Jenna Starborn

Rating:
Summary: "Oh, gee, I want to write a book, but I can't come up
Review: ..Honestly...after ploughing through this travesty of a book, the above is the only rationale I could imagine for its creation. I was really disappointed because I greatly enjoyed Ms. Shinn's Angel trilogy, and I was looking for more books by her to read. But "Jenna Starborn"...as a long-time Bronte fancier as well, the kindest thing I can say about Shinn's book is that it just doesn't work on any level.

Rating:
Summary: not Shinn's best work
Review: As a huge fan of Shinn's books "Archangel" and "Summers at Castle Auburn," I was really looking forward to "Jenna Starborn." I usually like the way Shinn mixes sci-fi/fantasy with romance, and the way she portrays her heroines -- strong and compelling, but imperfect enough to be believable. However, while "Jenna Starborn" contained all of these elements, the story didn't really grip me. Towards the end, I had to struggle to keep reading it.
Part of it was simply the lack of freshness. "Jenna Starborn" followed "Jane Eyre" a little bit too closely. The names of the characters and places were often identical (do the names Harriet, Beatrice, Bianca, and Ms. Ingersoll sound familiar?). Shinn even mimicked Bronte's style with phrases like 'Dear Reeder' (as opposed to 'Dear Reader'). If Shinn introduced plot twists or altered aspects of the character's personality this wouldn't have been a problem--but she didn't. Nor did Shinn offer a really compelling 'backdrop' to the story. Part of what made Shinn's "Angel" series (Archangel, Jovah's Angel, and Alleluia Files)so successful was her skillful rendering of Samaria. Unfortunately, the sci-fi scenario in "Jenna Starborn" was not at all original. The intergalactic space-travel world and colonization system is stale (particularly because Shinn doesn't spend enough time on world development), and Shinn's themes of democracy and social justice(in the form of the PanEquist religion and the hierarchical citizenship ladder) were delivered very poorly and inconsistently.
Still, I admit I am biased by high expectations and prior knowledge of Bronte's 'Jane Eyre.' While "Jenna Starborn" is not Shinn's best work (about as good as "Heart of Gold"), it's still a decent read. Amelette as Mr. Ravenbeck's sweet but lonely child ward is well-characterized, and Jenna comes across as highly intelligent and principled, if socially awkward.
If you haven't read Bronte's novel before, you might enjoy "Jenna Starborn" more than I did. Or if all you're looking for is a moderately well-written but fluffy sci-fi romance, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: not Shinn's best work
Review: As a huge fan of Shinn's books "Archangel" and "Summers at Castle Auburn," I was really looking forward to "Jenna Starborn." I usually like the way Shinn mixes sci-fi/fantasy with romance, and the way she portrays her heroines -- strong and compelling, but imperfect enough to be believable. However, while "Jenna Starborn" contained all of these elements, the story didn't really grip me. Towards the end, I had to struggle to keep reading it.
Part of it was simply the lack of freshness. "Jenna Starborn" followed "Jane Eyre" a little bit too closely. The names of the characters and places were often identical (do the names Harriet, Beatrice, Bianca, and Ms. Ingersoll sound familiar?). Shinn even mimicked Bronte's style with phrases like 'Dear Reeder' (as opposed to 'Dear Reader'). If Shinn introduced plot twists or altered aspects of the character's personality this wouldn't have been a problem--but she didn't. Nor did Shinn offer a really compelling 'backdrop' to the story. Part of what made Shinn's "Angel" series (Archangel, Jovah's Angel, and Alleluia Files)so successful was her skillful rendering of Samaria. Unfortunately, the sci-fi scenario in "Jenna Starborn" was not at all original. The intergalactic space-travel world and colonization system is stale (particularly because Shinn doesn't spend enough time on world development), and Shinn's themes of democracy and social justice(in the form of the PanEquist religion and the hierarchical citizenship ladder) were delivered very poorly and inconsistently.
Still, I admit I am biased by high expectations and prior knowledge of Bronte's 'Jane Eyre.' While "Jenna Starborn" is not Shinn's best work (about as good as "Heart of Gold"), it's still a decent read. Amelette as Mr. Ravenbeck's sweet but lonely child ward is well-characterized, and Jenna comes across as highly intelligent and principled, if socially awkward.
If you haven't read Bronte's novel before, you might enjoy "Jenna Starborn" more than I did. Or if all you're looking for is a moderately well-written but fluffy sci-fi romance, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: It's all been done before...and done better the first time
Review: I couldn't finish this book.

