Book Review: Venus by Ben Bova
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.
Book Review: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
I have quite a lot of books that I have yet to read in my collection, and then I have some books that are classics or older books that I am reading for my literature class. So every so often I will be reading a book that is a classic or old, or just not necessarily from the last couple of years. The Forever War is a book I read for my literature class. So here goes my review.The Forever War is another military SF novel in much the same fashion as Old Man’s War by John Scalzi was written. The only difference is that Old Man’s War is relatively new in comparison. The Forever war is in first person, follows a single character–as should be the norm in a first person story–and deals with the concept of an interstellar war between mankind and an alien race known as the Taurans. The novel begins with the main character–William Mandella–being drafted into the first strike force for the United Nations Exploratory Force, emphasis on ‘force’. This is not an ordinary draft. Mandella is a genius, along with practically all of his fellow draftees. Every single new soldier has an IQ of 150 or more and can contribute something to the war. Mandella was a physics teacher. Why get smart people for war? You can count on smart people to be able to think while blasting away the alien menace, which you would hope would put you in an advantage.The most mind boggling part of this book was the way in which the soldiers traveled. This book was written a hell of a long time ago, so much of what we know about physics would probably make Haldeman’s plan for interstellar travel pretty much impossible, but regardless here it is. They pass through things called “collapsars”, which are essentially black holes. Since it is impossible to reach the speed of light, one can go through a collapsar and appear somewhere on the other end. The thing about traveling this way is that for those inside the collapsar, people practically going the speed of light, experience a completely different speed of time than those outside. Mandella might experience a week on ship time, while the Earth would experience years. Centuries pass him by like nothing. What I found interesting was actually trying to contemplate running a military with this sort of time dilation. How does one schedule someone for deployment when you haven’t a clue when a ship is going to be coming back in? This was the one thing that just made it so amazing for me.I think this is an amazing novel. It’s not the best written SF novel I have read though. Haldeman is rather good at writing, but his style is not as strong as Scalzi’s, in my opinion. However, this doesn’t in any way detract from the effectiveness of the novel. I found myself caring about what happened to Mandella, and alternately what happened to his friends. He is able to draw that sort of emotion with me in his writing.Haldeman makes the changes on the Earth over centuries look so real and natural. You start to wonder how you would react to a world that is so drastically different. What do you think you would expect if in two hundred years the Earth was overpopulated and there was need for some sort of universal birth control?This book is essentially a classic. Everyone should read it at some point in their reading life. It’s a relatively quick read and delves deeply into an ever changing world that you start to feel a little out of place. If you read this, think how you would react to a world so drastically different from your own? Would you be able to adapt to the changes? Or would you try to find a new home for yourself?
Book Review: The Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling
This is for the Debut a Debut contest I discovered here.Every once in a while you stumble upon a great work of art within the fantasy genre. Take Eragon by Christopher Paolini for example. A young author writes a fantastic epic and well driven story, and succeeds. Not only that, Paolini wrote a sequel which, while not quite as good as Eragon, deserves just as much praise for the development of the various characters.However, The Tower of Shadows is not one of these so called ‘great works’. Rather, it is a terribly written, poorly plotted, and mindlessly pointless piece of fantasy fiction.At first appearances, and at first glance, you get the idea that this is going to be a story that falls into many cliches, but has the potential to add some new and fascinating twists. The synopsis is gripping enough:(My version) “Long ago a demon called Apollyon broke free from his imprisonment. Two brothers are the only ones that survive in the village, taken to safety by the wizard Dale, and Apollyon was caged again. Wren, wandering into the village, also manages to escape with the help of Dale.Some years later Cade, grown and possessed with great magical power, seeks vengeance for the horrible deaths of his parents. He hopes to bring Apollyon back and destroy the demon, forever banishing Apollyon from the world. He needs his brothers’ blood–Corin–and a mythical dagger. Dale, however, hopes to protect Corin from the evil idealogy of his brother.And so it begins…” When you open the book, in the first 50 or 60 pages you start to ask yourself a few questions, realizing that the synopsis has just tricked you into reading something that might pass as a paper weight instead: Who is the main character?Honest to God question. In those first pages I mentioned you are introduced not only to the supposed main character (Wren), but to Dale, a wizard, two assassins who’s names aren’t important, but who play an important role, the bad guy (Cade), his powerful apprentice Damon, the brother Cade needs (Corin) and his friend