Net nesupratau, ką čia perskaičiau. Kažkoks beprasmis vardų, vietų ir pareigybių kratinys. Ar aš sąžiningai galėčiau papasakoti, apie ką ši knyga ir kNet nesupratau, ką čia perskaičiau. Kažkoks beprasmis vardų, vietų ir pareigybių kratinys. Ar aš sąžiningai galėčiau papasakoti, apie ką ši knyga ir koks jos siužetas? Nelabai. 2*, bet ir tos su didžiuliu avansu. ...more
Nu taip, taip, cyberpunk tėvas, Matricos įkvėpimas, 2077 vaibas kairėj ir dešinėj, I know.
Bet kažkaip nepaėjo ir visai abejingas buvau didžiąją kNu taip, taip, cyberpunk tėvas, Matricos įkvėpimas, 2077 vaibas kairėj ir dešinėj, I know.
Bet kažkaip nepaėjo ir visai abejingas buvau didžiąją knygos dalį. Tik pati pačiausia pabaiga kažkiek pataisė įspūdį. Bet dabar, kai perskaičiau lietuviškai, pilnai suprantu, kad ne be reikalo aš ją quit'inau per pirmus 10%, kai pirmą kartą skaičiau angliškai. Kažkaip per tiršta čia visko, ir tame tirštume pati istorija su personažais priburbuliuoja. 3*, bet silpnokos. Trilogijos netęsiu. ...more
Na ką aš galiu pasakyti. Sėdėjau ir skaičiau, skaičiau, skaičiau. 3-4 dienos, ir perskaičiau. Nepaisant fakto, kad knygos forma tokia, jog drąsiai praNa ką aš galiu pasakyti. Sėdėjau ir skaičiau, skaičiau, skaičiau. 3-4 dienos, ir perskaičiau. Nepaisant fakto, kad knygos forma tokia, jog drąsiai praeitų kaip šaltasis ginklas. Ne mirtinas, bet pilnai pajėgus "suveikti" BK 135 straipsnį. Čia sunkus sveikatos sutrikdymas, jei kam kilo abejonė. :))
O turinio prasme - jokių priekaištų, jokių pretenzijų. Viskas suėjo labai lengvai ir tų 900 psl. buvo per mažai, tad dėl įvertinimo jokių didesnių abejonių irgi nėra. Labai solidžios 5*, ir kiek teko girdėti, Paolini savo Fractalverse serijoje planuoja iš viso 5 knygas. Kas reiškia, tikėtina, trilogija + pora trumpesnių knygų. Tai laukiam, laukiam. ...more
As this is a short story, I'll only write a short review. :)
Really enjoyed getting back into the Dark Law world and it was truly interesting to see moAs this is a short story, I'll only write a short review. :)
Really enjoyed getting back into the Dark Law world and it was truly interesting to see more into reticula and Ria. Can't wait to read more about Miree, Ribcage and, of course, one and only Beetroo! I don't have any particular criticism for this book and since I enjoyed this story, a 5* rating seems fair. ...more
Well, that was... Unexpected. Interesting, but very different from what I thought this will be about. Because, let's see. Is it a sci-fi? Well, yes. YWell, that was... Unexpected. Interesting, but very different from what I thought this will be about. Because, let's see. Is it a sci-fi? Well, yes. You can't even call it a soft sci fi. At the same time, the sci in this book is very "local" (no spaceships, planets, galaxies, superb tech or particle weapons, etc.) and very chemically medical. I guess this is the one book, when you can see for yourself that when it is written by a real doctor of medicine, the injuries and traumas and recoveries and generally everything health related is very diffrent to what we are accustomed to. Because of the blood and sutures and chemically correct drug administration, at least.
Besides that, it also is a very atypical invasion/first contact book. And I really liked the extraterrestrial beings, though admittedly they are not very active characters - for the most of the book they are more of an afterthought, than something substantial. The idea and biochemistry of these beings is quite impressive.
