Vitals / Greg Bear

Vitals

category: science thriller, author:

Greg Bear

original copyright 2002,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

When I wrote my first review for a thriller I did not really know what a "thriller" was. I categorised Criminal Conversation as action and thought, near enough... But now I am writing my eleventh thriller review and I have a better understanding of the genre.

In my defence, I had not read many thrillers even before I began PissWeakly Reviews. With Vitals I believe that I am beginning to understand the genre. Here's how it works:

• Hero notices that people around him die suddenly and violently. Yes, always him, never her.
  
• Despite being a very ordinary guy / genius / scientist / ex-marine / test-pilot / husband... the hero escapes one or more attempts on his life.
  
• Hero discovers the (possible) existence of a super-secret, all-powerful organisation (SSAPO-1) which rules the world using money, influence, violence and some ancient yet all-powerful secret. Conspiracy theory... to the max.
  
• Hero is helped by life-long best friends who betray him because they are secret organisation plants.
  
• Hero gains support from quiet people who were always there but seemed to be so very, very ordinary.
  
• At least one very ordinary quiet person turns out to be a member of a super-secret, all-powerful organisation (SSAPO-2) which is dedicated, in secret, to defeating SSAPO-1.
  
• Hero is weakened beyond human endurance yet he endures. He then gets isolated from SSAPO-2 and single-handedly defeats SSAPO-1.
  
• In a final, post-climactic chapter the hero -- or perhaps just the reader -- realises that SSAPO-1 was not completely defeated.
  

And there you have the plot of Vitals. And of The Tenth Chamber. And of The Husband... and most of the others. (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo misses one or two steps; The Girl who Played with Fire is closer to the genre.)

Vitals does up the ante in terms of unbelievability. It's a "scientific" thriller -- so I've categorised it as both thriller and science fiction. And it's the scientific unbelievability which is way up there... If you find that the "science" is just too fantastic, feel free to label this book as fantasy thriller.

It is an entertaining book. Read it to happily pass the time. Just don't expect it to be a really good book. Oh, and while you read it, enjoy some of the stylistic essentials of the thriller genre...

• Brand names will be dropped. Regularly.
  
• The author will make several statements which highlight what's wrong with the world. What's wrong as well as the existence of SSAPO-1, that is.
  
• The plot must be complex.
  

Did Ian Fleming start the trend? James Bond was always driving brand-name cars, drinking brand-name drinks, eating at always expensive and now-famous-by-association restaurants... Now it's an essential element of the thriller. Including Vitals.

Then there are the statements of author opinion. Highlighting a problem which has nothing to do with the plot. A statement which simply emphasises the cleverness of the author.

For example:

White America, with so shallow a history, was always looking for affirmation from more rooted cultures.

Wow! So Black America never looks to Africa, Yellow America never looks to Asia, Red America never refers to its previous life in tepees? Goodness, what a clever insight! A clever insight into the unthinking blandness of Bear's analysis, anyway.

And then, there's the requisite of plot complexity... And Bear has outdone himself.

There are twists and turns. Gradual revelations. Even more hidden secrets. Traitors and turncoats at every twist and turn...

'How do you know whether or not they'll be [traitors],' I asked...
'I appreciate your concern...' [replies the SSAPO-2 agent]...

... and he changes the subject. Having built up a complex and all-pervasive system of SSAPO-1 treachery -- Bear has no answer to the way in which SSAPO-2 will detect traitors.

Oh well.

For those who like to know what the book is about, turn to the Epilogue. In an open admission that the plot is difficult to follow, Bear allows his hero to explain what just happened. Although there are still gaps, in both plot and explanation.

Perhaps you should save time. Just read the Epilogue. It's about as clear as the rest of the book. Quicker to read. And with less unbelievable science.

An entertaining book. Switch off your good sense, and maybe enjoy it.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Eon / Greg Bear

Eon

category: science fiction, author:

Greg Bear

original copyright 1985,
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

This book is "a triumph of soaring imagination and huge detail." It says so on the back cover. And it's true. Unfortunately soaring imagination and huge detail are not enough to make a great novel.

Early on I decided, there are too many characters, I won't try to remember them all. So there are dozens of characters doing things for no apparent reason... Who is that? I wonder, Why are they doing that? Sure, it's a sign of a lazy reader. It's also a sign that the author has failed to fully capture my attention.

There is also the huge detail of the science... Again, I simply looked at the words and didn't bother to try to absorb.

Do you remember the very first Star Trek movie? All the great Star Trek characters, a great plot for a Star Trek episode -- stretched out to a full length movie. How did they stretch that movie? By including lots of slow fly-bys of the model spaceships. Boring!

Compare that to the original Star Wars movie: non-stop action, a Western set in space. Robots, spaceships, planets, movie models of all shapes and descriptions -- but all just background. The movie action rolls right along and the models are just, well, just there. Background. Adding depth to the action.

With Eon, Bear has taken the Star Trek approach: stretched out the action with boring details of the technology. Futuristic? Great. Exciting shapes and colours? Very nice. But what about advancing the plot?!

The plot itself is, sort of, interesting. A story of its time, 1985. With 1985 politics and one-eyed patriotism extended a thousand years into the future. Somewhat dated but still interesting.

More interesting is the human response to alien threat.

Aggressive aliens threaten to dump a star into the battleground, to wipe out all life -- human and alien -- in order to... well, I'm not sure. Perhaps this is Bear's reference to MAD, the mutually assured nuclear destruction of his era: we'll all be dead but so will you. So how do the humans -- the psychologically adjusted, peace loving humans of the far future -- how do these humans respond?

These peace-loving humans use their own methods to wipe out all life on the battlefield. They make all uninhabitable. At least the humans intend to survive, by moving on past the huge area of destruction. Oh well, a response for the times, I guess: You threaten me and I'll wipe your alien selves from the surface of this world...

Finally, as a sort of icing on the cake of boredom, Bear uses the then-fashionable parallel worlds theory. Which makes a nonsense of all the strife and striving...

Let's go back and help the world recover from nuclear devastation! Why bother? There is still an infinity of parallel worlds which we will not be helping. Worse yet: One woman actually decides to "go home" -- to a parallel universe where (a) nuclear devastation did not happen and (b) she does not exist but her family and boyfriend do... Riiiiiggght.

Once you introduce parallel worlds, all efforts are pointless. Sure, you may be able to find a world where "you win". But there will still be an infinite number of other parallel worlds where -- "you lose". By "winning" here you guarantee that you will have "lost" somewhere else.

Leave the parallel worlds to the quantum physicists. All it does for a novel, is to make all the protagonists' efforts, pointless.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

All the Windwracked Stars / Elizabeth Bear

All the Windwracked Stars

(category: fantasy)
could be a standard Viking myth-world? by

Elizabeth Bear

published by Tor / Tom Doherty, New York in 2008
Nick read a new book, in January 2010

Nick's rating: 5 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

Hmm... Not sure what to say about this book... It was a Christmas present, so I don't like to be too harsh -- but I think the author should write for readers rather than for herself. I guess that the book is a spin-off from the old Norse myths. A sort of post-Nordic-apocalypse story of survivor guilt. But really -- who wants to read about people with super-human powers as they struggle with guilt and inability?! At the end -- as far as I can tell -- the heroine saved the world. Possibly. By accepting the role of suffering for the world's sins, of being injured, damaged, destroyed as a reflection of the world's state. But if that's what happened -- why does she glow with good health as the world hits rock bottom?! Ah well. Perhaps it would make more sense if I had the author's deep knowledge of Norse mythology. But that should not be necessary -- in a "good" book.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your own documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.