Category: Science Fiction Page 27 of 30

by Pierce Brown
Series: Red Rising, #1

Hardcover, 382 pg.
Del Rey, 2014
Read: Feb 26 – Mar 6, 2014

I’m having a hard time deciding what to say about this one. To really talk about it would require me spoiling every plot point that I loved (most of which I didn’t see coming). So I won’t. I’ll just say that I really, really dug this book.

I don’t want to just compare this to The Hunger Games, as much as reviews/blurbs/etc. make a guy want to. There are some surface-level similarities, yeah. And you could make the case (as I did when just starting the book) that Brown’s Mars was just the place for people who thought Collins’ Panem was a bit easy. In fact several parts of this feel like >The Hunger Games dialed up to 11. The working/living conditions for Darrow and his family are more severe, what Darrow has done to him to prepare him for what’s to come makes what Cinna et al. do to Katniss look like child dress-up, Darrow plays a deadly game on a larger scale than Katniss, and so on. But Darrow’s motivation is different than Katniss’ — she’s trying to survive, he’s trying to do far more (and much of the time, survival’s pretty low on his list) — the stakes he’s playing for are greater, and he will go to lengths that Ms. Everdeen doesn’t have to.

There are a few moments when things seem too slow, or meandering, or even redundant — but each time, I was wrong, and Brown made it all pay off. Visceral was the word that kept coming back to me as I read the book. I had almost visceral reactions to some of the horrors depicted, I could feel the grime and muck (literal and metaphorical) that Darrow crawled around in.

This shows every indication of leading to something epic in the next volume, leaving Mars behind and moving to other planets and/or the space between. As well as seeing if Darrow can retain his self and purpose — and how far will he be willing to go to carry it out.

There is a classic SF reference in Part IV that made me giggle with delight (in the middle of a pretty grim part of a fairly grim book, so I appreciated the placement). I won’t spoil it, but Pierce Brown has bought a lot of loyalty from me with two simple words.

Go grab this one.

—–

5 Stars

Dusted Off: Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2014

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Grimspace

by Ann Aguirre
Mass-Market Paperback, 312 pg.
Penguin Group, 2008
Read: June 19-20, 2012

Action-packed, complexly-plotted, character-driven. Grimspace is a heckuva first book (would’ve been a heckuva 3rd, book, too). Not perfect, but so good that you put up with the short-comings.

This is more Ronald D. Moore/Joss Whedon-y S.F. than a Roddenberry/Lucas SF. The characters are people: flawed, self-deceived, selfish, scared… You grow to care about them, not just what happens (which would be interesting enough on its own, actually).

Actually, now that I’ve said it above, I’m more and more convinced this is Firefly without the livestock or distinctive dialogue. Can’t wait til I get my hands on the sequel. 4 Stars

Chimera by Kelly Meding

By HCNewton

On February 26, 2014

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Chimera

by Kelly Meding
ePub, 242 pages
Pocket Star, 2013
Read: Feb. 14-25, 2015

Chimera

a first-person account of super-hero life from an under-represented type of Super-Hero — Check!
Personal conflicts, Personal demons, general turmoil — moreso than most X-Men, even — heroes that carry emotional scars in addition to those earned in battle — Check!
Impending Government Persecution of Super-Heroes — Check!
A sex scene that goes on far too long for comfort — but is thankfully easily skippable — Check!

Yup. Chimera is a MetaWars book. It carries all the marks.

Renee Duval, aka Flex, is the focus this time around. She and a notorious ex-Bane have been dispatched to investigate a series of thefts that have to be being carried out by one or more teen Metas. With the threat of officially sanctioned internment of Metas hovering over them, the last thing the Rangers need is some punk kids bringing down the heat on them and any other law-abiding Meta. So Renee and Chimera have their work cut out for them — particularly considering that Renee’s doing her best to hang on to her anti-Bane sentiment, far after the rest of her team is softening. What they discover is unsettling for them, and doesn’t exactly fill the reader with a sense of joy, either.

One the one hand, I get Meding’s motive for varying P.O.V. characters in each book — and in many ways, I prefer this to the books that jump P.O.V. every chapter or so. But it’s also a weakness — for example — Trance was our entry into this world, we saw it all through her eyes. But we don’t get a whole lot of Trance any more — and what we do is just in brief bursts of conversation, and we don’t get the same impression of, knowledge of, experience of her. Still, Flex is a strong, yet flawed character, and it was nice to get in her head.

Plenty of action, some solid character growth, good plot advancement — Chimera is another good installment in a very satisfactory series. For a dystopian future, there’s something welcoming about this world, and I enjoy any time I get to spend in it. This book took me a freakishly long time to finish. That’s not a reflection on the character(s), the story, or the author — I was apparently busier and more tired than I realized until I saw just how long I’d spent reading the book (I’m not so unaware to not notice it was taking me awhile, just didn’t see how long I was taking). It was a good read, an engaging read.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Humans by Matt Haig

By HCNewton

On February 12, 2014

In Fiction, Science Fiction

The Humans

by Matt Haig
Hardcover, 304 pg.
Simon & Schuster, 2013
Read: Feb. 4-6, 2014

A couple of years back, I remember enjoying Haig’s The Radley’s about a family of vampires who’ve stopped feeding on humans, and have (mostly) assimilated into everyday society. It was fun, quirky, and had a lot more to offer than I’d have guessed. So when I stumbled onto this at the library, I had to grab it (and shame on me for not keeping an eye out for more by him).

