Review: Character Driven
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2014
Set in space and on Earth the only thing Martian in the story are some of the characters and one of the corporations that holds joint ownership in the new Earth space elevator.Ladder to the Red Star is a character driven story.  The two main characters are Devi Chandra and Jacques Tallinn.  I found both to be fascinating.Jacques (from Earth) was used as a test subject as a young boy and left unable to feel any thing physical.  While he could not feel anything physical (pain, taste, etc.) he had enormous emotional feeling that almost overwhelmed him.  However if asked he would not recognize how many emotions he had.Devi (from Mars) on the other hand had a wealth of physical experiences.  What she lacked were any strong emotional ties.  She had floated through life never bonding to anyone.  She felt restless but did not know why.Before they met Jacques planned to use Devi to obtain the Correction process that would heal his inability to feel physical experiences and to cure his mother of cancer.  Not all of that plan worked.  All of that emotion that Jacques felt got in the way of using Devi and leaving her behind.There was a very bad guy in the story.  He wanted to process Devi and was willing to go to any lengths to get her.  I did feel that he was a little over the top in badness but he provided a lot of the external tension in the story.The internal tension was the interaction between Jacques and Devi.  Between the two Ladder to the Red Star was a very interesting story.I really like the fact that Jael Wye does not rush the attraction between Jacques and Devi.  I could see the attraction and loved watching it build as the story progresses.