Review: Glow (Sky Chasers #1) by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Synopsis:

What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?

Out in the murky nebula lurks an unseen enemy: the New Horizon. On its way to populate a distant planet in the wake of Earth's collapse, the ship's crew has been unable to conceive a generation to continue its mission. They need young girls desperately, or their zealous leader's efforts will fail. Onboard their sister ship, the Empyrean, the unsuspecting families don't know an attack is being mounted that could claim the most important among them...

Fifteen-year-old Waverly is part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space; she was born on the Empyrean, and the large farming vessel is all she knows. Her concerns are those of any teenager—until Kieran Alden proposes to her. The handsome captain-to-be has everything Waverly could ever want in a husband, and with the pressure to start having children, everyone is sure he's the best choice. Except for Waverly, who wants more from life than marriage—and is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.

But when the Empyrean faces sudden attack by their assumed allies, they quickly find out that the enemies aren't all from the outside.

 

This wasn’t an easy read for me. Not only did real life constraints make it difficult for me to find the time to read but the writing itself didn’t exactly suck me in. Ryan’s writing is efficient and it gets the point across but she isn’t a wordsmith like Laini Taylor is. She’s a plotter, and that’s a skill that means more to me than pretty words.

If you’ve read the blurb you know there are two space ships carrying the last vestiges of the human race to a faraway place and that there are two teenagers in the middle of it all. The blurb also promises a love story or a triangle, but it’s hardly mentioned after the set up. It’s the process of growing up in an unlikely situation and learning to take responsibility for one’s actions that dominates the story. That and survival.

I’m not going to talk about the science simply because I decided not to think about it too hard. I’d never been able to finish reading the book had tried. Not that there is much scientific detail to bog down the tragedy of humanity, but there was enough for me to consider it unlikely. That applies both to the space travel as well as to the fertility solution especially considering they were fleeing an environmental catastrophe… I said I wouldn’t talk about it and I won’t. Instead let me introduce you to the main characters.

On the plus column there’s Waverly, an anti-Mary Sue and a very regular sixteen year old girl at the cusp of adulthood. Because of the mission she’s expected to marry and procreate, but she has her doubts. In a way, what was done to her should’ve been a blessing for her and her desire to choose for herself had she actually been given the opportunity. Because she’s still a child she still needs her mother, but because she’s almost an adult she also learns to take care of herself and others, even if there are mistakes made along the way.

On the minus column there’s Kieran. He’s intolerable know-all who goes through a very difficult journey to realise that maybe he doesn’t know it all after all. He too learns from his mistakes even if he’s not ready to face the slippery slope he’s drifted on.

You can invert the columns if you like but you can’t change what dominates them both: Religion. Christianity. The folly of knowing God’s will and imposing it on others. Or simple ambition, thirst for power. And the rejection of it.

Glow reads like a carefully constructed adventure story with each point of view delivering only a sliver of the bigger picture. Both Waverly’s and Kieran’s chapters are subjective to their situation and viewpoint, but it’s the use of third limited that allows the reader enough distance to see through the (obvious) manipulation. Ryan doesn’t shy away from showing flaws and gaping holes in morality in absolutely everyone. Each character is only acting and reacting based on their own experiences. Except when they’re not.

Apart from Waverly, Kieran, and Anne Mather—and you can challenge me on Anne Mather—all other characters are accessories and subject to the whims of the plotter. For example, Ryan tries to justify Seth’s behaviour after the kidnapping in couple of different ways but I didn’t find those reasons completely believable. And unless he gets his own chapters in the following books, I fear he’s doomed to remain a pawn in Waberly and Kieran’s game and the object of their mutual desire.

Glow isn’t an easy read because of its subject matter and real moral dilemmas but it is a book that makes you think. I wasn’t completely sold on the delivery, but I applaud the message.

This recommendation comes with a warning: Glow is the first book of Sky Chasers series of which only first two have been published. The third is expected to be published in 2014.

Rameau's Review Archive: Dark Space by Lisa Henry

Originally posted on Goodreads February 1st 2013.

Synopsis:
Brady Garrett needs to go home. He’s a conscripted recruit on Defender Three, one of a network of stations designed to protect the Earth from alien attack. He's also angry, homesick, and afraid. If he doesn’t get home he’ll lose his family, but there’s no way back except in a body bag.

Cameron Rushton needs a heartbeat. Four years ago Cam was taken by the Faceless — the alien race that almost destroyed Earth. Now he’s back, and when the doctors make a mess of getting him out of stasis, Brady becomes his temporary human pacemaker. Except they’re sharing more than a heartbeat: they’re sharing thoughts, memories, and some very vivid dreams.

Not that Brady’s got time to worry about his growing attraction to another guy, especially the one guy in the universe who can read his mind. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just biochemistry and electrical impulses. It doesn’t change the truth: Brady’s alone in the universe.

Now the Faceless are coming and there’s nothing anyone can do. You can’t stop your nightmares. Cam says everyone will live, but Cam’s probably a traitor and a liar like the military thinks. But that’s okay. Guys like Brady don’t expect happy endings.


Dark Space by Lisa Henry

This review can also be found on Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell-blog.


Are you interested in reading an M/M, scifi, military, mind connection, mostly character study book with creepy angels aliens?

That’s how I recommended this book in a tweet the day after I finished reading it. I threw after a warning about sibilant hisses galore but forgot to mention the rape triggers. I also might have persuaded someone by saying “you’ll like the ending” vaguely implying I was less than satisfied. And I was, but it didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying everything else.

Dark Space is set in an unknown future where humans fight a terrifying alien race called the Faceless. There are space stations that orbit the Sun (presumably) at the edges of our solar system and keep watch. These stations are manned—quite literally—only by human men because women are too precious to be put in danger like that. This was the world building detail that most annoyed me, but if the alternative was reading about poorly constructed female characters I’d suspend my disbelief for a short book any day.

