Review: Three stars--for what potential lies within
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 8, 2012
Three StarsFor me, "Conditioned Response" was a read that was probably hyped up beyond reasonable expectations. Somehow, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the hype, but I also didn't expect to be so underwhelmed. For an 850 page piece, it is a surprisingly fast read. Perhaps Baldwin's greatest achievement came in one of the least emphasized areas--her creation of the Phoenicians. They were thoroughly original and well thought-out. I would be interested in learning more about their history, culture and language. Unfortunately, her star Phoenician (Shayla, the main character), was one I utterly failed to either connect with or care about. Baldwin's male characters were a little better, but I didn't cry over anyone's death (was more along the lines of mildly annoyed).There were hints of really good things, that I just never felt were fully worked out. Her set-up of the world, the history between humanity and the Phoenicians, the way her humanity has adapted when the only way to reproduce is artificial... That being said, I found a very anti-human/anti-value-of-human-life sentiment in the book that, for me, was very off-putting. Whether it's meant to be a theme of the book (particularly the question of an individual's value and the validity of an individual that has been programmed), I just didn't enjoy it. The conclusions that Baldwin's characters seem to come to is that only the highest class has value as an individual and anyone else is pretty much programmed and utterly replaceable. It's not a happy conclusion.I also had issues understanding the scope of her world. It's an entire planet, but it feels very small and very contained. An epic sci-fi like this shouldn't feel like it all takes place in the same place (unless it actually does). Although I got the impression of traveling all over the continent, it never felt like they went farther than the next city over. There was also no variation presented in the traveling, no variation in the areas that provided depth to the world. It was disappointing.For characters that were interesting (but I didn't connect to), a narrative that is basically sound (but didn't move me), and occasional glimpses of a fantastic world and race--three stars.