I skimmed the first two thirds of it, and then skipped to the last fifteen pages. And yet I have an extremely good idea of what happened in the interim: that is, nothing significantly different from the plot of Jane Eyre. Yawn.

When I first heard that Sharon Shinn was writing a retelling of Jane Eyre in a sort of space opera setting, I was quite enthused, being a fan of Sharon Shinn, Jane Eyre (moderately, anyway), and space opera. In previous books, Shinn has managed to make even things I usually avoid in books, i.e. religion and romance-oriented plots, appealing. Unfortunately, Jenna Starborn isn't so much a retelling of Jane Eyre as it is a translation of it into a futuristic setting. Some passages between Roch--Ravenbeck and Jenna, are lifted virtually verbatim from Charlotte Bronte's gothic romance. Apart from the SF setting, and a few of Jenna's biographical details, nothing much is different. (Well, there *is* that awkward insertion of a sort of feminist Transcendentalist religion.) And some of the similarities, such as the use of the phrase, "Dear Reeder," come across as grossly self indulgent and not at all clever or witty.

Following Jane Eyre's plot too closely does absolutely terrible things to characterization. Essentially, Jenna is an incredibly bland futuristic Jane Eyre, with more interesting origins and a brilliance at science. Her story isn't particularly interesting or remotely suspenseful because every detail is already known to someone who has read Jane Eyre. But-- even worse-- she's not half as convincing a character as Jane Eyre. Jenna's not dislikable, but she's *boring.* Sharon Shinn is usually excellent at characterization, but confined by the motivations and actions of Bronte's characters, she fails to create any three dimensional characters of her own. No one escapes being a pale and unsatisfactory imitation of one of Bronte's characters.

The setting, too, compared to that of her previous books, is rather underdeveloped. It's the usual generic space opera setting, with some indication of space travel and improved medical technology and an unfamiliar religious order. Each of these has been explored better in other Shinn books; here, they all get shoved into the background of the plot and the plights of the characters, which would be all right except that those aspects are singularly uncompelling.

I was initially puzzled why the lack of original plot and therefore suspense bothered me so much; fairy tale retellings, after all, make up one of my favorite subgenres, and no one can deny that those are derivative. But I suspect that it's because good fairy tale retellings expand, explore, and add subtlety and meaning; Jenna Starborn does nothing for Jane Eyre. Even my favorite scene in Jane Eyre-- that of the fortuneteller-- in Jenna Starborn becomes quite forgettable. Everything that I found overly melodramatic and sappy in Jane Eyre is even more cringeworthy in Jenna Starborn. The original's faults are exaggerated, its virtues diminished.

The one thing that did genuinely amuse me was the inclusion of a character named Janet Ayerson (the name!), who is the tutor to Ravenbeck's young ward. Janet embarks upon a course that will be instantly familiar to any Pride and Prejudice fan, given the deliberate similarity of certain passages. In such a derivative Jane Eyre retelling, the inclusion of this allusion was pleasantly surprising. If the entire book had been full of sly literary references from a variety of sources, I would have enjoyed it a good deal more.

Released about the same time, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair is a much, much more rewarding novel that also deals with Jane Eyre (and pet dodos, Martin Chuzzlewit, Henry James, and the Shakespeare authorship question). Jenna Starborn should be read only by those patient enough to sit through-- yes, a Jane Eyre clone with spaceships-- or those who haven't read Jane Eyre at all. I hope Sharon Shinn will return to more original subject matter; I don't think I could read it if she chose to 'retell' Pride and Prejudice similarly!