Some of the world building details I liked were every single thing that made Brady Garrett the nineteen-year-old conscripted recruit three years into his ten year military service—fifteen should he choose to become an officer—trying to keep his head down, and out of trouble while helping out at the medical bay. I loved the idea of stark class differences, refugee camps, factories, and all the problems that were only implied instead of infodumped on the reader. That includes the alien race, which—as creepy as they were—was nothing compared to the Weeping Angels.

Cameron Rushton is an officer—three or seven years older than Brady depending on how you look at it—and a prisoner of war who has just been returned to home. Or as close to it as Defender Three, Brady’s space station, is. The doctors make a mistake and Brady becomes a temporary human pacemaker to the man who no one trusts. They’re locked together in a room and have to spend prolonged periods of time together adapting to this new situation. Their connection forces them to learn much about themselves and about each other.

Because it’s an M/M novel, sex is a big part of that learning process. And because I liked it, you can expect to read about dark themes, and horrible things being done to the characters.

The pacing is pretty much perfect. Whenever I started to think “that’s a bit much” the author would make shift that not only made sense within the story but also advanced the overall storyline. There weren’t any unnecessary scenes or exposition for the sake of exposition. The repetition that was there—like Brady thinking of his home and family—felt natural to the cycle of human psyche and the way humans think. We get stuck on something, move on, and come back to it when the time is right again. Brady also didn’t accept the mind melt connection unreservedly. He had doubts and he fought it, but he also learned to trust his own judgement about the connection.

And the heartrending goodbye… Well, I’ll let you read about that on your own.

Review: Nekropolis by Maureen F. McHugh

Form: pdf e-book
Genre: sci-fi/dystopia/paranormal romance

Target audience: adults

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Fleeing an empty future in the Nekropolis, twenty-one-year-old Hariba has agreed to undergo "jessing," the technobiological process that will render her subservient to whomever has purchased her services. Indentured in the house of a wealthy merchant as a female manager, she encounters many wondrous things. Yet nothing there is as remarkable and disturbing to her as the "harni," Akhmim. A perfect replica of a man, this intelligent, machine-bred creature unsettles Hariba with its beauty, its naive, inappropriate tenderness . . . and with prying, unanswerable questions, like "Why are you sad?" Slowly, revulsion metamorphoses into acceptance, and then into something much more. But these outlaw emotions defy the strict edicts of God and Man -- feelings that must never be explored, since no master would tolerate them. And the "jessed" who defy their master's will  risk sickness, pain, imprisonment . . . and perhaps also death. Will Hariba manage to escape her prison?

What I liked:

Firstly let me tell you that I fully appreciated the original setting of this novel - how many books you've read take place in Morocco and combine the local culture with sci-fi elements? The concept of a chemically indentured woman in an ultraconservative future version of an Arab country, who, knowing fully well it is forbidden, falls in love with an artificially made 'harni' man, is intriguing.
Hariba met the humanoid flesh-and-blood construct (genetically engineered chimera, whatever you want to call it, with 98% of human DNA and some special additions) and ends up asking herself, "How we can escape and be happy?" What's better McHugh refuses easy answers and simple characterizations, showing her characters' ambivalent relationships with freedom, and the ways that they willingly give it up  for love and security.

McHugh's prose was solid and the pacing was fantastic - the story never once dragged unnecessarily or shot ahead; it was also very engaging, I had to finish it no matter what.  It's told in alternating first-person narration chapters, first by the main heroine, then by her harni not-quite-lover, then her mother, then her best friend, and then finally one last bit we know once again from the perspective of Hariba. I very much enjoyed the immediacy of the first person narration from three very different women within the same society (the jessed domestic worker without any future, the shamed widow, the 'successful' wife and mother), and I enjoyed seeing how their relationships played out, with all the resentments and pettiness and deep, unswerving loyalty, even over their anger and disgust. Still the best chapter in my humble opinion belongs to Akhmim - the best because it showed all the weirdness of him being a 'construct', a being nobody truly understands or wants to understand, not even his mistress or beloved Hariba. It made me question many things taken for granted while reading other chapters.

Finally let me say that I was satisfied with the ending - it felt very true. A new life, new opportunities, new choices - and everything going to shit anyway. I would have been disappointed if it all turned out rosy and sweet, but McHugh knows better. Even the way it all slowly disintegrated was appropriate; there was no explosion, no drama, just a gradual dissolution and detachment. I just wish the author also showed us Akhmim's assessment of the whole situation, especially the changes he'd undergone - I kind of missed his narration.

What I didn't like:

I admit I would want more sci-fi elements in this one. The chapter narrated by Akhmim was far too short and not especially revealing when it comes to the whole process of creating a 'harni'. I did want to know more and I wasn't given an opportunity to find out.

Finally the title...my main carping is that it doesn't reflect the content well. No, it is not a book about living in a cemetery. Most of it doesn't even take place in a cemetery or necropolis of any kind. Personally I found it a bit misleading. Not to mention the fact that the cover art is rather bland.

Final verdict:

One of more original sci-fi flavoured novels I've read this year. What a pity it wasn't continued by the author - with so many questions unanswered fully I really wouldn't say 'no' to a second or even a third part.

Review: Children of Scarabaeus (Scarabeus #2) by Sara Creasy

Synopsis:
The crib is everywhere . . .

Edie Sha'nim believes she and her bodyguard lover, Finn, could find refuge from the tyranny of the Crib empire by fleeing to the Fringe worlds. But Edie's extraordinary cypherteck ability to manipulate the ecology of evolving planets makes her far too valuable for the empire to lose. Recaptured and forced to cooperate--or else she will watch Finn die--Edie is shocked to discover the Crib's new breed of cypherteck: children. She cannot stand by while the oppressors enslave the innocent, nor can she resist the lure of Scarabaeus, the first world she tried to save, when researchers discover what appears to be an evolving intelligence.

