Just when I thought I was getting a handle on where this story was going to take me, everything goes to shit in a highly interesting way--and it's allJust when I thought I was getting a handle on where this story was going to take me, everything goes to shit in a highly interesting way--and it's all undercover cyberpunk corpo shit. :)
Yes, it's just like I'm continuing in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe and it's delicious. I'm having a grand time.
When I was offered an ARC for this, I was frankly hooked by "non-human PoVs" and that was about all it took. But when I actually read it, what I foundWhen I was offered an ARC for this, I was frankly hooked by "non-human PoVs" and that was about all it took. But when I actually read it, what I found was something I've been frankly STARVING for: far-future, rich, high-tech alienish peoples and cultures living actual lives amid mind-boggling, awe-inspiring vistas.
I'll be honest, this is what *I* always imagined SF to be as a kid. The reality is often a bit disappointing, or just plain mild, with the good stuff always leaning more toward characters or fantastic plot over that overarching feel of awe.
But there ARE SFs out there that give proper respect to the AWE. And for years, I feel like I've been truly starving for it. There are a few, of course, like Ninefox Gambit or some Reynolds or Adrian Tchaikovsky, but 'tis just a handful.
This soon-to-be published work is a must-read for all you starving SF fans who understand what I'm talking about. Wild, visual, deeply thematic, and it has a flood of SF ideas that we can float around in like a wild-river ride. Give it some love.
My synesthesia went into an overload, as if I had just fallen into Willy Wonka's factory.
Personal note: If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to requests. Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
Simply put, this is an exasperating, difficult, gorgeous, horrifying, and to put no finer point upon it--a UNIQUE work of fiction.
I'm not even slyly Simply put, this is an exasperating, difficult, gorgeous, horrifying, and to put no finer point upon it--a UNIQUE work of fiction.
I'm not even slyly suggesting that it's in any way bad.
Indeed, I think it's a work of genius.
It is NOT for the squeamish or the casual. It is, simply, one of the densest far-future bio-punk body-horror Hard SF stories I've ever read. Or rather, the novel is comprised of four entirely different novellas set in this far future post-human towering imagination.
Frank Herbert once wrote, "The best art imitates life in a compelling way. If it imitates a dream, it must be a dream of life. Otherwise, there is no place where we can connect. Our plugs don't fit."
In this work, it's possible to dig down deep within our own psyches, with horror intact, to jury-rig a plug--but it's awful, shocking, and very often... sublime.
In other words, pick this up, friends, if you want a mind-blowingly brilliant imagination to rummage around in your brain. This is the equivalent to bench-pressing 600 with your grey matter. SO WORTH IT. But it ain't gonna be easy. At all.
This being said, and if you're still reading this wondering if I might bring up theories about what I had just read in the novel--and oh my god I have many--my favorite interpretation is that we are NOT reading four different vignettes regarding a space-faring bio-nanotech-teeming spaceship full of shattered shards of preserved consciousness endlessly shuffled through new incarnations of "people". I think we're reading everything backwards. I suppose the biggest hint was in the "parent" and "child" order of things--made pretty easy to follow with the consciousness seeds, the fragmentary nature within the first novella--and the progressively larger encapsulations of consciousness and how things got closer and closer to baseline humanity as we progressed through each novella. So the last one is the genesis. A far future genesis, perhaps, but still recognizable as the wild, wild broken universe of the last of humanity. Of course, "last" is subjective, and the wild explosion of all different kinds of forms of biomass and "humanity" is just as subjective. But I like this theory a lot.
The writing never lets me down. I absolutely adore everything about this novel.
BUT--I admit to screaming in frustration, putting the book down almost every other page, mulling and seething, before staggering back to the pages in sheer horror and curiosity.
It's a challenging book. It's also extremely rewarding.
You will NOT want to know what my synesthesia experienced as I read this. Think living in a Cthulhu's belly. Now add a fever dream of regular reality. And then have a deadline to meet.
Personal note: If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to requests. Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.
I'm really closing out 2024 in MASSIVE style. I never realized how good Ymir is.
Just imagine Altered Carbon on a frozen, alien world pulling a retelliI'm really closing out 2024 in MASSIVE style. I never realized how good Ymir is.
Just imagine Altered Carbon on a frozen, alien world pulling a retelling of Beowulf.
Oh, sure, I was a bit worried it'd be pretentious or something, but hell no. It was just a fantastic Hard SF read that was written smartly, with wonderful back-and-forths with great reveals. Sharp, modern style, with lots of love for the SF, and it only broadly recalls the Beowulf in particulars--while landing awesome on the FEELS.