The concept’s pretty simple: a brilliant mathematician has just made a break-through that puts humanity far, far ahead of where an alien race thinks they ought to be in terms of development based on how emotional and violent we are as a race. So, they send one of their own to kill him, take on his form and eradicate any and all people who might have knowledge of this breakthrough. Along the way, said assassin starts to understand and even appreciate humanity’s quirks and tries to stop the killing. Along the way we are treated to his observations about humanity. For example,

…I was able to work out that what humans may have lacked in physical attractiveness, they made up for in gullibility. You could tell them anything in a convincing-enough voice and they would believe it. Anything, of course, except the truth.

Basically, the key rule is, if you want to appear sane on Earth, you have to be in the right place, wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and only stepping on the right kind of grass.

Or this description of browsing a bookstore:

Understandably, humans need to know what kind of book they are about to read, because time is money and money costs time and there’s no time like the present and all of that. They need to know if it is a love story. Or a murder story. Or a story about aliens. Perhaps the book they have in their hands is a war story. It wouldn’t be a surprise.
There are other questions too that humans have in bookstores. Such as, is it one of those books they read to feel clever, or one of those they will pretend they never read in order to stay looking clever? Will it make them laugh or cry? Or will it simply force them to stare out of the window watching the tracks of raindrops? Is it a true story? Or is it a false one? Is it the kind of story that will work on their brain or one which aims for lower organs? Is it one of those books that ends up acquiring religious followers or getting burned by them? Is it a book about mathematics or — like everything else in the universe — simply because of it? And also, of course, there is the ultimate, all-important questions: does it have a dog in it?

(amen to that last question)

A lot of these observations reminded me of the classic article, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema,” that social science undergrads have chuckled at for decades. And, at a point they got a little tired — but by the point that the book threatened to become an endless series of “here’s another way humans are odd” riffs, the story took over, and the characters became more than a collection of quirks. Which isn’t to say that the alien stopped having the observations, they were just mixed in with enough plot and character development that they became seasoning.

Another danger for the reader is that you could easily get so busy chuckling at things like a partial list of inventions that humans don’t know how to handle: “the atomic bomb, the Internet, the semicolon”; or the observation that a cat “was very much like a dog. But smaller, and without the self-esteem issues.” that you can let the poignant and thoughtful things slip by. This was not unlike Scalzi’s Redshirts in that way (it was on my mind because I was reading this when the news was released about the Redshirts TV adaptation).

Funny, moving, profound (not as profound as it wants to be, I don’t think — but close), look at what it means to be human, what it means to live, to love and why we bother with any of it.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

Dusted Off: Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio

By HCNewton

On February 10, 2014

In Fiction, Science Fiction, Steampunk

Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess

by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
Hardcover, 461 pg.
Night Shade Books, 2012
Read: May 6-8, 2012

What a delightful read! All the strengths of the comic–but augmented and amplified–and, sadly, all of the weaknesses. But since the balance is so far to the “strength” side…who cares?

The last 1/4 (or so) of the book–like the source material–is just too convoluted for my taste, too many balls in the air at once. Still, I had an easier time following it in prose, so I’m not complaining too much.

If you haven’t yet–go read the comic (www.girlgeniusonline.com) tout de suite. Then go read the novels (not that I need to say that if you’ve read the comic)

Can’t wait for the next installment!

—–

4 Stars

Dusted Off: Tempest by Kelly Meding

By HCNewton

On December 30, 2013

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Tempest

by Kelly Meding
ebook, 384 pg.
Pocket Star, 2013

Dynamite! Likely the best of a really good series. Again, we have a different protagonist/1st person narrator going on a voyage of personal discovery while battling some bad guys and further exploring this world that Meding’s created. And tho’ that’s the same M.O. as the other books in the series, she pulls it off so that it feels fresh. No mean feat there.

I really liked this guy and his story, and am ready for the next book

—–

4 Stars

Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach

By HCNewton

On December 18, 2013

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Fortune’s Pawn

by Rachel Bach
Paperback, 320 pg.
Orbit, 2013

I’d planned on starting off here by saying, “there are shades of Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax books here, but just shades.” Then listing off a few other things this reminded of. But I abandoned that because that list was getting too long — and I don’t want to paint Bach’s work as totally derivative. Which I never thought about until I started thinking about it — it feels like any number of SF (and even Fantasy) worlds, yes, but Fortune’s Pawn is it’s own world. The fact that it feels familiar just allows the reader to skip all the world-building, all the “this is how we travel great distances without taking generations” stuff, etc.; and just cut to the story.

