Reading Archive: 2011
December
3 Stars to Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
Description
Friday is a secret courier. She is employed by a man known to her only as "Boss." Operating from and over a near-future Earth, in which North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent states, where culture has become bizarrely vulgarized and chaos is the happy norm, she finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at Boss' seemingly whimsical behest. From New Zealand to Canada, from one to another of the new states of America's disunion, she keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions to one calamity and scrape after another.
Review
There was such a difference in style between Heinlein's earlier and later works that without a chronology to hand it's very difficult to know quite what you're going to get. I enjoyed this one as an adventure story, and of course there are links to two of my favourite Heinlein works (Gulf, a story from Asignment In Eternity, and The puppet Masters. I often find myself wondering just why his female characters are so willful sometimes, and occasionally in this book particularly I wondered where it was all heading. The climax seemed to rush up at you and go boo, but still worth reading if you're a Heinlein fan.
5 Stars to The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2) by Patrick Rothfuss
Description
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me. So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view — a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man's Fear, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road. All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, is forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived ... until Kvothe. In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.
Review
"So yes. It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because.That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect." Over 2 months have gone by since I read this book, and so I can't honestly review it with the level of dedication and accuracy I would wish. TO do that I'd have to read it again, which may happen one day. All I can honestly say is that the gripes of the first book are mostly gone: there's a great deal less "you can't imagine/understand" etc, the intercuts are much less damaging to the story overall, and I ended the book feeling quite solemn and curious as to Kvothe's future. There is, of course, some discord, and in this case its Felurian. I felt the Fae incident was overlong and ill-fitting to the story as a whole. Nonetheless, a single gripe in almost a thousand pages is hardly anything to worry about. This one comes highly recommended.
November
3 Stars to The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
Description
First came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed. Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the U.S. government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting back. Then four more follow up agents also disappeared. So the head of the agency and his two top agents went in and managed to get out with their discovery: an invasion is underway by slug-like aliens who can touch a human and completely control his or her mind. What the humans know, they know. What the slugs want, no matter what, the human will do. And most of Iowa is already under their control. Sam Cavanaugh was one of the agents who discovered the truth. Unfortunately, that was just before he was taken over by one of the aliens and began working for the invaders, with no will of his own. And he has just learned that a high official in the Treasury Department is now under control of the aliens. Since the Treasury Department includes the Secret Service, which safeguards the President of the United States, control of the entire nation is near at hand.
Review
a fairly gripping read, I enjoy a lot of the agent stuff and couple it with some decent sci-fi and I'm away. Of particular note was the method of communication - i.e. line-of-site seemed to be necessary for television-style broadcasts to the public in this period. An almost pivotal plot point, too. Room for a sequel - I don't think Heinlein ever did one though. Nothing special, but an enjoyable story with the usual Heinlein attention to detail.
October
5 Stars to The Dying Light by Henry Porter
Description
At the funeral of David Eyam, one of the brightest government servants of his generation, corporate leaders, ministers and intelligence chiefs gather to pay their respects. But Eyam has left a devastating legacy, and certain members of the congregation are desperate to suppress it.
Review
"He killed himself, you know, and that leaves the average emotionally retarded Brit rather stuck for things to chat about at a funeral." This book didn't grip me from the outset, rather it wormed its way into my thoughts at odd times. There's something quintessentially British about it - something of Le Carréor Deighton, and that compels me to carry on reading it without any of the clinging nature or dashing, headlong pace of a work by an American. the story is powerful and worryingly so and like all good stories it makes you think.
0 Stars to Wizard's Bane (Wiz, #1) by Rick Cook
Description
What "Wiz" Zumalt could do with computers was magic on Earth. Then, one day the master computer hacker is called to a different world to help fight an evil known as the "Black League." Suddenly, the "Wiz" finds himself in a place governed by magic--and in league with a red-headed witch who despises him. Original.
Review
No content provided.
September
3 Stars to The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P. Hogan
Description
Midway through the 21st century, an integrated global computer network manages much of the world's affairs. A proposed major software upgrade - an artificial intelligence - will give the system an unprecedented degree of independent decision-making, but serious questions are raised in regard to how much control can safely be given to a non-human intelligence. In order to more fully assess the system, a new space-station habitat - a world in miniature - is developed for deployment of the fully operational system, named Spartacus. This mini-world can then be "attacked" in a series of escalating tests to assess the system's responses and capabilities. If Spartacus gets out of hand, the system can be shut down and the station destroyed... unless Spartacus decides to take matters into its own hands and take the fight to Earth.
Review
"HESPER machines were learning machines, designed to be capable of identifying connections between previously nonrelated factors in order to solve new problems or to solve old ones in newer and better ways." This sounds great, until the machines in question decide that using conventional earth-moving equipment to shift an obstruction is an outdated fashion and dropping bombs on the area is a quicker way of getting the job done, as the opening of this book shows. The operator said "absolute best possible" to the priority request and "No, just get rid of it!" when asked if there were any constraints. HESPER (Heuristic Self Programming Routine) computers were supposed to learn, but not to cross-connect - so in theory, the machine responsible for managing obstructions shouldn't have access to the bombs... "If they've been putting a potential lunatic in charge of the planet, they want to know about it and quick." So something needs to be done. The current computers are going a bit bonkers, but will the new ones they're working on be any better? The current iteration of the technology says no - the computer isn't smart enough to fry an egg (litterally). so, this story shows a model scenario where a smart computer is allowed to run a planet, on a microcosmic scale, then attacked to see just how dangerous it can be. "When you buy a house, you know you may have to spend money to repair it one day. You don't go live in a tree instead in order to avoid the risk. You accept the risk because the benefits outweigh it." Of course people have to live with this computer, just to make the experience authentic, which is quite a scary thought given the way the first bombs fell. It is a neat idea to play with, and Hogan takes good advantage of it in many ways. I feel a bit of a curmudgeon, always pointing out flaws in these books; who am I to critique? But then again I may decide to reread one day and want to know what annoyed me, so... Ron, as a character, somewhat annoyed me. He's supposed to be working on this stuff and yet he has the attention span and temper of a two-year-old denied a chocolate bar. His surname is Stokes and he sure gets Stoked, which seemed quite discordant given the general theme of the book. Secondly, the whole angle of planning to attack the computer seems a little silly when the Humans have given the computer the intelligence to adapt, the facilities to make vehicles, weapons and almost anything else it needs, then to place cameras all over the Human habitat. The point is to make things speed up - see if the computer will retaliate now with provocation rather than having it run the planet for a decade to find it slowly going mad - but it's almost so deliberate it's overdone. And finally, the ending, though neat and tidy, sort of got around the edges of the problem without giving much of a concrete solution. Sort of a Deus ex computer program approach, really, which detracted. Still, there were some great bits (the whole sixteenth chapter was very good), and if it's in your field, I'd recommend it just for completeness.
2 Stars to Code to Zero by Ken Follett
Description
A man wakes up to find himself lying on the ground in a railway station, his mind stripped bare of all recollection. He has no idea how he got there; he does not even know his own name. Convinced he is a drunken down and out, it isn’t until a newspaper report about a satellite launch catches his eye that he suspects all is not what it seems… The year is 1958, and America is about to launch its first satellite in a desperate attempt to match the Soviet Sputnik and regain the lead in the space race. As Luke Lucas gradually unravels the mystery of his amnesia, he realizes that his fate is bound up with that of the rocket that stands ready on launch pad 26B at Cape Canaveral. And as he relearns the story of his life, he uncovers long-kept secrets about his wife, his best friend and the woman he once loved more than life itself… Code to Zero deals with one of the most ruthlessly contested arenas of the Cold War. Deceit and betrayal, love and trust interweave at the most political and personal levels, while the spectre of mind-control hovers constantly above. Each second brings destruction closer…
Review
"We lie more to our loved ones, because we care about them so damn much. Why do you think we tell the truth to priests, and shrinks, and total strangers we meet on trains? It's because we don't love them, so we don't care what they think." This was recommended to me as a good read and I'll admit the start, and indeed the whole idea, is a gripping one. Luke's race to solve his personal mystery could have been engaging and the space race is fascinating material with which to work. The trouble is, and I say this as a person who rarely tweaks to the TV whodoneit or your average mystery novel, the end is so obvious you might as well just not bother reading it. The implication is that Luke is a Soviet agent, which we of course know to be balderdash in pretty short order: the plain-as-day guilt trips of the actual saboteurs render any pretence of mystery null and void. I did like the scene where Luke's driving through Georgetown and Nosy Rosie Sims is threatening to call the cops on him. The flashbacks to the nineteen forties could have worked well, but even there, the history came too early for the future effects to have any impact - the sex between Luke and billie laid the groundwork for the abortion, their first meeting pretty much trashed Elspeth and Luke's relationship, just to name a few instances. I recently reread The Bourne Identity, where repetition was used to great effect; mantra-like, for the amnesiac. Here, things are repeated (Pete's prostitution offence, Harry's contempt for women) with no appreciable gain - in fact, it smacked of sloppy editing to me, the book simply isn't long enough to warrant it. To conclude, then; the story had potential. The dating is done wwell; the mores of the referenced periods and location especially as regards sex and race are particularly well executed, given that the novel was published in 2000. However, the sloppiness of the repetition and the sheer transparency of the plot ruined this for me somewhat, so much so that I wondered if it were a young adult book in places.
