The Engines of God / Jack McDevitt

The Engines of God
(Academy #1)
by Jack McDevitt

science fiction

copyright 1994
read in March 2016

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

Science fiction. Slow, plodding, science based fiction. Big questions. No answers.

Shades of damming the Nile and flooding antiquities... The book starts with an archaeological site which is about to be deliberately flooded. Yep, even in the future the past is worth less than the hope of profit in the future !

btw: The dig site is flooded as part of a terraforming effort. Earth has been damaged beyond repair. Yet there is hope that total destruction of an alien ecology can be transformed into a viable Terran ecology. Oh yeah !?

Then the story drags itself across the galaxy. At light speed but it seems to be so slow.

A hint here, a clue there, a near miss somewhere else.

Incidentally: Is space really warm near a planet ? Because the space station in orbit round a planet -- with all its doors open -- is comfortable. Yet the space ship further out in space is so cold that gases freeze. I guess it's reasonable. I would have liked the author to comment on the difference.

Some of the characters do have some depth. Enough depth that it is not possible to like any of them. Pity about that.

So, anyway.

We drag across the galaxy. Following clues. Chasing a mystery. Catch up with the mystery... and...

Nope, no idea what it is. Is it important ? Well, it will destroy the Earth. Oh dear, that's bad. No it isn't, it won't happen for another thousand years. Oh well, that's okay. I guess we may as well end the book. Okay.

What a pointless exercise in nonsense !

The book drags but it's readable.

The end is not worth the effort.

Gemsigns / Stephanie Saulter

Gemsigns
(Revolution #1)
by Stephanie Saulter

science fiction

copyright 2013
read in March 2016

rated 7/10: well worth reading

From the word go, this is a by-the-numbers book. You can read "to be continued" from page 1. Yet it is quite enjoyable.

In fact, I was surprised. Range of characters, each with a different super-power, check. Rejected by the "normal" population, check. New characters appear (ensigns in red shirts...) just to be beaten up, in order to let us know that there is danger, check. Cute child with extra-super abilities and unusual level of maturity, check. Threats of extermination because everyone hates the mutant... No !

In what I hope is a realistic view of humanity, most people are sympathetic... The novel starts to develop its own set of unique numbers !

It's a bit like current environmental issues... We'd all like to save the environment. Some people can make money by destroying the environment. Those people convince others that the environment should be destroyed. Yet there is still a tide of public sympathy for environmental matters... Okay, that may be wishful thinking :-)

What I mean is, the future world is willing to accept "gems" -- genetically modified humans -- within society. Public opinion may be manipulated but the truth will bring back public support for niceness. A nicely positive view of humanity !

The basic premise of the major societal problem -- in the near past of this near future setting -- is interesting. Far fetched -- but I like it. And the long-term result has been surprisingly positive... once you get past the mass deaths... It's post-apocalyptic positive. I like it.

In the story itself, there are two major reveals, near the end of the book... And I'm sorry, but they were no surprise at all. Not that it really mattered.

This is a pleasant book. The nasty stuff happens to someone else, to the red shirted ensigns. Nothing wrong with that.

Then the ending... is both strange... and interesting.

The very last chapter opens the way for book two... and three, and...

Just before that, is the big reveal. And there is just a bit more depth than I expected. Unbelievable, perhaps. Contrived, yes. Interesting... rather. Starting to answer questions which I had not even thought to ask. Good questions.

Gemsigns is a book by the numbers. Light entertainment, till very near the end. And then the author opens some small windows to unusual thoughts. Which, together with the background to this post-apocalyptic world, takes the book above the level of trite cliche.

Nothing exciting yet not too bad. Clichéd plot with just a few thought-provoking ideas.

I've just promoted it from, "read to pass the time" to "well worth reading". By a narrow margin.

Century Rain / Alastair Reynolds

Century Rain
by Alastair Reynolds

science fiction

copyright 2004
read in March 2016

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Paris (sort of) in 1959... Funny, I get a grey and gloomy feeling from this book. Yet a final view -- as in, final, near the end of the book -- is of a glorious, golden green and bright blue Earth... Hmmm, the back cover does say, "part noir romance". Okay, I was feeling that "noir" -- even when the author says that the Paris sun is shining :-)

So we have Paris in 1959. Paris several hundred years later. No time travel involved. Very clever idea -- inexplicable ... and never explained. No explanation is needed. Which is interesting: the book takes the situation and builds a great story. It is not a book about the reason for the two versions of Paris. The setting is a given, the story is more human.

I do like the faster-than-light space travel ! Not your standard flash of light and you're there !

There's an old fashioned feel to the science... Or, more correctly, there's an old fashioned feel to the technology. Rough and ready, pistons and large metal parts, hands-on control... At the start of the book I believed that it must have been written 30 or 40 years ago !

