.jpeg "Peri Peri Paprika Cover") |
| (Cover Artist: Amy Arendts) |
The most recent edition of Strange Horizons has a review I wrote of Leanne Su's novel Peri Peri Paprika. This was a fun book to read, in part because the story takes the form of a very creative sci-fi comedy, but also because Su ultimately pivots this narrative into a more serious but also still playful story about how her protagonist finds purpose and meaning in her existence.
The bulk of Peri Peri Paprika's narrative concerns Moss, a low-ranking crew member of the intergalactic garbage collecting spacecraft the Rusty Raccoon. As the story begins, Moss unintentionally becomes embroiled in a plot to steal the Raccoon's equipment which is being carried out by the ship's elderly janitor, Turnip. Suddenly finding herself pursued by authorities who mistakenly think she is implicated in Turnip's crimes, Moss quickly discovers that she genuinely enjoys traveling with this eccentric individual. In the process, she decides to become Turnip's protégé, with the two subsequently embarking on a meandering journey through space as they search for a mysterious planet named Peri Peri.
An excerpt from my review is below:
Immediately realizing that she enjoys a life spent evading the galactic police far more than one spent sitting behind a desk, Moss quickly opts to join Turnip in his travels, finding in him an unexpected mentor, while Turnip for his part soon recognizes an unspoken moral strength and competence in Moss that no one else in her life has bothered to see. It’s in this way that the two begin moving from one world to another, as they seek to remain one step ahead of the galactic authorities who have been pursuing Turnip for much of the last decade.
One aspect of Peri Peri Paprika which I felt really made the story work was the manner by which Su subtly layered this narratives deeper themes into even the surface-level plot. As the book opens, Moss's narration continually insists to the reader that her own life is meaningless, and yet even in the early chapters aboard the Raccoon, Su imbues Moss's descriptions of her day to day existence with a playful enthusiasm that serves to foreshadow the more fundamental shift that eventually occurs in Moss as a character. The result is that the reader's experience of this story mirrors Moss's own arc.
As always, the full review which I wrote for Strange Horizons can be found here.