Review: Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which is being a little generous. I don't recall who might have recommended this book. It tries a bit too hard to be "literary" at the expense of not telling a coherent story with believable character actions and motivations.

It's a little hard to review this book without giving away the major conceit. So... spoilers!

The premise of this book is that people have the ability to create clones of themselves for use when their body parts start to wear out. These clones are raised with the understanding that they will have to enter a period of "service" which will ultimate lead to their deaths.

We follow one group as they grow up in a sort of boarding school environment. They are given a sound education and a supportive environment. Eventually, they are allowed to leave/graduate and pursue other interests before entering their time of "service". Many of the clones actually work within the "service" industry by caring for other clones as their body parts are harvested. Not every surgery is life-ending although eventually, the doctors take something important.

It is implied that the clones are grown as a one-for-one source of parts for another person. Although I believe it is possible for clone to be genetically close enough of a match to others, this isn't a significant element of the story.

The relationship between the "person" and their "clone" is a bit unclear. It isn't clear how the growing of clones is funded or how that funding is justified. The entire arrangement smacks of a bit of the British NHS.

Another thing that isn't clear within the book is how one might know which is the clone and which is the original person. The clones appear to enjoy a large degree of autonomy and travel widely. They are able to pursue employment well beyond their function as clones.

Why can't a clone hop on a boat or a plane to simply leave the country? What is the medical/legal framework that keeps them from running for their literal lives? How might one differentiate a person from their clone? What is the mechanism (beyond propaganda/brain-washing during their formative years) that compels them to "serve". This is the one, huge plot-hole in the entire book. They end up serving as reserve body parts for no other explained reason than because "someone said so".

We eventually learn that this boarding school environment was not typical. It was a sort of experiment that was eventually discontinued due to a lack of funding. Most other clones just sort of plugged along being given a poverty level of existence.

While the book does inspire some level of reflection, the unjustifiable inevitability of the clones' "services" harms the overall reading experience.



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Review: Nemesis

Nemesis by Robert Kroese
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review, but 2.5 stars might be closer to my experience.

This series started out as highly inventive with a great mix of economics, politics, and technology.

This book really is a thinly veiled primer on economics mixed with a little bit of politics.

The world rapidly shifted into a "low trust" mode, but the outcome of the story relies on "high trust" behaviors. The odds of that outcome are low.

If you read and enjoyed the prior two entries, then reading this book is a good choice. You won't miss much by skipping it.

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Horizon Zero Dawn - Things I Wish I Knew

Things I wish I'd known before starting Horizon Zero Dawn.

I finished Horizon Zero Dawn and the Frozen Wilds expansion back in the fall of 2023.  I wrote most of this back then but never hit publish.  

This is partially a review and partially a list of things that I wish I'd known going into the game. I'll try to avoid any major spoilers...or even minor ones.

Aloy 

Aloy is a great main character.  The game designers got that part right.  She is smart, but she isn't a tank.  Stealth is her best weapon.  Aloy's interactions with other characters are consistent with her general identity.

You can upgrade Aloy using skill points as the game progresses.  You should get enough skill points to acquire the full range of skills by the end of the game.  At least, I was only a couple of skills short of the full set by the end.  And I didn't really care about those particular skills.  

Early on, Aloy discovers a "Focus" that mounts over one ear.  She can use the Focus to identify items of interest, follow prints in the earth left by passing people/vehicles, etc.  It will also help identify the best places to shoot at the machines.

Story/gameplay

Again, no spoilers.  I thought the overall story of the world was well thought out and presented.  There were a couple of times when I had questions based on the information that was already revealed and the story answered them in a way that was consistent with the overall game experience.

The game seemed to get incrementally more difficult at a rate that reasonably matched the improvements that were collected (i.e. skills, better weapons, better armor, etc.).   By the end of the game, Aloy is a beast within her skill set (i.e. ranged attacks and stealth)

This is an open world.  You can interact with and pick up a lot of things.  There are tons of goodies sprinkled around.  Look around.  Explore odd nooks and crannies.  There are some nice bonuses hidden in odd places.  The game will suggest that you scoot through an area that has lots of alcoves.  Check out those alcoves.  Look for handholds that allow you to climb to an unusual area.  You will be rewarded for looking around.

Components

You will pick up components as you travel through the world.  Sometimes they are on machines you kill.  Sometimes they are on people you have killed.  Sometimes you harvest them off of the animals you hunt.  Sometimes they are just sitting around.  Pick up everything.  You can sell the stuff that isn't useful.  Never sell items that can be used to make things for your weapons (primarily different arrows and bombs).

But you can sell machine hearts and eyes without worrying about it.  If a quest requires a machine heart or eye, then you will be tasked with killing that machine as part of the quest.  (There might be one side quest where you need a heart/eye, and will have to go hunt a machine that has the needed heart/eye as part of the quest.)  I finished the game hauling around a small fortune in machine hearts and eyes.

While the number of slots for carrying components is limited, you can hold an unlimited number of reward boxes.  Those boxes will hold all sorts of useful things.  Don't be in a rush to open and consume the content of those reward boxes.  Let those components sit in the boxes until you run short of something.

There is a set of power rings that you can collect.  They help you access certain areas.  As far as I know, the number of power rings matches the number of places where you use them.  There aren't any spares lying about.  They are frequently found in those out-of-the-way locations I mentioned above.

One of the areas holds a suit of powered armor.  One of those rings is only accessible towards the very end of the game.  So you get a nice boost right before the final boss fight if you can unlock that armor.  It takes 5 rings to access the armor.  I found 4 of them.  The last one I would have found if I'd been following the advice above.  There are handholds leading up near the end of a mission.  I got the quest complete message and didn't bother following those handholds to a platform that had that final ring.  My mistake.  I had to climb that tower a second time to get the ring.

Quests/navigation

The game presents you with a series of quests along the main storyline as well as sidequests.  You select a quest and the map will point you towards a location along with a presumed path to get there.  Do not follow the path.  It will inevitably lead you straight into a pack of machines or bad NPCs.  Either one will attack you.  Instead, look around for the best place to use stealth to move through an area.

Move parallel to the path the game is indicating.  You will avoid getting jumped and may end up being able to break up the threat into something that is more easily managed.  Aloy's strength is stealth.  Use that by skirting an area to identify all of the threats.  If you go barging in the front door, you are going to get put on your ass.

You will get mini-quests when you pick up a new weapon.  The mini-quests are supposed to be tutorials of a sort.  Completing those quests will give you experience points towards increasing your level which gets you skill points.  The only rub is that you have to select that mini-quest to get the experience points.  The game won't give you credit unless the mini-quest is active.  I finished the game with 8 or 9 mini-quests left undone.  Do the mini-quests.  Get the experience points so you can get more skill points.  It's worth it to pause the main storyline for a little bit.

Quick travel is available to specific locations.  You have to craft a pack to allow you to travel.  Eventually, you will be able to buy a pack that allows unlimited travel.  Buy the pack.

