Reading in February 2012

[Hobbit]

This is where you talk to us about your monthly SF Reads: whether good or bad, we want to discuss with you what you thought.

Our Fantasy Book of the Month is Well of Sorrows by Benjamin Tate. Discuss here.

Our SF Book of the Month is The Recollection by Gareth Powell. Discuss here.


Mark

 

[Ropie]

Starting off this month with Christopher Priest's The Islanders. I'd been saving it for some sort of special occasion but finally gave in and felt that the beginning of February was good enough reason. A few chapters in and it's very dry so far, but I was expecting that.

 

[suciul]

I almost finished The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq (an alternate narrative from Daniel 1, an aging comedian and Daniel 24 and Daniel 25, his future genetic descendants in a post apocalyptic future a few centuries down the road) and the author shows once again why (like Daniel 1 who is a very controversial comedian too) any of his novels will be sure to get the establishment riled, the pc crowd baying for his blood (after Platform, they tried him in France, home of Marquis de Sade of all places and showing how "offendable speech" changes as time goes by but the reactions of the establishment never does - he got acquitted as it happens), his (huge) fan base praising him as the modern prophet of France, Europe, humanity etc etc.

Shortlisted for the Goncourt like all his major novels (he finally won last year with map and Territory which is next as I read his other two major novels, one sfnal too, one non-sff), The Possibility of an island is dark, cynical, no illusions, very explicit stuff and not for the easily offended, though here he dishes it to all as Daniel 1's incidental association with an alien worshiping cult is one of the motive powers of the storyline; aging, immortality, the moral decline of Europe etc...

 

[Rob B]

I'll be starting Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell today.

 

[Pennarin]

I'm finishing Slonczewski's The Highest Frontier. Will be starting on the Kollins' The Unincorporated Man and perhaps Holly's Green Planet.

 

[Rob B]

Kollins' The Unincorporated Man

I'll be interested to see/read your thoughts on this one. The premise reminded me a bit of some thematic elements David Louis Edleman explored in Infoquake and the subsequent novels in The Jump 225 Trilogy.

 

[Seak]

Finished Scalzi's short story, An Election. It was good and humorous, but not quite as funny as I expected. Still worth it.

 

[JustaStaffer]

I'll be interested to see/read your thoughts on this one. The premise reminded me a bit of some thematic elements David Louis Edleman explored in Infoquake and the subsequent novels in The Jump 225 Trilogy.

Which is amazing, and highly recommended by me. You with me on that Rob?

 

[Seak]

I'll be starting Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell today.

This looks interesting, I've been meaning to read more Buckell after his was the only enjoyable story I read in Metatropolis.

 

[JustaStaffer]

This looks interesting, I've been meaning to read more Buckell after his was the only enjoyable story I read in Metatropolis.

I read it weekend before last. It's great. Sort of near future eco-terror James bond novel hybrid?

His first novel, Crystal Rain is also only $2.99 on Kindle today.

 

[Seak]

I read it weekend before last. It's great. Sort of near future eco-terror James bond novel hybrid?

His first novel, Crystal Rain is also only $2.99 on Kindle today.

Sounds sexy. I actually already have Crystal Rain, although not on Kindle...but that's such a good price.

 

[suciul]

I'll be interested to see/read your thoughts on this one. The premise reminded me a bit of some thematic elements David Louis Edleman explored in Infoquake and the subsequent novels in The Jump 225 Trilogy.

I read The Unincorporated Man on publication a few years ago and it was ok - had some great parts but also a lot of predictable filler and the ideology is so early 2000's Bush bubble era, so even now just a couple years later and the book reads dated to a large extent. The tech/world building had some good parts too, but the book is mainly ideological sf.

The immediate sequel did not excite me that much and I never advanced beyond a few chapters as the Ayn rand take of the original, hero against the system is still palatable to some extent for me, but, hero in charge of the (parts of) system is much less. There was a 3rd book in 2011, Unincorporated woman but it's quite unlikely I will read it

The Edelman series is a class higher in world building and writing and two classes higher in the great characters.

Back on topic, finished The Possibility of an Island by M. Houellebecq and the epilogue which was haunting, superb and went back full circle to the main themes of the novel (essentially that life is tragedy not comedy) just added to the power of the novel.