3 Stars to Until Relieved (The Lucky 13th, #1) by Rick Shelley
Description
When a terrible war in which the Accord of Free Worlds has remained neutral escalates out of control, forcing them to fight or die, the 13th Spaceborne, an elite fighting force, is directed to protect their people. Reissue.
Review
As the only other material of Shelley's I've read is the Dirigent Mercenary Corps series, the first thing to leap at me in this one was the shifting viewpoint. We follow wasps in the air, infantry on the ground, Havoc's (self-propelled artillery),and occasionally views from the C&C tent on the ground. the DMC books progressed us through the ranks with one focal character (we saw Lon through Officer Cadet to Colonel). Until the latter part of the book it took me a while to get into the spirit of the shifting viewpoint. I enjoyed the military stuff per usual, but sadly the interlude by the enemy commander and the extremely rushed ending means that I doubt the other books of this series will interest me as rapidly as they might have.
3 Stars to Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Description
Jason Taverner woke up one morning to find himself completely unknown. The night before he had been the top-rated television star with millions of devoted watchers. The next day he was just an unidentified walking object, whose face nobody recognised, of whom no one had heard, and without the I.D. papers required in that near future. When he finally found a man who would agree to counterfeiting such cards for him, that man turned out to be a police informer. And then Taverner found out not only what it was like to be a nobody but also to be hunted by the whole apparatus of society. It was obvious that in some way Taverner had become the pea in in some sort of cosmic shell game—but how? And why? Philip K. Dick takes the reader on a walking tour of solipsism's scariest margin in his latest novel about the age we are already half into.
Review
I'd read this before, but it's seminal and worth rereading, insofar as PKD is concerned. I find many of his short stories easier to digest than his novels, for with length comes psychotropic aside, which puts me off somewhat. The story; a man waking up after a murder attempt in a world where no-one recognises him and no records of his previous life exists, is thrilling, but the exposé-style nature of everyone's psyche and the interminable digressions on philosophy and sanity takes this out of any mundane realm and into a league worthy of higher contemplation.
2 Stars to Nerd in Shining Armor (Nerd, #1) by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Description
For Genevieve Terrence it seemed like a dream come true: a weekend alone on Maui with her sexy boss, Nick Brogan. But little did she know that Nick had dreams of his own--a nefarious scheme that nearly got her killed on the flight over the Pacific. Lucky for her, brilliant computer programmer Jack Farley was on board and quick-witted enough to crash-land the plane. Now Jack is her sole companion on a remote desert island with nothing but guava trees and sharks for company. Who’d expect the shy genius--and the least alpha male she knows--to turn out to be the uninhibited stud of her wildest dreams? Saving Genevieve’s life has made Jack a hero in the eyes of the woman he has secretly lusted after for months. Now they’re alone together in a tropical eden where they’re free to give in to their every sensual whim. But when some nasty unfinished business puts them at risk again, Gen will learn there’s nothing quite as dangerous as a fully aroused ex-nerd who’ll move heaven and earth to protect the woman he loves…
Review
I added this book to my "to read" shelf with the belief that it may be some sort of Rick Cook-like thing with perhaps a touch more romance, but focusing on the computer geekery rather than the lovey dovey. I think the safest thing to say about this book is that I was wrong. Not just wrong but never mind wrong - totally, utterly and undeniably, positively incorrect. So, it's smutty. Contrived, utterly unbelievable. I felt unmanned by members the size of battleships. Yet it was strangely alluring and I'm horrified to say that, the sneak peak of her next work I saw (well it was at the back of this one, you see) made me go HMM.
2 Stars to Wolfsangel (The Wolfsangel Cycle #1) by M.D. Lachlan
Description
The Viking King Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy. A prophecy that tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the Gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory. But Athun discovers not one child, but twin baby boys. Ensuring that his faithful warriors, witness to what has happened, die during the raid Authun takes the children and their mother home, back to the witches who live on the troll wall. And he places his destiny in their hands. And so begins a stunning multi-volume fantasy epic that will take a werewolf from his beginnings as the heir to a brutal viking king, down through the ages. It is a journey that will see him hunt for his lost love through centuries and lives, and see the endless battle between the wolf, Odin and Loki - the eternal trickster - spill over into countless bloody conflicts from our history, and over into our lives. This is the myth of the werewolf as it has never been told before and marks the beginning of an extraordinary new fantasy series from Gollancz.
Review
"There were gaps in their shield wall and a couple of spears pointed at the moon. They would have been better advised to direct their tips to the invaders, because the moon wasn’t going to cut off their heads." The only other work I've read recently dealing with Vikings was Harry Harrison's very enjoyable trilogy. I read a very favourable review of this, and the quote from ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN prefacing the book gave me reason to carry on. I enjoyed it as a story, but I think my enjoyment was limited. Far too much myth and magic and not enough atmosphere, I think. "Come back, you cowards!" he screamed. "I am one and you are twenty. Are the odds not enough in your favour?" Characterisation wasn't too bad, but Vali's transformation utterly Dehumanised him. Intentionally or no, that bled through in the language, too. I'm glad I read it, but probably won't read anything else by this author unless it's on a widely different subject.
August
4 Stars to The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss
Description
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
Review
"'Ye Gods,' Elodin sighed, disgusted. 'A bootlicker too. You lack the requisite spine and testicular fortitude to study under me.'" Many people, including Michael (my infallible source of amazing epic choices of books) have been telling me that this is a very good book. Circumstances conspired to make me wait, and with the hype dampened, I felt it an appropriate time to pick this up. I'm glad I decided eventually to read it, because it's turned out to be everything everyone promised. "'If a girl as fair as that looked at me with one eye the way she looked at you with two . . . We'd have a room by now, to say it carefully.'" I started the book and was a little surprised not to be fully engrossed. The Scrale caught my interest, and there was evidently more to our illustrious many-named innkeeper than met the eye, but other than that, things seemed slow and fairly pedestrian. It was at the start of chapter 8, of course - the real start of Kvothe's story - that I really began to get into this book. "Her expression brightened, as if someone had lit a candle inside her and she was glowing from its light." I'll be the first to admit that there's a lot I didn't like about this book. Some of the chapters were insanely short - hardly worth the pagebreaks, I thought once. The jerks between telling the story at the Waystone and being swept up in the narrative were often jarring, and though this is perhaps intentional, it unsettled me so much that I would use them as places to put down the book and go and make a cup of tea. Thirdly, there's lots of things you can't, or won't, or don't understand, according to Rothfuss. The size of a large city which you "cannot understand if you haven't seen it", that you don't "really understand the ocean", you can't "really understand how embarrassing it is " to be poor. You "may understand how my mind felt", you "won't understand why this was so easy" - the list goes on. It goes on so much that, I found myself stopping and thinking 'Well aren't you telling the damn story? It's your job to make us understand, isnt it?' "I wish I were as brave and young as you." Still, for all that, something compelled me to read on. The story itself isn't overtly impressive, though Kvothe is a raconteur of the highest order and very easy to like. I've seen this book compared with works of J. K. Rowling and Robin Hobb, both of whom I've read and greatly enjoyed. There are many elements of the Bildungsroman in Kvothe's story, too, which increases its accessibility. "I slung the travelsack over my shoulder and cinched it tight across my back. Then I thumbed on my sympathy lamp, picked up the hatchet, and began to run. I had a dragon to kill." I said not overtly impressive, and the t therein was placed intentionally. I think the appeal of this epic, for me, is in the subliminal. I say this because though the story is OK and the characters are INTERESTING and the magic is CURIOUS and the history PROVOKING, by themselves they're just parts of a story. The thing that ties them all up together is the language. And, of course, lacking Rothfuss' skill, I can't impart much more than that. There's... a poetry. a meter to things. A cadence, if you will - the words, the very sentences at times seem to flow like water, and when you read the next, you sort of feel that it was inevitable that it be what it was because nothing else makes sense, because nothing else would simply fall into place. Imagery, I suppose you can call it. Sir Savien, The Depiction of Kvothe's opus at the Eolian is one such place that sticks in my mind, as I flip back through the book. I read it in a noisy environment without the time and dedication a good book deserves and yet I came away moved. Similarly, the few pages with the horse Keth-Selhan jumped at me as holding a great milieu. So I suppose it's fair to say that despite my reservations, I still had places where I couldn't put this book down. It was truly excellent, in places, and I'll be looking forward to the next one - though not straight away. Some time to digest is certainly on the cards.
5 Stars to Blind Man's Bluff (Star Trek: New Frontier, #18) by Peter David
Description
Captain MacKenzie Calhoun has faced incredible odds before, but nothing he has ever experienced could prepare him for the simultaneous threats from two of the most destructive forces he’s ever encountered. The first is the D’myurj—a mysterious and powerful alien race bent on either the complete domination of humanity or its destruction . . . a potentially massive risk to the very foundations of Starfleet, one that goes so deep it’s impossible to determine whom to trust. The second is even more alarming: Morgan Primus, once a living creature with a soul and a conscience, now an incredibly sophisticated computer simulation taking up residence within the very core of the U.S.S. Excalibur . . . and quickly becoming a growing menace for the Federation. MacKenzie Calhoun is playing a dangerous game as he attempts to outwit and outmaneuver these new enemies, with the fate of the Excalibur crew members and potentially the lives of billions at stake. . . .
