Reading in January 2009

[Skylark]

Just starting Cloud's End by Sean Stewart.

This is my first book by him and I am hoping I will enjoy it.

 

[xvart]

Just starting Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco. This is the second book in his Peacemaker trilogy. I enjoyed the first book, Peacemaker, and look forward to this one set ten years later.

xvart.

 

[Ropie]

Finished Case Of Conscience by James Blish last night. Well, I say "finished" but I got so bored I skim read the last 40-or-so pages. The book is divided into two parts as it is really two stories glued together to make one novel. I began by having a lot of respect for James Blish - the first half of the novel shows him to be an extremely intelligent writer, maybe lacking a little flair for character portrayl, but otherwise potentially very interesting. However, just as things begin to get going we switch to part 2 and everything falls apart. It's just bizarre - horribly dated, confusing, rambling, inexplicable character temperament changes, nonsense scenarios. And a terrible thing - most of it seems to be set in that most clichéd of SF environments: a swingin' party at rich lady's underground house! It may not have been a cliché when Blish first penned it but boy did he make a ham-fisted job of writing it all down and from the point of view of today's reader it all sounds horrible. The character of the visiting alien from planet Lithia (why do the natives refer to it as the 'rocky' planet, hence the name - Lithia, from the Greek, Lithos, when they don't speak any Greek?) becomes a fashionable TV celebrity and by this time I was starting to really wane. I wanted to enjoy this book but have to admit to suffering from severe boredom two thirds of the way through; a shame as the ending did actually seem quite good even though I couldn't understand quite what they were talking about having seemingly missed large chunks of text out on the way to it. Two stars out of five **

 

[suciul]

I finished Solaris SF 3 and it was excellent.

Rescue Mission by Jack Skilignstead **** 1/2

A pilot of a drop ship lands on a strange planet populated by sentient trees; he needs to recover his humanity with the help of his copilot to escape.
I liked the style and setting, a little bit more of background would have made this story perfect.

The Fixation by Alastair Reynolds ****

The story of two Iranian/Persian girls in parallel universes linked by a strange artifact.
Very dependable Reynolds and with a great ending, but a bit too short and predictable, without the sense of wonder of his best stories or the depth of the longer novellas dealing with a similar topic.

Artifacts by Stephen Baxter *****

On par and similarly thematically to Last Contact. Hard sf about the Multiverse, mind-boggling but humane at the same time. Highlight of the collection for pure hard sf by a master of such.

Necroflux Day by John Meaney *****

Return to Tristopolis in the Bone Song days but from the perspective of a young mixed blood student, his archivist widowed father and his Thanatos priest/teacher. All about the price of progress in Tristopolis. After I loved the Nulapeiron trilogy, I was so-so on Bone Song, but this story made me want to return to that universe and read Dark Blood the second novel set there. Highlight of the collection for world building.

Providence by Paul Di Filippo *****

In a post apocalypse Earth, sentient machines rule, but their civilization is declining. Huge motorized Reddy K. leaves his comfy East Village, Manahttan pad and his hobot girlfriend for a dangerous wilderness trip to Providence, RI where local ruler Big Tube unearthed an huge cache of spiral and has some for sale, spiral being an immensely addictive robot thingy - I will let you discover what spiral is by reading the story. Smart and funny though not quite a parody. Highlight of the anthology for humor.

Carnival Night by Warren Hammond ***

Not a fan of the KOP novels, this one moved along nicely for me. Set on Koba, it's about the murder of a rich do-gooder tourist investigated by a disgraced policeman. The heroes of KOP make an appearance too. Good atmosphere, predictable mystery.

The Assistant by Ian Whates ***

Assistant janitor is more than meets the eye. This one had an interesting premise but did not quite work for me.

Glitch by Scott Edelman **** 1/2

Prim S-Tr resists the attempts of her bonded partner X-ta to have "animal like" human intimacy. Then things go out of control. Interesting, funny and dark at the same time, the style was a bit flat but otherwise very good.

One of our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell ***** +

In a superb anthology this was my favorite. Major Hamilton of the British Empire, keeper of the balance in this future steampunk with miracles setting seethes as he watches Crown Princess Liz, his one time ladylove, getting married with a Swedish prince. But the naughty Kaiser has plans of his own for the wedding, so it's up to the Major to save the day. Superb adventure and I would love a novel in this setting. The story Catherine Drewe from Pyr's Fast Forward 2 which is freely available online is the first story with Hamilton and there he thwarts the Bear (Russian Empire) in nefarious doings on Mars. Highlight of the anthology for panache and just pure fun.

