As with The Saint of Bright Doors, this one I felt was awful from page one. Whether it was the mil-sci-fi tropes or the obligatory same-sex charactersAs with The Saint of Bright Doors, this one I felt was awful from page one. Whether it was the mil-sci-fi tropes or the obligatory same-sex characters, it seems that every standard millennial trope was thrown in to this messy soup of a story. I don't see what the Hugo Award committee found so compelling in this book. Maybe I wasn't patient enough, but about 60 pages in I just could not continue. The character development is non-existent and it just felt like The Hunger Games mashed up with Lord of the Flies but without any subtlety or grit whatsoever. Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old fart, but there seems to be a whole new generation of SFF writers that I cannot stand like TJ Klune and Vajra Chandrasekera. Is it a generation gap thing or is there a serious lack of originality in these new writers that seem just to use ChatGPT and a host of stereotypes and woke-types to build stories that just don't come off as original and seem to be begging Netflix or HBO for an on-screen treatment which this book by Tesh felt like it was doing in spades......more
There were some decent ideas here, but it just felt too borrowed from Tolkien with relatively poor dialog. I mean, I thought the bone dog idea was cooThere were some decent ideas here, but it just felt too borrowed from Tolkien with relatively poor dialog. I mean, I thought the bone dog idea was cool, but the story didn't hold together very well. There is a discontinuity to how the dry lands are described at the opening and when in the linear narrative when the protagonist gets there that made little sense to me. Then the final battle felt just off somehow. Maybe this was just too YA for me. Not sure how it won the Hugo Award....more
This was the final book of Willis' Oxford Time Travel series. It was a satisfying ending to a VERY long story started in Blackout - over 1200 pages ofThis was the final book of Willis' Oxford Time Travel series. It was a satisfying ending to a VERY long story started in Blackout - over 1200 pages of narrative! It picks up the action immediately at the close of the previous book and brings us to the climax where we think that the characters will be stuck forever in the past and beyond that to the conclusion which I will NOT spoil for you here. Suffice it to say that, if you have the stamina, it does move rather quickly despite its bulk and the conclusion does wrap up all of the loose ends, well most of them anyway. I found a few things a bit strange and overall it could have probably been cut down by 15-20% without losing its power, but that might be just me. In any case, it is not surprising that this double-whammy swept the sci-fi lit prizes for the year it came out. It is also of note that this series is overall the most prized sci-fi series ever, so there's that....more
This is the only novel-length story so far in the Murderbot series and was readable and entertaining. Wells seems to write slightly better in novella This is the only novel-length story so far in the Murderbot series and was readable and entertaining. Wells seems to write slightly better in novella format as, despite being well-written, I felt that this book packed a little less punch than All Systems Red. As mentioned in my review of Fugitive Telemetry, I hope that Wells continues the storyline following this book as I felt its open ending is one of the better one of the series. ...more
This was a great sequel to A Memory Called Empire continuing the story in the same universe. In this case, we are more focused in fighting off an alieThis was a great sequel to A Memory Called Empire continuing the story in the same universe. In this case, we are more focused in fighting off an alien invasion and comparing military versus diplomatic solutions. The tech is as fun as it was in its predecessor. I found it entertaining and surprising and a fun read. It does not require that much effort on the part of the reader and is clearly in the vein of lgbt-friendly sci-fi like that of Anne Leckie or Martha Wells....more
Even if I grant that this is really early sci-fi, I don't understand why the Hugo went out of its way to award it a "Retro-Hugo" because it is just noEven if I grant that this is really early sci-fi, I don't understand why the Hugo went out of its way to award it a "Retro-Hugo" because it is just not that well-written. The prose is sloppy and the dialog very wooden. The whole Slan thing falls apart when we learn about the tendril versus tendril-less slans and the narrative kind of falls apart when I couldn't figure out (or care) whether the action was taking place on Mars or on the Earth or the Moon...Just, no. Maybe some hardcore sci-fi readers could explain the interest of this one to me, because I just didn't find it interesting or entertaining....more
This book really suffers from the sexism of Heinlein's writer, poor character development, and a plot that just did not age well. Why they chose this This book really suffers from the sexism of Heinlein's writer, poor character development, and a plot that just did not age well. Why they chose this one for a retro-Hugo is baffling (but then so is Conjure Wife by Leiber!) I just could not get into this story and found the characters uninteresting. There are some interesting concepts here around genetic engineering which later writers like Lois McMaster Bujold would exploit to much more successful ends in later decades....more