Main character, dr. Darrow is really tough, prickly, grumpy and generally well written. I could really relate to her and feel her thoughs and motivations. The supporting cast lacked it a bit, but since it is a book about Saint Elspeth after all, I guess I can overlook it. The book promised a very strong lead character and delivered. And no promises for support cast had been made.
The post-apocalyptic world is just as I imagine it would look like. Bland, a bit dirty, full of resource shortages and quite empty. Though I missed a bit that background, about how the bombs fell. There had been this TV Show, Jericho, made on the same premise - Little town, bombs fell, nobody knows anything and everybody is scared shitless. And though Jericho later lost a bit of steam and transformed into more or less casual power games/raiders/resources drama (quite similar to this book here, actually), that's probably still one of the top 3 tv series starts for me. It grips, chills and captivates. So yeah, I missed that a bit here.
But overall, it is a book I really enjoyed and especially liked precisely because it's a sci-fi, but different sci-fi. Not that kind I usually read and not that kind that is easy to find. So, I guess my objective rating would be a 9/10 and, as usually, I give the benefit of doubt for those half star ratings, so it's a 5* read....more
A short, but decent Invasion/First contact sci-fi, abundant of Chalker's usual transhumanistic and conditioning vs. free will themes. And, as also usuA short, but decent Invasion/First contact sci-fi, abundant of Chalker's usual transhumanistic and conditioning vs. free will themes. And, as also usual with Chalker, a bit awkward at times. Still worth a read though. ...more
A decent, fast paced story about a rift in a spacetime continuum and the resulting paradox. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but on the other hand - A decent, fast paced story about a rift in a spacetime continuum and the resulting paradox. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but on the other hand - as a debut novel - it feels quite well-written, especially in terms of smoothness and pace. Also, additional plus in my point of view is for resisting the common temptation of science fiction and NOT overusing these bulky, clumsy hard words. I'm not sure if it is a quote by someone famous or it is my own thought, but I've always said that it takes someone to be really smart to tell complex things in a simple way, so thats the case.
On the other hand (the one that holds cons), this is a kind of story that seems familiar. Sure, it is so hard to come up with fresh, unheard ideas, but thats what make these books really stand out. Also, the story lacked a kind of balance in a couple of moments. Like, on page X the Jonah crew are "what the hell, who's the fortunate five? We've got nothing to do with them and no resemblance whatsover, don't be ridiculous", and on page X+1 they already are like "Fortunate5? Sure we are, we're them heroes, no prob, cheers mate". No middle ground there. Also, add lots and lots of "fortunate coincidents", that are basically bordering on the "Deus ex Machina" trope, and, well, you get me.
And what's with names? I really get confused every time, when I encounter these strange human names, future or no future. I'm pretty sure that by now we have enough history to conclude that, well, classics remains.
All in all, it is a simple, decent sci-fi'ish pageturner without any claim to be grand or complex. I'll go with 3*, since I still had fun reading it, but it is a long way from truly grand science fiction. ...more
Plus, I'm still at awe how my favorite NETFLIX episodes corresponds tBasically, every word I've wrote reviewing the first book applies here likewise.
Plus, I'm still at awe how my favorite NETFLIX episodes corresponds to my favorite book short stories. And I'm not even jumping in a bandwagon of Jibaro superfans. I liked "The Very Pulse of the Machine" more, though "Jibaro" is also crazy good.
Anyways, my highest recommendations for this series!...more
Šita knyga yra visiškas mindfuck, bet deja deja, ne gerąja prasme.
Siužetas suveltas, neišplėtotas. Visa biosfera išpūsta iki karikatūriško lygio. To Šita knyga yra visiškas mindfuck, bet deja deja, ne gerąja prasme.
Siužetas suveltas, neišplėtotas. Visa biosfera išpūsta iki karikatūriško lygio. To tokio, pavadinkim jį realizmu (kuris geroje knygoje vistiek turi būti, nesvarbu ar horror, ar fantasy ar dar koks tos knygos žanras) nerasta absoliučiai. Sunku sekti autoriaus mintis. Apskritai, kartais apima mintis, kad skaitau kažkokius knygos apmatus, ne pačią knygą.
