Joel Shepherd

Cassandra Kresnov — (2006-2007) Publisher: The League's GIs are purpose built soldiers, inflexible fighting androids — Cassandra (Sandy) is a special, experimental model. She has a personality and mental flexibility; an ability to learn. She is not controllable as are the older GIs. But Sandy is captured by the Federation who want to use her for research.

Crossover

Australian author Joel Shepherd came to my attention via his excellent current fantasy series, A TRIAL OF BLOOD AND STEEL, which I was so impressed by that I decided to check out his earlier novels. Crossover is the first novel in his CASSANDRA KRESNOV trilogy, and was also his first published book, back in 2001 in Australia. The series is now also in print in the US thanks to Pyr, with lovely and evocative cover illustrations by Stephen Martiniere.

The story revolves around Cassandra (Sandy) Kresnov, a synthetic person: to the naked eye she looks like a normal person, but she's been artificially created by the League to fight in their war against the Federation. She's also the most advanced type of her kind: not only considerably stronger and more intelligent than a normal person, but also gifted with the ability to think laterally, which has given her a more human-like psyche — a conscience, if you will. After deserting the League, Sandy is trying to settle down in the Federation, but she soon discovers that it's just as impossible to abandon her prior life as it is to ignore who — and what — she is.

Crossover is a great example of intelligent, well-written science fiction. Joel Shepherd has created a fascinating multi-dimensional heroine in Cassandra. While many people don't accept her for what she is, whether because of her League origins or because of the simple fact that she's different, her advanced intelligence gives her many of the same traits and drives that regular humans have. At the same time, she is so much more advanced than most other synthetics that she's never fully connected with them either, and despite forming strong emotional and physical bonds with them, they regard her more with worship than love.

Crossover is set entirely in Tanusha, the capital city of Callay, in the Federation. Joel Shepherd does an excellent job describing this fascinating metropolis, and sets some truly riveting action scenes in it — a few rank with the best work of action experts like Peter F. Hamilton. The story is set entirely in the Federation and we get a solid idea of the differences between Federation and League because, just like in his fantasy series, the author doesn't shy away from focusing in considerable depth on the political structures and values of his fictional societies. Some readers may not be as enthused with this level of detail: it noticably slows the story down a few times and also sneaks into some of the dialogue, with the occasional instance of two characters delivering paragraph-length lectures to each other. However, providing this level of detail serves the dual purpose of making the fictional world more "real" and lending considerable depth to the differences between the two opposing sides.

Cassandra is joined by a fairly large cast of side-characters, some of whom are better realized (e.g., Vanessa Rice, the executive-turned-SWAT-agent) than others. Especially some of the government officials started to blend together a bit for me, and some minor characters were introduced so briefly and had such similar names than I found it hard to keep track of them. Still, the plot moves along at such a fast pace that it's not a huge problem if you're not entirely sure which SWAT agent made which joke before, and the main characters are always clearly defined.

All in all, Crossover is an intelligent page-turner with a fascinating protagonist, a well-realized world and some of the most exciting action scenes I've read in years. While the concept of an artificial person with more human emotions and intelligence is nothing new, Joel Shepherd has given it a memorable new face with Cassandra Kresnov. I genuinely look forward to finding out how her story continues in Breakaway, the second novel in the series. —Stefan   Comments

Breakaway

Breakaway, the second Cassandra Kresnov novel by Australian SF and fantasy author Joel Shepherd, picks up soon after the ending of series opener Crossover. Sandy, a highly advanced artificial human with military training, is now attached to a squad of SWAT agents, while also helping the government of Callay review its network security. Despite the sensitive nature of this work, and her ongoing integration into Callay society, many political and religious factions still take issue with her presence. After the heavy-handed way in which the Federation handled the crisis described in Crossover, Callay is now reconsidering its relationship with the Earth-based federal government. Sandy is stuck right in the middle of this hotbed, living in a society that is religiously, politically and morally trying to come to terms with what she is and what she represents.

The novel starts off with a bang, throwing us right into a spectacular action scene with fascinating new side character Ari Ruben, then slows down noticeably with a description of Sandy enjoying the waves during a surfing trip on a day off. This rhythm of alternating breathless action scenes with slower-paced descriptions of local color and daily life continues throughout Breakaway. Add to that a continued in-depth focus on the political set-up of Callay in particular and the Federation and League in general, and you may occasionally have the feeling that this is a stop-and-go novel, lurching from high-octane action scenes to slower-paced, even meditative scenes and dialogues focusing on the sociological and political underpinnings of the story. While I found that Joel Shepherd handled this two-speed narrative less effectively in this novel than in Crossover, making Breakaway less of a compulsive page-turner than its predecessor, this is still an immensely entertaining read.

