The Voyage of the Sable Keech / Neal Asher

The Voyage of the Sable Keech
(Spatterjay #2)
by Neal Asher

copyright 2006
read in July 2015

rated 8/10: really quite good

I'm torn... Eight out of ten or nine out of ten ? I think I'm right, at eight...

Remember, I rate books on my own reading enjoyment. Well written books may rate highly but not necessarily. Though, admittedly, a poorly written book will usually lower my reading enjoyment.

Voyage is great fun. I love the space opera science. I love -- after some mental adjustment -- the over the top violence. I love it that the AIs have as much character as the humans (and other characters).

My rating problem is, that I recently scored a book at the hard to achieve nine... And I'm not sure that that book is really better than Voyage.

No, not better. I just enjoyed it more... in a different way.

Voyage is book two of a series. At the start, I don't know the characters. At the end, I am not overwhelmed by the character reveal. To me, the revealed character was still a stranger.

The other book -- Red Rising -- was self-contained. There was no expectation that I would already know any of the characters. Also... Red Rising was more like a movie: big action scenes interspersed with some character introspection. I'm still happy with my relative ratings... Just interested in testing my own reasoning.

Red Rising could have been influenced by How to Write a Blockbuster. Voyage is solid space opera. Rising is exciting and involving. Voyage is imaginative and non-stop.

What I would like to do -- what I recommend you do: read Spatterjay one. Then read Voyage. That, I believe, would be a nine out of ten reading experience.

"The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present." -- Hobbes via Watterson

World War Z / Max Brooks

World War Z
by Max Brooks

fantasy thriller ?

copyright 2006
read in July 2015

rated 8/10: really quite good

This book is now, also, a movie. When I spotted the book I hesitated... Is it a book which became a movie... or a movie which became a book...?

This is a book which became a movie.

I just cannot imagine that a movie could do it justice.

The story is told as a series of interviews, told after the fact of the zombie apocalypse. A series of anecdotes, each adding to the war history.

And it is a war history... not a novel. There is no hero. Lots of different people doing lots of different things. Each adding to the overall picture. See why I don't believe that a movie could do it justice ?

There are good people and bad people. Overall, however, the history is positive. It is, perhaps, tending towards the old style of "humanity uber alles" of some old science fiction. Still, if the zombies had won -- this history would not have been written :-)

On the down side, the book is a collection of stereotypes, of almost clichés... Each nation plays to its stereotype. Or is that a strength of the book rather than a weakness ?!

This is a history of the world response to the zombie apocalypse. If the Americans acted with a stiff upper lip... the Germans faced zombies with a she'll be right attitude... the Italians marched in lockstep at the enemy... who would believe it ?!

The zombies, too, are stereotypes. Or did Max Brooks invent the now-stereotype ??

Zombies stand or shamble. Till they detect a human... Then it's arms out, stumble at the humans, moaning... Okay, just moaning. Not mumbling, Braaains...

Forget the stereotypes, this book is not about people, nor about zombies. It's about individual and national response to the threat of the end of humanity.

And it is really quite good.

====

Though I am left with one problem.

Is that, World War Zed ? Or World War Zee...

"The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present." -- Hobbes via Watterson

The Godless / Ben Peek

The Godless
(1 of ...?)
by Ben Peek

fantasy

copyright 2014
read in June 2015

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Warning: this is book one of who knows how many. Yes, it is... intended to be... the introduction to a continuing saga in a new world.

Not enough warning on the cover. And the book ends with several cliffhangers... No real conclusion.

The story itself is entertaining. The characters -- the main characters, anyway -- are quite likeable. The writing is very confusing.

There's a lot of history to this world. Unique history. The author provides a lot of that history, to help us understand what is happening "now".

Unfortunately, he used flashbacks. Short flashbacks. Mixed in with the "now" action within the chapters.

It is sometimes difficult to decide whether something is happening now... or ten thousand years ago. And yes, there was relevant action, that long ago.

The Godless are really, provably, godless. Their gods killed each other, way, way back. Dig deep enough, in clearly identified spots -- and you will find the rotting body of a dead god... Nothing mystic, nothing allegorical... The Godless are really godless.

It's a good concept.

Since the gods died, various people have absorbed... god essence? Long life, enormous power and, as often as not, bad attitude.

It's an interesting world !

It's a good book... but...

At the end, there is no conclusion.

I hope there are more Godless books on the way.

I also hope that the next book actually reaches a conclusion.

"The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present." -- Hobbes via Watterson

Red Rising / Pierce Brown

Red Rising
(Red Rising Saga #1)
by Pierce Brown

science fiction

copyright 2014
read in June 2015

rated 9/10: really, really good

Wow !

I've not even read to page fifty and I'm blinking back tears. How could this happen ? Such planned, cold, vicious cruelty ! Not through detailed blood and gore...

I am already empathising with key characters. Enough so that a single loss has me upset. This loss drives the hero. But it does not drive the book.

From humble beginnings... Okay, it's a cliché. Humble hero becomes superman so that he can beat the oppressors at their own game. It's a cliché that is told so very well.

The hero is young, yet he learns hatred. And then he learns more.

The bulk of this book is sword and science action. Cunning, treachery, violence and suffering. Mixed in effective proportions with heroism, friendship, hatred and personal growth.

Okay, the plot is a straightforward flow, from A to Z. Once the hero knows what he should do, it never fails. Simplistic ? Bloody good fun !

Through all the boys' own adventures, characters are interacting. Friendship, jealousy, sacrifice, loyalty. Totally unbelievable. Totally acceptable.