Dusty and his Uncle or Father, or some such figure, Adriel (Dale’s apprentice) and Wren’s daughter (who’s name escapes me at the moment). And mind you, we’re inside all of these peoples’ heads throughout those 60 or so pages. I wanted to know who was going to be the focus of the book, because with the POV jumping around all over the place I couldn’t tell who was the central character. The synopsis told me it was Cade, the writing made it seem like it was Wren–though it on his daughter and other characters just as much on him. Why does it take almost 100 pages before the story really starts going?Now, I know in books of 400, 500, or more pages you wouldn’t expect a full flowering of the plot in any way until probably around that 100 or so page mark. What I mean is, the plot is well on its way, it’s heading slowly for the climax, and you have an idea of what is going on, even if you don’t know all the facts, etc. Tower of Shadows is a 286 page book, this means that the central character should be obvious by page 10 and the plot should be well on its way by page 40 or 50. Rather, the plot doesn’t kick off until you’re so thoroughly bored with the pointless talk of the characters lives. Yes, we need that information, but not if you are going to waste our time and ignore the fact that there is supposed to be some evil stuff going on and the good guys are supposed to be gearing up for a fight. Why do dragons of this world (Ellynrie) have four wings?Now, for most of us fantasy readers or writers, we can dispell disbelief. But we also all know that dragons are enormous creatures of immense power and tend to have some sort of intelligence. We also know them to have two wings. So why four? I can’t explain it. Theoretically speaking, a creature as large as a dragon with four wings would be incapable of much more than perhaps eating, sleeping, and reproducing. The brain mass needed to have some sort of sentience (even sentience to know to destroy human habitations on purpose) would be far too large and complex that such creatures would have to be more intelligent, or far more dominant than humans. Bowling never explains this. We’re supposed to take it as it is. Unfortunately, I can see the problem with a four winged massive beast. Alright, so those are some immediate questions. So now I’ll address some other issues with the book.First a positive.Not all is bad with Tower of Shadows. Despite his constant switching of POV, Bowling’s writing style is powerful. He can describe like nobody else. My biggest complaint in his writing was the excessive use of metaphors that really had no context in the story. The thing about metaphors is this: use them, but don’t make it confusing. Despite that, if he had written this in the mind of Wren, fine tuned the plot and some other elements, I imagine this would have been a halfway decent novel. Another issue with this novel that is less positive is the actual plot and action. First, the majority of the good guys get around on pure luck, despite the fact that Wren is supposed to be this amazingly accomplished fighter and for whatever reason Adriel is supposed to be quite powerful. Wren’s daughter is, well, a useless and pointless character. She serves no purpose other than to drive Wren further on his quest for fear that that he might lose her. And if she had died I think his convictions would have been doubly strong. Instead, she parades around with Wren doing mostly nothing but crying, feeling bad for the mishaps that happen to her father, and doing insanely stupid things that any supposedly
Stuff & Book Review: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
First, some notes on relatively important dates: Sunday, 11th: Chapter Eleven goes up!Friday, 16th: New book review of Tower of Shadows.Sunday, 25th: Chapter Twelve goes up! Next, I wonder how many of you are note takers. There was a short bit in the comments in my last blog about Tolkien. I mentioned that when he died he left behind a garage full of notes that are still to this day being dealt with. The idea of that is staggering when you think about it.So, I’m curious to know how indepth you all are in your note taking. Personally I don’t take a lot of notes unless I’m dealing with a story that is hard scifi. For fantasy, it’s mostly just making it up as I go. Take for instance my recent efforts for a hard scifi story. I spent about 10 hours worth of research this weekend to make sure that I stayed roughly within the parameters of modern physics as we know it. I had to make sure that star systems I wanted to use for the story could do what I needed them to do, etc. So, a good ten hours later I had over forty systems categorized and labeled for who controlled them, how many habitable planets if any, and the like. But for the story that is on this blog, The World in the Satin Bag, mostly I had an idea and I ran with it. Take Chapter Ten. I had no idea I was going to have the tunnel end in darkness. Not a clue actually. Originally I had thought they would get across and maybe get ambushed and be on their merry way to Arnur. But now, turns out my mind wanted to do something completely different. And, well there you have it. Chapter Eleven should prove to be most interesting in regards to the pace of the story. In fact, I think Chapter Eleven deals with one of my inborn fears that keeps me out of certain places in the world.So, as it is, it’s time for a book review!Old Man’s War is a fantastic military SF novel. I was pleasantly surprised. My first reaction when I saw it was written in first person was that of disinterest. I have a huge problem getting into first person stories and rarely do such POV’s hold my attention. This is not the case with Old Man’s War (OLM from this point on).The story is set in the far future. Earth has become