Nei personažai, nei siužetas netempia padoraus saifajaus lygio. Kokiu būdu šitas kūrinėlis sugebėjo laimėti Hugo, man yra visiška mįslė. Labai smarkiai šiaip sau knyga. ...more
Love, Death and Robots is a title that probably everyone who’s at least a bit into sci-fi heard because of very successful NETFLIX adaptation. Me too Love, Death and Robots is a title that probably everyone who’s at least a bit into sci-fi heard because of very successful NETFLIX adaptation. Me too – first contact and first love had been watching the anthology series. While doing so, I recognized a few familiar names in the credits, and that peaked my interest. I mean, when you see names like John Scalzi or Alastair Reynolds – you get interested by default, right?
It probably would be nice to re-tell and give my brief opinion on each and every short story, yeah? But I’m a lazy one and I won’t do it, duh. Instead, I’ll say that the most amazing feature of this whole collaboration or a project, whatever you call it, had been such an accurate depiction of each and every story. Yes, sometimes there are few minor, very minor differences. But in general – the level of commitment by all the studios to keep each and every word accurate is nothing short of impressive.
Another fun thing had been realizing that my favorite short stories in the book are exactly the same ones as their animated counterparts. That’s “Suits”, “Sonny’s edge”, “Lucky thirteen”, “Beyond the Aquilla Rift”. Aaaaand of course “How the yoghurt took over”. Can’t imagine anyone but Scalzi having enough craziness for a story like that.
In a nutshell – a delightfully good collection. It might not have a huge WOW effect for me, but personally I think that’s more due to watching all those great stories a few times before finally getting to read them. 5* ...more
Iš esmės, absoliučiai tinka kiekvienas "Plieninės Žiurkės" apžvalgoje parašytas žodis. Ką papildomai galima parašyti apie PŽ kerštą, tai kad ji, lyginIš esmės, absoliučiai tinka kiekvienas "Plieninės Žiurkės" apžvalgoje parašytas žodis. Ką papildomai galima parašyti apie PŽ kerštą, tai kad ji, lyginant su pirmąja dalimi, dar labiau pacifistinė, dar labiau šaržuoja karą, kariuomenę, Rusiją ir apskritai imperializmą ir šovinizmą. Ir nuo to ji niekaip ne prastesnė už pirmtakę. 4*....more
Toks biškutuką #throwbackthursday stiliaus skaitinys. Ir, aišku, gan akivazdu jį skaitant darosi, kad nu nebe 14 metų man, nebėra tokio "so wow, much Toks biškutuką #throwbackthursday stiliaus skaitinys. Ir, aišku, gan akivazdu jį skaitant darosi, kad nu nebe 14 metų man, nebėra tokio "so wow, much nice" efekto, na bet sena meilė vistiek nerūdyja. Pašveist, papoliruot gal ir reiktų, bet apie rūdis - tikrai jokios kalbos.
O štai perskaitęs kelias "Žiurkės" apžvalgas pastebėjau keistą ir gan nemalonią tendenciją. Daug vertintojų numušinėja balus nes, matai gi, jiems ši fantastika jau suprastėjusi ir senamadiška ("didn't age well"), kaip patys rašo. Tai man toks šventas pyktis dabar dėl to užėjęs, norėtųsi anų objektyvizmo bei postmodernizmo asų paklaust, ar jie ir "Trims muškietininkams" žvaigždutes numušinėjo, nes d'Artanjanas ryžu arkliu joddinėja, o ne už Peugeot 3008 GT line'o vairo judesiukus daro? Ar Žiulis Vernas jiems irgi "aged badly", nes nenuspėjo ateities 100%? Uch, vertintojai didieji.
