I will probably still give the Foundation series a try, but this book gave me the strong impression that I much prefer Asimov the short story writer tI will probably still give the Foundation series a try, but this book gave me the strong impression that I much prefer Asimov the short story writer to Asimov the novelist. Asimov is a master of ideas, and his short stories that showcase a great idea, like Nightfall or especially The Last Question, are among the best I've ever read, regardless of genre.
And while The Caves of Steel has its own compelling speculative ideas (what would a maximum-efficiency overcrowded Earth look like? How would human society on Earth diverge from those societies that emigrated to other worlds? How would human laborers react to the introduction of perfectly humanlike robots?), his characters, however, just can't hold up the weight of a full novel. Elijah Baley reads like a Humphrey Bogart impersonator, his boss Julius Enderby is one-dimensionally pathetic, and his wife Jezebel (yes, I know, it's a thing) is a painfully offensive caricature of the nagging, hysterical housewife. The plot was a mildly entertaining detective story, but a bit predictable.
To end on a kinder note, I will say that I greatly enjoyed the characterization of R Daneel, the android with a positronic brain. It was a very clear example of how a classic writer can come to define a whole genre. If Tolkien gave us orcs and elves as we know them, Asimov shaped the android (he even coined the term robotics). For proof of this, simply imagine Daneel's lines as spoken by Data from The Next Generation. You're welcome....more
The book overall is a worthy capstone to this series, further developing its world's history of hubris, destruction, and lost knowledge, and giving a The book overall is a worthy capstone to this series, further developing its world's history of hubris, destruction, and lost knowledge, and giving a mostly satisfying final arc (and in some cases, origin) to its central characters. The final notes in the book's postscript didn't quite ring true – something about the glib tone in which it approached immortality didn't mesh with the themes of the rest of the book – so it left me a little cold in the series' last moments, but that's pretty much the only reason for taking off a star....more
Solid continuation of the trilogy, strengthened by dropping most of the confusing (albeit fun and mysterious) time jumps of the original novel. I thouSolid continuation of the trilogy, strengthened by dropping most of the confusing (albeit fun and mysterious) time jumps of the original novel. I thought Jemisin did a nice job of interweaving expository reminders from the first book into the new plot points, for those of us picking the series back up after a break. The characters are increasingly compelling, if a little bit overpowered, to the point where one is never all that worried about their survival. My favorite aspect of the book isn't its sci-fi aspects (or rather, fantasy, since this book veers more solidly in that direction) but the exploration of cultural relativity in its world-building, with jarring reminders of just how different one society can be from what another takes for granted. This is most clear when the author gives us half-forgotten memories of what *might* be our world: people who used to look up and name the stars; people who used to pray to a sky deity to keep them safe while they slept. I'm really looking forward to the next installment....more
Reading this novel in the time of COVID-19 is strangely cathartic. Mandel's depiction of a global pandemic is prescient, and I thrilled at moments thaReading this novel in the time of COVID-19 is strangely cathartic. Mandel's depiction of a global pandemic is prescient, and I thrilled at moments that uncannily resembled my experiences (I wanted to shout "I was there! That was me!" when our point-of-view character for the moment of collapse anxiously stocked up on cans at the grocery store as news of the virus's arrival reached him). Having grown up and still residing in the heart of the Great Lakes, the setting made these events all the more eery (although my familiarity with the area made the insertion of at least one non-existent city break the novel's otherwise exceptional realism for me). For those not from around here, to a Michigander the visual of a collapsed Mackinac Bridge is akin to the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge or the Empire State Building.
At the same time, the circumstances are drastically different in a way that made me sit with how much there is to be grateful for. Loss and claustrophobic fear and death are all around us, it's true, but most of those we love are still here. We may not be able to approach them physically, but with the technology and systems we take for granted, we can remain connected until we see this through. In Station Eleven, a critical mass of people vanish, and the scaffolding of society truly falls apart, revealing a world that is vast, harsh, and empty. Tiny, disconnected islands of people are all that remain of the once global civilization. The import of just how much has been lost is communicated through clear, understated prose that makes you catch your breath. A handful of interconnected characters die or survive, and the way they and the residue of their lives break apart and collide, is all the more gripping because of its improbability in this vast, harsh, emptiness.
