Touchstone (trilogy), Andrea Höst
Nov. 25th, 2012 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianSomeone mentioned this, maybe coffeeandink someplace? I need to either keep better notes or find a good way to search "all the things I've looked at on the web in the last month."
The Touchstone trilogy (Stray, Lab Rat One, Caszandra) is not only portal SF, but also takes place largely in military school for psychic kids. I believe it is relevant to many of your interests.
Cass is an Australian who's just graduated high school and is on her way home when suddenly she's in another world struggling to survive. The format threw me off a little at first -- it's meant to be a paper journal that Cass is writing by hand, but all the entries have subject lines. I decided it makes sense as a way someone who learned to journal from software might do it. She does pretty well for someone with no survival training, and, after finding some strange and helpful technology that becomes important later, manages to live long enough to be rescued into a society of rather alien humans.
The tone is smart and young; I completely bought Cass as a late-teen, somewhat fannish person. Her growing proficiency in the new language across the three books is handled well. Actually, I kept imagining her inventing second-language curricula; it's normal, if infrequent, for the alien society to have the occasional stray person show up through natural wormholes, but vanishingly rare for those people not to be from known worlds in the same language group, so they haven't any systematic way to teach the grammar.
My feminist rage quotient was generally low: depilation is, unexamined, a "girl thing" Cass has to learn how to do in this society, but men traditionally change their names at marriage and the military types are completely egalitarian. Lots of good female characters, some standoffish, some bouncy, some nasty, some kind. Cass is perceptive enough to make the characters and relationships clear despite her difficult situation. The inevitable romance is handled responsibly on both sides, which is really nice. Plus, sex is okay and a normal part of life, which different people handle differently. (Some weirdness about ZOMG they control reproduction!!1! early on, though. They basically live in domes, of course they'd need baby permits.)
As for plot, it goes: Survival! Super special talents! Scary immaterial enemies! Psychic space ninjas! Having your life made into television! Archeology! Relationships! Building a new society! Saving the universe!
So that's pretty much all awesome.
The author self-publishes, so there may not be paper copies sitting in bookstores, but there's a good variety of ebook formats available. The books have a few minor quality issues such as search-and-replace errors, but I've seen worse from publishing houses many times. I really enjoyed these, and the ebooks are reasonably priced. I recommend them.
coffeeandink someplace? I need to either keep better notes or find a good way to search "all the things I've looked at on the web in the last month."The Touchstone trilogy (Stray, Lab Rat One, Caszandra) is not only portal SF, but also takes place largely in military school for psychic kids. I believe it is relevant to many of your interests.
Cass is an Australian who's just graduated high school and is on her way home when suddenly she's in another world struggling to survive. The format threw me off a little at first -- it's meant to be a paper journal that Cass is writing by hand, but all the entries have subject lines. I decided it makes sense as a way someone who learned to journal from software might do it. She does pretty well for someone with no survival training, and, after finding some strange and helpful technology that becomes important later, manages to live long enough to be rescued into a society of rather alien humans.
The tone is smart and young; I completely bought Cass as a late-teen, somewhat fannish person. Her growing proficiency in the new language across the three books is handled well. Actually, I kept imagining her inventing second-language curricula; it's normal, if infrequent, for the alien society to have the occasional stray person show up through natural wormholes, but vanishingly rare for those people not to be from known worlds in the same language group, so they haven't any systematic way to teach the grammar.
My feminist rage quotient was generally low: depilation is, unexamined, a "girl thing" Cass has to learn how to do in this society, but men traditionally change their names at marriage and the military types are completely egalitarian. Lots of good female characters, some standoffish, some bouncy, some nasty, some kind. Cass is perceptive enough to make the characters and relationships clear despite her difficult situation. The inevitable romance is handled responsibly on both sides, which is really nice. Plus, sex is okay and a normal part of life, which different people handle differently. (Some weirdness about ZOMG they control reproduction!!1! early on, though. They basically live in domes, of course they'd need baby permits.)
As for plot, it goes: Survival! Super special talents! Scary immaterial enemies! Psychic space ninjas! Having your life made into television! Archeology! Relationships! Building a new society! Saving the universe!
So that's pretty much all awesome.
The author self-publishes, so there may not be paper copies sitting in bookstores, but there's a good variety of ebook formats available. The books have a few minor quality issues such as search-and-replace errors, but I've seen worse from publishing houses many times. I really enjoyed these, and the ebooks are reasonably priced. I recommend them.
