Steve's Bookshelf 2013

[Karsa Orlong]

Book # 76:  Into the Deep by Ken Grimwood

 

 

Blurb:

 

The fate of the world hangs in the balance, and rests in the hands of a beautiful marine biologist who is about to crack the code of dolphin intelligence.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

So you probably all know by now that Ken Grimwood's 1987 novel Replay is one of my all-time favourites, and that he sadly passed away whilst working on a sequel to that book, and that he only wrote four or five books in all.  Well, apart from Replay, they're all pretty difficult to get hold of.  A new copy of Into the Deep will currently set you back nearly £100 through Amazon Marketplace.  Fortunately, I got this one used for 1p plus postage 

 

That out of the way, I have no idea how to describe this novel  It is, quite frankly, bonkers on a colossal scale, and requires monumental powers of suspension of disbelief.  Basically, if you can accept that mankind will one day be able to communicate with dolphins, and that whales are just huge repositories of knowledge and history that can be accessed like some vast supercomputer, well, you might like this book

 

If you've read Replay, then you'll probably have realised that Grimwood had a bit of fascination with dolphins, and he takes that up several levels here, dealing with the affect of tuna fishing on the dolphin population through the eyes of fisherman Antonio and freelance reporter Daniel, and how their stories eventually dovetail with that of Sheila, the predictable beautiful marine biologist mentioned above.  Add to that a rather unscrupulous oil company drilling right on top of an undersea volcano, and a university champing at the bit to withdraw the funding for Sheila's project, and you have the recipe for one of those cheaply hilarious movies you find on the Syfy channel most nights (although, fortunately, it's a bit better than Two-Headed Shark Attack, although maybe not as good as the awe(ful)some Sharknado  ).

 

I'm not selling this very well, am I? 

 

What he did here is basically write a standard science fiction 'first contact' novel, but set it in our own oceans, and without any aliens.  In fact, that's it - it's just occurred to me that it reminded me of The Abyss, that James Cameron movie, except without the space jellyfish.  And the structure of the novel is actually not unlike Orson *spit* Scott Card's novelisation of that movie.

 

The bizarre thing is that, for most of its 380 pages, it's actually pretty readable and - when the various plot strands eventually start to twist together - actually quite exciting.  The biggest problem I had with the book was his decision to anthropomorphise the dolphins.  Not only does he tell big chunks of the story from a dolphin's point of view, but he also ascribes to them thoughts and motivations that are both human and inconsistent.  One minute killer whales are known as 'danger cousins', the next they're 'orcas';  one minute they don't know what a boat is, the next they're calling it a 'hull'.  And he gives them names which I had problems getting my head around, and I'm used to weird names in SF and fantasy books.  The main dolphin is called Ch*Tril.  Now, I have issues with apostrophes in names; throwing in an asterisk or a / or a \ as he does here and it's like the end of the world

 

And then there's the ending.  Lordy, I don't even know where to start with that, even if I didn't want to spoil anything for anyone who might think about reading this.  Let's just say that, once the main story has finished, there's a further 15 or 20 pages telling us what happened in the years afterwards, and it's just the most sappy, irritating wish-fulfillment I think I've ever come across.  In fact, up to those last 20 or so pages, I was on the verge of giving it a 7.  I'll say no more   

 

Let's put it this way:  this is no Replay.  But then what is? 

 

 

 

5/10

 

 

[Marie H]

I've never heard of Grimwood before, and the plot you described was bonkers, indeed  . Mmmmm, I usually avoid Science Fiction like the plague, but this seems to have some sense of humour, at least 

[Karsa Orlong]

I've never heard of Grimwood before, and the plot you described was bonkers, indeed  . Mmmmm, I usually avoid Science Fiction like the plague, but this seems to have some sense of humour, at least 

 

Not intentionally it doesn't

[Marie H]

Ah... ...my embarrassment, it seems... , SF is always a bit too serious for itself, for me . 

[Karsa Orlong]

You must have read the wrong ones 

 

But I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving Replay a go instead 

[Marie H]

Maybe   ...I'm reading Wyndham's Chocky, first SF since Star Wars, and that was when the film came out - a long, long time ago  .

[pontalba]

You must have read the wrong ones 

 

But I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving Replay a go instead 

 

Marie, me too!  It was really good, not heavily SF at all.  Good story.

 

If you look up thread, there are reviews on Steve's thread and on my book thread.

Edited December 20, 2013 by pontalba

[Little Pixie]

Conn Iggulden's 'Emperor' series (five books) going for 99p each on Kindle in today's 'Daily Deal' 

 

James Barclay's 'Raven' series (seven books) has been reduced from £27.99 to £18.19

 

Same for Alastair Reynolds0' 'Revelation Space' series (seven books)

 

I'm considering buying all of them    Bloody hell, that's 19 books 

 

 

ETA:  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!

 

Tee hee .

 

Buying so many books - I wonder what that would be like ?

[Signor Finzione]

Into the Deep sounds amazing. You had me at "it's like the premise of a SyFy movie".   Would it be better or worse than Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, would you say?

[Timstar]

Sounds like a Douglas Adams book, but without the intentional humour and not as good. I can imagine you gritting your teeth everytime a name with * or \ / came up 

[Marie H]

Sounds like a Douglas Adams book, but without the intentional humour and not as good. 

 Exactly!!

[Marie H]

Marie, me too!  It was really good, not heavily SF at all.  Good story.

 

If you look up thread, there are reviews on Steve's thread and on my book thread.

I'm a bit prejudiced against SF, after I tried Asimov/Herbert yonks ago, and was bored to tears by them. Thanks, I'll have a browse Steve's and your threads, as I like the idea of speculative fiction and mildly SF fiction.

