F/SF

2.5. Good writing and a page-turner, but this near-future SF thriller set in the Middle East felt shallow and dated 20 years after its publication. Which is a shame - it's not every science fiction novel that follows a plucky, sarcastic Arab-American foreign correspondent and a military cyborg with a heart of gold. ( )

This book was published in 1996 and was nominated for an Arthur C. Clarke award in 1997. That's an indication of how good this debut novel is.

Kay Bee Suleiman is a journalist who rose to fame covering the war in Khuruchabja, an Arab nation with few natural resources. Kay Bee describes herself as "homely as a mud fence" when she dresses as a woman but dressed as a man her features were judged as distinguished. In Khuruchabja she had to pretend to be a man since women could not hold jobs. Covering that war was stressful so Kay Bee was happy to go back to work for the Global Broadcasting Network (GBN) behind the scenes, giving feed-ins for the on air personalities. Ten years later, she is requested/ordered to return to Khuruchabja to accompany a government asset who is an artificially intelligent and enhanced humanoid. John Halton looks human but he has mental and physical capabilities far greater than any person. The idea is that he will pose as Kay Bee's camera person until the time they meet the ruler of Khuruchabja, Lawrence Abdul bin Hassan al Samir al Rashid. Then John will become the king's bodyguard and Kay Bee will return home alone. Kay Bee hates the idea of returning to Khuruchabja but finds that she has no choice but to acquiesce. Unbeknownst to Kay Bee, John is also smuggling a computer chip into the country. Kay Bee may be unaware but other people know about it and want it. After they land in Khuruchabja their taxi driver delivers them to some people who will stop at nothing to find the chip. Fortunately, John is able to use his superhuman powers to kill the kidnappers but Kay Bee got pretty roughed up. That's when she learns about the chip and she is determined to find out what is on it. Through an old contact she is put in touch with a group of computer geeks. There are multiple layers of security on the chip and the final level requires a lot of computing power. They manage to get to play the final message for a short period of time and what they see is mind-blowing. Kay Bee and John don't know what to do with it except hand it over to the authorized contact. Kay Bee and John become close during the hours and days they spend together. John confides in Kay Bee that he is afraid he will be terminated since, to the government, he is just a piece of machinery. Kay Bee wants to help him but as they are constantly under surveillance it is difficult to change the planned handover. Could there possibly be a happy ending for Kay Bee and John? And what does the future hold for Khuruchabja? Read the book to answer these questions. I promise there will be twists and turns.

N. (which stands for Nancy) Lee Wood doesn't appear to have published anything since 2014 and she became a naturalized citizen of New Zealand in November, 2020. All of the books she has written appear to be out of print and there are no copies in my local library. That is a real shame since I am quite eager to read more of her writing. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled at book sales and used book stores. ( )

Started. Did not continue.

up to p.89 - shaping up to something like Silver Metal Lover with William Gibson speed.

Enjoyed the ride ~ this was the author's first book and I felt it sagged in some places under the weight of narrative about the politics of Khuruchabja that some decent editing would have streamlined. Khuruchabja is a fictional place in the near future in the middle east and the author's use of too many references to politics in our recent decade seem forced.

I see that previous readers have taken it to be a statement about global politics and women's rights, BUT I see it more as a metaphor about loyalty and what is human? And who do humans remain loyal to?

John, a humanoid fabricant at first is loyal to who ever legally owns him. Later he becomes loyal to Kay Bee although confused and damaged and finally unique. Like humans. ( )