100% recommend. I love antiheroes. the biotech, AIs, deep-history machine aliens, and best of all Ymir, itself, makes for one hell of a rich, rich stew that keeps surprising with unexpected hints of bbq and curry to keep you warm in this amazingly cold, cold book. (I'm really enjoying adding synesthesia to my reviews.)
Personal note: If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.
What a trip. And I mean that most druggily. For all those fans of Area X, you probably wouldn't have expected another novel, but herWheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
What a trip. And I mean that most druggily. For all those fans of Area X, you probably wouldn't have expected another novel, but here we are, in all its life-and-mind-desolving goodness.
The alligators hooked me. The trackers enticed me. The flesh--well, the flesh--did something to me. The words, lol, the words, they set me up, entangled me in so many styles, and then threw me to the ground, tickled me, made me laugh, and then, when I didn't know what I was doing or thinking, they ate me. Yes. My expedition into this book ate me.
And here we have it, the fateful original expedition into Area X, the original Terror of the Weird, all come home to roost.
*shivers* The surreal alien madness, slow-cooked over the fire, was everything I thought it would be, and more.
Honestly, I think it's on par with the first book, tho that one had tight PoVs going for it, rather than a full menagerie of madness, in this one. Both have their strong points. But either way, I loved this. I'm still vibrating with that end.
I picked this book specifically because it had a post-American Civil War in its blurb. Seemingly, that was enough for me.
As fEven heaven allows hell.
I picked this book specifically because it had a post-American Civil War in its blurb. Seemingly, that was enough for me.
As for the content, it's a bit more of a complete cyberpunk dystopia without the endless capitalist violence. Indeed, in this MANAGED society, people's very memories are suspect. It's chilling and eventually the novel really blows up in an interesting way.
Think Pol Pot if he could have gotten his hands on memory alteration tech, AI personal assistants (and more to run a total massive operation), and a complete erasure of history. No one wants to recall the horrors of war, after all. It's best to take away the bad bits. In here, we start with this as a fait accompli.
I may have had a bit of issues with the writing style at first but once we got out of the explanation modes I was quite involved with the action and reveals. I very well might continue more by this author.
I first read this 25 years ago in an anthology I still have to this day. I had read a lot of short fiction by that time, as well as a mountain of SF nI first read this 25 years ago in an anthology I still have to this day. I had read a lot of short fiction by that time, as well as a mountain of SF novels.
I'm happy to say that this random little story from over two decades ago has done a better job of immortalizing itself to me than any other. Few have shone as brightly as this one. Indeed, I might say this one is my absolute favorite short SF of all time.
Sure, some older SF authors might have touched on the same overall theme and some later authors will have done the same, but this one has everything I love most.
Back in '98, nanotech was still shiny, but what never goes out of style is a good tale: all the love, immortality, sheer unrestrained originality, time, and memory.
It's a densely crafted tale that sets up the seven days of Solomon Grundy, only hard-SF -- and it's full of heart. It rejects the idea that immortality kills love. There's a lot more going on in it than is obvious in even two reads.
I'll be honest here: if I had any way to immortalize this story, make sure everyone in the universe reads it, gets it under their skin, then I would be a very happy man. If any story should not be forgotten, if it should have many, many reprints, then it ought to be this one.
I'm generally always very enthusiastic about near-future, richly imagined, cyberpunk.
This one certainly fits the bill with all the intransigence, vioI'm generally always very enthusiastic about near-future, richly imagined, cyberpunk.
This one certainly fits the bill with all the intransigence, violence, techno-thrillery, transhumanist implants, memory, immortality, AI's, all within a broken down shell of a world.
Interesting characters here, and a lot happens. I totally recommend this if you're a fan of Daniel Suarez, Al Robertson,
Al Robertson, Daniel Suarez, or Ramez Naam. Of course, if you like this kind of thing, it's on the level with Peter Watts and Alastair Reynolds.
Alastair Reynold's new standalone novel is a real keeper. At first, I thought it was a homage to Cloud Atlas by way of Dan Simmon's Terror, but after Alastair Reynold's new standalone novel is a real keeper. At first, I thought it was a homage to Cloud Atlas by way of Dan Simmon's Terror, but after getting much farther along, I've got to say that its title gives it all away. And pleasantly so.
Eversion: not to be confused with inversion, is a fancy way of saying "inside-out". After being grounded in several incarnations of exploration ships, having twisted myself up with the great characterizations, I have to say that I came out of this a bit inside-out, as well.
But then there's the whole question of topology. And that's where things get really interesting.