Rating:
Summary: Not Shinn's best work
Review: I have been a fan of Sharon Shinn since I read ARCHANGEL back in 1998. That said, this does not meet up to some of her previous offerings. The story of Jane Eyre has been moved to a foreign planet and imbued with some technological advances, but these add little to the emotional content of the story. Personally, I would rather read an original story by Shinn than a rehashing of something that Charlotte Bronte did perfectly well. So if you have loved Sharon Shinn in the past, go back and read (or re-read) ARCHANGEL or HEART OF GOLD. Both are original, brilliant works that will warm the heart and stir the imagination to a far greater extent than Jenna Starborn.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Keeper
Review: I have loved previous Sharon Shinn novels. When I saw that she had a new novel, I bought it immediately. But I would advise readers who love Sharon Shinn to borrow this book. "Jenna Starborn" was a good summer read - It is basicly a rehashing of "Jane Eyre" in a futuristic setting. I disagree with the reviewer who forecasts it as being a cult classic in the future. It certainly isn't something I would re-read.

Rating:
Summary: aggravating
Review: I haven't read Jane Eyre, so I can't review this book from that point of view, although a few of my friends told me that this book follows the plot pretty closely. I can say that I found the two main characters, Jenna and Everett, to be fairly aggravating. Jenna is smart as far as math and science go, but she's an idiot when it comes to people. Even though she likes her job and Everett's ward, she makes hardly any argument when Everett talks about her giving all that up once they're married. I don't understand it. And I can't help but dislike Everett for the way he acts through a great deal of the book. I think the author crippled herself trying to follow Jane Eyre, because I know she can do a better job than this.

Rating:
Summary: Gothic Romance in Space
Review: I just finished up this book and found it to be a truly enjoyable read! However, I will state that this is not for the person looking for battles and high tech action in their SF.

The book is advertised as a twist on the classic romance novel, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. That is exactly what it is, too, so if you have read Jane Eyre, there will be few plot surprises for you.

Since Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, I took great delight in seeing it transformed into a SF novel. Jane the plain, penniless, and unloved young governess becomes Jenna, the plain, half-citizen, unloved young nuclear technician.

Jenna is raised unloved and neglected until she is sent away to school to learn a trade. She teaches for a bit and then chooses to go the the remote planet of Fieldstone to Thorrastone Manor to tend the nuclear generator that maintains its atmospheric dome. There she meets Mrs Farraday, the simple,chatty housekeeper, Amelleta, the adorable young ward of the master, and Miss Ayerson, Ameletta's tutor. She dwells there peacefully until her world is turned upside down by the arrival of the mysterious Citizen level One, the rich Mr. Ravenbeck. She reluctantly falls for him, all too well aware of the gulf between their stations. The course of true love does not run smoothly. There are tragedies to be overcome and a horrible mystery in Mr. Ravenbeck's past comes to nearly destroy him and their chance at happiness.

This is a romance book masquerading as SF, but should appeal to fans of McKinley's work, like Beauty, and anyone who enjoys romantic SF .

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I like most of Sharon Shinn's work and I loved Jane Eyre, so why didn't I like this book? It was faithful to Jane Eyre, but I never found her Jane a very compelling character and it just never really made anything special or different. It's an interesting transposition of world for the story, but doesn't have much else to recommend it. Stick to the original if you want the story, or read Shinn's other books for better characters.

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to love it, but...
Review: I love Sharon Shinn's books, all of them; I think I've read all of them multiple times. Her sci-fi books are some of the few in that genre that I actually enjoy, and her fantasies always discuss a topic of particular importance to me. When I found out that Jenna Starborn was coming out, I got very excited because there was a new Sharon Shinn book coming out, but I was a bit wary when I discovered that it was an adaptation of Jane Eyre, a story that never appealed to me. I just never bought the romance. I was hoping that Sharon Shinn would make the story believable for me, but in this I was disappointed. Shinn still brought up the issues in a meaningful way, about the complexities of social class and the difficulties of having to earn your way. However, it is still as unfathomable to me that Jenna and Mr. Ravenback would fall in love as it was that Jane and Mr. Rochester would, and that is one of the crucial elements of the story. As adaptations go, it is brilliant, and I think it adds a sense of universiality to the problems of social class and the cyclical nature of history. However, in order to appreciate it, one has to appreciate the original story, because Jenna Starborn does not stray very far from the original plot.