Kad ir kaip ten bebūtų, jei ieškote labai lengvo, greito, satyra ir sarkazmu persmelkto auksinio periodo saifajaus/trilerio mišinio, tai turbūt nedaug knygų geriau atitiks šiuos remus, nei "Plieninė Žiurkė". Vis dar rekomenduoju. Solidžios 4*....more
Kiek teko girdėti atsiliepimų ir komentarų, tai "Plieninė žiurkė", iš esmės, yra toks dalykas, kuris arba tau visiškai limpa, arba visiškai meh. Man -Kiek teko girdėti atsiliepimų ir komentarų, tai "Plieninė žiurkė", iš esmės, yra toks dalykas, kuris arba tau visiškai limpa, arba visiškai meh. Man - limpa, kaip turi būti, tad 5 žvaigždės - nieko keisto. Aišku, kritikuoti tiek žiurkę, tiek patį Harrisoną, tikrai būtų galima. Bet, visų pirma, reikia įvertinti patį knygos stilių ir subžanrą. Kuris yra visiškai lengvo turinio space westernas, lengvai pamaišytas su satyra. Turint tą omeny, bent jau man asmeniškai niekaip neišeina vertinti tokios knygos pagal tuos pačius kriterijus, kuriais aš vertinčiau, tarkim, save labai rimtu pateikiantį fantasy ar išvis, neduokdie, kokį modernų romaną a la Houellebecq style.
Apie pačią knygą ir jos turinį nesiplėsiu, čia kaip Grishamas. Skaitėt vieną žiurkę - skaitėt visas. Tas pats smarkiai šaržuotas 007, per visus nuotykius ir pavojus einantis kaip karštas peilis per sviestą, dažniausiai - dėl elementarios sėkmės. Bet man tai - daug labiau privalumas, nei trūkumas. Ideali smegenų džiovykla. 5*....more
Na ir ką jūs sau galvojate? Vėl buvo moteris knygoje. Netgi ne "šiaip moteris", o gan ženklią rolę turėjusi. Ir netgi ne viena. Tuo pasidžiaukime, o šNa ir ką jūs sau galvojate? Vėl buvo moteris knygoje. Netgi ne "šiaip moteris", o gan ženklią rolę turėjusi. Ir netgi ne viena. Tuo pasidžiaukime, o šnekant apie knygą - visai nebloga tiek individualiai, tiek kaip trilogijos pabaiga.
Šioje, trečiojoje dalyje gerokai aukštesnis dinamizmas nei man mažiau patikusioje antrojoje. Vėl daugiau kažkur skrendama, kažko daroma, siekiama, bandoma, nei vien tik filosofuojama ir skambiomis frazėmis bandoma pateisinti vienų ar kitų personažų motyvacijas.
Tiesa, nepaleidžia neišbagtumo pojūtis. Seldono planas buvo kuriamas tūkstančiui metų. Trilogija gi baigiasi, tepraėjus keturiems šimtams su kažkiek metų. Ir taip, aš suprantu, kad dar yra tęsinių, priešistorių ir t.t., bet visgi originalioji trilogija ir reiškia, kad pagrindinė istorija, be jokių spin-off'ų, priešistorių, papildimų ar atsišakojimų baigiasi čia ir dabar. Na ir, manyčiau, tas įvyko gerais penkiais šimtais metų + per anksti. Bet čia tik mano subjektyvi nuomonė.
Knyga patiko. Iki wow! efekto, kaip ir pirmoji, netraukia, bet lygiai taip pat kaip ta pati pirmoji, stipri ir gerai skaitosi. Tvirtos 4★ šiai knygai....more
This short story takes us to a backwater colony with a grand population of around 400 persons just after the ring gates collapsed. It also reintroduceThis short story takes us to a backwater colony with a grand population of around 400 persons just after the ring gates collapsed. It also reintroduces us to Filip Inaros aka Filip Nagata, as he calls himself now. Also, the colony is on the verge of possible collapse due to native fauna. And thats ab out it. A very disappointing read. It does not offer anything new. It does not offer any closure, any kind of epilogue, any kind of insigt into the series or whole Expanse cosmos. I think, that this book has no other purpose but to communicate to the reader that Filip is still alive. And that is what this short story is about, no other added value and definitely the weakest of all Expanse short stories. 2*. ...more
Eik tu sau, atsirado moteris!!! Tiesa, tik viena ir gan antraeilėje rolėje, bet ei nu, bent šis tas, ane?
