Discarded Faces
Steve Cross
Review by Alyce Wilson
Discarded Faces by Steve Cross is set in the far future on Fifth Earth, which is a far-off inhabitable planet, now populated by descendants of the original Earth
Author Steve Cross has clearly spent a lot of time coming up with the back history of this world, outlining the socio-political, historical context. Unfortunately, he spends roughly the first 150 pages in exposition, as the main character, Peb Corso, walks around, meeting up with friends, of which she has a dizzying number.
Peb spends many of these pages introducing a new girl, Kanath, to her world, explaining in detail every minute aspect of the society. It's a classic case of the novice's inclination to write down every aspect about the world he's created.
The thing is, nobody actually talks like that. How often did you, as a high school student, take a new person under your wing, parade them through the neighborhood and explain, not just the basics, but every single thing, including the history of the place? You wouldn't, because it would take up too much time; and what's more, they could discover most of, in time, when important.
It's difficult enough trying to keep all the characters straight, many of whom are minor characters, such as the members of the Young Heroes gang, to which Peb belongs. But add to that the fact that each gang member has a nickname, used interchangeably with their birth name. Even many of the adults have more than one form of address. This can be bewildering, especially since few of these characters are developed to any degree.
Fifth Earth is a totalitarian world run by one major party which holds rigged elections each year. In this dictatorship, lesbians and gays are placed in "re-education camps" from which they don't return. Simple possession of anti-government newspapers is punishable by death.
There is a strict class system, determined by racial characteristics, with the dark-skinned "aliens" occupying the lowest rung, subjugated and insulted by the "citizens."
But while Cross tries to portray an Orwellian society, he fails to instill fear in the reader, mainly because every character does what he or she wants to do anyway, with few consequences.
Peb has a girlfriend, Zel, but she also has a boyfriend, Balk, whom she uses as a cover. Balk blindly goes along with this arrangement, seemingly without suspicion. But despite these two intimate relationships, Peb spends less time with, and less time thinking about, these two than she does with her newest friend, Kanath.
The plot is sparse. Despite continued talk about an impending revolution, the only real conflict in the book comes more than halfway through, when one of the youth corps officers, a girl named Ruslee, strong-arms Peb into a sexual relationship. But the scene lacks emotional intensity, and Peb's subsequent hatred for Ruslee feels unwarranted.
Cross had noble intentions: to address some of the biggest problems in our society, such as racial prejudice, sexuality, class equality and freedom. The book, however, fails to make these issues resonate.
The book falls prey to common beginner mistakes: an overabundance of characters and a heavy reliance on detail as a substitute for plot development. I would urge Cross to use his imagination to come up with, perhaps, a short story that focuses on three or fewer characters, concentrating on basic plot structure.
A project this grand, creating an entire world and addressing society's
most complicating issues, takes a real master.
TurnKey Press; ISBN: 0974185841