Wonder / Robert J. Sawyer

Wonder
(WWW #3)
by Robert J. Sawyer

science fiction, subadult

copyright 2011
read in December 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is light, packed with interesting ideas, and very Enid Blyton.

Enid Blyton wrote for children. Some of the stories -- especially the short stories -- have a moral, a message... a lesson. Sawyer has written for tweens and teens. And Wonder contains several morals and messages.

Some of the messages fit firmly within the story. Equality of all creatures including conscious artificial intelligences, for example. First teen sex though... Yes, the teen heroine has her first sex. But her mother's pre-sex discussion goes beyond plot into preaching.

There's a lot of that preaching in the book. Love and respect one another, people power, freedom for all... It's all very positive, all in the spirit of good triumphing over -- and converting -- evil. All a bit overly optimistic, but I'm always in favour of over-optimism, it's much better than unrelenting gloom :-)

It's all a lot of fun ! Nice people, enormous possibilities with AI, excitement with no real threat. Plus important issues discussed -- or at least presented -- to open the reader's mind.

Enjoyable, readable, mostly harmless.

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Einstein's Theory of Intelligence: "It's very easy to be smart. Just think of something really dumb to say, then say the exact opposite." … per Pardon my Planet
   

Lock In / John Scalzi

Lock In
by John Scalzi

science fiction, young adult

copyright 2014
read in December 2015

rated 9/10: really, really good

Sometimes I finish reading a book and immediately think, I'd like to read that again ! This is one of those books. And the second reading was even more enjoyable than the first.

The introductory explanation to "Haden's Syndrome". (That's the cause of the book's "lock in" situation.) It's an article from HighSchoolCheatSheet.com... Brilliant !

There are the occasional lines like that, that generate a spontaneous chuckle. There are clever lines, poking gentle fun at some clichéd foibles of our world. In general, though, this is a book of action and adventure. A not-so-standard police story.

It's near-future science fiction. And a major part of my enjoyment is, it's a very positive view of the near future. Well, okay, millions of people have been paralysed by an epidemic, now endemic, of Haden's syndrome. But they are getting on with life, developing supporting technology, working towards a better life for all...

Except, of course, for the villains. For them it's business as usual: ruthless. Now extending their predatory business practices into murder and social mayhem. Yet the villains are rather amateurish at this criminal extension to their business... Which makes it a bit easier for the hero to turn the tables.

Overall, the plot is straightforward. Plenty of clever discovery but no sudden changes of direction. Thank goodness... The excitement is more real than contrived.

The characters are also very likeable -- friendly, supportive, cheerful. Except for the villains, of course. Though even they are realistically amoral... I've worked with several managers who would support the same general concept that, "business is business" and personal ethics are irrelevant.

In fact, the characters are so nice, the technology so clever, the good heroes so very good and the clever heroes so very clever -- it's a bit of a utopia. The future through rose-tinted glasses. The cynic in me says, yeah, right, as if :-( The reader in me says, yeah, great, love it !

Which brings me to the "young adult" categorisation...

This book is for the young adult reader. Those who still believe that good will defeat evil, that good friends will be loyal and helpful and kind. That the police will bring all perps to a balanced and fair justice. That murder will happen but let's not dwell on the pain and suffering and blood.

Better yet: the heroes care because it's murder.

Inspector Rex is like that: the police solve crimes because they believe that crime is wrong. American cop shows -- and plenty of crime novels -- seem to believe that a murder is only serious if a relative (of the crime fighter) is involved. The Lock In hero (and associates) solve crimes simply because crime is wrong. Good on them !

And...

This book is also good for the older cynic, who simply hopes that the world will be that positive. And who likes to read a book which reflects the possibility that all will turn out okay in the end.

Oh, Lock In is also an exciting, clever and occasionally funny book. Which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. And then thoroughly enjoyed -- and better understood -- when I immediately read it a second time.

Good fun, good science fiction, a very enjoyable novel.

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Einstein's Theory of Intelligence: "It's very easy to be smart. Just think of something really dumb to say, then say the exact opposite." … per Pardon my Planet
   

The Explorer / James Smythe

The Explorer
by James Smythe

science fiction ?!

copyright 2012
read in December 2015

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

Here the deep and significant question: It it possible to set a story in a spaceship and the story is *not* science fiction ? James Smythe does his best.

There's a spaceship. There's a time loop, astronauts, an "anomaly" in space... All this has very little to do with the story. I *think* it's a study of people acting in a stressful situation. They may as well be on a boat.

In fact, I suspect that the author would have trouble distinguishing a spaceship from a boat. The science is not bad. It's embarrassing.

