John P. Murphy (6)

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Title: Red Noise
Series: ----------
Author: John Murphy
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 365
Words: 112.5K

Synopsis:

From Rosie Writes

‘Jane’ or ‘the Miner’ desperately needs food and fuel, so she puts in to an asteroid-based space station, Station 35. Here she is ripped off by the ore company, finds three rival gangs in control and at each others’ throats, while the ‘decent’ population, lead by ‘Mr Shine’ hunker down in the lower depths of the station, except bar-owner/chef Takata and Station Master Herrera, who both refuse to be forced out of the galleria. Jane decides she’s going to clean up the Station and hand it back to ‘decent folks’.

Plans don’t exactly go as expected.

Basically, have you seen any of those old westerns, the ones based on Japanese films, like Seven Samurai, reworked as westerns, or Clint Eastwood’s work, like Fistful of Dollars? Think that aesthetic, but in space.

My Thoughts:

Former Special Space Forces “Jane” is a ronin, a lone cowboy, all by her lonesome and wanting to keep it that way. This is a samurai cowboy in space story with all of the attendent cliches. That's not a bad thing, mind you, just something to keep in mind.

Unfortunately, this didnt grab me at all. I wasn't exactly bored or wondering when things would wrap up, but my first reaction upon finishing the book was “that's it, that's all I get?” I felt let down. A generally vague dissatisfaction accompanied me throughout my entire read of this book but there is nothing concrete I can point to.

It might be a matter of tastes not aligning. I wouldn't argue against that interpretation and I won't say that this is a bad book, but my goodness, it just felt so pedestrian! The tiredness of the main character permeated every aspect of this book and just made it a chore to read.

If you like Samurai Space Cowboys, In Space, this might work for you. Try it. If you're on the fence, then go read some other reviews and approach cautiously. If you're an adrenaline junky, then this definitely isn't for you.

★★✬☆☆… (mehr)

Red Noise isn’t the type of book you read for deep-space exploration, intricate politics, or an in-depth character study. Red Noise is the kind of book you pick up to indulge in stylised violence and say to the oblivious person next to you 'that gangster has it coming', then fail to suppress your sadistic glee when That Gangster gets his face chopped off with a sword. In short, it's non-stop action.

While The Miner’s shady past remains more or less a mystery, watching her take charge and mess with the station's incompetents is fantastically fun. A slowly escalating conflict and plenty of twists make this an exciting read.… (mehr)

Murphy, John P. Red Noise. Angry Robot, 2020.
John Murphy says in an afterword to Red Noise that he has been much influenced by the films of Akira Kurosawa, who was in turn influenced by American genre film, including the western. It should not be a surprise, then, that Murphy writes space opera that is a mashup of the western and the samurai film. Imagine a run-down space station in the asteroid belt, buying ore from miners and resupplying their ships. It is run by several groups of ruthless corporate bosses, hired mercenaries, and other criminal types. No guns are allowed on the station, but there is no rule against swords. Our heroine is a battle-scarred, sword-wielding, mechanically enhanced veteran of a recent war. She now operates a small spacecraft, mining asteroids and growing orchids and bonsai maple trees. She soon finds that her martial skills are more demand than the ore she wants to sell. If she reminds you of a Ronin warrior of a new marshal come to town, the station will remind you of the movie western town, with anonymous townspeople who keep it running, a dock (livery stable), a saloon, a casino, and a crusty old doctor, actually called a sawbones. If you liked Sean Connery in Outland, you will probably read this book with pleasure, though I wish it had more stylistic flash.… (mehr)