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newnumber6Finished: Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card (reread)
Usual complaints about Card, I always tend to read this when I read Ender's Game.
More detailed review under the cut, copied from my Goodreads.
This novel takes place during Ender's Game (which should be read first), and focuses on Bean, one of the young soldiers in Ender's army, from his early life struggling to survive on the streets of Rotterdam, to the end of the original book (and it's also the start of a series focusing on his life after).
The original book occasionally veered into the unbelievable with its depictions of the abilities of super-intelligent children, and this book does so even more, with what Bean is capable of even as an infant, but if you can get past that (and it's relatively easy to), it's a very enjoyable story. Bean's a compelling contrast to Ender, not quite intelligence without emotion, but very emotionally unaware, rationalizing away his decisions of the heart and being fascinated by people who sacrifice for his own benefit.
About a quarter of the book is directly retelling parts of Ender's Game, from a different perspective, and occasionally completely recontextualizing scenes, so, from Bean's perspective, something completely different is going on. And sometimes the author does get too cute with his attempts to tie Bean into the behind-the-scenes of Ender's story. Still, much of the story is Bean's own, and it's entertaining... chances are, if you liked Ender's Game, you'll like this, perhaps even more than it's official sequel, Speaker for the Dead (which is a good book but very different in style and feel).
I usually tend to read these two together now... when I have the urge to read one, once I'm done, I jump to the other, which I suppose makes it, in my mind, a worthy companion, even if it is inferior in many ways.
Finished: Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Another reread, another copy of my Goodreads review
In the near future, Robert Gu, a famous poet who has spent the previous decades suffering from Alzheimer's is cured, not just of the disease, but of many of the physical problems of old age. He can rejoin the world, albeit at a disadvantage. In order to retrain in this new world of wearable computers and augmented reality, belief circles and answer boards, he must go to vocational school, while living with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, all of whom are on guard, because before Alzheimer's, Robert Gu could be a cruel and hurtful person. Robert thinks it won't take him too long to make his life his own again, until he soon discovers that he's lost his skill at "making words sing" as a side-effect of the Alzheimer's cure. And when somebody offers him a chance to get it back, it'll get him involved in a conspiracy with worldwide implications.
I've read this book a few times, and always enjoyed it, but mostly I enjoy it for the cool extrapolations of current technology, down around twenty years of progress. Unlike a lot of SF, most of what's proposed at least seems plausible, occasionally even inevitable (the social and pop-cultural changes are a lot more hit-and-miss). It is this sense of technological wonder that keeps me coming back. The story... there's nothing particularly wrong with it (I do think towards the end it kind of gets a little too complicated and into esoteric technological issues for its own good, but otherwise it's fine), it just doesn't sweep me along on rereads like many of the other books I read again and again, even Vinge's other novels. Which is a little strange because the character have more depth than most of the characters in his other novels. For this book, once I know what happens once, I use rereading it more as a vehicle to explore the technological possibilities of the future.
That said, while it doesn't hold a candle to A Fire Upon the Deep or some of his other books, I do think it's worth a read for most SF fans and is probably more immediately accessible than much of his other work for those a little newer to the genre.
Finished: A Time of Changes, by Robert Silverberg
This one was a hard one to track down, either I had to overpay to buy one of the overpriced oversized TPB versions, or buy online (which is kind of cheating for used books), but I finally stumbled across it in a used bookstore.
The story is the first-person memoir of a human on a distant world, born to a society where words like "I" and "me" are considered obscenities, the sharing of your self with others a sin that should be limited as much as possible. When he encounters a man from Earth with a rare and illegal drug, he finally begins to question his society and tries to act against it, at great cost. Full review behind cut, short version: Meh.
The book was written in 1971, and it feels it. In fact, if I'd known nothing about the book in advance, I would have guessed it was late sixties, early-seventies. So yes, it's rather dated, not so much in terms of the technology (which actually holds up because there's very little of it... and the most prominent science fictional element is something that still crops up in new stories, but is not quite as fashionable as it was in the time period the book was written), but in style and some of the themes. Depending on your tastes, this might not be such a bad thing.
