Steve's Bookshelf 2013

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #27:  Wasp by Eric Frank Russell

 

 

From Amazon:

 

The war had been going on for nearly a year and the Sirian Empire had a huge advantage in personnel and equipment. Earth needed an edge. Which was where James Mowry came in.

 

If a small insect buzzing around in a car could so distract the driver as to cause that vehicle to crash, think what havoc one properly trained operative could wreak on an unsuspecting enemy. Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, James Mowry is landed on Jaimec, the 94th planet of the Sirian Empire. His mission is simple: sap morale, cause mayhem, tie up resources, wage a one-man war on a planet of eighty million.

 

In short, be a wasp.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I knew nothing about this book until I noticed it a few months ago in the upcoming SF Masterworks releases for this year.  Written in 1957, this is golden era SF, a relatively brief novel that is all about the 'Big Idea'.  It may be set on another planet but it has WWII and the Cold War written all over it.  Characterisation takes a back seat as Russell paints a picture of a society living in fear and being manipulated by the spreading of rumour and discord.  In a very loose way, parts of it reminded me of the tone of Alone In Berlin, as the central protagonist, James Mowry, surreptitiously posts letters and leaves seditious stickers on shop windows, constantly living in fear of discovery.

 

The title of Wasp is illustrated right at the start of the story, as Mowry's new employer tells him of how a wasp killed four people and wrecked a car just by flying through a window and distracting the driver.  This is what Mowry is expected to do in enemy territory, and soon word of a rebel movement is spreading across the planet, and security forces are rounding up supposed members.  As I say, there isn't much in the way of characterisation, and the dialogue is functional, although it the whole narrative is awash with a sly wit which is something I find is very indicative of golden era SF.

 

Perhaps the story's biggest success is the way in which it made me as a reader question my own sympathies.  On several occasions, as I was worried for Mowry as he made a skin-of-his-teeth escape from Sirian police, I realised that I was effectively rooting for a terrorist.  Apparently Neil Gaiman had optioned the movie rights to the novel but stopped work on the screenplay when 9/11 happened.  Having a 'hero' who is a terrorist might have been pushing it a bit at the time.

 

 

7/10

[Karsa Orlong]

Back to the plan after that brief detour.  This morning I have made a start on my long overdue re-read of Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.  Then I'm intending to read The Cure of Souls, and that will be this plan finished, as I haven't bought any of the other books mentioned as yet

 

 

The Plan 2

From the TBR list:

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - finished 17/04/13

Stonemouth by Iain Banks - finished 09/04/13

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (Demon Cycle Book 2) - dropped

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bar Steward Sequence Book 1) - finished 05/04/13

HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey/Maturin Book 3) - finished 21/04/13

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive Book 1) - finished 22/03/13

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - started 23/03/13 - finished 28/03/13

The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman (Merrily Watkins Book 4)

 

 

Re-reads:

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (about 20 years since I read this) - started 13/05/13

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (over 30 years since I read this!) - finished 30/03/13

 

Books I might buy:

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Book 7)

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Kovacs Book 1)

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Expanse Series Book 1) - finished 09/05/13

Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney

Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 3) - finished 03/05/13

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Shogun by James Clavell

 

The 'one no-one saw coming'

East of Eden by John Steinbeck - finished 29/04/13

 

 

 

[vodkafan]

Your plan seems to be going more or less according to ..er..plan. Leviathan Wakes sounds a good story. How is the science in it?  Mostly ignored or what? The main real life problem with having the Solar System colonized is communications...the time delays between one end of the Solar System and the other could in theory generate plenty of Jane Austen type plot lines with most of the action found out after the fact in communiques... 

[Karsa Orlong]

The science is there, delayed communications and all

[vodkafan]

The science is there, delayed communications and all

 

OK you sold me on this one

[poppyshake]

You're doing very well on your plan Steve .. well done I wonder what your next 'nobody saw coming' read will be? .. obviously it would be futile to guess  

[Karsa Orlong]

You're doing very well on your plan Steve .. well done

 

Thanks Kay  

 

 

I wonder what your next 'nobody saw coming' read will be? .. obviously it would be futile to guess  

 

Ha, well you probably could guess, as I already have it in mind and it's a very famous book that practically everyone on here has no doubt read (apart from me!)

