Last Book Foo of 2012
Dec. 31st, 2012 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Finished: The Accidental Time-Machine, by Joe Haldeman
A research assistant creates a measuring device with a unique side effect... when he presses the button, it travels forward in time. Only a second at first, but each time he presses it, it travels twelve times farther into the future than the last. With only a few experiments, he discovers that under certain circumstances, the box can drag other stuff along... including living things. While studying the effects in an attempt to secure fame and fortune, circumstances conspire to force him to jump further into the future than he planned... and then, once he's already disconnected from his old life, it becomes that much easier to just keep pressing the button and visiting farther and weirder futures, in the hopes that he might find somewhere with enough technology to send him back.
Slightly spoilery behind the cut (to the point that you might be able to guess something of the novel's resolution by reading it), the short version: mildly enjoyed it but wanted it to be better. Jumping to the future, with no easy prospect of a return, is a fantastic concept that brings to mind Marooned in Realtime, not to mention Haldeman's own previous classic The Forever War. Unfortunately, while it is fun exploring Haldeman's ideas of possible futures, the plot fell a little short of expectations, with too many contrived circumstances and a resolution that was at once somewhat predictable and also unsatisfying. It doesn't match either of the other two books.
That's not to say there's nothing to enjoy here, I liked it, but I just felt more could have been done with it. This is one of the few cases where I actually think they might have been better off laying off on having too tight a plot, and having things resolve in a nice package, and just spend the focus on a man constantly jumping forward through time and experiencing each part of the future as its own merits.
Finished: The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
Far in the future, a thief named Jean le Flambeur is bust out of his prison in outer space by a mysterious benefactor, in order to pull off a daring heist... which means returning to Mars, and reacquiring something he attempted to hide even from himself... his own memories. Slightly spoilery thoughts beyond cut (nothing serious), but the short version: A lot of good ideas, a bit challenging, doesn't entirely satisfy to the level I was hoping, but still leaves me eager for more.
One of the problems of writing about the far future is that it will probably be full of terms that aren't in use now, words for new technologies and the new ways people interact and relate, and even old familiar things will often not be referred to by the names we expect. Moreover, things you take for granted will have changed in ways that aren't apparent at first glance. If you were from hundreds of years ago and you saw somebody who was alone, clutching a small glowing object, and talking intently into it, you might think they were praying to a holy relic... a few decades ago, you might think they were a spy operating a hand held radio, today, they might be talking on a smart phone while playing a game. Centuries from now? Who knows?
There are two basic approaches an author can take... they can fill the reader in as these changes are introduced, or they can drop the reader in to the new context and leave them potentially confused and have to piece things together on their own. Usually it's some combination of both approaches actually, but in this book, that mix is heavily in the direction of the second option. For much of the first third I didn't fully understand a lot of what was going on and struggled for clues among words like "gevulot", "gogols" and "tzaddik" that are tossed around with the same casualness that we use words like "phone" or "drive". And this is as somebody who reads a lot of science fiction and has already been exposed to ideas like "utility fog" and "quantum dots" from other works.
That may intimidate some readers, but done well, it's also thrilling. And once everything begins to coalesce and you start to understand how things work, at least to the degree you can, the book becomes a lot of fun, and a great vehicle to explore some wild ideas that I hadn't considered before, one of the things I always enjoy in SF. The 'cool new idea' factor in this book is pretty high, particularly some of the notions of gevulot.
Unfortunately, the story's got so much going on that it doesn't really come together in the end in a truly satisfying way, some developments seem rushed and others wasted, however, as the first book in a trilogy, it did its most important job... it made me really eager to read the sequels. A lot of fun, especially for a first novel... this author is has definitely become one to watch, for me.
Finished: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Reread, of course, so not much new to say. A lot of fun, still, surprised by how much I'd forgotten about it. I do think certain aspects of the conclusion fell a little flat, and, on a reread, the main character himself doesn't feel especially deep or interesting. I realize that's partly the point, and yet I wanted to be more engaged in him anyway, so it's still a flaw.
Finished: The Year's Best SF 15 (short story collection)
Usual short story mix... maybe a bit more 'good' than 'forgettable' than the usual, actually (too many alternate histories in the mix, though, and most of them made up the ones I didn't care much for). Favorites in this one were probably "The Island", by Peter Watts (even though I've read it before), "The Consciousness Problem" by Mary Robinette Kowal, "The Calculus Plague", by Marissa K. Lingren, and "Another Life", by Charles Oberndorf.