Review
"'You'd rather not.' 'No.' 'Well then, I am now ordering you to tell me.' 'Then I'm afraid we're at an impasse, Admiral.'" The opening chapter of this book is one of the best things I've read in ages. You do have to know about the world for it to make sense, but for one coming to the New Frontier after a hiatus of twenty months without any recap it is a phenomenal read. "He had kept his arm extended and away from him so that he didn't chance landing on his own sword, since that would certainly be an ignominious way to end a storied career." The pithy talk throughout keeps this in David's familiar tones, and even though I'm a little behind on my Relaunch reading, I got enough of the background to follow what was going on. A continuation of the series one-hundred per cent worth reading.
3 Stars to Subjugation (Subjugation, #1) by James Galloway
Description
The Faey, an alien telepathic race, has taken control of Earth and are using it as a farming colony for their empire. Jason is a college student learning faey technology, but is upset with the faey and their treatment of Earth. Jason meets a fiery red head name Jyslin, who takes a fancy to him and will not take no for an answer. There is a problem though: Jyslin is a Faey Imperial Marine. And, marines are not easily deterred... Never published but can be found online, absolutely for free, on the author's website (http://forums.sennadar.com). Or download from http://www.weavespinner.net/worlds_of...
Review
As a story, this works well. Earth is taken over by a technologically superior extraterrestrial species, with telepathic abilities to prevent any insurrection. Needless to say there's a Human hero fighting the good fight. His efforts at thwarting the Subjugation are the meat of the work, and for the technology enthusiast, the discussion of plasma weaponry, spaceship propulsion and seeing blue-skinned aliens getting their asses kicked is quite fun. This is, though, a self-published work, and free, to boot. I always hate to criticize works I didn't have to pay for, so for the record, I really did quite enjoy this, and it did keep me to the end. There are quite a few grammatical issues, though. "Good fuck" appears only three times, but even that taxes ones sensibilities somewhat. "Pussy" appears no less than thirteen times and there are over thirty-five occurrences of "blew out". The chapters are very long, which isn't a problem if the structure of the narrative works with such lengths but that doesn't always happen here, and information is repeated several times over, lengthening the work with no appreciable gain. Grumbles aside - and let's be honest, I'm nitpicking here - this is a fascinating story and told in an exciting enough way to keep one reading, if you can stomach it. There's a lot of similarity between all the female characters, a lot of repetition, and a strange and pervading fascination with foxes (Vulpes, I mean, not simply the titular character), and flying. This book almost reads like a geeky teenagers daydream - aliens attacking earth, techy issues saving the day etc. It isn't quite that shalow, mind you - but I suppose it's easy to see flaws when a book jars me. So, it's worth a look at least, if you're remotely interested. I seem to have come over far too negative here, but this is a very personal opinion. I enjoyed the story for what it was, and the characters (or at least those that stood out without borrowing characteristics from every other person portrayed) were well done and fun to read about.
July
4 Stars to The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma
Description
This rollicking page-turner with a cast of real and imagined literary characters and cunning intertwined plots stars a skeptical H.G. Wells as a time-traveling investigator. Characters real and imaginary come vividly to life in this whimsical triple play of intertwined plots, in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence. What happens if we change history?
Review
"That is why I need you to take into account the elasticity of time, its ability to expand or contract like an accordion regardless of clocks. I am sure this is something you will have experienced frequently in your own lives, depending on which side of the bathroom door you found yourselves." This gem of a novel, found through a monthly Goodreads newsletter, is certainly something very different. I'm in admiration of the language - Victorian England is perfectly captured, even to the point of amazingly torrid language. "Here you are. You can shoot yourself as many times as you like now." The humour is understated but present, and though some of the commentary isn't to my taste, it all fits remarkably well into the Mise en scène of the work. "They also had whiskey, that marvelous drink that would fire up their courage, or at least turn the prospect of being eaten by an elephantine monster into a relatively minor nuisance. What more did they need?" As to the story, it does get off to something of a slow start. Not in detail, but as things wind down, one is left wondering precisely why the first two parts were so exacting in their detail. I appreciated this for the richness of the environs, but at times, the story - or at least the purpose of the plot - was little enhanced by the flowery but punctiliously executed milieu of the age. "There is little more I can add short of dissecting the man, or going into intimate details such as the modest proportions and slight southeasterly curvature of his manhood." H. G. Wells is very prominent in the story - one doesn't quite click how pivotal until the end. It was interesting, seeing a modernly-written science fiction story hark back to those days and, quite truthfully, doing it remarkably well. "not only did the basket bring good fortune and boost his self-confidence, not only did it embody the spirit of personal triumph by evoking the extraordinary person who had made it, it was also just a basket." The thing that astonished me most about this story was it's literary capacity. It's really not what you come to expect from a hard science fiction novel. I've never seen a book that keeps you zinging between the existence of time travel or not and yet evoking such powerful imagery and utilising such loquaciously precise language at the same time. So, worth reading, especially if you enjoy that sort of thing.
3 Stars to A Gentleman's Game (Queen & Country, #1) by Greg Rucka
Description
Tara Chace may be the most dangerous woman alive. She can seduce you into believing she’s the woman of your dreams—or kill you with the icy efficiency of an executioner. As the new head of Special Operations for British Intelligence, she no longer has to court death in the field—she wants to. Throw away the old rules, the old school, the old-boy network. The world of international espionage is about to learn the hard way that spying is no longer merely… A Gentleman's Game Greg Rucka’s electrifying thrillers have pushed the boundaries of suspense fiction to where few have dared to go. Now, in A Gentleman’s Game , one of the genre’s most fearless writers brings readers of international espionage his most fearless heroine a no-holds-barred woman who’s as lethal as an assassin’s bullet. When an unthinkable act of terror devastates London, nothing will stop Tara Chace from hunting down those responsible. Her job is stop the terrorists before they strike a second time. To succeed, she’ll do anything and everything it takes. She’ll have to kill again. Only this time the personal stakes will be higher than ever before. For the terrorist counterstrike will require that Tara allow herself to be used as bait by the government she serves. This time she’s turning her very life into a weapon that can be used only once. But as she and her former mentor race toward destiny at a remote terrorist training camp in Saudi Arabia, Tara begins to question just who’s pulling the trigger—and who’s the real enemy. In this new kind of war, betrayal can take any form...including one’s duty to queen and country. Based on the graphic novel series that won the coveted Eisner Award, A Gentleman’s Game is an electrifyingly realistic, headline-stealing thriller with an unforgettable protagonist—one who redefines every rule she doesn’t shatter.
Review
I quite enjoyed this thriller; especially when it turned from your average, run-of-the-mill espionage story in foreign parts to a thrilling UK-based manhunt. Or womanhunt, I suppose - Tara is the lead and yep, she's sure a she. My only issue with further stories, which I think there are, is that were I in Tara's shoes, it'd take something pretty damn big to have me come back to work after her government planned to - well, you either know, or will, so I'll stop that thought right there. I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat much, but this is certainly a worthy opening instalment.
3 Stars to The Twisted Window by Lois Duncan
Description
Tracy, a high school junior, becomes embroiled in the problems of a strange boy, who asks her assistance in "snatching" his half-sister from her father who has allegedly kidnapped her.
Review
It was my good friend Monica who instilled the virtues of Lois Duncan to me, and yet I haven't reread a title of hers since I joined Goodreads. This isn't my favourite, though it cracks on at a pace such that as a teen I didn't feel it dragging. The title works as a description of the psychological issues involved, and overall it's a sad yet strangely rewarding story.
June
2 Stars to Mutineer (Kris Longknife, #1) by Mike Shepherd
Description
Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege, born to money and power. Her father is the Prime Minister of her home planet. Her mother the consummate politician's wife. She's been raised only to be beautiful and marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris's blood-and, against her parents' objections, she enlists in the marines.
Review
A little short and very thin on grey areas, but a diverting read for a little while.
4 Stars to Robopocalypse (Robopocalypse, #1) by Daniel H. Wilson
Description
In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans—a single mother disconcerted by her daughter's menacing "smart" toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a "pacification unit" go haywire—but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late. When the Robot War ignites—at a moment known later as Zero Hour—humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us ... and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.
Review
As a Techno thriller, this works very well indeed. It has overtones of The Terminator, coupled with a [authorr:Daniel Suarez]-like AI movement. "you will know that humanity carried the flame of knowledge into the terrible blackness of the unknown, to the very brink of annihilation. And we carried it back." The Humanity comes out well here, though, the people are very well painted indeed. Each chapter follows a different person or group, and the differing viewpoints drive home the impact of the Robopocalypse all the harder. "There will be one casualty. He will soon be followed by the rest of humanity."" Archos, the deadly AI, is quite spooky, and that just at the beginning. It does seem that, if an AI were to appear today, a slip-up in a lab could well be the catalyst to unforetold consequences. "I can only give you words. Nothing fancy. But this will have to do." Well written and cracking on at a thundering pace, this is certainly worth a read. Only its brevity turns it more into a modern zombie story than a true techy mech epic.
