Reading in Science Fiction, March 2021

Hobbit

Hobbit

Cat Wrangler and Reader
Staff member
Joined
Jul 16, 2001
Messages
18,616
And welcome to March!

The usual message here - it is in these strange and uncertain times that perhaps you telling us about what you've been reading in Science Fiction is important. Communication on such matters means that you may feel less alone.

Remember, good or bad, we still want to know what you think.

Mark
 
Now well into Peter Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void; couple of things that struck me:

> been too long since I read the Commonwealth saga - was really struggling to dig up / try and remember all the stuff that has gone before (Ozzie, Nigel, the Starflyer, the Burnellis…). Should have reread the saga first :-)
> had also forgotten how Hamilton likes to really take his time to set individual settings….
> but also again truly awed by the scope, intricacy and richness of Hamilton’s plots and universe

Anyway, am really enjoying myself, and in true Hamilton fashion, lots of pages still to come!
 
3386a.jpg

I just finished “Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities” which is a project by the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University and NASA. It is a collection of science fiction stories and related essays edited by Ed Finn & Joey Eschrich. These works examine the near-future of three areas: Low Earth Orbit, Mars, Asteroids, and Exoplanets.

This is a serious examination of many aspects of these topics, and the essays are well referenced. These include an interview with science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. Short excerpts from Mr. Robinson’s “Red Mars” also are featured as introductions.

One area that really stands out in this collection is the amazing artwork by Maciej Rebisz. This begins on the cover, which appropriately depicts a space station in Earth orbit, with commercial Skylon-type space planes coming into dock. Each of the science fiction stories has its own unique and excellent illustration.

This collection is both though provoking and interesting, and tends toward the positive. It’s also a free download, so there is no reason not to try it out.

https://csi.asu.edu/books/vvev/
 
Last edited:
Working on Peter Hamilton's first book of the "Salvation" series. It is not quite what I was expecting. More of a detective novel wrapped up in scifi gift wrap. Not sure how the flash forwards tie into the general story at this point. Well written, but not really a page turner (so far) for me.
 
After being pulled in various directions all last month for work, I plan on finally getting back to Allen Steele's final Coyote universe novel, Hex. Then maybe I'll try an 'oldie' and read The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt.
 
Raf said:
Working on Peter Hamilton's first book of the "Salvation" series. It is not quite what I was expecting. More of a detective novel wrapped up in scifi gift wrap. Not sure how the flash forwards tie into the general story at this point. Well written, but not really a page turner (so far) for me.
Click to expand...
It's definitely a series that is better as a whole, and it really does get better with each volume.

I'm now on Layers of Force, the 8th and final installment in Lindsay Buroker's Star Kingdom series. I really hope it sticks the landing, I'd hate to be disappointed after a solid and entertaining story so far.
 
Finished Lindsay Buroker's Layers of Force. A good and entertaining finale to the Star Kingdom series, with a surprise or two which was nice considering how I expected it to go.

Now on Unreconciled, the fourth Donovan book by W Michael Gear.
 
Finally got one of the most awaited sf novels of 2021 (earc available to purchase from baen):

Governor by D Weber and R Fox is the start of a series set in the D Weber universe of In Fury Born and detailing the rise of the imperial house of Murphy from that awesome double novel - originally the second part of In Fury Born was published as Path of the Fury in 1992 and was the first novel I read by D Weber in the early 90's which made me a fan for life and then later a prequel (and some extra material) was added to create In Fury Born which contains both.

Blurb:

For more than fifty years, the Terran Republic and the Terran League have been killing one another. The death toll has climbed ever higher, year after year, with no end in sight. But the members of the Five Hundred, the social elite of the Republic's Heart Worlds, don't care.
Their star systems are light-years from any threat of attack. Their children are sheltered from the “mandatory service” that falls so heavily on the Fringe Worlds' backs. Their trade connections with the Rishathan Sphere bring them wealth and influence. And their contracts to build ships, fighters, missiles, and all the other sinews of war have made them the wealthiest human beings in the history of the galaxy.
Rear Admiral Terrence Murphy is a Heart Worlder. His family is part of the Five Hundred. His wife is the daughter of one of the Five Hundred's wealthiest, most powerful industrialists. His sons and his daughter can easily avoid military service, and political power is his for the taking. There is no end to how high he can rise in the Republic's power structure.
All he has to do is successfully complete a risk-free military "governorship" in the backwater Fringe System of New Dublin without rocking the boat. Without dredging up any lunatic Fringe conspiracy theories. Without undercutting the Five Hundred's stranglehold on wealth and power.
But the people sending him to New Dublin have miscalculated because Terrence Murphy is a man who believes in honor. Who believes in duty—in common decency and responsibility. Who believes there are dark and dangerous secrets behind the façade of what "everyone knows."
Terrence Murphy intends to meet those responsibilities and unearth those secrets, and he doesn't much care what the Five Hundred want. He intends to put a stop to the killing. Wherever that takes him, he will go. Whatever that costs him, he will pay. And whatever that requires, he will do.
Terrence Murphy is coming for whoever has orchestrated fifty-six years of bloodshed and slaughter, and Hell itself is coming with him.
 
