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Book Foo! + a bit of TV foo...
Aug. 20th, 2014 01:21 pmI'll start with TV so you can more easily skip the book reviews. I've been falling a bit behind on TV watching. Doctor Who is in a few days though, won't be falling behind on that. But of the shows I've been watching, bearing in mind that I'm probably only halfway through the aired episodes:
Falling Skies: Got pretty bad real fast. The show was never GREAT, but it was decent fun with a sense of progression in the storylines... until this year when they decided to just abandon a bunch of plots so they could do riffs on prison camps, Hitler Youth, hippies, and the old Guerilla war plot they started with and did to death. I can barely care anymore. But it's not nearly as bad as what happened to...
Under the Dome:
One of the initial executive producers of UtD, season 1, was Brian K. Vaughan, author of Runaways, and a number of excellent comics. He left for season 2. If how season 1 turned out was disappointing (and it was), it is at least somewhat of a relief to know that the moment he left, it turned to complete and utter crap instantly. I mean, it's pretty much laughably bad.
The Last Ship: Watching this mainly because Adam Baldwin's in it playing the first officer. It's okay.
Defiance: Something of a surprise, they actually seem to be taking some risks here, and it has the sense of a show that somebody actually cares about. Sure, there's still a lot of problematic stuff, and it's still more than a little cheesy, but on the whole I'm enjoying what I'm seeing more than the first year.
Orphan Black: Only seen the S2 premiere, watching it as it airs on TV here. Enjoying it, though.
Continuum: Haven't even dipped into the third season yet.
Penny Dreadful: Watched and liked the first episode, but I haven't gone beyond that yet.
I think that's all of it. There are some other TV shows I've heard that might appeal to my interests (The Strain comes to mind), but I haven't dipped into yet.
So, now, onto books. Before I move onto reviews, I thought I'd mention two things. First, the Hugo Awards were this past weekend, and the Best Novel winner was Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, which also won the Nebula, Locus, and Clarke award. It is also a book that I received free through a Goodreads giveaway before publication. So I have a signed ARC of a Hugo and Nebula award winning novel, so, yay me. :). And I think it's quite worthy of the honors. If you're interested, my review is here.
Second, I went to the used bookstore yesterday and picked up 6 books, including the final Culture book, The Hydrogen Sonata (sniff... RIP Iain M. Banks), Un Lun Dun by China Mieville (sort of a similar premise as Neverwhere which I always enjoyed), and Grass by Sheri S. Teper, which I've heard some good things about.
Anyway, onto reviews. As usual, usually snipped from my Goodreads reviews.
Finished: The Apex Book of World SF (short story collection)
A collection of short stories from authors from or in different parts of the world than the traditional sources of western SF. Some are science fiction, some fantasy, some horror. ( Read more... )
Although I was left a little disappointed, I still would read future volumes of this if I stumble upon them... although I would really like an all science-fiction collection of foreign SF.
Finished: The Fenris Device, by Brian Stableford (Hooded Swan #5, reread)
( Read more... )
Finished: Swan Song, by Brian Stableford (Hooded Swan #6, reread)
The last of Stableford's Hooded Swan novels, about an abrasive pilot and expert in alien environments and the occasionally unwelcome mind-symbiot that shares his brain, starts with him free, at least as somebody in his position can be. ( Read more... )Still, revisiting the universe provided me with a lot of enjoyment, and I'm sure I'll come back to it somewhere down the line once again.
Finished: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Detective Hank Palace is investigating a man found hanging in a restroom, that he thinks may be a murder. Nobody believes him, and many think he's crazy or stupid, he should just let it go, mark it down as a suicide, and move on. It's not a grand conspiracy of silence, it's simply a matter of fact: everybody in the world knows that there's a civilization-ending asteroid on it's way to Earth, hitting with one-hundred percent probability, and impact's only months away. Suicides are way up. Of course that also means that if you wanted to get away with murder, the easiest thing to do would be to make it look like just another suicide. ( Read more... ) Quite recommended, probably even for non-science fiction fans.
Finished: Countdown City by Ben H. Winters
Book Two of the Last Policeman series so I'll cut the whole description. Short version: Better than the first.
( Read more... )
Finished: Ventus, by Karl Schroeder (reread)
On the planet Ventus, where humans are prohibited from all but the most limited pieces of technology, Jordan Mason lives what he believes is an ordinary life, expecting to eventually inherit his father's stoneworking business. But that all changes when he begins having visions of a distant warrior named Armiger whose army is destroyed for defying the powerful Winds that control and moderate the planet's ground, seas, and atmosphere. Soon, Jordan learns he's also key to finding Armiger, who is the agent of a malevolent and nearly godlike entity known as 3340, recently defeated in a centuries-long war against the galaxy-spanning human civilization Jordan has never heard of. Worse Armiger may not simply be an agent, he may be a means for 3340 to recreate itself from scratch and take over all of Ventus and the rest of the galaxy. ( Read more... )I think this is my third or fourth reread, and, although it's not my favorite of Schroeder's books (that honor belongs to Lady of Mazes, which is set in the same universe but centuries earlier and far from the planet of Ventus), but I'm sure I'll be rereading it many times over the years.