But escape--for Edie, for Finn, and for the exploited young--will require the ultimate sacrifice . . . and a shocking act of rebellion.



This didn’t start how I imagined it would. The confusion could have been avoided had I read the blurb for the second book, but I didn’t and I had a expectations of where Edie and Finn were going. They took a small detour to two different planets instead. Not that this is a bad thing but I had hoped to see more of the Fringe, which we never got to do.

The book starts with Edie and Finn on the run. They need to find the neuroxin, a kind of toxin that keeps Edie alive. After ensuring her continued existence, Edie, Finn, and Cat head towards the Fringe. They’re captured relatively quickly and brought back to Natesa who is still fixated on using Edie to further her own goals. Only she’s not using Edie alone. There are other children, talented like Edie, being manipulated to do their duty to Crib Colonial Unit. There’s politics, there’s human suffering, and there’s foreign intelligence. What more could you ask for?

This isn’t a trilogy, this is a story told in two parts. And just like the Song, the Children of Scarabaeus starts slowly. The first forty and fifty pages weren’t the problem for me, the struggle came later when Creasy decided to deepen the characterisations and relationships. For a while it felt incongruous with the rest of the story as logical as the development was. Instead of talking to each other, both Edie and Finn kept their secrets until it was too late to say anything. But then, luckily, the plot took over and the adventure continued.

Edie returns to Scarabaeus to finish what she started years ago and to save a handful of lives on the side. She and Finn talk, and disagree, but neither is a match for the planet. We get to see another side of Scarabaeus, barren but just as deadly as the megabiosis of the first book was.

In some ways the world building in the Scarabaues books seems superficial, but I love the subtlety of it. It feels like the books only scratched the surface of a bigger world, and not only because we never get to see the Fringe worlds. I want more of everything. More of CCU, Fringe, politics, and war. Sadly, I don’t know if I ever get it.

Rameau's Review Archive: Song of Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus #1) by Sara Creasy

Rameau's Ramblings: This was one of our Scoundrel reads for Blodeuedd's blog and thus doesn't only qualify as a second opinion but as a third.

Originally posted on Goodreads on February 14th 2013.

Synopsis:
Trained since childhood in advanced biocyph seed technology by the all-powerful Crib empire, Edie's mission is to terraform alien worlds while her masters bleed the outlawed Fringe populations dry. When renegade mercenaries kidnap Edie, she's not entirely sure it's a bad thing . . . until they leash her to a bodyguard, Finn—a former freedom fighter-turned-slave, beaten down but never broken. If Edie strays from Finn's side, he dies. If she doesn't cooperate, the pirates will kill them both.

But Edie's abilities far surpass anything her enemies imagine. And now, with Finn as her only ally as the merciless Crib closes in, she'll have to prove it or die on the site of her only failure . . . a world called Scarabaeus.

Cover art by Christian McGrath. 


Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy


It’s really difficult for me to improve on what’s been said about this book already. Just go look at Anachronist’s or AH’s reviews and you can consider yourself fully informed.

For me, the difficulties in the beginning of the book weren’t due to the language fitting for science fiction. I could adjust well enough to cyphs, tecks and streams, but I objected to the undefined acronym jargon. Throw BRAT’s and CCU’s at me all you want but tell me what they mean—Biocyph Retroviral Automated Terraformer and Crib Colonial Unit respectively by the way. It’s one of the first Finnish lessons about analytic writing I remember from school: Define your acronyms. I imagine something similar has been taught to native English speakers around the globe.

I appreciate that Creasy was avoiding infodumping by revealing these critical details later within the story. I appreciated the full on immersion to the world-approach but I do think she took it a step too far with the acronyms. For everything else it worked just fine. The fresh angle on familiar scifi concepts such as terraforming and cyborgs as well as the limited third person voice from Edie’s point of view kept the story focused on the events and gave just enough clues about the other characters for me to fill in the rest. Active imagination does have its perks.

Being someone as close to anti-musical as it is possible for a human being to be, I loved Creasy likening coding to composing. Edie talks about making notes and creating harmonies like a true virtuoso would. It was just another aspect of interconnectedness this author utilised.

In her review, Anachronist mentions the episodic nature of the adventure. While I can see why she would, it didn’t bother me at all. It felt like the natural rhythm of someone who needs to rest between periods of extreme activity. She also mentions the romance being practically non-existent and it being a compliment, and I have to agree. What evolves between Edie and Finn feels organic and real, and the obstacles Creasy sets for them towards the end are enough to feed the UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension) hungry readers for a long time.

Review: Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy

Book info:

Form: pdf ebook

Genre: sci-fi, space opera

Target audience: adults

Synopsis

Edie,  a young but very gifted cypherteck, is kidnapped by a group of rovers- pirates from the space. As she can plug in and manipulate the biological tools that the Crib uses to terraform new worlds they want her skills to help them salvage material from the planet she called Scarabaeus - and sell those to less fortunate worlds of the Fringe for a lot of cash. What they don't know is that the planet is the very sight of Edie's worst failure and deepest secret. A world she wanted desperately to preserve from terraforming.

Finn, a former freedom-fighter turned slave (lag), is assigned as her bodyguard; as a cypherteck Eddie can be assassinated by eco-rads who are hunting mercilessly  people like her, and she is on a ship where no one can be trusted. They are tied by a mental leash that will kill him if she dies. If she doesn't cooperate, the pirates will kill them both. Edie is determines to cut this leash and save them but soon enough she finds it is almost impossible, not if she wants Finn to survive. She must play along, revisit Scarabeus and find a mysterious infojack who had created that leash and is her only hope to have it removed. Will she manage to do it on time, though?

