Peacemaker

Peacemaker by Marianne de Pierres
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When park ranger Virgin Jackson witnesses a murder in Birrimun Park, the last natural landscape on earth, things quickly spiral out of control. With an unwanted partner by her side in the form of US Marshall Nate Sixkiller, can she get to the bottom of things? But what do the strange occurences have to do with Aquila, the mysterious eagle that has been appearing to her since she was a child?

I got this from Angry Robot via Netgalley.

Peacemaker is a sf mystery set in the future. Virgin Jackson, stubborn and bull-headed as she is, drags the reader from one catastrophe to another, and takes quite a beating in the process. Her partner on the case, Nate Sixkiller, is a very capable US Marshall who works with the Spiritual Service, monitoring events of a mystic nature.

It's really to pull off a story that uses mysticism in a technologically advanced time period but it works very well in Peacemaker. It brought back memories of how William Gibson was able to pull off a similar feat in Count Zero with the voodoo loas.

The fully urbanized future depicted in Peacemaker is a fairly bleak one. Imagine a world were the only natural landscape left is a park where tourists visit. The combination of Australian and Western culture present around the park makes for an interesting setting indeed, as do the various factions Virgin has to go to for help.

As you can tell, I liked a lot about this book. There were plenty of twists, turns, and double crosses. I loved that Virgin and Nate didn't get their genitals entangled at any point, which is a refreshing change of pace.

However, I did have a few minor gripes. I thought the plot with the Mythos could have been explained better and elaborated upon but I have a feeling that will be explored in the sequels. I also found Virgin's lack of trust and stubbornness to be infuriating at times but that helped drive the plot.

Peacemaker is a good sf mystery for people looking for something a little different. Four stars.

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