5 Stars to Watching the Clock (Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations #1) by Christopher L. Bennett
Description
There’s likely no more of a thankless job in the Federation than temporal investigation. While starship explorers get to live the human adventure of traveling to other times and realities, it’s up to the dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations to deal with the consequences to the timestream that the rest of the Galaxy has to live with day by day. But when history as we know it could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, only the most disciplined, obsessive, and unimaginative government employees have what it takes to face the existential uncertainty of it all on a daily basis . . . and still stay sane enough to complete their assignments. That’s where Agents Lucsly and Dulmur come in—stalwart and unflappable, these men are the Federation’s unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. Together with their colleagues in the DTI—and with the help and sometimes hindrance of Starfleet’s finest—they do what they can to keep the timestream, or at least the paperwork, as neat and orderly as they are. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history-spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to stop those who wish to rewrite the past for their own advantage, and to keep the present and the future from devolving into the kind of chaos they really, really hate.
Review
"'So was it altruism or fear? 'It can be both. People are complicated.' 'Hm,That's the problem with them.'" I bought this on a whim, figuring a story out of the flow of any of the television series' or novel arcs would be different enough to warrant spending £5. Bennett has nailed characterisation superbly, and the fact that many of the characters aren't ones with which we are overly familiar means he's got an open canvas - and boy, does it show. "a force of negative entropy acting on a holistic level could explain the mystery of macrorealm convergence." The treknobabble (or should that be tempobabble?)is profuse, and although the protagonists are from the DTI (department of Temporal Investigations) and the majority of the happenings take place in 2381, there's quite a collection of other temporal agencies and authorities scattered throughout - some of which are mentioned onscreen, many more springing up relaunch. Keeping on top of all of these can be a stretch if you're not versed in the field, but even that doesn't detract from the story, simply adds a layer of richness thereto. The author says "Effectively every Star Trek episode and film pertaining to time travel is at least obliquely alluded to". I'm sure I didn't get them all, but the level of detail is admirable here, a novel painstakingly researched. That really comes through, and the list of acknowledgements and further reading is enough to make your head spin. Overall, the story is well told, fascinatingly chronologized and a hard one to put down. I don't know if it's blazing a trail for further DTI stories, they'd work, I think. If not, this is worth reading just for the insight into a side of Starfleet not often seen. One thing worth noting, my Kindle version was littered with malformed HTML and CSS. Only a little here and there, but it was enough to irritate me. Furthermore, I'd have appreciated better navigation - but EPub is spoiling me. A critique on the format and publisher more than the author.
4 Stars to Avatar: Book Two of Two (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Avatar, #2) by S.D. Perry
Description
A new era begins in the annals of Deep Space Nine...As the story begun in Book One continues, the Federation prepares to launch a counterstrike against the Dominion. Searching for a way to prevent another galactic holocaust, Colonel Kira is forced to make a choice between being true to her faith and being true to her loyalties. Meanwhile, as the combined crews of Deep Space Nine and the USS Enterprise struggle to stop a treacherous plot from destroying both the station and the ship, the shocking truth behind a disturbing prophecy and a grisly murder is revealed. Dark secrets, divided allegiances, treachery and, ultimately, hope - AVATAR is Deep Space Nine at its multi-layered best.
Review
I'm glad I carried on with this, for although the first book got things off to a slow start this did pick up the pace well. There are a lot of new characters, of course, and I don't know how much backstory to any of them there is - I could do with some sort of chronological list of these books really: i'm sure Wikipedia or Memory Beta has one somewhere. Still, yes: an improvement on Voyager's relaunch direction, I feel, worth reading more of.
3 Stars to Avatar: Book One of Two (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) by S.D. Perry
Description
RETURN TO THE EDGE OF THE FINAL FRONTIER. As the Federation prepares to launch a counterstrike against the Dominion, Colonel Kira Nerys searches for a way to prevent another galactic holocaust. But when a newly discovered prophecy propels Jake Sisko on an impossible quest and threatens to plunge all of Bajor into chaos, Kira is forced to choose between being true to her faith... and being true to herself. Meanwhile, as the combined crews of Deep Space 9 and the Starship Enterprise struggle to stop a terrorist plot to destroy the station and the ship, lives change, new friendships are forged, and the shocking truth behind a grisly murder is revealed. THE ASTONISHING RENEWAL OF THE EPIC ADVENTURE.
Review
I enjoyed this book, though were it the first part of a teleplay I think it would be a little too muted in scope to be overly successful. Still, things are setup well for a concluding part which I can only assume will pick up the pace. I somehow "dig" the DS9 relaunch series a little more than Voyager. I suppose Voyager was always about the crew, as well as the ship - whereas DS9, though of course very character-driven, is more about Bajor and the surrounds first and foremost. The interactions of the people on the station and around it keep things moving, and at least here, (being the first post-TV DS9 book I've read), you don't see the departed as a gaping hole. The combat and action was well paced, the political machinations of the Vedek assembly brief but well done, and I think one of the things that stood out well was the interaction between Quark and Ro Laren, which of course is a hard act to follow after Odo. To sum: enjoyable, but slow. Putting much in play for later, though.
3 Stars to Fall of Knight (Modern Arthur, #3) by Peter David
Description
When Gwen DeVere Queen miraculously survives an assassination attempt, Arthur Penn is forced to reveal his true identity as King Arthur and the existence of the Holy Grail, but when he is flooded by desperate requests for healing, he bottles the water from the Grail, unknowingly tainting the purpose of this holy cup's existence. Reprint.
Review
"I don't see how Gwen and I can, in good conscience, spend the rest of our lives carefree if it means that Ron's buttocks will become transformed into a lawn." I think, when dealing with this sort of mythical character in a modern age, there's always the question of what to do with your mythological beings when your story is told. In this case, I liked the ending, and think this is as neat a tie-up to a light series of this sort as you could ask for. The humour is still there though not as sharp as some of the later stories David's written, but these are great little reads to while away some sleepless nights with.
2 Stars to The Checkout Girl: My Life on the Supermarket Conveyor Belt by Tazeen Ahmad
Description
How much do you know about what really goes on at your local supermarket? We see them every week and they are privy to some of our most intimate secrets - those we wouldn't even share with our closest friends. To us they are the anonymous helpers for whom nothing is too much trouble. But for them, every customer has a part in a gripping soap-opera of lovers' tiffs, family feuds and extraordinary innuendos - turning the daily life of a checkout girl into a hilariously entertaining farce. As we began to contend with the recession, Tazeen Ahmad realised that the supermarket checkout was the perfect place to gauge how the nation was coping with increasing job cuts, sky-high food prices and a billion pound hole in our economy. The answer, it turns out, was with white bread, ice cream and lots and lots of potatoes. Sworn at, flirted with and at the receiving end of endless customer rants, The Checkout Girl is the deliciously gossipy memoir of life on the supermarket conveyor belt where each one of us has unwittingly had a walk-on part. Reading her story will change the way you shop forever.
Review
"One customer has left his ailing wife in the car. ‘And because of that not only have I saved my ears from all her moaning, I’ve saved money and time. Twenty minutes flat, it took me.’" Some of the anecdotes were amusing and some of the treatment by members of the public shocking, but in the main this was a fairly boring look into what is, of course, a fairly boring job. "'You just don’t know what to do with them. Stop thinking too hard. Keep it simple. Cook them on their own with garlic. Cook them in a tomato sauce with chicken. Throw them in a risotto. They’re not a nondescript, part-of-the-furniture kind of vegetable. Once you know how to cook them, you won’t look back.' I’m not convinced, but I love the fact that he tries to advocate the virtues of the not-so-cool cousin of the cucumber." Ahmad's not glorifying the work, which is something, and she's genuinely happy when discussing certain colleagues and managerial staff. But overall, I thought this was something of a humdrum work.
4 Stars to Q-Squared (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by Peter David
Description
In all of his travels Captain Jean-Luc Picard has never faced an opponent more powerful that Q, a being from another continuum that Picard encountered on his very first mission as Captain of the Starship Enterprise™. In the years since, Q has returned again and again to harass Picard and his crew. Sometimes dangerous, sometimes merely obnoxious, Q has always been mysterious and seemingly all-powerful. But this time, when Q appears, he comes to Picard for help. Apparently another member of the Q continuum has tapped into an awesome power source that makes this being more powerful than the combined might of the entire Q continuum. This renegade Q is named Trelane -- also known as the Squire of Gothos, who Captain Kirk and his crew first encountered over one hundred years ago. Q explains that, armed with this incredible power, Trelane has become unspeakably dangerous. Now Picard must get involved in an awesome struggle between super beings. And this time the stakes are not just Picard's ship, or the galaxy, or even the universe -- this time the stakes are all of creation...