One last word on quests.  Don't be too hasty about finishing a quest.  There are lots of them where you kill a bunch of machines and then report to someone.  The dead machines will disappear after you report to that person.  Make sure you harvest everything you can before heading for the person and the cut scene that ends that quest.  I missed out on some parts by reporting in without harvesting all the machine parts.

Weaves

You can collect a special class of components called weaves that offer upgrades to your gear.  Some weaves can be added to your armor.  Some can be added to your weapons.  

In my case, I ended the game with a ton of weaves that could have been sold for shards.  The best idea is to keep one or two of the best of any armor weaves and the five (give or take) best of any weapon weaves.  You will use more weapons weaves.

Armor

There are lots of options for purchasing armor.  You are given a set of armor on 3 different occasions (one that allows you to enter a region incognito, a leader's armor in the Frozen Wilds, and the powered armor mentioned above.  I purchased 2 other sets of armor.  One set was early on and focused on stealth.  The other was better for combat.  You can change armor while in the middle of battle.  So you can stealth up to a challenge, kill what you can silently, and then switch to something that will absorb the damage better.

In the end, I only used the two sets of armor that I bought and the powered armor.  I needed the shards for buying ammo more than buying a new set of armor.

You can improve most armor (except the powered armor) by adding weaves into the slots for weaves.  The better the armor, the more slots there are.

Weapons

There are five different types of weapons that you can hold; bow, trapcaster, ropecaster, a type of slingshot, and a spear.  Each is available in different levels/qualities.  As you move through the map and enter new areas, you gain access to improved versions of each weapon.  You can have four different weapons equipped at any time.  But you can switch out weapons on a moment's notice, just like changing armor.  If you are in a fight and one weapon isn't working, then try a different one.

There are three different subtypes of bow.  Each one launches a different set of arrows.  Each arrow has a unique quality.  For example, one arrow will infect machines and people with corruption which causes them to attack one another.  Do not overlook that tool in your..ummm...quiver.  I regularly had at least two bows active at all times.  Hit your targets with one to do one type of damage and switch to another to finish them off.

For example, if a machine is subject to extra fire damage, then hit them with flame arrows until the meter fills, then hit them with the high damage arrows for an extra bit of punch!

The trapcaster allows you to set a trap.  Imagine that!  Traps are basically tripwires with different effects when they go off.  You can't set them off, but your targets can.  I believe you can get hurt if you are in the affected area when the machines set them off.

The ropecaster will allow you to tie down machines.  The bigger the machines, the more ropes that are needed to hold it down.  I didn't use the ropecaster until very late in the game.  Using it made it somewhat easier to deal with bigger machines.  I regret not trying it sooner.

There are two different types of slingshot.  Each has a different group of ammo.  Both are useful.

The last equipable weapon is the spear.  It is largely useless unless you are hidden in a bush.  If an enemy sees you and charges, then fighting with the spear is a bad choice.  Get some distance and use your bow.  You will collect a ton of spear weaves before you acquire a spear that has an upgrade slot.  Keep the best of the weaves, and sell the rest.  I really wish I'd know about how few spear weaves I'd need as I carried a bunch of them for a long time.

There are also other weapons that you can throw or drop like a mine.  There are some places where it is useful to set up a bunch of mines before engaging with your targets.  You won't set one off, but they will if they try to run through your minefield to get you.

Crafting

Mostly, you will end up crafting ammo for your weapons.  As with the armor and weapons, you can stop in the middle of a battle to craft additional ammo.  There were a few boss battles where I needed to craft ammo in the middle of the battle.  Keep extra components on hand just in case.

The crafting components mostly come from machines or trees.  Early on, it is easy to run short of something you need to craft ammo.  But if you keep all of the components you harvest, you will eventually have enough to always keep your packs full.

Modifications

You can also modify your carrying packs to increase the amount of ammo you carry.  This is where it becomes important to kill every animal you find.  Some of them will drop skins or bones or something else that can be used to increase the capacity of your packs/quivers.  That includes rats and fish.  I was never able to fully upgrade all of my packs but didn't really need the extra space by the end of the game.

This was one of the more frustrating dynamics in the game.  Fish and rats are hard to hit.  So upgrades that need rat bones/skins or fish bones/skins are harder to achieve.  Also, not every kill will drop every component.  You have to hit a few rats to get enough bones/skins to matter.

You can kill enough raccoons and turkeys and whatnot pretty easily just wandering around.  But some animals were harder to find/harvest which made acquiring the right drops a bit of a slog.  Also, I think how much damage you do can influence the drop from the dead animal.  At least, it seemed like I got better drops if I used higher damage arrows, or multiple arrows so that the animal ended up being super duper dead instead of just dead.

Machines

Each machine has strengths and weaknesses.  Use your Focus to identify them.  It will also point out the soft points that make it easier to kill the machine.  Put your arrows in the places that hurt the machine the most.

Each machine has its own defensive strategy as well as a unique attack.  Adjust your attack strategy to your advantage.

Early on, you obtain the ability to tame some machines.  You eventually learn to tame a longer list of machines.  This is helpful in that the tamed machines will fight for/with you.  Also you can ride tamed machines.  Mostly, I rode weaker tamed machines as it was difficult to isolate a strong machine.

Animals

Animals are a great source of food/meat.  You can use that to regain health.  You can also craft packs to allow fast travel.  They are a source of parts for expanding your pack capacity.  I don't recall ever encountering a hostile animal that did me much harm.

Combat

Combat is combat.  However, each enemy group only has a limited range of interest.  So if you run away, they will only follow for a while before returning to a non-combat routine.  You can sneak back up and re-engage them.

Use your Focus to locate enemies and the weaknesses of the machines.  Select the weapons that will exploit those weaknesses.

Whenever possible, get as high as possible.  It is generally easier to shoot at enemies from an elevated position.  Frequently, they cannot reach you to counterattack.  Or at least, the higher elevation offers more cover from their attacks.  Also, being up high tends to funnel your targets into a narrow area.  That makes it easier to hit something.

There are several boss battles where the game purposefully makes sure that you can't take advantage of an elevated position.

Ending

The game largely exists within a world of science.  Everything can be explained as technology run amok.  

Except the ending.  A piece of software goes floating on the wind to set up the sequel.  At this point, science is going out the window as we enter a fantasyland where software is a glowing particle that is transmitted on the wind to be captured in a lamp.  It's a modest gripe, but it was an important story element to me.

NPC's

NPC's are another weak point for me.  Aloy is not a tank.  She doesn't do CQC well.  She does do stealth and ranged attacks very well. 

Later in the game, there are incidents where the NPC's engaged in CQC celebrate Aloy's arrival as saving the day.  Why?  A better approach would have been "we will keep them busy while you work them over with your bow".  That evenly values both Aloy and the NPC's roles.  Both bring something equally valuable to the fight even if they are different skill sets.

I eventually found the diversity parade a bit tiring.  The effort to insert every flavor of representation got in the way of telling the story.