What I liked:

I have to admit Song of Scarabaeus started off slowly. It was sometimes difficult to wade through all sorts of technological terms to keep track of the world building. Words like cypherteck, datastream, wet-teck interface, and biocyph retroviral automated terraformer (or BRATs for short) were thrown at me, making me wonder why I had picked up this book and whether it was switched with a tech nerd vocabulary. Then I adjusted and my reading was progressing more smoothly. Mind you it didn't feel like infodumping but there was a LOT to know.

The concept is intriguing as well – a human who can change planets with a mere thought, mentally chained to a killer who must protect her or die. Brilliant.Finn and Edie, the heroine, are tied together by a "leash" that will cause Finn's head to explode if he gets too far from Edie. It was an amazing plot device, making all those silly insta-love or insta-lust twists unnecessary. Still don't let yourself be swayed by the blurb or the cover art, describing this one as a sci-fi romance of a kind ( this time it is a compliment). Let me assure you that the romance was practically non-existent. The characters did share a strong bond, they cared for each other, and they occasionally had some real moments of heat, but the closest thing to a romantic interlude in the first 150 pages quickly got shut down by the heroine.

Also Scarabaeus the planet and its creepy inhabitants were excellently portrayed. It would be quite a challenge for any ambitious sci-fi movies director but the results could be astounding.

Finally I found Ms. Creasy's storytelling ability really gripping - I was able to finish the novel in two evenings despite the initial problems.

What I didn't like:

The structure of the novel is somewhat episodic - to the point that it seems like reading a script for an television series. No, it is not a compliment in my view. Kidnapping – one episode. Coming on the ship – another episode. Lag escape – another episode. And so on. Not to mention those blasts from the past that happen in Edie's dreams or rather nightmares.

Because we only got one POV, I felt we spent a lot of time in the heroine's head, as she navigates what's happening to her and what's going to happen. I felt like the relationships she formed with other characters, not only with Finn, were only superficially developed if developed at all.

Apart from that the world building which at first promised me exotic planets and aliens didn't deliver, nor really. You see, two thirds of the book takes place on the ship called Hoi Polloi .The problem is that it’s a very plain ship, in full accordance with its name (meaning 'ordinary, simple people, the commoners' in Greek). It has no odd aspects, it’s never bombarded by asteroids, it never loses propulsion. It’s just a ship. The rover crew of the ship had potential, but neither Haller nor the captain ever mature into the full fledged villains.

Finally one more carping: Song of Scarabaeus? Really? In my humble opinion that's a terrible title! When I heard about the book the first time I was sure it would be actually about Egypt!

Final verdict:

This book will totally do it for you if you like SF with biotech elements and evolutionary biology. I liked it despite its flaws - it’s unique, it’s SF, it has a female protagonist. We don’t get many of those.

Movie review: Men in Black 3

Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenplay: Etan Cohen
Cast:
Agent J: Will Smith
Agent K: Tommy Lee Jones
Young Agent K: Josh Brolin
Agent O: Emma Thompson
Boris the Animal: Jemaine Clement
Release date: 2012
MPAA rating: PG-13

Synopsis (in just three nifty sentences ;p ):

Boris the Animal, a nasty alien creep, has just escaped from a special prison on the Moon – now he wants to go back in time and rewrite the history. Will he succeed? No, he won’t because Men in Black or, more precisely, agent J and agent K, will stop him just in time.

My impressions:

While it’s impossible to recreate the feeling of originality that made the 1997 MIB so different, the screenwriter, Etan Cohen, and the director have done the next best thing: they’ve created a story that probes the friendship between Smith and Jones and plays on our fondness for the actors in these roles.I was really pleasantly surprised because such a move is not popular among sci-fi films directors, who just seem to think 'action-action-action'. It was subtle in an unexpected way. And you got action as well so it is a win-win situation.

I also loved the sense of humour. Have you ever seen a band of aliens playing bagpipes and singing Auld Lang Syne during a funeral? Or Emma Thomson (Agent O, the new boss) speaking Alienish (even if she was just paraphrasing) ? This movie might be the only occasion! I bet the actors had a lot of fun shooting this one; let me assure you the audience feels and enjoys it as well!

I appreciated such moments when a simple pan or a bottle of mustard sauce (I am not completely sure but the colour was right for the mustard sauce) was as efficient a weapon as any space gun and the characters could not only kick and shoot but also turn philosophical. Really, for a third part of a series it was a very decent movie. Of course it didn’t have the freshness of the first installment and the plot repeated the pattern of the previous two films so yes, no big surprises in this one but still it was really good. It is mainly the performance of the actors which won my heart over – Tommy Lee Jones is really a nice Agent K although you can see he is not so young anymore (110? Maybe 111 but certainly not older ;)) . Well, the best actors are like certain types of wine – the older the better. In this one you also get a younger version of Agent K which is not bad! Emma Thompson was a real asset – I adore this actress, I really do. She is a great comedian and mainly because the characters she plays have a certain warmth I always appreciate very much. She feels real, not like these plastic dolls with tons of make-up, false smiles and silicone…whatever. Whoever decided to employ her in Hollywod made a very good move.

Going back in time, especially the jumping bit, was nicely and intelligently done – the screenwriter managed to avoid most of traps which are faced by authors using such a plot device- and of course moving to the sixties of the twentieth century was a treat in itself. By the way the chocolate milk craving as a side effect of a time warp was hillarious, now I know why I crave chocolate all the time! 

So Andy Warhol was a MIB agent? I always knew there was something shifty about him and his ‘art’- and all models are aliens! I can’t agree more! Finally let me say that I really liked the fact that Agent J didn’t need a girlfriend to keep the things interesting - another intelligent but not so very popular decision taken by the director.

Final verdict:

A nice, funny, relaxing  movie, perfect for a summer evening. Nothing very deep or horribly philosophical but it has its moments - not bad for sci-fi stuff!

