Burning the ice

If you think you can handle intense teen angst and loneliness while you wait for the story to pick up, this is a highly worthwhile read.

In a small colony of clones trying to eek out a living on a freezing moon in a distant star system, Manda, a depressed loner in a very clique-based society, pilots undersea waldoes to explore the world. Although someone reveals that not all is what it seems, and she's taken to the corpse of the world's first leader, Mandy's life went on normally... until a massive cave-in smashes important systems, disrupts the colony, and kills her sister.

Strange discrepancies start to pop up, the colony's leaders stick their heads in the sand, and she's sent to retrieve a missing unit. A moment of contact - and a glimpse of native life! - before all is black again. She and Jim, a sonar specialist she rapidly becomes close to, suspect outside interference.

When she takes an old underwater vessel on a possibly one-way trip, Manda goes from pariah to hero, inspiring hope in the wake of tragedy. Under the ice they find that the outsiders' control is greater and more dangerous than they ever believed; she has to get back to warn the others, but even if that is possible, will it be in time?

It does take a while to get moving; the first hundred pages are mostly angsty exposition and overexploration of the culture. In many ways it resembles a society based entirely on a high-school social culture, full of cliques, grudges, "coup" (owed favors) that forms a barter system and family power, and petty jealousies. Manda is very excluded, and perhaps Mixon spends too much time showing us just how much. But the emotional troubles are real, painful to read, and after the cave-in and death she and her family seem more real. Though often at odds, they are all painted sympathetically, not an easy task. Family loyalty is a recurring theme; it may not be the strongest bond, but it is the most permanent. I didn't get quite enough sense of how old everyone was, though, not until near the end.

Once the story does pick up, it takes off and never lets up. Throughout the explorations and ruminations is a strong undercurrent of confusion, distress, and haste, which anyone can relate to. Her feelings for Jim aren't as thoroughly explored, just because everyone's distracted by too much going on in the meantime. All of the people are well painted, each with their own faults, wants, and hearts. Even the schizophrenic crèche-born. Many things just plain don't make sense for a while, but all is slowly revealed, settling down to a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend.

This is a sequel to Proxies, but I'd have never known. I didn't need to read it to understand the story. This could possibly be mined for a sequel, years down the line (dealing with renewed contact from Earth, and the alien?), but anything sooner would be a stretch. I for one look forward to any effort in this direction.