As an example, some of the tribes were about as multi-culti as can be.  These small tribes existed for hundreds of years, but never interbred to the point of reducing unique racial features?  Nope.  Not buying it.

The Frozen Wilds was better on that point.  All of the people in that region were visually similar.  There were people there from other regions, but they looked like they came from somewhere else.  The representation made sense within the narrative of the story.

Then there are the omnipresent capable and competent female warrior leaders and the dearth of capable/competent male warrior leaders.  Or at least, the only capable/competent male warrior leaders were all enemies.  All of the good male NPC warriors were a bit goofy.

And then there is this one vendor who made my skin crawl with all the "my lovely lady" comments that he made toward Aloy.

The game is a long grind.  It is worth it overall.  But sometimes those small things get old the further along in the game you are.

Horizon Zero Dawn is worth the effort.  If you play video games, then give this one a try. 4.5 stars.

Review: The Dream of the Iron Dragon

The Dream of the Iron Dragon by Robert Kroese
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review.

While I have greatly enjoyed other books by this author, this one was a bit pedestrian. The crew of a spaceship attempts to save themselves with a radical last ditch maneuver that tosses them back thousands of years into the past. They crash land back on Earth. The original intent was to use their modern tech to survive until they could effect repairs or they were otherwise rescued.

Their ship is in pieces. There is next to nothing left of their tech. So they must make themselves useful to the locals by using their knowledge of science and math.

Interesting premise. Reasonable well told.

But the obvious beginning of a much longer series with no significant problem resolution present in the first book. Not enough here for me to consider coming back to the series.

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Review: Chloe's Kingdom: The Koin Vault Heist

Chloe's Kingdom: The Koin Vault Heist by Gregory Michael
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review. The spelling and grammar were very good. The story and characters were not compelling enough to make me want to continue after the first few chapters.

Thereafter rose the putative ghost of Dorothy Parker.

I'm glad to have supported the author with a purchase of the book as he supported the idea of respectful disagreement and free speech when another author was bounced from the SPSFC earlier this year.

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Review: Theft of Fire

Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a 5-star review which is a reasonable estimate of my experience. Perhaps 4.5 stars, but I was so engaged that rounding it to 5 is justified.

The story is largely focused on three characters.

Marcus - an asteroid miner turned pirate. Still living with and attempting to resolve his many mistakes over the years. One of those mistakes cost him his father. His father's advice rings on in his head.

Miranda - a trophy daughter designed by a trophy wife who, with enough money, was able to ensure that Miranda would have all of the features her mother desired - genetic a la carte progeny! And she wants to be so much more in a family that simply expect so much less.

and Leela - an AI who doesn't know she is an AI until Marcus spills the beans.

The three of them are off to the outer reaches of our solar system in search of the most valuable archeological find in the history of humanity.

It was supposed to be a quick smash and grab. Get it there quietly. Find it. Stow it. And get away. It was a plan. But a plan is just a list of things that won't happen.

This book was formerly a part of this years SFSPC. More on that in the spoiler section.

The premise seemed to be pretty standard stuff. I hoped for entertainment, but didn't think there would be much meat on the bones. Boy was I wrong.

There are several important themes running throughout the book.

What is the value of government in a human society? Can we do better via straight contracts?

What is the impact of monopolies on society?

What sort of class struggle might exist between an elite class that holds all of the technology and the people who must submit to strict contracts in order to obtain just enough technology to survive?

What does it take for the powerful to recognize the humanity of those that aren't "elite"?

How badly can parents screw up their children?

How badly can children fail their parents?

What is it like to be a woman dealing with cultural expectations?

What is it like to be a man who is more than his base desires despite society only seeing him as the product of those desires?

And of course...are AI truly alive and worthy of being considered something more than property?

Our trio of strangers gets tossed together and forced to deal with one another as well as their individual histories. Marcus relearns the concept of honor while Miranda discovers that honor is more important than money and contracts. They both learn to value one another beyond the superficial details of their lives.

I don't expect that kids will be reading "Theft of Fire" 30 years from now as an example of great genre literature. There are a few eye-rolling moments as well as some popular culture call backs that break reader contact with the narrative.

But I hope they will still be reading "Theft of Fire" because it is fun, engaging, and more than a little thought provoking.

The spoiler space is because the rest of this is political. IMO, politics in genre fiction should primarily be generated by the substance of the story and not based on outside factors. If the above review has you interested, then please skip the spoiler space and go read the book. I promise it is worth the purchase.

[the spoiler]

You looked anyway, didn't you? Mistake.

The author's wife thought it would be cool if his book was entered into this years Self Published Science Fiction Competition. She didn't tell Devon. She just entered the book. That is an entirely acceptable submission method according to the SPSFC staff.

Fast forward a few months and someone has located some posts that Devon wrote on his web site and on X that were...intemperate. That's being kind to Devon. More accurately, he acted as if he was a commando in the First Chair Force, Neon Keyboard Division.

He is conservative. Devon's statements approve of returning illegal aliens to their home countries. He also said something about tossing communists out of helicopters. He also has a lengthy rant that where he appears to describe a very odd sort of horseshow theory where fascism is needed to counter communism.

FTR, I disapprove of speaking positively about tossing anyone out of helicopters. I also am not impressed with keyboard commandos who talk a tough a game behind several hundred miles of fiber cable.

Having seen a tiny bit of war at a distance closer than most, I zero respect to positive references to violence. Fascism...the real deal and not just modest disagreement...leads to a bad place and should be rejected at all costs.

The only thing worse than fascism is communism. [But of course, no one gets removed from a competition or a speaking engagement for wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt or speaking kindly of Uncle Joe. And of course, supporting those that "punch a Nazi" are fine according to those who dominate the literary world.]

You can read more about the entire imbroglio here.

Someone made a stink about Devon's posts. The SPSFC did the only thing that one can apparently do when faced with such a situation. They wrote a Code of Conduct (CoC) 4 months after the competition had begun. They they used this sparkling new CoC to justify removing Eriksen's book from the competition.

A competition he didn't enter. A CoC that he never agreed to abide by.

This sort of post hoc "justice" will make Lenin and Stalin beam with joy. That unusual hum centered on Sutton Courtenay in England would be George Orwell spinning in his grave.

The SPSFC committee didn't get the response they apparently expected. As of this date, 12 authors have requested that their books be removed from the competition. Many of those authors clearly stated that they didn't agree with Devon's statements (far from it), but they were more disturbed by the actions of the SPSFC committee.

When faced with speech that they found disagreeable, those authors opted for the best solution - more speech. Not bans. Not a post hoc dismissal based on an ex post facto "Code". Just comment on the facts so that their voices are heard.

I've been in a few discussions since this began. Almost uniformly, my interlocutor will run to the defense of the SPSFC volunteers. Why it is unreasonable to expect them to read material from such a loathsome creature! Think of the rights of those volunteers!

Never mind the fact that several of the themes is Devon's book are reasonably supportive of left leaning perspectives. There's even a brief line in the book in support of tolerance of the trans community!