basically a backwater world as mankind has colonized other star systems under the military power of the Colonial Defense Forces, an entity that controls the bulk of human resources. Yet, the odd part is that rather than desiring to have young, fresh recruits join from Earth into the CDF, they are looking for the elderly. John Perry is one such person. His wife has died and he has opted to join. The downside: he can never return to Earth, interstellar war is hell, and he has to survive for two years minimum before he can retire to a generous homestead on one of the many colony worlds.The story itself starts out perfectly. I don’t want to ruin anything, but from the get go you have an amazing clarity of who the characters are. Each character is dynamic, despite having only existed on the page for a mere few chapters. The humor between the characters is superb and I found myself giggling with joy at the witty remarks some of the characters made.The pace is quick and sturdy, making all the twists and turns even more disturbing and surprising. I must say this is by far one of the best novels I have read in a long time. It held my attention from start to finish. The description of battle, characters, and the world Mr. Scalzi has created are amazingly portrayed. You get a great sense of what it must be like to be a soldier for the CDF. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys SF, in any genre.
Reviews and Decisions
Well, it seems that I’ve come to a different conclusion over the possible creation of an overall map for the world of Traea–of course including Angtholand, the Farthland, and the other two major countries and their prospective landmasses. I was looking around quite a bit online, mostly at other maps from series I’ve either read, heard about, or simply have yet to read, and concluded that while a map may come in handy for readers, it’s also a terrible issue for me as a writer. The story is not finished, so I don’t honestly know where all the landmasses are–only the ones I’ve written about or intend to write about–and to draw up a map of things that have yet been placed in the story itself–whether in my mind or in the plot–would put a terrible restriction on my ability to change things. I can’t draw up a map for all my readers to see, and then simply change it within the story or the map itself and expect readers to remain. So, what I have decided to do is wait. Whatever part of Traea James and his friends happen to wander will be noted and put into a map whenever I happen to finish this book–which may put a conclusion to the entirety of the story, or may just place me into a position to continue writing more on these characters. After I’ve finished the book I can at least draw up a map of the ‘known’ locations and landmasses according to what has been written. That way there is no concern over changing things, since they have already been sealed in stone within the writing. And on to other things… I just finished reading Eldest by Christopher Paolini and have to say that I very much enjoyed it. I’d already become a fan of the first book, Eragon, and this being the second in the trilogy I was pleasantly surprised by it. My biggest complaint is that much of the book could have been edited out for sake of space, or for the sake of adding more riveting elements to the other storylines. However, this is a great work, I must say, and must give the young lad a bit of credit for his excellent grasp of language and emotion.The book is, as most fantasy stories are, very much ‘derivative’, but then, so is most everything you will ever read within this genre. This is something that many complain about in reference to his writing, and I find that to be rather deplorable. First off, there are few, if any, great works of fantasy that do not acquire their elements from things previously written or discussed, or that have previously happened in the past. That’s impossible. I’m sorry if you think that everything within the fantasy genre is capable of being purely original, because nothing is original anymore. You might have a few elements nobody has ever done before, but you are following a heroic archetype that has been used by thousands if not millions of people before you. So, right from the start you are already sitting in that derivative bin. Even my own work can be called derivative, something of which I don’t much like. If you look at it, I’ve drawn up elements from all sorts of stories already told, taken some things from English mythology and folklore, and of course fallen into some already used heroic archetypes, which cannot be helped mind you. Tolkien’s work is derivative, drawing many elements from heroic poems and mythologies that he had read throughout his school experience and after. So for anyone to say that something is derivative should probably take a step back and realize that everything is derivative. Even regular fiction…or literature.Now, as for Eldest. There’s much to be said about this. First, Paolini has put Eragon into some terrible positions within this book and by the end of it you start to think about whether or not Eragon and those that follow him have much of a chance against the Empire. That is an incredible thing to do when you’ve gone throughout the book thinking he might stand a chance to realizing he hasn’t the ability as of yet to do much of anything against Galbatorix or his minions. I was drawn very closely into Roran’s story and found that to be one of the most riveting parts of this second installment since much of the work with Eragon is rather dull. You start to actually want to learn more about what Roran is doing–and Paolini does a great job doing that for you.So I have to say that if you liked the first book, give this one a go. It is more than worth the time and effort!
