This is the second book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justina Robson. I liked the first book really well, but I wasn't as impressed with this book. The plot was too hacked up, and the storylines that the different characters followed seemed unrelated. Despite that, the world is still really intriguing and the characters re-joined at the end of the book making me want to read more about them. I listened to this on audio book, and while the audio book was okay, it wasn't the greatest reading I've ever heard. The reader had trouble doing male voices without making them sound annoying.Lila Black is sent to Demonia on a mission to find how Zal became part demon. Meanwhile Zal gets stuck in the elemental realm (after having words about Lila with Malichi over an odd game of cards) and spends time there trying to get out. Malichi journeys to the Interstitial realm to learn more about ghosts. Eventually they all end up back together, but how all this is related to the problem of the cracks in the six different worlds is all a mystery to me.I had some trouble understanding what this book was getting at. Lila didn't do much in Demonia besides get into trouble and meet an imp; okay so she gets into *a lot* of trouble. Meanwhile Zal (who is on his way to meet her) ends up in the Elemental Realm and spends a lot of time there trying to get back out without dying. Zal's part was kind of boring and dreamy and really only had one important reason for happening as far as I could tell. Totally unrelated to all of this Malichi ends up in the in-between Interstitial space learning about ghosts. If all of this stuff sounds unrelated, well, it pretty much was. I am fairly certain that everything that happened will play a major part in later books, but for this book it was mainly just disconnected and random.The way Robson switched between Lila, Zal, and Malichi was hard to follow. She stopped at odd places in one character's story and then switched to another character. I just found the switches to be unnatural and, at points, it made the story hard to follow. I also got kind of sick of Lila's constant whining. It was crazy how she followed what the Agency told her blindly; although this is finally explained late in the book. Zal and Lila barely see each other the whole book and that was also disappointing. Another odd thing was that the game between Zal and Lila (which took up a good portion of Book 1) was rarely mentioned in this book.There was also a lot that was done well in this book. The descriptions of Demon culture were very interesting. Where "Keeping it Real' focused on the Elven world, the majority of this book is about Demonia. Also you get to learn a lot more about both Zal's and Lila's past. It was great to finally meet some people from their past and learn more about what shaped their backgrounds and drives them. Teesil was an awesome addition to the story, as the lead assassin of Demonia, and I look forward to him being a bigger part of the next book.The ending of the story was absolutely fantastic; I was impressed with how Robson brought the characters together and set things up for a great book 3. Really the ending was the most exciting part of this book and is the only thing making me interested in reading the next book of the series.Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. Some things were awesome, some things not so much. I will read the third book because this book seemed to be setting things up for a great story in the third book.
Justina Robson is on top form with this Lila Black series. Don't be put off by the genre-crossover 'pitch' of cyber-babe meets elves and fairies and magic and what-not -- it's really good stuff!The writing is incredibly tight, and the various otherwordly goings-on are as lean as befits frantic action but have the internal consistency to suggest a really well thought out basis. In several places I've read through, breathless and only half-understanding what's occurring, but knowing that this is a fair simulation of what Lila is experiencing. Going back to those places and reading them again more carefully and knowing what I was looking for this time, they've absolutely stood up to inspection.Selling Out, specifically, is 'the demons one' -- but these are philosophical demons rather than the fanged footsoldiers of the pit. (And only half as philosophical as the concept of devils that she gets in there as well!) I wasn't quite as compelled by this one as by the first or the third, possibly because I didn't have any existing frames of reference to compare the demons against (where the first was 'the (first?) elves one', and the third was 'the faerie one') but that's hardly a criticism. I have the fourth on pre-order and I can't wait!
Do You like book Selling Out (2007)?
Three and a half stars. I enjoyed the first and final thirds of the book. Robson has beautiful wording at times, and flashes of humor that make me smile while reading. The first third is a lovely description of Lila experiencing Demonia. In the middle, I was frustrated with Lila having seemingly random emotional outbursts, with no back story. For instance, in one section, she has shut down and retreated into an emotionless space (but without switching on her AI emotion override), then in the ne
—Carol.
3.5 stars. I like that the worlds got a lot more complex. It not quite the simple elves, demons, fairies anymore, there are lot more layers. Maybe a few too many layers, there are an awful lot of characters floating around but not a ton of character development. It isn't terrible at all, just not as rich as I'd like. Also, it doesn't quite connect emotionally as much as I'd like, which made me dock it about half a point. But I still like Lila a lot, and I like Zal more than I did in the last book. He claims that he's terribly shallow but the author goes to great lengths to show that that's not really true. Lila's relationship, if you can call it that, with Tath, the elf necromancer who's living inside her heart, continues to develop in interesting ways that add a lot to the story. Mal, Lila's suit-loving black cat fairy colleague, becomes a bigger character in this book, and he's a lot of fun. I liked Teazle the demon assassin a lot, as well as Lila's crazy imp familiar Thingamajig. The ghosts and Zoomonia were mostly just confusing. But the American government stuff was good. Frustrating, but good. It probably would be a lot like that. I hope we get to find out more about Sarasilien, the elf who is working with the American government, in the next book. Tath says that he is hiding his identity, very intriguing! Overall, it's a really fun mix-up of the genres with fun characters and ideas that seem to be developing in intriguing directions.
—Cathy
There is a phrase to describe this sci-fi slash fantasy read: bat-shit crazy. If I could still follow book #1, this one had a lot of infodumps and incredibly detailed complex worlds. My head was spinning, but I still enjoyed Lila and Co. adventures. She is a secret agent and a cyborg falling for a dark elf/demon. What's not to love? Add a loyal fae friend, different dimensions and incredible vicious beauty of demon realms, and you have one mesmerizing pain in the butt of a book. Similar reads: none. Maybe Fifth Element and Final Fantasy?
—Kara-karina