I disagree. By offering a public competition, those volunteers acquired an obligation to consider all of the books that were submitted. They are free to use their free speech rights to criticize a book that is poorly written or has unproductive themes. They could certainly append any review with a statement about the author's political writings as being..."problematic".

The cure for disagreeable speech is more speech.

What they may not do is remove a book from the competition in the manner described above. That is a violation of their obligation.

While I have had great success reading books from fantasy self published competition, my experiences with SPSFC have been lack-luster at best.

Despite his warts, Mr. Eriksen has written a fine novel. It is in turns amusing and inspiring of tears. Theft of Fire is in keeping with a long and storied science fiction tradition of exploring large issues as well as examining close, personal relationships.

I look forward to book #2 in the series; Box of Trouble. Due out later this year.

[2 3 word edits]


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Review: Iron Truth

Iron Truth by S.A. Tholin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which is a fair estimate of my experience.

This book won the Self Published Science Fiction Contest.

The first three fourths of the book was really pretty good. Solid sci-fi involving colony ships, crash landings, and weird worlds. Then it diverted into some religious stuff.

I'm OK with religion in fantasy. And faith in some unknowable whatever in sci-fi is OK. But when you suggest that there is an active, mystical component in sci-fi, it stops being sci-fi for me. The last quarter of the book lost me.

Well written, but the plot went off the rails.

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Hugo 2024 - Best Novel

As is my habit, I am buying and reading all the novel finalists for this year's Hugo Awards.  This is how my ballot will line up.  

1. Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh [currently reading] - This book reflects the best of genre fiction.  It asks the reader to consider a great many presumed perspectives.  There is an underlying theme of asking people to listen to one another that I find powerful.  There are other themes in the book that I will challenge in a longer review of the book.  The fact that there are challenging themes is part of what makes this a great work.  The author has crafted compelling characters and circumstances that motivate the reader to continue reading despite some of the kookier ideas presented.  There are some serious identitarian themes presented in the book.  I think it is useful to point out that while another serious identitarian finalist was a hard DNF, this one is a hard "have to finish".
2. No Award
3. Starter Villain by John Scalzi - This one will get a 4-star review on Goodreads.  John Scalzi does what he does best.  He creates relatable characters in reasonably relatable circumstances that draw the reader into the story in a way that motivates you to finish the book.  The first quarter of the book is pretty much a normal person going through normal bad times slowly sliding into a "excuse me what do you mean by that!!??!" sort of world.  You are buckled in for the entire ride.  The book exhibits a lot of John's wit and humor and is quite fun to read.  I won't spoil a good reading experience, so go read it.  So why is this below "No Award"?  Because this is a lightweight story.  The ending is telegraphed early on.  There are multiple instances where any normal person would have acted differently and concluded the story faster.  Starter Villain is almost on par with books like Piers Anthony's "On A Pale Horse" and other entries in the Incarnations of Immortality series.  I recommend those books as well.  They are entertaining with several deep messages woven into the series.  Starter Villain lacks any serious depth beyond some mildly "woke" (for lack of a better term) elements.  It simply is not in the same category as the works that have been awarded the Hugo.  Worth buying and reading.  Not one of the 6 best books of 2023.
4. Witch King by Martha Wells - I have thoroughly enjoyed (most of) Wells' Murderbot series of books.  She writes with great empathy and detail.  She invites the reader to experience different perspectives.  In Witch King, our supposed protagonist is a demon who has inhabited the body of another person.  The first act of possession was supposedly of a willing person.  The rest were not.  The single greatest flaw in Witch King is the presumption that the demons are benevolent and that the antagonists are evil.  We are shown that demons have great power that can be used to destructive ends.  We never learn what motivates them to interact with humanity much less how they might be morally constrained from wreaking havoc on the world.  A decent book.  But not one of the six best books of the year.
5. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - Conceptually, this was a really intriguing book.  The book presumes to tell a fantastic tale akin to some of the great fantasy tales in the Western tradition but from an Arab perspective.  As someone who grew up with many Sinbad stories, I was ready to warmly welcome a more native telling of a fantasy set in that region.  If one sets aside the hypocrisy involved in painting early Islam as tolerant of independent women, Amina al-Sirafi is a fine read.  Also, the book hides a lot of information from the reader.  The person relating the story tells the reader directly that they are lying, but they will get to the truth eventually.  This technique is an unclever method for stretching a good novelette into novel length.  And it frustrates the reader.
6. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera - plain DNF.  No connection with the characters.  No real progress in the story.  I made it over halfway through the book before I just couldn't take it anymore.  I've got a half dozen books waiting in my Kindle that I already know will be better than this.  Definitely not one of the six best books of the last year.  People really need to start ignoring Locus for this sort of thing.
7. End of Ballot
8. Translation State by Ann Leckie - Hard DNF.  I've really got no patience for the "guess a gender" authors anymore.  My last experience with the Radsch Empire ended poorly.  I gave this one a chance but "noped" out early on.

All of the books that I nominated were better than the books that ended up below No Award.

• The Ferryman by Justin Cronin 
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
• House of Gold by C.T. Rwizi
• Stand Alone by John Van Stry  (the weakest of my nominees, still better than this stuff)

Review: Aliens: Bishop

Aliens: Bishop by T.R. Napper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

T.R. Napper gets invited to play in the world of Aliens. Here we learn that Colonial Marines Master Sergeant Apone has a brother. His brother is a Captain in the Colonial Marines who is charged with tracking down Michael Bishop. Bishop is the progenitor of the Bishop series of androids. He also has a desire to investigate and exploit the xenomorphs.

The mission to track down Michael Bishop reveals an opportunity to recover the physical remnants of the Bishop android from the Aliens movie. (That is the one with Newt.) Eventually, it becomes clear that Michael Bishop has grown more xenomorphs. Captain Apone wants some payback for the death of his brother.

The events of the book take place after the Aliens: 3 movie as one of the survivors of the prison planet eventually becomes part of the story.

Napper does an outstanding job of filling out each character with unique motivations and history. There are many events where characters are faced with choices that pit a desire to settle past grievances with the desire to survive in the face of low chances of survival. Collectively and individually, they demonstrate the grit needed to rise to the most lethal of challenges.

The book provides us with a raft of new characters and events without breaking the lore of the Aliens fictional world.

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Review: System Collapse

System Collapse by Martha Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I have thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the books in The Murderbot Diaries, I found this installment to be a bit pointless. We don't learn anything new or interesting about Murderbot.

Read the rest of the series. It's very well written. If there ends up being an eighth installment, then be sure to read this book. But if this is the end of the line, then you can stop at the sixth installment and not have missed much.

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Review: Stand Alone: Wolfhounds - Book One

Stand Alone: Wolfhounds - Book One by John Van Stry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a 5-star review. My experience is closer to 4.5-stars, but this a great book. Go read it. Some modest spoilers are in my summary. Just go read the book.

Our protagonist, Chase, is not what he seems. Only he doesn't know it yet.

The society he inhabits is somewhat stratified. There are the common folks living common lives. It appears that moderate success is available to anyone who elects to put in the effort.