For me, it felt somewhat affected and artificial,and maybe a little too amused by its own cleverness. Because of this, it took a lot longer to get into it, and although at about a third of the way in I started getting a little involved in the story and the society, it never quite rose to the level of any of the books I find myself reading twice.
Still, with this book I have officially read every novel that's won either a Hugo or a Nebula award in the 20th century! And most of the current 21st winners, too. (Retro-Hugos excepted). So that's something!
Finished: Impulse, by Steven Gould (third in the Jumper series)
Been waiting for years for this book, and although maybe it didn't live completely up to expectations, but it didn't disappoint, either! Minor problems, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and want more.
More behind the cut, including a few minor spoilers.
This is the third book in a series that began with Jumper, and then continued with Reflex (the book Jumper: Griffin's Story is not part of the series, being set in the universe of the far inferior movie adaptation of Jumper, but, being written by the same author, is actually worth reading if you like the series). The other books focused on David Rice, who discovers himself with the ability to teleport (and of course his girlfriend, later wife, Millie).
This book is set some fifteen years after the last, and focuses on their teenage daughter, Cent, who discovers she has also inherited the ability.
I waited a long time for this book, and it really is hard to evaluate it on its merits, because I just like the first and its universe so much. On that level, it certainly satisfied... sure, there are certain tropes that seem to keep popping up in his works, and the main character seems a little too perfect (except for a little impulsive recklessness, but usually for a good cause), and a little too much like a female copy of Davy, but it was like visiting an old friend, and having a great time.
The first book in the series was mostly a story about a young man making his way in the world, with teleporting powers. The second was sort of a spy-thriller, with teleporting powers. This one, is mostly, a high school story, with teleporting powers. And I'm not sure all of that high school stuff comes off completely believably (but then, I haven't been a high school student in quite a while either), but it doesn't ring immediately false, either. Maybe a little exaggerated in some ways, naive in others, but no worse than a decent TV show set in one. The important thing was that I was constantly engaged and wanting to read more.
Part of this is because the author yet again finds some creative uses for the teleporting power, including giving Cent a signature ability that she makes great use of (one of my major believability flaws came from the notion that the characters never seemed to do much teaching of each other, in terms of their special ways to use the powers... they know what each other can do, but they never seem to ask each other to teach them how it's done)... that was always one of my favorite aspects of the books, imagining what you might do with these powers, and it's refreshing to see how he's always got cool ideas.
Is it a perfect book? No, but it's a worthy successor that I had a lot of fun with, and I know I will again.
Finished: Zendegi, by Greg Egan
Normally what I read from Greg Egan is far future, post-human stuff. This one's set in a near-future Iran (after a democractic revolution), and I quite enjoyed it. Some minor spoilers behind the cut.
Zendegi starts during but is set mostly after a democratic revolution in Iran. Fifteen years after the fall of the theocracy, a scientist and an ill father living in Iran explore the possibilities of advancements in artificial intelligence, through the popular multiplayer game Zendegi.
This is probably my favorite Greg Egan novel to date. The setting of a near-future Iran is interesting, the characters real and relatable, and the science believable without being too overwhelming (unlike some of his books, there's not a chart to be found!). The latter deserves special note, because, a lot of times, SF takes the tactic of dramatizing one big scientific advance. In Zendegi, we get a story a lot closer to how advances really happen... small, incremental steps, over the course of years. Egan weaves the stories of the character through these minor developments, raising the issues (occasionally very real and worth considering) of each development and also illustrating some of the effects, but the changes doesn't take over the whole world... they may some day, but what we get is just a peek ahead at a very plausible future that's not too different from our own. This is a refreshing approach.
I do feel that the story doesn't finish in a satisfactory way... again, this is probably a more realistic approach, with things left unresolved and goals going unaccomplished. The story's complete in that it doesn't require a sequel (although there's room for it, and I'd like to see one), but on an emotional level I don't feel like I got quite what I wanted from it. If he'd managed that, I'd have given it a fourth star, but as it is, I still quite enjoyed it.