Review: Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (The Baroque Cycle 01)

Book info:

Form: e-book, Kindle format

Genre: historical ficition, sci-fi

Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

The story opens in 1713 when Daniel Waterhouse, a former Puritan and natural philosopher (as scientists were then called) living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, finds himself invited back to England, where a dispute has arisen between Newton and Leibniz over exactly who developed calculus. Yes, he is that Dr Daniel Waterhouse who has founded "The Massachusetts Bay Colony Institute of Technologickal Arts" (or, as it is known today, MIT). As Daniel undertakes his voyage, leaving his wife and son behind, we go back forty years to his youth, when, as a student, he watched his classmate Isaac Newton develop into an obsessive and eccentric genius. Newton is so absorbed by his work (mathematics, light, even alchemy, an idea still taken seriously then, you name it) that he would neglect food and proper sleep if it weren't for Daniel's care. Daniel practically serves as the young genius's butler during their school days although it was supposed to be the other way round (Daniel, as a richer student, had a right to employ poorer boys, called sizars, as his personal servants). This section takes first 340 pages give or take.
Then we move into "King of the Vagabonds," which shifts the novel's focus from the lives of English high society to society's dregs. Jack Shaftoe is the vagabond of the title, an orphan whose earliest career involved dangling from the legs of men sentenced to hang in order to quicken their deaths. As an adult he wanders the continent, eventually falling in with an army battling the Turks at Vienna. Here he rescues Eliza, who had been sold as a concubine to a Turkish prince. Jack and Eliza travel together for a time, until they reach Amsterdam. Here, Eliza proves to have a strong mind for business and money management, and she remains in Amsterdam — quickly turning into a European financial center thanks to the Dutch East India Company — while Jack (who is slowly losing his mind from syphilis) continues to France.

Portrait of Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), German philosopher (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The final section of the book, "Odalisque," brings Daniel's and Eliza's story threads together. Daniel has re-established contact with Newton, whose studies are veering away from the purely scientific into the metaphysical following his completion of the Principia Mathematica, while on the continent Leibniz has finally published his calculus. Eliza's reputation as a financial wizard, meanwhile, has brought her into contact with some of the most powerful people from Holland, England, and France. She finds herself ensconced at Versailles, managing the finances of virtually everyone there, which gives her unprecedented contact with people who would ordinarily be off limits to one of her lowborn class. Meanwhile, she has become a confidant first of the Duke of Monmouth (whose rebellion in England against James II fails miserably), then of William of Orange (whose succeeds), and of Leibniz, to whom she writes of her escapades in cipher.

What I liked:

I felt this first part tried to capture one of the pivotal periods not merely in European history, but one which ultimately shaped the course of the modern world as we know it. 17th century as a period cannot and shouldn't be underestimated. In the field of science, there were Newton's discoveries, as well as the first formal instance of politics and science going hand in hand with the Royal Society. The financial markets of Europe at this time set the stage for the stock exchanges that propelled economies the world over today. I found myself gasping several times when I rediscovered such obvious truths here. It was a mental challenge but also something truly enjoyable. What were Renaissance alchemists but hackers, rooting around in and trying to reprogram systems of matter? Modern cryptanalysts and programmers have their intellectual roots, too, in work done by wigged mathematicians of centuries past. The idea of a modern computer was most probably invented by Leibniz. The learned discourses of Waterhouse, Newton, Leibniz, Hooke et al contains the germs, sometimes even the clear outlines, of future scientific discoveries. Daniel refers to "a kind of net-work of information", a long time before the OED's first record of such a figurative use of "net-work" (by Coleridge in 1816, talking about property). One letter from Leibniz more or less invents Einsteinian special relativity and implies the celebrated equation e=mc2; elsewhere someone proposes gravitation as the distortion of spacetime avant la lettre; and there is a buried joke about the improbability of anyone ever believing in the idea of particles which we now know as neutrinos.I am not surprised this book was awarded 2004 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Stephenson’s prose I found very fluid and readable even when he described difficult topics; his gift can draw the reader in and can even make those knotty scientific and mathematical theories palatable.

 
His novel offers up a wide range of characters, all of them deserving a separate book, like Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Robert Hooke, John Wilkins, Samuel Pepys, Christiaan Huygens, the Duke of Monmouth, Benjamin Franklin, and Louis XIV himself. All of them in Stephenson's hands become living, breathing, remarkable men, not merely the kinds of stuffy cardboard portraits so often found in historical novels. You hardly know who to look first at and who to like best. It is a feast rarely found in other novels.

 Sir Isaac Newton. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a backdrop to the birth of modern science, Stephenson presents the House of Stuart and its
 courtiers. Drake Waterhouse, Daniel’s father, is killed by Charles II himself, and Daniel makes the acquaintance of a number of future courtiers while attending Cambridge. They are colourful fellows, interesting to read about but also ones you would run from as fast as you could if you met them in real life.
It seems that the main character of the book is the Quicksilver, a mysterious substance which can represent several ideas. It’s one of symbols of alchemy, which is slowly being replaced by verifiable science; but it is also a symbol of Mercury, the messenger, who in the guise of the mysterious Enoch Root passes messages between members of the nascent scientific community in America, England and on the European continent. 

Finally the sense of humour. I loved it when great men in English politics and science, normally fighting brutally with each other (Newton and Hooke would become bitter enemies) confided in Daniel, helping to guide his career to greater heights just because they perceived him as a harmless nonentity among true giants.  If you like clever palace intrigue and the unique style of wit that only emerges from Britain you will be in seventh heaven. Usually I laugh that hard only while watching the better episodes of  Black Adder or Monty Python. Remember, laughter is good for your health.

