Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: It's a wonderful book. Fast-paced, interesting characters, lots to think about. It's great to read a science-fiction novel with strong lesbian characters. The plot's been summarized well (except for reviewer Harriet Klausner, who got almost everything wrong... did she even READ this novel?) so I won't repeat it here. I'll just say that I had this book on my "wish list" for some time and when I finally got a copy I wasn't disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Privacy or prison?
Review: Jackal Segura is an overachieving teenager living and working under the auspices of the massive Ko Corporation. She is destined by her birthdate to become a Hope - a symbolic leader of the new World Government. She has a lover, a circle of friends, and a bright future - until a horrific accident turns her into a mass murderer. She is sentenced to forty years in prison, until an ironic choice is offered her - she can trade her sentence for participation in an experimental treatment based on Ko technology. Jackal will spend eight years locked in solitary Virtual Confinement within her own mind, while ten months of "real time" passes in the outside world.
Despite the overwhelming impact of her time in mental prison, very little space is actually appointed to Jackal's eight year solitude. This is a disappointment, given that the book is not overly long and more time could easily have been spent with Jackal in Solitary without sacrificing any of what comes after. The unique nature of Jackal's confinement - which becomes very different from what her jailors originally intended - is just not explored fully enough, in my opinion.
What does come after, however, is what kept me reading. Jackal is forcibly relocated to a North American slum, where she is supported by Ko hush money since no one will hire her. She finds herself in the company of other notorious mass murderers (most of them female), even engaging in a dangerous flirtation with one. Most importantly, she finds Solitaire - a bar/nightclub designed to cater to "solos" - former VC inmates - and the cult of adoring fans that has sprung up around them. As Jackal tries to hide the exact nature of her time in VC from her probation officer (she fears, justifiably, that she will become a lab rat), she begins to realize just how Solitary changed her forever.
Eskridge takes a good, long look at a complicated future that is neither Utopic nor Dystopic, but a frightening combination of both, where privacy can become prison, strangers can be closer than family, and that which does not kill you does indeed make you stronger.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Newest
Review: There's a formula for writing thrillers which includes a clearcut baddy and a close to noble hero or heroine. The action unfolds in a taught ascension of perilous event until the climcatic confrontation and conclusion. Reliable, especially for movies, and the occasional light read. But if you want some depth in your literature, there's only one word for this kind of work. Boring. More difficult and less common is the thriller based on the way in which real life actually happens. Regardless of the fantastic elements, adehrence to the truths of human nature fuels the conflicts, which are more often than not ambiguous, with hero and villain sharing one common trait--they both think they're the good guy, if they think about it in those terms at all. The frustrations that arise out of trying to sort through the suddenly murky options make such stories both real and infinitely satisfying. The best of these also possess a strong narrative flow and a superbly conceived story. "Solitaire" takes the lead on all counts. I find it hard to believe this is a first novel--it has all the polish and panache of a savvy, experienced novelist. Makes me hunger for Eskridge's next foray. Buy it, read it, recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Something different to think about
Review: This book is different. But it details life in the near future as if it is ordinary and everyone understands exactly what and how things came to be. There are no retrospective explanations, about the origins of EarthGov, the rise of Ko Corporation, or the Nations of North America. They simply are. Our hero, and she is a hero, has a love relationship with another woman which is presented in a perfectly ordinary tone. The sex of one's partner is not the issue, just their commitment to each other. Solitaire is a book about one person's journey to realize her destiny, and we only see it through her. Ultimately, her personal choices will effect many, many people. A difficult read, this book is fresh and new and a bit familar at the same time. The use of the VR technology for virtual confinment of long-term prisoners was inventive. The technology described a la Total Recall, is a way to make people experience time in a good or bad environment without going anywhere. It takes three-fourths of the book to get through the crime and punishment experienced by Jackal. The real story is in the aftermath, the coming to terms with life after 6 years being totally alone with absolutely no human contact, no human sounds, no pictures, nothing. I was challenged and haunted by this story. This is not a read for the beach in August. It was intense and absorbing and complete. This one is a keeper to return to again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Something different to think about
Review: This book is different. But it details life in the near future as if it is ordinary and everyone understands exactly what and how things came to be. There are no retrospective explanations, about the origins of EarthGov, the rise of Ko Corporation, or the Nations of North America. They simply are. Our hero, and she is a hero, has a love relationship with another woman which is presented in a perfectly ordinary tone. The sex of one's partner is not the issue, just their commitment to each other. Solitaire is a book about one person's journey to realize her destiny, and we only see it through her. Ultimately, her personal choices will effect many, many people. A difficult read, this book is fresh and new and a bit familar at the same time. The use of the VR technology for virtual confinment of long-term prisoners was inventive. The technology described a la Total Recall, is a way to make people experience time in a good or bad environment without going anywhere. It takes three-fourths of the book to get through the crime and punishment experienced by Jackal. The real story is in the aftermath, the coming to terms with life after 6 years being totally alone with absolutely no human contact, no human sounds, no pictures, nothing. I was challenged and haunted by this story. This is not a read for the beach in August. It was intense and absorbing and complete. This one is a keeper to return to again and again.
| 
