March 2007

First things first, I need to make a note about my reviews. A lot of discussion has been made over my review of Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling, much of which is disagreement. I have nothing against a disagreement, but I do find it interesting that many automatically think I must be wrong in my assertion that TOS is not really that good of a book simply because they liked it. This isn’t to say that I don’t want comments and disagreement in the future, but I want everyone to realize one thing: these are based on my opinions. If I don’t like a book, then I don’t like it. There’s no going around that for me. I will explain the reasons why I don’t like it, and leave it to everyone else to decide. I’m not the end all / be all on this subject. This is simply my opinion. Take my thoughts however you like, just take notice that just because you like a book doesn’t mean that I should like it. We all have different tastes.Now to the review. Most of us who read SF have read works by Clarke or have at least heard about him. He is, after all, one of the most popular ‘golden age’ SF authors. So, by saying this I want it to be clear that Childhood’s End is a classic. It was written in a time when SF had practically no foothold whatsoever in the mainstream market. Like Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Childhood’s End was written in installments and published in magazines. I didn’t know this when I first started reading it, but now that I do know this it makes some of my dislikes for the book less pronounced. I have to now take into account that rather than a full fledged novel, this book is more like a set of connected short stories all set in the same universe on the same plotline.The synopsis is this:Set in a not so distant future (at least when it was written) an alien race known as the Overlords comes to Earth in giant ships (think Independence Day, only not violent). They establish themselves as overseers of Mankind, ridding the world of war, famine, prejudice, racism, etc. All this is done without violence. The Overlords could easily wipe out Mankind, but that is not their goal. They are there to establish a long lasting peace, a veritable utopia where none go hungry and everyone can live a life of leisure.But something else is going on, something that Mankind is not prepared for and could very well make them extinct… That synopsis is somewhat vague simply because I cannot give anything at all away or it would ruin the ending of the book. I can tell you this, you will have one of two reactions to the end: you’ll either feel sad and sympathetic, or you will be angry.Now, stylistically speaking Clarke is a very good writer–one of the best really when you think about it. He is able to draw you into the characters deep enough to care about them even though you know them for such a short time (remember, written in short story installments).The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the ending. To me it seemed far too sudden and I can’t imagine reacting in the way the characters did to the final twist. This isn’t to say that the ending is unbelievable, although scientifically speaking from a more modern view it does seem tremendously unlikely, but it is saying that the ending seemed somewhat out of place. Many in my lit class discussed this same subject. Some liked the ending, others didn’t. I personally didn’t much care for the ending.Regardless, this is a classic. A must read. If you are into the foundations of SF, as I am, then you should probably pick this one up, along with Foundation by Isaac Asimov and early works by Poul Anderson and the like. For a classic it is good; but from a modern prospective it lacks due to various circumstances. Still, I’m glad I read it.

If there is one thing that I have come to expect of Ben Bova it is that he can take any fantastically unbelievable idea and make it so real that you actually think that it could happen. This is the case with Venus.Van Humphries is the last living son of Martin Humphries, having outlived his brother who died a few years before on a trek to the venusian surface to try to discover how a runaway greenhouse could explain the sudden warming on Earth. But his father hates him beyond reason. He’s the runt in the family with a terrible anemia that he has to take medicine for to keep in check. Then comes his father’s award–a billion dollars to anyone who can bring back the remains of his beloved son. To make matters more interesting, Martin Humphries has cut off all of Van’s funding and in desperation Van signs up to win that billion dollars. But Van isn’t the only one that wants the prize…Enter Fuchs, an asteroid belt entrepreneur who lost everything he owned because of Martin Humphries, including his wife. Claiming a billion dollars could right his life and give him the vengeance he has always wanted.The story is riveting to say the least. I think this book is possibly better than Mars, but it’s such a close match I find it hard to make the decision. Everything from the way Bova designs the ships that take them to Venus and ultimately the ships that get them to the surface to his description of Venus in such a realistic manner made this book one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. I don’t want to give anything away, but the way he describes Venus’ clouds, surface, winds, etc. really give you the image of how dangerous this planet is.Venus is written in first person and I found that in this case it worked perfectly. I’ve known a few instances when I hated first person, but again, the same as with Old Man’s War, it worked very well here. Bova’s style is not profound in any sense of the word, and he likely won’t be winning any ‘best writer ever’ awards, but he has such a way to tell a scifi story to make you really believe in what is going on. There is little that I had to dispel belief for. This is something I’ve come to know Bova for–realism. There are a lot of twists and turns that you don’t expect too, and I won’t give any of them away simply because that would ruin the book. Pick this book up. You can probably find it online for cheap–it’s been out for a while. It is a fascinating read.