The hero is driven by the need for revenge. Then he learns that revenge is not as sweet -- not as satisfying -- as he expected. The oppressors are evil. Then he learns that there is good amongst the evil.

The hero's goal is to overthrow the oppressors, to bring the slaves out to rule their brave new world. I'm betting... I'm hoping... that by the end of the trilogy the hero will have done better than that. The way he's going, the hero will not just overthrow the oppressors... He will lead oppressors and oppressed -- together -- to build a better world.

I would not be surprised. He's that sort of hero.

I raced through this book. Finished... and thought, Wow !

Put it down. Forced myself to wait a week. Read it again... And, again, thought, Wow !

This book, is really, really good.

I hope I don't have to wait too long to read the next.

===

03mar20:

I've just reread this book. It is as good as it was on the first (and second) readings. I completely agree with my original review, above: Wow!

This time, I'm more aware of the prepared links into the next books in the series. It's not just, Win the game. There is also, Win the game and make some friends and enemies for the future. I must get the next book :-)

I also made a minor change to the above. It's no longer "1 of 3". The trilogy is complete, a follow-on series seems to have started. But -- good news -- the fourth book is introduced as, It is ten years later... So I am happy that the "trilogy" will, indeed end. But the adventure will continue.

Weltanschauung: A comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of humanity's relation to it.

The Waking Engine / David Edison

The Waking Engine
by David Edison

fantasy

copyright 2014
"read" in June 2015

rated 4/10: bad but could be read

I rate this book as "bad but could be read" -- even though I couldn't be bothered finishing reading it. It's not unreadable. Just stupid.

I don't like any of the characters. Don't really dislike them, either. They are just creepy people who would be avoided at a cocktail party. And who act weird... though I suspect that it's meant to be mysterious. Or possibly even significant.

It's possible that this whole book is intended to be both significant and meaningful. For as much as I could be bothered reading -- two chapters -- it is pointless and meaningless. And somewhat nasty.

I did skip to the end, read just the last page or two. The main character says, Well, I gained a few skills but I didn't really do anything... So, nothing to look forward to. Confirmed my decision, to stop reading.

You may like to read the entire book, just so that you can tell me how good it was ! Please... don't bother.

Night of Knives / Ian C. Esslemont

Night of Knives
(Malazan Empire #1 ?! )
by Ian C. Esslemont

fantasy

copyright 2005
read in June 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Wham ! Kapow ! Flash ! Bang ! ... and all the rest of the comic book indicators of exciting action !

Yes, this book is fantasy action at its most fantastic and its most active ! Is there a character who is less than a superhero ? Or superheroine ?! Should I stop using so many exclamation marks ?! Oh... Okay.

On the island of Malaz there are a few thousand ordinary people. Their role is to hide in their houses while the super-people -- and superpowers -- fight for power. It's exciting, it's fun, it's totally over the top.

Pure escapist fantasy ? Violent and blood-soaked ? Confusing but satisfying ending ? All of the above.

Confusing ? Very.

This book is "the first instalment" of the Malazan Empire. I take that to mean that, after many Malazan books, this "new" one is the earliest in Empire chronology. So, you may be thinking, this book will explain the back-story...

Wrong.

My impression is, that this "first instalment" uses a number of characters from "later" books. Uses, but does not introduce.

Characters pop up from all sorts of mythical realms. With all sorts of mythical powers. All sorts of mythical aims in "life". Are we supposed to know them ? I hope so... The alternative is, that the author has used a grab-bag of characters whose only role is to add threat or solve problems by deus ex machina.

I prefer to think that many of these characters have continuing roles in other Malazan books. Which makes the " first instalment " claim both misleading and -- to the occasional reader of Malazan -- annoying.

Still, no worries.

This book is a rollicking yarn of gore and magic and heroics. The plot rolls along quite nicely, with logic gaps filled by super-beings who appear, save a hero (for no obvious reason), then go back to their mysterious, very important, unexplained, day jobs.

The bad guys (we didn't really meet them), triumph but not really. The other bad guys (who we did meet) wipe each other out. Yet another bad guy is pushed back into his prison cell. The invasion of the entire race of bad guys is thwarted. Though a pointless epilogue seems to indicate that those bad guys are just misunderstood good guys.

The hero goes back to his boring day job. The heroine gets a job offer.

Are you as confused as I am ?

It's entertaining and incomprehensible. The death toll is extreme yet no innocent bystander is harmed. The ending is quite satisfying but meaningless. Or, possibly, pointless.

The book may be an essential gap-filter for the fans. For the rest of us, it's just read-and-forget fantasy fun.

Touch / Claire North

Touch
by Claire North

science fiction, science thriller

copyright 2015
read in June 2015

rated 9/10: really, really good

Science fiction? Science thriller? This is another book which could be either, or both... But who cares?! It's just a very good book!

In the tradition of SF the author considers a specific ability and says, what if...? What if someone did have this ability? And builds a story round the answers.

First up... If one person has the ability -- why not others? So how do they interact? How do they interact with the rest of the world?

All the answers are built up into a story which is very, very believable. And very, very unexpected.

The hero (or heroine, mostly, I think...) has an ability which gives her effective eternal life. Great! Yet not so great... The side effects are surprising -- yet completely realistic. This book takes an interesting idea and builds it into a very good story.

And yet...

I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Okay, I accept the reasoning. It just seems a bit... Nice. Over sweet? Perhaps I was expecting something more violent?!

I was a bit disappointed by the ending. In hindsight I can accept it. But it was not at all a cop out ending... Somewhat sad, very satisfactory, and another dimension to the what if.

A really, really good book.