Finished: The Fractal Prince, by Hannu Rajaniemi
I was going to wait for either a used copy or a paperback version, but every time I saw it somewhere I got tempted to just buy it, even though I was a little mixed on the first, I really loved a lot of the settings and ideas explored.
The sequel to The Quantum Thief, this takes the posthuman thief Jean le Flambeur to Earth, where only one human city survives... and it may not do that for much longer.
I hoped that, by starting the sequel not long after reading the first book, I might feel a little less lost. If so, it's not all that much of a help... once again the author throws you in the deep end with a story full of concepts that aren't explained right away, and that often seem to be a lot closer to fantasy than science fiction. You're left to piece together a lot of what's happening by context, and although there's much consistent with the last book, there's plenty of new stuff as well.
But, like the first book, there's something extremely compelling about it. It's not an easy read, but at the end of it, I wanted more, and I know I'm going to be reading the whole series again whenever the third book comes out... and maybe even once or twice before then, too.
Finished: Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder (Virga, book 1) (reread)
Another reread, in preparation for buying the TPB of the final book in the series, Ashes of Candesce, with some birthday money (just came out in that format).
Goodreads copy/paste again, I've reviewed it here previous times of course so if you've read that there's no reason to read this (if people are anyway):
Sun of Suns is the first book in a series set in the distant world of Virga, an Earth-sized sphere filled with air, and inhabited on the vast interior, where gravity is a luxury you can't always count on and light and heat comes from artificial suns... and some have to do without. It follows Hayden Griffin, who starts off on a quest for revenge against the man he believes responsible for his parents deaths, only to wind up on a mission with him, for the nation that conquered his own.
The book's always been something of an odd mix... much of it reading like a naval adventure tale, complete with pirates, gun battles, and swordfights, albeit in a unique setting. There's a dash of a steampunk vibe, with the majority of the characters coming from (and adventuring in) an environment that doesn't have complicated electronics, but that scientific progress has still continued in other ways. There's room to explore far-future high-tech that seems like it verges on magic, and some ideas with surprising novelty. And there's even a bit of hard science fiction with the way he plays with the setting itself.
That setting really is something spectacular, and Schroeder seems to have rigorously thought out the consequences of living inside a vast sphere of air, how that changes the technology and the people and creatures who live there, and how to describe it in a way that makes it accessible without making your head spin (much). It really comes alive and starts to feel like a real place that could exist, and I've reread it several times just to be transported back there.
It's not a novel that relies on a cool setting alone, though. There are a handful of engaging characters, and the plot is compelling all the way through. Even the characters who are totally ruthless manage to stay sympathetic, and even though it's the first part of a series, you absolutely can read it as a stand-alone tale because it tells a complete story for many of the characters... but, just like reality, sometimes new stories start where the old ones leave off.
Finished: A War of Gifts, by Orson Scott Card
While Ender was in Battle School, there was another boy there named Zeck, who grew up in a very religious household, and doesn't want to be practicing war. When he notices two of his classmates observing a religious tradition that's supposed to be disallowed, he raises a stink and causes a larger conflict over whether religious observances should be permitted.
I normally only buy this author's books used, but in this case, even if I didn't... I probably would have only bought THIS one used. I was even prepared to skip this book entirely... it's really more of a novella, and not a very deep sounding one. Also, considering the author's known religion-based (and, in my view, morally abhorrent) stances on a number of issues, I thought there was a better than average chance that a story involving religious observances at Battle School would wind up being something of a soapbox. But, I found it used for a cheap price, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I was maybe half right. The book is entirely skippable. It's filler at best. But there's nothing wrong with filler if it's filled with stuff you love. Is it a soapbox? Well, if it is, it's a confused one. (more behind cut) There are certainly a few eyebrow-raising moments where you wonder if he's trying to make a specific point, or portraying one side in a negative light for other than story reasons, but there's nothing blatant about it. If somebody else had written this, I wouldn't be able to tell if he thought at a place like Battle School religion SHOULD be minimized, or if not. Given who did write it, I have my suspicions, but he's subtle enough on that particular point to let it slide.