O trumpai reziumuojant (nes dabar, jei ką, naEik tu sau, atsirado moteris!!! Tiesa, tik viena ir gan antraeilėje rolėje, bet ei nu, bent šis tas, ane?
O trumpai reziumuojant (nes dabar, jei ką, naujametinis vakaras ir plėstis tiesiog tingiu) - padori knyga, bet silpnesnė nei pirmoji dalis. Skaitėsi sunkiau, idėjos gerokai silpnesnės. Bet labiausiai tai man užkliuvo faktas, kad Asimovas, kuris visą gyvenimą rašė tik hard sci-fi, čia pradėjo flirtuoti su fantasy (telepatas, mind control, etc etc).
Na ir, kažkaip nelabai sunku nuspėti, kad šitas flirtas biškiuką nepaėjo...
Gera knyga, skaitoma, viskas ok, bet jokios magic, jokio wow. Tad ir įvertinimas - toks standartinis normalus 3*. ...more
Knyga man tikrai patiko, bet pradėti reikia nuo to, kad dabar pareikšiu dvi labai dideles erezijas:
Pirmoji, mažesnė - nepaisant to, kad knyga patiko iKnyga man tikrai patiko, bet pradėti reikia nuo to, kad dabar pareikšiu dvi labai dideles erezijas:
Pirmoji, mažesnė - nepaisant to, kad knyga patiko ir nusipelno solidaus ketverto, jokio didelio wow ir oho ir omg ar šių jaustukų derinio nebuvo. Netgi galėčiau labai smarkiai suabejoti visais tais "geriausia pasaulyje sci-fi serija" komplimentais ir pagyrimais. Daug trūksta iki geriausios.
Antra, daug didesnė erezija... Na, net nežinau, kaip čia pradėti. Palaikykit mano alų, ačiū. Giliai įkvėpiu ir... Nuuu, serialas man patiko labiau už knygą. Va, pasakiau. Būsiu labai dėkingas, jei nenukryžiuosit, neketvirčiuosit ir ant rato nelaužysit manęs, ačiū.
Ir dabar galim pereiti prie svarbiausio klausimo - kodėl. Visa ta idėja apie psichoistoriją, civilizacijos kėlimą iš tamsos ir atsinaujinimą yra labai žavu. Bet kiek nuobodoka - trūksta veiksmo, konflikto, personažų vystymo. Net nekalbėsiu apie tai, kad visi veikėjai - iki absurdo vidutinio amžiaus baltieji vyrai. Azimovo galaktikoje moterys ir vaikai tiesiog negyvena. Todėl man iš principo labai juokinga ir vertinu labai pozityviai, kad serialas paėmė ir trims labai svarbiems personažams tiesiog pakeitė lytį. Būtent dėl to man tiesiog natūraliai užkliuvo šis personažų vienpusiškumas. Sakyčiau, netgi smalsumą sukėlė. Tarkime, jei knyga būtų parašyta 1900-aisiais, tai aš tuo maskulinizmu net nesistebėčiau tuo ir sakyčiau "na taip, nieko keisto. Azmovas buvo normalus savo laikmečio žmogus ir atitinkamai rašė". Betgi pirmąkart knyga išleista buvo jau 1951-aisiais. Kai moterys seniai ir balsavimo teisę turėjo, ir dirbo nebe tik namų šeimininkėmis, ir, baisiausia, netgi kelnes dėveti jau galėjo. Šioje šviesoje tas, em, pavadinkime - falocentriškumas - jau kažkaip gal dar nelabai daug, bet šiokį tokį prastą kvapelį pradeda įgauti.