The ship's engine is going continuously -- yet there is no trace of "gravity", no drift against acceleration. After weeks of acceleration the engine is stopped. Just a quick squirt of the forward thrusters -- and the ship stops moving ! There is battery-powered artificial gravity -- but it only works when the ship is "stopped".

There's a viewing bubble which allows 360 degree viewing. Sometimes the view is like the view from a garden on Earth... but half the time, space is entirely black.

In order to go as far as possible, fuel has been developed to give maximum thrust from minimum volume of fuel... Then the ship is built with storage rooms that are almost empty, holding spare stocks of items which are rarely used. The chief protagonist is able to sleep in a room which contains just a few crates of supplies. The whole ship is biiiig, and spacioooooous. And the crew spend almost all of their time in one room at the front.

So the science is rubbish. That's distracting, but not a serious problem.

I read the first chapter or so and think, everyone's dying, this'll be a short book. Then we hit the time loop and I think, this is boring, makes it seem like a very long book. Then I accept that it's not science fiction, it's a character study, and I think, this is still boring but I want to find out how it ends.

Then the protagonist escapes the time loop and I think, no he can't, to do that he must be in the time loop so if he has just escaped from the time loop then he's not in the time loop so he can't escape from it... And the story ends. With no further explanation. Because the characters have been studied and that's that. It's not as if it's science fiction, is it.

Having written that last paragraph I went back and revised my rating, from six to five.

There are interesting ideas in this book. The commercialisation of space flight. Reasons and expectations of crew and sponsors. The gradual explanation of the deaths of various crew members.

It's a character study set in a spaceship. I reach the end of the book and think, interesting characters, though overall depressing. Okay, I suppose, if all you want is a book which analyses the characters.

Science fiction is supposed to be, What if ? This book is more, So what.

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"A city without trees is not fit for a dog"... per Ginger Meggs

   

Amazonia / James Rollins

Amazonia
by James Rollins

fiction

copyright 2002
read in December 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

An enjoyable romp...

There's a group of scientists, off to look for miracle medicines in the Amazon forest. They are "protected" by elite soldiers -- who have never before been in a jungle. The soldiers may as well be ensigns in red shirts... one by one they are picked off, to show how dangerous the jungle can be.

Of course it's not all jungle ! There's the traitor in the team. And the evil scientist following close behind. Plus the native tribe with -- apparently -- amazing powers. Powers to kill, that is.

Spoiler: Eventually we discover that a native tribe has been genetically enhanced. They are never sick, they heal easily, better eyesight, better brains, the works. And they live apparently happy lives, isolated in the jungle.

So what do the heroes say to this improvement ?

Kill the cause of the improvements !

Good grief.

As a standard, science-based, mystery-in-the-jungle book, the mystery is finally destroyed. Except for the boilerplate ending where it is revealed that the root cause (that's a pun, btw) will be back... Is this bad ? Not to my mind:

What is supposed to be a terrible, evil, manipulative villain -- is a past and possibly future source of extreme good. Thank goodness it survived ! Well, that's my opinion...

And then... The mysterious disease which infects the young daughter of the beautiful scientist... (Oh, it affects thousands of other people, too. But who cares about them.) The disease has a side-effect, that it fixes people up. It undoes physical damage to the body. And then the disease can be completely removed from the now-undamaged body. Soooo... Why not use that ?! Deliberately ?!

No... By then the story is wrapping up. No time to look on the bright side. Just time to show the "threat" of the "evil villain" reappearing. And on to writing the next book.

It's easy to read. It's entertaining. It's boilerplate writing. It's not great literature. It's not too bad.

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"A city without trees is not fit for a dog"... per Ginger Meggs

   

Tunnel out of Death / Jamil Nasir

Tunnel out of Death
by Jamil Nasir

science fiction, thriller

copyright 2013
read in December 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

An enjoyable book, spoilt by the ending.

There are multiple levels of reality, quite well explained. A lot of the explanation is of the form, Anything is possible here... It is, however, reasonably consistent and easy to follow. The reader is no more confused than the hero.

Despite the hero being in his mid-fifties, there is a feeling of clever young technology nerd versus The Establishment. I've read a few books like that, where The evil Establishment has all the power but the hero has all the cleverness and the genius friends. And, sometimes, the moral certitude to believe that the "good" hero is allowed to use evil methods because the hero knows right from wrong...

In Tunnel, the hero commits murder in order to save himself. Towards the end, he does question whether this is right or wrong. His realisation that murder may be *always* wrong is a part of the final conclusion of the book.

It's clever hero versus evil Establishment -- but the viewpoint is not all one-sided.