Solid, or quite more than solid SF here. Reynolds is always one of my top to-go guys for the genre and he's proven himself many times over. I'm reminded of some of his very best short fiction in these pages, a huge-concept piece written adroitly, and in the end, he gives us a great psychological knife-twist.
I totally recommend this for lovers of old-and-new-school exploration fiction. The ice-on-the-boat ambiance totally got me going, as did the slow introduction to the mystery.
Where Tales from the Loop was eerie and smooth and original, The Electric State oozes a barely concealed scream in a Western USA dystopia that's part Where Tales from the Loop was eerie and smooth and original, The Electric State oozes a barely concealed scream in a Western USA dystopia that's part Singularity and part Biological AI-human convergence nightmare. And with the artwork, the effortless brief storytelling, the total immersion in the normal, and the new-normal, it's way too easy to lose oneself in the book.
To say that I'm an utter fanboy of these is to not say enough at all.
This was absolutely gorgeous. Not just the artwork, but the storytelling. I cannot recommend it enough....more
At first, I had the impression that I was reading something from Steven Brust, which, I should mention, is not a bad thing at all.
But this tale was mAt first, I had the impression that I was reading something from Steven Brust, which, I should mention, is not a bad thing at all.
But this tale was much more about Clarke's First Law and with a cool anthropology twist and an old school sword and sorcery couched firmly, and formally, in a transhumanist long-term space-colony context.
Most of those older fantasies I read usually started on the fantasy side and gradually let in the SF. This one started from the opposite direction. So that's cool.
And another interesting addition is the whole technological correction of depression. :) I'm a big fan of certain kinds of representation, and this one kicks it.
It's a pretty easy bet that whenever I see that there's a new Neal Asher book, I'm going to be all over it like Jain tech and the Spatterjay virus witIt's a pretty easy bet that whenever I see that there's a new Neal Asher book, I'm going to be all over it like Jain tech and the Spatterjay virus with a side-dose of an ancient galactic war machine.
And you know what? My FANBOY REACTIONS ARE UNKILLABLE. -- Kinda like what happens to us when we get infected with the Spatterjay virus or when we get altered by Jain tech.
So here are the killer bits: All you folks who have been curious about Neal Asher's massively wicked future filled with all these nasties doing their things in wonderfully creative combinations but have been too overwhelmed by the sheer weight of everything that came before to actually TRY IT? Well, I'd point to this book.
It's self-contained, has a lot of REALLY interesting worldbuilding, has a great adventure, and if my reaction is anything to go by, it'll make you shiver with pure imaginative delight. I would also point out that there's a LOT of great body-horror stuff in this Hard SF.
We get a taste of everything. The Graveyard, the Prador King, Spatterjay, the AI Polity, and even Masada. But since this is self-contained and shows the worlds AFTER so much has happened, and he's just as clueless as a new reader would be, it hits that sweet spot.
For old fans, it's just like coming home and getting a gorge full of alien parasites. In other words, FUN. :)
This new book by Reynolds is going to be slightly difficult to review. If you haven't read any of the previous novels in the Revelation Space universeThis new book by Reynolds is going to be slightly difficult to review. If you haven't read any of the previous novels in the Revelation Space universe, or the short stories or novellas, then you might have a perfectly fine time with the read.
It takes us on a long trip through time and space, letting us still feel the horror of the Melding Plague, passing through the time of Chasm City and through the ruins of Yellowstone back when it used to glitter in The Prefect and heads us right through the Wolves and the self-replicating ancient horror that is destroying all sentient life, more than touching on the events in Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap and sending us through Galactic North, as refugees and later as a kind of resistance front.
The writing is tight and the story is nearly perfect.
But. Nearly halfway through, I kept getting this nagging feeling that I had read this before. I was really enjoying everything about Glass, but just seeing Clavain return made me wonder how he was involved in all this. Mind you, I loved him in the earlier books and while I didn't read them when they came out, I did read them almost a decade ago, so maybe I was thinking that my memory was messing with me. That may still be the case, of course, and I would have to re-read the other books I mentioned again, side-by-side with this new one, to see the real differences, but I'm pretty sure that I just read a pretty extensive re-write of Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. A lot must have been cut out and even more was tightened up, turning Inhibitor Phase into ... dare I say it ... a superior product.
Am I just imagining things? I don't think so. Of course, it could be a combination of all the short stories and novellas and novels wrapped up in my head, re-formed into THIS, a fully coherent, streamlined tale of the extras, and I'm just tripping.
Either way, I enjoyed it. Maybe less than I thought I would because so much of it seemed so damn familiar, but I still enjoyed it. After all, I enjoyed all the others, too.