Then there are the "royalty". In reality, these are the genetically enhanced humans who can interface with artificial intelligence systems. Being genetically enhanced, the AI interfaced is passed down to their children. Humanity had previously experienced AI systems run amok. It took wars for humanity to reassert control over those computer systems. Now, AI systems require human input before they can carry out complex tasks. Those humans with the genetically engineered interface provide that input.

But wait! Not every interface is equal. Some interfaces provide better access and control of AI systems. The best interfaces are those possessed by the "imperial" family that are passed down to their children.

At some point, a commoner who lacks this interface gains enough governmental power to attempt to overthrow the entire system. He installs an authoritarian system to make things more "fair".

In the meantime, Chase just wanted to improve his position within the criminal world. Some judge tosses him into the Imperial Navy. Chase doesn't understand the judge's motivations. But he quickly adapts to the Navy and learns how to be useful.

His unit gets stuck in a sort of cryosleep. When they awaken, the unit discovers that they have been out of circulation for over a decade. The revolution has killed off the entire imperial family. Other "royals" are now forced to provide the control for the AI system; frequently at gunpoint. The new government is being about as effective as one might imagine.

And Chase might well be the most unlikely person in the universe with the possibility to influence the future.

A great story. Hard to put down. The author has put in a ton of work to make the plot logically consistent and interesting. There simply aren't any unexplained incidents.

I have two critical notes. The first is spelling and grammar. There were less than a dozen instances of poor spelling/grammar.

The second is the concept of "hot". As in "the smokin' hot babe sitting in my Camaro" type of hot. I've read several of this author's books. The women are always "hot". Brother, find a different way of describing women. This wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't read those other books. But I did. And so it is an issue. Perhaps a minor issue, but an issue.

I will be nominating this book for the Best Novel category of the Hugo Awards of 2024. I think it is that good of a book despite my minor criticisms.

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Review: Cloud Castles by Dave Freer

Cloud-Castles by Dave Freer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 4-star review which is a reasonable estimate of my experience.

Cloud Castles was written by Dave Freer and it won the Prometheus Best Novel Award for 2023 that is presented by the Libertarian Futurist Society. The award is named for the mythic hero, Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. Prometheus represents human effort and in particular the quest for scientific knowledge even while risking overreach and unintended consequences. The Prometheus Award is presented for works that illustrate either the positive benefits of individual liberty or the negative consequences of a larger society imposing restrictions on the individual.

The book follows our protagonist, Augustus Thistlewood, as he embarks on a personal mission to help the less fortunate citizens of the planet Sybill III. Augustus, later just "Gus", is a scion of the Thistlewood family. While focusing on an engineering degree, Gus wandered into a sociology class and decided to add to his courseload by taking sociology courses. From there, he was inspired to "help" the less fortunate by "uplifting" them. Gus hails from the Azure civilization of humanity.

Sybill III is a gas giant with a dense solid core surrounded by a gaseous environment. There is an elevation range with the right gas mixture to support humanoid life. There are clouds that are thicker than Earth clouds. There are plants that have evolved to live on/in those clouds and end up creating a sort of spongy surface where people can walk. Other lifeforms have also evolved to live on the spongy plant/cloud structures. There are some interesting features to this biome.

The only "city" is called Big Syd. It exists on a massive antigrav plate. The descendants of a crashed prison ship now live on a few square miles of the plate. The only effective "government" are the many street gangs that run their various territories.

The population is dominated by the warring remnants of two alien races; the Thrymi and the Zell. The Thrymi are quite aggressive and will take humans as slaves to work on their cloud castles (roll credits!). The Zell generally leave the humans alone unless they encounter them out on the plant/cloud platforms. The Zell then capture the humans, sterilize them, and drop them back on Big Syd regardless of where the Zell first encountered those humans.

The one stabilizing force is that an Azure admiral arrived with his fleet in the wake of the deaths of Azure citizens visiting Sybill III. He threatened everyone with death if another Azure citizen ended up dead. This limits the ability of the Bid Syd denizens to respond to Gus' arrival.

Gus received field training from a charitable organization known as the "Blue Men". He is ideologically motivated to help out those whom he believes are beneath his status. Gus is also a bit clueless. Upon landing on Big Syd, he promptly has his bag and watch stolen by Briz. Gus thinks that Briz is leading him to the one good hotel on Big Syd and follows along.

A few narrow alleys later and Briz ends up saving Gus from a predator (human variety). Gus has no idea that he had been a victim of theft (courtesy of Briz) and narrowly avoided being murdered (also courtesy of Briz).

This sets the tone for much of the book. Gus wanders around trying to "uplift" the locals. He is delightfully unaware that each of his endeavors almost uniformly ends up crushing a criminal enterprise without meaningfully "uplifting" anyone. The sole exception is when he teaches mathematics to a bunch of trafficked underage girls. Gus thought he was visiting a normal school for girls and wanted to "uplift" them. He taught them the skills needed to know that the brothel owner had been shorting their pay and responded accordingly.

None of the locals in Big Syd are interested in being "uplifted".

Knowing about the admiral's threats, the street gangs (and others) are hard-pressed for an easy solution to Gus' interference with their various rackets. Eventually, they find a way to give him to the Thrymi. This ends poorly for the Thrymi. Gus and Briz eventually free themselves and discover that there are people living on the cloud/plant platforms.

This new population has fewer resources but has much better societal relationships. They farm what they call "the outback".

Gus discovers a different way of dealing with these farmers. They value hard work and Gus is willing to work hard. Eventually, he applies his engineering knowledge to build things that improve the lives of the farmers. In return, they improve his life as well. The free-will commercial exchange of goods fosters positive growth in the local culture.

The story ends well for almost everyone. The Thrymi, the Zell, and the various gangs are set for a bit of a rude awakening. Gus, his old family, and his new friends find they have many mutually beneficial opportunities.

And Briz...gets a piece of the action, but not the piece one would expect based on the beginning of the book.

There are several elements that work well. Gus is generally clueless which leads to some amusing circumstances. Gus learns that the best "uplifting" is when it is done with people instead of "for them" or "to them". Briz has several moments of self-discovery. The biology of the flora and fauna living on the clouds is logical as is the impact of coming from a home world with slightly higher gravity. There weren't any logical breaks in the worldbuilding to undermine the suspension of disbelief.

One element that is less effective is the general observation about sociologists and other "do-gooders" who seem to have no practical knowledge about how the world actually works. The plot elements of that assertion are a little too "on the nose". For example, I took the "Blue Men" to be an aspect of our modern United Nations.

Another questionable element is the binary contrast between the city and the country. All of the Big Syd denizens are morally compromised. All those living in the outback are hearty, honest, and hard-working. The manufacturing giant Thistlewood family is also presented as being almost uniformly good. A bit more nuance in this book and it would be a solid 5-star effort.

Cloud Castles is a solid choice that illuminates the objectives of the Prometheus Award and the Libertarian Futurist Society. It illustrates the benefits of people participating voluntarily in mutually satisfying relationships. To a lesser extent, it illustrates the harm of letting small powerful groups control society.