This is the 3rd Fritz Leiber I have read and I think I am done here. Besides the whole Adam/Eve dynamic here (where naturally all the evil stems from This is the 3rd Fritz Leiber I have read and I think I am done here. Besides the whole Adam/Eve dynamic here (where naturally all the evil stems from Eve), I just found the story dated and ridiculous. It was not all that pleasurable to read. I am not sure I understand why the Hugo committee reached back and awarded this one with a retro. Maybe Stephen King found some inspiration here or something? I dunno. I just found it full of stereotypes and devoid of an interesting narrative or charismatic characters....more
This is a retro-Hugo winner that perhaps is more famous because the author went on to write Empire Strikes Back (easily the best of the Star Wars moviThis is a retro-Hugo winner that perhaps is more famous because the author went on to write Empire Strikes Back (easily the best of the Star Wars movies) than for this book that just was a bit too dated. I mean, it did not age very well. The travels across Mars are not all that convincing even if there were a few interesting moments. Honestly, I was skimming a bit. I'll still give her 3* for effort as it was clearly a difficult thing to be taken seriously as a female sci-fi writer (just ask Alice Sheldon!) back in 1944! ...more
This was another of Heinlein's "juvenile" works, this time about a food crisis on earth motivating colonists to move to jovian moons such as Ganymede This was another of Heinlein's "juvenile" works, this time about a food crisis on earth motivating colonists to move to jovian moons such as Ganymede to do some rapid terraforming. The book won a retro-Hugo and ok, I'll go along with that. There are some ideas here that probably inspired parts of The Martian and other colonists-within-the-solar-system kinds of books, and it was highly entertaining. But, clearly not as complex or thought-provoking as Double Star or some of Heinlein's later masterpieces. ...more
This was an interesting sci-fi novel, albeit with a woke-y feel to it. We are thrown with the protagonist into a swirling universe at the center of gaThis was an interesting sci-fi novel, albeit with a woke-y feel to it. We are thrown with the protagonist into a swirling universe at the center of galactic power. The tech is pretty cool and the action is non-stop. The idea of embedding the consciousness of a dead person into a living one isn't completely new, but the treatment here is quite original. The story recycles some tropes such as the "lost guide", but does so in a creative manner. I think there are some logical flaws to that (like what about the consciousness that the guy before was carrying, this gets forgotten in the book), but still, the story was fun to read and I will probably read the sequel. I can see why it won a Hugo Award....more
I found this to be refreshing, but very bizarre science fiction/fantasy writing. The world-building by Jemisin continues from her award-winning The FiI found this to be refreshing, but very bizarre science fiction/fantasy writing. The world-building by Jemisin continues from her award-winning The Fifth Season as this book occurs immediately after the conclusion of that one. In this case, I liked the protagonists and enjoyed the idea of being transported into a completely foreign reality where minerals and magic intermingle. It did not blow me away like some other world-building exercises such as Game of Thrones or The Expanse, but was still more than worthwhile as it was so internally consistent. It definitely pushed me to finish the series with The Stone Sky....more
This was my first venture into one of Jemisin's fantasy universes. I read that she is a much-lauded laureate of the Hugo and Nebula prizes and wanted This was my first venture into one of Jemisin's fantasy universes. I read that she is a much-lauded laureate of the Hugo and Nebula prizes and wanted to see what the hubbub was about. In this book, we have a strange world-building where connection to the earth is paramount - and dangerous. We follow three protagonists in parallel and learn about this strange Stillness. I am mildly curious to read the sequel to see what happens.
This one starts as a funny Star Trek parody, but then I felt it loses its way in a meta-meta thought experiment. Redshirts refer to the expendable chaThis one starts as a funny Star Trek parody, but then I felt it loses its way in a meta-meta thought experiment. Redshirts refer to the expendable characters wearing a red service jersey or t-shirt in Star Trek at least one of whom would be killed during each episode. The idea of making a story for these characters was good. However, they go all hyper-inception in saying that they are characters in someone else's script, although reminiscent of the opening monologue in Linkletter's classic movie Slacker, which didn't work for me. Particularly, in the triple code ending. I would have liked this one much better had we developed the characters a bit more.
