Shadow of the Scorpion / Neal Asher

Shadow of the Scorpion
by Neal Asher

science fiction
published 2008, read in November 2012

rating 6 / 10: read to pass the time

Six out of ten? Or possibly 7 -- if you're a fan of Agent Cormac of the Polity.

I enjoy Asher's books (the few that I've read, and I want to read more). The Polity is rough, tough and enjoyable. But this is my first meeting with Agent Cormac. So as far as I can tell:

Cormac has spent several books righting wrongs. Scorpion appears to be providing an insight into his childhood. Into the early days of his violent life. Which I would appreciate more -- if I had previously read of his adult adventures!

As a standalone book...

Scorpion is a modern equivalent of For Mars! Young man goes through basic training and comes out as a man.

Aside: My reviews are now being posted as an email from a tablet PC. This approach limits my flexibility. Specifically, I cannot proved you with a hot link to other reviews... Sorry! It also explains why the format of recent posts is so boring :-)  Anyway...

I have only just read For Mars! (Yes, the ! is part of the title.) As I read Scorpion I began to see similarities. In more than the basic boy-becomes-man plot.

I began to suspect that Scorpion was written for the "young adult" SF fan: young hero and simplistic style. Short sentences, simple plot logic. Group of young "cadets" thrown together, forced to build an effective team...

Of course this idealised world was soon shattered by the typical Polity violence. Still... it did make me think, how SF has changed since 1952 (the year of For Mars!). Similar themes -- such a different treatment!

Comparisons aside, Scorpion is not a great book. Gung ho action in a tough universe. An enjoyable adventure. A weak plot.

If you have already read previous Cormac adventures then this book will -- I believe -- fill in some gaps, build the back story. As a standalone novel... some of the points seem to be a little pointless.

And the gaining of a nifty personal weapon -- right at the end of the book -- is totally contrived. Except, I guess, as a necessary explanation for earlier books with a more experienced Cormac.

Enjoyable by itself. Perhaps a must-read for Cormac fans.

====
Problems ? Solved

For Mars! / Carey Rockwell

For Mars!
by Carey Rockwell

science fiction

published 1952, read in October 2012

rating 6 / 10: read to pass the time

Clean-cut heroic leader, strong but not so smart sidekick, super smart but troubled 2ic... Stereotyped (space) adventure.

Early pulp fiction. To be read with a touch of embarrassment. To be read and enjoyed. Critical faculties switched off.

Wikipedia does say that -- for its time -- the science is good. But the story logic! Unbelievable... yet enjoyable :-)

The heroes rescue passengers from a stricken spaceship. They then risk their lives to save the ship itself. Why? Because it's a valuable asset worth many millions of space dollars.

Two chapters later and they have destroyed the ship by crashing onto Mars. Does anyone now mention the value of the ship? Nope...

Aside from the dodgy plot, this is very clearly a "science fiction" adventure. How can you tell? Check the equipment:

The Space cadets wear their Space uniform, including Space boots. They fly a Space ship to the Space ship yards. Their Space watches tell them the Space time as they wish each other, Spaceman's luck... You get the idea! Why is a Space boot different from any other boot? We are not told.

This story is fun but not great. As a modern book I would score it as 4, bad but could be read. Set in context -- as "old" SF, available free from Gutenberg Press -- it is well worth reading.

If only to see how science fiction has changed.

And for more on that -- how science fiction has changed -- see my review of Shadow of the Scorpion...

====
Problems ? Solved

Chronic City / Jonathan Lethem

Chronic City
by Jonathan Lethem

published 2010, read in October 2012

category: general fiction

rating 3 / 10: so bad it's embarrassing

Let's be clear: the rating of 3 out of 10 is *my* rating. There may be readers who enjoy reading this sort of drivel. Or perhaps something interesting does happen if you can bear to read past page 85.

Not that I expected much. In Barcelona for a week, wanting a book to fill some idle moments. The nearest bookshop had a few metres of English-language books, a highly eclectic mix indeed.

I chose the one book which was written recently, vaguely SF and I had not read before. Perhaps I should have selected from the very small range of "classics".

In its general theme, this book reminds me of The Great Gatsby: a story of the rich and the beautiful, as seen by a jealous outsider. Where Fitzgerald hated the rich because he did not belong, Lethem longs to join them. Or so it would seem, from the styles of the books.

Lethem, though, takes his readers to new levels of self-indulgent boredom.

By page 85 -- which is as far as my good sense would allow me to go -- nothing has happened. The first-person storyteller has met a man with a sharp mind and poor dress sense. The two have smoked dope, eaten the same meal at the same restaurant several times, and dropped numerous references to characters and actors from TV and movies.

Are these characters and actors real? Are they invented? Are they "clever" inventions based on real people? Who knows?! Who cares.

The novel appears to be named for a favourite brand of marijuana. Perhaps it is the same brand that the author uses when writing. Because that's the way that the book reads...

Remember the stereotype Hollywood hippies? That friend of Dobie Gillis, for example... the hippies who ramble on, speaking a language of their own, making very little sense to the rest of the world. To their own drug-addled senses they are providing deep insights into the mysteries of the world. To the rest of us, they are mumbling nonsense.

Chronic City is mumbling nonsense.

====
Problems ? Solved

Flatland / Edwin Abbott

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott

published 1884
read in October 2012 (and skimmed, years earlier)

categories: management, science fiction, other
rating: 7 / 10, well worth reading

Strictly speaking, this novella is "other". Categorising as "management" is misleading. I'm a victim of my own definitions, since "management" is defined as "management, business, informative stuff". And Flatland is intended to be informative.

