Reading in Science Fiction in December 2021

[Diosces]

Now reading my favorite author, Neal Stephenson's latest Termination Shock

 

[cgw]

Read Elder Race by Tchaikovsky. I was reading along, enjoying it, and then realized it was a novella. No wonder they were moving along so fast.
My first book by him.
What is a good starting point for full length novels?

 

[pogopossum]

Through The Eye Of A Needle by Hal Clement. (1978)
Read it as the sequel to Needle, my first full SF novel, (?) years ago.
It's what now would be regarded as a YA novel, with all of the protagonists of teen age or acting like they should be. Lots of improbabilities in terms of behaviors ramped up to create action.
Alien symbiote (Clement, in a forward, comments that he coined the word in the original novel, not realizing that the correct term was symbiont) now needs to reconnect with his people as things are not going well on Earth. Cannot recommend the book as other than a blast from the past. It was nice that an alien invasion was only of interest to a bunch of young adults and a few supportive older relatives. Those were simpler times.

 

[Prairie_Dog]

Read Elder Race by Tchaikovsky. I was reading along, enjoying it, and then realized it was a novella. No wonder they were moving along so fast.
My first book by him.
What is a good starting point for full length novels?

Children of Time is an award winning full novel by Tchaikovsky. Most people around here seemed to like it.

 

[dannymcg]

Children of Time is an award winning full novel by Tchaikovsky. Most people around here seemed to like it.

I was like "ffs, stop messing about, stupid pesky humans, just get to the planet and land properly!"

 

[Hobbit]

I was like "ffs, stop messing about, stupid pesky humans, just get to the planet and land properly!"

Is it a good thing when you are rooting more for alien spiders than humans?

 

[AtramentousFlux]

Pesky Assiti Shard transposes a modern cruise liner into the Mediterranean just after the death of Alexander the Great. Just started this one, but fun so far. As usual with this series, people are remarkably adaptable, especially in terms of smart people in the past being able to quickly get a handle on miraculous technology from the future, but that's fine.

 

[Raf]

Pesky Assiti Shard transposes a modern cruise liner into the Mediterranean just after the death of Alexander the Great. Just started this one, but fun so far. As usual with this series, people are remarkably adaptable, especially in terms of smart people in the past being able to quickly get a handle on miraculous technology from the future, but that's fine.

That looks really interesting.

 

[Westy]

I read The Pastel City, the first book in the Viriconium series by M. John Harrison. It's set in a future in which the Earth has almost been destroyed, and a medieval-type of culture arises.

This has been on my list for a while, and the first thing that hit me was the writing - dense, descriptive and dark, with a wide vocabulary - enjoyable to read, but required some concentration. I can easily see the influence is had on authors like China Mieville. An example below:

"In the water thickets, the path wound tortuously between umber iron bogs, albescent quicksands of aluminium and magnesium oxides, and sumps of cuprous blue or permanganate mauve fed by slow, gelid streams and fringed by silver reeds and tall black grasses. The twisted, smooth-barked boles of the trees were yellow-ochre and burnt orange; through their tightly woven foliage filtered a gloomy, tinted light. At their roots grew great clumps of multifaceted translucent crystal like alien fungi."

The other thing was that, even though the characters and setting felt like traditional fantasy, their actions and the plot made it feel very unorthodox, something I believe the author was trying to do, to be almost anti-Tolkien.

On the whole I like it, though it was fairly slow paced; to some degree it felt like much of the action was replaced by descriptions of the characters and the places, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

 

[Prairie_Dog]

Looks like the last book I’ll finish in 2021 will be Project Hail Mary the amazing third novel by Andy Wier. It’s won a Dragon Award, and the Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction.

The premise involves junior high science teacher Ryland Grace, who gets caught up in Project Hail Mary. This is a last ditch worldwide effort to save humanity from extinction due to sudden unexpected changes to our sun. The answer to this problem seems to lie in the Tau Ceti system, and an incredible effort to launch an interstellar mission is undertaken.

There are two narratives, the current situation experienced by Grace, and his memory flashbacks which tell the backstory of the project. The narrative is just packed with science and engineering as Grace tries to figure out problem after problem which he encounters. However, I didn’t find this too difficult to understand, as Mr. Wier does a good job of explaining what is involved. It’s mostly a hard SF novel, with only a few things that one must suspend disbelief to accept.

Definitely a great book, and one I’d absolutely recommend. It’s being adapted to film already by Ryan Gosling who plans to play the role of Ryland Grace. Should make an interesting movie…

 

[Ropie]

It’s being adapted to film already by Ryan Gosling who plans to play the role of Ryland Grace.

Ry(an)land G(osling)race... mmmm. Seems to be tailor made

Does sound like a good book though! I've added it to my wish list.