Perhaps that's all part of the author's intent: Start in 1959 Paris and give the technology -- the futuristic technology -- a 1950s feel... Or not :-)

Perhaps the aim is to distinguish the initial technology from the "Polity" technology, which only appears later in the book. Does that sound more reasonable ? Good, I'll go with that explanation !

The story itself is great fun. Human interest with a whole world to be saved. The heroes have no super powers -- but they keep on trying. Not quite a fairytale ending, but satisfying.

I read the book and enjoyed it. I would enjoy a follow-up... but will not be disappointed if the one book is all there is.

But I still don't understand the name... "Century Rain" ?!

All Those Vanishing Engines / Paul Park

All Those Vanishing Engines
by Paul Park

science fiction

copyright 2014
partly read in March 2016

rated 3/10: so bad it's embarrassing

Here's one opinion: "Paul Park is a brilliant, stunning, frightening writer, a major talent."

Here's another opinion: This book is rubbish.

The first opinion is from the front cover of the book. The second is from my own attempt to read this book. I was confused from the start, then more confused... No idea what's going on. Half the story -- the half that seems to be irrelevant to anything that may be happening -- is written in a style which makes reading difficult. Has the writer confused himself with James Joyce ?!

Okay, I was going to rate this as a four out of ten... But my words for that are, "bad but could be read". Yes, it's bad. But no, it cannot be read.

Let's be fair: This book claims to be set in an alternate history universe. Okay, there's a problem with that. I have heard a bit about the American Civil War. I would guess that Virginia was a Southern state. I have never heard of the Battle of the Crater... Was it a real battle ? Or is that an alternative history battle ? Who knows ? Who cares.

Much of the enjoyment of an alternative history is to compare the "what if" of the book to the reality of history. Which requires some knowledge of the relevant history. Okay, I've checked. There really was a Battle of the Crater. Sooo...

The point of the alternate history is lost on me. Was the Crater significant ? What was it's "real" effect ? How is the book different in dealing with the effect of the Crater ? Sorry, I'm not American. I'm sure it was a fine battle. I have no interest in it.

It's a problem with an alternate history: The reader is expected to have some knowledge of -- and interest in -- the real history.

Apart from that: When a book attempts -- from the very start -- to be confusing... it had better have something else that keeps the reader's interest. In this book: nothing.

Hmm. No. I thought, perhaps the book was published by the Remember the Crater Society. No.

From the first page, this is a nonsense book. Perhaps it gets better. For me, it has failed.

Raising Steam / Terry Pratchett

Raising Steam
(Discworld #40)
by Terry Pratchett

humour, fantasy

copyright 2013
read in February 2016

rated 8/10: really quite good

"Warm, silly, compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious." That's a quote from the Evening Standard, on the back cover of this 40th Discworld book.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Discworld began with the rather cruel adventures of Wizard Rincewind. Terrible puns, enormous imagination, magical action and adventure. With poor Rincewind as the eternal loser. Saving the world but suffering all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I laughed at the humour but wished that Rincewind could occasionally -- or ultimately -- win.

With Raising Steam, Pratchett has moved to the opposite end of the "nice" scale... Every single person is nice ! Well, okay, there is one character who drives all the nastiness in the book. We don't really see much of him.

It's all about the usual Ankh-Morpork crowd, doing what they do best -- in a very nice way :-)

And the plot is so very, very positive ! There are risks, there are dangers. Risk takers will win through, dangers will be overcome. Ambushes will be anticipated, attacks will be repelled, little children will be spoken to... and you just know that they will go on to be model yet innovative citizens.

Does this all sound a bit too saccharine ? Don't worry ! Sure, it's sweet... but there's action a-plenty to stop it being too cloying.

There are, however, lots and lots of minor side-stories. Perhaps too many. Lots of little incidents -- to illustrate minor aspects of the effects of the railway -- without adding much to the central story. The author had lots of ideas -- and was not willing to drop any one of them.

The ideas revolve around the two main themes of the book: progress is good, and, everyone can be friends with everyone else. There's nothing subtle about these themes. They are pushed. Hard...

Discworld has always been about social satire. The books have always included social commentary. There are always messages about accepting all people as being... well... people. Raising Steam pushes acceptance. Not so much, Why ? More, Why not !

This book is cheerful, imaginative and occasional-chuckle funny. There's action and adventure and a lot of very nice -- and not so nice but fair -- characters. The social messages are slathered on like marmalade. And sometimes the message is laid on a bit thick, making reading just a tad tedious. Sometimes !

I finished reading and thought, Ah shucks, that was fun :-) The cynic in me also thought, Ah, if only :-(

I enjoyed the reading. I'm smiling at the end.