There is a simple story: hero makes great discovery, cannot convince his friends, realises that the government is suppressing his discovery, is jailed to keep him quiet.

The main point, though, is to explain the concept of multi-dimensional universes, with dimensions from zero, through our normal three, and beyond. With rational explanation of possible life at each of the lesser-dimensioned universes.

I still cannot visualise a four-dimensional world. But Flatland makes me believe that it is possible. I'm not sure that I'm ready to believe that it is "likely"...

... Which supports one of the points which is made, gently, in the book. A 3D Sphere is dismayed that the 2D Square (the author and hero) has so much trouble believing in the third dimension. Yet Sphere has just as much trouble believing in the fourth dimension!

Sphere, of course, is from our own, 3D space. Abbott clearly explains the logical possibility of zero, one and two dimensional spaces. He then asks us to step beyond our built-in limitations -- and explore the possibility of space with four... or more... dimensions.

For a budding mathematician -- or a fan of science fiction -- this is a great little book.

Save the heavy textbooks for later. Start with Flatland, for a pleasant introduction to the possibility of multi-dimensional space.

====
Problems ? Solved

Flesh & Blood / Graham Masterton

Flesh & Blood
a book by Graham Masterton
category: Horror
published 1995
read in October 2012
rating: 4 out of 10

A horror story written by the numbers.

1. Start with a brutal killing.
2. Add several more deaths, pointless and with plenty of blood and pain.
3. Switch to beautiful people in a pornographically detailed sex scene.
4. Use unbelievable coincidences to link magic, murder, science and human sacrifice.
5. Wrap it all up with a non sequitur, extremely violent ending.
6. Save the last paragraph for, "To be continued..."

What a load of rubbish.

Let's start with number three, the sex scene. Hog Girl, we are told, likes to be dominated because her friend the boar always dominates the sow. So how often have you heard of a boar using several silk scarves to tie up his sow-of-the-moment?! Good grief.

Oh, and the point of the sex scene? Could have been made more clearly, in far fewer words. Without the sex. (Sorry.)

Move on to number five where, we are told, it has been predicted that evil mutant villain will be destroyed by his own, more mutant, offspring. So what happens? Mutant child does nothing more than beg mutant grandad to kill him. Until policeman hero uses police issue shotgun to blast mutant grandad to pieces.

Following which, kindly hero -- and all his police buddies -- stand in a circle and blast mutant child. (Who is now a giant pig. Don't ask.) No worry that missing the pig will shoot a policeman on the other side of the circle. No thought of using the anaesthetic dart then giving the child/pig a painless death. Good grief.

Back to point four of the horror writers' primer, where mediaeval magic is "explained" as being scientifically possible. Just two words: Good grief.

It's violent, there's an irrelevant sex scene, it's easy to read. Feel free to read it. I don't recommend it.

====
Problems ? Solved

The Man who would be King / Rudyard Kipling

The Man who would be King
by Rudyard Kipling
copyright 1888
cat: action
rated: 7 out of 10

As I began to read this book I was confused. What's it all about? It's an old book -- written in 1888 -- so a lot is unfamiliar. People, places, attitudes, all are unfamiliar. What I was reading did not make sense.

Then I realised that I was failing to recognise irony. Okaaaay...

Start reading again. From the beginning. And it makes more sense.

Well, perhaps Kipling is simply reflecting the reality of his times. Or it may be social commentary, making a point with slight exaggeration. To me -- reading more than a century after the book was written -- irony fits.

Remember the King and the Duke in Huckleberry Finn? Con-men to the core. Transplant them to colonial India. Add courage and some honest intentions. Offer them as being typical representatives of a common class of people. You have this story.

White men with guns, the urge to rule and the ability to improve the primitive local lifestyle. Superstitious natives, tribal fighting, overawed by the white man's guns and apparent power. Vicious retribution and honest loyalty...

A fascinating view of a past empire. With some interesting insights into today's national identities. Plus a rip-roaring yarn of two-fisted adventure!

This book -- novella, actually -- is fun to read. And provides unexpected depths for the modern reader.

====
Problems ? Solved

Colours in the Steel / K.J. Parker

An enjoyable book but largely pointless.

There are characters that you can like. Not many that you can dislike. Some are vaguely sympathetic; most, you simply don't care.

The idea of legal cases being settled by sword fights is... interesting... but not a key element of the plot. The hero could as easily have been a fencing instructor, with someone determined to call him out for a duel.

The magic is interesting. Well,certainly the magic practitioners are interesting... If, in fact, any of them are really practising magic! It is still a bit uncertain.

So I read the blurbs for books two and three of the trilogy. And found no evidence of a conclusion! Book one raises some questions, some mysteries, that seem -- to me -- to be essential to the series. The blurbs give no indications that the mysteries are solved. Or even, not, solved.

We reach the end of book one and our hero goes on to... another adventure.

There may be a more coherent plot across the three books... I enjoyed book one enough to want to find out.

I enjoyed the book -- even though a lot of it is a how-to manual for middle-ages war and civilisation! (War and civilisation? Would it be enough to just write, civilisation? It is very hard to separate the two.) A manual with plenty of entertaining social commentary. Anyway...

Parker knows his/her stuff but a lot of the technical detail is too much. The idea of the Fencer occupation is great but largely pointless. The book is a detailed tale of the sack of one great city. I'm worried that the next books will be separate stories rather than a trilogy.

That said... read the book :-)

Despite its faults, it's a good book. I enjoyed it. I look forward to getting hold of the rest of the trilogy.

====
Problems ? Solved