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2017 First Book Foo
May. 6th, 2017 01:48 pmWow, it's been a while. Nothing's really new, the world is still generally awful lately and my life's about the same but with a recent blast of extra blah. But let's do the book foo I've fallen way behind on, maybe if I don't preamble too much I can get it all to fit in one post.
Finished: The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds
In The Prefect, cops who monitor the thousands of independent habitats around a distant planet investigate a pair of seemingly unrelated crimes... but they may be part of a larger pattern that would lead to the takeover of the entire Glitter Band. ( Read more... )Still, I was quite fond of it on the whole, and as I understand it one of Reynolds' upcoming projects is a sequel to this... I think I'd be looking forward to that.
Finished: Jumper, by Steven Gould
Multiple time reread and wrote about it multiple times here.
Finished: The John Varley Reader, by John Varley
As you might have gathered from the title, this is a collection of stories from author John Varley.( Read more... )I'm giving it four stars although I think it's rounded up from the high three-and-a-half-to-four-star range. May not be for everyone though, particularly for those who have trouble separating fiction in which certain acts are not portrayed negatively from active endorsement of those acts.
Finished: Fire With Fire, by Charles E. Gannon
A super-competent writer is put on ice for decades by a secret government agency, and, when he's revived, sent on a mission to investigate rumors of extraterrestrial contact on an alien world, an then a bunch of other stuff happens. ( Read more... )Two stars is, under Goodreads system "it was okay," and so that's the score it gets. I do not expect to read any more in the series, unless I happen to also get them free (this book was offered as part of Baen's Free Library of ebooks).
Finished: Crisis in Urlia, by Karl Schroeder
In the near future, a Canadian humanitarian response team, part of our military, deals first with a drought-and-famine situation in a new African city-state called Urlia, then with a new, possibly bioengineered sickness, and an attempt by extremist groups to use that chaos to seize power.
This is a follow-up to Crisis in Zefra. Both were projects commissioned by the Canadian military as exercises in attempting to forsee the possible changing tools, strategies, and role of the military in the future (and are available free online). ( Read more... )Because the ideas were more interesting and explored well, I think I like it more than Zefra, slightly. It's still not the kind of book I'd recommend to people as fiction, unless they have a particular interest in this type of strategic foresight.
Finished: The Courier, by Gerald Brandt
Kris is a young courier delivering packages between corporations in San Angeles, a megacity that in addition to combining several present-day cities, is also several cities on top of each other, with lower levels never seeing a real sun. One of her deliveries soon has her running for her life. ( Read more... )I will be reading the sequel, but only because I won it in a giveaway (I thought the giveaway was for the first book, but when I won the second I figured I'd buy the first and read it to prepare). Otherwise I don't expect I'd bother.
Finished: Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
In the near future, the world largely sucks, and that's why so many people play OASIS, an immersive virtual world that connects everyone. The creator of OASIS died ten years ago, without heirs, so he encoded a massive scavenger hunt into the system, based on the creator's love of pop culture (largely centered around the 1980s of his childhood), with the ultimate winner inheriting billions and control of the company. Even though there's been virtually no progress in a decade, many people still hunt for the clues, seeing it as their only escape... and so does an evil corporation that wants to control the system. But suddenly, one low-level hunter stumbles upon the first key and reignites a new phase of the game.
This is basically the book I've been hearing about for years, the one that virtually everyone I know who's a geek and reads SF has read and raved about. It's even being made into a movie by Spielberg.
And I liked it. ( Read more... )On the whole, though, these concerns were minor, and I had a lot of fun with the book. I think it just barely ranks into the 4 star range.
Finished: Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
An attempt at terraforming a distant planet goes awry in the wake of a sudden collapse of human civilization. Instead of a set of monkeys, as planned, spiders grow quickly to sentience and start to develop an intricate society. Meanwhile, survivors of that collapse flee an Earth that can no longer sustain them, following old legends to a green, terraformed world. Their stories are due to collide, and based on humanity's history with disparate cultures interacting, it's a dangerous situation for both parties.( Read more... )Still, taken overall, the book is quite impressive, and the merits more than make up for the flaws, and had an ending I didn't see coming but appreciated nonetheless as something different. I'll probably read the sequel if there is one, and certainly will keep an eye on this author's other SF works. I'm torn between a three and a four, but I think it's closer to a four.