There is a strong Australian flavor to the language and perspectives used in this book. Language aside, there are references to old Australian outlaws. Also, the city's name "Big Syd" is an obvious reference to Sydney, Australia.

This is a fun if not terribly difficult book.

Dave Freer's acceptance speech for the Prometheus Awards is presented in Part 1 and Part 2.

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Review: On the Beach

On the Beach by Nevil Shute
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which is a reasonable estimate of my experience with this book. Spoilers follow. Read at your own risk.

On The Beach is a book about a group of largely Australian and American people in the months following a nuclear war that encompassed all of the northern hemisphere. The fallout from that war is slowly drifting ever southward killing everyone in its path. Due to the differences in weather patterns, it takes time for the fallout to reach the southernmost points of inhabited land masses.

The book was written in 1957 and was hailed at the time as a significant anti-nuclear war book. The story is reasonably well told within the context of the time in which it was written. The women are largely accessories for the men who are the focus of the narrative. The cities and villages all adhere to a stereotypical 1950s ethos of civility. [The book also unironically views government officials as capable and competent - think Raiders of the Lost Ark and the "top men" researching the Ark.]

The book is notable in that it never offers the characters a chance of hope of survival. In every instance where survival is discussed, it is dismissed out of hand with a note that everyone will die. The characters then go on with more mundane activities such as planning parties, planting gardens, and caring for children. The women are most likely to ask if there is a chance of survival with the men being more likely to offer a kind-hearted but stoic version of "nope, now let's think about something else".

The war was conducted using cobalt bombs launched between Russia and China. However, Russia has been giving away bombers to other nations and cobalt bombs are "cheap". Egypt used a Russian-supplied bomber to drop a cobalt bomb on Washington D.C. The Russian markings on the bomber cause the US military to believe that the Russians have attacked and counterattack. This draws the rest of the northern hemisphere into the war.

There are several issues that undermine the narrative. Some of those issues are best understood as resulting from having seventy additional years of science to help inform how nuclear weapons work.

- The book focuses on cheap cobalt bombs. There is no hard evidence of any nation developing such a bomb. It is theoretically discussed by anti-nuclear activists, but no military has ever developed, much less deployed, such a weapon.

- The book's presentation of nuclear fallout is not in keeping with any understanding of how it would happen in reality. Irradiated debris would certainly end up in the air, but it would come back down again quickly enough. The idea of a global cloud of radiation slowly settling over the earth is contrary to how such things work.

(For the record, nuclear fallout will kill millions and is very serious business. People can still survive if they live far enough from where the bomb explodes and if they take certain precautions.)

- The characters in the book take no precautions to help them survive. It is possible to decontaminate surface soil contaminated with cobalt-60. Mostly, that involves scraping off a thin layer of soil and storing it somewhere until the 5-6 year half-life has reduced any life-threatening potential. It isn't easy, but it is possible if precautions are taken.

- The author has given the characters uniform patterns of speech. Almost everyone sounds as if they stepped out of a 1950s vintage British movie where the characters are all erudite. It is only towards the end of the book that we encounter someone who is more workaday in their speech patterns.

-- The book involves Australian and US naval personnel. Both sides have remarkably similar speech patterns.

- "suicide pill kits" are distributed to pharmacies in sufficient potency and quantities to permit anyone who wishes to use them. Most people wait until the symptoms of radiation exposure become clear before doing so. This is all presented as an example of sound government planning.

- Everyone carries on as if nothing has happened. People still run their stores. Patrons still pay for goods. There is a concern for having gainful, if somewhat relaxed, employment. Coal mining continues so that the power plants can produce electricity. People plan for events in the years to come despite the narrative making it clear that people will not survive the coming radioactive fallout that will arrive in months. More human reactions would include a certain level of chaos.

-- As an example, some government minister has to be persuaded to allow the fishing season to start a few weeks early so that people can go fishing before the fallout arrives. People are otherwise prepared to abide by the prior restrictions on the fishing season. The minister passes this change as a "one-time only" circumstance after a bit of persuasion by other members of his social club.

The most realistic actions within the book are where people begin to cut loose from the formal social/military structures that otherwise defined their lives. In one case, a sailor leaves a submarine that is exploring the west coast of the United States. Being below water protects the submarine from radiation. The sub surfaces off the shore of the sailor's hometown. He swims ashore without permission to explore.

In the other case, a scientist came to own a Ferrari racing car in the days following the nuclear war. That sub-plot terminates with the last Australian Grand Prix. The drivers race with little concern for their personal safety as they would prefer to die doing something they enjoy than spending a week succumbing to radiation-induced illness. Much death and wreckage is the predictable result.

On The Beach is a satisfying read for those who want to experience an emotional case against nuclear weapons. It is an otherwise unproductive experience.

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Review: Beware the Dog

Beware the Dog by Dominique Mondesir
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is a 1.5-star review. I'm being charitable.

Our mild-mannered protagonist is tasked with delivering a memory stock. He boards a rocket ship. It gets raided by pirates. But they are the "nice" kind of pirates. He swallows the stick. Instead of gutting him, they take him along.

He later attempts to escape his captors while drinking with them at a dive bar. He ends up on the floor of a very poorly maintained restroom. His captors get into a gunfight. None of them die. They escape the bar and pile into a car.

In the post-adrenaline-high, our hero and one of his captors (the one girl in the crew who is also easy on the eyes) end up snuggling up together in the back of the car. While he is still soaked in the residuals from the floor of that very poorly maintained restroom.

Many miles and many chapters later, he finds her in his bed. Because...of course he does.

Wish fulfillment fantasy. Many spelling/grammar issues. Written to be made into a movie rather than read as a serious book. Several instances where characters repeat information that the reader already knows. Then there is a bag of clothes that mysteriously appears after our protagonist has been through various assaults, rapid escapes, and other events where picking up a bag is neither convenient to the plot nor actually mentioned in the text.

I made it 29% through the book before theoretically hurling it across the room in a manner purportedly reminiscent of Dorothy Parker.

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Review: The Ferryman

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 4-star review which is an accurate reflection of my experience with this book.

It started out as a 5-star review that was closer to 4.5 stars but rounded up. This book is really well written!

But then I started thinking about the elements that made it a 4.5-star review and realized that 4 stars were more accurate.

It is impossible to review this book without spoiling it. The plot is multi-layered to the point where a discussion of one layer is insufficient and any links to another layer are too revealing.

So....go read the book. It is a great read that is well worth the price of admission despite my criticisms, below.

--------

Spoilers are ahead. And once spoiled, this book is ruined. You have been warned.

--

Humanity has spoiled the Earth. A potential new home for humanity has been identified. An intrepid team has developed a propulsion system that will take a large human contingent to this planet. The trip will take hundreds of years. The same team has also developed a method for getting those humans to their new home - essentially putting them in a sort of state where they live in a shared dream and interact via some sort of computer network.

