Reading in February 2014

[odo]

We're all entitled to our own opinions.In this case most of them are not the same as yours.

And that's too bad but hey that's you not me,thankfully.

I don't know how old you are but I'm old enough to have been around and remember every NASA event since Apollo.Maybe that context makes this a more enjoyable read for me,and apparently a fair amount of others.

But ultimately it doesn't matter what you or I think.Sales and positive spin does.

Sales are not the only thing important, I think. In fact, sales and quality seem to be negatively correlated in most cases, at least in my experience.

And, though I wasn't even born when Armstrong stepped on the Moon, I've thoroughly enjoyed Adrift on the Sea of Rains by Ian Sales, which is similar in topic to The Martian (but, imho, superior in almost every aspect).

I'm glad that so many people seem to be enjoying this book, but I really don't get it.

 

[Westy]

It's interesting that many of the negative of reviews on Amazon, etc. are because of the detailed descriptions behind what he's doing to survive; providing the exact measurements and maths behind them. Many of these readers then stop the book and don't bother.

This is a shame as this mostly only happens for the first 1/4 or 1/3 of the book, and then it kicks up a gear as

Spoiler

he's discovered alive by NASA and the plans to get him home come into action.

I agree that it was a bit overly detailed at the start, but this was a relatively minor thing and as reader I still wanted to find out what would happen.

Another complaint is that there's no character development. Whilst I agree that this is often usually an important aspect, I don't think it's as important in this story - it's an action/thriller trying to get someone back alive from Mars, there's no time to go into his background and family, etc!

I thought it was a great book, definitely one of my top reads for a while.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Adrift on the Sea of Rains by Ian Sales, which is similar in topic to The Martian (but, imho, superior in almost every aspect).

That does sound good too, will have to check it out.

 

[odo]

Another complaint is that there's no character development. Whilst I agree that this is often usually an important aspect, I don't think it's as important in this story - it's an action/thriller trying to get someone back alive from Mars, there's no time to go into his background and family, etc!

I'm not sure I agree with that (compare to the movie Gravity, for instance), but even if that's the case, somebody is writing a diary because he is stranded on Mars and never even thinks about his family and friends on Earth (once he regrets he is missing the baseball season or something like that, though)? And never feels despair, or fear, or loneliness, just a minor disappointment when a plan goes wrong (which is only a minor inconvenience because he immediately comes up with something new)? That is not lack of character development, that is putting a robot instead of a person as the main protagonist of the story (and I'm being unfair there: most robots have more feelings than this brave, self-made astronaut)

That does sound good too, will have to check it out.

I highly recommend The Apollo Quartet (of which Adrift on the Sea of Rains is the first installment). Ian Sales really knows his rocket engineering and also can write like the best of them.

 

[Ropie]

That is not lack of character development, that is putting a robot instead of a person as the main protagonist of the story (and I'm being unfair there: most robots have more feelings than this brave, self-made astronaut)

I agree, Odo, at times it was easy to forget that Watney had been on Mars for 6, 7 or 8 months because all he seems to write about are his day to day tasks, whilst inserting the occasional joke. He does mention his 'mom and dad' once or twice and it is alluded to that he has few friends and probably no girlfriend. The book wouldn't have worked in the way that it did though if he had portrayed himself as emotional, as time would have been spent being depressed, pining for home, going in and out of despair, talking about gazing at the pinkish sky for days on end, etc, etc. The amount of technical detail that Andy Weir went into would have been lost amongst the character's related thoughts and the sense of urgency that makes the book so much fun would have been lost.

Did you notice there was almost no description given of the Martian landscape, except that it was featureless or rocky? Watney is not that sort of guy - he's a NASA robot. The cover enhances this further: no Martian landscape, no orbiting Hermes, no hab in a red landscape - just an extreme close-up on a man's sweaty face. Also, let's not forget Watney is portrayed almost solely through his diary and he probably chose to keep the majority of his emotional thought out of his writing. Even the other characters don't really know him except through their communication with him during his mission.

I can absolutely understand how some people would not enjoy the constant stream of problem solving, but it worked for me. Only towards the later stages of the book did I start to tire just a little of reading about his worries about his life support system and the continuous successful reuse of bits of scrap canvas and resin!!

And, Sea of Rains is a superb story but very different to The Martian.

 

[Ropie]

Meanwhile, I have been holding out for a copy of The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn for almost 5 years, knowing that one would turn up one day, and that day was today! I got a discount on a slightly tatty copy in Forbidden Planet Starting it tonight.

 

[Danogzilla]

Finished Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire, part one of a two part space opera.

It was a great read. The book was very fast paced and jam packed with fun SF ideas. This space opera lives in the neighborhood of Iain M Banks' books with its civilization's undead upper class, microscopic warships, controlling AIs (I particularly enjoyed the self-propagating and self-designing house), inventive torture techniques...etc.

I was disappointed to find that this two book series is the only space opera Westerfeld has written, and the only adult literature for that matter (he's very successful in the YA market).

