September Reading Thread
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Sorry folks, I'm not finding much time for reading recently and even less for writing up my reading which means that, despite the former, I've still built a quite a few reads since I last posted! So apologies for the extended post! A few 4 stars but no 5 and only one dud DNF.
Subject Twenty One by A E Warren
This is a well written story set a couple of hundred years after a pandemic has wiped out most of the human population. After the pandemic significant work was done to genetically improve humans but ultimately this was only for the privileged few creating three separate sub species of human: the original Sapiens, medium enhanced Medius and heavily enhanced Potius. Work to recover extinct species from their DNA is ongoing, and now they have created Neanderthal. The writing is good and the setting interesting and very dystopic but sadly some of the ideas are just not very credible and this weakened the book from my perspective. As a debut novel this is good but not brilliant but good enough that I will probably continue with the series. 3/5 stars
Finder by Suzanne Palmer
Finder is the first book in a trilogy and I got all three on offer for 99p each. Had I not done so I would certainly not have bought the second and third books. Although it started out promisingly with an interesting set up (though one that was scientifically very wobbly along with most of the apparent science) it became, for me, almost unreadable by half to two thirds of the way through. The main protagonist’s constantly whining ramps up to unbearable levels. He doesn’t want responsibility for anyone or anything, he’s constantly wallowing in unjustified guilt for actions in the past, constantly whining about getting other people in danger and so on. For those that have read them he makes Thomas Covenant look like a happy-go-lucky optimist. Which is a shame because, aside from that and the dodgy science, they are quite good action pulp space opera. Fast paced exciting stuff, but constantly brought down by the moaning. I know it’s fashionable to have troubled main characters these days, but it really shouldn’t be a competition to see who can produce the most troubled character ever. 2/5 stars
Heretic by Bernard Cornwell
A very good finale to this enjoyable and interesting trilogy. There is a fourth book but, as I understand it, it’s a separate story but still following our archer, Thomas. My only complaint is that these books allow for the possibility of real magic which does sort of move it from historical to fantasy on my bookshelves. 4/5 stars
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
This is an excellent story with great characters, some very imaginative aliens, and lots of well-constructed action. However, throughout the book I struggled with the basic premise that the fundamental laws of physics should be different at different distances out from the centre of the galaxy, allowing for more or less complexity of automation. It just always felt too preposterous to me and kept messing up my suspension of disbelief, which is a shame. 3/5 stars
From a Changeling Star by Jeffrey A Carver
I have loved reading Carver’s Chaos Chronicles which I have found convincing and believable but this and another earlier book from him I have found rather less plausible. His big science ideas are still interesting and pull me in, but his characters, motivations and plot all feel that bit more contrived and unconvincing. 3/5 stars
Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod
This is a good, well-written story with all the right elements except an ending. It. Just. Stops. I hate this ‘modern’ approach to writing book series; to my mind a book should have a beginning, a middle and an end, and that ending should resolve at least most of the major issue of the story though, of course, some will continue the overall story arc of the series. This one however resolved nothing, absolutely nothing. It is not a complete book, and I can only assume the philosophy behind this approach to series is to make more money; selling three separate novels is always going to make more money than one larger book even if that’s logically what it should be. I hate this approach and it alone is enough to make me question the value of continuing with the series and pulls what would have been a 4 star book down to 3 stars (or less). One thing I'll give MacLeod is that for once he has dialed back his politics a little in this one, although not completely. 3/5 stars
The Spirit of Science Fiction by Roberto Bolano
A slightly disappointing book that tends to strengthen my belief that when authors die, leaving behind unpublished books from earlier in their careers, there was probably a good reason why they had chosen not to publish those earlier works. This book is very obviously a first draft for Bolano’s later, and so much better, Savage Detectives, and in that it is an interesting read for those who have already read the latter book, but in my opinion, it just doesn’t have the strength to stand on its own. 3/5 stars
Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