Šiaip pati knygos idėja man patiko, bet jos išpildymas knygoje, bent jau šioje, kiek šlubuoja. Parašyta labai sausai, netgi, sakyčiau, ant primityvumo ribos. Bet gal čia tiesiog toks stilius, nesiginčysiu dėl to. 4* ir skaitysiu seriją toliau. Gal net pavyks rasti moterį....more
"Dark Theory" is a big book. Both in volume and in ambition. And, having a chance to familiarize myself with it after receiving an advanced reader cop"Dark Theory" is a big book. Both in volume and in ambition. And, having a chance to familiarize myself with it after receiving an advanced reader copy – well, I‘m glad it did not disappoint me - au contraire!
Key points of what I liked:
• A sort of genre-fusion. This whole story has a vibe of a fantasy land. It‘s easy to dismiss it as happening on Earth and instead think of it as being set in some fictional land or at least in a galaxy, far, far away. Still, that feeling of a fantasy is just an outer shell for a quite hard sci-fi series. I have to admit, there‘s not many books that come into my mind that were written by fusing sci-fi with fantasy, but in this case it did and it did good.
• The characters. I really loved them – they are complex, well-written and evolving. It‘s easy to hate them in the beginning of the book, and even more easy to cheer and root for them towards the end. And I even had to admit that „I was wrong“ about a couple of them – they aren‘t so crazy or selfish or assholes as I thought after the introduction. There were a couple of secondary characters that could have been developed more, but, since it is only the first part of a trilogy, I have a feeling that they will get their chance to bask in the spotlight. And, well, let‘s be honest – secondary characters are secondary, they don‘t get that much action as the lead characters do. Though personally I love when even sidekicks get a glimpse of fame or, sometimes, even a couple of chapters of POV.
• I love when my hard sci fi is really hard. In the book acknowledgements, there‘s a „thank you“ for Liu Cixin for inspiration in astrophysics and dimensionality. And while I can‘t say that this book is similar to any of Liu‘s (and I would know, as I‘ve read almost all of them), the slight vibration of being inspired by him is between the pages all the time. I‘ve wrote above, that it is an ambitious book – and that‘s why it is. Writing a good sci-fi about gravity and photons and lower/higher dimensions is much harder than just a simple space western, with no disrespect for space westerns and their authors.
• The general story. Not much to say here, I just simply liked how the whole story did develop and what I‘ve been told.
Now a couple of things I liked less:
• Pacing. I had a bit of difficulty to fully immerse myself in the book. The first 1/3 seemed a bit too slow and too comprehensive for me. I get that it was done mostly in order to create vibrant characters and world, but it had been too much of battery scavenging and desert-pacing and at some point I‘ve started losing concentration. Still, after the certain threshold in the story the pacing evened out, so it‘s not that bad it could have been.
• Stylistic errors. I‘m not talking about missed commas or mistyping a word, though these also do happen. The errors I‘m talking about is an excessive overuse of the same pronouns. Basically, every pronoun for a character is only „he/she“ or the name. And while I think it‘s ok to use only he/she or the name if there aren‘t many pronouns in the text, this is a different case. For example, there‘s a part in the book, where „Beetro“ had been repeated seven times in eight lines – lines, not even sentences. So, that‘s definitely either some room for improvement, or a question of an experienced editor, who‘s not afraid to cut a few lines and use some synonyms for a better flow of the story.
Besides that, nothing more to criticize this book for. A very strong 4* rating, and I will definitely be looking forward to continuing the series....more
A very fun read, but it seems Andy Weir can't get past Mark Watney, as it is already a second post-Martian book, whose lead character is yet again basA very fun read, but it seems Andy Weir can't get past Mark Watney, as it is already a second post-Martian book, whose lead character is yet again basically Mark Watney, neverminding what set of genitals does that character have (sorry, Jazz Bashara).
That and being a bit on a cheesy side (view spoiler)[And having a massive Deus Ex Machina from much earlier than mid-book, that Deus being namely a cute spiderlike alien, called Rocky. Who just happens to be such an outstanding engineer, that he singlehandedly builds and solves every little and big trouble. And who, so just happens, has a sort of super-mega-wonder material, called xenonite, that you could apply to everything and solve any case by using that xenonite. (hide spoiler)], are the main drawback for me in this book, that prevents me from rating it a 5* read, despite I really, really enjoyed this book.