The evil and all-powerful establishment is what brings this book into the "thriller" category. An all-powerful and unknown evil organisation is an essential part of any thriller ! Tunnel, in fact, has two all-powerful and evil organisations... And there is some debate as to which one is the most evil...

Then the hero becomes so rich that he can buy himself a secret all-powerful protective organisation... At last, I think, he can resolve all the issues !

Except that the plot falls apart.

All the excitement, all the good versus evil, is forgotten. The plot is forgotten. We are left with a discussion of the right -- or wrong -- of one person wanting to live forever. Of one person being willing to kill others in order to avoid his own death.

Throw in an inexplicable or unexplained winding down of reality. An increasingly solipsistic view of reality. (Solipsistic: characterised by the theory that only the self exists. I've been hoping for an opportunity to use that word :-) A short and inconclusive -- and suddenly changing -- discussion of what happens when you die...

Most of this book is a science fiction thriller. The thriller aspect is wound up -- with no conclusion. And we are left with a discussion of eternal life versus the joys of death.

Ho. Hum.

A disappointing ending.
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13jul16:

Picked up this book and didn't realise that I had read it before. Until about half way down page one... The book is unique enough that I soon recognised it :-) But I couldn't remember how it ended.

So I re-read the entire book. And enjoyed it... mostly. It starts well but the end is rubbish. Complete with the inevitable, only possible, utterly pointless final act.

As in the full review: It's a good book for most of the way. Then it's spoilt by the ending. The first half sets up a great situation. The ending simply fails to resolve that situation.

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"A city without trees is not fit for a dog"... per Ginger Meggs

   

The White Feather / P.G. Wodehouse

The White Feather

(Wrykyn)

by P.G. Wodehouse

humour

copyright 1907

read in December 2015

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Another enjoyable Wodehouse romp :-)  I admit to a biased enjoyment of all things Wodehouse... If not for that, I could have rated this book as simply six, read to pass the time.

As with other Wrykyn books -- hmmm... I may have read only one other -- there is a lot of environmental understanding required of the reader. That is: it helps if you understand what life and language were like in Wrykyn-like schools !

In one small scene, the student consciously corrects his language, from student slang to correct English for the Headmaster. Aha ! I thought, That is slang ! All those conversations where I had to guess the meaning ! Now that I know, I am happy to flounder.

Then there is the sport. Detailed descriptions of the play. What, I wonder, is all this about ? With the sport, I suspect that a good knowledge of the particular game is all that I am lacking. Maybe :-)

It's a familiar problem. I read a horror story which was set in Hollywood -- and had trouble understanding some of the Hollywood references. Just for interest, I also read up on the biblical references which were the basis for the horror plot.

With Feather, I read the original sources of some poetic quotes. But I didn't read up on the rules of the various sports ! (Notice that this Feather reference is in a separate paragraph ? I do not want to mix a pleasant Wodehouse comedy with the reference to a rather nasty horror story.)

The White Feather is not the best of Wodehouse.

Yet even at his worst, Wodehouse writes stories which can be read -- and enjoyed. Though they may be a bit difficult to understand :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge
Problems ? Solved
(+61) 0419197772
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"Don't believe everything you believe." ... per Ginger Meggs

Mirror / Graham Masterton

Mirror
by Graham Masterton

horror

copyright 1988
read in December 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is very much a horror story by the numbers. Take an immortal, all-powerful,  incredibly evil villain and a very small number of people who want to fight it. Add a regular series of gruesome deaths, temporarily defeat the villain...

The "best" villains are immortal. When the hero sticks it to them with the magic sword, they vanish. Yet there is always a final paragraph which shows that the villain could well be back again... If this book is popular enough.

The gruesome deaths are the main ingredient of these potboiler novels. The author's key skill is to invent more and more unlikely, blood-drenched deaths. I don't usually mind this. It was when the cat was killed that I decided that I do not really like horror stories.

And speaking of the cat...

The cat is sucked into the evil mirror -- and is never seen again. The sexy woman next door suffers a similar fate. Yet when the hero steps into the mirror -- he remains, clearly visible, inside the mirror !?!

And then, inside the mirror world, all is reversed. Beautiful becomes ugly, good becomes evil. (Although evil shows no sign of becoming good...) The reverse of the hero is an evil monster with a toothed tongue which eats people. Yet the reverse of a kindly Italian grandfather -- is a kindly Italian-stereotype grandfather ! Hardly a reverse.

The evil magic is ridiculous -- I have no problem with that. It is also inconsistent. This book follows the numbers... but poorly.

Mirror is a standard horror story. Better than some. Read it to pass the time. Not on a full stomach.

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"A city without trees is not fit for a dog"... per Ginger Meggs