Review by ciecheesemeister -- Homecoming by Jude Austin

ciecheesemeister · Post by **ciecheesemeister** » 15 Apr 2020, 16:13

[Following is a volunteer review of "Homecoming" by Jude Austin.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Homecoming is a science fiction novel by Jude Austin. It is the second book in the author’s Projects series.

Homecoming picks up where Project Tau left off. Projects Tau and Kata flee GenTech for Sedna, an out-of-the-way planet that is a haven for criminals. Kata is kidnapped by a gang known as the Diamonds, who want to force him to work for them. After escaping the Diamonds, Kata and Tau run for Kata’s homeworld, Trandellia. They are taken into custody by Trandellian security. Kata is ordered to find and return an Ambassador’s daughter who went missing on a lawless planet called Atthiras. If he completes the mission, he and Tau will be freed from GenTech’s claim on them. Unsurprisingly, the official making the offer is untrustworthy.

Homecoming is an intense story with many exciting moments, but it is not an action/adventure tale. This is not the right story for a reader hoping for a rollicking literary romp. There are many disturbing aspects to Homecoming that make for uncomfortable reading. The story delves into issues of abuse, bullying, dehumanization of those individuals judged to be inferior, the ethics of cloning, eating disorders, PTSD, and sexual assault. This book is better suited to readers seeking thought-provoking speculative fiction than those hoping for a fun escape.

Because of the risks that the author takes in addressing unpleasant issues and because the author truly made me care about both Tau and Kata, I am giving Homecoming four out of four stars. The thing I liked most about the book was the fact that Tau and Kata were multifaceted characters. They came across as real young men trying to escape horrific circumstances and survive. They did not always make the correct choices. In fact, they often found themselves in no-win situations, having to make the best decisions they could with nothing to guide them.

The thing that I disliked most about the story was the frequent references to Kata’s size. This doesn’t mean that I don’t think that the author should have addressed this issue, only that reading about it made me uncomfortable for very personal reasons. I do not think that anyone has the right to ridicule or shame anyone else for their physique, regardless of whether they think that person “brought their problems on themselves” by eating the wrong food or too much food. Calories in/calories out is a tremendous oversimplification of the reasons why a person’s body is a given size. Even if it were true (it isn’t) that the only reason a person is large is that they eat “bad” food or too much food, there is still no excuse for treating another person like garbage.

In my opinion, Kata’s father is as monstrous as the men who physically abused Kata at the GenTech lab. This awful man should not be anyone’s father. He shouldn’t even be allowed to own a test tube filled with amoebas. That Kata has an eating disorder is entirely unsurprising, given his father’s heinous levels of emotional abusiveness. Unfortunately, there are plenty of real examples of Ben Taylor’s bad parenting in the world.

Jude Austin’s growth as a storyteller is evident in Homecoming, and the risks she takes in telling this tale are commendable. I think the book is well worth reading, but I don’t think that it’s the right story for everyone. People with eating disorders or a history of sexual or emotional abuse should approach this story with caution.

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Homecoming
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Zenia_Sanchez023 · Post by **Zenia_Sanchez023** » 16 Apr 2020, 01:35

Jude Austin really made a great job in making the characters in her Projects series have depth. I like how you expressed your opinion on the author making frequent references to Kata's size, and I agree with your opinion. The book deals with heavy topics and issues and readers who want to engage in this book should be aware of that. Thanks for your informative review!