Even though I spent a lot of time on this issue, I should mention that the Revelation Space series, as a whole, is something REALLY huge and amazingly detailed for any kind of SF comparison. Indeed the complicated and subtle distinctions between what we call people, be they cyborgs, half pig-half human, uploaded minds, ocean intelligences, slugs, or so much more, is perfectly offset by the pitfalls of tech, enhanced by blood-as-physical-weapons, universe-devouring nanotech, and such large-scale constructions that would have sent Niven or Clarke into conniptions.
This SF is on another scale from most. My problems or praise with it are only expressed in a comparison with Reynold's other books.
I'm of two minds on this one. I, like so many others before me, fell in LOVE with the concept. I mean, the cover has it all. WWII ace flying monkey wiI'm of two minds on this one. I, like so many others before me, fell in LOVE with the concept. I mean, the cover has it all. WWII ace flying monkey with intrigue and mayhem. It just feels funky cool.
He's there, mind you, and he is exactly that, with a few caveats, but the majority of the novel isn't that.
That's where my other mind comes in, and while I'm not precisely disappointed, I do feel like I've been slightly bait-and-switched to a competent cyberpunk-noir SF with some fairly high Altered Carbon stakes. And I don't mean a murder mystery-type. I mean uploaded minds, AIs, and some heavy conspiracy stuff topped off with a coup.
See what I mean? The real novel is pretty fun all by itself. The introduction and continuation of the macaque FELT like it should have been the main-main character, but he was more like the wrench in the monkey business. Which is fine, really, and fun, but it also kinda felt like a lost SF UF opportunity.
I may continue, on the assumption that we focus more on his contributions, but maybe not.
This was pretty good but not brilliant, alas....more
Okay, so it turns out I'm a total fanboy -- still -- for Cassandra Khaw.
We're moving way beyond Lovecraftian food shows and diving head-first into anOkay, so it turns out I'm a total fanboy -- still -- for Cassandra Khaw.
We're moving way beyond Lovecraftian food shows and diving head-first into an amped-up version of Altered Carbon, classic Heist fiction, enough ammunition to choke a city, and world-eating super AIs to keep things toasty. Delicious. Fast-paced. Salty as all hell.
In a universe where it's all dog-eat-cyborg, only the angriest survive -- and believe me, this novel is ALL about the rage, the pain, and the f***ed up Lesbian Cyborg relationships. It's really fun! But yeah, it's also about the pain. :) And getting that one last score before there's simply nothing left.
The atmosphere is the best part of this novel. It goes way beyond normal cyberpunk and gets gritty, pushing all that hardcore SF, and kicks all kinds of ass. There are some really funny parts, too. No spoilers, but the weird is absolutely delicious.
While I was pretty enthusiastic about the SF concepts in this book, hitting the intersections between normal humans, drug enhancements, human-machine While I was pretty enthusiastic about the SF concepts in this book, hitting the intersections between normal humans, drug enhancements, human-machine hybrids, and artificial intelligence, I was unfortunately not as enthusiastic about the characters or the dark political landscape.
Mind you, I don't mind futuristic dystopias at all. I just happen to prefer them to wrapped up in slightly more interesting plots and characters and the fight for machine rights is obviously subtext. If I am to be at all honest about it, I prefer such things to be a bit more subtle and layered. The core of it was fine, but in the end, it was a bit too plain and on the nose.
I saw a lot of similarities between this and Ramez Naam's trilogy. A focus on Buddhism and getting along, class warfare, and obviously, the tech, but in the end, I much preferred Naam's trilogy.
For all you folks who have not been introduced to Bobiverse, start with book one. For all you folks who might be worried that they're losing steam by For all you folks who have not been introduced to Bobiverse, start with book one. For all you folks who might be worried that they're losing steam by book four, please rest assured. I liked book four even more than books two or three.
The originally fantastic nerd nostalgia from the original is still available in these later books, but it doesn't rely upon it. Indeed, the moral quandaries, the mystery and adventure, the sheer awesomeness of a post-humanity uploaded consciousness of a single programmer who basically becomes an AI god spreading about the galaxy, making jokes about Star Trek and Douglas Adams, is just too precious for words.
Ah, but we've also got a really interesting plot with no less than THREE major rebellions to deal with among three alien species. (I count us as one of those species because... come on... have you SEEN US?)