Mikey 7 is based on an amusing and somewhat off the wall idea that a person’s personality and memories can be written into new clones after the original’s death. Historical reasons are given for a massive taboo against having multiple copies alive simultaneously, and resource reasons given for it not them being used more generally. They are popular as ‘expendables’ on colonisation missions where they get to do the dangerous jobs or act as guinea pigs for the local microbes. Our hero is on his seventh iteration, and when he unexpectedly reappears after being assumed dead to find his next clone already decanted and, naturally, complications ensue. But the whole premise doesn’t take too close an examination which, for me, meant it lacked plausibility. However, the story is fun aand the humour is quite good, in a snarky Andy-Weir-Martian sort of way, making it quite a quick, easy and enjoyable read. 3/5 stars
Sea of Rust by Robert C Cargill
Continuing my search for new authors that work for me. Cargill seems to be one. This is a very well imagined future in which robots have achieved sentience and been pushed into rebellion against their creators, eventually wiping out humanity completely. Only to find they’ve fallen from the fire into the frying pan with several supercomputer AIs fighting for dominance and absorbing the robots’ minds into a single greater intelligence. This new dystopia is both desolate and plausible and the robots themselves are more than just humans in metal boxes; their behaviour and motivations are driven by their nature including what type of robot they are. An interesting idea that works very well, if a little similar to Tony Ballantyne’s Penrose books. 4/5 stars
Off Target by Eve Smith
And a new author that doesn’t work for me. Off Target is an interesting exploration of genetic engineering but, for me, it was grindingly slow and spent most of its time in internalised angst as the mother makes her inevitable and stupid decisions. By halfway through it had got almost nowhere and I gave up in complete boredom. I can see how some might enjoy this book but for me it just never really got going. 1/5 stars
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
An interesting retelling of the story of Troy from the perspective of three of the women central to the story (although not from Helen herself). It’s well written though suffers, in my view, from being constrained to stay within the existing narrative, some of which I’ve always found implausible. Saint does her best to convince me, but ultimately much of Homer’s epic tale has always seemed incredibly unlikely; If you’ve been besieged by the Greeks for ten years and they suddenly depart leaving behind a wooden horse then, of course, the first thing you’re going to do is pull that wooden horse inside the city without even looking inside it, and then leave it unguarded overnight while everyone has a huge party to celebrate the departure of the Greeks! Also, the story is inevitably constrained to be a tragedy and I’m not a great lover of those. But despite that Saint has produced a well written and interesting variation on a famous theme. 4/5 stars
Void Star by Zachary Mason
Another new author for me, and another good one if somewhat pompous. Void Star is a good, but not exceptional, piece of cyberpunk (post-cyberpunk maybe?). It’s a good, if occasionally muddled story with interesting well drawn characters. So, what about the pomposity? Void Star is, I think, Mason’s second full novel, the previous one is The Lost Books of the Odyssey, being a retelling of Homer’s (?) Odyssey, which I’m sure endeared him to the literary critics and certainly earned him a number of literary awards. This book is mostly a straightforward piece of science fiction, nothing exceptionally literary in the writing in my opinion, and certainly mostly using straightforward vocabulary. It then felt like every 30 or 40 pages Mason felt he ought to throw in an obscure word or two just to keep the literary critics onside which seems to have worked from some of the accolades it has received. Sad that often these obscure words were just plain wrong in the context used. For example, puddles forming in declivities in concrete. Declivity is a slope not a depression; puddles are the last things that would form there. Still setting aside such pretensions this is a good solid piece of cyberpunk that is worth reading and, really, no more muddled than many of William Gibson’s works! 4/5 stars
Subject Twenty One by A E Warren
This is a well written story set a couple of hundred years after a pandemic has wiped out most of the human population. After the pandemic significant work was done to genetically improve humans but ultimately this was only for the privileged few creating three separate sub species of human: the original Sapiens, medium enhanced Medius and heavily enhanced Potius. Work to recover extinct species from their DNA is ongoing, and now they have created Neanderthal. The writing is good and the setting interesting and very dystopic but sadly some of the ideas are just not very credible and this weakened the book from my perspective. As a debut novel this is good but not brilliant but good enough that I will probably continue with the series. 3/5 stars
Finder by Suzanne Palmer
Finder is the first book in a trilogy and I got all three on offer for 99p each. Had I not done so I would certainly not have bought the second and third books. Although it started out promisingly with an interesting set up (though one that was scientifically very wobbly along with most of the apparent science) it became, for me, almost unreadable by half to two thirds of the way through. The main protagonist’s constantly whining ramps up to unbearable levels. He doesn’t want responsibility for anyone or anything, he’s constantly wallowing in unjustified guilt for actions in the past, constantly whining about getting other people in danger and so on. For those that have read them he makes Thomas Covenant look like a happy-go-lucky optimist. Which is a shame because, aside from that and the dodgy science, they are quite good action pulp space opera. Fast paced exciting stuff, but constantly brought down by the moaning. I know it’s fashionable to have troubled main characters these days, but it really shouldn’t be a competition to see who can produce the most troubled character ever. 2/5 stars