The real problem here is that the logic seems to be tortured to make the story work. Nobody seems to have a good reason for behaving how they react in a number of circumstances. Nobody wants to send Zeck home because they think it'll encourage other people to behave like him if they want to get home... except, even Ender was apparently offered a choice about whether to go to Battle School, and there have to be ways for somebody determined not to be there to get out. There's no evidence anyone else might act like Zeck because he's a notable exception. If someone doesn't want to be there so bad that they won't even train, and they screw up the morale of others, they're not going to be a useful soldier, and they only encourage others to be disobedient, so I think it's pretty safe to let them go. But they couldn't, or the story wouldn't work.
Similarly, with the religious observances ban, it seemed the only option they had was completely ignoring it or coming down heavy-handed and banning it entirely, when you could come up with some set of guidelines that would allow a compromise. But they couldn't, or the story wouldn't work.
So, I don't really think the story fits with the Enderverse too well, nor is it essential. It's relatively inoffensive, but there's just no real reason to read this unless you're a completist or really like examples of Ender-as-the-perfect-messiah-type-that-solves-everything.
Started: Queen of Candesce, by Karl Schroeder (Virga, book 2) (reread)
Started: To Challenge Chaos, by Brian Stableford
So, yeah, that's all I have to say on books. My birthday this Sunday. What happened to my youth? Oh yeah, I wasted it in depression and social anxiety, just like I'm wasting my life now. :P You'd think it would run out sooner or later, but nope.
Anyway, Walking Dead's still enjoyable, for the most part, and Game of Thrones and Doctor Who are both starting soon. So that's something.
In honor of Veronica Mars completing its Kickstarter, I'm doing a rewatch of the series. In some ways it's kind of amazing the little ways in how the world's changed since it started.
Usual complaints about Card, I always tend to read this when I read Ender's Game.
More detailed review under the cut, copied from my Goodreads.
This novel takes place during Ender's Game (which should be read first), and focuses on Bean, one of the young soldiers in Ender's army, from his early life struggling to survive on the streets of Rotterdam, to the end of the original book (and it's also the start of a series focusing on his life after).
The original book occasionally veered into the unbelievable with its depictions of the abilities of super-intelligent children, and this book does so even more, with what Bean is capable of even as an infant, but if you can get past that (and it's relatively easy to), it's a very enjoyable story. Bean's a compelling contrast to Ender, not quite intelligence without emotion, but very emotionally unaware, rationalizing away his decisions of the heart and being fascinated by people who sacrifice for his own benefit.
About a quarter of the book is directly retelling parts of Ender's Game, from a different perspective, and occasionally completely recontextualizing scenes, so, from Bean's perspective, something completely different is going on. And sometimes the author does get too cute with his attempts to tie Bean into the behind-the-scenes of Ender's story. Still, much of the story is Bean's own, and it's entertaining... chances are, if you liked Ender's Game, you'll like this, perhaps even more than it's official sequel, Speaker for the Dead (which is a good book but very different in style and feel).
I usually tend to read these two together now... when I have the urge to read one, once I'm done, I jump to the other, which I suppose makes it, in my mind, a worthy companion, even if it is inferior in many ways.
Finished: Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Another reread, another copy of my Goodreads review
In the near future, Robert Gu, a famous poet who has spent the previous decades suffering from Alzheimer's is cured, not just of the disease, but of many of the physical problems of old age. He can rejoin the world, albeit at a disadvantage. In order to retrain in this new world of wearable computers and augmented reality, belief circles and answer boards, he must go to vocational school, while living with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, all of whom are on guard, because before Alzheimer's, Robert Gu could be a cruel and hurtful person. Robert thinks it won't take him too long to make his life his own again, until he soon discovers that he's lost his skill at "making words sing" as a side-effect of the Alzheimer's cure. And when somebody offers him a chance to get it back, it'll get him involved in a conspiracy with worldwide implications.
