Were it three hundred years from now it might have been more convincing.Īlso not ringing true is the emotional core usually rock solid in Lemire’s work. Envisaging the future is a difficult task, but there’s no reason for the 3797 setting.
This, though, is undermined by the surprise appearance of a meteor shower, which must have been predictable, and possibly even viewable. One interesting innovation is magnetically tethered grav-lines on tracks connecting people to devices from which they’d otherwise float away into space. This is 1700 years ahead of our time, yet Lemire supplies little more than spaceships and portable computer intelligence, technology not too far beyond our present capability. Kudos for trying something different, though.Ī major problem is the future setting so essential, but never convincingly conveyed. It conveys the disorientation necessary to the story, but is more gimmick than effective experiment. As part of the established connections a central portion of the story reads across the top level of the page to the end of the chapter, at which point the book has to be reversed to read the following section, which is printed upside down on the same pages. Lemire sets up a bridge between an alien planet in 3797 and Earth in 1921. It’s not, as some would have it, that there are storytelling experiments. So why is it that Trillium fails to satisfy completely?
There’s the over-riding humanity, the ability to convey emotional complexity in subtle fashion, the use of the silent panel or dramatic pause, and his recurring themes of loss and isolation. Contact has been made with the native population, but when it’s learned that the only other surviving human colony has been wiped out by the virus, the urgency increases.Īs science-fiction Trillium is a departure for Jeff Lemire’s personal work, yet his core values remain. It’s believed a plant named Trillium may provide immunity, but this is located deep within a walled city on Atabithi. Humanity has been targeted by a virus named the Caul that’s followed them across the galaxy, reducing the population to 4000. There’s a moral dilemma posed in the opening pages of Trillium providing an instant hook.
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