I was sucked right into the tale and it never let up. I even had to re-watch Multiplicity today to get a little theme-harmony going on. :) Just how many Bobs are there? We've got copy-descendants in the 20th iteration by now. And beware those Big Dumb Objects! :)
It having been much more than a decade since I've read anything else by Paolini -- his dragons were pretty okay -- I came to the idea of reading his aIt having been much more than a decade since I've read anything else by Paolini -- his dragons were pretty okay -- I came to the idea of reading his adult space opera with mild anticipation.
I mean, sure, it's often true that many writers of fantasy who decide to jump the fence into SF do so brilliantly, so a part of my mind kept thinking of, say, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I wondered. I wondered hard.
After getting my hands on this book and having started it, I began comparing it to Becky Chambers with a few hints of Iain M. Banks, but as I continued on this quite interesting journey with an already wonderful main character, Kira Navárez, I discovered something really gorgeous. This novel continues on with a single PoV in Kira. Loving her is easy. Falling into the complications of her life as they get rather more complicated -- and epic -- is something of a no-brainer for me.
I mean, the moment that the ex0-biology and exploration segments get to a certain spoilery point that I will keep mum about, it's all COMPLETELY downhill for me. I couldn't stop reading for the life of me. Really. I took the book with me EVERYWHERE and actually growled at everyone I met if they tried to draw my attention way from the book. And it's not like I have a PROBLEM with focusing my attention. I was hooked and it never let up and this is a DOORSTOPPER.
Let's just say that the novel became a huge confetti snowstorm of a classic alien invasion Anime, and combines a literal ton of great classic and modern SF easter eggs in the telling.
Oh, and as for you folks who were worried that a fantasy author might not have the chops for an enormous and very fulfilling SF romp of an adventure, let me just say this: Paolini knows his SF. Take it from someone who has read over 2.2k SF novels and knows his tv and movies. He weaves a great deal of SF tropes reminiscent of Neal Asher and Alaistair Reynolds with his quirky and delightful Becky Chambers crew.
We even get a full-on galactic war, people, with a full resolution in a single standalone novel.
Please, allow me a little squee here. *squees like a little girl* Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Out of several years worth of recent space operas, some of which I really enjoyed and some I even swear by, I think I had the most outright FUN with this one. Some of the others might be more intriguing in the plot, others might have blown me away with the sheer science-magic, but this one touched me deeply while giving me all my darkest wish-fulfillment SF desires in a single delicious Navárez package.
Please don't assume this is an old, tired space opera. Rather, think about the promise, if not the execution, of, say, Babylon 5 or the idea of a Guyver suit (Japanese only) on methamphetamines, and you might get a slight idea about what might be going on here. :)
I might have mentioned in my review for the first book in this series, This Alien Shore, that I missed this kind of SF.
The bookgods have smiled upon mI might have mentioned in my review for the first book in this series, This Alien Shore, that I missed this kind of SF.
The bookgods have smiled upon me. (Or at least C.S. Friedman has.)
What we have here is a setting focused on gritty space stations, hacking, aliens everywhere among us, GAMES, mystery, and a good healthy dose of wanderlust gone wrong. If you liked This Alien Shore, I'm pretty certain that you'll love this one.
It's a return to quite complicated SF settings, characters, and investigations that are never reduced to stereotypes. There's heart here and a clear love of the possibilities inherent in these tropes. Virtuals, hacking, melting pot space stations, and pure noir. I'd say it might be a cyberpunk novel, but it's very well rounded.
This next book in the Requiem for Homo Sapiens is just as wild as the previous two.
I don't often see books like this. It's full space-opera, but by waThis next book in the Requiem for Homo Sapiens is just as wild as the previous two.
I don't often see books like this. It's full space-opera, but by way of The Odyssey by way of debunking various far-future searching for God.
But, of course, gods are a relative thing when thousands of years in the future, adding so many high-tech paths to enlightenment, physical power, and ways of thought (including electronic immortality, the stars in the center of the galaxy blowing up, a stellar cloud being a solid-state machine intelligence or even clusters of Dyson spheres being evacuated).
And below it all, ancient wars between uber-powerful races of humanity still feel fresh. Vital. And Danlo only wants to stay true to his belief in humanity. Of living life. High-tech nirvana, extreme maths, exploring ever-deeper parts of the galaxy, and reconnecting with ancient high-tech civilizations devoted to turning themselves into various versions of gods is the name of the game.
The Architects, in particular, are just as thoroughly imagined as Neverness was. Reading this book pretty much blew me away.
Whether it's a search for a cure for his people or the deification of his father or just wanting to get an answer for how BROKEN this universe is, Danlo's quest is timeless, rather MORE impressive than any other book I've read, and these have suddenly become a candidate for one of my top-favorite series of all time....more