Monday, January 20, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee




Zeroboxer is a YA science fiction novel from author Fonda Lee (known also for her Exo duology and Jade City trilogy).  It's also a novel featuring a setting based upon a future version of what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).  I've enjoyed Lee's prior works and I'm a huge MMA fan, so Zeroboxer seemed like it should've been right up my alley.

And Zeroboxer is fine.  It features an interesting SciFi setting based upon pre and post-birth genetic engineering as well as a number of solidly described fight scenes, to go along with some solid if unexceptional characters.  Still, the book uses that setting to set up a really interesting situation which it basically never does anything with, and the book ends right before the shit hits the fan.  It'd make sense as the first half of a duology, but as a stand alone title (and there appears to be no plans for a sequel), it's kind of a disappointing way to end the story.  The result is a novel that's merely solid, but not nearly as good as its potential:


----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
Carr "The Raptor" Luka is one of the youngest professional zeroboxers in the Zero Gravity Fighting Association (ZGFA).  Zeroboxing is a sport of Martian origin, where two fighters enter a zero gravity cube, and for 3 rounds of 6 Martian minutes, they use the walls to fly around trying to either KO or submit their opponent.  Carr is on the rise, 4 wins and one defeat, and knows that with another win, he can earn a bigger professional contract and the chance to somehow challenge for the title.

But when Carr wins, he finds himself at the center of a promotional campaign for the ZGFA, managed by a beautiful young half-martian woman named Risha as his "Brandhelm."  But just as Carr finds himself falling for Risha and finds himself getting more and more opportunities, he finds himself at the center of the entire Terran planet's attention, especially as tension between Earth and Mars continue to rise.  Carr just wants to fight and prove he's the best, but soon he will discover a secret that threatens to take away everything he cares about in life....and could throw Earth-Martian relations into further chaos......
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For those familiar with the modern sport of MMA, Zeroboxer's setting will be pretty recognizable.  The sport features a pair of fighters entering the arena, trying to either knockout their opponent via strikes (punches, kicks) or throws or trying to make their opponent submit via submission attempts - mainly chokeholds or armbars/leglocks.  Zeroboxer takes the MMA template and puts it into a 3D zero gravity atmosphere, where fighters can gain momentum flying off of walls at opponents, and otherwise must be connected to either a wall or their opponent in order to land conventional strikes.*  Meanwhile, the ZGFA, where our protagonist fights, is run sort of like the UFC or other classic fighting organizations, where chances for a fighter to move up aren't just merit-earned, but also based upon marketability and willingness to take risks (short notice fights), and is run by a promoter willing to be bombastic.  This all rings true to this MMA fan, because it's certainly true in the real world.

*Although I swear the book seems to forget this at times and just sort of assumes that the characters can throw normal strikes in impossible positions*

Still, despite the above, this is a book often more interested in our characters' development over time than in the fights themselves, as the book skips over fights in Carr's career on multiple occasions, as not being important to the narrative.  Instead, the book is more interested in Carr as he grows and the plot develops, than on the fights themselves.  Carr is an interesting character.  Like the protagonist of Lee's other YA work, Exo, Carr isn't always a character the reader can root for as he's often short sighted about how his actions aren't what one would think of as morally on the right side.  For example, as Carr gets what he wants, he doesn't seem to get how his success looks to those around him, and he ostracizes some of those close to him.  And as the plot throws a secret at him that could change anything, Carr shortsightedly refuses to do anything about it at first due to the fear of what it would do to himself, despite the consequences for others.  Carr's a bit of an immature young adult/teenager, and that's very much how he's written, so it's sometimes hard not to scream at him for his actions, although at the same time it does make his actions very believable and interesting to read.

Less effective are some of the other characters.  Carr's brandhelm (think marketing agent) Risha is also his love interest, but the book is so centered around Carr's own viewpoints that Risha rarely gets any development unrelated to Carr, and her side of the romance is entirely absent and Carr is so presumptuous about their relationship it'd have been nice to see why she also fell for him.  Carr's original friend DK, who later becomes a rival, disappears for a good segment, only to reappear for the 2nd half on the outskirts of a major role - even more so for Carr's friend Blake, who has a bigger role at one point that the book skips right into without seemingly a significant setup.

And then there's the rest of the setting, which has a lot of potential....and doesn't use much of it.  In this world, genetic modification is commonplace, in two different ways.  One, people while living can get gene sequencing/mods to cure inherited diseases like asthma or poor eyesight, meaning those who have such conditions on Earth are clearly those who are poor and are in worse shape than normal people - Carr finds such conditions still existing as shameful and makes it a cause (kind of) to eliminate them.  More significantly, babies in the womb can be custom sequenced to have certain traits, but the different planets have different philosophies toward this practice: on Mars, where the rough atmosphere/weather/terrain makes life rough, such sequencing for harsher survival traits (strength, weather resistance, etc.) is mandatory for all children.  On Earth, such modification is meant to be limited to within certain levels far short of Martian ones without special legal permission, and custom sequencing jobs to create geniuses in fields such as athletics or the arts is both illegal and considered cheating in those fields.  As Earth and Mars face tensions over economic concerns (mining rights most prominently), these chosen genetic differences become a clear flashpoint for conflict, and as Zeroboxing is a Martian Sport, potential conflict between a Terran (Earth) fighter and Martian fighters has major geopolitical implications, as does the issues of "natural" Terran gifts.

And yet, while the book teases the impact of these interesting aspects of the setting, and the plot unfolds into a potential major interplay between the setting and Carr's journey, it basically avoids showing the end results of this interplay at all, and instead focuses on the end of Carr's immediate journey.  This results in a vary unsatisfying ending, as major events in the setting and on Carr's life are clearly to come, yet never are shown.

Spoiler in ROT13: Gur ovt gjvfg bs Mrebobkre vf gung Pnee jnf frpergyl trargvpnyyl raunaprq ol na vyyrtny "fcyvpr qrnyre" jub gura jvaqf hc oynpxznvyvat uvz.  Zrnajuvyr, Pnee vf cebzbgrq nf gur gevhzcu bs gur angheny Greena jnl, naq vf va n gbheanzrag ntnvafg Znegvna svtugref qhevat n gvzr bs terng pbasyvpg, jvgu evbgf bire gur svtugf jura n Znegvna frrzf gb purng ntnvafg Pnee.  Gur obbx raqf nf Pnee'f frperg vf varivgnoyl nobhg gb pbzr bhg, erfhygvat va uvf pnerre raqvat, naq Rnegu'f snvgu va uvz cerfhznoyl orvat qrfgeblrq naq pnhfvat zber znwbe Znegvna-Rnegu vffhrf nf Rnegu'f punzcvba vf qvfperqvgrq naq gur bar gung gur Znegvnaf' punzcvba jnf qrsrngrq ol vf erirnyrq gb or n senhq.  Naq lrg gur obbx whfg raqf jvgu Pnee jvaavat uvf ynfg svtug, nf vs fhpu pyrne znwbe vzcnpgf ner bs ab pbapreaf gb gur ernqre, juvpu vf whfg.....hafngvfslvat.

Anyhow, as a result, Zeroboxer is a solid YA SciFi story, but it's one that isn't really that satisfying in sum, and as such, isn't as worth your time as many many other books in the genre, including others by Lee.  Ah well.
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