Zones

Reviewed by Kathryn Andersen (22 January 2000)

This is simply a good teen-SF novel. First thing you should to is NOT read the blurb on the back. It's - as is far too often the case - completely misleading. But do read the book.

The protagonist, Jenny, is just an ordinary teenager, in Melbourne, coping as best she can with divorced parents, and life in general. The story opens with her answering the telephone... but it's a very odd telephone call. This guy is asking really strange questions. Too strange for him to be your run-of-the-mill nutter. Jenny hangs up. Later that day, the guy calls again...

I like the way it gradually builds up as to what is happening, how the author doesn't explain it to the reader, we find it out at the same time as Jenny does. I like the snappy dialogue. It's actually worth reading again, to see how it hangs together from the start when you actually do know what is happening, and it still hangs together. I like the characterisation. I like the detailed settings of Melbourne suburbs, just makes me feel at home (sometimes I am sick and tired of the fact that most SF which is set in the current day is all set in a foreign country that I've never been to). And other familiar bits like listening to the Science Show on Saturday afternoons, again made it easy for me to identify with the protagonist.

In short, it works.

Sid & Nancy Scale: a freshly-made Souvlaki