Finished: World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
Conclusion of the Last Policeman series, so I'll cut completely. Short version: Weakest of the three, but worth reading. ( Read more... )I still highly recommend the series as a whole.
Finished: Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (reread)
Marcus Yallow is skipping school with his friends to play a game on the streets of his hometown, San Francisco... when terrorists blow up a nearby bridge. In the ensuing chaos, all four are detained by the government, interrogate, and threatened... and only three make it out. They have no idea what happened to their friend Darryl, but they've been warned against talking about what happened, and the country is growing even more paranoid, mass surveillance and monitoring of everyday citizens and civil rights are being quashed in the name of fighting terror, and Marcus realizes that he has to do something. ( Read more... )I rate it 4 stars for me personally, it's really enjoyable even to me as an adult, but I think as a YA book, it rates 5.
Finished: Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
Toby McGonigal has been lost in space, hibernating for 14,000 years, and then is found, to find his younger siblings rule an empire. For them, only 40 years have passed, thanks to an innovative society they started on worlds between the stars and far from home. These societies are built on the Lockstep method, which involves whole societies freezing themselves on a schedule, living for very short periods in inhospitable worlds, then hibernating for years while their bots gather resources. This allows not only survival on these marginal worlds, but trade, for the light speed limit might be insurmountable, but if you time your journeys correctly, travel to other worlds can happen in one night's sleep from the perspective of not only you, but both worlds. However, Toby's return threatens his own family's rule, and they want him out of the picture. Short version: disappointing, the mix between hard SF and YA doesn't work too well, but stunning ideas.( Read more... )Despite all this, I did enjoy it, and I absolutely loved the basic ideas and the universe he set up. I'd love to read more stories in this setting, particularly ones where it's just "business as usual" for the universe (albeit with big stakes for the characters) rather than a character who's quest threatens the upheaval of the system entirely.
Finished: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi
The conclusion of the series that started in The Quantum Thief, The Causal Angel deals with posthuman gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur ( Read more... )Highly recommend this series for fans of post-singularity fiction.
Started: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread)
Started: Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross
Started: Zero Echo Schadow Prime by Peter Samet (received for free)
Falling Skies: Got pretty bad real fast. The show was never GREAT, but it was decent fun with a sense of progression in the storylines... until this year when they decided to just abandon a bunch of plots so they could do riffs on prison camps, Hitler Youth, hippies, and the old Guerilla war plot they started with and did to death. I can barely care anymore. But it's not nearly as bad as what happened to...
Under the Dome:
One of the initial executive producers of UtD, season 1, was Brian K. Vaughan, author of Runaways, and a number of excellent comics. He left for season 2. If how season 1 turned out was disappointing (and it was), it is at least somewhat of a relief to know that the moment he left, it turned to complete and utter crap instantly. I mean, it's pretty much laughably bad.
The Last Ship: Watching this mainly because Adam Baldwin's in it playing the first officer. It's okay.
Defiance: Something of a surprise, they actually seem to be taking some risks here, and it has the sense of a show that somebody actually cares about. Sure, there's still a lot of problematic stuff, and it's still more than a little cheesy, but on the whole I'm enjoying what I'm seeing more than the first year.
Orphan Black: Only seen the S2 premiere, watching it as it airs on TV here. Enjoying it, though.
Continuum: Haven't even dipped into the third season yet.
Penny Dreadful: Watched and liked the first episode, but I haven't gone beyond that yet.
I think that's all of it. There are some other TV shows I've heard that might appeal to my interests (The Strain comes to mind), but I haven't dipped into yet.
So, now, onto books. Before I move onto reviews, I thought I'd mention two things. First, the Hugo Awards were this past weekend, and the Best Novel winner was Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, which also won the Nebula, Locus, and Clarke award. It is also a book that I received free through a Goodreads giveaway before publication. So I have a signed ARC of a Hugo and Nebula award winning novel, so, yay me. :). And I think it's quite worthy of the honors. If you're interested, my review is here.
Second, I went to the used bookstore yesterday and picked up 6 books, including the final Culture book, The Hydrogen Sonata (sniff... RIP Iain M. Banks), Un Lun Dun by China Mieville (sort of a similar premise as Neverwhere which I always enjoyed), and Grass by Sheri S. Teper, which I've heard some good things about.
Anyway, onto reviews. As usual, usually snipped from my Goodreads reviews.