Hamilton's first "Salvation" book just isn't tripping any triggers for me. Set it down at about 70% read. The book is extremely well written. But I just don't seem to be able to connect with the characters. Might come back to it later.

Started re-reading David Weber's "Out of the Dark" in preparation for "Into the Light".
 
I came across Neal Stephenson's Fall in the library, and given that I enjoyed Snowcrash last year I thought I'd give this one a go. It's hefty and I'm a not a fast reader (by choice) so I'll see you in a couple of months probably :D
 
Westy said:
Wow, and you're almost there! I must admit I found some parts of it slow.
Click to expand...

Will probably finish it later. But Weber's sequel was calling to me! And I knew I wanted to re-read the 1rst novel before tackling the new one. :)
 
50209317.jpg


I read The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, the last in the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers. Three different aliens are temporarily stranded on the planet Gora, a stopping spot on the "galactic highway", where they meet the resident and her sibling (also a different alien species).

The novel is basically about them meeting, initially struggling with their differences due to physiology, language and culture, and then becoming friends before they are free to go on their way.

Like her previous novels, the approach is humane and very positive, making them a pleasant change from most of the norm. But on the other hand I found this novel almost too overly cheerful, almost childish/YA to a degree - and when I got to a chapter where they were dancing together it almost got too much!

But still on the whole enjoyable enough to read, even if it doesn't need much brainpower (people who like high concept hard SF look away). And points off for describing a tear-shaped spaceship being made for going very fast!
 
Finished Governor by D Weber and R Fox and it definitely matched my very high expectations; my Goodreads (mini) review below:

Governor is a prequel set some 400 years earlier to the standalone In Fury Born (which was also an extension of the earlier Path of the Fury), so for anyone who read that, the general picture of where the book (and the Ascent to Empire series which it opens) is known, though of course, the details are not.

With memorable characters, fewer than usual infodumps (the novel clocks at a good 450+ pages and still feels that it could have had another 2-300 and still be exciting) and an ending at a very good TBC point wrapping up a lot of the (mini) storylines inside, Governor was impossible to put down and I reread it once already since the first time I rushed through it as the pages really turned by themselves, so it will be a top book of the year for me, while the next series book a huge, huge asap.

On the downside, I would say that some of the armored marines banter seemed superfluous and I'd rather had more scenes with Eira and Callum for example or more 500 Hundred skulduggeries, or New Dublin "person in the street" perspective etc; the ftl/space war setup is also as of now less conducive to interesting actions and that made some of the space battles kind of repetitive and without too much excitement (except "are these people sane or suicidal genocidal murderers") - In Fury Born had a setup closer to the Honorverse say and much more conducive of tenseness, though the significant difference of the lack an Eridani edict convention and the consequent genocidal planetary strikes were there too.

Overall, one of the best D Weber (and collaborators) novels in recent times and the best mil space opera from him in a while, so highly recommended; would say to leave In Fury Born for after the next book or two in this series, if not yet read, but if you want to have an outline of how events will go, they are in there.
 
Went to Turks & Caicos last week to get away so got a robust hard cover from Indigo book store
Paolini's To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars.
Almost finished.. Great Nano-science, alien and world building. meh on starship design. I highly recommend it
 
51784467._SY475_.jpg


I finally got to read The Evidence by Christopher Priest (waited about 4 months for it to arrive at the library). Like other more recent books of his, it's set in The Dream Archipelago, and like most of his books, it has a regular-world feel about it as a whole, but there are metaphysical and divergent elements that makes it different.

The Evidence is about Todd Fremde, a crime fiction writer who is invited to speak at the southerly island of Dearth. He meets an unusual woman who drives him home, and on the way provides details about a past murder - that results in Todd investigating much deeper.

I'm in two minds about this novel - I loved the first third or so - the trip to bitterly cold Dearth, the strange customs of the inhabitants, and especially the gravity nodes across the island with peculiar effects on gravity, time, and electricity - expressed as "mutability".

But for much of the remainder of the story there was quite a bit of standard fair crime investigation (which I'm not a huge fan of), and I also found there were many instances of the author veering into explanations of why and how crime novels should or shouldn't work - I really wasn't that interested.

At least his prose was in his usual easy to read style, and the ending was built up well (though I thought two character's abrupt turn was a bit implausible). I was really hoping for more on Dearth, mutability and it's effects on people, but thought too much of it felt like general (crime) fiction, which I didn't enjoy as much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsors


We try to keep the forum as free of ads as possible, please consider supporting SFFWorld on Patreon


Your ad here.

Latest posts

Back
Top