Reading in Science Fiction, February 2022

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I just read “Doctor Who: The Sands of Time” which is a 1996 spin-off novel by Justin Richards, and is Number 22 in the Missing Adventure Series. This story features the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Nyssa in an adventure featuring the Osirans which appeared in the “Pyramids of Mars” TV serial.

In this story, the Fifth Doctor must thwart the schemes of another Osiran to return to power and devastate the universe. It actually involves lots of time travel, with the Doctor effectively employing the TARDIS numerous times to visit various points in history in both England and Egypt. Nyssa ends up off stage for a good portion of the novel, but in her place is Atkins, a butler from the 1890s. Atkins admirably acts as a short term companion, and fills the need for an additional assistant.

Mr. Richards seems to capture the personalities and mannerisms of the Fifth Doctor and his crew quite well. This is probably not surprising as he has a impressive amount of experience writing Doctor Who related material. I was impressed with the quality of this novel, as well as the story itself. It’s an ideal Missing Adventure, and a worthy sequel to the “Pyramids of Mars.” The cover art even faithfully depicted a scene from the story. It seems the BBC released this at some point as a free e-book, because it can be found as a free download on sites such as Feedbooks.
 
Finished The Macedonian Hazard, book #2 of the Alexander Inheritance Series by Flint, et al and enjoyed it as much as the first.

Now well into #3, The Sicilian Coil by the et als above without Mr Flint and liking it as well. I do think the pace of the success in creating modern technology in 320 BCE is perhaps a little optimistic, but it's all good fun.
 
Finished Neal Stephenson's new book, Termination Shock last night.
Was enjoyable, some cool short history and cultural lessons. But the book was not the knockout I've come to expect from my favorite author..
 
The Last Colony

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After leaving the Colonial Defence Force with a new, unenhanced body, John Perry accepts the job of administrating a seed colony on the planet Roanoke. Before long, he realises that Roanoke is a pawn in a much larger political game being played by the CDU and its planet-settling opposition in the Conclave.

This book was a welcome return to John Perry’s story which began in Old Man’s War. It doesn’t focus as much on the military SF aspects as the previous books in the series and it does suffer a bit in comparison because of that. That’s not to say it isn’t a fairly enjoyable read, just that it takes a wider, geopolitical view of the aims of the CDU and how they affect Perry and his family. How the ending works out seems to signify the end of the series (though I’m aware the story continues in The Human Division) and reminded me of the ending of my namesake’s final book in Neal Asher’s Agent Cormac series, where the little man undermines the power of his rulers. I don’t intend to read Zoe’s Tale as it seems to be just a different slant on what has happened in this book. All in all, The Last Colony was an okay read though perhaps not as much fun as the previous books.
 
Finished Bujold's Diplomatic Immunity. Perhaps not the best volume in the series (it does take quite a while before the action picks up), but still very enjoyable. Have now however just started Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. And for the first time since I started the Vorkosigan series I wonder whether I'll finish. It says "Bujold" on the cover, it's the familiar universe, familiar characters etc...but the writing is somehow off, not flowing anymore. Ofc Ivan is not as interesting a character as Miles - but even taking this into account, the quality seems to have dropped. Too many sentences that are not very well constructed or, even worse, that interesting :( Ah well, we'll see whether things pick up -- I do hope so!
 
Sfinx said:
Finished Bujold's Diplomatic Immunity. Perhaps not the best volume in the series (it does take quite a while before the action picks up), but still very enjoyable. Have now however just started Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. And for the first time since I started the Vorkosigan series I wonder whether I'll finish. It says "Bujold" on the cover, it's the familiar universe, familiar characters etc...but the writing is somehow off, not flowing anymore. Ofc Ivan is not as interesting a character as Miles - but even taking this into account, the quality seems to have dropped. Too many sentences that are not very well constructed or, even worse, that interesting :( Ah well, we'll see whether things pick up -- I do hope so!
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To the best of my memory (it's been a decade) Cryoburn (2010) picks up the series again. Unfortunately I do remember Captain Vorpatril's Alliance quite well, and do not recommend it. Bujold tries to tie up various threads and ideas from quite early in the series, to the detriment of action or even interesting characters.
 