Review Information
This is officially going to be the post that sits at the bottom of everything that describes information about me as a reviewer (what I will read, what I won’t read, how to get in touch if you want to send me something to review, etc.). Note: I am currently closed to new submissions of books for review. Those who have a previous review relationship with me are free to send work, but I cannot take on any other authors or publishers at this point. I’m swimming in books. This should hopefully change soon. What I will read: Science Fiction (any form) Fantasy (any form) Young Adult (only science fiction or fantasy, or related styles–no general fiction please) Romance (only stories that are speculative in nature–books by Luna would be an example) Magical Realism (provided it leans more to the speculative/fantasy end rather than just being something a little odd–think The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne or works by Zoran Zivkovic) Cross-genre (provided it is speculative in some way) Horror (only supernatural, near-fantasy/sf type stuff and not slasher things like the movie Scream) Urban Fantasy (just to clarify in case someone makes a distinction between standard fantasy and urban) Nonfiction (science, history, guides, etc. provided it has some use to writers or readers of genre–science books work really well in this category as well as fun little guides and such) Advanced copies, printed manuscripts provided they are being published by a publisher, or any other form of unfinished work that has yet to be released to the market. (please ask before you send anything electronically) Small Presses (I would prefer these simply because they don’t get enough exposure as it is) Large Presses (I have nothing against them and I will read from them just as I will anything else) Graphic Novels or artistic books related to genre. (I will make an exception here for graphic novels that are not genre, especially for manga) Children’s literature (not Dr. Seuss, but older stuff such as chapter books and the like) Works in English (I only speak one language, so the work has to be in English) Translated Works (as long as it follows everything else) If you don’t see something listed here or in the list below feel free to email me anyway if you think I might be interested in your work. What I won’t read: Self-published books. This is a new development. I apologize to anyone who has a self-published book that happens to be good, but I’ve grown tired of having to wade through some particularly wretched works in the last year or two. There’s a certain quality that I’m guaranteed with legitimately published novels, and self-publishing cannot promise that, nor can its authors. Books published by a press you invented to publish yourself. This is the same thing as self-publishing and I do not support the deception of the consumer in order to make yourself look better. You either embrace self-publishing or you don’t. Anything outside of my typical reading (i.e.: works that are not speculative in nature, although you can query me if you think I might be interested anyway as I break this rule sometimes). Erotica (I will make an exception if your work has a particularly strong SF or F plotline that coincides with the dirtier stuff) Hentai comics (sorry, this just isn’t of interest to me and my audience really isn’t for you anyway) Books that revolve around gore and explicit violence (I just don’t have time to assess this sort of work since gore and violence should be tasteful) Non-English Works (as I said above, I only speak one language) Want to send me something?Great! Use my email: arconna@(no spam)yahoo.com (remove the no spam) and tell me what you’d like to send to me. I’ll give you my address and all will be set. I don’t want my address on here for obvious reasons (I get enough junk mail), but I would be happy to read your work.Publishers, authors, editors, etc. may send me books. Just email me and I’d be happy to work with you.Note: Publishers who already have a relationship with me do not have to query or send me an email to send me new work. You probably already know what I like, so send things as you see fit.