Unlike other post-apocalyptic novels I've read, humans remain human, and I found this refreshing, and hopeful in an unsentimental way. Resiliency, ceremony, friendship, community, art, are all embers of the lost civilization that still glow here and there in the remnants, and it remains to be seen whether they will ever be totally snuffed out or ever catch fire again.
One thing I loved about this book is its narrative structure. The characters adjust to their circumstances, but rather than letting us grow too comfortable with the new era of history, the plot jumps back and forth between the new, the old, and the liminal time of the collapse. Of particular interest to me was the way the two central figures of the novel — the star actor Arthur Leander, who died on the eve of the collapse, and the once-child actor Kirsten Raymonde, who remembers almost nothing before it — have a sort of mirrored experience of civilization. Arthur reflects on his upbringing in a remote northern village, surrounded by nature and more traditional ways of life, as a lost, vanished world, replaced by a life of celebrity and luxury in the metropolises of North America. Kirsten dimly remembers computers, airplanes, and refrigerators from the spartan existence she now lives in a caravan of artists, wandering along ruined roads through ruined towns.
Another thread that stood out to me is the careful preservation of the past - librarians and museum curators and orchestra conductors, all doing their best to remember and communicate what was lost, only able to salvage a few precious fragments of what was once a rich tapestry of culture. As an Ashkenazi Jew, this of course made me think of the Shoah, the way the survivors rescued as much as they could from the flames of a whole civilization in Eastern Europe, the pain of knowing how much more was lost and already in the process of being forgotten. One is also reminded of cloistered monks, sheltering from the plagues, producing stunning illuminated manuscripts by hand to preserve language and art and culture from the rubble of Rome. Perhaps this is a modern, fictionalized retelling of the Dark Ages?
I don't have much more to say, other than that reading this book is a powerful experience, and I expect only more so to read it this year. Highly recommended....more
Humanity has one sole survivor of vampirism and it's *this* asshole? As much as I hated the main character, I thought the atmosphere of claustrophobiaHumanity has one sole survivor of vampirism and it's *this* asshole? As much as I hated the main character, I thought the atmosphere of claustrophobia and despair was spot on, and the turn at the ending, though I was prepared for it, is truly creative, and much more interesting than the formulaic resolution Hollywood swapped in — seriously, why'd they even keep the title if they changed the ending like that? Worth a read if you're looking for something to get spooky with for October, especially if you like your horror with a large helping of scifi.
P.S. Be prepared for some of the author's thinly coded anti-Black anxiety, as well as plenty of misogyny. It *might* be self-aware if we're being generous, but the narrative is a little ambiguous as to whether we are meant to judge the protagonist for these things. I want to read more about the author....more
Very entertaining plot, it was fun to guess how the different parallel threads would coalesce. Great world-building too. I didn't love The Hundred ThoVery entertaining plot, it was fun to guess how the different parallel threads would coalesce. Great world-building too. I didn't love The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but someone recommended I give this a try rather than give up on Jemisin, and it's enough to make me interested in reading on....more
I enjoyed the premise, the humor, the aesthetic, and many of the characters. It's a little older, and the stereotyping of women and people of color isI enjoyed the premise, the humor, the aesthetic, and many of the characters. It's a little older, and the stereotyping of women and people of color is pretty cringey. Overall, I was underwhelmed with the narrative - there's a vague spoiler in explaining why: they set it up to be this convoluted tale of intertwining destinies. But it more or less was them adding a new character every chapter or two, and bringing them all together in one spot where ultimately only one character makes a decision that has any impact on the larger conflict of the story. I wanted the main protagonists, in particular, to have more to do that mattered. But for popcorn entertainment, it serves its purpose....more
What fire is so precious that you'd fight to your dying breath to keep it from burning out, even after all hope for a future is gone? How do you find What fire is so precious that you'd fight to your dying breath to keep it from burning out, even after all hope for a future is gone? How do you find the joy and love to make the world worth surviving, when you have to fight tooth and nail to last even one more day?...more
A masterful depiction of the whittling away of reproductive rights and civil liberties we would like to take for granted; a story about how the horrifA masterful depiction of the whittling away of reproductive rights and civil liberties we would like to take for granted; a story about how the horrific becomes normal. Reading this makes you grateful for the moment in history in which you live, and painfully aware of what it could become. This might be the best book I've read in years....more