Finished: The Apex Book of World SF (short story collection)
A collection of short stories from authors from or in different parts of the world than the traditional sources of western SF. Some are science fiction, some fantasy, some horror. ( Read more... )
Although I was left a little disappointed, I still would read future volumes of this if I stumble upon them... although I would really like an all science-fiction collection of foreign SF.
Finished: The Fenris Device, by Brian Stableford (Hooded Swan #5, reread)
( Read more... )
Finished: Swan Song, by Brian Stableford (Hooded Swan #6, reread)
The last of Stableford's Hooded Swan novels, about an abrasive pilot and expert in alien environments and the occasionally unwelcome mind-symbiot that shares his brain, starts with him free, at least as somebody in his position can be. ( Read more... )Still, revisiting the universe provided me with a lot of enjoyment, and I'm sure I'll come back to it somewhere down the line once again.
Finished: The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Detective Hank Palace is investigating a man found hanging in a restroom, that he thinks may be a murder. Nobody believes him, and many think he's crazy or stupid, he should just let it go, mark it down as a suicide, and move on. It's not a grand conspiracy of silence, it's simply a matter of fact: everybody in the world knows that there's a civilization-ending asteroid on it's way to Earth, hitting with one-hundred percent probability, and impact's only months away. Suicides are way up. Of course that also means that if you wanted to get away with murder, the easiest thing to do would be to make it look like just another suicide. ( Read more... ) Quite recommended, probably even for non-science fiction fans.
Finished: Countdown City by Ben H. Winters
Book Two of the Last Policeman series so I'll cut the whole description. Short version: Better than the first.
( Read more... )
Finished: Ventus, by Karl Schroeder (reread)
On the planet Ventus, where humans are prohibited from all but the most limited pieces of technology, Jordan Mason lives what he believes is an ordinary life, expecting to eventually inherit his father's stoneworking business. But that all changes when he begins having visions of a distant warrior named Armiger whose army is destroyed for defying the powerful Winds that control and moderate the planet's ground, seas, and atmosphere. Soon, Jordan learns he's also key to finding Armiger, who is the agent of a malevolent and nearly godlike entity known as 3340, recently defeated in a centuries-long war against the galaxy-spanning human civilization Jordan has never heard of. Worse Armiger may not simply be an agent, he may be a means for 3340 to recreate itself from scratch and take over all of Ventus and the rest of the galaxy. ( Read more... )I think this is my third or fourth reread, and, although it's not my favorite of Schroeder's books (that honor belongs to Lady of Mazes, which is set in the same universe but centuries earlier and far from the planet of Ventus), but I'm sure I'll be rereading it many times over the years.
Finished: World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
Conclusion of the Last Policeman series, so I'll cut completely. Short version: Weakest of the three, but worth reading. ( Read more... )I still highly recommend the series as a whole.
Finished: Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (reread)
Marcus Yallow is skipping school with his friends to play a game on the streets of his hometown, San Francisco... when terrorists blow up a nearby bridge. In the ensuing chaos, all four are detained by the government, interrogate, and threatened... and only three make it out. They have no idea what happened to their friend Darryl, but they've been warned against talking about what happened, and the country is growing even more paranoid, mass surveillance and monitoring of everyday citizens and civil rights are being quashed in the name of fighting terror, and Marcus realizes that he has to do something. ( Read more... )I rate it 4 stars for me personally, it's really enjoyable even to me as an adult, but I think as a YA book, it rates 5.
Finished: Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
Toby McGonigal has been lost in space, hibernating for 14,000 years, and then is found, to find his younger siblings rule an empire. For them, only 40 years have passed, thanks to an innovative society they started on worlds between the stars and far from home. These societies are built on the Lockstep method, which involves whole societies freezing themselves on a schedule, living for very short periods in inhospitable worlds, then hibernating for years while their bots gather resources. This allows not only survival on these marginal worlds, but trade, for the light speed limit might be insurmountable, but if you time your journeys correctly, travel to other worlds can happen in one night's sleep from the perspective of not only you, but both worlds. However, Toby's return threatens his own family's rule, and they want him out of the picture. Short version: disappointing, the mix between hard SF and YA doesn't work too well, but stunning ideas.( Read more... )Despite all this, I did enjoy it, and I absolutely loved the basic ideas and the universe he set up. I'd love to read more stories in this setting, particularly ones where it's just "business as usual" for the universe (albeit with big stakes for the characters) rather than a character who's quest threatens the upheaval of the system entirely.
Finished: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi
The conclusion of the series that started in The Quantum Thief, The Causal Angel deals with posthuman gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur ( Read more... )Highly recommend this series for fans of post-singularity fiction.
Started: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread)
Started: Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross
Started: Zero Echo Schadow Prime by Peter Samet (received for free)
