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newnumber6Finished: Brain Rose, by Nancy Kress
Thoughts behind the cut. Not terribly spoilery, though, except for concept. Short version, meh.
The general idea of Brain Rose is that there's a surgery that gives people access to Past Lives.
So, it was okay, but the author never really sold the past life stuff. By which I mean, there was an effort to give a quasi-scientific explanation for why it all worked, but the description of how it all worked didn't seem to match how it was treated in the book (for example, based on the description, it should have been possible for multiple people to have 'been' the same person in past lives, but at one point someone mentions that it was impossible for so and so to be X, because so and so someone else was already found to be X). So, it never really hung together, and since the ending kind of hung on weirdness involving the Past Life stuff, I didn't get much out of that, either.
The book was published in 1990, and written with AIDS in heavy mind, and in particular one aspect of the book is ongoing persecution of homosexuals even after the disease has been handled, because they're perceived to have caused/spread it. And, read in a more modern context it doesn't really feel right, like early misconceptions of the disease and who it effected were treated more as fact than it should have been - not that it's written with an anti-gay slant, if anything probably the opposite, it just sort of feels weird to read at times.
More interesting was the specifics of the plague that was going around, and the idea of a corporate sponsored "Gaiaist" religion, that promotes the idea that it doesn't matter what you do to the environment, because Gaia will adapt and counter it (and so tightened environmental laws are relaxed).
Started and Finished: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester (Reread)
Started: Firestarter, by Stephen King (reread)
My thoughts on TDM are brief so I'll leave them uncut: Wasn't as good as I remembered, but still enjoyable. I'm surprised both at what I remembered from the last time I read it (years ago) and what I'd forgotten - certain weird aspects of the ending I'd completely forgotten about.
Finished: Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
Started: Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder
Thoughts on Iron Sunrise, no spoilers beyond concept ones. Short version: Liked it better than the first book.
So, Iron Sunrise is set in the same universe as Singularity Sky, in which an artificial intelligence uplifted itself to near godhood and forcibly spread humanity through the stars. This particular novel focuses on the murder of a planetary civilization with an illegal weapon, and one person who unknowingly holds the key to who caused the attack, while others are trying to stop the retaliation on a possibly innocent planet.
It's definitely a stronger book than Singularity Sky. The characters feel more developed, the basic plot is more solid and overall it's probably more enjoyable. This is probably to be expected, since Singularity Sky was the author's first novel. However, although Singularity Sky was more uneven, it does get to a few higher points in the 'woo, cool ideas' area.
Having read a bit of Stross I'm also a little less fond of his dealing with sex, which tends to include strange pairings and kinks or weird bondage, either as an important element of a characters, or as a throwaway line that others are clearly into and is very accepted but the main character just isn't into. I can sort of see the idea of different sexual mores in the future, but when I see enough of it turning up in his work it doesn't feel like that.
Anyway, apparently this will be the last story set in this universe. Charles Stross has said he's discovered hidden flaws in the concept that break his own suspension of disbelief, and so he doesn't think he can write in it anymore. I can sort of respect that, but it's kind of annoying too because I like the books.
Oh, and another writing rejection showed up in my Inbox today. Meh. Not that I didn't expect it, though. Still, meh. :P.
Thoughts behind the cut. Not terribly spoilery, though, except for concept. Short version, meh.
The general idea of Brain Rose is that there's a surgery that gives people access to Past Lives.
So, it was okay, but the author never really sold the past life stuff. By which I mean, there was an effort to give a quasi-scientific explanation for why it all worked, but the description of how it all worked didn't seem to match how it was treated in the book (for example, based on the description, it should have been possible for multiple people to have 'been' the same person in past lives, but at one point someone mentions that it was impossible for so and so to be X, because so and so someone else was already found to be X). So, it never really hung together, and since the ending kind of hung on weirdness involving the Past Life stuff, I didn't get much out of that, either.
The book was published in 1990, and written with AIDS in heavy mind, and in particular one aspect of the book is ongoing persecution of homosexuals even after the disease has been handled, because they're perceived to have caused/spread it. And, read in a more modern context it doesn't really feel right, like early misconceptions of the disease and who it effected were treated more as fact than it should have been - not that it's written with an anti-gay slant, if anything probably the opposite, it just sort of feels weird to read at times.
More interesting was the specifics of the plague that was going around, and the idea of a corporate sponsored "Gaiaist" religion, that promotes the idea that it doesn't matter what you do to the environment, because Gaia will adapt and counter it (and so tightened environmental laws are relaxed).
Started and Finished: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester (Reread)
Started: Firestarter, by Stephen King (reread)
My thoughts on TDM are brief so I'll leave them uncut: Wasn't as good as I remembered, but still enjoyable. I'm surprised both at what I remembered from the last time I read it (years ago) and what I'd forgotten - certain weird aspects of the ending I'd completely forgotten about.
Finished: Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
Started: Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder
Thoughts on Iron Sunrise, no spoilers beyond concept ones. Short version: Liked it better than the first book.
So, Iron Sunrise is set in the same universe as Singularity Sky, in which an artificial intelligence uplifted itself to near godhood and forcibly spread humanity through the stars. This particular novel focuses on the murder of a planetary civilization with an illegal weapon, and one person who unknowingly holds the key to who caused the attack, while others are trying to stop the retaliation on a possibly innocent planet.
It's definitely a stronger book than Singularity Sky. The characters feel more developed, the basic plot is more solid and overall it's probably more enjoyable. This is probably to be expected, since Singularity Sky was the author's first novel. However, although Singularity Sky was more uneven, it does get to a few higher points in the 'woo, cool ideas' area.
Having read a bit of Stross I'm also a little less fond of his dealing with sex, which tends to include strange pairings and kinks or weird bondage, either as an important element of a characters, or as a throwaway line that others are clearly into and is very accepted but the main character just isn't into. I can sort of see the idea of different sexual mores in the future, but when I see enough of it turning up in his work it doesn't feel like that.
Anyway, apparently this will be the last story set in this universe. Charles Stross has said he's discovered hidden flaws in the concept that break his own suspension of disbelief, and so he doesn't think he can write in it anymore. I can sort of respect that, but it's kind of annoying too because I like the books.
Oh, and another writing rejection showed up in my Inbox today. Meh. Not that I didn't expect it, though. Still, meh. :P.