Woodpunk by Adam Roberts ***

Mutated sentient forest asks for its rights from humanity; woodpunk indeed.
The only minor disappointment of the anthology since I love Adam Roberts work, but this one just did not click with me. Moved along nicely though and well written so not a complete waste.

Mynia's Astral Angels by Jennifer Pelland *****

In a corporate dominated matriarchal universe, the Astral Angels, modified sexless human based sentient beings with no rights as a species because they cannot reproduce and once used to terraform planets are passe since robots are cheaper and more efficient these days, but a daughter of the clan-matriarch falls in love with them and needs to find a way to save them from corporate "cost-cutting". Semi-parody, but absolutely stunning prose, this was the first story I read by Ms. Pelland and I was so impressed that I immediately ordered her ss collection Unwelcome Bodies. Highlight of the anthology for style.

The Best Monkey by Daniel Abraham *****

Another superb story, this time about a mysterious corporation Fifth Layer which dominates quite a few branches of current tech with extraordinary inventions that are unorthodox and inelegant but work. There is talk of the Roswell theory, namely that Fifth Layer is a front for secretive aliens, so older investigative reporter Jimmy is put on the case by Herself the leader of a news organization since a senior executive of Fifth Layer was his girlfriend thirty years ago. Highlight of the anthology for idea based sf.

Long Stay by Ian Watson ***

Car "estates" and illicit parties in near future England. Well written but the subject left me cold.

A Soul Stitched to Iron by Tim Akers *****

Another fantasy like story in this sf anthology set in the city of Veridon place of Mr. Akers upcoming novel. A young dispossessed nobleman affiliated with organized crime has to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a former friend whose actions made the Council crack down on the underground. Superb world building and very good action, I am truly looking forward to the novel Heart of Veridon set for August 2009. Highlight of the anthology for storytelling.

iThink, therefore I am by Ken MacLeod ***

Future gadget iThink and human will. Short and somewhat funny, but not up to the rest of the anthology or to other author pieces like Wolf 351 in the New Space Opera anthology.

 

[WJoseph]

Axis- Robert Charles Wilson. I thought it was great (the follow up to the Hugo award-winning 'Spin')

Just ordered the classic old book 'Christianopolis.' Has anyone read it?

 

[Ropie]

I rescued a very nice little book from the local tip - Nebula Award Stories Vol. 1, essentially all the Nebula winners from 1965 minus Dune (thankfully!) It has one of the best covers I've seen for ages:

The cover relates to Brian Aldiss' The Saliva Tree (those are drooling lips for leaves) which tied Zelazny's He Who Shapes for the novella award. I read The Saliva Tree today and as expected I loved it as Aldiss can do little wrong IMO. A sort of Victorian ghost story in a SF setting, Aldiss does what he does best and creates a thoroughly strange environment of the imagination. 4 stars out of 5 **** and has put me in a good mood to read the rest of the collection.

 

[Michigan]

I am most of the way through Woken Furies by Morgan, pretty good read though I think Broken Angels is my favorite of the Kovacs books.

 

[psikeyhackr]

E-Physics from E-Books

I just found some really inexpensive books for anybody that wants to delete some of the fiction from their science fiction.

http://beta.legaltorrents.com/torrents/158-physics-textbooks

psik

 

[chitman13]

I've recently finished Predator: South China Sea by Jeff VanderMeer. I've not read anything by him before, but the blurb on the front of the book tells me he's an award winning fantasy author - you can certainly tell he's got style and experience with characters, plotting and story. I was expecting a run of the mill tie in novel with standard characters that were there only for cannon fodder, so I was very pleased with some in depth exploration of most of the main characters and a great story to go with it. I'd definitely recommend this book and wish to god that if another Predator film is ever made they take a good long look at what has been done here for pointers, it's on par with the first Predator film.

 

[suciul]

I finished Walls of the Universe by P. Melko

Walls of the Universe reads like a golden-age sf adventure tale with a plucky young protagonist, though here there are two instances of him that star in the book, but it's also a thoroughly modern novel in outlook, sensibilities and tone.

