Subject: Jane Fancher's GROUNDTIES, UPLINK & HARMONIES OF THE 'NET

From: [email-masked] (Elizabeth Wade)
Date: 17 Oct 93 00:33:36 GMT

Review of Jane S. Fancher's GROUNDTIES, UPLINK, and HARMONIES OF THE 'NET

Reviewed by Elizabeth Wade

Jane Fancher's _Groundties_, _Uplink_ and _Harmonies of the 'Net_,
while nowhere explicitly labeled as such, are three parts of a single
novel.  Be forewarned: the first two books do not even attempt to wrap
up loose ends.  And because it is a work on such a large scale, I
found it a bit slow going at first.  The entirety, however, more than
made up for the slow start.

Although this is her first novel, Fancher has a sure, deft voice--or
rather, voices, since the story is told in the shifting third-person
limited from at least 10 different character's points of view.
Fancher is a C. J. Cherryh protege' and writes in a somewhat similar
caught-in-the-moment style that stays very close to the viewpoint
character's perceptions.  The characters are complex, varied,
interesting and integral to the plot.

The story opens when Admiral Loren Cantrell and her ship _Cetacean_
are dispatched on a mission to discover the source of some missing
data on the interstellar Communications Net.  For help with 'Net
theory, she brings along Stephen Ridenour, a young academy graduate
with a slew of his own problems.  When they reach HuteNamid, the
source of the anomaly, they discover more than they bargained for:
the natives get hostile when questioned, Cantrell makes mistakes, and
Stephen becomes dangerously embroiled in the conflict that (as becomes
apparent) involves far more than just a network "hiccup."  Among those
involved in the conflict/conspiracy/misunderstanding are the
slippery-but-wise planetary governor, an incognito prize-winning
biologist who is Cantrell's ex-lover, an infamous practical joker who
has published what may be a vital treatise on the 'Net, and a young
native leader who is acting remarkably secretive.

The plot tends toward the intricate and there are numerous subplots,
most of which are integral to the overall story.  It tends to move
slowly (in the sense that it can take 200 pages to get through the
events of a single day) because the multiple strands are interwoven,
but there is no lack of dramatic tension.  Emotions tend to run high,
and sometimes threaten to go over the top, but to my tastes, the novel
never crosses the line into sentimentality.  There is humor to balance
the pain, and all emotion is firmly grounded in character.

This novel has a political agenda, but it is a quiet one;  although it
deals with bigotry, social institutions, and sexuality, there are no
lectures and no finger-pointing.  Its political bent is probably best
described as humanist rather than feminist or PC.

If you are interested in a complex story, where strong, interesting
characters interact with politics, economics, technology and the
unknown, I highly recommend this three-book novel.  

%A Jane S. Fancher
%T Groundties
%I Questar (Warner Books)
%C New York, NY
%D copyright 1991
%P 376 pages
%O ISBN  0-446-36243-3
%O US$4.50

%T Uplink
%I Questar (Warner Books)
%C New York, NY
%D copyright 1992
%P 378 pages
%O ISBN  0-446-36148-8
%O US$4.99

%T Harmonies of the 'Net
%I Questar (Warner Books)
%C New York, NY
%D copyright 1992
%P 378 pages
%O ISBN  0-446-36255-7
%O US$4.99