What I didn’t like:

A replica of Newton's second reflecting telescope of 1672 presented to the Royal Society. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As any 900 page work of historical fiction this is a daunting, demanding book. Long, twisted, with several POVs and the narration switching from first person present to third person past in no time. No, it is not for everyone. There were parts which I found boring like the early history of European banking and coin-minting. It's probably not possible for a book so long to go its whole length without a few longueurs or to keep you entertained the whole time. Well, I managed to finish it and I didn’t regret doing so but it’s up to every reader to determine whether the good parts are worth persevering. The answer will depend to some extent on the reader's taste in historical fiction. Those who prefer it straight and full of anachronisms might balk at Stephenson's  attitude and laissez-faire when it comes to sticking to the historical accuracy. Characters and the narrator often knowingly use modern slang (at one point Charles II is called "a foreign-policy slut"), and there are numerous little contemporary jokes such as a reference to "canal rage" in Venice - gondoliers are increasingly involved in violent altercations, which some take to be "a symptom of the excessively rapid pace of change in the modern world" - or when Enoch Root offers a Grantham apothecary a cup of tea, which the latter considers "inoffensive enough, but I don't think Englishmen will ever take to anything so outlandish" (in fact I  LOVED that scene but I know some people might frown).

Final verdict (short and sweet):


After a break I will read the rest. For sure. I loved it, despite some boring parts and the fact that it was a very long novel. While reading such books you feel your brain cells rejoicing and multiplying. For the sheer effort of writing something so long and so good I proclaim it to be...

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I got this book from rameau - thank you very much for your generosity and kindness!

Form: e-book, Kindle edition
Genre: sci-fi fairy tale
Target audience: YA

Synopsis:

Being a cyborg in New Bejing means being a second class citizen. Cinder knows it only too well – she has to work and earn not only her living but also the living of her small family, consisting of her stepmother and two stepsisters, Peony and Pearl. Fortunately Cinder is an extremely gifted robotics mechanic (not unlike little Anakin Skywalker), already renowned in the city despite her young age. One day even prince Kaito, the heir apparent to the imperial throne, pays her a visit in her little shop. He has an android to repair – an old one he keeps only for sentimental reasons. Or so he claims.

Cinder finds the prince very handsome, very kind and even funny. She is afraid to admit that she falls for him head over heels - after all she has a snowball in hell chance to be the right bride for a future emperor. She is over 36% artificial, she has no money to speak of and her stepmom simply hates her guts. Still a cyborg can dream, can't she? Well...soon enough her dreams must disappear - Peony, the nicer of her stepsisters, accompanies her to a local landfill site and falls ill. She catches a virus of lethumosis, a mysterious disease similar to the bubonic plague - incurable and very deadly. Of course Peony’s mother blames Cinder for it and decides to make her stepdaughter “volunteer” as a scientific guinea pig. So far none of those survived. The stepmom thinks she is so clever - not only she gets rid of Cinder, she is also paid for it. Sounds like a sweet deal but...Cinder returns. And she strikes back. ;)

What I liked:

The originality. It is not easy to work with such a well-known stuff as Cinderella and still produce an original book. Every kid and their parent can correct you (or at least have some remarks) but I must admit I was sold as soon as I started this one. New Beijing. Cyborgs. A handsome heir apparent who doesn’t want to be an emperor at all. A nice teenager girl who earns her living as an open-air market mechanic instead of whining, flirting, swearing and combing her hair. It was actually funny but reading about Cinder I thought all the time about Luke Skywalker or his dad. I couldn’t help it. Luke and Cinder were both orphans raised by foster families. They both had some shadowy secrets to discover. Cinder, like both Skywalkers, had a bionic limb (but no, she didn’t get hers because she fought her evil Sith lords with a light saber ;) ) and liked tinkering with robots. She also had a snarky android friend. The book, like the Star Wars movie, was peppered with funny scenes. Still it remained original.

Cinder and her love interest, prince Kaito, are real assets here. Both, despite their young age (late teens) have suffered serious losses and have to shoulder great responsibilities. Both are pressurized into choosing between an evil and another evil. I liked their slow romance a lot – no ugly love triangle, not many adventures, a YA book with just one kiss and still it kept me riveted! Well done! Making Levana an evil Lunar queen was a great move. The author reverted the usual order, popular in such stories – here an adult woman is an aggressor and a young, inexperienced man – her victim. Mind you it is an YA book so you won't find any sordid details here - prince Kai just grits his teeth and soldiers on, poor thing.

The pace of narration was great –  not too quick, not to slow but you didn’t want to stop reading. I especially enjoyed the build-up toward that great annual ball and you see, that’s the beauty of a well-told story: you know Cinder will attend the ball although she repeatedly declines the prince's invitation, you know the prince will finally fall for her and she for him but still you are wondering how and when and for what reasons. That’s how a good fairy tale adaptation should work.

Finally the cover art -I like it a lot and I find it really suitable, especially the title font. It took me to the Moon and back...;)

What I didn’t like:

Firstly I was a tad surprised reading that Cinder, left without any schooling or tutoring at 11, was such a fantastic mechanic. If the author made her stepfather live a little bit longer all of it would be far more creditable. Even Anakin had to be taught this and that.

I admit the baddies were a shade too one-dimensional. This novel deserved something better than an all-evil queen-autocrat or a horrible full stop horrible stepmother. I do hope though that it will be improved in next installments – it is just the beginning, right?

I also was a bit disappointed by so few world building elements and minor glitches. We know there are many cyborgs in New Beijing but we are shown just Cinder and her problems. The Lunar queen comes with a visit but we know very little about the settlements on the Moon – how they became possible at all, what discoveries and technical inventions allowed that (apart from magic that is). Once again – plenty of material to be developed in other books. Hopefully in a creative way.

Final verdict:

I am definitely interested in reading the next part of Lunar Chronicles. Actually I am pretty curious what path Ms Meyer will choose: will she continue adapting the same fairy tale or will she tell another story?  No matter what her choice is, may the Force be with her...ehem...good luck!

