as a bit weird.
And then there’s Ray Candy, or “Sweets” as he prefers, hacker and perpetual third wheel. If I have one complaint about the characters of Colony, it’s Sweets – not his character itself, per se, but how the story seems to handle him. He’s a kind of a classic nerd, keeps to himself, hunches over his laptop in a corner all day, doing whatever it is hackers do. Now I don’t know much about hacking or programming, but the technobabble was convincing enough for me on that front. However the very nature of this character leaves Sweets to operate solo while Jake and Anna do their thing elsewhere.
The most hilarious example of this was in a big group conversation where the main trio was sitting at a table with dozens of other people, discussing critical plot details. Now, you need to understand that in Colony, it’s trivial to open private radio channels between individual people, as long as you’re wearing a helmet with the appropriate equipment. All three protagonists have such equipment and use it to covertly converse throughout the story. In this particular scene, however, it just so happened that Sweets didn’t have his helmet on for whatever arbitrary reason, meaning that while everyone was talking, Jake and Anna couldn’t talk to Sweets directly, essentially excluding one third of the main cast from a crucial scene. It almost felt like the author was deliberately shafting Sweets because even he didn’t want to bother writing lines for him. I remember it because it was so odd.
That said, when all the main characters do get to interact, it works really well. There’s a lot of fun in Sweets inadvertently cockblocking Jake with his mere presence, as well as the general juxtaposition between Anna’s seriousness, Jake’s les-do-dis attitude, and Sweets’ social ineptitude and lack of combat experience.
Frankly, the only complaint I have here is that we don’t get nearly as much banter between these characters as I feel we could (or should) for the size of the book. A lot of the time, when they talk, it’s just discussing plot details that the audience already knows, or recapping events that we literally just read in the earlier chapter; this again is because Sweets spends so much time away from Jake and Anna, forcing the other two to constantly bring him up to speed. It’s a shame because these characters play off each other really well, if they get the chance. If I could go back in time and tell Max to change something about Colony, I’d probably tell him to combine Jake and Sweets into one character somehow to save a lot of awkwardness. But that’s just me.
THE STORY
Okay, so what’s Colony about? What do these characters do?
This is the part where it becomes very difficult to talk about the book without spoilers. The basic premise is simple enough: Anna, Jake, and Sweets are hired by the megacorp SoulComp to track down a ex-employee of theirs. They know where this employee went – the ocean planet called Pisces – but that’s about it. Apparently SoulComp found there are some issues with a sophisticated software they sold to the UN that is supposed to help them monitor in and outgoing traffic on Pisces; this includes people, cargo, and FTL communications. Naturally, the idea that something might be wrong with said software is rather alarming news, so SoulComp hopes to fix the issue without the UN ever realising the issue existed in the first place.
That’s where this retired employee comes in: apparently he was one of the most important people in developing said software, so the company would like to get him back and… have a little chat with him.
SoulComp proceeds to make the protagonist trio an offer they can’t refuse (a shitload of money), and off they go to Pisces to find the missing person. Things get complicated after that as the trio makes dubious allies with the branch of the UN that runs Pisces and learns more about the planet and its inhabitants. Apparently there is serious tension between the 50-something million people on Pisces and the UN, along problems with piracy and general political corruption.
The bulk of the plot concerns the trio’s investigation into finding their target – and the secrets they unearth in the process. Over the course of the book, we learn more about the tumultuous politics of Pisces as well as the history of the planet itself. For this review, the details aren’t important.
What’s important is that it’s compelling stuff. This is the real meat of the story right here – and I’m pleased to say that it does not disappoint. There’s always some new revelation, some interesting twist that will keep you engaged for the entirety of Colony’s wordcount. The book manages to hit plot points at a steady pace and it really doesn’t drag. There is, of course, plenty of shooting and running and things going boom throughout to keep you engaged if that’s what you’re into, too.
Overall, though, I thought that the overarching mystery of Pisces itself was what really sells the book. Without giving anything away, if you’re a fan of high concept scifi, you’ll definitely like this one.
