REVIEW SUMMARY: Reads like classic science fiction.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Helward Mann discovers the true nature of the world outside of the traveling City Earth.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Excellent sense of wonder and mystery, multiple plot threads that were equally interesting, great premise, immersive.

CONS: Ultimate explanation of events somewhat lacking.

BOTTOM LINE: I enjoyed the heck out of this book.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Interesting ideas but hard to get into it.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An episodic story of the above-ground Rebels who fight the underground Hive society.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting ideas; quick-moving story.
CONS: One-dimensional characters; very dry writing style and lots of made-up verbiage made for slow reading;
BOTTOM LINE: I slipped into speed-reading mode just to get through it.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Good ideas made inaccessible by dry, unknown-word-laden writing style.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A standup citizen of the overly-complacent underground Hive society gives birth to a “freak” five-toed child, a throwback to years gone by, and longs to escape.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting ideas; quick-moving story.
CONS: Very dry writing style; hard to make sense out of some of it; I just couldn’t get into this story at all.
BOTTOM LINE: I could not finish this book; I gave up after about 100 pages.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: More of a literary experiment and character study than a story.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of interwoven stories about the inhabitants of an apartment building in a near-future Dystopia.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Realistic characters in a well-imagined and wonderfully depressing setting.

CONS: More literary experiment than story. More character study than plot. Sometimes hard to follow.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth a read if you’re looking for something literary and different.

Read the rest of this entry

In a very weak attempt to cover the series of books I have read since November on my trip to Vietnam (and subsequently failed to review.) I am going to cover them all in a single post. It will be long and tedious, but well worth looking at as they were all very good books. Obviously the ones I have finished most recently will be freshest in my mind, but hey nobody is perfect (although I put money on somebody claiming perfection and this post will wind down into the pits of insults and random acts of violence.) I will also warn you that while these reviews seem Klausner-like, they are not Klausner reviews and these books are all quite good.

Without further ado – we begin the festivities:

Read the rest of this entry

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Jason Taverner has it all, a popular singer and highly rated television host, he’s riding high on public popularity. Until one day, he wakes up and discovers no one knows who he is or remembers his TV show or albums. He has become an ‘invisible’ man. Trying to establish what happened, Taverner runs afoul of the police, and the titular Policeman.

PROS: Strong on the alternate reality/true reality/paranoia angle. Decently realized future police state. Well done characters.

CONS: Some clunky writing. Rather preachy in parts. A few anachronisms were jarring.

BOTTOM LINE: A decent effort from PKD, with an ending that, while it may seem abrupt, stays with you.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A must-read for dark fantasy fans of all ages.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A young girl discovers a home similar to her own and must rescue herself and the souls trapped by her “other mother”.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Vivid writing; great characters; disturbingly dark mood.

CONS: Magical things go unexplained (my usual complaint with fantasy).

BOTTOM LINE: An excellent read even for this casual fantasy fan.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A funny and worthwhile read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Satire in which a government agent investigates a murderous marketing campaign in a corporate-run future.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Lots of action; fast-moving plot; funny without overdoing it; a quick read.

CONS: Keeping track of characters and thinking about their interrelationships was a bit of a chore.

BOTTOM LINE: A worthwhile comical stab at corporate mentality.

Read the rest of this entry

by Lois McMaster Bujold

REVIEW SUMMARY: 2 novels and a novella from Bujold that really delivers.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: This book contains 2 novels, The Warrior’s Apprentice and The Vor Game, and a novella named “The Mountain’s of Mourning.” The novella is the real gem here (oh and surprise, it won both Hugo and Nebula awards) but the books are very good too (Vor won the Hugo.) I hate to give anything away from the plot though – know that this details the beginning of Miles’ career where he takes over a band of mercenaries and rescues his Emporer.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Great story-telling, deep characters, and sci-fi that is integral to the plot but not overwhelming. Miles’ exhibits elements of Horatio Hornblower and The Mercer Boys. Bujold also has a dry wit that works.

CONS: Nobody would confuse this with Gene Wolfe, but so what – the thing is just flat out fun to read.

BOTTOM LINE: Excellent story – definately worth the read.

REVIEW SUMMARY: SF satire and adventure story rolled into one fun read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Murderer Will Barrent has his memory erased and is sent to the prison planet of Omega where society rewards evil.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Moves fast; interesting society; a short, quick read;

CONS: Little characterization; I’m not a huge fan of satire.

BOTTOM LINE: A good satire about social status.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A unique blend of sf sub-genres, fast paced action and unexpected plot twists help this story rise above your average sf cop story.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: ECS agent Ian Cormac investigates a star gate disaster while being pursued by terrorist leader Adrian Pelter.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Good page-turning action scenes; cool technology; interesting mix of cyberpunk/detective thriller/military action.

