Clade / James Bradley

Clade

by James Bradley

science fiction, fiction

copyright 2015

part read January 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

The "science fiction" is that the story is set in a world of global warming. Ice caps are melting, wild birds are going extinct, power failures are the norm. It's a warning but not in-your-face.

The main -- "fiction" -- story starts with a woman whose friend is diagnosed with a brain tumour then dies within a week. Things go downhill from there, with more cancer, personal problems, marriage problems, sullen teenage child, more cancer... I'm wondering if all the cancer is just a part of the global warming warning.

The second half of the book may, in fact, be "unexpectedly hopeful", I didn't last that long. The first half is gloomy but easy to read... unless you are easily depressed. Me? I've had a brain tumour removed and lasted a few months so far. Last thing I want is to read a book where every second person seems to be dying of cancer.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

Existence / David Brin

Existence

by David Brin

science fiction

copyright 2012

half read in January 2018

rated 3/10: so bad it's embarrassing

I've listed this book as "science fiction". I suspect that Brin forgot about the "fiction" bit... The cover claims that this is "a novel". Just as well, I would never have guessed.

Brin has written an enormously long science textbook. There are some minor threads of several stories twisting though the book; as far as I can tell, most add nothing to any "novel" plot. The "journalist", for example, is there as an excuse for the author to describe all sorts of full immersion Web developments.

That "all sorts" is the problem. There are, for example, regular chapters listing all sorts of ways that the world could end. So what? In this book -- none of them happen. They are listed just so that the author can show off his knowledge.

Sorry, but perhaps he doesn't really understand the way the Web already works: if I want a list of "ways the world could end" then that is what I search for... Do you want one way, or nine or ten or twenty? That's just on the first page of results. I didn't buy "a novel" in the hope that the author had cut-and-paste from the internet.

Very, very disappointing.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

Farside / Ben Bova

Farside

by Ben Bova

science fiction

copyright 2013

read in January 2018

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Chapter one, the heroine doesn't like that a character talks down to her. Two pages later the author talks down to the reader. Ah well. Science fiction is now near enough to mainstream that you can't expect every reader to be a science nerd.

Mind you, one of the science factoids which was carefully explained by one character to another -- so that the reader would understand it -- well, I though I knew what it meant but I was wrong. So I *could* say, Just as well the author explained that term. Except that my complete misunderstanding would not have affected my understanding of the book. If we needed to know that the heroine was a science nerd -- she could have explained a term with more relevance to the book.

The rest of the book is quite enjoyable: old style science fiction, adventure with "science" as an essential part of the plot.

It's "hard" science fiction, with the science as real as is currently known. How can I tell? Because I've read it all before... The setting -- a moon colony -- is much the same as for Artemis but set a few years earlier in the development of the base on the moon. (Farside was written first, by several years, but I doubt that it's a matter of plagiarism. Just referencing the same textbooks. I hope.)

Which makes me think:

The Farside characters are overdrawn. Some good, some bad. Yet nearly every character is sympathetic, I can understand why they are as they are. In Artemis there was barely a likable character. The heroine, in particular -- was a creep.

So, having read a second book set in a base on the moon, having had a chance to compare (in my memory) the two books -- I'm going to change my ratings. This book is seven, Artemis is down from seven to six.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

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A Crown for Cold Silver / Alex Marshall

A Crown for Cold Silver

(#1 of ??)

by Alex Marshall

fantasy

copyright 2015

read in January 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

As it says on the cover, "All roads lead to war." So there is no surprise that this book is violent. Soldiers come out of battles with gore and bits of body parts stuck all over them. It's horrible -- but it's over the top cartoon level violence. Like a Warner Bros cartoon: harmless... unless you think too much about what it's doing to your acceptance of what is "normal" in life.

At the start -- having guessed that this is just the first of a series of books -- I worried that it would be the worst kind of epic fantasy: groups of characters having unrelated adventures in the one fantasy world. Then -- about half way through the book -- two groups suddenly meet... and I think... That was clever!

There was a bit of that cleverness: complicated actions and adventures which finally seemed to add up to a coherent whole. Spoilt only at the very end, when one character is definitely separated from the rest. Book two will have -- so I guess -- at least two unrelated plots.

If you do like the epic fantasy -- several unrelated stories writ large in an interesting world -- then add a point or two to my rating. Me, though, I prefer a book which is complete in itself.