I've read this book a few times, and always enjoyed it, but mostly I enjoy it for the cool extrapolations of current technology, down around twenty years of progress. Unlike a lot of SF, most of what's proposed at least seems plausible, occasionally even inevitable (the social and pop-cultural changes are a lot more hit-and-miss). It is this sense of technological wonder that keeps me coming back. The story... there's nothing particularly wrong with it (I do think towards the end it kind of gets a little too complicated and into esoteric technological issues for its own good, but otherwise it's fine), it just doesn't sweep me along on rereads like many of the other books I read again and again, even Vinge's other novels. Which is a little strange because the character have more depth than most of the characters in his other novels. For this book, once I know what happens once, I use rereading it more as a vehicle to explore the technological possibilities of the future.
That said, while it doesn't hold a candle to A Fire Upon the Deep or some of his other books, I do think it's worth a read for most SF fans and is probably more immediately accessible than much of his other work for those a little newer to the genre.
Finished: A Time of Changes, by Robert Silverberg
This one was a hard one to track down, either I had to overpay to buy one of the overpriced oversized TPB versions, or buy online (which is kind of cheating for used books), but I finally stumbled across it in a used bookstore.
The story is the first-person memoir of a human on a distant world, born to a society where words like "I" and "me" are considered obscenities, the sharing of your self with others a sin that should be limited as much as possible. When he encounters a man from Earth with a rare and illegal drug, he finally begins to question his society and tries to act against it, at great cost. Full review behind cut, short version: Meh.
The book was written in 1971, and it feels it. In fact, if I'd known nothing about the book in advance, I would have guessed it was late sixties, early-seventies. So yes, it's rather dated, not so much in terms of the technology (which actually holds up because there's very little of it... and the most prominent science fictional element is something that still crops up in new stories, but is not quite as fashionable as it was in the time period the book was written), but in style and some of the themes. Depending on your tastes, this might not be such a bad thing.
For me, it felt somewhat affected and artificial,and maybe a little too amused by its own cleverness. Because of this, it took a lot longer to get into it, and although at about a third of the way in I started getting a little involved in the story and the society, it never quite rose to the level of any of the books I find myself reading twice.
Still, with this book I have officially read every novel that's won either a Hugo or a Nebula award in the 20th century! And most of the current 21st winners, too. (Retro-Hugos excepted). So that's something!
Finished: Impulse, by Steven Gould (third in the Jumper series)
Been waiting for years for this book, and although maybe it didn't live completely up to expectations, but it didn't disappoint, either! Minor problems, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and want more.
More behind the cut, including a few minor spoilers.
This is the third book in a series that began with Jumper, and then continued with Reflex (the book Jumper: Griffin's Story is not part of the series, being set in the universe of the far inferior movie adaptation of Jumper, but, being written by the same author, is actually worth reading if you like the series). The other books focused on David Rice, who discovers himself with the ability to teleport (and of course his girlfriend, later wife, Millie).
This book is set some fifteen years after the last, and focuses on their teenage daughter, Cent, who discovers she has also inherited the ability.
I waited a long time for this book, and it really is hard to evaluate it on its merits, because I just like the first and its universe so much. On that level, it certainly satisfied... sure, there are certain tropes that seem to keep popping up in his works, and the main character seems a little too perfect (except for a little impulsive recklessness, but usually for a good cause), and a little too much like a female copy of Davy, but it was like visiting an old friend, and having a great time.
The first book in the series was mostly a story about a young man making his way in the world, with teleporting powers. The second was sort of a spy-thriller, with teleporting powers. This one, is mostly, a high school story, with teleporting powers. And I'm not sure all of that high school stuff comes off completely believably (but then, I haven't been a high school student in quite a while either), but it doesn't ring immediately false, either. Maybe a little exaggerated in some ways, naive in others, but no worse than a decent TV show set in one. The important thing was that I was constantly engaged and wanting to read more.
