Daily Times

How a novel begins makes or breaks the narrative. The Light Blue Jumper by Sidra F. Sheikh begins with action. This action only intensifies with each passing chapter until the entire climax reaches its highest intensity. Sidra has done justice by talking up the idea of writing this novel based on the themes of science fiction that was published in 2017. The Light Blue Jumper – at some points – resembles Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” While this similarity might pop into the readers’ minds several times, Sidra has managed to retain her signature writing style and essence throughout the book. Mongrel Books must be applauded for taking a bold move to publish a book from the sci-fi genre.

The story is about Zaaro Nian. It is an alien being who crashed his ship into one of the ships owned by the rebels – Interplanetary Forces (IPF). Sidra takes the daunting task that many authors run away from because of the magnitude involved in its completion. She narrates the story from the viewpoints of various characters. It is like a vantage point of scenes, action, views, and experiences blended in one book. Each character needs to be different – for obvious reasons. Sidra must have done extensive research while developing these characters and also meticulously planned on how she would handle each character’s voice when writing the novel. An author has to write a scene, dialogue, or prose by keeping the characters’ traits in mind. The author needs to think like the characters. Sidra had to switch back and forth through the fabric of intervening emotions, feelings and, attitudes that she carved for each character.

Whether it is Zaaro Nian, Lieutenant Salaar, Madam X, The Good Doctor, Commander Lethalwulf, Princess Dinaara, Colonel Bob or The General, each character maintains a separate, distinctive identity, aura, appeal and characterisation

Whether it is Zaaro Nian, Lieutenant Salaar, Madam X, The Good Doctor, Commander Lethalwulf, Princess Dinaara, Colonel Bob, or The General, each character maintains a separate, distinctive identity, aura, appeal and characterisation. This is impressive, indeed. The book through its 112 chapters presents the viewpoints of the characters that keep the story progressing at a steady pace. While the vocabulary and sentence structure Sidra used remains crisp and clear, her vivid details while expressing emotions and actions from each characters’ first-person narrative keep the readers glued to the book. The hero of her novel is a bald alien and that is just the beginning. The humour, wit, satire, and a mix of various emotions sprinkled with logic and rationale make the story worth reading. The topic of colonialism in its modern forms and manifestations is used brilliantly in the story. The concept of intolerance is explained and highlighted in detail through the brute force exercised by the rebel forces’ attacks.

For an author venturing into the domain of science fiction, writing compelling dialogues and actions that remain fictionally appealing yet have a realistic touch is a balancing act that takes nerves to complete.

The Light Blue Jumper, a science fiction novel with a dystopian theme, sees Zaaro Nian battling it out against the supremacy of the IPF. The ending of the novel brings into mind more questions than they surfaced while reading the book. Perhaps Sidra will touch upon these aspects in book two, the prologue of which has been added at the end. Happy reading!

The writer can be reached at omariftikhar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @omariftikhar