Review
"Divided as they were by such things as climate, however, they did at least share one thing: A fascination with pain." It's quite refreshing to see that even over a decade and a half ago, Peter David was churning out masterpieces. His typical irreverence is present, though muted as befits a world not entirely his own, and the writing flows so smoothly that it's a page turner, and no mistake. The Yesterday's Enterprise television episode was a firm fan favourite, couple that with the "what if Jack Crusher hadn't died?" scenario and the power of members of the Q continuum and you get a truly cracking novel. The action sequences were brilliantly paced, my only regret is the book wasn't a little longer. Lingering on even more of the detail present in the different universes would have been worth reading. Not an emotional puncher of a read, I think it did lack a little solemnity, a little gravitas. But fun, certainly, and I can see easily why it made best seller lists.
3 Stars to Planet of No Return by Harry Harrison
Description
In the sequel to Planet of the Damned, Brion Brandd, the winner of a planet-wide competition, must battle mindless killer robots and then conquer and lead back to civilization a world of savages.
Review
I preferred this to the first one, marginally. The concept of robots fighting a war all their own has been done to death, though here there's a twist on the idea. The female is made much of here, perhaps more than in the initial title, which is maybe a sign of the times but does stand out somewhat today. What I can't understand is why there aren't more of these books. They're short, would work serially and, really, are no worse than many other pulp series. Even without Brion, there are surely plenty of Anvharians about, Brion's only defining characteristic is his being Empathetic. Some series work and some don't, I guess.
3 Stars to Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison
Description
Once in a generation, a man is born with a heightened sense of empathy. Brion Brandd used this gift to win the Twenties, an annual physical and mental competition among the best and smartest people on Anvhar. But scarcely able to enjoy his victory, Brandd is swept off to the hellish planet Dis where he must use his heightened sense of empathy to help avert a global nuclear holocaust by negotiating with the blockading fleet, traversing the Disan underworld, and cracking the mystery of the savagely ruthless magter.
Review
A fairly middle-of-the-road title, this one didn't capture me outright but was enjoyable enough to keep with it. predictable, but satisfying, just.
2 Stars to Stowaway to Mars by John Wyndham
Description
Aircraft designer Dale Currance undertakes a journey to Mars in an effort to capture the prize being offered to the first man to complete an interplanetary journey, but a female stowaway throws his plans into disarray. An international prize of one billion has been offered to the first man to complete an interplanetary trip, and Dale Curtance, a millionaire adventurer, emerges as the British entrant. With a hand-picked crew, he blasted off from Salisbury Plain in the spaceship Gloria Mundi, destination—the planet Mars. Once free of Earth's atmosphere, they discover a stowaway—a woman. Her extraordinary story helps them prepare for the dangers they encounter on the Red Planet, and the fantastic world that exists there.
Review
"The English man of action amazes me. He has the unique gift of living simultaneously in the twentieth and seventeenth centuries. Technically he is advanced, socially or should I say anti-socially, he has stagnated for three hundred years." Quaint is the word that comes to mind when summing up this "first men to Mars" story. The language is very Wyndham, the cadence of dialogue provincial and the sexism in full flow. I admire the little details in science fiction works that creep through the ages - The BBC changing a camera lens on air, for instance, anachronistic today yet feasible at the time. Yet for all the history and ways in which we've outstripped that era technologically, the message of the work rings through. It's worth reading, if just for that - the Martians and their attitude is one we could learn from, if only to accept it.
May
5 Stars to Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Description
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.
Review
"I am not the person I thought I was when I woke this morning." This is an utterly absorbing read, so much so that I bought it at 3:00 in the afternoon, attended to my pregnant fiancee who is now 12 days overdue for most of the evening and still finished it, here, at 1 o'clock the next morning. As a debut novel, it's almost perfect, so deep and engaging on so many levels that it's hard to believe the author hasn't been writing professionally for years. The first half or so had that great, muted tension feel of a modern British work; without the lackadaisical assertions of a more traditional British thriller, and perhaps more importantly, without the barrage of characters and places an American work might ordinarily introduce. "I feel like a prospective tenant being shown around a new flat. A possible housemate." The story is, of course, a little contrived and I'll not pretend I didn't see some major plot points coming very early on. That can be put down to experience, either too much on my part or not enough on Watson's, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of what is, honestly, a superbly presented thriller, wrapped in a mystery, surrounded by the machinations of an amnesiac. "fucking the husband is one thing, but I could never wear another woman's shoes." The little details impressed me also - answering machines still using tape, for instance, or the idea of image manipulation not even entering Christine's mind because of her memory loss. The journal she keeps and the ambience, the very milieu of it and by extension the novel as a whole rings so true to life that you can accept without hesitation that "This book was inspired in part by the lives of several amnesiac patients," just as the author's note says. What's here is a stunning, fictional story, with the plot points so carefully picked from experience, not just research, that the whole thing takes on a life of its own. One passage in particular stuck in my mind, not for the specific words used, but for the images it conjures. On page 203 (part 10, 19 November) Christine recollects her attack, and there's this great montage of description about how she can't make out the face of her attacker, and how there are two of him above her, pushing down on her, shoving her into this psychological morass she's been trapped in for years since. It's an effect I've heard on television shows, this blurring of the image, the shifting voices so we can't tell who's doing the harm. I've never seen it set down in writing before. It may be as common as anything, visually, but never having been able to see a television programme or movie depicting something like this (and yet knowing they must employ similar methods) struck a chord in me, somehow. I felt at home, reading it, as if it were something I already knew about - as a literary device, if nothing else (I haven't personal experience of strangling and drowning someone, honest). Finally, it wasn't until mention of a pier on page 302 that I clicked where we were, as the story enters the final act. That feeling, that adrenaline rush of knowing, or at least having an impression of what was going to happen - that's what makes the buying of a book worth it for me. The point where you've followed along and been engrossed and then the light switch clicks, the bulb comes on, and you get that great jolt that something's about to happen. It doesn't matter if I'm write or wrong about what that something is, of course - that's not the point and if I knew for a certainty every time there'd be no point in finishing the book. But that an author has written well enough for you to not only stick with it but be a part of it hallmarks the very best of writing. To S J Watson, I say this. More. Please. I hope the film does what you hope. I'll be keeping an eye out for your name in the future. To the publishers or producers or whomever, I also must extend a thank you. I bought an EPub version of this book, and the attention to detail inside (so much so that I could easily find page numbers for specific passages) is very much appreciated.
4 Stars to Assignment in Eternity by Robert A. Heinlein
Description
«L'uomo è più di un animale perchè ragiona; il superuomo e più di un uomo perché ragiona meglio». Ouesta frase sintetizza la tematica dei quattro romanzi brevi riuniti in questo volume, uno dei più significativi apparsi durante la cosiddetta «Età d’Oro della Fantascienza». Negli Stati Uniti dell’avvenire, le opposte forze del bene e del male si combattono sul terreno della facoltà parapsicologiche: sarà compito di una ristretta cerchia di giovani selezionati recuperare la perduta eredità dell’ESP e impostare la propria missione nel domani. Una giuria si trova a decidere su una questione di fondamentale importanza: quali sono i confini tra l’uomo e il bruto? Per viaggiare nel tempo è sufficiente «pensare» in un modo tutto particolare, che non è quello comune: certi viaggi, però, possono essere senza ritorno. L’avvenire della Terra dipende dal possesso di un microfilm: l’umanità del passato e quella del futuro se lo contendono, in una lotta senza esclusione di colpi che vede l’impiego di poteri mentali sconosciuti. «Missione nell’eternità» è uno dei libri maggiormente celebrati di Robert Heinlein, l’autore forse più prestigioso della fantascienza mondiale, uno dei «padri fondatori» del genere: e lo presenta ai lettori di « Futuro » nel meglio delle sue qualità narrative ed inventive. Titoli L'eredità perduta (Lost Legacy, 1941), romanzo breve Altroquando (Elsewhen, 1941), racconto lungo Jerry era un uomo (Jerry Was a Man, 1947), racconto Abisso (Gulf, 1949), romanzo breve
Review
Gulf is an absolutely fabulous story, one I can read time and time again; and if I'm reading with synthetic speech I always, always stop to spell out the card messages, even though I could probably quote them by heart long since. It has that gritty, action feel of Philip k. Dick's Paycheck or James P. Hogan's Assassin and, whilst not a heinlein staple, resonates brilliantly for me. My second favourite is Lost Legacy, and you can see why, I suppose. The other two stories round out the volume well. Worth reading!
3 Stars to One Knight Only (Modern Arthur, #2) by Peter David
Description
Now president of the United States, Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King, again takes up his quest for the Holy Grail in order to save the life of his beloved wife, Gwen, left at death's door following an assassination attempt. Reprint.
Review
It's unusual for the second of a trilogy to fall a little flat for me, but that's the way this one's gone. Needing a little more in depth awareness of Arthurian legend and the Gods, the ending managed to impress even if throughout things were a little drier than one might have wished.
4 Stars to Knight Life (Modern Arthur, #1) by Peter David
Description
Arthur Pendragon arrives in modern-day New York City with his friend Merlin the Magician and decides to run for mayor, but Morgan Le Fey and Modred try to keep Arthur from reaching his goal, in an updated and expanded edition of the popular rendition of the Arthurian legend. Reprint.