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Finished Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey. The final Expanse novel tied things up, but for me it was somewhat underwhelming. I can't put my finger on it, and I get the arc that brought events to that point - I guess I just hoped for more.
 
Started John Scalzi's "Interdependency Series - Book 1 "The Collapsing Empire". Great start and a pretty cool concept to overcome FTL travel called The Flow. Sort of a galaxy spanning current of spacetime that negates the speed of light for vessels that traverse it.

I can tell I'm going to like this one and will review after I finish the series.
 
Recent SF I have read and can recommend:

Kings of a Dead World by Jamie Mollart.

I found this a deeply moving book, with a powerful human dimension as well as a very scary vision of the future. It touches of themes of family, love and dementia. It's rather refreshing to encounter older characters and their struggles in SF. Makes you stop and think about what we are doing to our planet. In this case the solution is equally horrific.

HIVE by April Doyle.

Just out this month. Another book with a climate and apocalyptic theme but in this case a world without pollinating insects. It's incredibly well researched and the writer clearly has a strong connection to nature. But don't worry. It's not all about the message. In fact it is the human story that really dominates. I found this a very enjoyable and refreshing read.

Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod

Just started this by one of my favourite authors. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy his writing and the Scottish-ness of it all. I'll let you know how I get on with it but its good so far.
 
Flag in Exile

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Put on half pay and temporarily relieved of command in the Royal Manticoran Navy, Honor Harrington retreats to her holdings in Grayson where she is soon given command of a battle squadron. But the historically male dominant society on Grayson is strong and resentment of her status grows among some of the powerful Steadholders, who plot to discredit Harrington and bring about her downfall.

This, the fifth in the Honorverse series, is another decent read and content-wise is set more or less equally in space and on the planet Grayson. The wordage given over to hammering home the bad guys’ religious justifications does become a little tedious at times, but it wasn’t enough to put me off for little surprises me when it comes to human behaviour, especially that of crackpots. Other than that I mostly enjoyed this episode. As for the rest of the series, I will keep moving forward, though I am beginning to suspect that repetitiveness will eventually compel me to at least have a break.
 
I remember reading the "Honor Harrington" series and enjoying them...as they came out in the 90's. With about a year or more in between issues it was enough of a rest between to enjoy the next.

Never finished the entire series though as I lost track of it from year to year in paperback. And, I think my tastes changes along the way.

Also, Weber can get a bit pedantic when discussing religion in a lot of his novels. I ran across that in the Multiverse series and the Safehold series.
 
Agent Cormac said:
Flag in Exile

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Put on half pay and temporarily relieved of command in the Royal Manticoran Navy, Honor Harrington retreats to her holdings in Grayson where she is soon given command of a battle squadron. But the historically male dominant society on Grayson is strong and resentment of her status grows among some of the powerful Steadholders, who plot to discredit Harrington and bring about her downfall.

This, the fifth in the Honorverse series, is another decent read and content-wise is set more or less equally in space and on the planet Grayson. The wordage given over to hammering home the bad guys’ religious justifications does become a little tedious at times, but it wasn’t enough to put me off for little surprises me when it comes to human behaviour, especially that of crackpots. Other than that I mostly enjoyed this episode. As for the rest of the series, I will keep moving forward, though I am beginning to suspect that repetitiveness will eventually compel me to at least have a break.
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Agree pretty much. To the best of my memory, this was where my affection for the series started to flag.
Not so much due to the religion. I was such a stone atheist by that time, that I looked at future religion as a simple plot device similar to telepathy (Agnostic on that one.) It was the increase in super techno gobblegook that killed my affection. Although, as I said previously, I have continued to read them, to my embarassment.
 
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Ropie said:
That cover is just terrifying in its naffness. It looks like medieval re-enactment group, who haven't had time to change out of their office clothes, performing on a tv gameshow set, with a stuffed big cat.
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Agreed. All the covers are a bit naff, though this one is the naffest so far.
 
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