CONS: Weaker middle; secondary characters tended to blend together.

BOTTOM LINE: A worthwhile debut.

Read the rest of this entry

I’ve decided to include my opinions on several books for children that I’ve recently read to my five-year old son. Sadly, none of them are science fiction although nearly all of them are fantasy.

For discussion – is there good sci-fi for children of this age? I know the Iron Giant is supposed to be a good book (I haven’t read it yet) but I’m at a loss to think of any others.

Anyway – read on if you’re interested.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Oustanding, simply one of the best.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: These two books follow the character of Cordelia Naismith as she meets her husband and begins her life on a rival planet as a part of its aristocracy. The sci-fi isn’t the leading element here – the characters and plot are.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Great characters, really interesting plot and story arc

CONS: First book isn’t the award winner the second is, some of the secondary character names are too similar making it hard to keep them straight

BOTTOM LINE: I don’t think you can go wrong reading this book. I can’t wait to read more of the series – Bujold has three more Hugo award winners!

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A good, but not great, collection of stories.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Collection of eight stories, one original, including the Nebula Award-winning “Story of Your Life” and “Tower of Babylon”, and the Locus Award-winning “Hell Is the Absence of God”.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Interesting premises.

CONS: Some stories were longer than they should have been.

BOTTOM LINE: Thought-provoking but needed some extra oomph.

Ted Chiang is a writer with a high award density. That is, he has written relatively few stories but has a multitude of award nominations and wins, which is why I went into this collection with some high expectations. The stories all had an imaginative premise (and one where mathematics usually played some role or other), but for me they seemed to lack something in the delivery; some were long-winded, some lacked adequate characterizations. I suppose that’s why it took me nearly 3 weeks to finish this 330 page collection.

Reviewlettes follow.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Gaiman weaves a strong tale of apocalypse in the 17th century.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Marvel super heroes emerge in early 17th-century Europe, and must save the planet from imminent destruction while being hunted by the Catholic church, the Spanish Inquisitors and the King of England.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Super heroes without the silly costumes, very interesting story with several surprise elements, excellent illustration by one of the the top comic artists, great coloring, wonderful ‘scratchboard’ cover illustrations, a nice ‘how we did it’ section at the end that gives insight on how comics are put together

CONS: Some of the heros weren’t developed (sequel in the works?)

BOTTOM LINE: If you like super heroes or Gaiman, or just appreciate comics for outstanding art, you should read this.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Superb space opera

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Emperor sends war hero Captain Laurent Zai on a hopeless mission to destroy a battlecruiser of the Rix, a group of machine-augmented humans bent on seeing an AI hive-mind as ruler of the Eighty Worlds.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: High-octane action; fun, immersive story; lean writing; great storytelling.

CONS: A single story released as two books.

BOTTOM LINE: This is Scott Westerfeld’s second entry in his two-book SUCCESSION series, the first being the excellent The Risen Empire. Both are highly recommended.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: 6 standouts + 20 good stories – 3 losers = one heck of a collection.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Anthology of 29 sf stories from the year 2003.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Most of the stories were well-written and memorable

CONS: 3 stories failed to impress.

BOTTOM LINE: Better than most anthologies. 2003 was a good year for short sf.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Strong start, but overall a mediocre book.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Crossover fantasy in which down-and-out thirty-something Theo Vilmos steps into the world of Faerie and must save our mortal world.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Clear, easy-to-read writing; doesn’t take itself too seriously; the land of Faerie is interestingly urbanized.

CONS: Very Longwinded – could easily have been half the length; not enough happens and when it does, it’s predictable; one-dimensional characters (except Applecore, the faerie with an attitude).

BOTTOM LINE: Mediocre fantasy.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY:

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An unemployed software developer/architect is called to investigate an issue at a plant where his wife works that is building nanomachines

in the desert. The problem is that some of these machines have gotten loose and are learning fast! The question is now who is the hunter and who is the Prey? (Note the key use of the title of the book in the synopsis.)

MY REVIEW:

PROS: It does flow well, and there are very few low points. There is a fair amount of suspense near the end, and I felt that was the best part of the book – but then got predictable (hence the Con as well).

CONS: Standard Crighton writing where he bashes you with a given idea until your sick of it. It was somewhat predictable at the end. The continual discussion about

agent based programming and how important that is was somewhat goofy. I feel that it does have its place, but it is not as end all as he would have you believe.

BOTTOM LINE: Non-tech folks would probably enjoy this take on a human creation gone awry. We who actually have a clue would probably not like it that much.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Two excellent novellas, one good one and one political snoozer in a handsome volume.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Anthology consisting of four 2001 novellas written by British authors.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Two excellent stories; a book with high quality production.

CONS: One story, way too political for my tastes, marred an otherwise excellent collection.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth it for the 2 excellent stories alone.

Read the rest of this entry