Review
"Science. Incomprehensible. Give me magic any day." Lacking the verbal dexterity of Sir Apropos of Nothing and the depth of a weighty universe such as Star Trek, this is nonetheless a very enjoyable story and an amazing entree for something written a quarter of a century ago by an author as his debut novel. Looking at the jacket of one of Peter David's recent titles, the "also by" section goes on for longer than most other tables of contents. And yet the "about ye author" (yes, even the real world matter is whacky) only cites his comic work and makes reference to his children and wife (whom he has since divorced, I believe). Anyway, Craig Shaw Gardner called it "a promising first novel" and Christopher Stasheff said ""Enjoyable and intriguing!" I agree with both of those assessments. it's something of an honour, to come to a part of the author's life long gone afresh, and see some of the style and routes that have since made his writings some of the few I'm guaranteed to buy whenever they hit book shops.
April
2 Stars to Old Wounds (Star Trek: Voyager; Spirit Walk, #1) by Christie Golden
Description
The eagerly awaited continuation of "HOMECOMING" and "THE FARTHER SHORE!" Captain Chakotay is ready to prove himself as the new commanding officer of the "Starship Voyager" -- but skeptics back at Starfleet Command are watching him closely for any sign that he will revert to his renegade Maquis ways. His first mission as captain, to transport a group of displaced colonists back to their home planet of Loran II, seems easy enough: make sure the planet is safe for colonization, unload the settlers, and head back to Earth. He even has an extra reason to enjoy the trip -- his sister, Sekaya, has joined the mission as a spiritual advisor to the gentle, peace-loving colonists. But when the crew arrives at Loran II, they discover a mysterious storm, an ominously deserted settlement -- and a hidden threat from Chakotay's past that could destroy them all. Will Chakotay's first mission as captain of "Voyager" also be his last?
Review
"Fishing out the diamond ring from the creamy whiteness and cleaning it with a napkin, Harry said, 'Well, maybe the whipped cream bit wasn't the best idea, but it sounded awfully romantic.'" My relationship with Voyager books is something of an on-off one. I've been highly unimpressed with many of the episode novelisations, which has often been done much better in DS9. Still, this is no episode, but one does have to ask - is it voyager? "It has been my experience that for humans, a common way to acknowledge distressing passages in their lives is to participate in an activity called 'drowning their sorrows.' This usually consists of imbibing alcoholic beverages and interfacing with members of their collective who do not object to their somewhat maudlin behavior." Seven and The Doctor are on as good form as ever, but with Janeway behind a desk, Chakotay in the captain's chair and Kim on security, it's certainly not the voyager of old. In fact, the only thing that stops this being a story about any old Intrepid Class starship is the people. I'll be reading the sequel just to see where it goes but I can't quite shake the feeling that Voyager limping out of the delta quadrant was the end of the matter on screen and should perhaps have been on paper, too.
3 Stars to Wonder (WWW, #3) by Robert J. Sawyer
Description
Webmind--the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web--has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated. Caitlin Decter--the once-blind sixteen-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind--wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn't act, everything--Webmind included--may come crashing down.
Review
I tried so, so hard not to let the Blindisms get to me in this series. In Wake more than Watch, because I really got into Watch as an educational outcoming for AI. Wake introduces us to Caitlin and so, as a blind person myself, there are clearly more pitfalls there than in a title where she's already established. So I tried, and was really enjoying the series. Things seemed reasonably well researched, too. But then... "a blind person didn't have the luxury of going for a jog, let alone sprinting." One short sentence, just a throwaway passing comment. And my blood boiled. Worse, Caitlin needs to be moved quickly, the whole sense of zooming around becomes an important plot point. I happen to enjoy a bit of a jog every now and again though I'm no sprinter. But yet again, an author makes a sweeping generalisation despite bountiful research, surely not even intending it as such. I suppose portraying anyone different to yourself is fraught with issues: despite my best intentions, this one truly got on my nerves. To the actual story, it all wrapped up quite neatly indeed. Sawyer's endings are often quite majestic (I found Flashforward too much so; almost psychedelic) but this one is almost perfect, I think. Tied up nicely, but not overly long, the epilogue provided a window onto the world of the future with Webmind's influence - and indeed, his mortality come at last. It's been a fascinating little series and, I suppose on balance, having only one sentence in over 950 pages that tripped my blind alarm is quite an achievement. I've enjoyed many of his other works too, as evidenced here with his novels and with other short stories I haven't reviewed. So, I feel at peace as I type my final words, simple though they are, but truly heartfelt. Thank you.
5 Stars to Watch (WWW, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer
Description
Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his "wildly thought-provoking" science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web. Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH, the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States--and they're fully aware of Caitlin's involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind's capacity for compassion-and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.
Review
When I read Wake 10 months ago, my initial impressions were of a lot of disparate threads. The AI, the blindness, the chimp, the Chinese, just to name the first few that occur to me now. I gave it a 4 star rating, because I enjoyed it. I wonder now if my own defences, particularly on the blindness thing, caused me to not allow it the breathing space it deserved. This instalment is certainly a 5 star offering. There are no fewer threads and subplots, everything's still going on and the American government are weighing in on the stage as well. But I think my main reason for catapulting this book to my highest rated standard is its education value. Webmind, the AI of the story is growing, and Caitlin, though clever, is not omnipotent. This opens up a great deal of room for exposition, and because of the computer-oriented content, I can certainly see that, as a teen, I would have learned a great deal about all sorts of things from this book. "“It’s only because you have a limited perspective that you understand that the person facing you must be seeing something completely different from what you’re seeing as you face him," just as one example, a very neat summary of the theory of mind. There are nuggets scattered throughout - like "any evolutionist should have intuitively known that tonsils had value." The sheer quantity of topics discussed - through evolution to zero-sum situations is breathtaking in scope. Then there are the things, not facts, but things that Sawyer clearly either believes or at least could some day. The fact that we can choose our path, that consciousness puts the breaks on instinct, for example, is one such. another is the exposition on surveillance, of particular significance here because Webmind can practically see everything. Sawyer's bringing up material he's handled before, but somehow, in this setting and written like this, it all seems to gel so much more effectively. the Neanderthal Parallax series of books (Hominids, Humans and Hybrids) argue that having ones every move monitored is a good thing, in an alien context - but written here, the way it is, really made me stop and think about it on a more Human level. Carry that thought to religion (Calculating God), evolution (frameshift), racial diversity (Starplex) or indeed almost any other tenet of Humanity you can think of, he seems to have something to say on it. So to sum: a brilliant continuation of the story, better than the first, I'd say; but also fascinating for the information and opinions you learn too.
4 Stars to Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson
Description
Jim Pike, the disillusioned manager of a hotel that is hosting a Star Trek convention, finds himself leading a ragtag crew of survivors as a strange virus turns the convention-goers into zombies...
Review
"In his younger years, he would have spent hours debating the finer points of Trek continuity with a man dressed as a pink were-wolf." Once again I've had a dry spell, insofar as reading is concerned. I've had fantasy epics trying to break down my door and get in, so this was welcome, light relief. "Speaking as someone with a really tenuous hold on reality, I think you might want to take yourself offline and undergo a full diagnostic, if you get my drift." So, to the story: a young x-army Afghan veteran now works security at a hotel, where there's a Trek convention about to take off. But the government have lost containment on secret life forms they were studying, turning the city into a neat pastiche of a zombie movie. "They broke it down for him quickly. The good news was that he wasn't going to jail. The bad news was that the world was ending. All things considered, the Klingon seemed relieved." The Trek references were delightful, not overdone at all, for the setting, as you might normally expect, especially given the amount of online drivel this area draws. Even the chapter names make you pause to think (Blood Fever was a voyager episode wasn't it?) "I'm a woman,I've never owned a comfortable pair of shoes in my life." The characters are all quite fun, and the dialog, especially between Jim and Leia, is electrifying if you're a Trekkie (and a smattering of Star Wars knowledge comes in helpful, too - "Some rescue! When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?", "I felt a great disturbance in the force"). Also, as I said, the Trek side of it is omnipresent, but not overbearing. The level of detail is very impressive, actually, and for someone like me who considers himself a fan without having ever decided to walk around wearing face paint this was a very enjoyable read indeed. Oh and, yes,I'm geeky enough to say that I got all three of Gary's trivia bowl questions correct... But I suppose if they'd been too difficult they'd have put readers off.
February
3 Stars to Stand by for Mars! by Carey Rockwell
Description
THE TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET STORIES
Review
Ah, the joy of a whimsical read. This is astoundingly retro and fairly oozes 1950's pulp sci-fi comic in tone. I found the series through Kobo, where I buy many an e-book, but thanks to Project Gutenberg this was a free read.