Mini review: Aftermath (Sirantha Jax 05) by Ann Aguirre

Book form: mobi (Kindle) format ebook
Author: Ann Aguirre
Title: Aftermath
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy/romance/space opera
Target audience: adults

Synopsis 
(if you haven't read the previous parts you might be spoiled, it is a series after all, sorry):

Sirantha Jax went AWOL and managed to rearrange the beacons, making the Grimspace quite unrecognizable to anybody but herself. She saved her whole civilization from the invasion of murderous, flesh-eating Morguts but also over 600 innocent people died, stranded in Grimspace because of her intervention. Now she has to undergo a trial for it - and her life might be at stake.

March and Velith are helping her find a good lawyer but ultimately it's her personal fight to stay sane and to tackle the survivor's guilt which matters the most. March leaves before the trial begins; he has to look for his orphaned nephew. It is evident he and Jax are growning apart almost despite their best efforts to stay close to each other. After Sirantha's release she and Velith Il- Nok travel to Gehenna where they say their good-byes to Adele, a friend of both. We get to know more about Vel's past romance with Adele. After some time of rest Sirantha wants to do something positive to counter-balance all the deaths, caused by her. She has two concrete projects on her mind.

The first one concerns a little Mareq creature called Baby-Z. It was another casualty, killed accidentally by Sirantha, but his DNA sample was preserved. Now it is being cloned in order to return it to its home. The other project concern Loras - a La'hern so a kind of elf who comes from a race which doesn't have a will of his own anymore due to human intervention. Sirantha promised to help him and now is financing the whole research which might lead to finding a cure for all La'hern.

All nice and good but will it be enough?

What I liked:

This one was truly a character-driven adventure. Yes, you got it right and yes, it is possible; at least Ann Aguirre can make it happen. Almost all her characters are fully-fledged and seem completely alive and still they get plenty of action! Easy? Well, not exactly...

We  finally get more information about March, Hit, Adele, Doc and March's nephew, but most of all Vel. Sirantha’s path from an anti-heroine and a boobs-flashing rebel to a self-aware, courageous, mature woman is very impressive. The best thing is she owes a lot of her newfound dedication and maturity to the strong, loyal bounty hunter, Velith, who looks like a big bug in a chitin body but is one of the best aliens I've encountered in sci-fi books - really the more you know about him the more you cherish him. He is wise, supportive, undemanding, able to defend himself, full of good ideas and loyal - could you wish anything more in a prospective partner? So what he isn't exactly human-handsome?


What's more, Ann Aguirre is an amazing story teller - she can keep you occupied all the time. She started with this crazy sci-fi Grimspace world but what she really has given us are unforgettable characters, a fantastic, very original vision and a gripping story. It can appeal to lovers of different genres.

What I didn't like:

Well, the book seemed to me divided artificially into two parts: the trial of Sirantha and her trip to planet Mareeq, to deliver Baby-Z2 to his parents. I wish both parts were longer and more developped; that way Jax's story arc was just too extended. Also sometimes I was a tiny bit annoyed by all these messages and letters.

The cover: cheeesy...definitely worse than the content, believe me.

Final verdict:

If you don't have anything terribly against this mix of genres do read this series, it is worth it! I just hope the final part will be as good as the frist five!

Aguirre says that Jax is going to get her HEA (happily ever after) in the last book (Endgame) that's going to be published next year - that seems clearly to indicate some sort of resolution with March. I'm very interested to see how this one works out and how other mysteries will be solved like the real identity of Edun or the fate of Jael (no, I don't think he died in prison, b*****d).

Summer review: Grimspace (Sirantha Jax 01) by Ann Aguirre

I’ve done soft chicklit reviews so to speak (Gini Koch) so now the time has come for something like more hardcore sci-fi chicklit or space opera.


Book info:

Cover of Grimspace (Sirantha Jax, Book 1)

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Ace (February 26, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0441015999
ISBN-13: 978-0441015993
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy/romance/space opera
Target audience: adults (well, PG-13 will do too)



Synopsis:

A passenger spaceship “Sargasso” with over 80 important people on board, belonging to the Farwan Corporation, crashes. Only one person survives – the navigator Sirantha Jax. Navigators, also called jumpers, are the carriers of a special J-gene which enables them to see the outer space in a more profound manner and feel different navigating beacons around. Only Farwan trains them - quite a monopoly. Sirantha is one of the best navigators for more than one reason – not only she feels around the Grimspace like no other jumper but also she has survived  a bigger number of “jumps” so far. Usually navigators burn out very quickly so there is a constant demand for them – only their unique skills make the long-haul space travel possible.

After the crash Sirantha is transported and kept in a mental health hospital. As she heals her horrible burns different psychiatrists try to break her and make her confess to having caused the crash. The narration starts when she is kidnapped (or rather liberated) by an ex-mercenary called March who has his own agenda Jax knows nothing about. She is not sure about his intentions but she grabs at that straw as any fate is better than a forced breakdown in a mental hospital and a prison sentence. While they are pursued she has to “jump” into the Grimspace again (her version of the cosmos) with him as a pilot, no matter the costs. What follows is a journey through space as well as a journey through Jax's soul. Let only say it complicates the situation a lot.

Apparently the bond linking a pilot and a jumper must be really strong to make them succeed. Although Sirantha is still mourning the death of her previous pilot, friend, colleague and lover, Kai, soon enough she finds March more than an adequate substitute. It makes her very uncomfortable to say the least of it but she can’t help it. The man is a mind- reader (Psi) and it seems their theta-waves are very similar. As a result they can literally talk to each other into their own heads and March knows instantly what Sirantha is feeling. That’s only a beginning of a truly griping story about solving one mystery after another while asking many difficult questions.

What I liked:

How many female sci-fi writers do you know? I must admit I haven’t heard about one until I stumbled on a review of Grimspace. It made me interested so I decided to give the book a try and whoa, it was an exhilarating, although a bit scary roller coaster ride from the very beginning.

