- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Science Fictio (Aug 8 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060088575
- ISBN-13: 978-0060088576
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 3.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,127,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Ren Segura, Jackal to her friends, is the Hope of Ko Island, the world's only corporate nation state. Born at the right time, she is part of an elite group that will inherit powerful positions representing their nations in EarthGov. She has been groomed for the moment of her ascension her entire life--it is her birthright and her destiny. But a deadly secret makes her an inconvenient liability to her corporate masters and, in Solitaire, destinies are not always in the cards. Caught between corporate loyalty and self-doubt, Jackal finds herself cast away to an experimental, virtual solitary confinement program that will change her forever.
Author Kelley Eskridge's first novel is an intense and powerful tale of self-discovery set in a convincingly articulated future. She skillfully keeps the reader turning pages as Jackal's fate unravels. Meanwhile, Eskridge deals with issues of crime and punishment, corporate power, and even fame with a deft touch that keeps the reader painfully close to the young Jackal's journey into oblivion and back again. --Jeremy Pugh
From Publishers Weekly
This near-future debut novel tries hard, but doesn't quite amalgamate its ambitious themes. Twenty-two years earlier, the first Earth Congress declared all children born in the first second of the new year "Hopes," living privileged symbols of the new one-world order. The Hope of Ko, a vast corporate conglomerate, is Ren Segura, who chose the call name "Jackal" for the animal's terrifying wail, a self-pitying cry that sums up this uneven character-driven novel. Though Jackal is promising at project managing and facilitating, Ko maneuvers her into causing the deaths of her "web," her closest friends. Forced by Ko to make a deal to save her parents from disgrace, Jackal accepts virtual confinement, an experimental extension of Garbo, the VR project Jackal had previously been tapped to oversee. Experiencing years of solitary in only a few "real" months, Jackal emerges exiled to a nameless city, beset by flashbacks to her punishment and by interviews with an Orwellian interrogator/parole officer. This novel self-consciously seethes with anger and frustration at society's inability to ensure justice to the accused, rehabilitate the convicted, reassimilate the outcast and heal the hurt. Eskridge's solution to all these eternal social ails is conventional in message, though selective in execution: the redemptive power of individual in this case lesbian love. Overextended in feverish description, overwrought in its self-absorbed tone, this case study of the postadolescent psyche seems most, like its heroine, to really "vant to be alone." (Sept. 18) Forecast: An established writer of short fiction, Eskridge has garnered blurbs from the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin, Tim Powers and Vonda M. McIntyre. Whatever its faults, this first novel is likely to generate plenty of buzz as well as sales, supported by author appearances in the Northwest.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
SO HERE SHE WAS, FRAMED IN THE OPEN DOUBLE DOORS like a photograph: Jackal Segura on the worst day of her life, preparing to join the party. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
SO HERE SHE WAS, FRAMED IN THE OPEN DOUBLE DOORS like a photograph: Jackal Segura on the worst day of her life, preparing to join the party. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different...,
By ostawookiee "ostawookiee" (Winston-Salem, NC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Solitaire (Hardcover)
It took a long time for this book to take off and hold my attention. The first part of it is almost like reading about MBA school; nothing much happens and you don't get real attached to the characters. However, Eskridge pleasantly surprised me with a major plot event, which took the book to another level, and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it.It's not a extreme sci-fi book, and I realized at the end that one of the major currents in the book is the love relationship between two of the characters, and I think that is the real story Eskridge was trying to tell, simply using the sci-fi aspects to support it. I look forward to seeing what Eskridge produces in the future.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent First Book,
By
This review is from: Solitaire (Paperback)
I have finished reading Kelley Eskridge's Solitaire, and it was one of the best books I have read recently. Actually, I have been on a string of good books, and this one just happens to continue the trend. It features a young heroine, named Ren "Jackal" Segura. In the slightly futuristic world developed by Eskridge, Jackal is what is known as a "Hope". A "Hope" is someone born as the pre-designated time, in this case, the first second of the new year. Each pseudo-national entity has a "Hope" and Jackal is the "Hope" of Ko, the multi-national supercorporation that rules over the island of Hong Kong. Other pseduo-national entities include the NNA, Nations of North America. Sorry, Canada, looks like you got assimilated after all. When Jackal finds out her status as a "Hope" is a lie, she is devastated, but she keeps the secret and maintains the facade. Then, tragedy strikes. In a horrifying accident, 437 persons, including important senators as well as Jackal's best friends are killed and Jackal is blamed for the murders. Charged with 437 counts or murder and international terrorism, Jackal is sentenced to life imprisonment. She cuts a deal though and agrees to partake in an experimental program called Virtual Confinement, VC. Using electrodes hooked to the brain and a drug induced coma-like state, Jackal's mind will believe that she is spending 10 years in solitary confinement with absolutely no human contact, no amenities, and no way out. In reality, she will only be knocked out for eight months. During that time of VC, Jackal must confront her own inner demons, determine how she will survive and not go insane, figure out how to deal with the loved ones in her mind and generally come up with ways to pass the time. When she awakens, she is an entirely different person and must relearn how to negotiate the world and deal with people. But her trials are far from over - once Jackal is getting situated in her new life via a strange bar called "Solitaire" where ex-cons from the VC program go to hang out and test the social waters, her past resurfaces. All in all, Solitaire is a very engaging book, with a well developed story, memorable characters, and a fast paced plot line, despite the years spent in VC. It does not merit 5 stars because there were some loose ends at the book's conclusion that I would have liked to have seen tied up, but they were fairly minor. Check it out! As this is Eskridge's first novel, I look forward to what else she comes up with.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful,
By A Customer
This review is from: Solitaire (Hardcover)
A beautifully written story that explores the deepest and darkest parts of the mind and soul. Captivating and heart wrenching - not your typical science fiction. Very little techno-talk. I'm looking forward to Ms. Eskridge's next book!
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