3 Stars to All Judgement Fled by James White
Description
Hard to Find book
Review
James White's aliens are indeed very alien. As heavy on the psychology as lifeboat but with a little more on the ball a la Hospital Station
4 Stars to Spellwright (Spellwright, #1) by Blake Charlton
Description
The fresh, original first novel of a magical fantasy trilogy, about a dyslexic wizard who cannot spell his spells, yet is destined to contend with an ancient evil that threatens to destroy not only all the magic in the world, but all the people as well. Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text . . . but he has always been dyslexic, and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation. Yet he has always felt that he is destined to be something more than a failed wizard. When a powerful, ancient evil begins a campaign of murder and disruption, Nicodemus starts to have disturbing dreams that lead him to believe that his misspelling could be the result of a curse. But before he can discover the truth about himself, he is attacked by an evil that has already claimed the lives of fellow wizards and has cast suspicion on his mentor. He must flee for his own life if he's to find the true villain. But more is at stake than his abilities. For the evil that has awakened is a power so dread and vast that if unleashed it will destroy Nicodemus... and the world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Review
“Humanity uses the word ‘prophecy' as if it were synonymous with the word ‘destiny.' Nothing is destined. Prophecy is like rain falling on a mountain. The water must flow down. It must find its course in creeks and streams and rivers. One might calculate where the water would flow in a static world. In an unchanging landscape, we might say that this drop is destined to flow into this lake, this river flow into this ocean. But the world is always changing.” Not since The Way Of Kings have I seen such an imaginative world, and I don't know that I've ever seen such a brilliantly different magic system anywhere in recent memory. It took me a while to get into the swing of things, I'll admit; when you soak up the language and really get to follow the pros, the writing flows so well that it catches you up and hurls you through the pages apace. Whether this turns out to be an epic trilogy, to have overtones of a bildungsroman or to veer off into some hither too unfathomed direction... Time will tell. On a more personal note, having the author respond to my comments on Twitter was a most fascinating (and unique) experience. I can't rate short stories on Goodreads but I read Endosymbiont at his website and thought it one of the best stories of the last few years.
3 Stars to Expendable (League of Peoples, #1) by James Alan Gardner
Description
Under the benevolent leadership of the League of Peoples, there is no war, little crime, and life is sacred...unless you're an Explorer. The ugly, the flawed, the misfit, the deformed, they are the unwanted, flung to the farthest corners of the galaxy to investigate hostile planets and strange, vicious creatures. Out there, there are a thousand different - and terrible - ways to die. Festina Ramos belongs to the well-trained, always-dwindling ranks of ECMs (Expendable Crew Members). Now she and her partner, Yarrun Derigha, have been ordered to escort the unstable Admiral Chee to Melaquin -- the feared "Planet of No Return"-- which has swallowed up countless Explorers before them without a trace.Obviously, this is meant to be the last mission for Ramos and Derigha. But it won't be, if Festina can help it.
Review
I didn't know what to make of this series by a book synopsis. had assumed, rightly so as it turns out, that the first LoP title would have a female lead. In gravity Wells (one of Gardner's short story collections containing two LoP stories), he writes: "People ask why I use female narrators so much. My answer is (a) I don't use them any more often than I use male narrators, and (b) why shouldn't I use female narrators, provided I'm not a jerk about it? To be sure, men often do lousy jobs of portraying women-but I have to believe that's just sloppiness and inattention, not an inevitable fact of gender. I don't accept that the only type of character I can legitimately write about is someone very much like myself... because frankly, I'm bored with middle-aged middle-class white men, and there are far too many of those guys in science fiction already. Therefore, I resolved long ago that whenever I wrote about the future, I would show it containing just as many women as men, not to mention people of diverse cultural backgrounds, old, young, straight, gay, rich, poor, and every other variation I could make fit within the story's logic." As you might expect, this geared me up to expect a female lead and a diverse cast for this series. For openers, this fell somewhat short of my expectations. The protagonist was captivating, the technology and space travel interesting, the science followable, the planet where the bulk of the story is set well managed... I can't quite put my finger on what didn't gel for me, other than trying to put into words having a vague sense of unease about the future of these people (who were, once, mankind). They're still Human; much is made about the political machinations of the higher-ups in the admiralty and the very Human quality of handling the disfigured outcasts of society. Everything's tempered by the League, though - an almost omniscient "force", for want of a better word, that imposes strictures on galactic travellers in return for providing them with technology, political mediation, and so forth. So: all the elements of a good sci-fi yarn were there, but yet I came away with more questions than answers. There are plenty more to get through, and if I've learned only one thing by reading series' (queue Dave Duncan), it's not to judge a serial by its appetiser.
January
4 Stars to The Doomsday Ultimatum by James Follett
Description
It is the mid-1970s. A group of disaffected politicians,businessmen, and servicemen -- fiercely patriotic men and women with the right skills and ambitions -- plan and execute a bizarre operation to stop Britain sliding into what they see as anarchy.They seize a nuclear power station as a means of holding the government to ransom. The twist ending comes as a complete surprise and demonstrates this new author's mastery of indirection.
Review
"You saw that maniac. We've got to go along with him otherwise he destroys the country. It's as plain and as simple and as stark as that. We've no choice." The outspoken Welshman is right about having no choice, of course, but quite wrong about the maniac. "We have a hung parliament of weakness and mediocrity that lacks the drive, initiative, and courage to tackle the country's problems with zeal and determination." In this crackingly-paced yarn the future does indeed seem very bleak for Britain. The future painted is one of desperate poverty, where even cleanliness of the streets has gone out the window due to economic hardship, and the people depicted all seem keen on power and are quite ruthless in their attempts to obtain it. The somewhat graphic demise of a character when he's sliced up by a boat's propellers is rather gruesome and it's Turtling, more than Kettling, when the police wade in to break up rampant street riots. The writing has that clipped Britishness to it that so illustrates a work from this side of the Atlantic, and though the ending isn't overly surprising, it's still most, most satisfying.
4 Stars to Gravity Wells: Speculative Fiction Stories by James Alan Gardner
Description
Contents: Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large (1990) The Children of Crèche (1990) Kent State Descending the Gravity Well: An Analysis of the Observer (1992) Withered Gold, the Night, the Day (2005) The Last Day of the War, with Parrots (1995) A Changeable Market in Slaves (2005) Reaper (1991) Lesser Figures of the Greater Trumps (2005) Shadow Album (1991) Hardware Scenario G-49 (1991) The Reckoning of Gifts (1992) The Young Person's Guide to the Organism (1992) Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream (1997) Sense of Wonder (1998)
Review
it's always fun to read a new author and the stories here certainly range the gambit. The Children of Creche reminded me of A Clockwork Orange somehow, not for any violence I can think of. Maybe I'm just weird. Kent State appealed to me because of its interest in people as people, and also provided a glimpse into a creative mind toying with story possibilities - even though thematically that wasn't the intent, I read that. The Last Day of the War, with Parrots - now there's a true, hard science fiction sttory - and good to see that it's set in the LOP universe, which have more books, joyful joyful! Lesser Figures of the Greater Trumps is a take on the arcana I've never seen before and quite amusingly so in its own way. Shadow Album is also very good, a little surreal, a little Saberhagen-ish, and The Reckoning of Gifts was short but fairly gripping. The Young Person's Guide to the Organism is also part of the LOP, or at least tangentially so - and I liked this one, too. Two good reasons to try that series, I think. of course not all of the stories are big hard-hittters - Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream I liked for its historic points (and the origin of species was priceless), and Sense of Wonder had me chortling all the way to bed. A variety of themes and an easy-to-follow style for the most part, this is certainly a great intro to the author for me and worth flicking through. Even if all the stories don't appeal, at least one is bound to.
4 Stars to Agent 21 (Agent 21, #1) by Chris Ryan
Description
When Zak Darke's parents die in an unexplained mass murder he's left alone in the world. That is until he's sought out by a mysterious man: ‘I work for a government agency,’ the man tells him. ‘You don’t need to know which one. Not yet. All you need to know is that we’ve had our eye on you. There’s a possibility you could help us in certain . . . operational situations.’ Zak becomes Agent 21. What happened to the 20 agents before him he'll never know. What he does know is that his life is about to change for ever . . .
Review
"He couldn't quite believe what he was suggesting. Most boys his age went to football matches with their dads. Here he was trying to persuade Martinez to take his son to a cocaine processing facility." Right from the outset, the pages are haunted with the quite natural parallels to Alex Rider. Dead family member, a fob-off by the police, mysterious strangers appearing out of the woodwork and training in what's fast becoming a crowded market for teen spies. And yet, there was something fairly captivating about the work, ttoo. Agent 21 is clearly Human, still possessed of that youthful innocence so lacking in the hardened adult. It was an interesting take but with very few shades of grey. There are more books to come, of course, Ryan is no wuss... So perhaps our young hero will develop some scars later on. A great opener, though, would have captured me utterly were I somewhat younger.
4 Stars to Dead Spy Running (Legoland Trilogy, #1) by Jon Stock
Description
Daniel Marchant, a suspended MI6 officer, is running the London Marathon. He is also running out of time. A competitor is strapped with explosives. If he drops his pace, everyone around him will be killed, including the US ambassador to London. Marchant tries to thwart the attack, but is he secretly working for the terrorists? There are those in America who already suspect Marchant of treachery. Just like they suspected his late father, the former head of MI6, who was removed from his job by the CIA. Marchant is treated like an enemy combatant - rendition, waterboarding - but he has friends who are disillusioned with America's war on terror. Friends like Leila, his beautiful MI6 colleague and lover, and Sir Marcus Fielding, the new Chief who resents the White House's growing influence in Whitehall. On the run from the CIA, Marchant is determined to prove his father's innocence in a personal journey that takes him from Wiltshire, via Poland, to India. It was here that the former MI6 chief once met with one of the world's most wanted terrorists, and where the new President of America is shortly to visit. But was that meeting proof of a mole within MI6 or the best penetration of Al Qu'aeda the West has ever had? And was Marchant's father the keeper of another, darker secret? In a compelling thriller that updates the spy novel for the 21st century - think John Le Carré meets Jason Bourne - Marchant discovers the shocking realities of personal betrayal and national loyalty, and that love can be the biggest risk of all.