Part of this is because the author yet again finds some creative uses for the teleporting power, including giving Cent a signature ability that she makes great use of (one of my major believability flaws came from the notion that the characters never seemed to do much teaching of each other, in terms of their special ways to use the powers... they know what each other can do, but they never seem to ask each other to teach them how it's done)... that was always one of my favorite aspects of the books, imagining what you might do with these powers, and it's refreshing to see how he's always got cool ideas.
Is it a perfect book? No, but it's a worthy successor that I had a lot of fun with, and I know I will again.
Finished: Zendegi, by Greg Egan
Normally what I read from Greg Egan is far future, post-human stuff. This one's set in a near-future Iran (after a democractic revolution), and I quite enjoyed it. Some minor spoilers behind the cut.
Zendegi starts during but is set mostly after a democratic revolution in Iran. Fifteen years after the fall of the theocracy, a scientist and an ill father living in Iran explore the possibilities of advancements in artificial intelligence, through the popular multiplayer game Zendegi.
This is probably my favorite Greg Egan novel to date. The setting of a near-future Iran is interesting, the characters real and relatable, and the science believable without being too overwhelming (unlike some of his books, there's not a chart to be found!). The latter deserves special note, because, a lot of times, SF takes the tactic of dramatizing one big scientific advance. In Zendegi, we get a story a lot closer to how advances really happen... small, incremental steps, over the course of years. Egan weaves the stories of the character through these minor developments, raising the issues (occasionally very real and worth considering) of each development and also illustrating some of the effects, but the changes doesn't take over the whole world... they may some day, but what we get is just a peek ahead at a very plausible future that's not too different from our own. This is a refreshing approach.
I do feel that the story doesn't finish in a satisfactory way... again, this is probably a more realistic approach, with things left unresolved and goals going unaccomplished. The story's complete in that it doesn't require a sequel (although there's room for it, and I'd like to see one), but on an emotional level I don't feel like I got quite what I wanted from it. If he'd managed that, I'd have given it a fourth star, but as it is, I still quite enjoyed it.
Finished: The Fractal Prince, by Hannu Rajaniemi
I was going to wait for either a used copy or a paperback version, but every time I saw it somewhere I got tempted to just buy it, even though I was a little mixed on the first, I really loved a lot of the settings and ideas explored.
The sequel to The Quantum Thief, this takes the posthuman thief Jean le Flambeur to Earth, where only one human city survives... and it may not do that for much longer.
I hoped that, by starting the sequel not long after reading the first book, I might feel a little less lost. If so, it's not all that much of a help... once again the author throws you in the deep end with a story full of concepts that aren't explained right away, and that often seem to be a lot closer to fantasy than science fiction. You're left to piece together a lot of what's happening by context, and although there's much consistent with the last book, there's plenty of new stuff as well.
But, like the first book, there's something extremely compelling about it. It's not an easy read, but at the end of it, I wanted more, and I know I'm going to be reading the whole series again whenever the third book comes out... and maybe even once or twice before then, too.
Finished: Sun of Suns, by Karl Schroeder (Virga, book 1) (reread)
Another reread, in preparation for buying the TPB of the final book in the series, Ashes of Candesce, with some birthday money (just came out in that format).
Goodreads copy/paste again, I've reviewed it here previous times of course so if you've read that there's no reason to read this (if people are anyway):
Sun of Suns is the first book in a series set in the distant world of Virga, an Earth-sized sphere filled with air, and inhabited on the vast interior, where gravity is a luxury you can't always count on and light and heat comes from artificial suns... and some have to do without. It follows Hayden Griffin, who starts off on a quest for revenge against the man he believes responsible for his parents deaths, only to wind up on a mission with him, for the nation that conquered his own.