Heretic by Bernard Cornwell
A very good finale to this enjoyable and interesting trilogy. There is a fourth book but, as I understand it, it’s a separate story but still following our archer, Thomas. My only complaint is that these books allow for the possibility of real magic which does sort of move it from historical to fantasy on my bookshelves. 4/5 stars
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
This is an excellent story with great characters, some very imaginative aliens, and lots of well-constructed action. However, throughout the book I struggled with the basic premise that the fundamental laws of physics should be different at different distances out from the centre of the galaxy, allowing for more or less complexity of automation. It just always felt too preposterous to me and kept messing up my suspension of disbelief, which is a shame. 3/5 stars
From a Changeling Star by Jeffrey A Carver
I have loved reading Carver’s Chaos Chronicles which I have found convincing and believable but this and another earlier book from him I have found rather less plausible. His big science ideas are still interesting and pull me in, but his characters, motivations and plot all feel that bit more contrived and unconvincing. 3/5 stars
Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod
This is a good, well-written story with all the right elements except an ending. It. Just. Stops. I hate this ‘modern’ approach to writing book series; to my mind a book should have a beginning, a middle and an end, and that ending should resolve at least most of the major issue of the story though, of course, some will continue the overall story arc of the series. This one however resolved nothing, absolutely nothing. It is not a complete book, and I can only assume the philosophy behind this approach to series is to make more money; selling three separate novels is always going to make more money than one larger book even if that’s logically what it should be. I hate this approach and it alone is enough to make me question the value of continuing with the series and pulls what would have been a 4 star book down to 3 stars (or less). One thing I'll give MacLeod is that for once he has dialed back his politics a little in this one, although not completely. 3/5 stars
The Spirit of Science Fiction by Roberto Bolano
A slightly disappointing book that tends to strengthen my belief that when authors die, leaving behind unpublished books from earlier in their careers, there was probably a good reason why they had chosen not to publish those earlier works. This book is very obviously a first draft for Bolano’s later, and so much better, Savage Detectives, and in that it is an interesting read for those who have already read the latter book, but in my opinion, it just doesn’t have the strength to stand on its own. 3/5 stars
Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
Mikey 7 is based on an amusing and somewhat off the wall idea that a person’s personality and memories can be written into new clones after the original’s death. Historical reasons are given for a massive taboo against having multiple copies alive simultaneously, and resource reasons given for it not them being used more generally. They are popular as ‘expendables’ on colonisation missions where they get to do the dangerous jobs or act as guinea pigs for the local microbes. Our hero is on his seventh iteration, and when he unexpectedly reappears after being assumed dead to find his next clone already decanted and, naturally, complications ensue. But the whole premise doesn’t take too close an examination which, for me, meant it lacked plausibility. However, the story is fun aand the humour is quite good, in a snarky Andy-Weir-Martian sort of way, making it quite a quick, easy and enjoyable read. 3/5 stars
Sea of Rust by Robert C Cargill
Continuing my search for new authors that work for me. Cargill seems to be one. This is a very well imagined future in which robots have achieved sentience and been pushed into rebellion against their creators, eventually wiping out humanity completely. Only to find they’ve fallen from the fire into the frying pan with several supercomputer AIs fighting for dominance and absorbing the robots’ minds into a single greater intelligence. This new dystopia is both desolate and plausible and the robots themselves are more than just humans in metal boxes; their behaviour and motivations are driven by their nature including what type of robot they are. An interesting idea that works very well, if a little similar to Tony Ballantyne’s Penrose books. 4/5 stars
Off Target by Eve Smith
And a new author that doesn’t work for me. Off Target is an interesting exploration of genetic engineering but, for me, it was grindingly slow and spent most of its time in internalised angst as the mother makes her inevitable and stupid decisions. By halfway through it had got almost nowhere and I gave up in complete boredom. I can see how some might enjoy this book but for me it just never really got going. 1/5 stars
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