[frankie]

 

Book #20:  The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

 

 

 

 

 But Lynch does something very clever: he ends each chapter with an 'interlude' which goes back in time to tell the continuing story of Locke as a child, and how he meets his friends and learns his trade under the tutelage of Chains.  In doing this, Lynch not only headed off any antipathy I might have had towards the characters, but he also succeeded in getting me completely on their side, and liking them all very much.

 

 

Okay, I've now read your and Timstar's reviews on this book and I'm a bit tempted, but I was wondering if that thing in red above ^ makes it difficult for a non-accustomed-fantasy/sci-fi-reader...?  Also, you know my reading tastes pretty well so far, at least you might have an idea which kind of sci-fi/fantasy I might like. Do you think I might enjoy and get this book?

 

 

Book #22:  Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

 

 

10/10

 

Wow, a Steve tenner   What a bother that you didn't read it earlier, yeah? I'm all the more tempted to read this... And I actually think I would say I can read it and like it? What do you think? Not that I always go by your recommendations... But I sometimes listen to them...

 

Book #24:  East of Eden by John Steinbeck

 

 

9/10

 

Wow, who would've thought you would enjoy the book that much Normal books are great, aren't they?

 

You're doing very well on your plan Steve .. well done I wonder what your next 'nobody saw coming' read will be? .. obviously it would be futile to guess  

 

This is actually a good question!

 

Thanks Kay  

 

 

 

Ha, well you probably could guess, as I already have it in mind and it's a very famous book that practically everyone on here has no doubt read (apart from me!)

 

And this is actually an annoying answer to the question above

 

I was at a bookstore today, and at one point I realised I was spending too much time in the sci-fi/fantasy section. Totally annoying. And no, they didn't have a copy of Storm Front. I don't think the library's going to get a copy of it either. I was looking at online bookstores the other day and I think there was a copy of the book at a decent price, somewhere...

 

[poppyshake]

Thanks Kay  

 

 

 

Ha, well you probably could guess, as I already have it in mind and it's a very famous book that practically everyone on here has no doubt read (apart from me!)

Oh you are reading Pride and Prejudice at last .. well done  

[frankie]

Oh you are reading Pride and Prejudice at last .. well done  

 

Poppyshake, you are so very optimistic

[Karsa Orlong]

Okay, I've now read your and Timstar's reviews on this book and I'm a bit tempted, but I was wondering if that thing in red above ^ makes it difficult for a non-accustomed-fantasy/sci-fi-reader...?  Also, you know my reading tastes pretty well so far, at least you might have an idea which kind of sci-fi/fantasy I might like. Do you think I might enjoy and get this book?

 

You might like it, yeah.  It's not Guy Gavriel Kay in terms of the writing, but it's great fun. 

 

 

Wow, a Steve tenner   What a bother that you didn't read it earlier, yeah? I'm all the more tempted to read this... And I actually think I would say I can read it and like it? What do you think? Not that I always go by your recommendations... But I sometimes listen to them...

 

I think you should read try this one over Lock Lamora

 

 

Wow, who would've thought you would enjoy the book that much Normal books are great, aren't they?

 

 

This just means that I'm more open to different genres than you are   

 

 

I was at a bookstore today, and at one point I realised I was spending too much time in the sci-fi/fantasy section. Totally annoying.

 

Glad to hear you're broadening your horizons

[Karsa Orlong]

Oh you are reading Pride and Prejudice at last .. well done  

 

 

Sadly, I have already read Pride and Prejudice.

[frankie]

You might like it, yeah.  It's not Guy Gavriel Kay in terms of the writing, but it's great fun. 

 

Okay, I will probably add it to wishlist

 

I think you should read try this one over Lock Lamora

 

You mean Locke Lamora?

 

And yes, I think I would enjoy the Abercrombie more. But maybe I can have two instead of just one fantasy novel on wishlist

 

 

This just means that I'm more open to different genres than you are   

 

So not true. Just look what I wrote above ^ about Locke Lamora and Best Served Cold, and what you said about me having read Guy Gavriel Kay!

 

Glad to hear you're broadening your horizons

 

I came across with a Richard Morgan, but coudn't remember if anyone has recommended it. It was less than 5e.

 

 

[Karsa Orlong]

So not true. Just look what I wrote above ^ about Locke Lamora and Best Served Cold, and what you said about me having read Guy Gavriel Kay!

 

So one book you've read and two you're thinking about.  Hmmm . . .

