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Triptych (2011)

by J.M. Frey(Favorite Author)

4.37 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1897492138 (ISBN13: 9781897492130)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dragon Moon Press

review 1: I hurriedly picked this off the library shelf, considering pretty much any new author a possible treat. I must say that I was quite surprised by what I got.The framing devices of this story include an alien species who arrive fleeing (undeserved, of course) planetary disaster, and time travel. However, even though those are both hoary SF chestnuts, this isn't really a science fiction book: it's a romance novel. The overwhelming majority of the book is a romance between a human couple and one of the aliens (whose regular family units [aglunates] are trios rather than duos), and most of the romance boils down to either sex or pre-sexual discussions.The writing is engaging enough, and the author structures the story in a way such that the most predictable plot elements are... more held in reserve. The aliens and the time travel apparatus are effectively macguffins - props on which the author can paint her thoughts and make plot points. I thought the physicality of the aliens was particularly underdeveloped- I still don't have a clear picture of what Kalp actually looks like, and I've read dozens (maybe 100? It felt like a lot) of pages describing him having sex. I suspect this underdevelopment is precisely intentional: that Frey wanted to talk about family structure and this was a means to that end. The problem here is that she got to the triad structure, and made about a three sentence advocacy for it, but then didn't take the idea much further; as Larry Niven says, anyone can predict the car, but good SF predicts the traffic jam. I didn't see much traffic jam prediction here.The plot resolution is a bit "neat," but is serviceable. The place where it falls down the most is the resolution of the time travel apparatus.I'd consider reading a future work by Frey, but she would benefit from doing more work on the blocking and tackling of SF storytelling- the world-building which underlies all of the best SF - and on expanding the range of ideas past the realm of new and different sexual partners.
review 2: This is an interesting take on the perils of mixing or trying to blend multi life forms for the sake of the greater good. The story enfolds using multiple view points, first the humans and then the alien and the focus is on the perils and rewards of blending totally different behavors. This may sound boring but it is not. It left me with a lot to thing about. I have to say that I thought of Embassytown while reading this. When I got done with Embasstown, I was not sure of anything except that I had read a book that put forth this idea of alien to human interaction as an almost incomprehensible impossibility. The Triptych, at least I could feel and understand the sesults of the characters actions. less

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