I'm very torn about Jupiter Winds. On the one hand, its premise and story is a bold fresh idea on the increasingly overcrowded YA distopian scene, with its focus primarily on female characters independent of any male love interest, dueling mother/daughter subplots, and the choice to allow sisters to work with and for each other. There are alternate cultures and worlds, and an exploration of a planet I've never seen delved into with this vivid an imagination.
On the other hand, the novel's extreme creativity is hampered by the author's limited writing style and characterization. Story ideas that sound good when described were executed with little finesse, and the promising characters and world building are largely unexplored and underdeveloped, with people acting without motivation simply to further plot.
I had such a hard time getting through the opening chapters I nearly missed the good parts of this book; had I not received it for free in a contest, I likely would have never finished it. That's a shame, since the premise is truly a neat idea.
Young orphans Gray and Orinda scratch out a meager living in the North American Wildlife Preserve, one of the last unconquered areas of the former United States in the year 2160. But a bad market deal gone sour results in their separation and the revelation that their parents may not only be alive, but also were instrumental in a clandestine operation to subvert one of the chief planetary governments to settle the strange new world of Jupiter. Neither is sure who to trust as allies turn enemies and vice versa, while world powers want to use them both in the buildup to a new war.
As I said, there are some truly awesome ideas here. I don't know how scientifically accurate it is to envision land beneath Jupiter's storms to colonize, but it makes for a unique world with some very wild indigenous life forms. The geosocial/political structure of Earth in a new world order allowed author C.J. Darlington to explore some typical genre tropes with a new angle: an Asian espionage ring seeking dominance over a Middle Eastern power, with the Western world largely at either's mercy, and enough futuristic bionics to satisfy any aficionado's dreams.
But these details aren't delivered in a satisfactory way. Rather than a slow build or a massive spectacle, the novel doles out exposition like medicine, continually forcing characters to engage in clipped explanatory conversations. Gray and Orinda are meant to be streetwise yet vulnerable; instead, I had trouble buying that either of them had made it on their own for so long, or that those around them were much better equipped to deal with the situations at hand.
Most disappointing was the main antagonist, a character who in theory should have been the most engaging. A heartless ice queen with a tragic past, desperately seeking to dominate those around her sounds wonderful, and also someone who could offer a great foil for our main heroines. Alas, her character was the least developed of anyone in the entire story. Her motivations were muddied, her actions not so much opaque as rote, and her strategy came straight from the stereotypical single-minded villain playbook.
I did enjoy the final third of the book. Forgive the pun, but the story really takes off once everyone gets to Jupiter. Without any further exposition to deliver the author finally settled into a nice, standard action template with the bonus of an almost entirely female ensemble fighting it out. There were a few twists and a conclusion that ends this specific story while leaving room open for more.
If you're a fan of distopian novels and want a change of pace, Jupiter Winds certainly delivers. There aren't any stand out characters or moments to delight, but despite its clunky pacing it does have the saving grace of not inventing a love triangle or other melodramatic plot device to further its plot. I'd be willing to dip into this world a second time. Just don't expect to be swept away by this mild adventure.
This review is also posted on Goodreads, Amazon, and Speculative Faith. I won a free copy of this book via a contest but did not receive anything from the publisher or author for this review. The cover was designed by C.J. Darlington. The book is currently available from Mountainview Books as a Paperback ($9.89) and via Amazon as an eBook ($3.99).