I really wanted to like this, given how respected it is. Going in, I didn't even realize how much influence it's had on sci-fi (particularly the premiI really wanted to like this, given how respected it is. Going in, I didn't even realize how much influence it's had on sci-fi (particularly the premise of the Matrix). But I just found it poorly written. The characters were thin, the dialogue was wooden, the women were sexualized and/or evil and/or fridged. The plot also made no sense, which at least was intentional, but made for a frustrating read. It relied on cliché twists or non-answers to paper over gaping plot holes. If you like the sensation of a drug induced hallucination or fever dream that almost but doesn't quite have narrative cohesion, you might enjoy this book. There were a few highlights. It was genuinely creative, suspenseful, or chilling in certain aspects. There is a brief but satisfying moment during the time travel portion of the story that gives a scathing critique of the wide-spread American support for Nazi Germany. And the descriptions of "future" 1992 fashion are kind of amazing. I'd say you can give this one a pass, but this is one of the most beloved books of one of the most beloved sci-fi writers in history, so what do I know?...more
Anne Frank's diary is a window into the life of an ordinary but very lovable and introspective girl, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy as she livAnne Frank's diary is a window into the life of an ordinary but very lovable and introspective girl, trying to maintain a sense of normalcy as she lives through not only the usual strangeness and difficulties of adolescence (moodiness, adults' ir/rational expectations, boys and girls*), but also incomprehensibly horrific times. The book is a tribute to human resilience and adaptability.
*I didn't know until reading this version that she was bi! Her father had cut those passages, and we certainly weren't taught it in school!...more
While there were some things that really bothered me — like every woman in the story being depicted as vapid and shrewish, and minorities being blamedWhile there were some things that really bothered me — like every woman in the story being depicted as vapid and shrewish, and minorities being blamed for state censorship — overall this book reminded me why I love Bradbury: original yet precisely evocative imagery, prose that reads like poetry, character voices that straddle the line between colloquial and soliloquy. And that moment at the end, when time is slowed, and slowed,... (view spoiler)[so that the bomb reaches exponentially smaller distances from a character who drifts, hypnotized, toward the sirens on the screen. (hide spoiler)] I think that will stay with me for a long time....more
The end of this audiobook was so anticlimactic I was pleasantly surprised to have finally reached it. The mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, rather than fThe end of this audiobook was so anticlimactic I was pleasantly surprised to have finally reached it. The mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, rather than feeling inventive, gave the impression McCaffrey was throwing whatever ingredients she could think of into the pot in hopes that something would create interest or save a dead-end plot. Aliens are pitted against dragons, castles and lords are juxtaposed with genetic engineering, and we are offered one scientific/magical deus ex machina after another, from telepathy, to teleportation, to time travel. For all of these powerful elements, McCaffrey is incapable of constructing anything truly compelling in the story. There is no antagonist with any motivation, no relatable protagonist, no suspense, and no climax. In addition, the patriarchy of the world they live in, including the misogyny and sexual assault perpetrated by major protagonists, goes for the most part uncritiqued by either the narrative or other protagonists. While this might be understandable, since the book was written during the very first years of the women's lib movement, it is still a disappointment, given that I was seeking out notable women authors specifically to read respectful representations of women in the genres I enjoy....more
The virtual reality MMO setting was fun. Would have rated it higher if the main character had been a little more tolerable. He's meant to be an 18 yeaThe virtual reality MMO setting was fun. Would have rated it higher if the main character had been a little more tolerable. He's meant to be an 18 year old gamer in the 2040s, but comes across as a stalker-y 12 year old on 4chan circa 2007. The character's/author's weird transphobic preoccupation with knowing the genitalia of the people he's interacting with feels even more anachronistic. I wouldn't have minded him being so unlikeable (there are plenty of great characters who are unlikeable) – except that we are clearly meant to like him and cheer for him. His misogyny and transphobia is not addressed at all, either by the other characters or by the narrative. I really wanted Art3mis to tell him to fuck off and win the game, but this book is written by a straight white dude, so it's pretty by the numbers on the boy meets his fantasy girl, boy wins girl's heart through acts of valor front....more
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