I should also mention that despite spending most of the time underwater on a single planet, Colony manages to stay interesting and “visually” compelling for the majority of its pages. There is an occasional lull where the characters spend maybe a biiiit too much time sitting around a table and talking, but these moments are usually over before they become too jarring.
Even though they’re stuck on the same watery hellhole for so long, the characters manage to explore a vast number of different places. Lots of submarines, multiple cities, different and alien architecture – there’s plenty here to keep your mind occupied. And I won’t lie, the Python – the trio’s own submarine of choice – does become a sort of relief and focal point as the story progresses. No matter where they end up, time and time again they return to the Python, and it does manage to evoke a feeling of finally being home after a long day.
If there’s something negative I should mention here, it’s that once Act 3 is well underway and you’re into the book’s grand finale, most secrets have been answered (at least in some capacity) and all that’s left is to clean up the mess. The finale itself is easily the most action-packed part of the book, but without the driving force of finding out more about the secrets of Pisces, it sort of fell flat for me. This is just a personal thing, of course; I know there are people out there who would get bored to tears discussing some of the things I found the most intriguing (not talking about Colony here, just in general). It’s something to keep in mind, though.
CONCLUSION
So what does all that come out to? Colony builds a world that is interesting and compelling – er, if not necessarily one you want to visit – and populates it with interesting, nuanced characters. It’s a grand old space adventure. Mystery, intrigue, cool gadgets, action, ‘splosions; I wager just about anyone will find something to awe them in this book.
Personally, I’m kind of partial towards space lifts and rail guns, both of which feature prominently in the story, and I was all the happier for it.
So, just like I said at the top, Colony gets my recommendation. Go on. Check it out.
…so okay, but what’s this about me being a cunt? Well…
Everything I said about Colony above is true. It’s an excellent book that is most likely worth your time if you’re a fan of the genre. For the sheer length of the book (again, that’s over 300k words!), its price is a bargain. (Especially if you manage to pick it up on sale. COUGH, COUGH, Max!)
And yet… I could not enjoy Colony.
I know. I know!
It’s a personal thing, but for several reasons, for all its strengths, Colony just did not work for me. It’s difficult to explain why exactly. I don’t want to clog up this review page with a wall of negativity, so in the end I decided to just leave a link to the “bad part.” It includes no spoilers, so you’re free to read it if, and only if, you’re so inclined.
So this is your last warning: if you want to know why I arbitrarily decided I don’t like this book whose praises everybody is singing, click the link below. You might end up thinking I’m a pedantic cunt because of it, or you might just think I’m an idiot who doesn’t get it. Or it might ruin an otherwise perfectly enjoyable book for you.
If you’re fine with that, hit the link.
2112, perhaps?
Why you pedantic cunt!
...
But seriously, this was a great in-depth review. It's a shame you don't do this kind of thing more often, because this is the kind of review we need more of. I tend to think of my reviews as being 'everyman' in their nature, where as this feels more specific and focused. It's certainly better than what I expected given your complaints on Skype.
I might be tempted to ask for something similar when I finally get around to my own original fiction.
So many people have been writing actual novels over the past couple years. I wish I had time to read them. D:
Well, there's a reminder to carefully consider whatever new tech I introduce in my own works.
4686932
Ooh, original fiction? From PaulAsaran? Where is the pre-order list?
In all seriousness, that sounds really cool! I hope to keep up on news for that whenever you do start writing.
4687240
It is indeed coming. As soon as I finish the rough draft of Songbird or the currently ongoing Order of Shadows book, I aim to get started. It's long past time I gave it another go.
4687240
4687273
Paul's been telling me about his original work he wants to do since before SPS was halfway done. At this point I wouldn't hold my breath. ...unless of course he decides to prove me wrong. Cough. Cough.
4687710
This would be a different one, actually. But your doubt is understandable.
The impression I get from this review is that your friend is that your friend is a person of considerable storytelling skill, but could use some assistance in the form of an, um... an individual to pre-read their novel, to locate errors and potential problem areas and offer solutions. Can't think of what a person of such a profession might be called.