 

 

I came across with a Richard Morgan, but coudn't remember if anyone has recommended it. It was less than 5e.

 

 

 

Richard Morgan's fantasy stuff is beyond dark

[frankie]

So one book you've read and two you're thinking about.  Hmmm . . .

 

Ahem, Ahem. Stars My Destination! (And the books I've read without knowing they were fantasy books The easy ones!)

 

Richard Morgan's fantasy stuff is beyond dark

 

Is that a good thing. Beyond dark in a dark humour way?

[Karsa Orlong]

Ahem, Ahem. Stars My Destination!

 

Oh yes, forgot that one

 

 

Is that a good thing. Beyond dark in a dark humour way?

 

No, in a graphic violence and graphic sex way - although he has been brave enough to have his main character be openly gay, rather than just alluding to it.

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #28:  A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from super-intelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "Zones of Thought," but when the Straumli realm uncover an ancient Transcendent artifact, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that could destroy thousands of worlds.

 

A Fire Upon the Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I first read this book twenty years ago when it appeared in paperback.  The intervening years had dimmed my memories of much of the story, but I well remember how it made my head hurt

 

At its heart, A Fire Upon the Deep is quite a simple tale.  A colony of scientists from Straumli Realm discover an ancient archive and set up a laboratory to study its contents.  As they reach into the depths of the archive they unwittingly release The Blight, a god-like AI that has the power to enslave and destroy.  Two of the scientists escape before The Blight can destroy their home, taking with them all of the colony's children, and something The Blight wants very much.

 

For me, that in itself would be an exciting enough story, but it's the universe Vinge builds around it that really elevates the novel to greatness.  There's no doubt that, for the first hundred or so pages, the book still made my head hurt.  It's a novel that is so bursting with ideas that it just took a little time to get all the concepts straight in my head again.  Just one of these ideas would be enough for another author to base a whole series of books upon, but Vinge packs it all into one novel, and it is quite mind-boggling at first: whether it's the concept of the Zones of Thought, or god-like Powers from beyond The Beyond, or the Blight, or the alien civilisations he created, there is a lot to take in at first.  Almost too much.  Sure, some of the elements have been done elsewhere, but I don't think I've ever read another book where they've been put together in such bravura fashion.  And once it all clicked into place, I found the novel so compelling that I had to struggle against the impulse to read it too quickly.  I wanted to take my time over it, and absorb it, and really enjoy it.

 

Back to the alien civilisations.  In the Tines and the wonderfully named Skroderiders, Vinge produces his masterstroke.  The Tines, in particular, are marvellous.  They are creatures that look somewhat like dogs or wolves, and each 'person' is made up of a pack of between four and eight members.  Individually, the Tines cannot function - each pack works as a group mind.  Vinge has a lot of fun with this, and some of the most memorable characters in the book are amongst them, particularly Peregrine Wickwrackrum and Scriber Jaqueramaphan.  And if those surnames look weird there's a reason for it that I won't spoil.

 

There are other alien races and plenty of humans, too, but Vinge actually keeps that cast admirably small.  By concentrating on the personal he's able to convey the epic.  Whereas other authors might send this off into a multitude of subplots and characters, he does this by having some of the characters get access to the Known Net, which takes the form of Usenet posts from the early 90s.  It's something of a joke at the expense of the Usenet community of the time (there are, apparently, a lot of references within) but it also serves the purpose of communication across the Zones (which have to default to the lowest common denominator).  As such, these posts convey - in short bursts - a lot of what is happening in the larger picture, as from a distance our protagonists look on in horror.

 

Well done if you've got this far in my rambling    If all of this has given the impression that this is a 'hard' SF novel then I should add that the story has a lot of warmth, a real heart to it, that dismantles that stereotype.  It is obsessed very much with the characters and not the tech.  It's a spellbinding, thrilling novel that has the feel of large-scale, golden era SF, but also manages to evoke the grandest of fantasy.  It's full of action, betrayal, heroes and villains, courage, and - above all - friendship.  I found some of what happens within quite affecting.  It also has the most wonderful conclusion.  The fact that it took Vinge 19 years to write a direct sequel (The Children of the Sky - 2011) indicates to me that there really was no call for one - not that it'll stop me going out and buying it tomorrow   (It should also be noted that there is a prequel, A Deepness in the Sky (1999) which can be read completely on its own).