In the dream, a person "lives" for a long period of time before being reset. At reset, their dream memories are wiped and they return to society as an older teen with some basic understanding of language and manners but little comprehension of the world. They are adopted by an "older" couple, attend school, marry, have careers, and eventually succumb to time and board a ferry that will take them to be "reset".

This is the general framework of the world. The story involves one character attempting (and eventually succeeding) to break free from the dream.

We eventually learn that our main character led the team that developed this interstellar ship, selected the colonists, and developed the unique dream system that allowed the colonists to survive the trip. His wife was pivotal in the development of the dream system and acted as a dreaming controller that permitted the system to function.

As a side note, he and his wife lose a daughter to an awful tragedy before the starship leaves Earth. This fact and the many interpersonal relationships that unfold provide a thoroughly interesting exploration of the subconscious mind.

It turns out that upon arrival, the primary doctor is awakened to find that the destination planet is coming out of an ice age and is barely habitable. The doctor wakes one of the primary funders of the journey who decides that it is better (for this rich guy) if everyone just sleeps for an eternity so that he can continue his dream existence with lots of servants and power.

Why doesn't the doctor wake the person in charge of the expedition? This poor decision is vaguely explained. Oopsie.

So what are the elements that caused me to downgrade my review? Lots of little stuff.

The first one was the use of sex as a reset button. There is a computer/robot/AI (it isn't clear) that manages the transition from being old to being young again. In the book, this system presents as an attractive female doctor. There isn't any indication that the system presents as something different to different people.

When our hero is sent off to be reset, he encounters the good doctor. He is dressed in a robe. She has him get on an examination table for what is ostensibly going to be a medical exam. She then strips and hops onboard for a little cowgirl action. It is the sort of weird thing that happens in dreams.

How do the women "reset"? Is it the same doctor/system? The book doesn't present other genders as an option for the system. Men and women generally approach sex differently. I find it hard to believe that the women in the dream system would readily respond to "surprise sex" with a doctor in a medical setting.

The second element is a "blame it all on the rich" mentality. There are obligatory genuflections towards wealth inequality, blaming the rich for despoiling the planet, overconsumption, barely veiled blaming of capitalism, blah, blah, blah. The typical leftist hymnal.

People want to own homes. They want more leisure time created by using modern conveniences. If we could somehow miracle "the rich" into the middle class, we would not eliminate the market demand for new/better goods. It is that market activity that creates the wealth needed for average people...not "the rich"...to improve the quality of their lives.

If...and that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting...humanity is despoiling the Earth, then it is the average human that is responsible. Not the Eeville "rich".

There is no option that creates sufficient economic growth to lift the vast majority of humanity out of poverty without also creating opportunities for income inequality. Make no mistake. Socialism/communism create poverty. Capitalism creates wealth that lifts people out of poverty. Nor was there ever an option to get to where we are today without using fossil fuels at some point.

Regarding the "If" mentioned above, in the book, there are a series of ecological calamities going on. One, in particular, involves a wildfire sweeping from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. That sort of climate alarmism simply isn't justified by any rational reading of climate science.

A third element is "the dream" in which they all live. The waking colonists quickly become pissed as they figure out that our main character devised a computer simulation where they ended up being the slaves (or near slaves) to the wealthy people that funded the development of the colony program and ship. Our main character expresses the thought that he made them dream slaves for their own good. That the experience of being dream slaves would provide a useful motivation once they landed on the new planet.

Within the story, the colonists all suddenly realize that it was only a dream and it didn't matter.

Our main character sends them down to the new planet without most of the rich people. The "useful" rich people get to stay. Our main character then redesigns the dream simulation to effectively teach those rich people a lesson and they begin the long flight back to a (hopefully recovered) Earth.

So the dream didn't matter except when it did. They were screening colonists for the right skills and attitudes. He had the ability to design the dream simulation to "teach lessons" at the start. And at no point was there any consideration for screening out rich people that were abusive, or using the power to use the dream simulation to "teach lessons" on the way to the new planet. It was always in the main character's plan to not let the rich join the rest of the colonists on the new planet.

Essentially, there is one person with the power to make life-and-death decisions for thousands of human survivors. Those kinds of systems rarely end well. But in this case, an all wise and all powerful Gary Stu rides to the rescue.

At this point, it seems a minor nitpick to point out that the author stereotypes "rich people" in a way that would never be tolerated by any other group.

--

I can survive any story that uses a couple of disagreeable tropes. But throwing in the entire kitchen complete with the kitchen sink is a bit much.

This is the sort of book that the New York publishing world adores. I found it quite entertaining and well worth the effort despite my complaints.

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Review: The Dabare Snake Launcher

The Dabare Snake Launcher by Joelle Presby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. A better estimate of my experience is 3.5 stars. I just couldn't talk myself into rounding up to 4 stars.

The premise of this book is that a large company has developed the holy grail of a substance strong enough for use as the cable for a space elevator. They begin building that elevator. There is a great deal of corporate intrigue surrounding that project. The reader never experiences the process of developing that cable material.

A side problem is that they need an effective means for getting the construction materials from the Earth to outer space. Toward that end, they decide to build a rocket sled that will hurl rockets into the upper atmosphere where the rocket engines take over the task of boosting the payloads into orbit. The forces are too great to permit fragile payloads such as humans.

[a brief aside - there are a couple of interesting concepts for accomplishing that task that do not appear in the book. One is to build a long, sealed tube. The lower end of the tube would be far below the surface of the ocean. A closely fit baffle is lowered to the bottom of the tube. The payload is then lowered until it rests on the baffle. Valves are then opened allowing the pressure of the ocean to flood the bottom of the tube and force the baffle and payload upwards. Once the payload reaches a high enough altitude, rockets fire to boost it into orbit.

Another interesting concept is to spin the payload on a gyroscope with a horizontal axis. When everything is spinning fast enough, the payload is released upward into the atmosphere. Again, at a sufficient altitude, rockets fire boosting the payload the rest of the way into orbit.

Neither of these concepts appears in the book. I ran across them over the last decade. The author's concept is equally interesting/plausible. Back to the review.]

The space elevator's terrestrial base will be on Mount Kilimanjaro. Corporate/tribal/government negotiations make this possible. The reader never really experiences that process.

The company building the space elevator contracts out the construction of the sled to the family of one of the upper corporate executives. The corporate executives don't know about the relationship between the family and the executive that granted the construction contract. The family is an influential tribe in Africa.

The family needs a good location to build the sled. The best location they can find is the side of an active volcano that is controlled by another family. Well the land is controlled by the other family. But do they also control the volcano?

There is some modest family/tribal intrigue as the contract represents a windfall. Many of the family members are just living off of the trust without doing much to replenish those funds. There is a strong temptation to use the seed money to refill the trust rather than actually build the sled.

As an added feature, one of the family members is reputed to be the physical incarnation of a minor snake goddess. One of the younger family members somehow becomes the new manifestation of the goddess. There are religious/metaphysical connotations for the volcano as well. I'm not a fan of supernatural/religious agents actively influencing the plot of a science fiction novel. That other stuff is more properly situated in a fantasy novel.

