The MacPherson Criticality by J. D. Isaacs

Reviewed by Megan Powell

Chapter one opens as Eileen Reagan prepares to graduate from the New Mexico Military Institute, academically distinguished for her undergraduate work in non-relative physics and about to embark on a promising career in the Navy. By the end of the first chapter, Eileen has dramatically failed her flight test, met the legendarily brilliant physicist Alexander Leavenworth, and changed the course of her life.

In the aftermath of her crash, which was not an accident, Eileen is reassigned to the Marines and begins basic training. Her aptitude for martial arts sets her on a track for assault specialist school, traditionally male dominated. We learn that as a child Eileen (then known as Lena MacPherson) suffered from Luckow's disease, which destroyed much of her memory up to that point. We also learn that she is being pursued by Field Marshal Carhanna, who was once infatuated with her grandmother; that she has an oddly friendly relationship with Carhanna's staffer "Butcher Bab" Bablock; that she has family she doesn't remember; that she is falling in love with Leavenworth long-distance, and he feels the same way.

And that's just the first fifty pages. At times, it felt like I'd missed an infodump. Some of Eileen's actions seem inexplicable, and I wondered if Isaacs had committed the sin of having smart characters behave stupidly to move the plot along. But Eileen has a good reason for some apparently unreasonable actions, even if she's not quite aware of it herself. The MacPherson Criticality is the first in a series (four additional volumes are planned) and I'll be interested to see how Eileen's talents, relationships and career develop.

The romance between Eileen and Leavenworth is quite entertaining, in large part because as traditional romances go it's "wrong." They only briefly meet face to face, and their correspondence is monitored so declarations of affection must often take the form of mathematical equations. Isaacs does not go into great detail about non-relative physics and the work of Eileen and Leavenworth, but instead gives enough detail to explain plot points and make it clear that both are passionate about their chosen field of study.

Eileen's feelings about Leavenworth (not to mention non-relative physics) are at odds with her dealings with many other people. She develops some friendships; Leavenworth's family is taken with her; she quickly has Carhanna's spies eating out of her hand; her colleagues come to respect her. But the moniker she earns early in her training, "Iceberg," is accurate. With few exceptions, she never connects with the people around her; she might enjoy their company or value their experience, but they seem more like stepping stones. I couldn't decide how much of this was due to Eileen's social inexperience versus the realities of a career in the military versus her (often unconscious) manipulation of events. By keeping Eileen detached, Isaacs makes her an outsider, an observer of her own life. This is a good way to convey information, but it also makes it a little more difficult to identify with Eileen. This may simply be a stylistic decision, or it may be more deliberate, another way of reminding the reader that, thanks to Luckow's disease (among other factors), Eileen's life is not average.

Isaacs plays other games with the identities of her characters. Perhaps most obvious is the fact that few of the major players consistently use the same name. Eileen is both Eileen Reagan and Lena Neil MacPherson; Leavenworth is Al or Alec; Bablock is "Butcher Bab" and "Steven Ross," among other aliases. Company and circumstances determine the name to be used, just as they determine what behavior is or is not appropriate. That is true in everyday life--most readers should be able to identify with characters who have to wear different hats--but the differences between social and career responsibilities are thrown into sharp relief in this novel. Isaacs doesn't show us cogs in the military machine; her characters are on the cutting edge of scientific research and influential in the highest levels of politics, society and the military.

There are no angels in this book. Eileen's training has prepared her to be a killer, and she is able to rationalize infecting the enemy with Luckow's disease in order to facilitate invasion. Leavenworth watches his work applied to military maneuvers he thinks are madness. Bablock is trained in torture and assassination; despite the fact that he disapproves of Carhanna's obsession with Eileen, he does not defy the field marshal's orders. Instances of brutality are even more jarring because Isaacs presents her major characters as basically pleasant, reasonable individuals; it is easy to forget that their chosen career paths must inevitably place them in difficult situations. I'll be interested to see how these conflicts play out in future volumes, and I'm also eager to see Isaacs continue to flesh out the universe she has created.

The MacPherson Criticality by J. D. Isaacs D3 Press ISBN 1-931008-00-0 Paperback, 333 pages $7.50

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