 

It's a book that I've often recommended alongside my favourites Dune and Hyperion but perhaps, over the years, I have forgotten why.  Not any longer.  A Fire Upon the Deep won't be for everyone but it is, for me, an absolute triumph of heart and imagination and on this, my second reading, it has asserted itself right at the top of my list of favourite science fiction novels.  I think it's glorious

 

 

10/10

[Athena]

This book sounds amazing, I should read it soon (it's on my TBR). I haven't read much science-fiction lately, not sure why.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Athena

[Karsa Orlong]

Go for it!  I've done my best in the post above not to spoil anything - I haven't even mentioned the major storylines that kick off after the prologue - so much adventure and discovery awaits you.  Just be prepared to have your mind boggled a bit at the start 

 

I took A Deepness in the Sky off the shelf last night.  I haven't read that one before.  Really want to dive straight in, but I must finish the plan first.

[vodkafan]

I like the sound of A Fire Upon The Deep too. I remember you recommended The Wind-Up Girl and that was superb. I have forgiven you for Guy Gavril Kay .

[frankie]

I like the sound of A Fire Upon The Deep too. I remember you recommended The Wind-Up Girl and that was superb. I have forgiven you for Guy Gavril Kay .

 

What was wrong with GGK?

[vodkafan]

What was wrong with GGK?

 

I just didn't "get" his style of fantasy. But I have only read 2 so I will give him one more shot.

[Timstar]

I have had A Fire Upon the Deep for a while now and it is high on my sci-fi list with the likes of Ender's Game and Night's Dawn. Glad it didn't diminish over the years.

[Karsa Orlong]

Ended up buying three books today:

 

The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge (sequel to AFUtD, so no surprise there!   )

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (no surprise there, either!)

 

and

 

Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh - another Hugo Award winner that I first read about 30 years ago and found heavy going, but I've often thought of re-visiting it

[pontalba]

 

Book #26:  Leviathan Wakes (Expanse Series Book 1) by James S. A. Corey

 

 

From www.the-expanse.com:

 

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

 

When Jim Holden and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

 

Holden must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against him. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Until I finished this book I didn't realise that James S.A. Corey is actually the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank, who is - apparently - George R. R. Martin's assistant (which kind of calls into question yet another Martin quote on the cover ).  Daniel Abraham is an author whose fantasy series 'The Long Price' and 'The Dagger and the Coin' have been on my radar for a long time, but I just haven't taken the leap and bought any of his books yet.  At least, not knowingly.

 

Leviathan Wakes starts with the mystery of a spaceship called The Scopuli.  It has been hijacked and its crew taken prisoner.  Juliette Mao fought back and, as a result, has been locked in a storage cupboard for days, whilst the hijackers do she knows not what.

 

Jim Holden is XO on the Canterbury, a freighter hauling ice from the rings of Saturn to the asteroid belt.  When they stumble across The Scopuli his captain sends him and a small team to the ship to investigate.  They find it damaged and empty.  Whilst they are there, the Canterbury is attacked.

 

Detective Miller works for the security forces on the Ceres asteroid.  Tensions are high.  Earth and Mars hold an uneasy peace, and both look upon the Belt with contempt and suspicion. When he is given the task of finding a missing woman he is drawn inexorably into this fragile state of affairs.  The woman is the daughter of one of the leading Earth families.  Her name is Juliette Mao.

 

Leviathan Wakes is good old-fashioned, no-nonsense space opera.  It combines science fiction with elements of horror, much like Peter F.Hamilton's 'Night's Dawn' trilogy.  What suprised me about it - and one of the aspects I really liked - is that it all takes place within our own Solar System.  Mankind has gone to the planets but not to the stars. The book tells its tale from the viewpoints of Holden and Miller (I'm guessing Abraham and Frank each wrote one of the characters . . . ) and keeps the cast admirably small.  It means that there is room to develop the characters and I found the results very impressive.  The story itself, for the most part, zips along equally impressively, and the action is well-handled, although I did feel that it slowed down a little too much towards the end. 

 

Having said that, it does have an ending.  It wraps up the main story of this book very well, whilst leaving enough questions unanswered, and opening up further avenues, to make me want to read the next book, Caliban's War.  It's a cracking read in its own right, whilst also being a very good and promising start to the series.

 

 

8/10

 

 

 

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I actually have this on the shelf.../sigh/   Great review, sounds verra good!