The book ends with a cliffhanger. I think the two books were originally supposed to have been published as one, but by whatever twist of industry strangeness they were separated. Despite the cliff hanger, The Risen Empire is compelling and fun, and surprisingly well written. I have the second book in my stacks, ready to go. I usually don't read books in a series back to back, but this time I might.

 

[krisbslick]

Finished Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire, part one of a two part space opera.

It was a great read. The book was very fast paced and jam packed with fun SF ideals. This space opera lives in the neighborhood of Iain M Banks' books with its civilization's undead upper class, microscopic warships, controlling AIs (I particularly enjoyed the self-propagating and self-designing house), inventive torture techniques...etc.

I was disappointed to find that this two book series is the only space opera Westerfeld has written, and the only adult literature for that matter (he's very successful in the YA market).

I really enjoyed The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds too. I agree, they contain some great concepts I haven't seen (haven't tackled Banks yet). I wish he did pursued writing more science fiction, rather than his YA novels (some of which I've read and they were pretty fun too). I guess you got to go where the money is :/

 

[warfitz45]

I should be able to finish Janet Evanovich's Finger Lickin' Fifteen. No, it's not my normal fare. I'm reading it for a study in plotting.

This week, I started Salvatore's Star Wars Episode II novelization. I read Brooks' novelization for Episode I years ago, and I bought Salvatore's as well as Episode III really cheap at 1/2 price book. My hope is that Salvatore can make sense of one of the most confusing, irritating movies in all of SciFi (OK, that's probably an exaggeration, but not by much). I still can't say that I understood what the basic premise of the movie was so I'm hopeful a slower telling, focusing on minute details that might've been glossed over in the movie, will help alleviate that problem. So far, it's a nice opening, a bit of a surprise to me as I wasn't sure what I'd get.

Also, I plan to listen to Ender's Game on my way to/from work.

 

[suciul]

as per comments above I took another look at The Martian by Andy Weir and here is my mini-review from Goodreads:

"done thousand times, nothing of interest as writing goes (original "not for me" opinion)

since this book had some stellar reviews by people I trust their opinion, I gave it another chance and maybe because I was in the mood for such, I kind of read it in one sitting

this is (adult but truly appreciated at) school age sf of the kind that makes one love the genre at 12 and become a fan for life even if later one kind of outgrows this specific type of story;

so you will find precisely the advertised stuff - a love letter to basic grade school science and the NASA space program, mediocre writing and stereotypical characters though here they are nicely diverse both as gender and as cultures as opposed to the classic white males of Asimov, Clarke and such

personally I tend to prefer the science to be more sophisticated so Greg Egan's stuff like Incandescence (which is a love letter to general relativity) is much higher on the totem pole for me so to speak, but this one's reception shows that there is a clear market need for its kind of story

overall, highly recommended for middle and high school boys (and girls, but this is a clear "boys first" story even though the book has quite a few important women characters with agency) - there is some profanity true but today's schools are much more educational in the uses of profanity than in the past, so what is here is really mild by comparison - and for anyone with a nostalgia for the sf of that age"

 

[Eoin]

First off, Hi there, first post and all that... Shame it's going to be a whiny one. As per usual I always get sci-fi bought to me for Xmas, because it's easy for everyone.

Well this year I received the Uplift Trilogy by David Brin

Hmmm, to be kind I thought the first book was "ok" it's called Sundiver and the lead protagonist is interesting in many ways, but the supporting cast is all bit 1960's Star Trek. That's fine if talking trees are your thing. Me? less so.

Anyway book 2 was unreadable for me, evolved dolphins in articulated suits with names like Tzxzzzzhx and Pccghhtre, even the humans were oddly named and I really struggled to keep up, I lost interest and for the first time in a long time I skipped straight to the last book. "The Uplift War" without too many spoilers, so far it hasn't been the pan-galatic epic I thought it was going to be. In fact, it's mostly about a monkey insurgency against a chicken species. If that doesn't put you off I don't know what will.

So a massive disappointment, but possibly because it's just not my cup of tea. I'll still finish it and go back and read the second book because I'm stubborn like that but all and all I'd avoid it.

 

[Rob B]

Meanwhile, I have been holding out for a copy of The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn for almost 5 years, knowing that one would turn up one day, and that day was today! I got a discount on a slightly tatty copy in Forbidden Planet Starting it tonight.

Finished Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire, part one of a two part space opera.

It was a great read. The book was very fast paced and jam packed with fun SF ideas. This space opera lives in the neighborhood of Iain M Banks' books with its civilization's undead upper class, microscopic warships, controlling AIs (I particularly enjoyed the self-propagating and self-designing house), inventive torture techniques...etc.

I was disappointed to find that this two book series is the only space opera Westerfeld has written, and the only adult literature for that matter (he's very successful in the YA market).

The book ends with a cliffhanger. I think the two books were originally supposed to have been published as one, but by whatever twist of industry strangeness they were separated. Despite the cliff hanger, The Risen Empire is compelling and fun, and surprisingly well written. I have the second book in my stacks, ready to go. I usually don't read books in a series back to back, but this time I might.