That makes my complete reading list of 2012 (in roughly chronological order):
1. Spin State by Chris Moriarty
2. The Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi
3. Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold
4. The Oroboros Wave by Jyouji Hayashi
5. Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
6. A Thousand Words For Stranger, by Julie E. Czernada
7. The Child Garden, by Geoff Ryman
8. City At The End Of Time, by Greg Bear
9. Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
10. Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
11. Glasshouse, by Charles Stross (reread)
12. Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman
13. The Evolutionary Void, by Peter F. Hamilton
14. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America, by Robert Charles Wilson
15. The Sunless Countries (Book Four of Virga), by Karl Schroeder
16. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
17. The Lord of the Sands of Time, by Issui Ogawa
18. Transition, by Iain M. Banks
19. Blindsight, by Peter Watts (reread)
20. Spin Control, by Chris Moriarty
21. Blind Lake, by Robert Charles Wilson (reread)
22. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
23. House of Suns, by Alastair Reynolds
24. Schild's Ladder, by Greg Egan (reread)
25. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi (reread)
26. For The Win, by Cory Doctorow
27. The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi (reread)
28. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi (reread)
29. Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi (reread)
30. Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
31. The Year's Best SF 14, (short story collection)
32. Absolution Gap, by Alastair Reynolds
33. Broken Angels, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
34. 7th Sigma, by Steven Gould
35. Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
36. Little Fuzzy by John Scalzi
37. How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu
38. Jumper, by Steven Gould (reread)
39. Reflex, by Steven Gould (reread)
40. Digital Domains: A Decade of Online Science Fiction (short story collection)
41. Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami (reread)
42. The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman
43. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
44. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (reread)
45. The Year's Best SF 15 (short story collection)
45's a little lighter than last year. Have to do better this year.
16 rereads, 29 new, which is pretty good. 3 short story collections, 42 novels.
First book of 2012 (technically already started, by I count by completion>:
Started: Gridlinked, by Neil Asher
Haven't chosen my second one yet (I usually read two at once, but I got the last book in under the wire by rushing).
I don't celebrate New Years and will probably sleep through it this year. But to all who do, Happy New Year.
A research assistant creates a measuring device with a unique side effect... when he presses the button, it travels forward in time. Only a second at first, but each time he presses it, it travels twelve times farther into the future than the last. With only a few experiments, he discovers that under certain circumstances, the box can drag other stuff along... including living things. While studying the effects in an attempt to secure fame and fortune, circumstances conspire to force him to jump further into the future than he planned... and then, once he's already disconnected from his old life, it becomes that much easier to just keep pressing the button and visiting farther and weirder futures, in the hopes that he might find somewhere with enough technology to send him back.
Slightly spoilery behind the cut (to the point that you might be able to guess something of the novel's resolution by reading it), the short version: mildly enjoyed it but wanted it to be better. Jumping to the future, with no easy prospect of a return, is a fantastic concept that brings to mind Marooned in Realtime, not to mention Haldeman's own previous classic The Forever War. Unfortunately, while it is fun exploring Haldeman's ideas of possible futures, the plot fell a little short of expectations, with too many contrived circumstances and a resolution that was at once somewhat predictable and also unsatisfying. It doesn't match either of the other two books.
That's not to say there's nothing to enjoy here, I liked it, but I just felt more could have been done with it. This is one of the few cases where I actually think they might have been better off laying off on having too tight a plot, and having things resolve in a nice package, and just spend the focus on a man constantly jumping forward through time and experiencing each part of the future as its own merits.
Finished: The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
Far in the future, a thief named Jean le Flambeur is bust out of his prison in outer space by a mysterious benefactor, in order to pull off a daring heist... which means returning to Mars, and reacquiring something he attempted to hide even from himself... his own memories. Slightly spoilery thoughts beyond cut (nothing serious), but the short version: A lot of good ideas, a bit challenging, doesn't entirely satisfy to the level I was hoping, but still leaves me eager for more.
One of the problems of writing about the far future is that it will probably be full of terms that aren't in use now, words for new technologies and the new ways people interact and relate, and even old familiar things will often not be referred to by the names we expect. Moreover, things you take for granted will have changed in ways that aren't apparent at first glance. If you were from hundreds of years ago and you saw somebody who was alone, clutching a small glowing object, and talking intently into it, you might think they were praying to a holy relic... a few decades ago, you might think they were a spy operating a hand held radio, today, they might be talking on a smart phone while playing a game. Centuries from now? Who knows?
