The New Planet
A spiritual woman trains a man for an interplanetary colonization mission—and falls in love—in the future-set science fiction novel The New Planet.
In Carole Love Forbes’s science fiction novel The New Planet, a new world order is appointed.
After human beings came together in the twenty-first century to overthrow greedy governments, higher connections were formed with Earth, its creatures, and other humans. Now, Alana is assigned to train Marc, a pilot who is to spearhead a project to colonize a new system. Spirituality is seen as the most important aspect of the project’s mission. At first, Alana is disappointed by Marc’s deficiency on the topic, but after having a vision in which he touches her cheek, she begins to hope that he can learn.
Alana and Marc’s romantic chemistry is inconsistent, though. Marc’s physique is described; Marc comments on Alana’s appearance too. They jump from hand-holding to talk of marriage with unconvincing speed, and their power dynamic shifts in a jarring manner: Marc is revealed to be the conduit for a mission given to Alana, and she is blindsided by this revelation.
In addition, the sense of spirituality that is established early on devolves until the society seems cultlike, and elements of this are downplayed. There are allusions to international relations and the patriarchy, but these elements are underdeveloped, and potential critiques of the latter are undermined by Marc’s treatment of Alana. Further, the troubling parallels between this world—the exalted Power One, “planting” on the new planet, and Alana being positioned as a new caretaker of animals—and colonial projects from Earth’s past and Christian history haunt the narrative throughout without being sufficiently fleshed out.
The characterizations are bland and repetitive, even when it comes to Marc and Alana, whose appeal wanes as the story progresses. Most characters, though, just fill in the background of the couple’s lives without distinction; many disappear from the book altogether after filling their purposes. People’s conversations are dry, and the prevalence of nicknames, some of which are misspelled, makes tracking who’s talking overcomplicated. Further, some of the Marc’s nicknames for Alana are demeaning: He calls her “teach,” “lady,” and “woman,” and despite their unequal ranks, Alana accepts it. The prevalence of punctuation and other grammatical errors increases as the novel progresses; even the spelling of Marc’s last name changes. Dialogue is ill-distinguished from the prose in smashed-together paragraphs, making for laborious reading.
In the futuristic science fiction novel The New Planet, a cult of spirituality is romanticized during a period of interplanetary colonization.
Reviewed by
Aleena Ortiz
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