Marsbound / Joe Haldeman

Marsbound
Starbound
Earthbound
by Joe Haldeman

science fiction

copyright 2008, 2010, 2011
read in February 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

A family heads to Mars. There's already a small settlement, the space travel technology is proven, the journey is quite safe. Nothing much happens...

This is a documentary-style book, a description of travel from Earth to Mars. How it will be once the initial bugs are ironed out. My local newspaper had a story of a commercial venture which plans to get to Mars in the foreseeable future, I can see the similarities.

Marsbound is less "what if" and more, "see how it can be done". With a bit of mild tension, to make it a novel.

Then the Martians arrive ! A burst of excitement ! Followed by more, plodding, "this is how we could deal with first alien contact".

It's not a thrilling book. But it's interesting. The space travel... the living on Mars... the first contact... are all plausible. Which does not make for a blockbuster story. But -- as solid science fiction -- the book is enjoyable.

Then we go Starbound, and track the aliens to their lair. Sounds exciting ? Well, no... it's mostly the same style of plodding description, explaining, this is how it could be done, this is how it would be. With the occasional superior alien intervention.

The aliens are definitely superior. So superior that they are magic... beyond our comprehension. That's a key ingredient of these three books: aliens who are so far beyond us that (a) we can't possibly understand them and (b) they don't care what happens to us.

An interesting what-if scenario. With the unfortunate side effect, that there's nothing humans can do to influence the outcome.

So our heroes go into space. Almost meet the aliens. Are returned in a magic time bubble. And are saved -- for no obvious reason -- when humans are de-civilised for annoying the aliens. Or perhaps for not annoying the aliens...

The aliens are way beyond our understanding. They just cause things to happen... usually bad things. We -- the readers -- are left to guess why.

The third book is about survival on the now de-civilised Earth. The survivalists manual consists of one page, one sentence, large font: "Get big guns, store lots of ammo, kill everyone else." If there's a fourth book, it will be all new characters.

It's a readable book. Less enjoyable than the first two, because of all the closeup violence and death. My favorite part of Earthbound ? The play on words of the title...

These three books are not really boring. Just plodding. A realistic look at getting to Mars. A realistic look at getting to the stars. A realistic but depressing look at the end of human civilisation.

Readable books. Quite enjoyable. Interesting ideas... but not great novels.

"I want the satisfaction of achievement without the effort of actually achieving" per Ginger Meggs

====
Problems ? Solved

The Goliath Stone / Niven & Harrington

The Goliath Stone
by Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington

science fiction

copyright 2013
read in February 2015

rated 6/10:  read to pass the time

High speed super science. Really, really annoying.

The nanotech science is entirely implausible -- but that's no worry. After all, this is science fiction.

What is really annoying, is the attitude of the characters... Meaning, the attitude of the authors.

The authors are always, oh so absolutely, right.

Not just clever, but right. Worse yet, the rightness of the authors' opinions means that the reader either agrees -- or is wrong.

No middle ground. No acceptance of alternate views. Either agree with the authors -- or you are wrong.

It's an arrogant attitude which comes through very strongly, via the thoughts, words and actions of the main characters.

Global warming is so stupid -- according to the authors -- that it gets several put-downs. NASA employees are such a bunch of morons that there are many uses of insulting alternatives for the NASA acronym. No sympathy. Just arrogance and insults.

The intelligence of the reader is also insulted. Have you read the same books as the authors ? Have you memorised the same, possibly clever, quotations ? If not -- you are a fool.

For example... Regular references to other books and movies. A character will say, "What the... Oh, wait, now I get the reference... Oh how funny and clever... " The reader gets no hints. Either you have read that particular book -- and memorised that particular line -- or you, like the secondary characters, are a fool.

This book is a fairytale of wish fulfilment. If you are a clever person with a good understanding of science, you will get to rule the world. You will get to kill all the people who disagree with you. You will get to humiliate all the people who support other points of view.

Science fiction often has a world being saved by science and by scientists.

Let's hope that the real world is never "saved" by this particular group of egotistic pseudo scientists.