That, to me, makes this a good book.

The 5th Wave / Rick Yancey

The 5th Wave
(Fifth Wave #1)
by Rick Yancey

science fiction

copyright 2013
read in February 2015

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

alternatively, rated 4/10: bad but could be read

Two ratings ? Here's the way I see it:

The book is quite entertaining. Easy to read, interesting scenario, childishly simple plot. Does "childishly" mean, suitable for children ? After all, this book does appear to target young adults.

But no, this book is *not* suitable for young adults.

Death, violence, destruction and despair... Is that what you think teenagers and 20-somethings should be reading ? To me, the first two thirds of this book would drive any sensitive person to despair, disillusion and possibly suicide. The world is wiped out... what can we do... absolutely nothing.

Main characters witness their family being killed, directly and indirectly, by alien invaders. As an adult I don't enjoy reading this. As a child, I am glad that I read books with a more hopeful overall tone.

But wait ! you say, The good guys eventually fight back ! Too little, too late, too ridiculously unbelievable.

Have you read Battlefield Earth ? There are similarities... Aliens arrive, destroy nearly all of humanity. Battlefield starts with the *descendants* of civilised humanity, this removes the feeling of helpless despair. Battlefield and Wave have equally weak plots but Battlefield avoids the misery.

Good or bad ? Your choice. I prefer stupid positive over stupid negative.

Speaking of stupid... both books treat the alien invaders as being extremely stupid. Once the humans find their feet, they run intellectual rings around the aliens. What are the chances of a third invasion by the telephone sanitisers of the Hitchhikers Guide ?!

So. If you're an emotionally hardened adult and you can stand misery, I rate 5th Wave as "read to pass the time". If you're a young adult... Sure you could read it. But it's bad.

Oh, and for those who do read right to the end:

Apparently, the aliens have been studying humanity for thousands of years. So why did they wait till now to invade ? Why wait till humanity has invented guns and bombs ?! Wouldn't it have been simpler to arrange a bit of mass slaughter while we could only fight back with sticks and stones ?

Even better -- use those alien mind powers to encourage peace. So all of Earth is a peaceful paradise. So the people of Earth have no weapons available to fight back against the final alien invasions...

Stupid aliens.

4WD+Camping Escapes / Mike & Jane Pelusey

4WD+Camping Escapes
(Hema / Perth & the South West)
by Mike & Jane Pelusey

travel

copyright ?
used in February 2015

rated 4/10: so bad it's embarrassing

There's a lot of information and plenty of maps. I bought this book for the "Top 15 4WD trips", as advertised on the cover. A big mistake.

Okay, each trip has a yellow highlighter line on a map to show you where to go. The rest is rubbish.

There are 18 pages of Hema maps, with the trips highlighted. Several of the trips run across pages. At that map scale, it's impossible to follow the trips. At *what* map scale ? If there's a scale on the maps -- I can't find it.

Each trip has its own couple of pages, with an extract of the map. These small maps do show a scale -- which varies from map to map. It depends on the space available on the page rather than on usefulness. There are features in the text which are not on the maps, and vice versa. There are also features in the text which don't even seem to exist in reality.

There are captioned photos.  "Many of these tracks go along fence lines." -- A photo of a car driving through a puddle next to a gravel track. "The curiously named Church of Saint John in the Wilderness." -- No hint as to where it is. The church gets a mention in the general trip description -- but not in the driving instructions...

It's the driving instructions which are the worst aspect of this book. For example:

"turn right ... into Chittering Road. After 5km along Wilson Rd, turn right. At 1.2km, turn left into Moondyne Rd, a no through rd." What they really mean is: "After 5km along Chittering Rd turn right into Wilson Rd."

Well within the claimed 5k along Wilson Rd, we reached a sign which clearly stated, "Private Property. Keep Out." At this stage, the bad directions had us so confused that we simply turned around and gave up.

Back home, we studied other -- more detailed -- maps of the area. It seems that we drove right by -- twice -- the likely "turn left" off Wilson Road. No, it's not at 5km. And no, it's not called Moondyne Road... it's Coffees Road... According to another map provided by Hema.

What a pity that the Peluseys did not check road names against Hema maps.

What a pity that no-one audited the Peluseys driving directions.

We've tried to follow just two of the trips in this book. Both trips have unsuitable -- inadequate -- maps. Both have driving directions which are confusing and inadequate. One set of directions has obvious mistakes. (The other may have mistakes but we were too confused to prove it.)

Do not buy this book. Buy a good map. Glance at someone else's copy of the book -- to get a general idea of where to go. Then go out and invent your own trip.

Oh, and if you're worried that you will miss some local point of interest... Drop by the nearest local tourist information office and pick up a couple of their free brochures.