Yes, Crown works its way to a solid ending -- but not solid enough. It ends with a major battle but the battle does little more than clarify that neither combatant is the major villain. And there are far too many main characters for my own preferences in a novel.

Still, I enjoyed reading this book. I will look out for the second book in the series (I know that I have seen it round). It may be soap opera rather than a standalone story. But it's easy enough to read. And -- skimming over the extreme violence -- it's quite enjoyable.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

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The Interminables / Paige Orwin

The Interminables

(probably #1 of ...)

by Paige Orwin

fantasy

copyright 2016

read in January 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

"... this wild debut about Time and War teaming up to battle the evils of eternal peace." That, from the front cover. I couldn't have said it better myself. But there is more...

It's a fascinating world. Logically inconsistent -- deliberately, it's a result of the Wizard War. Yet there is enough logic to make me accept that no, the problems could not be solved simply by one character waving a wand and saying the magic word.

The story is fantasy, the setting is fantasy, the plot is driven by the main characters. In fact, the bulk of the plot follows the characters and relationship of two people. The main driver -- for each of them -- is guilt. It's well done, I enjoyed the developing situation.

Yet there is very little else that happens. The main characters spend so much time on guilt and relationships that there is little time for anything else. It's well done -- but not what I wanted in a book. My bias. You may like to up the rating if you prefer characters to action.

And then... the action at the end: is typically over the top.

In the build-up, a lot of words are spent describing the potential damage of the final "solution". Fair enough. Except that I was expecting... hoping... that an alternative would be found. Could the author find no compromise other than the destruction of "eternal peace"?

Actually, it is possible that an alternative was found... It's possible that there will be peace... once the terms of the ceasefire are agreed. It depends on how I read some very small hints. It also depends on what comes next...

... Because there is the distinct impression that this is just book one. It's an interesting world, good characters, I think that they can support a few more books.

Still. If peace really was destroyed then I would like that to be made clearer... rather, I wish that an alternative had been found. And if an alternative is about to be implemented -- I wish that it had been clearly stated in this book.

It's fun, easy enough to read, very imaginative. It needs a better -- clearer or alternative -- ending.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August / Claire North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

by Claire North

science fiction

copyright 2014

partly read January 2018

rated 5/10: readable but only if there's nothing else

This book is, "An astonishing reinvention of the time-travel narrative."

The reinvention is unusual... unusual enough that I would count its explanation as a spoiler -- except for this, on the back cover of the book: "when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes."

It's not a spoiler if it's printed on the cover of the book.

More spoiler, with details: "Nothing ever changes." But it does. As far a I can tell (as far as I read) one person is trying to use Harry to change the world -- as it exists in Harry's current life. Harry doesn't say, It can't change. He says, It's all too complex -- and interconnected -- to attempt to make a "directed" change. This despite Harry's own attempts to improve his own interaction with each life, by both study and employment.

It's possible that this book is, indeed, an astonishing reinvention of the time-travel story. There are certainly some interesting ideas.

As far as I read -- page 73 of 400 -- it is definitely extremely boring.

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More interesting:

At the back of the book is this statement: "Claire North is a pseudonym for an acclaimed British author who has previously published several novels. This book is completely different from any of them." I checked Wikipedia for pseudonyms...

I have read one other book by this author. I read Touch -- published a year after Fifteen -- and rated it as nine out of ten.

Was Fifteen an unfortunate aberration? Has this author improved? Or has my taste changed? I may have to re-read Touch, to see if it is as good as I thought at the time.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"You're only young once but you can stay immature forever" … per Ginger Meggs

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

Thud! / Terry Pratchett

Thud!

(Discworld #30)

by Terry Pratchett

fantasy, humour

copyright 2005

re-read in January 2018

and read again in October 2021:

Interesting... I  *dis*agree with most of my 2018 review. I may have been in a particularly woke mood when I wrote it.

Also, I believe that I missed (on the earlier reading) the point of the "Following Dark". It explains Vimes' anger -- and shows the strength of Vimes' character.

Yes, he is honest. He also resists the urge to be ruled by his anger. He is the ideal incorruptible policeman.

On this reading I also appreciated the pointed disgust at the narrow-minded thinking -- or non-thinking -- of the religious leaders.

And then... yes, the plot is centred on Vimes' anger. The key theme, however, is intolerance. Or, rather, the theme is that intolerance is not good. And it may be due to misunderstanding.