Finished: Constellation Games, by Leonard Richardson
An alliance of alien worlds contact Earth, promising much benefits for humanity, but also a danger of culture shock. When the general public is allowed to ask questions of them, one man dares to ask the most important questions everybody else has been ignoring: Hey, what are your retro video games like? And can I review some for my retro video game blog? What follows is an entertaining romp exploring alien cultures, human institutions, what video games say about us, and many more things. ( Read more... )I'm still giving it four stars, but with the feeling that it could have been five if he'd just managed a trick I can't see how he'd do, and there's enough to love in this universe that I want more even if I knew it would suffer exactly the same flaws. Definitely want to see more of this author in general, and I'll probably be reading this again.
Finished: The Operative, by Gerald Brandt
Sequel to The Courier so I'll cut everything.( Read more... )Where the book wasn't pulling connections out of nowhere, it was largely predictable.
I guess if you're looking for fun action this series is decent enough, but it just strained plausibility too far without offering enough in return for me.
Finished: The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
Around a distant (and possibly artificially) star, world-sized biological ships contain millions of women, some who know the nature of their universe, others who know only the small section of their world they live on. But the worlds are dying, and constantly at war with rival factions, and one world may hold the key to escape or salvation. Zan wakes without memory of who she is and is sent on a mission to capture this world, a mission she's supposedly failed at many times before. But there are deeper games afoot. ( Read more... )It's not my favorite of Hurley's works so far, but I liked it. Which makes it hard to score, because for me it's firmly in the cursed Goodreads half-star zone... I want to give it almost exactly 3.5 stars, but I have to give it 3 or 4. I think I'll go with 4 just because I found some of the visuals really cool and the ideas played with are ones I'd like to see more of.
Finished: The Bloodline Feud, by Charles Stross (Merchant Princes 1 and 2)
A professional journalist recieves some belongings that supposedly belonged to her long-dead birth mother, and one of them includes a locket... that when she stares at it, it sends her to another Earth. She soon learns that she's a lost heir to a family of interdimensional traders with a decidedly medieval mindset and vicious internal politics. If she wants to survive, and better yet, survive with any sort of independence, she needs to think fast, make alliances, and use some 21st century knowledge.
I'm a big fan of Stross, but I've always been hesitant about trying this series, because it seemed like it might edge too much on the fantasy end of things.( Read more... )On the whole, I liked it, mildly. Enough that I might seek out the later books in the series, because I do want to see how things develop, but it's not enough that I'm rushing out to find them.
Finished: Nexus, by Ramez Naam (reread)
Finished: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Both these rereads I've already talked about before so no need to repeat.
Finished: Hanzai Japan (short story collection)
This is another short story collection of science fiction and fantasy tales either written by Japanese authors or inspired by Japan and Japanese culture. Unlike the previous two collections, The Future is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures and Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan. and Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan, this one has a special subtheme, in that all of the stories are connected to crime in some way.
Unfortunately, it's the weakest of the three. ( Read more... ) they slipped over my consciousness without getting very far into my memory at all.
Finished: Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty
A generation ship is on a voyage to another star. The crew, clones, living serial lives with their memories downloaded to a new body every time they die. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. The six crew members awaken to discover their previous selves have been murdered, the ship isn't working, and they've been restored from a backup made decades earlier with no memory of what happened in-between. The group must try to figure out what went wrong and how to move forward.
So, yeah, it's a murder mystery involving clones on a starship. Quite a nifty premise, at least in my mind.
For the most part, I was enjoying the book until the end. ( Read more... ) "I had fun along the way" still applies, which is why I give it three stars (I'd actually put it in the 2.5-3 range, but rounding brings us closer to three since half-stars aren't allowed), but I wanted to like it more than I did.
I might still read more SF from this author though.