Both of these books were a Book of the Month in our SF Book Club years ago.

 

[Westy]

I just read the ebook of Adrift on the Sea of Rains and thought it was OK, but fairly average.

Too many acronyms, the writing was too sterile and the characters were fairly uninteresting - just didn't overly impress.

Different strokes I guess.

 

[Ropie]

Both of these books were a Book of the Month in our SF Book Club years ago.

I think that's where I heard about WOTROS(!), Rob. Not an easy book to find in the UK.
I haven't had a lot of time for reading since starting it but it's hard SF with some elegant, descriptive prose - I'm liking it a lot

Too many acronyms, the writing was too sterile and the characters were fairly uninteresting - just didn't overly impress.

Yes, I know what you mean, but I really loved the coldness of it. Like Bradbury without the sentiment.

 

[DDCOrange]

Finished three books this month to date. By far the best is actually two stories in one volume, Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was my first encounter with Bujold whom, before I encountered this website, just never seemed to drum up enough interest for me try. However encouraged by a lot of favorable to glowing recommendations from longtime members here I bought the volume last year which finally surfaced to the top of my TBR pile. Of the two stories withinShards of Honor and Barrayar, I liked Barrayar the best though both were enjoyable reads.
What I found interesting was the author's Afterwards were she described the evolution of the two works. Shards of Honor was actually Bujold's first novel which underwent several changes on the path to publication. In one form it contained about the first quarter or third of Barrayar before Bujold realized it was getting a bit long and she needed to tighten things up a bit. So she jettisoned the Barrayar section with a half-hearted intent of returning to it later. Flash forward a number of years. Bujold is now very much a success with several novels in the Miles Vorkosigan series under her belt and not a few awards and honors as well. When approached to contribute a short story to an anthology she remembered a portion of Barrayar that she rather liked and decided to work it into such a contribution. From there the story kept growing and getting better and better until it became the full flung novel that it is today. It this point in her career Bujold was a much more polished novelist and I think it shows. Anyway I was impressed enough to try another one of her books. I hear each one is more or less stand alone though they follow the course of Miles' life. Any suggestions on where to go next?

The next book I finished was Clementine another entry in Cherie Preist's Clockwork Century series. Clocking in at just over 200 pages it is the shortest book I've read lately. Basically it's a steampunk novel set in an alternate 19th century where the American Civil War continues to drag on for over 20 years. This story concerns a female Rebel spy and an African-American Airship pirate and his skilled crew who join forces to stop a common, greater evil. The tale is full of adventure, humor, close calls, and above all is a bit silly and far-fetched but fun all the same. It reads very fast and was over before I knew it.

The third tale was Eric Flint's 1635: The Eastern Front. Following some disappointments from other writers who tried to carry the torch of this series of a town of time-travelling West Virginians trapped in Europes 30-Years-War. I was looking forward to Eric Flint doing another solo effort as his and David Weber's entries to the series were often the best. While not the best novel in the series, it didn't disappoint either and ended with an interesting cliffhanger. At this point the series has so many threads running in so many places that it's sometimes hard to keep all the fictional, let alone historical figures straight. Still I'm interested enough to keep pursuing just to see where it goes.

 

[chitman13]

I finished The Dreaming Void by Peter F Hamilton yesterday. I think I've read this one a half dozen times since it's release as I enjoy the trilogy so much. Despite preferring sci-fi, I once again found that Edeard's fantasy-like sections were more enjoyable to read. I'm on to The Temporal Void now, and seeing as it has a much heavier focus on Edeard (I think it's something like 70/30) I should be powering through.

I also picked up a Doctor Who tie-in novel, Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris last night. Opening chapters were good and I'm hoping it will continue strongly. The Weeping Angels creep me out though - one of the reasons I picked it up!

 

[ArtNJ]

Just read Revelation Space. And, unfortunately, its one of those books that I cant understand the appeal of. No character development at all, with the unlikable main character having basically one character trait -- arrogance. Complex for the sake of being complex, with characters routinely seeing or imagining they see complex plots and hidden motivations behind every other characters actions, and a web of "big ideas" that seemed more ridiculous than big to me.

In terms of the recent discussions of other books by posters above, I entirely agree with Odo on The Martian, a/k/a Mcgyver in space, and also with the comments on the second book in the Uplift War trilogy, which I also re-read recently and was surprised I did not enjoy when I remembered it favorably

The most recent thing I liked was Larry Correia's The Grimnoir series, which combines magic, super heroes, action and fun, with a somewhat tighter plot than the Monster Hunters series.

 

[Danogzilla]

Just read Revelation Space. And, unfortunately, its one of those books that I cant understand the appeal of.

I agree. It's also got some of the worst dialogue I've ever read. The book has some really cool images that stuck in my mind for a long time, but otherwise it's really bringing nothing to the table. The second book in the series (excluding the stand alone Chasm City, which was a good read) is no better. I gave up half way through it. I wish Reynolds was a better writer, because he has such great ideas.