===

10dec16: 

Third attempt to get a post to post. Let's summarise:

This book is rubbish. An insult to the reader. Absolute and utter rubbish.

14dec16: 

I had a lot of trouble with the previous post (10dec16)...

I was typing on a tablet. Extending the entry window required a finger the size of a pinhead, to drag at the exact point. Impossible. The tablet display did not clear some text within that same data entry area. So I was typing behind some of the blogger explanation. Then the final post failed. Twice. Ah well.

Back to the book itself:

I've now checked what I read in the original review. Absolutely right. The authors treat their readers with contempt. There are unexplained references to old American TV shows (I guess) and science fiction books (again, a guess). You don't understand the references? Then you must be an idiot. That's the authors' attitude.

Near the start of the book I thought, Isn't it obvious what has been happening out in space? Is that going to be some sort of "surprise" which is no surprise at all? Possibly... but I failed to find out.

Within ten pages, I realised that I had already read this book. No worries, some books are worth a reread. Less than 100 pages in and I thought, the authors have just insulted my intelligence. Again. Every healthy woman will have enormous breasts and a seductive manner? In whose teenage boyhood fantasy... This on top of the you-must-be-in-the-know "literary" references.

I stopped reading. Checked the original review. Realised that I had missed nothing worthwhile in the rest of the book.

My six out of ten rating could have been a bit too generous.

"I want the satisfaction of achievement without the effort of actually achieving" per Ginger Meggs

====
Problems ? Solved

The Phantom 2014 Special

The Phantom 2014 Special
various authors and illustrators

adventure, fantasy, comic

copyright 1946 to 1987
read in February 2015

rated 8/10: really quite good

Okay... really quite good if you're a fan of The Phantom !

Five ancient classics -- the real Phantom. Three more modern Swedish stories -- of variable quality.

I thoroughly enjoyed the classics. And was not embarrassed by the Swedish stories. A good overall result !

An interesting cover picture... Created specially for this special rather than a copy from an old comic. Overall, it's good. I like the attempt. But the Phantom himself needs to be bigger, more powerful. Good... worth doing... not perfect.

Did you notice that I categorised this as "comic" ? Not as a "graphic novel"... It's a comic. With stories from the days before comics tried to move upmarket. If you would be embarrassed to read a comic, just think of it as a book of graphic short stories :-)

Aside from the seriously ott adventures, I also enjoyed the structure of each story. These are re-published exactly as originally published. The Sunday stories were written in larger episodes. The dailies were written three images at a time.

And why did the dailies need so much repetition ? Surely there was less time to forget !? Perhaps the dailies were written in the expectation that not everyone would read the paper each and every day...?

Then there are the two witch queen adventures... One follows the other, both in writing and in historical sequence. The second story spends a lot of time retelling the first...

And how the story has changed !

Same author, four years later -- and the retelling could well be a different story !

It's not strange, just the reality of the author's purpose. The Phantom was written to entertain. It is not an historical document. Just entertainment.

And I was well and truly... entertained.

====
"If he had a mind, there was something on it." PG Wodehouse, of a troubled Pongo Twistleton

====
Problems ? Solved

Embassytown / China Mieville

Embassytown
by China Mieville

science fiction

copyright 2011
read (started) in February 2015

rated 4/10: bad but could be read

The book jumps all over the place. More accurately, it jumps all over the time. Or it seems to. Perhaps I just didn't work hard enough at understanding what was going on.

No, what's going on seems clear. Why, is a lot less obvious.

There seems to be some great importance attached to the language of a group of aliens. Sorry, the Language. Always capitalised.

Why in the Language so important ?

I never found out.

Page 83 of 400. Nothing has happened. I stop reading. It's. Boring. Really.

I suspect that the writing is very clever. That the story could be highly intellectually stimulating for people who read only to impress other people.

Up to page 83 and... It's. Really. Boring.