There are moments of tension within the story. In some cases, the characters have to work through a problem. In a few cases, a modest amount of hand-wavium makes the problems go away. Characters experience the unavoidable consequences of aging, but otherwise, they never lose when they encounter a challenge.

The biggest reason why I just couldn't give this book 4 stars is that there isn't a whole lot of "science" in this supposed tale of "science fiction". The production of the cable happens elsewhere. The design of the space station is ever so briefly discussed within the context of governmental and corporate negotiations regarding the construction of the space station. The design of the sled is pre-packaged to the point where the construction of the sled facility occurs primarily in the background.

The one element that the book got exactly correct is the desire to keep any government from controlling the project. Corporations aren't presented as infallible, just better at managing large-scale projects.

Another enjoyable element was setting the story on the African continent. Rather than showing western governments and corporations rushing to "exploit" the locals, this story focuses on people engaging with one another as equally capable agents advancing their own interests while working to cooperate with others.

The plot was interesting even if it didn't contain much "science". The characters were well-developed. Overall, it was an enjoyable read that held my attention. The author clearly has the skills needed to write engaging books.

In summary, the following kept me from giving this a high rating:

- a focus on family dynamics
- a focus on corporate negotiations
- a dearth of real "science"
- religious/metaphysical deities influencing the plot


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Review: Summer's End

Summer's End by John Van Stry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3.5-star review. Every time I talked myself into rounding it up to 4 stars, I found another reason to make it 3 stars.

I picked up Summer's End because it is a finalist for this year's Prometheus Award given to works of fiction that explore or incorporate libertarian themes. Prometheus Award winners are almost always pretty good. This is a worthy finalist.

Our protagonist is Dave "Mongoose" Walker. A former gang-banger who was literally scared straight and made it through enough college to get a certificate as a 5th-class engineer. In the opening pages, his brother tells him trouble is coming Dave's way. His brother has acquired an engineering position for him on a tramp starship. Go now. Dave does.

The author does a great job of using Dave to bring us into a reality of interplanetary travel and settlement. Dave learns a bit about repairing/maintaining various parts of the ship. But we are spared the description of weeks of travel between destinations. This keeps the story/action moving and interesting.

Dave has all sorts of unusual challenges tossed his way. His biological mother's new-ish husband wants him dead for political reasons. Dave ends up being taken by pirates/buccaneers (there apparently is a useful difference). He just happens to have a skill that he can use to negotiate for his release.

This leads to one major criticism of the book. Coincidence. While every book has to have a specific set of narrative circumstances occur for the book to make sense, it begins to strain credulity when, later in the book, so many of Dave's issues are either caused by and/or resolved by people that were tangentially introduced earlier in the book. And in most cases, those people all know each other in some capacity or another independent of their relationship with Dave. The world is a small place, but it ain't that small. Also, there are more than a few occasions where a character that is of interest to Dave for one reason just happens to have the skill set needed to solve an unrelated problem that Dave is dealing with.

A second criticism is basic spelling, grammar, and wordsmithery. A common complaint that I hear about books published by Baen is that there isn't any clear indication of editorial input. The spelling and grammar errors were just enough to tip my inner editor. There were a few instances where I found the phrasing of a sentence or a paragraph needed to require required* re-reading a few times to determine what the author was intending to say. 

A third criticism is how the author treats a sizeable number of female characters. They are "hot". Hot as in "Hot babe sittin' beside me in my 'Cuda." At least one other review notes that female characters are "frustratingly" undeveloped. With the exception of Dave and one or maybe two other main characters, all of the other characters are undeveloped.

Take away (or diminish) two of those criticisms and this becomes a solid 4-star review (maybe 4.5) as the author does a very good job of incorporating a lot of real-world social structures and issues. He dials them up a bit and projects current trends to create a believable future where people are leaving Earth to avoid overregulation. He also points out that leaving Earth is not a panacea; some new polities develop some pretty horrendous beliefs and corporations really aren't to be trusted.

The slow burn in the book is about social structures and trust. Dave succeeds because he demonstrates himself to be worthy of trust primarily because his life has shown him that trust is the only real value a person has. Gangs, families, business partners, corporations, neighborhoods, cities, and societies all rely on high levels of trust if they are going to continue to exist.

The characters and plot were compelling enough to keep me reading all the way to the end. The conclusion was satisfying. I'd like to read more about all of these characters in the future and see if the author can develop them more fully.

*Read the text that was striked out.  Read the replacement.  Which one reads more clearly.  This book contained too many similar passages.  

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Review: A Touch of Death

A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. That accurately represents my experience.

Some sort of biological/chemical warfare has dramatically altered the Earth. The survivors lived underground for years and upon emerging, had to live with the resulting environment.

The rules that work for a society limited by the needs of living underground are grafted onto a society with much more room above ground. The new government is quite authoritarian and forms a sort of modern royalty caste. Those with connections get the goodies.

Within the narrative of the book, it is suggested that attempting to live beyond the range of this society is a death sentence. Yet people have done just that and survived.

There is an underground/resistance movement of sorts.

The biggest plot hole for me was the suggestion that people couldn't live anywhere else despite there being strong proof that they could. Simply leaving is the one solution that is left largely unexplored.

The other weakness is the contrivance of main character's dilemma. Two characters just happen to be hiking when a storm comes and drives them into an abandoned building. That building just happened to be the place where a specific scientist had done experimental research years before. Residue from one of the research projects was still present and the characters become compromised. Too many coincidences all stacked up together.

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Review: Strange Company

Strange Company by Nick Cole
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review. It is closer to 3.5 stars, but I couldn't round it up.

I have become a big fan of Nick Cole's work as a solo author. He writes convincing characters and compelling action sequences. Those skills are widely present in this book. The back half of the book as our heroes fought a series of running gun battles was engaging and almost captivating.

However....spoilers lie ahead

Review: King of the Bastards

King of the Bastards by Brian Keene
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review which is a fair evaluation of my experience with this book.

Our protagonist (??!?) is a Conan knock-off who has all of the bravado and toughness but none of the nuance. He conquers and kills because that is what he does. Others are expected to submit to his will. That apparently includes raping women just because.

This book is an amalgamation of cosmic horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

Our protagonist is out adventuring when his group is attacked by various monsters from the ocean's depths as well as raiders arriving across the sea. He and one of his crew survive after running aground on some foreign land. They beat off the remainder of their attackers and are discovered by some of the locals.

The locals are afraid of some wizard that lives on the top of a mountain. In exchange for agreeing to help rid the locals of the wizard, the locals agree to travel with our protagonist as he sails for his home that has been taken over by raiders working for the deity that fomented in the original attacks.

There are two primary issues with this book.

1. Our protagonist is a cheap Conan knock-off.
2. The author is attempting a pastiche of the original RE Howard stories, but he is unable to consistently use language that is in keeping with that pastiche. He uses terms and phrases that are not appropriate for a Conan-type character.

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