Thursday, July 10, 2014

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

So, last week Kate Jarvik Birch was speaking at The King's English bookstore.  Quite frankly, I'd never heard of her before, but, as she is a local author, I determined to buy the book, show up at the reading, and give her some support.
Kate was very pleasant and a good speaker.  This was so different from the last time I went to see Jodi Ashton, Brodi Meadows, and Cynthia Hand -- and all they did was talk and giggle about their little secret jokes from touring together.  Kate was completely focused on drawing her audience into her book, which was exactly the right thing to do.
She also had a giveaway, which didn't hurt either.  :)
I won a bag of butterscotch candies, rather like those mentioned in Perfected.  (Note: I bought the book, though.)

By the next day, I'd finished the book.
It's quite a decent little YA romance, and there are only a few editing and copy-editing issues (incorrect usage of objective case pronouns in non-dialogue settings, one instance of using the singular "woman" when the plural "women" was needed, and the horribly cringeworthy use of past tense instead of past participle on page 277, along with a few weaknesses in motivation and background in the first chapter or two), but the characterization is pretty decent and the pacing is good, although the plot is standard and predictable.
What made it worthwhile is Birch's idea of genetically modified humans being raised as pets and what that would mean.  Now, that is truly an interesting idea!  I ended up pondering Birch's world a good deal.


 · Jul 3
So, , in the Perfected sequel(s), will there be any BOY pets? Do they exist in that world? (They should.) :)

 Jul 3
They should! I didn't include boy pets because it made me angrier to think that they only bred girls.

  1.  Jul 3
    Well, I could see certain kennels specializing in one or the other. But certainly boy pets would sell!
    Details
  2.  Jul 3
    Maybe you'll have to write some companion novellas at some point and put in some boy pet. :)
    Details
  3.  Jul 3
    This is a PHENOMENAL idea! Seriously!!!!
    Details
  4.  Jul 3
    Consider it my thanks in return for the butterscotch candy (which I'm eating right this second!) .
    Details
  5.  Jul 3
    That sounds like a fair trade off :)
    Details
  6.  Jul 3
    :D
    Details

Details


So, if Kate ever writes a book/novella featuring BOY pets, you'll know it was all my idea. ;)

Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

  1. Nick WilfordJuly 10, 2014 at 3:33 PM

    Ha! Sounds like an interesting premise in any case. I always find the idea of playing God intriguing. It usually doesn't end well. Congrats on the candy!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)