Finished: The Wind Through The Keyhole, by Stephen King (Dark Tower "book 4.5")
During a huge sudden storm, Roland and his companions take shelter, and Roland tells a story from his youth, which contains another story his mother taught him.
This is listed as Dark Tower 4.5, supposedly taking place between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla, but it's something of an forced fit. If you were to read it in that sequence, I imagine it would feel even worse, because the story before that was also Roland telling of his youth, so you'd basically be getting two books in a row that are mostly made up of Roland telling stories about himself. It also commits the minor sin of trying to foreshadow elements in the next book, which doesn't work (why does nobody remember somebody the ferry master describes, when they finally meet him, for example?). It doesn't feel essential in any way, it just feels like King wanted to write (or to be less charitable, thought he could cash in by writing) one more story in the Dark Tower universe.
I have zero problem with that, either motivation. ( Read more... )Still, I enjoyed the book, mostly due to the central story, although the second layer had its charms and the outer shell appealed to my fannish desire to see these characters again. I still would read a book of random tales from Roland's life, or even tales of Gilead that had nothing to do with him, tales of other Gunslingers before him. Or tales of Roland's ka-tet, without any attempt to fit them into continuity, like how a comic series based on a movie or TV show will tell stories that can't really work their way in if you think about it too hard, so they don't try too hard. The structure of the Dark Tower world itself in fact makes it particularly easy to do these stories without worrying about continuity.
Finished: A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Another well-loved reread.
Finished: Lightless, by C.A. Higgins
Two criminals board a secret military vessel and are caught by the crew. One escapes, while the other is interrogated because he may have ties to a terrorist group and also have tampered with the ship's computer in a way that could be dangerous.
I had somewhat mixed reactions to this book.( Read more... )I'm not ruling out reading that next book at this point, but right now I'm not feeling it enough to rush out and seek it out. I think I'll give it 2 stars because while there were times it rose to the level of a definitive "I liked it", for the most part it never did and "It was okay" feels more accurate overall.
Finished: Toast, and other stories, by Charles Stross
A collection of short stories by Charles Stross, mostly his early work.
This was a fun discovery for me... I vaguely knew the book existed, and that the author made it available to download free on his website, but somehow I had convinced myself I'd already read most of his short stories in another short story collection of his (or spread out among other multi-author anthologies)... but recently somebody mentioned reading a story I'd never heard of, and got me to take a second look. To my pleasant surprise, most were unfamiliar to me, so I downloaded it and started reading immediately.( Read more... )I don't know how these would read to people not already fans of Stross... it's just as likely to blow their minds (in a good way) as it is to turn them off him forever (which would be a shame because he writes in many different styles, not entirely showcased in this collection, albeit often with a similar voice). But to fans like me who happened to skip out on this... don't keep making that mistake.
Finished: The Last One, by Alexandra Oliva
It was supposed to be a survival reality show in the Alaskan wilderness, contestants were warned that they might be left alone for long periods with only hidden cameras watching them, that clues might be cryptic... and, of course, every reality show has its twists. So when Zoo, one of the contestants, finds herself alone, wandering, and seeing nothing but signs of a devastating calamity, she assumes that all of it, the abandoned homes, the dead bodies, are just particularly gruesome props. And she's determined not to quit.
I'm not a huge fan of reality shows, nor am I conspicuously against them... I've wasted more time with them than I feel entirely comfortable admitting, but I also haven't really followed any in the last couple years, either. Yet, this premise instantly intrigued me, and I decided to give it a shot.
The book dragged me in right away and held my attention throughout.( Read more... )It's not normally the type of book I go for, so considering how much I enjoyed it despite that (even factoring in my half-complaints above), I think I'm going to give it a four stars. Worth checking out.
Finished: The Year's Best SF 9, (short stories, reread)
It's a reread but I didn't write a Goodreads review for it, so I'll post my thoughts anyway:
As a collection of short stories, it's always a mixed bag, ( Read more... )worth a look.
Started (or done but not fully reviewed): Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Stugatsky, Bird Box by Josh Malerman, Waking Hell by Al Robertson, Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon, Borrowed Tides by Paul Levinson, Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
Oh and I may at somepoint ditch LJ for dreamwidth fully due to the new rules, but I'm lazy and slow-moving so it'd probably take me a while to get everything done.
