The author is also really good at avoiding the 'damsel in distress' trope without making her heroines go too far into two-dimensional 'I am strong woman, hear me roar' territory, and the new protagonist, Virgin Jackson, doesn't disappoint in this area.įans of the Parrish Plessis series may notice that there are some slight thematic overlaps between that universe and this one, though the two aren't actually connected as far as I noticed.

As a world-builder, Marianne de Pierres is better than a huge percentage of authors out there - especially when it comes to creating dangerous, ghetto-like areas with violent inhabitants - and Peacemaker is no exception. I've been lucky enough to read the book ahead of publication, and I loved it. Peacemaker is a good sf mystery for people looking for something a little different. I also found Virgin's lack of trust and stubbornness to be infuriating at times but that helped drive the plot. I thought the plot with the Mythos could have been explained better and elaborated upon but I have a feeling that will be explored in the sequels. I loved that Virgin and Nate didn't get their genitals entangled at any point, which is a refreshing change of pace. There were plenty of twists, turns, and double crosses. The combination of Australian and Western culture present around the park makes for an interesting setting indeed, as do the various factions Virgin has to go to for help.Īs you can tell, I liked a lot about this book. Imagine a world were the only natural landscape left is a park where tourists visit. The fully urbanized future depicted in Peacemaker is a fairly bleak one. It brought back memories of how William Gibson was able to pull off a similar feat in Count Zero with the voodoo loas. It's really to pull off a story that uses mysticism in a technologically advanced time period but it works very well in Peacemaker. Her partner on the case, Nate Sixkiller, is a very capable US Marshall who works with the Spiritual Service, monitoring events of a mystic nature. Virgin Jackson, stubborn and bull-headed as she is, drags the reader from one catastrophe to another, and takes quite a beating in the process. Peacemaker is a sf mystery set in the future. I got this from Angry Robot via Netgalley. With an unwanted partner by her side in the form of US Marshall Nate Sixkiller, can she get to the bottom of things? But what do the strange occurences have to do with Aquila, the mysterious eagle that has been appearing to her since she was a child? When park ranger Virgin Jackson witnesses a murder in Birrimun Park, the last natural landscape on earth, things quickly spiral out of control.

Peacemaker by marianne de pierres