FFF - another word for unfettered

kw: book reviews, fiction, fantasy, world-building

Some time ago, I reviewed Silver Screen by Justina Robson, which I'd liked quite a bit. I promised to look for more of her books. The next I found, Living Next Door to the God of Love, is even more imaginative than the last, but a difficult read, because graphic, explicit sex is the fabric of the work. So, rather than read it all, I skipped here and there, gathering ideas.

Ms Robson is a master of world-building, and continually explores the meaning of identity and consciousness. In this novel, in a genre I call FFF, for Far-Future Fantasy (and it stretches the bounds of both Science Fiction and Fantasy), identity is a very slippery thing. The "real" Earth is accompanied by "sidebars", constructed environments, that may or may not be virtual or simulated; they can be rapidly created and destroyed, or "eaten", by 7-dimensional creatures aware of an 11-dimensional realm, in which "ordinary" 4-D (i.e. "real" to us limited folk) universes are embedded.

People come in numerous varieties. It was hard to determine which word went with what concept, except one: the Forged are genetic creations with specific endowments, such as great size and strength for law enforcement "Angels", who also have really cool weaponry and propulsion.

So much is left ambiguous in the novel, it seems it is the author's little intelligence test for those of us who like a little more reality in our reading. There is little enough in this book.