Review
Certainly a high-octane thriller, I can see why people contrast Marchant's escapades with those of Bourne and Smiley. ludlum lacks le Carré's contempt for the Americans, of course; here, there's a great scene where an MI6 officer completely fubar's the CIA following him and I think that's one of my favourite's of the book (chapter 23, if anyone wishes to read an extract as a point of reference). There's also an inevitability about the British working with the Cousins, of course, but I suppose that's no degradation in the literary quality of the genre - simply a method of keeping up with the Joneses. As far as the action goes, I enjoyed it all quite a lot. Finances permitting, I'll certainly want to buy the sequel.
3 Stars to The Court of the Air (Jackelian, #1) by Stephen Hunt
Description
When Molly Templar witnesses a brutal murder at the brothel she has just been apprenticed to, her first instinct is to return to the poorhouse where she grew up. But there she finds her fellow orphans butchered, and it slowly dawns on her that she was in fact the real target of the attack. For Molly carries a secret deep in her blood, a secret that marks her out for destruction by enemies of the state. Soon Molly will find herself battling a grave threat to civilization which draws on an ancient power thought to have been quelled millennia ago. Oliver Brooks has led a sheltered life in the home of his merchant uncle. But when he is framed for his only relative's murder he is forced to flee for his life. He is accompanied by Harry Stave, an agent of the Court of the Air -- a shadowy organization independent of the government that acts as the final judiciary of the land, ensuring that order prevails. Chased across the country, Oliver finds himself in the company of thieves, outlaws and spies, and gradually learns more about the secret that has blighted his life, but which may also offer him the power to avert the coming catastrophe. Their enemies are ruthless and myriad, but Molly and Oliver are joined by indomitable friends in this endlessly inventive tale full of drama, intrigue and adventure.
Review
"Everything was upside down. The police were killing people. A murderer was protecting him. Everyone he had half a care for in Hundred Locks was gone. As if he were sleepwalking, Oliver left the police station, closing the door on a huddle of sprawled corpses." though interesting and very exciting in places, there was a level to this book that seemed to slip by me, somehow. "Change, even at the end of all things, is the only real constant." Nonetheless the ultimate battle was quite spectacular and you can see how one could grow into the protagonists. Good, but a little confusing. Maybe more of the series will help.
4 Stars to The Crooked House (The King's Daggers, #2) by Dave Duncan
Description
Sir Stalwart and Emerald set off for an ancient lord's house known as Smealey Hall, where they believe the source of evil--in the form of murder--lies, and along the way they are joined by Badger, a Blade-in-training.
Review
"Sir Durendal, who on the sixth day of Sixthmoon, 355, in a meadow outside Waterby single-handedly opposed four swordsmen seeking to kill his ward and slew them all without his ward or himself taking hurt." This event is just a paragraph or two in the very first book to feature the king's blades, and yet here, a whole story is drawn around those dead men. This is the eighth book in the world I've read. it truly never gets old.
3 Stars to Total Control by David Baldacci
Description
Eftir þrotlausa vinnu og leynimakk sér Jason Archer loksins fram á að losna úr greipum martraðarinnar sem hefur ásótt hann undanfarið. Hann þarf einungis að komast í gegnum daginn og eftir það bíður hans þægilegt líf með fjölskyldunni. Hlutirnir snúast þó upp í andhverfu sína þegar eiginkona Jasons, Sidney Archer, fær fréttir af flugslysi. Við rannsókn slyssins koma óvæntir hlutir í ljós og er Sidney leitar svara, læðist að henni sá grunur að eiginmaður hennar sé ekki allur sem hann er séður.
Review
I read this on a recommendation from someone on twitter as a starting point for baldacci. It was the longest of his in the library, as it turns out, which is no bad thing for me given my liking for length. In tone I was reminded some of a Jack Reacher novel, though there were more characters, corporate entities, banks and technology. There were a few good twists and turns, but in the main things were a little dry because of a death midway in, which sort of dried things up a bit. Still, it was worth reading and I'd certainly read more by the author.
1 Stars to Hal Spacejock (Hal Spacejock #1) by Simon Haynes
Description
Freighter pilot Hal Spacejock refuses to work for gun runners, drug smugglers and politicians. Unfortunately, this results in no customers, no cargo jobs and no hope of paying off the huge loan on his precious ship. When a debt collector kicks in his airlock and threatens his life, Hal grabs the nearest job and blasts off without reading the fine print. Can he deliver the freight and pay off his debt, or is this Hal’s last cargo run?
Review
I surely can't be the only person to fail to see a great deal of humour in this overlong and rambling work. From the rather cheap and cheesy name Spacejock to the alarmingly telling levels of authorial insecurity (displayed by the necessity of a "this isn't a Red Dwarf spoof" webpage) the book managed not only to fail to amuse me very much, but also put me off thinking about getting the rest of the series, too. This is a shame because the author seems keen to promote accessible e-books which, as a blind person, I am keen to support. I suppose the story didn't put me to sleep and so one day may well be boring enough to make me pick up the next one.
2 Stars to The Romulan Stratagem (Star Trek: The Next Generation, #35) by Robert Greenberger
Description
On a mission to an unexplored planet near the Klingon/Romulan border, the U.S.S. Enterprise travels to the planet Eloh to negotiate Federation membership. But upon arrival, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his diplomatic team find themselves face to face with Commander Sela, an old Romulan enemy--who's there to convince the Elohsians to join the Romulan empire. When a series of fatal incidents casts suspicion on both delegations, Data must form an uneasy alliance with Sela to prove the innocence of the Starship Enterprise crew--or lose a strategic stronghold to the Federation's greatest enemy.
Review
As with any long-running saga, some books are good and some are... less so. This one was quite insightful, in its own way; where the Romulan's were concerned. Unfortunately the predictability of the story and the referring to Data as a "synthezoid " ruined this one. Ah, well.
4 Stars to Enigma by Robert Harris
Description
A member of a top-secret team of British cryptographers, Tom Jericho succeeds in cracking "Shark," the impenetrable operational cipher used by Nazi U-boats, but when the Germans change the code, Jericho must break the new code before the traitor among his group can stop him.
Review
"You can at least say this for the blackout, he thought, it has given us back the stars." For my first read of 2011 this went down very well. I was only 8 years old when this book came out and despite an attempt to try and read it a few years thereafter, never got into it. Now that I'm older, there was no doubt in my mind as to just how thrilling a story it was. "They've got ten U-boats on their backs and you want them to tell you the weather?" "Yes, please. Fast as they can." My best scene was, I think, the accumulation of the U-Boat signals on that fateful March morning. The tension, the atmosphere itself was palpable. The rest of the story fell into place, of course, so that's a highlight more than a masterpiece. but what a wartime rollick!
4 Stars to Elantris (Elantris, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Description
Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Yet each of these demigods was once an ordinary person until touched by the mysterious transforming power of the Shaod. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling. Arelon's new capital, Kae, crouches in the shadow of Elantris. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives for a marriage of state with Crown Prince Raoden, hoping—based on their correspondence—to also find love. She finds instead that Raoden has died and she is considered his widow. Both Teod and Arelon are under threat as the last remaining holdouts against the imperial ambitions of the ruthless religious fanatics of Fjordell. So Sarene decides to use her new status to counter the machinations of Hrathen, a Fjordell high priest who has come to Kae to convert Arelon and claim it for his emperor and his god. But neither Sarene nor Hrathen suspect the truth about Prince Raoden. Stricken by the same curse that ruined Elantris, Raoden was secretly exiled by his father to the dark city. His struggle to help the wretches trapped there begins a series of events that will bring hope to Arelon, and perhaps reveal the secret of Elantris itself. A rare epic fantasy that doesn't recycle the classics and that is a complete and satisfying story in one volume, Elantris is fleet and fun, full of surprises and characters to care about. It's also the wonderful debut of a welcome new star in the constellation of fantasy.
Review
"That's exactly the problem. Everyone's convinced that their lives are over just because their hearts stopped beating." As is fairly typical for Sanderson, the buildup before this story really gets going is quite long - and in fact this almost did it for me. it wasn't until the eighth chapter, almost fifteen percent of the way in, that things started to build with sufficient momentum to hold me (and had it not been Sanderson I doubt I would have held that long). Still the story was brilliant. magic focuses through natural things in Sanderson's worlds and in this case it's Aons, a pictographic alphabet. A far cry from circular runes and wand-waving wizardry; the Aons join the exclusive ranks of the metallurgy, colour and stormlight that he's made magic through his books with such brilliance. The characters were also quite good, bullheaded females are becoming something of a theme, though, as are corrupt religions and people becoming Gods and so forth. To sum,An interesting take and a good standalone novel. Certainly worth a read if you like Sanderson's style.