Category: Science Fiction

mechanism?

Posted on by Greig

Catching Fire

Suzanne Collins

catching fireThe latest trailer for the film version of this book was released at San Diego Comic Con and it got me slightly excited.
So I dug out my ebook and started reading and you know what? I think I like this book a whole lot more than I did the first time round.
The first person perspective is both the strength and weakness of this series.
It’s a strength because Katniss is such an interesting, damaged person and seeing the world via her naively cynical viewpoint skews the world in novel ways.
It’s a weakness because much of the really interesting stuff that happens – politically, culturally – are events that Katniss doesn’t attend or doesn’t understand.
It’s kind of wonderful that you have to piece together the back story by yourself but sometimes you really can’t tell what’s happened to place Katniss in whatever fresh hell she’s landed in.
What’s interesting about Catching Fire on a second read is how hard Katniss is trying to be empathetic, how much she’s learned from the horror of being in The Hunger Games about valuing the survival of other people.
Despite the many ways she’s been used and abused by the powerful, this is someone in the slow process of growing into a better person before fresh trauma is heaped upon her.
I really do recommend this series. It’s no masterpiece of literature but it is a very enjoyable and thought provoking read with a compelling central character.

Rating: A

wiggin?

Posted on by Greig

Ender’s Game

Orson Scott Card

ender's gameIt’s a long time since I last read this book – nearly nine years ago.
With the upcoming release of a film of this and the subsequent furore over Card’s ridiculous homophobia I took a notion to read Ender’s Game again.
I picked it up in the afternoon and next thing I knew it was nearly three in the morning and the book was finished.
It’s a brilliant piece of science fiction with themes still relevant today, vivid world building and a compelling central character.
Despite loving this book I have very deliberately never read another Orson Scott Card book. I can ignore his views when caught up in the story but purchasing his books makes me feel complicit when he funds organizations that pursue an agenda I cannot support.
Having said all that I still thoroughly recommend reading Ender’s Game – it is genuinely great.

Rating: A

serum?

Posted on by Greig

Divergent

Veronica Roth

divergentThis is a very enjoyable slice of dystopian YA science fiction.
It’s Chicago in the future and after some unspecified calamity the city is isolated and people split up into five factions.
At sixteen children are tested for factional affinity and then have to choose which faction they want to join.
This is a very quick read and it’s an intriguing world the author’s set up that is begging to be expanded in later volumes.
Obviously it’s going to be compared to The Hunger Games books as it’s a first-person narrative book for teenagers set in a bleak future. Honestly it’s not as good but it’s still worth a read and I’m definitely reading the sequel.

Rating: B+

spackle?

Posted on by Greig

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Patrick Ness

the knife of never letting goIt was a surprise to hear that Mr Ness had become an award winner for YA fiction.
Back in 2005 I read a collection of his short stories and a future writing science fiction for teenagers didn’t look very likely at that point.
That said – this is a really good book.
Todd has grown up in a world filled with Noise – the thoughts that pour from the mind of every man since the war with the native aliens.
He’s the last boy in Prentisstown, just days away from his birthday and the ritual passage into adulthood when his world is changed by the discovery of a hole in the Noise. Forced to go on the run he learns the extent of the lies that have ruled his life.
Ness writes in a way that pulls you into the story, while also having really interesting things to say about the nature of identity and the drawbacks of psychic ability.
I’m looking forward to reading the sequels and I would definitely recommend this book.

Rating: A-

borogovian?

Posted on by Greig

Redshirts

John Scalzi

redshirtsEven though this is the first time I’ve physically read this book I already knew the story as I listened to it as an audiobook first.
What initially looks like an affectionate parody of Science Fiction TV cliches (mostly Star Trek) turns into a rather meta piece about the reality of fictional characters.
The main novel rattles along at a good pace and is very readable – just less clever than it thinks. The three codas are interesting experiments. The strongest one is easily the best thing about the book.
Recommended if you like Scalzi or media parodies.
I also note here that I recently read the first episode of the serial novel that Scalzi’s releasing this year (The Human Division). While I enjoyed reading it I decided to wait for the completed work, due out in May.

Rating: B+

estate?

Posted on by Greig

The Rook

Daniel O’Malley

the rookI’m reading a couple of fantasy books at the minute but I’m struggling to get into them. So to change the pace I picked this up and immediately got sucked into it.
I’ve read it before and I think I enjoyed it slightly more this time.
It’s really entertaining supernatural spy romp with added amnesia to give it a twist.
Recommended to anyone looking for a nice piece of genre escapism.

Rating: A-

anarchia?

Posted on by Greig

Pattern Recognition

William Gibson

This is one of my favourite books. I’ve reviewed it before on this blog (2007 and 2005).
This re-read was prompted by coming across a couple of chapters of the BBC adaptation of the story. While very well done it was, sadly, abridged. It really made me want to read the complete story again.
Talking about this book online I’ve discovered that some people don’t think it’s Science Fiction. While I’ve always read it as being a very subtle piece of alternative history I do recognize that it could be viewed as an entirely contemporary piece. However I would still argue that, if contemporary, it’s still Science Fiction about now.

Rating: A

turnaround?

Posted on by Greig

Gateway

Frederik Pohl

Pohl is one of the last remaining giants from the golden age of science fiction.
Gateway is, in my opinion, one of his three best books. (The other two being the disturbing Mars exploration tale Man Plus and magnificent satire on advertising and consumer society The Space Merchants, which he co-wrote with Cyril Kornbluth).
In this future Earth is heavily overpopulated and resource starved and one Robinette Broadhead uses a lottery win to escape the brutal life of a shale miner to try his luck prospecting in an alien spacecraft from the alien adapted asteroid known as Gateway.
We see the present day in the form of sessions Broadhead has with a machine psychologist and in alternating chapters we’re told the story of what happened at Gateway.
It’s an interesting premise, well delivered. You really want to spend more time in the world Pohl created when you finish it.
I’d definitely recommend this for fans of science fiction. I would also say that you should probably avoid the sequels if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Rating: A

inskipp?

Posted on by Greig

The Stainless Steel Rat

Harry Harrison

Harrison – who passed away recently at the age of 87 – was a master of smart, funny satirical science fiction.
The Stainless Steel Rat books were always my favourites and I’d been thinking about re-reading them before news of his death prompted me to finally buy a copy.
While the book is dated in many respects (it was originally published in 1961) it’s still a fast read, full of expertly constructed capers and a whole lot of fun.
We’re only just getting to know Slippery Jim DiGriz in this book and he evolves into an irrestistable character over the next few books in the series.
You should be able to pick this up cheap from a second hand bookshop but it’s also available from Gollancz’s SF Gateway site.
It’s well worth a read and I recommend it to those who like classic science fiction or want to revisit the rat.

Rating: A-