It is a character-driven, first-person narration novel and Sirantha Jax is one hell of a character too. She is damaged goods from the start – unstable after the accident, depressed, horribly scarred, being tortured mentally by those ugly shrinks to boot – but still she fights her way out no matter what. She has grit and determination of several men and women being an interesting protagonist with a lot of potential, I think. . Small wonder March, although grudgingly, falls for her after a while head over heels.

I must admit Ms. Aguirre has a touch for excellent characters and she can build very plausible relations between them. It’s her strong ground. I am not a big fan of romance and there’s a romance which is incredibly well-done and which I liked. In general the interactions of Jax, March, and the supporting cast are very interesting and funny to read. All of them are damaged to some extend but, unlike other novels, it works rather fine.

There’s also one unique character of Velith Il- Nok, an alien from a planet where big, intellgent mantis-like bugs live, which really got to me for more than one reason. Let me only tell you I’ve never liked creepy bug aliens before (especially after watching several sci-fi movies)  but also I’ve never met bug aliens with a sense of humor and propriety before. That was unexpected.

The plot is another big asset of the book. It flows very nicely, you don’t get any sudden illogical changes of direction (meaning most often that the author had no idea what to write next), there are no glaring inconsistency errors. The book ends where it should as soon as it should – you don’t have a feeling that the author ran out of steam or had an editor with a band of cruel mercenaries with AKs-47 banging on her door for not meeting the deadline.


What I didn’t like:

There were little quirks of writing style that drove me crazy after a while, like the incessant use of the word "frag" as a swear and Aguirre's habit of leaving off things like proper nouns from the start of a sentence. For example, you'd get "Could have seen it" rather than "I could have seen it". This became really frustrating fragg--er, but for all of that, I found it pretty easy to keep reading.

Final verdict:

Discovering authors like Aguirre is an absolute thrill. This is a grand space opera in the best tradition of Star Wars but without the false, pompous nobleness of the Jedi knights. I can’t wait to read the next installments only hoping they will be equally good. If you like kick-ass heroines and/or sci-fi it is the perfect series for you.

Review: Killing Time by Caleb Carr

· Hardcover: 288 pages
· Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (November 7, 2000)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 0679463321
· ISBN-13: 978-0679463320
· Genre: sci-fi/thriller

· Target group: adults (preferably geeks)

Synopsis:

This book, a first-person narrative, takes place in the year 2023, in a world heavily polluted and racked by violent warfare all over the globe, an era that has seen almost all: plague, a global economic crash, and the 2018 assassination of the US President Emily Forrester. The protagonist, Dr. Gideon Wolfe, is a psychiatrist, expert criminologist and an expert in history. He learns quite accidentally that the assassination of Ms. Forrester five years ago was digitally altered to trick the public. The widely viewed web page containing the killing is very popular but has split an already divided nation further.

 Gideon meets a group of scientists and military experts who were the professional manipulators behind much of the official public misinformation floating on the Net. They are led by the Tressalian siblings, Malcolm and Larissa. They have one important goal: to prove to the world that the Information Age has enabled both governments and corporations to dupe the average citizens into believing anything that they see in the mass media. This explosive discovery will lead Gideon Wolfe on an electrifying journey from a criminal underworld of New York to the jungles of Africa and on a quest to find the truth in an age when all information can be manipulated. Initially, Wolfe eagerly joins the group in their cause. He soon begins to have second thoughts, however; are the motives of the group as pure as they seem to be? Or do they, themselves, seek to manipulate the populace to their own ends?

What I liked:

The novel's premise - "information is not knowledge" - is indeed timely and intriguing, especially when you take into account the present E.Coli controversy in Europe. Killing Time is mainly about the ease with which large numbers of people can be deceived and manipulated. It's a rather fearsome but fascinating take on the Information Age.

At times, Killing Time is more similar to Jules Verne than to more modern dystopian futuristic novels. Gideon and his associates travel almost around the world in a huge vehicle that can convert from hovering craft to ultrasonic flyer to submarine at a moment's notice. Carr's choice of having most of the novel told as a reminiscence adds to the archaic tone which I found strangely endearing. The description of the future world and the players surfing the Internet is intelligently rendered and provided a lot of entertainment, at least for me.

Some of the characters are lively, especially the brilliant but slightly mad Malcolm or the morally troubled Dr. Wolfe, who is not sure that he agrees with Malcolm's theories, no matter how brilliant they are.


What I didn’t like:

In this novel, Mr. Carr tells us virtually everything through Gideon, the narrator, not allowing to see the events and motivations of the characters. After a while I found it a bit boring, especially that other characters had big potential. Potential never fulfilled I must add – few of these develop beyond superficial character tags, most of them remaining merely sketched and laughably 2-dimensional. We know precious little about them or their motivations and it is a pity.

I was especially disappointed with the character of Larissa, the only woman in the group full of male scientists. She is beautiful, deadly and…very shallow although we are repeatedly told otherwise. You almost wonder why such an intelligent guy like Wolfe falls in love with her ( and he is not the only one of course). Given another hundred pages or so Carr might have fleshed out her character and the whole plot enough to create a definitely better heroine and a more readable novel.

The book's major weakness is the melodrama that seeps into the plot, which, at times, seems too contrived to be believable. The romantic development might be a showcase here: Wolfe ends up in bed with Larissa in record time even though we're not given the slightest reason why she is attracted to him (ok, she heard of him and saw his photo on the cover of his book and fancied him instantly; great reason for a mature, responsible, intelligent woman, no?).

Finally it seems that the only solution for the world destroyed by technology is…technology. While such an ambivalence might have its merits maybe it would be better to focus on the human factor a bit more?

Final verdict:

Say what you want – despite some obvious flaws Killing Time gets the reader thinking and this is its ultimate value. After reading it you will ponder twice before believing completely in any broadcast story, appearing in the media or on the Internet. I do not regret reading it but I must admit I enjoyed The Alienist loads better.