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newnumber6Finished: Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread)
and Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Some thoughts with minor spoilers behind the cut, and selected quotes from each.
Okay, Endymion's a reread, but it surprised me a little. See, I read them long ago, and as I recalled, the two Hyperion books were much better than the two Endymion books. And that may still be true as a whole, but I actually liked Endymion best of the three I've reread so far. I think the stuff that annoyed me (including the constant 'everything we told you before is wrong!') really geared up in the last book, and instead we have more focus on specific elements of the Hyperion books I liked. The cruciforms are handled much more interestingly here, I liked Father de Soya, and I love the River Tethys concept. Plus, androids! Well, android.
And some selected quotes:
"Entropy is a bitch," I said.
"Now, now," said Aenea from where she was leaning on the terrace wall. "Entropy can be our friend."
"When?" I said.
She turned around so that she was leaning back on her elbows. The building behind her was a dark rectangle, serving to highlight the glow of her sunburned skin. "It wears down empires," she said. "And does in despotisms."
Quoted because... well, I just like it. It reminds me of the universal advice. You know, the story where some king or another said he wanted a phrase that would be comforting in bad times, and warning in good times. The sages consulted, and came up with, "And one day, this too shall pass." (or something to that effect, my memory isn't perfect)
Time's Eye wasn't bad. It's in one of my favorite subgenres of SF - 'massive event puts together radically disparate time periods' (slash alternate worlds). I just love the concept, even if the books themselves don't live up to my imagination sometimes. But the Island in the Sea of Time/Nantucket Trilogy, 1632, or this. Even if some of the characters were a little flat, and the ending was kind of weak, I still enjoyed getting there for the way it allows me into that little mindset.
Josh was no advocate of war. But he saw a kind of elation in the eyes of warriors on both sides as they hurled themselves into the fray: a kind of release that the moment in which all inhibitions could be shed was here at least, and a sort of joy. Josh felt a deep visceral thrill as he watched this ancient, brilliant maneuver unfold before his eyes--even as men fought and died in the dirt below, each one a unique life snuffed out. This is why we fight wars, we humans, he thought; this is why we play this game with the highest of stakes: not for profit, or power, or territory, but for this intense pleasure. Kipling is right: war is fun. It is the dark secret of our kind.
I'm not so sure I can agree with the quote fully, but I can sort of see the idea that war (especially the more primitive varieties of the past before the concept of war crimes existed) is almost the ultimate anything goes environment. And especially in that moment of one on one, there's almost no sense of right or wrong in the universe, just your own survival. I could sort of see how that sense might have a sort of dark appeal. Of course, I've never been to war or even in a life-threatening situation, so I probably know nothing about what I'm talking about. Still, when has lack of relevant life experience stopped anyone from talking about something on the internet?
And hey, I'm still anti-war in general. Even if this were absolutely true, 'fun' isn't an excuse.
Started: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread) (Fridays and Sundays) and The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton (Wednesdays)
and Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
Some thoughts with minor spoilers behind the cut, and selected quotes from each.
Okay, Endymion's a reread, but it surprised me a little. See, I read them long ago, and as I recalled, the two Hyperion books were much better than the two Endymion books. And that may still be true as a whole, but I actually liked Endymion best of the three I've reread so far. I think the stuff that annoyed me (including the constant 'everything we told you before is wrong!') really geared up in the last book, and instead we have more focus on specific elements of the Hyperion books I liked. The cruciforms are handled much more interestingly here, I liked Father de Soya, and I love the River Tethys concept. Plus, androids! Well, android.
And some selected quotes:
"Entropy is a bitch," I said.
"Now, now," said Aenea from where she was leaning on the terrace wall. "Entropy can be our friend."
"When?" I said.
She turned around so that she was leaning back on her elbows. The building behind her was a dark rectangle, serving to highlight the glow of her sunburned skin. "It wears down empires," she said. "And does in despotisms."
Quoted because... well, I just like it. It reminds me of the universal advice. You know, the story where some king or another said he wanted a phrase that would be comforting in bad times, and warning in good times. The sages consulted, and came up with, "And one day, this too shall pass." (or something to that effect, my memory isn't perfect)
Time's Eye wasn't bad. It's in one of my favorite subgenres of SF - 'massive event puts together radically disparate time periods' (slash alternate worlds). I just love the concept, even if the books themselves don't live up to my imagination sometimes. But the Island in the Sea of Time/Nantucket Trilogy, 1632, or this. Even if some of the characters were a little flat, and the ending was kind of weak, I still enjoyed getting there for the way it allows me into that little mindset.
Josh was no advocate of war. But he saw a kind of elation in the eyes of warriors on both sides as they hurled themselves into the fray: a kind of release that the moment in which all inhibitions could be shed was here at least, and a sort of joy. Josh felt a deep visceral thrill as he watched this ancient, brilliant maneuver unfold before his eyes--even as men fought and died in the dirt below, each one a unique life snuffed out. This is why we fight wars, we humans, he thought; this is why we play this game with the highest of stakes: not for profit, or power, or territory, but for this intense pleasure. Kipling is right: war is fun. It is the dark secret of our kind.
I'm not so sure I can agree with the quote fully, but I can sort of see the idea that war (especially the more primitive varieties of the past before the concept of war crimes existed) is almost the ultimate anything goes environment. And especially in that moment of one on one, there's almost no sense of right or wrong in the universe, just your own survival. I could sort of see how that sense might have a sort of dark appeal. Of course, I've never been to war or even in a life-threatening situation, so I probably know nothing about what I'm talking about. Still, when has lack of relevant life experience stopped anyone from talking about something on the internet?
And hey, I'm still anti-war in general. Even if this were absolutely true, 'fun' isn't an excuse.
Started: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread) (Fridays and Sundays) and The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton (Wednesdays)
