7. Hammered by Elizabeth Bear (Science Fiction) 324 p.

The backstory: I love Sarah Monette. She and Elizabeth Bear wrote a book together, which I loved. I became convinced that if only I could get through Carnival, one of Ms. Bear’s other SF novels, I would really enjoy her writing. Well, I didn’t, but I do.

Hammered is, in a word, awesome. Set in a rather bleak future, former Canadian Forces soldier Jenny Casey is hiding out in Hartford, Connecticut. Pushing fifty, badly scarred, with a cybernetic arm to replace one lost in combat, she lives in constant pain. When the enhancements she was given along with the new arm begin to degrade, one of her old commanding officers seizes the chance to get her working for him again.

This book is very much the first in a trilogy, since most of the storylines are left to be resolved in the later books. It took me a while to get into the story, but once I did, it flew by. Jenny Casey is an engaging narrator, and the other characters are equally fascinating (and many of them are equally likable.)

Hammered is followed by Scardown and Worldwired, both of which I am frothing at the mouth chomping at the bit eager to read. (Carnival, on the other hand, is still on hold. I’ve picked it up and put it down many times, hampered by the fact that as I never fully understood what was going on, I am now, many months and a hundred pages further on, hopelessly confused. The only solution is to go back to the beginning, this time paying attention to who the characters are.)

Pages read: 2,363

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, Elizabeth Bear, Jenny Casey