Harm's Way by Colin Greenland

"My mother loves me!" I bellowed. "She is not gone!" Could he not see her standing there, drawn up alongside the bridge, her hair like a red flag of danger? Like Jesus in the chapel at S. Sebastien, pointing to his flaming heart, Mama pointed to the inky hole in her throat. "I was all she had," I charged him, in a voice to split his ears, "but she sent me away, to keep me safe from you!"

"Nowhere," he said, "is safe from me."

Colin Greenland has apparently been described as 'one of the most distinctive and best loved of British sf writers', but I've never heard of him or any of his books before. But as per Chu's suggestion, I lately aquired Colin Greenland's book Harm's Way. This book is actually out of print (since the previous print in 1993), but I got it from Amazon's marketplace for 99p plus p&p, and although the book is in theory used it arrived in perfect condition.

It was then left lying then on the kitchen table for couple of weeks, against the old saying of never judge a book by it's cover, as this book has the most hideous cover I've seen in a long while. It looks like it would fit well in the Harlequin bookshelf - it's got a picture of a handsome half naked angel cradling a scared looking young woman on his arms. But based on my research on the award winning author and Chu's recommendation, I finally picked the book up and read it.

The book tells a story of young Sophie Farthing who runs away from his father looking for answers to what happened to her mother. The world is very fantastical - Chu called it steampunk: but there's not even steam in the technology. There is interplanetary travel - but it's done with sailing ships sailing on space fluxes. There are fauns and angels, and there are total aliens from other systems. Britannia rules the waves, still, and all the ships that sail under her flag need to adhere to the strict rules of the Pilot's Guild. (And I would be very surpised if China Mieville hasn't been influenced by Greenland.)

I think it was my suspicion of the book's cover, combined with the very formal 19th century English Greenland uses as an effect, I had difficulties with this book in the early chapters. But once I got used to the narrative and the plot kicked in, I had difficulties in putting it down. Sophie was although at times an irritating narrator, also very refreshing heroine - she was very naive in the beginning, and wasn't overly smart either, but grew up in a very believable way. Certainly facinating and well written fantastical science fiction - I would recommend reading it if you manage to get your hands on a copy.