The book's always been something of an odd mix... much of it reading like a naval adventure tale, complete with pirates, gun battles, and swordfights, albeit in a unique setting. There's a dash of a steampunk vibe, with the majority of the characters coming from (and adventuring in) an environment that doesn't have complicated electronics, but that scientific progress has still continued in other ways. There's room to explore far-future high-tech that seems like it verges on magic, and some ideas with surprising novelty. And there's even a bit of hard science fiction with the way he plays with the setting itself.
That setting really is something spectacular, and Schroeder seems to have rigorously thought out the consequences of living inside a vast sphere of air, how that changes the technology and the people and creatures who live there, and how to describe it in a way that makes it accessible without making your head spin (much). It really comes alive and starts to feel like a real place that could exist, and I've reread it several times just to be transported back there.
It's not a novel that relies on a cool setting alone, though. There are a handful of engaging characters, and the plot is compelling all the way through. Even the characters who are totally ruthless manage to stay sympathetic, and even though it's the first part of a series, you absolutely can read it as a stand-alone tale because it tells a complete story for many of the characters... but, just like reality, sometimes new stories start where the old ones leave off.
Finished: A War of Gifts, by Orson Scott Card
While Ender was in Battle School, there was another boy there named Zeck, who grew up in a very religious household, and doesn't want to be practicing war. When he notices two of his classmates observing a religious tradition that's supposed to be disallowed, he raises a stink and causes a larger conflict over whether religious observances should be permitted.
I normally only buy this author's books used, but in this case, even if I didn't... I probably would have only bought THIS one used. I was even prepared to skip this book entirely... it's really more of a novella, and not a very deep sounding one. Also, considering the author's known religion-based (and, in my view, morally abhorrent) stances on a number of issues, I thought there was a better than average chance that a story involving religious observances at Battle School would wind up being something of a soapbox. But, I found it used for a cheap price, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I was maybe half right. The book is entirely skippable. It's filler at best. But there's nothing wrong with filler if it's filled with stuff you love. Is it a soapbox? Well, if it is, it's a confused one. (more behind cut) There are certainly a few eyebrow-raising moments where you wonder if he's trying to make a specific point, or portraying one side in a negative light for other than story reasons, but there's nothing blatant about it. If somebody else had written this, I wouldn't be able to tell if he thought at a place like Battle School religion SHOULD be minimized, or if not. Given who did write it, I have my suspicions, but he's subtle enough on that particular point to let it slide.
The real problem here is that the logic seems to be tortured to make the story work. Nobody seems to have a good reason for behaving how they react in a number of circumstances. Nobody wants to send Zeck home because they think it'll encourage other people to behave like him if they want to get home... except, even Ender was apparently offered a choice about whether to go to Battle School, and there have to be ways for somebody determined not to be there to get out. There's no evidence anyone else might act like Zeck because he's a notable exception. If someone doesn't want to be there so bad that they won't even train, and they screw up the morale of others, they're not going to be a useful soldier, and they only encourage others to be disobedient, so I think it's pretty safe to let them go. But they couldn't, or the story wouldn't work.
Similarly, with the religious observances ban, it seemed the only option they had was completely ignoring it or coming down heavy-handed and banning it entirely, when you could come up with some set of guidelines that would allow a compromise. But they couldn't, or the story wouldn't work.
So, I don't really think the story fits with the Enderverse too well, nor is it essential. It's relatively inoffensive, but there's just no real reason to read this unless you're a completist or really like examples of Ender-as-the-perfect-messiah-type-that-solves-everything.
Started: Queen of Candesce, by Karl Schroeder (Virga, book 2) (reread)
Started: To Challenge Chaos, by Brian Stableford
So, yeah, that's all I have to say on books. My birthday this Sunday. What happened to my youth? Oh yeah, I wasted it in depression and social anxiety, just like I'm wasting my life now. :P You'd think it would run out sooner or later, but nope.
Anyway, Walking Dead's still enjoyable, for the most part, and Game of Thrones and Doctor Who are both starting soon. So that's something.
In honor of Veronica Mars completing its Kickstarter, I'm doing a rewatch of the series. In some ways it's kind of amazing the little ways in how the world's changed since it started.