Finished: The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds
In The Prefect, cops who monitor the thousands of independent habitats around a distant planet investigate a pair of seemingly unrelated crimes... but they may be part of a larger pattern that would lead to the takeover of the entire Glitter Band. ( Read more... )Still, I was quite fond of it on the whole, and as I understand it one of Reynolds' upcoming projects is a sequel to this... I think I'd be looking forward to that.
Finished: Jumper, by Steven Gould
Multiple time reread and wrote about it multiple times here.
Finished: The John Varley Reader, by John Varley
As you might have gathered from the title, this is a collection of stories from author John Varley.( Read more... )I'm giving it four stars although I think it's rounded up from the high three-and-a-half-to-four-star range. May not be for everyone though, particularly for those who have trouble separating fiction in which certain acts are not portrayed negatively from active endorsement of those acts.
Finished: Fire With Fire, by Charles E. Gannon
A super-competent writer is put on ice for decades by a secret government agency, and, when he's revived, sent on a mission to investigate rumors of extraterrestrial contact on an alien world, an then a bunch of other stuff happens. ( Read more... )Two stars is, under Goodreads system "it was okay," and so that's the score it gets. I do not expect to read any more in the series, unless I happen to also get them free (this book was offered as part of Baen's Free Library of ebooks).
Finished: Crisis in Urlia, by Karl Schroeder
In the near future, a Canadian humanitarian response team, part of our military, deals first with a drought-and-famine situation in a new African city-state called Urlia, then with a new, possibly bioengineered sickness, and an attempt by extremist groups to use that chaos to seize power.
This is a follow-up to Crisis in Zefra. Both were projects commissioned by the Canadian military as exercises in attempting to forsee the possible changing tools, strategies, and role of the military in the future (and are available free online). ( Read more... )Because the ideas were more interesting and explored well, I think I like it more than Zefra, slightly. It's still not the kind of book I'd recommend to people as fiction, unless they have a particular interest in this type of strategic foresight.
Finished: The Courier, by Gerald Brandt
Kris is a young courier delivering packages between corporations in San Angeles, a megacity that in addition to combining several present-day cities, is also several cities on top of each other, with lower levels never seeing a real sun. One of her deliveries soon has her running for her life. ( Read more... )I will be reading the sequel, but only because I won it in a giveaway (I thought the giveaway was for the first book, but when I won the second I figured I'd buy the first and read it to prepare). Otherwise I don't expect I'd bother.
Finished: Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
In the near future, the world largely sucks, and that's why so many people play OASIS, an immersive virtual world that connects everyone. The creator of OASIS died ten years ago, without heirs, so he encoded a massive scavenger hunt into the system, based on the creator's love of pop culture (largely centered around the 1980s of his childhood), with the ultimate winner inheriting billions and control of the company. Even though there's been virtually no progress in a decade, many people still hunt for the clues, seeing it as their only escape... and so does an evil corporation that wants to control the system. But suddenly, one low-level hunter stumbles upon the first key and reignites a new phase of the game.
This is basically the book I've been hearing about for years, the one that virtually everyone I know who's a geek and reads SF has read and raved about. It's even being made into a movie by Spielberg.
And I liked it. ( Read more... )On the whole, though, these concerns were minor, and I had a lot of fun with the book. I think it just barely ranks into the 4 star range.
Finished: Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
An attempt at terraforming a distant planet goes awry in the wake of a sudden collapse of human civilization. Instead of a set of monkeys, as planned, spiders grow quickly to sentience and start to develop an intricate society. Meanwhile, survivors of that collapse flee an Earth that can no longer sustain them, following old legends to a green, terraformed world. Their stories are due to collide, and based on humanity's history with disparate cultures interacting, it's a dangerous situation for both parties.( Read more... )Still, taken overall, the book is quite impressive, and the merits more than make up for the flaws, and had an ending I didn't see coming but appreciated nonetheless as something different. I'll probably read the sequel if there is one, and certainly will keep an eye on this author's other SF works. I'm torn between a three and a four, but I think it's closer to a four.
