Review: River in the Galaxy

And, on the subject of great writers who need more visibility... I've been following Natalie Kelda on Twitter for a couple of months now. Her tweets for writers kept getting recommended by the new Twitter algorithm and I kept responding to them.

Anyway, she's an indie-published author who recently released River in the Galaxy, the first book in her Inner Universe series. As someone who is terrifically bored by the Standard Fantasy Setting (TM), I was instantly intrigued by the front cover. It is beautiful - and completely wacky, but in a good way. The artist (who I think is Sophie Edwards) deserves a lot of credit for helping to market this book.

I have Kindle Unlimited and can reveal that, unlike Ministry for the Future, I read 100% of this novel. This is because River in the Galaxy is really very well written. Just incase Natalie is offended by me comparing her work favourably to Kim Stanley Robinson.

What's this book like to read?

The premise of the book, and the fantasy setting, is great. It is a high-seas adventure fantasy with sailing ships that fly in space, all beautifully explained and described. It's not a setting I've EVER seen before, it's instantly memorable and very imaginative. There are space crocodiles flying in purple psychedelic gas. There are energy storms that cause cancer. People are buried 'at sea' by dropping them down a hole and, if you fall off the dock into open space, you fall forever. Seriously, folks, I will doubtless remember this fantasy setting (favourably) for years to come.

The plot itself is very Raymond Chandler, who always said that - if you're stumped about what to write next - have a man with a gun enter the room. So, you have a bunch of characters on a boat and, every chapter or so, a perilous hazard turns up. Energy storms! Crocodiles! EARTHQUAKES ON A FLOATING CITY! There's a general plot-like thing, in that the main character is searching for his parents (and there's an artificial time limit for their mission), but it's more of a gentle prod through the pages than anything more urgent.

The large ship crew, none of whom have point-of-view, each have limited screen time and subsequent character development. As such, I ended up identifying them by single broad traits, such as 'the sassy girl', 'the healer', 'the old bloke' and 'the girl who has a stutter and a disapproving father'. I have the impression, however, that Natalie has a better idea of their personalities and backstories than what ended up on the page. I suspect they'll get better fleshed out in subsequent books.

Regardless of the weaker points, this is a very strong and readable debut. The kinetic pacing and dialogue between characters (and unexpected deaths of named crew members - no one is safe here!) keeps things moving along entertainingly until the ship eventually flies off into the sunset (or, maybe, just through an asteroid field into the next book).

Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!

The one question I have, and this is more as a writer than a reader, is about the personality of the main character, Merlon. He's supposed to have severe depression and anxiety, although it read to me more like day-to-day autistic sensory/social overwhelm (I think that the author is diagnosed autistic, as is my older son). He spends a lot of time heroically trying to save his crew, getting injured, being too injured to command the ship, and then - out of general misery over this situation - wanting to fall back into what reads like an opioid painkiller addiction.

I kept questioning how he maintained command of his vessel. Was it obvious to the other characters how poorly he was coping? Or did he manage to successfully conceal it? It was hard to tell, with him being the only point-of-view character.

I also wondered whether there should be more rumblings of discontent (than I read)? Maybe a mutiny? Everyone just seemed too nice, including him. In fact, he was sufficiently nice that I kept wishing Natalie would stop blinding the poor man and bopping him on the head to create narrative tension. Perhaps he would have coped better if he wasn't recovering from injuries all the time - chronic illness is intrinsically depressing.

Some musings on mental health/disability

From a writers' point of view, I found it really interesting to read how Natalie struck the balance in River in the Galaxy between telling an adventure story and realistically depicting disability/mental health.

It's something I'm grappling with myself, in my own current work-in-progress. I've got a character who is a major plot driver. He's an extremely talented young man, but he's also neurodivergent with a very spiky skill profile. Interestingly, he's also got a (smoked) sedative addiction, possibly for similar reasons. Unlike Merlon, however, he makes no effort to kick this habit and, in fact, also drinks heavily (oops).

Anyway, the issue I'm having is getting the balance right between writing him unrealistically capable - your classic Marty Stu character - and making it look like he can't cope his way out of a paper bag. He has some pretty amazing skills**, but I can't ignore the weak spots of his neurodivergence either (or it'll just look like window dressing).

The point is, I'm not sure I've got the lines drawn right (either). This stuff is hard.

And.... in summary

River in the Galaxy is a great book. Definitely worth a read and a brilliant introduction to self-published indie sci-fi/fantasy if you haven't taken the plunge before.

You won't be disappointed, and you may become a huge fan.

*****

**NOTE: There is a debate about whether extremes of ability are a myth perpetuated by Hollywood depictions of autism, especially Rainman. Broadly speaking, my character is just a very smart bloke with an early language delay. He starts off as being a bit of a Rainman-esque five year old, but - by the age of nineteen - his language abilities are slightly above average. Rainman, my older son, and my fictional character are all statistically unlikely people (or loosely based upon them). However, I'm working on the assumption that it's more likely someone with a non-verbal IQ of 180+ and non-disabling apraxia would become a high-masking adult than a savant like Rainman.