"If he had a mind, there was something on it." PG Wodehouse, of a troubled Pongo Twistleton

====
Problems ? Solved

Magic on the Storm / Devon Monk

Magic on the Storm
(Allie Beckstrom #4)
by Devon Monk

fantasy, chick lit

copyright 2010
read in February 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Blurb on the cover compares Devon Monk to Jim Butcher. Okay, magic user in a modern American city. Tough, independent, fighting the good fight against evil. Though Monk's evil is more personal, less end of the world. Easier to "believe".

One major difference: Butcher writes for horny teenage boys, Monk writes for lovelorn teenage girls... It makes for interesting differences. They both write for conservative middle class readers. This makes for interesting similarities.

Hmmmm... I intended to describe some of the differences. As I try to choose my words I realise, this will take a lot of words ! So, please, just take my word for it: books for boys and books for girls -- are different. Don't blame me, just believe me...

Magic on the Storm -- written for girls -- almost lost me in the first few chapters. (Yes, I'm male. Though not a teenager.) A bit too much of, I'm so tough -- but my boyfriend is even tougher. A bit too much melting in his arms as they kiss. A bit too much of the cutesy repartee.

Then the plot kicked in and I began to enjoy the book. Though I still laugh at the woman who turns up to a magic battle wearing high heeled boots...

Boys' books and girls' books do have different ideas of what makes for a good fashion statement. Though the high heeled boots may be more practical than the skimpy dresses worn by many of Butcher's female characters.

Anyway, the action started. Relatively simple plot with relatively complex characters. (Relative to Butcher, that is.) The characters are complex largely because we don't know whether they are good or bad. Perhaps less complex, more misunderstood...

It's action, adventure, teenage girl wish fulfilment. An enjoyable romp, an easy to read bit of escapism.

Not great. Quite enjoyable... once it really gets going.

Oh, and it doesn't really matter that this is book four... The characters are either self explanatory or clearly introduced. And it doesn't really matter that the book ends with the heroine stepping into incredible danger... We know that she'll suffer but survive. And the rest of the characters are... well... who cares.

"If he had a mind, there was something on it." PG Wodehouse, of a troubled Pongo Twistleton

====
Problems ? Solved

Limits of Power / Elizabeth Moon

Limits of Power
(Paladin's Legacy #4 of 5)
by Elizabeth Moon

fantasy

copyright 2013
read in February 2015

rated 7/10: well worth reading

This book is the fourth in a series of five. There are three more books before that, an independent series which leads into this series. So, in effect, this book is number seven of eight.

Can it be read as a one-off book ?

I read book one of the eight. I clearly remember one of the characters. Wow ! has she developed and changed ! So I know the character's name -- but I don't know the character. Everyone else is a stranger.

This book begins with the aftermath of an assassination... I just missed the big fight scene. I don't know the person who was killed. I don't know the people who survived.

I read to the end of the book and... well... nothing much has happened ! A few marriages, a few births, a king discovers that he actually does have the magic powers that are essential to the survival of his kingdom. Oh, and a murderer is unmasked. If I had read the previous books, I might know who she is.

Some young prince is captured and threatened. He's the son -- one son -- of someone that I don't know. The prince gets a couple of chapters... More than is given to the book's villain.

So the story starts in the middle, wanders round with a few dozen characters and goes nowhere. It's just one chapter of a series. I should hate it.

And yet...

I really did enjoy this book !

I don't know any of the characters. Some, I do get to know. And they are all so... nice :-)

The entire book is so... positive :-)

It's like an annual family get-together. Catching up with people you know (except that I don't). Finding out what they have done in the last year. You get just a brief snapshot of their lives: continuations of what they were doing the previous year.

Are you a stranger at another family's reunion ? It can still be interesting... Someone was married. Children were born. Same jobs or new jobs. Started, continued or ended schooling...

You don't really know these people -- but it's fun, to listen and learn.

And that's how I read this book. A confusing mob of pleasant people telling me what they have been up to. It doesn't mean much to me but I can tell that it's all rather nice, for those in the know.

Sure, there's no way that this book can make sense if read alone. But really, it's such fun... that who cares. It's complex entertainment, a massive saga, in a nice, nice world.

"If he had a mind, there was something on it." PG Wodehouse, of a troubled Pongo Twistleton

====
Problems ? Solved