[Athena]

But I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving Replay a go instead 

x

I agree!

 

Steve, great review! Shame you didn't like it as much as you did Replay but then again, not all books can be masterpieces I suppose. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Athena

[Karsa Orlong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcbGMdfV2M

 

Well it is 21/12, after all     

[Little Pixie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcbGMdfV2M

 

Well it is 21/12, after all     

When are you off to the next one then ?

Edited December 21, 2013 by Little Pixie

[Karsa Orlong]

When they get off their lazy behinds and tour again, I suppose 

 

Or should that be 'if'?  They're not getting any younger

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #77:  Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge

 

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Born on a primitive world, Tatja Grimm is frustrated by her peers' lack of intelligence. Setting off on a trek to find the ocean, she discovers that she is the most intelligent being on her world. So Tatja turns her eyes to the stars in a quest to find someone with whom she can communicate.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

This is classed as Vernor Vinge's first full-length novel, but that's a bit misleading, because it is actually two novellas from the 60s and a prequel from the 80s joined together to make a whole.  It pretty much works.

 

We first meet Tatja when she is employed by the Tarulle publishing company which operates from a huge, multi-leveled barge that traverses the ocean world of Tu, plying its trade to various island groups and the coast of one mysterious continent about which they know very little.  Tatja comes from the interior of that continent, and is brought before the editor, Rey Guille, by Cor Asquasenya as a potential actor to play the role of a barbarian who is the most popular character in their leading publication, the magazine called Fantasie.  Pretty quickly, though, we learn that Tatja is not all she appears to be, and the speed with which she learns and out-thinks those around her sees her circumstances changing very quickly.

 

It's not until about halfway through the novel that Vinge starts to reveal the true nature of Tatja's origins, and he handles these surprises very well.  But it's a curious book, generally.  Whereas his best books take big, quirky ideas and technology, place them in a believable universe with wonderful characters, and then have fun, this one has none of the tech and really only the one big idea, which is central to the plot and its resolution.  As it was (mostly) an early work it is occasionally a little rough around the edges, but the beginnings of Vinge's talent are there, especially with characters like Cor.  It's interesting that he never once tells the story from Tatja's point of view - we always see her through another's eyes, and since those others don't know exactly who or what she is we are taken along by their ideas and also their confusion.  It's an interesting way of doing things, and risks making Tatja completely unsympathetic, but it is successful on the whole, although I did find it occasionally jarring in that I felt I wasn't quite clued in to what he was trying to get across.

 

I would only recommend this as a place to start with Vinge if someone was finding the prospect of diving into his 'Zones of Thought' novels a bit daunting.  It is reasonably short and to the point, and never strays from its central story.  A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are, imo, masterpieces.  This one isn't, but it's still worth a read - preferable after reading those others.

 

 

7/10

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone   

 

 

[Athena]

Great review ! I'm glad you enjoyed it though it's a shame it's not as good as his masterpieces (which I should still read).

 

Merry Christmas to you too !

[Little Pixie]

When they get off their lazy behinds and tour again, I suppose 

 

Or should that be 'if'?  They're not getting any younger

 

Neither are the Stones, and that hasn`t stopped them.

 

Hope you`re having a nice Christmas.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Little Pixie

[Karsa Orlong]

Neither are the Stones, and that hasn`t stopped them.

 

 

Maybe it should have

 

Yes, had a good Christmas thanks, hope you did, too 

 

 

I was asked to post some photos of the illustrated The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings boxed set I got for Christmas, so here they are - they aren't very good, though!

 

    

 

There over 70 full-colour illustrations inside the four books as well, but my attempts to take photos of a couple were even worse than these   It's a beautiful boxed set 

 

 

Also, I was given this big-ass hardback:

 

 

I finished The Sword in the Stone last night and started The Witch in the Wood this morning 

 

 

 

And lovely Sari sent me these, too, which are excellent as they were the only ones I got that were complete surprises 

 

 

Thank you Sari    

[Signor Finzione]

These are great, Steve! Those Tolkien ones look gorgeous, I might have to get them for myself sometime in the future. Thanks for the pictures (yeah, I doubt you'll be winning any photography prizes any time soon).

 

Also, I'll be interested to hear what you think of JSaMN!

[Karsa Orlong]

I doubt you'll be winning any photography prizes any time soon

 

 I know, they're rubbish!

[frankie]

You're welcome   And what the hell... I thought I'd ordered a black cover Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell!   Odd...

 

I hope Heat Wave is at least semi decent...

 

Edit: I'm looking forward to your thoughts on The Once and Future King. I know T. H. White can write, but the story... I hope it's good

Edited December 27, 2013 by frankie

[Karsa Orlong]

And what the hell... I thought I'd ordered a black cover Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell!   Odd...

I've had that happen before - Book Depository told me they couldn't guarantee the cover would be the same as shown on the website

 

I really like the red cover, anyway   

 

I hope Heat Wave is at least semi decent...

I'm sure it'll be fun

 

 

Edit: I'm looking forward to your thoughts on The Once and Future King. I know T. H. White can write, but the story... I hope it's good

It's great so far

[frankie]

I've had that happen before - Book Depository told me they couldn't guarantee the cover would be the same as shown on the website

 

I really like the red cover, anyway 

That's really odd... Why would they offer something in this and that edition if they can't guarantee it? I personally would've liked the black cover a whole lot better, but I'm mighty happy you are content with the red one *phew*

 

I'm sure it'll be fun

... As long as you don't bust a vein... 'That's not how I pictured her!!'

 

 

It's great so far

I'm glad to hear that! How far are you? Maybe you'll want to read Mistress Masham's Repose after this one...