There are two basic approaches an author can take... they can fill the reader in as these changes are introduced, or they can drop the reader in to the new context and leave them potentially confused and have to piece things together on their own. Usually it's some combination of both approaches actually, but in this book, that mix is heavily in the direction of the second option. For much of the first third I didn't fully understand a lot of what was going on and struggled for clues among words like "gevulot", "gogols" and "tzaddik" that are tossed around with the same casualness that we use words like "phone" or "drive". And this is as somebody who reads a lot of science fiction and has already been exposed to ideas like "utility fog" and "quantum dots" from other works.
That may intimidate some readers, but done well, it's also thrilling. And once everything begins to coalesce and you start to understand how things work, at least to the degree you can, the book becomes a lot of fun, and a great vehicle to explore some wild ideas that I hadn't considered before, one of the things I always enjoy in SF. The 'cool new idea' factor in this book is pretty high, particularly some of the notions of gevulot.
Unfortunately, the story's got so much going on that it doesn't really come together in the end in a truly satisfying way, some developments seem rushed and others wasted, however, as the first book in a trilogy, it did its most important job... it made me really eager to read the sequels. A lot of fun, especially for a first novel... this author is has definitely become one to watch, for me.
Finished: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Reread, of course, so not much new to say. A lot of fun, still, surprised by how much I'd forgotten about it. I do think certain aspects of the conclusion fell a little flat, and, on a reread, the main character himself doesn't feel especially deep or interesting. I realize that's partly the point, and yet I wanted to be more engaged in him anyway, so it's still a flaw.
Finished: The Year's Best SF 15 (short story collection)
Usual short story mix... maybe a bit more 'good' than 'forgettable' than the usual, actually (too many alternate histories in the mix, though, and most of them made up the ones I didn't care much for). Favorites in this one were probably "The Island", by Peter Watts (even though I've read it before), "The Consciousness Problem" by Mary Robinette Kowal, "The Calculus Plague", by Marissa K. Lingren, and "Another Life", by Charles Oberndorf.
That makes my complete reading list of 2012 (in roughly chronological order):
1. Spin State by Chris Moriarty
2. The Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi
3. Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold
4. The Oroboros Wave by Jyouji Hayashi
5. Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
6. A Thousand Words For Stranger, by Julie E. Czernada
7. The Child Garden, by Geoff Ryman
8. City At The End Of Time, by Greg Bear
9. Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
10. Accelerando, by Charles Stross (reread)
11. Glasshouse, by Charles Stross (reread)
12. Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman
13. The Evolutionary Void, by Peter F. Hamilton
14. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America, by Robert Charles Wilson
15. The Sunless Countries (Book Four of Virga), by Karl Schroeder
16. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
17. The Lord of the Sands of Time, by Issui Ogawa
18. Transition, by Iain M. Banks
19. Blindsight, by Peter Watts (reread)
20. Spin Control, by Chris Moriarty
21. Blind Lake, by Robert Charles Wilson (reread)
22. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
23. House of Suns, by Alastair Reynolds
24. Schild's Ladder, by Greg Egan (reread)
25. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi (reread)
26. For The Win, by Cory Doctorow
27. The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi (reread)
28. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi (reread)
29. Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi (reread)
30. Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
31. The Year's Best SF 14, (short story collection)
32. Absolution Gap, by Alastair Reynolds
33. Broken Angels, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
34. 7th Sigma, by Steven Gould
35. Woken Furies, by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
36. Little Fuzzy by John Scalzi
37. How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu
38. Jumper, by Steven Gould (reread)
39. Reflex, by Steven Gould (reread)
40. Digital Domains: A Decade of Online Science Fiction (short story collection)
41. Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami (reread)
42. The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman
43. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
44. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (reread)
45. The Year's Best SF 15 (short story collection)
45's a little lighter than last year. Have to do better this year.
16 rereads, 29 new, which is pretty good. 3 short story collections, 42 novels.
First book of 2012 (technically already started, by I count by completion>:
Started: Gridlinked, by Neil Asher
Haven't chosen my second one yet (I usually read two at once, but I got the last book in under the wire by rushing).
I don't celebrate New Years and will probably sleep through it this year. But to all who do, Happy New Year.
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