Finally: I do agree with my earlier opinion, that the book is well worth reading.... but... it is well worth reading -- whether or not you are already a Discworld fan.

And I would change the rating. To a 7... at least.

rated 6/10: read to pass the time. Or better :-)

The usual Discworld mix of adventure, humour and social commentary. Not bad but not one of the best.

Central to the plot is the anger of Commander Vimes. Unfortunately the anger seems to belong as much to the author as to the character. This blunts the humour; the author is attacking the reader with a blunt object...

Still, it does highlight something interesting: it is acceptable (or, at least, accepted) that a religious group may be the subject of pointed -- almost insulting -- commentary. As long as, perhaps, the author is famous enough. (btw: I first typed "humour" then changed it to "commentary". There is very little humour in the treatment of the ultra-orthodox religious leaders who wear all-black, all-covering robes. Very little humour, very pointed disgust.)

If you are not already a fan -- start with another in the Discworld series. The series quality varies, this is not one of the best. (Nor the worst.) Definitely not one of the funniest. If you are already familiar with Discworld, this book is well worth reading.

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btw: When I *re*read a book I like to post a comment on the original review. I first read this book several years ago. I thought it would be within the years of this blog -- but I can't find a review. If I later find an earlier review... I will post a comment to link the two.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." … Robert A. Heinlein

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

Artemis / Andy Weir

Artemis

by Andy Weir

science fiction

copyright 2017

read in January 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is a bildungsroman! Just by coincidence, I read (again) the Wikipedia entry on bildungsroman. This was just after reading Artemis. And I thought, Yes! this is one of them! The heroine goes through psychological and moral growth as she gains acceptance in her society. I'm glad I spotted that :-)

And, as well as that: Artemis is old-style hard science fiction.

There is a lot of action -- entertaining and enjoyable action. Central to the action is the science. Yes, it's "hard science fiction" but the science is well-balanced by the entertaining action. The science supports the action, the action is driven by the science.

The characters work with the science. Some are scientists or technicians, other characters are making money in ways that only work because of the science.

The "world" of this novel is very Moon is a Harsh Mistress in its approach to social order. There are no strict rules. If you step outside of society's acceptable limits then members of the society will give you a tough, physical lesson... That is, unacceptable actions will lead to a bashing of the perpetrator. Although Artemis is fairer in its unofficial system of justice:

Moon has written and unwritten rules, visitors are not told of these rules but are expected to follow them. Or be punished. Artemis has no rules other than social expectations. Which is fine while the majority believe in "good" standards... Does that make sense? Read the book to discover that there is a problem with acceptable standards being set, case by case, by concerned citizens.

And then there are the criminal activities which are -- apparently -- supported by the author. It's all part of the societal standards which are an integral part of this book. The author gives a couple of examples of the power of vigilante justice. All well and good. Yet he overlooks the criminal dealings which drive the plot. And which will not -- in my opinion! -- lead to a happy and balanced society.

Without the accepted criminality at the core of the story, I could have rated this book at eight... but then, it would have been an entirely different book. If you have none of my objections to unethical motives, you can rate this book as being, really quite good.

At the least, it is well worth reading.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." … Robert A. Heinlein

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Knights of the Blood / Katherine Kurtz, Scott MacMillan

Knights of the Blood

(Knights of the Blood #1)

by Katherine Kurtz, Scott MacMillan

horror

copyright 1993

re-read in January 2018

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is a story of religious vampires. Does this sound unique? Okay... the chief villains -- also vampires -- are Nazis. Almost a cliche.

Throw in a lot of fancy fast cars, luxurious hotels, sophisticated people. Use brand names for every item -- including guns -- and this is a book in the style of Ian Fleming, where heroes gain stature by the cost of the goods that they consume. (I suspect that naming consumer goods was -- then -- a fad rather than a paid product placement.)

There are also a lot of historical references. These may be accurate but they do not make this "historical romance"!

With all the consuming of expensive brand consumer goods, staying in luxurious hotels, driving expensive cars along autobahns... there are few pages left for actual plot.

It's not much of a story but the religious vampires add interest. And it's easy to read. (Just as easy to read if it's a second reading.) Quite enjoyable but not great. Read to pass the time...

btw: There is a second book about the same vampires. This "book one" can be read by itself, the ending is no less complete than many horror books. That is, plenty of vampires are killed but the chief vampires live on, to do nasty things in a second book.

I enjoyed this book but am not looking for book two.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." … Robert A. Heinlein

===

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