I have taken to listening to Sci-Fi novels through audible, specially when I am jogging. It started with Dune and the complete sereis, but now I have proceeded to Dawn. Today’s jog took me through chapters one to five, and I am gripped, first by the complete isolation and captivity of the POV, which immediately fills me with empathy, and the sense of luxury that the character experiences, when faced with things so basic as a shower, a bathroom, clothes (and the false sense of security it provides), an orange, a banana, the touch of a human skin. The character struggles with the panic of Xenophobia, (a new word I learnt), as she meets a member of an alien species that has kept her captive.

Writing Technique:
Exposition through dialogue that fills us with curiosity: I particularly like how the character’s past is revealed in an interrogation sequence, where the captives ask extremely basic questions…how old are you, how many siblings you have…etc….none of which the POV answers (Conflict) because she feels that is the only thing of value she has to lose. Why are they interested, we wonder? In the process we learn much about the woman, something that would have been just boring data in an info dump.