Part of the enjoyment of reading Breakaway is the fact that many of the side-characters become more three-dimensional in this second novel. While some of them were a bit flat and interchangeable in Crossover — although that may be because the fast-paced plot of that novel just didn't allow much time for deeper characterization aside from the protagonist — several of Sandy's colleagues and acquaintances gain some welcome depth here, with some entertaining (and occasionally raunchy) banter between Sandy and SWAT team leader Vanessa Rice, as well as some great dialogue between Sandy and her Director, Ibrahim.

Another aspect of the series that gets fleshed out in Breakaway is the history of its fictional universe, with some welcome info about the events that took place in the handful of centuries between our present day and the novels' setting, including an explanation for the interesting ethnic population mix in the Cassandra Kresnov series, and some of the history between the League and the Federation. We also get more tantalizing looks at the city of Tanusha, for my money one of the most desirable fictional locations to live in: an expertly designed boomtown of 57 million inhabitants without a true city center, instead consisting of multiple hubs, built around one mega-highrise each — like a patchwork quilt of urban centers, each with its own individual flavor, all connected by public transportation. You can find an interesting article by Joel Shepherd about the sociological underpinnings of Callay and Tanusha at his blog.

With its focus on terrorism, political pettiness and religious intolerance, Breakaway (originally published in 2003 in Australia) may in some ways be a child of its time, written in the historical shadow of 9/11 and the 2002 Bali bombings. Joel Shepherd wraps these themes in a gripping SF story, set in an increasingly solid SF universe, and filled with believable characters and nail-biter action scenes. If you enjoyed Crossover and are willing to forgive some pacing issues, you'll find Breakaway a solid second novel in a fascinating trilogy. —Stefan   Comments

Killswitch

Killswitch, the final book in Joel Shepherd’s CASSANDRA KRESNOV trilogy, picks up the story 2 years after the end of Breakaway. The Federation is still going through a period of upheaval, with Callayan President Neiland trying to make Tanusha the capital of the formerly Earth-based organization, and numerous powerful factions (including Federation Fleet warships) converging on the planet to try and affect the outcome of this political power play.

Meanwhile, Callay is still in the process of setting up the administrative and military infrastructure necessary for its new function, and of course the former League hunter-killer android Cassandra Kresnov, and her friend Vanessa Rice, are heavily involved, both somehow installed at the top of the new Callayan Defence Force. (And if this seems a stretch in terms of probability, Joel Shepherd seems to agree, having Sandy wonder out loud “How the hell did us two idiots end up running an army?” early in the novel.)

To make matters even more complicated, Sandy’s lover Ari Ruben discovers that her creators incorporated a “killswitch” in her brainstem, and that someone may be trying to activate it. In the middle of maybe the most important period in the history of Callay, Sandy is forced to go underground and investigate the plot to kill her.

Killswitch is again filled with interesting characters — most importantly of course Cassandra Kresnov, the android action hero with a heart, and her friend and colleague Vanessa Rice. Also reappearing in a more prominent role are Ari Ruben (who is interesting enough to carry a novel by himself), and Rhian Chu, an artificial person who used to be a member of Sandy’s former Dark Star squad and who effectively illustrates the personality development curve the high-des androids can go through. The descriptions of Sandy’s (and Rhian’s) thought processes, coming to terms with what they have done in the line of duty, are at times surprisingly powerful.

Killswitch is another fine installment in the CASSANDRA KRESNOV series, this time even more action-packed and exciting than the previous two books — as hard as that may be to believe! There’s not a dull moment in this novel, and especially the action scenes involving both Sandy and Rhian are tremendously gripping and simply impossible to put down.

If the novel has one weakness, it’s that Joel Shepherd is running two parallel story lines, a major one involving Sandy and Vanessa’s activities planetside, and a smaller (but equally important) one focusing on rivaling Fleet factions in orbit. The plots are connected because both influence the eventual outcome of the Callayan bid to become the Federation capital, but they are generally kept separate for most of the novel until they are resolved in quick succession at the end of the novel. This has the odd consequence of giving the novel two endings, with the second (and again, equally important) one feeling somewhat like an afterthought, after reading the explosive finale of the planetside plot.

With some reconfiguring, this novel could probably have been turned into two books, although maybe that’s just a reflection of my genuine disappointment that Killswitch is the last novel in the CASSANDRA KRESNOV series. Despite the rushed ending, this is a strong, intelligent and breathless military-flavored SF novel. If Joel Shepherd were to write another 10 novels in this series, I’d happily read them all.
—Stefan   Comments