Finished: Constellation Games, by Leonard Richardson
An alliance of alien worlds contact Earth, promising much benefits for humanity, but also a danger of culture shock. When the general public is allowed to ask questions of them, one man dares to ask the most important questions everybody else has been ignoring: Hey, what are your retro video games like? And can I review some for my retro video game blog? What follows is an entertaining romp exploring alien cultures, human institutions, what video games say about us, and many more things. ( Read more... )I'm still giving it four stars, but with the feeling that it could have been five if he'd just managed a trick I can't see how he'd do, and there's enough to love in this universe that I want more even if I knew it would suffer exactly the same flaws. Definitely want to see more of this author in general, and I'll probably be reading this again.
Finished: The Operative, by Gerald Brandt
Sequel to The Courier so I'll cut everything.( Read more... )Where the book wasn't pulling connections out of nowhere, it was largely predictable.
I guess if you're looking for fun action this series is decent enough, but it just strained plausibility too far without offering enough in return for me.
Finished: The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley
Around a distant (and possibly artificially) star, world-sized biological ships contain millions of women, some who know the nature of their universe, others who know only the small section of their world they live on. But the worlds are dying, and constantly at war with rival factions, and one world may hold the key to escape or salvation. Zan wakes without memory of who she is and is sent on a mission to capture this world, a mission she's supposedly failed at many times before. But there are deeper games afoot. ( Read more... )It's not my favorite of Hurley's works so far, but I liked it. Which makes it hard to score, because for me it's firmly in the cursed Goodreads half-star zone... I want to give it almost exactly 3.5 stars, but I have to give it 3 or 4. I think I'll go with 4 just because I found some of the visuals really cool and the ideas played with are ones I'd like to see more of.
Finished: The Bloodline Feud, by Charles Stross (Merchant Princes 1 and 2)
A professional journalist recieves some belongings that supposedly belonged to her long-dead birth mother, and one of them includes a locket... that when she stares at it, it sends her to another Earth. She soon learns that she's a lost heir to a family of interdimensional traders with a decidedly medieval mindset and vicious internal politics. If she wants to survive, and better yet, survive with any sort of independence, she needs to think fast, make alliances, and use some 21st century knowledge.
I'm a big fan of Stross, but I've always been hesitant about trying this series, because it seemed like it might edge too much on the fantasy end of things.( Read more... )On the whole, I liked it, mildly. Enough that I might seek out the later books in the series, because I do want to see how things develop, but it's not enough that I'm rushing out to find them.
Finished: Nexus, by Ramez Naam (reread)
Finished: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Both these rereads I've already talked about before so no need to repeat.
Finished: Hanzai Japan (short story collection)
This is another short story collection of science fiction and fantasy tales either written by Japanese authors or inspired by Japan and Japanese culture. Unlike the previous two collections, The Future is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures and Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan. and Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan, this one has a special subtheme, in that all of the stories are connected to crime in some way.
Unfortunately, it's the weakest of the three. ( Read more... ) they slipped over my consciousness without getting very far into my memory at all.
Finished: Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty
A generation ship is on a voyage to another star. The crew, clones, living serial lives with their memories downloaded to a new body every time they die. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. The six crew members awaken to discover their previous selves have been murdered, the ship isn't working, and they've been restored from a backup made decades earlier with no memory of what happened in-between. The group must try to figure out what went wrong and how to move forward.
So, yeah, it's a murder mystery involving clones on a starship. Quite a nifty premise, at least in my mind.
For the most part, I was enjoying the book until the end. ( Read more... ) "I had fun along the way" still applies, which is why I give it three stars (I'd actually put it in the 2.5-3 range, but rounding brings us closer to three since half-stars aren't allowed), but I wanted to like it more than I did.
I might still read more SF from this author though.
Finished: The Wind Through The Keyhole, by Stephen King (Dark Tower "book 4.5")
During a huge sudden storm, Roland and his companions take shelter, and Roland tells a story from his youth, which contains another story his mother taught him.
