Saturn Run / John Sandford, Ctein

Saturn Run

by John Sandford, Ctein

science fiction

copyright 2015

read in September 2017

rated 8/10: really quite good

"How to Write a Blockbuster" is a book which explains how to ensure that your ensemble list of characters has someone for everyone. ie Forget the plot, just expand the market appeal. Saturn Run starts off with a few chapters which are collecting the required, broad, ensemble of characters.

Uh oh.

Then it gets into a real story... And really, the broad range of selected characters is hardly relevant. It's not only the kid with glasses who can solve the riddles. It's not only the Marine sergeant who can fight with fists... etc. Yes, some characters are better than others, in special areas. But really, there is a lot of overlap... as there is in any interesting area of real life.

The whole book is like that: just when you think you're about to be hit by a cliche -- something shifts. For example:

This book is *hard* science fiction. So there is a lot of explanation of the science. Just when you begin think, hmmm... there's a problem... Looks to me like a Checkhov's Gun(*) trope... uh oh! But no, the gun is not fired... Or it is!

(*) Checkhov's Gun: "If it's not essential, don't include it in the story."

Some of the science is pure explanation, for the fans of hard science fiction. And sometimes it fails, for those who enjoy an exciting plot.

An exciting plot? Yes! There is science adventure. Light romance. Plenty of humour -- which in no way interferes with the conflict. Political intrigue... The book has a mix of factors, many of which surprised me. And yet... once they had appeared... each element became an "obvious" part of the challenge of the adventure.

And the surprises -- complications, at least -- continue, right to the end.

I don't think that this is a "great" book. But it is really quite good. Well worth reading. And a very enjoyable read, from beginning to end.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​"Wer den Daumen auf dem Beutel hat, der hat die Macht." … Otto von Bismarck eh what?!

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Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:

 https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/  :-)

Chaos and Order / Stephen Donaldson

Chaos and Order

(The Gap # 4)

by Stephen Donaldson

science fiction

copyright 1994

re-read in September 2017

rated 9/10: really, really good

17feb22:

I'm re-reading the series. This one is still good :-)

Perhaps not as good as on my earlier readings... because I am not (now) in the mood for such stressful verbosity. Still I enjoyed it. With some new observations:

Modern day astronauts (so I believe) attach tubes for waste. No one needs to hold it in for days of spaceflight.

Well... the Gap spacesuits are more primitive.

The spacers wear a "shipsuit". Over that they wear an EVA suit. And when they poo -- as do two of the characters -- they fill the suits with poo. Oops.

The writing is verbose.

And you know how you can lose track of who's speaking? When the author omits Joe said, Jill said... etc.

Donaldson'e dialogue is worse.

Occasionally it is not clear who is speaking. Very very often... it is not clear that a character is, in fact... not speaking at all.

There will be a line of dialogue, in quotes, fine.

Or -- very often -- dialogue with no quotes... Which means... the character does not say it aloud. Which causes confusion when the next character makes no response. Did they hear it? No! it was not spoken. Very confusing!

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Okay, looking back, I wrote that the third Gap book could be the best in the series. Nope! This fourth book is even better!

Dark & Hungry followed technology. In particular the effect of technology wedded to humans.

In Chaos the emphasis is on the people. And on their superhuman efforts to resist, survive... overcome... impossible odds. But it's not really "super" human. The major struggles are by "ordinary" people who refuse to give in to extraordinary pressures.

Of course these are not "ordinary" people by our own, everyday standards. Chaos is set in an over-the-top world of extremes. Extreme cunning, extreme honesty, extreme dishonesty, extreme everything. All the major characters... most of the minor characters... are beyond the extremities of our own "real" world. Well, this is a novel :-)

The extremities of this book, however, are in mental, moral & immoral, determination to succeed, despair... It's a book about the mental strengths -- and weaknesses -- of human beings. Being tested to extremes.

Yes, there is still the science fiction technology. Though Donaldson is still a "fantasy" author. The tech is amazing... fascinating... yet is definitely there for a setting rather a focus of the book. Like the average fantasy magic: it gets things done, the real story is about why and what those things are.

As an example -- which does not at all detract from the power of the story -- the space battles are, very much, "close encounters"...

I'm used to battles in the vast emptiness of outer space. Torpedoes are far too slow... even laser beams struggle to drag themselves across the vast distances of space. Donaldson's spaceships fight at far less than 100km apart... and it just does not matter.

Great story! A very human story. Definitely... the best in the series. So far :-)

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Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:

 https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/  :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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​"Humanity had been thrown to the brink of extinction by insane men in positions of power following one another, each thinking the others knew where they were going." … Donald Keene, in Shift

The Song Rising / Samantha Shannon

The Song Rising

(Bone Season #3)

by Samantha Shannon

fantasy

copyright 2017

read in September 2017

rated 7/10: well worth reading

It took me a while to get into The Song. That's because it continued from the last book, in the same setting, I have forgotten quite a few of the characters! So it was a relief when the heroine left London and met new -- to her and to me -- characters.

In London I was thinking, read to pass the time. The new locations helped me "follow" -- catch up with -- the plot. The ending is well worth reading.

The writing is a bit choppy: short sentences, I think I mean. Sometimes that is a bit... almost... annoying. Perhaps it's a good way to reflect the tension of the plot?! I notice it but I know that I could not do any better. I could not write an entire novel. The story flows well, even while I can see an abruptness in the style. (Sometimes.) Which, for all I know, could be deliberate!

There is a claim that there will be seven books in the Bone Season series. The Song extends out of London. Then ends with a natural expansion to even further areas. With the promise of an even broader spread of leaders of "the resistance".

Every broadening of the scope of a series is risky. Will the readers like (or accept) a new set of characters? Will it be a natural progression -- or a tacked-on means to continue the income stream?! So far... it works well.

The heroine has grown -- and clearly has room for further growth. The villains are down but not out. It looks as though both goodies and baddies will continue into future books. I expect new locations, new challenges -- mostly familiar characters.

I'm looking forward to book four :-)
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30apr19: I read this book again. I was 20 or 30 pages in before I realised that I had read it before, that's not a good sign :-(

There are two things against this book -- two things from *this* reading. (1) I enjoy fantasy for the fantastic elements... in this case, the use of magical powers is essential to my enjoyment. There is very little magic in the first half, it's largely the heroine being worried. Which leads to (2) This book has no lightness. It is serious, suffering, under constant threat with occasional sudden death. Not what I want, not in my current mood !

Then, in the second half, the main goodies move out of London. There is action. There is magic. There is a single line of almost humour. The second half is far more enjoyable than the first... enough to make it worth reading the book. And the ending... yes... again, leaves me wanting to read book four :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"We must learn from our past mistakes so that we can improve our new mistakes" … per Ginger Meggs