I was so disappointed with this hot mess of a novel. After the innovative Peacewar duo and the extraordinary Zones of Thought trilogy, I thought VingeI was so disappointed with this hot mess of a novel. After the innovative Peacewar duo and the extraordinary Zones of Thought trilogy, I thought Vinge would impress me again, but I was incredibly disappointed. He went back to the weak (and stereotyped) characters like in Peacewar and just introduces too many characters with too little backstory. None of the Gu family characters held the slightest interest other than the tear-jerk moments with the granddaughter and her idiot grandfather. A lot of the action made no sense and the outcome took like 30 pages to play out. The writing, especially towards the end of the book, came off as stilted and unimaginative. I guess Vinge is far better at projecting out 10s of thousands of years than a few decades. The ideas here are not incredibly original (again, especially after the multitude of innovations in his two epic series I mentioned) - smart contacts, virtual reality, smart clothes, omnipresent tech, etc. - are not particularly original and come off as hokey. The bad guys never seem to figure out what or why they are bad guys and they just kind of evaporate at the end, no consequences. Really, Vinge should have written another Zones of Thought book and told us whether the Blight gets to the Children and the Tines or not. That I would really have enjoyed!
This was a great sci-fi book with a dystopian landscape and a unique plot device, a sort of permeable shroud covering the earth that hides the night sThis was a great sci-fi book with a dystopian landscape and a unique plot device, a sort of permeable shroud covering the earth that hides the night sky. The hard sci-fi is really well-done and plausible. I had just finished Darwin's Radio before this one and now realize how similar these two books are: something really bad happens and we follow scientists and their friends in a quest to determine the cause while the government takes the dumbass ostrich head-in-a-hole position and the populace just plain freaks out. In Bear's book, we were more focused on evolution and nanoscience whereas in Wilson's we are focused on Spin and time dilation. Oh, did I forget to mention that another side-effect of the Spin was that time on earth passes MUCH more slowly than in the rest of the universe? I think the ratio was 1 sec on earth was 3 1/2 years outside the Spin. So, you end up with the problems that Haldeman deals with in The Forever War and Marooned in Realtime and get some clever solutions. Wilson spends time talking about some of the apocalyptic cults that form out of evangelical xtian movements in a manner which I found both realistic and terrifying. The idea of creating a red heifer to accelerate the end times was also exploited in The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Also, there was a bit of a throwback in the Wun Ngo Wen character to Heinlein's classic Stranger in a Strange Land. Overall, the narrative works really well tying up loose ends and gathering steam. I felt that there was a real ending here and had to remind myself that Wilson wrote two sequels to this book. Not really sure what to expect in those....more
This was the last of the Hugo winners for me to read. I found the dialog pedestrian at best. The rape scene towards the beginning was gratuitous and jThis was the last of the Hugo winners for me to read. I found the dialog pedestrian at best. The rape scene towards the beginning was gratuitous and just pointless. The narrative singularly uninteresting. I put this one in the same “wtf were they thinking” category as “They’d Rather Be Right” among the worst sci-fi novels I have read. Really one to skip IMO....more
Sometimes the sequel is better than the first book. That is definitely the case here where as great as A Fire Upon the Deep was, this was better. The Sometimes the sequel is better than the first book. That is definitely the case here where as great as A Fire Upon the Deep was, this was better. The character of Pham Nuwen gets center stage here but 30000 years before the events in Fire. I loved this book from beginning to end and found that the spider aliens here were so much more compelling than in Children of Time. The bad guys are among the evilest ones I have ever come across in science fiction and the odds against the good guys are among the longest as well. Highly recommended!
As much as I enjoyed Doomsday Book, I felt this followup in the series to be even better! I love the dark British humor, the great characters, the conAs much as I enjoyed Doomsday Book, I felt this followup in the series to be even better! I love the dark British humor, the great characters, the convoluted bureaucracy, and the ideas around time travel and drift. The idea of a self-correcting system of time travel was a great one because it is a better answer to the question "if someone killed Hitler" than simply (and at the same time more convoluted) the Marvel multiverse. It is absolutely unsurprising that like its predecessor, this book swept up sci-fi awards. On now to the dual sequels Blackout and All Clear. Connie Willie is an extraordinary writer and these Oxford books are just fabulous reading!...more
Loading...