Next Great Game (Tidhar), Transmission (Meaney) and the (finally, on the 4th shortlisting for the author) Goncourt winner from Houellebecq, 2010's the Map and the Territory which I have no idea if it's sfnal like Elementary particles and Possibility of an island or not like Platform

 

[Westy]

Finished Blue Remembered Earth last night and thought it was another good book from Reynolds. As another reader mentioned, it was fairly slow to start but once it got going (for me after about 1/3rd through) the story came together and I breezed through it fairly quickly.

It's set in a relatively near future (2161) compared to most of his other novels (personally I thought it a bit optimistic/unrealistic we could get there in this time frame), and there are heaps of ideas presented. It's almost like he's crammed too many ideas in the one book, as many of them seem to be glossed over and not central to the story. That said, it's good to see this in current sci-fi and some of them I found particularly interesting (especially

Spoiler

the mind transference tech and underwater "evolution").

Overall an above average book and one of the better I've read in the last year, but not up there with his best for me.

Next up will be Eric Brown's Cosmopath.

 

[Rob B]

I read it weekend before last. It's great. Sort of near future eco-terror James bond novel hybrid?

I wouldn't say James Bond novel, at least 60 pages into the 300 page novel. I blew through those pages very quickly on my lunch today.

His first novel, Crystal Rain is also only $2.99 on Kindle today.

I'd say that's a bargain, since the book was such a blast.

 

[livens]

Started Firestar by Michael Flynn a few days ago. Very well written and he does a good job bringing you into the story. But... Its a thick book with really small print. I feel like Ive been reading on it for awhile, but im only about 1/8" into it!

 

[algernoninc]

finished On Basilisk Station by David Weber. I liked some parts of it well enough to continue the series, other times it felt overly simplistic and partisan with its clear delimitation between the good guys and the bad guys and the militaristic frame of mind - something I should have been prepared for. Anyway, good adventure story, but it doen't come anywhere close to replace my favorite Miles Vorkosigan books.

This weekend it looks like I will be snowed in, so I will probably find time to start The Kings of Eternity.

 

[beniowa]

Read Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. Most of the stories in the collection were fairly good. The title story of the collection was good, but I wish Reynolds had put it in with Absolution Gap instead of writing it separately.

Now reading Percepliquis by Michael J. Sullivan.

 

[suciul]

I finished two very good sfnal books, both 3rd novels in what I think are trilogies though in both cases there is scope for more.

Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon by Mark Hodder:

I finished this (maybe last) Burton and Swinburne novel and while I plan to talk more a bit later on further thought, for now i will say that overall I thought it a very good book despite that it almost fell in the solipsistic (the action of one or more characters can erase/change timelines ie have God powers ie solipsism) trap that tends to afflict time travel/timeline changes novels. Very good writing and in the "local" - chapter by chapter, adventure by adventure, scene by scene the book is excellent, but in the global as mentioned it almost collapses the suspension of disbelief and the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The ending was superb though - balance of ambiguity and necessity - to raise the whole a bit more, but while I would highly recommend the book and the series, it is not quite at a top 25 level

The Great game by Lavie Tidhar:

Another series ending (maybe?) and again I plan to talk later more and have a full review, but in short i would say two things:

- first 3/4 (more or less) of the novel are awesome and i thought this would be a top 25 of mine, but the ending is a bit disappointing and this is why i hope for more; it will be a major spoiler to say why but essentially it suffers from the "great tension, great danger, way too easy out" syndrome

- i realized why I love so much this whole series - nostalgia - as something that has Jules Verne, Karl May, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, irene Adler, professor Moriarty, Winnetou, Milady de Winter, the Comte Rochefort, Van helsing, Bram Stoker, Viktor Frankenstein, Harry Houdini, Phineas Fogg etc etc as characters - cannot be but wonderful if done well

 

[Westy]

Finished Eric Brown's Cosmopath and it provided a satisfying conclusion to the Bengal Station novels. Brown creates neat stories that are so easy to read, and the alien take on this story towards the end makes this book all the better. It also ends in a way that could easily result in a fourth book, though this hasn't eventuated. Great SF series to add to the shelf.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Though I don't read much sci-fi, I want to. I really want to get hooked on sci-fi, but just can't seem to find the book or series that will do it. That having been said, I've seen a lot of mentions concerning Eric Brown around here recently, so I'll put that one on the list and go search his bibliography for a good starting point.