It has science, it has decent plot, it has a good story structure (I generally don't like that type of storytelling, where there's constant jumping in time and space, back and forth. Yet Weir implemented this type of storytelling so good, that it actually benefited the whole story).
And finally, the idea: I must admit, that the thought of using space bacteria farts to harness energy to such an extent that you could power the whole spaceship, flying to another star system, sounds absurd. And yet, the science(ish) part is done so well, that in the end it sounds like a normal and valid solution. And that is not so easy to achieve.
Overall, it is a very nice and easy to read book and I can recommend it even to those people who don't read much sci-fi. A solid 4*. ...more
A 5-star rating is not something that I hand out usually and with ease. There were only two clean cut fivers for me during the whole year 2020 out of A 5-star rating is not something that I hand out usually and with ease. There were only two clean cut fivers for me during the whole year 2020 out of 42 books I've read. This year is not (yet?) very ripe with fives also. There were just a couple of books with this rating, one of them being a modest magnum opus of a modest author - Stephen King and his "The Stand". So, when I DO rate a book with a fiver, you better be sure to take a note, because there's a lot I require from a book to get this rating. And does "Refraction" fulfill these requirements? Oooooh yeah.
First of all, let's start with plot. There are three different storylines that take place in quite different times. The first one is a story of a pretty much regular physicist of the 80ies and his revolutionary experiment to create an engine for a space travel. Second one is a story of a young pilot in a post apocalyptic earth during the very end of 21st century, and the third one is based on an artificial intelligence in terraformed utopian Mars around mid-22nd century. Now, that is already quite an ambitious aim to fluently combine regular, dystopian and utopian motives in one book, and I have to say that Wick Welker not only achieves it with ease, but also every storyline of those three is very beautiful and well executed. You could read any of them as a standalone story and you'd like them. Even more, in the final quarter of the book all those storylines get combined - seamlessly and complementing each other really really well.
The characters are also quite impressive, especially the brilliant physicist, Timothy Straus, who perceives himself as a schizophrenic and though that might not be the truth (or it might be pure truth - depending on your take on the book and his story, that's another impressive feat of this story), his slow but continuous decline is conveyed really impressively. Cal Stanger, the pilot, and Custos, the AI, are also good characters, though Timothy is a hands down winner as the best character for me.
The book is presented by the author as his hard sci-fi debut. You shouldn't be afraid of that "hard" part. Yes, it's quite technical, but well explained and generally not too hard to understand even if you're not too familiar with particularly this or any similar genres. If you are, though, then understanding and following the technical parts of this book would probably be peanuts to you. It's not that hard as, say, Liu Cixin, and not so technically cumbersome as Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" series - both who are frontrunners for me when I think of reallyhard science fiction - so no biggie to get on well with a technical part of this book.
A bonus fun part for me was the aforementioned engine for space travel. You see, the last book I've read before starting "Refraction" was Stephen Hawking's "A brief history of time". In this book, one of the main points that caught my attention, (besides black holes, obviously) was something called Casimir effect. I won't start explaining what that is, you can easily google it if you want, but Hawking spent quite some time explaining it in his book, because this effect is basically about making energy out of nothing and it is a valid theory, despite thermodynamics and Newtonian laws might say otherwise (and they both are right, quantum physics is sooo strange and fun at the same time). So, I started reading "Refraction", came up to the point where Straus is building his space engine, and you probably already guessed what kind of drive that engine is. It's a Casimir drive. Lots of homework done right by the author here, guys, and not only on technical parts, but on sociology, psychology, economics, governments, etc.
Last but not least, this guy can write and he does so very smoothly and very evenly. All the story is paced just right, there's not too much dialogues, not too much reflection, not too much action, not too much anything, it's so well balanced!
I'm quite happy that I've got a chance to participate in this "A book for an honest review" deal, because I really liked it and I can only recommend it for everyone who's at least a bit interested in sci-fi, you won't be disappointed. A definite 5* from me....more
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