Joel Shepherd has written a cool book in CROSSOVER, both a kick-ass android political action tale and a deconstruction of humanity, with both aspects are equally rewarding.

On the one hand, we have the main character, Cassandra Kresnov: She is a badass android — skin and muscles stronger than steel, super
speed and reflexes…the works. Unfortunately, she is too smart for her own good (as an aside, here’s a reminder to future android/artificial intelligence scientists: There’s such a thing as “too smart,” and if you have to ask yourself, “Is my robot killing machine too smart?” then it probably is) and escapes the horrors of war for a quiet normal life. Well, that only lasts for a couple of pages, really, and then we get to see her in full-on ass-kicking action. But in the aftermath of the aforementioned ass-whooping, a strange thing happens: She starts talking to people, and the conversations are interesting.

Hold the phone, what?

It turns out that Shepherd has a few interesting ideas about what it means to be human, and as character after believable character is introduced and becomes a part of the quilt of CROSSOVER’s central message, the impossible happens, and the combat is made that much more powerful because you start caring about everyone. Not only that, but you begin to wade through some of the ethical dilemmas that Shepherd throws out there, and they give you even more to think about. (If only my elementary school math books had lusty blonde female androids in them, I would have totally learned to carry that three.)

That, of course, is a grave sin in what was supposed to be a popcorn android action “sci-fi” book, and it took the supergeniuses of Pyr Books to recognize the relevance and genius of Shepherd’s novel, finally bringing it to North America after being published to wide acclaim in the author’s native Australia in 1999.

There are a couple of faults to be found with CROSSOVER. The main character, not possessing the normal human emotional responses, loves to have sex — men, women, whatever. She’s not choosy and it becomes a distraction from the other issues the book presents, but, hey, if there has to be a flaw, let it be this one. The political situation of CROSSOVER is also tricky and convoluted, and I have to confess to being confused at time over who was in what faction and why this guy was trying to kill that guy, etc., but as a whole, this is just a minor inconvenience.

There isn’t an Amazon.com for Australia, which is great for Pyr, since two sequels already have been published in the former penal colony. But I hope Pyr has the confidence in the quality of Shepherd’s work to bring the rest of them out in short order. Writer and publisher have both done us a favor here, so we’d best take advantage. –Ryun Patterson

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