An interesting retelling of the story of Troy from the perspective of three of the women central to the story (although not from Helen herself). It’s well written though suffers, in my view, from being constrained to stay within the existing narrative, some of which I’ve always found implausible. Saint does her best to convince me, but ultimately much of Homer’s epic tale has always seemed incredibly unlikely; If you’ve been besieged by the Greeks for ten years and they suddenly depart leaving behind a wooden horse then, of course, the first thing you’re going to do is pull that wooden horse inside the city without even looking inside it, and then leave it unguarded overnight while everyone has a huge party to celebrate the departure of the Greeks! Also, the story is inevitably constrained to be a tragedy and I’m not a great lover of those. But despite that Saint has produced a well written and interesting variation on a famous theme. 4/5 stars
Void Star by Zachary Mason
Another new author for me, and another good one if somewhat pompous. Void Star is a good, but not exceptional, piece of cyberpunk (post-cyberpunk maybe?). It’s a good, if occasionally muddled story with interesting well drawn characters. So, what about the pomposity? Void Star is, I think, Mason’s second full novel, the previous one is The Lost Books of the Odyssey, being a retelling of Homer’s (?) Odyssey, which I’m sure endeared him to the literary critics and certainly earned him a number of literary awards. This book is mostly a straightforward piece of science fiction, nothing exceptionally literary in the writing in my opinion, and certainly mostly using straightforward vocabulary. It then felt like every 30 or 40 pages Mason felt he ought to throw in an obscure word or two just to keep the literary critics onside which seems to have worked from some of the accolades it has received. Sad that often these obscure words were just plain wrong in the context used. For example, puddles forming in declivities in concrete. Declivity is a slope not a depression; puddles are the last things that would form there. Still setting aside such pretensions this is a good solid piece of cyberpunk that is worth reading and, really, no more muddled than many of William Gibson’s works! 4/5 stars
hitmouse
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- Jul 3, 2011
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Pretty good going to read all of those Cooper and Alexander books in September. They are excellent.1.The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
2. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
3.All Judgement Fled. By James White
All of them excellent reads.
Have you read the previous one, Hardwired? Though they do pretty much each stand alone. I think I preferred Whirlwind.
Elentarri
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- Jan 23, 2022
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- 716
I haven't read Hardwired. The premise doesn't really appeal to me.
Finished today: The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz by Jules Verne. I found a battered and abused copy in a charity shop. Short but fun to read.
Dave Vicks
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- Sep 19, 2020
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MALISE PREPENSE,by Kate Wilhelm, 1996.Legal thriller.
Better then THE MARTIAN? Novel
RETROGRADE. 4.7/5
Better then THE MARTIAN? Novel
RETROGRADE. 4.7/5
Read Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Very glad I read this, and would recommend it. Lots of reviews of this already on Crons, so I won't say a whole lot. I liked the world, found the plot a bit meandering. Thought this book had some of the most vivid description of how it feels for the characters to use magic. I saw that there was a recent Chronscast on this book, so I had a listen and very interesting discussion.
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
Back on the mean streets of Isola with Lady Lady I Did It the next 87th Precinct book by Ed McBain, in which a detective's fiance is shot
Steve Harrison
Well-Known Member
Just started The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East by Nicholas Morton
Filling a long-standing gap in my knowledge of history.
Filling a long-standing gap in my knowledge of history.
Justin Pollard, Alfred The Great.
Steve Harrison
Well-Known Member
That looks good. On my list!
Danny McG
"Anything can happen in the next half hour!"
The Secret Hours, the new stand alone spy thriller by Mick Herron.
saulfan
Well-Known Member
Thanks for posting this. Love Mick Herron's 'Slough House' novels & novellas.
This one had passed me by completely. Got a birthday coming up, so this will be just right.
waterfall_manc
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- Sep 26, 2023
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Long time lurker, first time poster.
Just finished WASP by Eric Frank Russell. Really enjoyed it. Punchy, short little book about a terrorist who wages a one man war against an alien race on their home planet, creating the myth of a secret underground resistance movement. Easy to follow and read, evokes some good imagery, at least in my mind! Would recommend this one.
Just finished WASP by Eric Frank Russell. Really enjoyed it. Punchy, short little book about a terrorist who wages a one man war against an alien race on their home planet, creating the myth of a secret underground resistance movement. Easy to follow and read, evokes some good imagery, at least in my mind! Would recommend this one.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2016
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