Most of the action takes place on two similar universes with our own, around Toledo, Ohio, where John (Original) Rayburn, a senior high school teen with a love of physics, a crush on beautiful cheerleader Casey Nicholson and a problem with snobbish cat-torturer, junior high schooler and all around jerk Ted Carson, meets himself, or more precisely John Prime Rayburn from a slightly diverging world and with a slightly diverging storyline at least up to him getting the device. Prime makes John an offer to try the device and see the Multiverse in all its glory without mentioning the small detail, that the transporter has a problem. It can go only upstream to higher numbered universes, Prime coming from 7433, while John being in 7533.


I enjoyed this novel much more than I expected and I highly recommend it as well as looking forward to more books by Mr. Melko who is finally coming into his own as the great talent his short fiction presaged

 

[NilsDesperandum]

I'm really stuck with Morgan's Black Man and, for the first time in ages, am wondering whether I'm going to finish a book. I'm almost half way through, yet it hasn't picked up any appreciable pace and I'm really not 'feeling' the charachters (which is always a worry). It's just sat there, virtually untouched for weeks now (I'll get through a few pages occasionally if there's really nothing else going on, but that's a sad indictment in itself isn't it). The whole thing's further exacerbated by the fact that I really enjoyed all his previous stuff!

So. Do I persevere? Does anybody who has finished the book have any comments?

ND

 

[suciul]

I finished Mind Over Ship by D. Marusek. This one I started a week or so ago and read some but then got some better books; today I had some extra reading time in the afternoon so I decided to finish this before going seriously into the superb Twelve which I expect will engross me late tonight after all the family duties are done.

Much improved sequel to the almost unreadable for me Counting Heads. Smoother writing and a more interesting though quite convoluted plot involving various factions trying to use humanity's attempt to colonize the Galaxy to further their ends.

Jargon laden and without a glossary as well as only partially involving are major flaws that detract from the enjoyment of this one. With a glossary and a timeline the book would be much improved.

Still a well imagined mid 22nd century future and some reasonably interesting characters make this one a good read, but the author would be much served by making the books having less of a "how clever I am feel"

Definitely NOT an essential sf, but readable

 

[killhus]

I just finished "Emissaries From The Dead" by Adam Troy Castro

Great book. Its sort of a scifi PI novel. Its got a very interesting world and a fast paced unpredictable plot, I recomend it.

 

[WJoseph]

I'm reading MultiReal (David Louis Edelman's follow up to 'Infoquake'). So far, it's very good. Has anyone read the first one, Infoquake, and of so, what did you think?

 

[suciul]

I'm reading MultiReal (David Louis Edelman's follow up to 'Infoquake'). So far, it's very good. Has anyone read the first one, Infoquake, and of so, what did you think?

I read Infoquake on publication in 06 and I loved it - I even had an email conversation with the author about some aspects of it - and then I looked forward to the sequel and MultiReal did not disappoint. I had an arc so I read it several months before publication in 08 and wrote a review for Robert at Fantasy Book Critic as well as including it in my notable sf of 08.

Geosynchron should be a cracker, now that more cards are on the table - though I expect to be surprised about the final destination - but sadly it will be 2010 earliest.

MultiReal is The Matrix as sold by Donald Trump

 

[Faramir Kenobi]

January has been all CJ Cherryh for me. I started out the month with Foreigner and I'm about halfway through Invader. If things continue to go well, I see no reason why Inheritor wouldn't be next up on the list, and that'll get me through the first arc. I've enjoyed these books much more than anticipated, particularly since I don't have much of a history with science fiction and I went into the series entirely based on a recommendation. I'd also read some complaints that the plot gets repetitive and too much of it happens inside a single protagonist's head. While I'd agree that the story is quite character-driven and has a strong sociological bent, I'm enjoying the political ideas and Bren's thoughts more than the action scenes and science fiction elements anyway so it's working out well.

Has anyone out there read the Faded Sun Trilogy? I've heard that it might involve more in the way of war and world-building than Foreigner, two themes that generally receive a lot of play in my favorite series, but I'd be curious to hear another review before I start hunting it down.

--Allie

 

[Glelas]

Reading The Postman by David Brin again. I don't know why.

 

[mylinar]

I am reading Mysterious Island by Jules Verne from the archives of my bookshelf. Talk about an oldie but goodie LOL. Trying to conserve money in these uncertain times my book buying has all but dried up. I need to make a few trips to the library. Now if only the weather would dry up (stop snow and icing).

 

[Winter]

I've just started reading Morgan's Market Forces. I'm not too far in, a mere fifty pages, but I am enjoying it so far.

 

[devilsadvoc8]

So far for the month: Death's Head, An Alien Light and just finished The Prefect by Reynolds.

Started The Doomsday Book yesterday.