This is listed as Dark Tower 4.5, supposedly taking place between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla, but it's something of an forced fit. If you were to read it in that sequence, I imagine it would feel even worse, because the story before that was also Roland telling of his youth, so you'd basically be getting two books in a row that are mostly made up of Roland telling stories about himself. It also commits the minor sin of trying to foreshadow elements in the next book, which doesn't work (why does nobody remember somebody the ferry master describes, when they finally meet him, for example?). It doesn't feel essential in any way, it just feels like King wanted to write (or to be less charitable, thought he could cash in by writing) one more story in the Dark Tower universe.
I have zero problem with that, either motivation. ( Read more... )Still, I enjoyed the book, mostly due to the central story, although the second layer had its charms and the outer shell appealed to my fannish desire to see these characters again. I still would read a book of random tales from Roland's life, or even tales of Gilead that had nothing to do with him, tales of other Gunslingers before him. Or tales of Roland's ka-tet, without any attempt to fit them into continuity, like how a comic series based on a movie or TV show will tell stories that can't really work their way in if you think about it too hard, so they don't try too hard. The structure of the Dark Tower world itself in fact makes it particularly easy to do these stories without worrying about continuity.
Finished: A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Another well-loved reread.
Finished: Lightless, by C.A. Higgins
Two criminals board a secret military vessel and are caught by the crew. One escapes, while the other is interrogated because he may have ties to a terrorist group and also have tampered with the ship's computer in a way that could be dangerous.
I had somewhat mixed reactions to this book.( Read more... )I'm not ruling out reading that next book at this point, but right now I'm not feeling it enough to rush out and seek it out. I think I'll give it 2 stars because while there were times it rose to the level of a definitive "I liked it", for the most part it never did and "It was okay" feels more accurate overall.
Finished: Toast, and other stories, by Charles Stross
A collection of short stories by Charles Stross, mostly his early work.
This was a fun discovery for me... I vaguely knew the book existed, and that the author made it available to download free on his website, but somehow I had convinced myself I'd already read most of his short stories in another short story collection of his (or spread out among other multi-author anthologies)... but recently somebody mentioned reading a story I'd never heard of, and got me to take a second look. To my pleasant surprise, most were unfamiliar to me, so I downloaded it and started reading immediately.( Read more... )I don't know how these would read to people not already fans of Stross... it's just as likely to blow their minds (in a good way) as it is to turn them off him forever (which would be a shame because he writes in many different styles, not entirely showcased in this collection, albeit often with a similar voice). But to fans like me who happened to skip out on this... don't keep making that mistake.
Finished: The Last One, by Alexandra Oliva
It was supposed to be a survival reality show in the Alaskan wilderness, contestants were warned that they might be left alone for long periods with only hidden cameras watching them, that clues might be cryptic... and, of course, every reality show has its twists. So when Zoo, one of the contestants, finds herself alone, wandering, and seeing nothing but signs of a devastating calamity, she assumes that all of it, the abandoned homes, the dead bodies, are just particularly gruesome props. And she's determined not to quit.
I'm not a huge fan of reality shows, nor am I conspicuously against them... I've wasted more time with them than I feel entirely comfortable admitting, but I also haven't really followed any in the last couple years, either. Yet, this premise instantly intrigued me, and I decided to give it a shot.
The book dragged me in right away and held my attention throughout.( Read more... )It's not normally the type of book I go for, so considering how much I enjoyed it despite that (even factoring in my half-complaints above), I think I'm going to give it a four stars. Worth checking out.
Finished: The Year's Best SF 9, (short stories, reread)
It's a reread but I didn't write a Goodreads review for it, so I'll post my thoughts anyway:
As a collection of short stories, it's always a mixed bag, ( Read more... )worth a look.
Started (or done but not fully reviewed): Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Stugatsky, Bird Box by Josh Malerman, Waking Hell by Al Robertson, Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon, Borrowed Tides by Paul Levinson, Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
Oh and I may at somepoint ditch LJ for dreamwidth fully due to the new rules, but I'm lazy and slow-moving so it'd probably take me a while to get everything done.
