I have known Scott Roche on Twitter and within the podcasting / writing community for quite a while now. This is why I am almost embarrassed to say that I haven’t read any of his fiction until he submitted his short story “Fetch” and later “Ma Coleman’s Faerie Giant” to our Every Photo Tells… podcast.
The story he is most well-known for though, is Ginnie Dare. It’s available in print and eBook and I am happy I got hold of a copy. I loaded it on my iPad and read it on the tramway on my way to work.
As far as I know, Ginnie Dare is classified as a Young Adult, Sci-Fi novel. For me, in short, it was a quick and enjoyable read. So quick and so enjoyable, I wished it was part of a series. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Ginnie is a self-taught genius. She loves puzzles and figuring stuff out. Preferably with the help of her dad’s ship’s artificial intelligence. Sounds weird? Not to me. I was that girl. I love her and I feel for her. The need to understand things to an extent that might not be exactly what her parents (in this case, Ginnie’s dad) had imagined, makes her loveable and easy to root for. For a teenager, or younger reader, she is a great role model. Boy or girl.
Her dad is a bit of a grump, trying to balance the captain, friend and dad role all at once and sometimes failing at multiple attempts at a time. The reader can’t always understand his motives, but then again, neither does Ginnie. And we don’t have to, to like him and to know he’s coming from a good place. The rest of the crew on the Dare ship are sometimes exceedingly disobedient but just as able in their jobs and in protecting each other. Then the second ship comes in, the official state-run ship with all the same bureaucrats you don’t even want to meet when you need a new passport – let alone in a crisis. There was a point where I started to mix the different members of the crew up; and even more so when the native planet population came in. I wonder if there aren’t too many people for a story that size. In a bigger novel or over the course of the series you will encounter many characters, but it feels a bit much for the first book.
All in all, I really enjoyed Ginnie Dare and am really curious what Ginnie will be up to next. So that means for you – buy it! And for me… torture Scott into writing more.
September 1, 2012 at 2:07 am
Well, I’m glad to see you finally read it. Didn’t you live the villain. Now there’s a REAL role model!
Honestly, nice to read your review. And I concur: Scott- I’m waiting.