4688428
Actually, there was a whole team of editors, many of which were experts and individuals with hands-on experience in the areas the book addressed.
The book is accurate with its elements, despite his misgivings. It's a case of "Reality is unrealistic." A lot of research went into this book. For instance, Jawjoe in this review talked about 'handwave hacking' but the truth is that it's not Hollywood hacking; sources were utilized, and multiple IT professionals and computer experts have actually singled the book out for its accurate portrayal of hacking and hacking culture.
Hence why Jawjoe labeled his misgivings under him being extremely pedantic.
4688879
I've got some notable and long-running personal experience in that field, so I might need to pick it up myself just on those merits. Real hacking can be a really, really boring experience. I'm curious what you may have done with that.
4697601
If doing it is boring, now imagine how boring it is to read about someone else doing it.
To clarify, I don't question that the hacking Sweets does in the book is realistic -- I'll trust that Max did enough research to make it work -- however I can't tell either way, myself, since I know nothing about hacking. What I can tell is that Sweets, even if he's a master hacker, would fail at being a hacker simply because he talks way too God damn much. He can hide behind all the proxies he wants if he's just going to tell people where he lives for no reason. On multiple occasions, he reveals crucial information to complete strangers.
It's a matter of not seeing the forest from the trees. The individual pieces of the book appear reasonably well researched, however they often contradict each other when you look at the big picture. That was my impression of it, anyway.
4697692
I do not criticize your position on it and I can completely see how you would prefer the Hollywood version. No insult intended here, because in terms of storytelling, I also do - there's a reason they do it that way, which is that it's plain more fun and exciting, as a good movie needs to be. As part of the interest group, I just find the idea rather interesting. It's more curiosity than any expectation that it will make for an enjoyable read in and of itself.
A perfectly reasonable criticism, although not having read the book, I would have to see for myself how much sense it makes in context. Us techies are a wordy bunch, we're proud and like mouthing off to people who we think can't reasonably harm us. It's something I'd almost consider as adding to the realism - it's not exactly corporate- or intelligence-grade hacking, but in the warez scene, posturing is everything when it comes to your reputation. If he has probable reason to believe that what he tells those people won't come back to bite him, it's a reasonable character flaw for someone in that field to have.
Still, I do see where you're coming from.
4697703
I absolutely recommend that you read the book when you have the time.
Exactly what I meant. I'm definitely the kind of storyteller that would rather throw out boring elements in favour of things that make for a better/more exciting story, so you know where I'm coming from there.
I can see that being a good character flaw for a character like Sweets, however I often felt that it was not intentional. I can't talk about it without spoilers, but often he reveals things to dangerous people who have every reason -- and the means -- to hurt him. One of the biggest things that bothered me about his whole character was how his wordiness never came back to bite him in the arse, even when I felt it could -- or should -- have.
But again, despite my nitpicking, Colony is a book I recommend. Then you can make up your own mind about it.
4697751
I'll be sure to keep your criticisms in mind when I do, although I have to admit I only skimmed most of this after it caught my attention, so as to not spoil myself.
Yeah, I definitely do. After the first few times you've spend 8 hours on debugging some random spaghetticode C++ class template, you really learn to appreciate the
"They're hacking our IPs!"
"Which ones?!"
"All of them!"
type of storytelling. I really recommend the movie "Hackers," if you've ever got the time. It really captures the sheer weirdness of our field's myopic worldview while being a hell of a lot of nonsense fun about it. It's very, very 90s, though. You have been warned.
Mh, yeah, I can see why that would bother you. It's something I find very grating as well, when characters act like complete dumbasses for no real, apparent reason and never get their comeuppance for it. It tends to be intensely frustrating to me - it makes me want to shake the guy and go "stop being a dumbass, stop being a dumbass" at them.
Still, we tend to have a very different, idiosyncratic type of view on what's "dangerous" to us as well as what's worth knowing. It's not necessarily a reasonable one, which more than a few groups learned to their detriment. One thing about spending most of your life in front of a computer is that it tends to make you a bit naive, so I think I can't properly judge without seeing it for myself. If I do, I'll get back to you about this part.