Devi Morris is a mercenary with ambition and dreams — she’s got her eyes set on joining the elite of the elite and will whatever it takes to get there, as fast as possible. Which leads her to a tour on a notorious ship — its activities may not be the most legal, and the security forces on it see more action than anyone else. But when she’s done, she’ll be light years’ closer to her goal. Along the way, she gets to do what she loves — drink more than a little, chum around with the ship’s cook, berate her partner and bust a few heads. All in all, just what she’s looking for.

Naturally, things don’t stay that way — things get mysterious, spooky and even pretty impossible. Not so fun for Devi, lots of fun for the reader.

The supporting characters are interesting and well drawn, the universe that Devi calls home is familiar enough for comfort, distinctive enough to be interesting. There’s some humor, some good fight scenes, odd alien races/manners, a splash of something like romance, pretty much everything you’d like in a novel. The major plot complications that show up at the end are more than enough to get me eager for the second volume of the trilogy — and, most likely, the third.

—–

3 Stars

Blades of Winter by G.T. Almasi

By HCNewton

On December 12, 2013

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Science Fiction

Blades of Winter by G.T. Almasi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If we didn’t already have a term, “kickass female protagonist,” someone would have to invent it to discuss this book. Almasi’s Alix Nico — a 19-year-old bionically enhanced superspy is everything you want in a heroine — smart, sassy, and reckless — she’s an adrenaline junkie, a crack short, and has the beginning of a drinking problem. Equal parts Juno MacGuff, Jaime Sommers (Wagner, not Ryan), and Syd Brystow.

The action kicks off during the first sentence and really doesn’t stop until the last couple of pages. There are a couple breaks for agency briefings and hospital recovery times following a mission, true — but otherwise, it’s flying around the world, running/driving down alleyways and shooting up bad guys.

ExOps is the well-oiled covert machine that Alix works for — as her mother does, and her father did. All her life, really, had revolved around this — her schooling, her family and now her career — her rivals, friends, and boyfriend/partner are all part of this. By and large, the ExOps characters are stock characters, but Almasi’s put enough individuality to them to make them well-rounded. Alix is a prodigy of sorts, shooting up through the ranks faster than most — and sometimes cutting a few corners to do that — which leads to a lot of scrutiny from her mentor, colleagues and superiors. She’s too valuable to be wasted, too green to be fully trusted, and too reckless to be left to her own devices.

As great as the bionically-enhanced fight scenes are, as much as I dig the characters — the thing that seals the deal on this book for me is the setting. He starts with a World War II where Germany has a lot more success, which leads to a different kind of Cold War — between the U. S., Greater Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Nationalist Republic of China(!). This “Shadowstorm” (catchier name than Cold War, don’t ya think?) propels intense scientific progress — particularly as it relates to weapons and spycraft development. So by the early 1980s (where we pick up the action), the weapons and related tech far surpass our own. Yet it feels pretty 80’s-ish. I’m not sure how Almasi does that (beyond references to Reagan — actually, I really liked the whole presidential history we’re given here), but I’ll take it.^* Despite the world taking on a literally different shape, it still feels like reality. Most alt-histories I’ve run across feel like parodies of reality, this feels like the real thing.

This novel is told with wit, verve and panache — a fun read that I immediately passed on to my teenage sons. Hope that Almasi has a few of these in his tank.

—–

^*(okay, sure, some of the slang seems more Twenty-Teens than Alt-80’s, but, eh, in the moment you buy most of it — that’s enough)

—–

4 Stars

Opening lines – Blades of Winter by G.T. Almasi

By HCNewton

On November 26, 2013

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Opening Lines, Quotations, Science Fiction

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I’ll throw it up here. Dare you not to read the rest of the book

—–

Nothing pisses me off more than being shot at while I’m eating. It’s the midday rush here in my new favorite restaurant, a cozy Hungarian joint on East 82nd Street. I’m jammed into a small table by the kitchen, with a Redskins cap pulled low over my face. The charming old dining room is packed, and the paneled walls echo the Eastern European barks of the broad, buxom waitresses as they dominate the good-humored customers. The food here is spectacular, but right now I’m kind of distracted by that bullet hurtling straight at my left eye.

from Blades of Winter by G.T. Almasi

Dusted Off: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

By HCNewton

On November 18, 2013

In Authors, Fiction, John Scalzi, P-U, Science Fiction

Old Man’s War

by John Scalzi
Mass Market Paperback, 362 pg.
Tor Books, 2007

I have to admit, I came to this with a degree of trepidation. I’ve really enjoyed Scalzi’s “lighter” works and wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get into his more serious SF. Boy, was I wrong. This was a blast–sure, not as funny as Agent to the Stars or The Android’s Dream, but it wasn’t supposed to be, it was still a rollicking good time–action, hard SF, and heart (even a couple of laughs)–everything you could ask for.

It starts out as sort of an inverse Ender’s Game, instead of kids being recruited to fight far-off aliens, we get senior citizens enlisting. Humanity’s colonies are spreading through the galaxy and running into all sorts of other species who are trying to do the same, and conflicts ensue. I can’t think of much more to say here without major spoilers.

Great cast of characters, believable future tech, creepy aliens, intense battles…fun, solid read, really looking forward to the sequel.

—–

4 Stars