Planet of the Apes is another book which has sat on my bookshelf unread for a long time. I've seen the 1968 movie many times going back to grade-schooPlanet of the Apes is another book which has sat on my bookshelf unread for a long time. I've seen the 1968 movie many times going back to grade-school sleepovers. It was probably the first science fiction move I saw and I remember being shocked and horrified the first time I saw it as a young lad.
Planet of the Apes the novel was a fun read for me being intimately familiar with the original movie and it's sequels (and the TV series) because of its differences with the visual adaptations.
The novel begins with a space faring couple, Jinn and Phyllis, on an interstellar vacation finding an actual hand-written manuscript in a bottle drifting through space. The rest of the novel is the story their narration of what is on the manuscript, as written by a space explorer Ulysse Merou, who, along with two other earthmen, set out to explore the Betelgeuse solar system and upon arrival decide to explore an earth-like planet they've discovered. Oh oh!
Ulysse tells the rest of the story in the first person. The original movie adaptation initially roughly follows the plot of the novel but about half-way through veers off in to a different direction. The movie borrows the likable chimpanzee characters Zira and Cornelius from the books as well as ape culture with its three-group leadership structure: the chimpanzees being the intellectuals, the orangutans establishing law and scientific theories, and the gorillas being the warriors and responsible for law enforcement. Humans are all mute and are hunted for sport and used for medical experimentation to better the lives of apes.
The ending of Ulysse's adventure has some unexpected twists and turns. After we learn how Ulysee's story ends we jump back in the spaceship of Jinn and Phyllis who discuss what they've just read and share their opinions. The novel wraps up nicely. Checking in at only 128 pages with short chapters, this book moves quickly never drags.
I think any fans of the 1968 movie will appreciate this novel and have fun comparing the similarities and differences of the respective plots. And will have visions of Kim Hunter's "Dr. Zira" and Roddy McDowall's "Dr. Cornelius" in their heads the whole time. 4.5 stars.
This is the sixth Wyndham novel I've read and it had a different feel than the others, most of which I would say could be classified as his usual "sofThis is the sixth Wyndham novel I've read and it had a different feel than the others, most of which I would say could be classified as his usual "soft apocalypse" science fiction. I thought Trouble with Lichen was slower than some of his other novels but overall I enjoyed it very much and thought the ending was satisfying. Plus, Wyndham showed again how ahead of his time he was - this science fiction novel written in 1960 had a female protagonist which was unusual at the time.
In Trouble with Lichen, Diana Brackley a biochemist, discovers that a certain Chinese lichen had strange anti-aging effects on milk while working at in a lab. She and another biochemist Francis Saxover, run separate experiments in private and discover independently that the lichen was able to slow the cellular metabolic rate and extend the lifespan of living creatures injected with it.
Both biochemists initially keep the news to themselves and use their discovery in different ways: Francis keeps it to his family and Diana opens a beauty salon to treat primarily wealthy women in London. But secrets are hard to keep and what happens to Francis and Diana and their lichen once knowledge of it gets out?
The novel spends more time focused on Diana's storyline and the end of the novel has some surprising twists and turns.
I listened to the audiobook which was superbly narrated by English actress Vanessa Kirby. It was a short novel, only about seven hours in audio, and not my favorite Wyndham work but the strong ending sold me. ...more
This is a fun two-part short story which fans of Severance may find interesting, although it doesn't provide any new information from what the show haThis is a fun two-part short story which fans of Severance may find interesting, although it doesn't provide any new information from what the show has offered so far (I am halfway through second season).
The first part of this book is the story of Lumon Industries employee Peg Kincaid. Peg quits her job as a school bus driver and then gets hired at Lumon and undergoes Severance which is a surgical procedure which allows the separation of ones work and personal lives' memories. The story is told as a letter from Peg to a local newspaper after she uncovers some things about Lumon after managing to communicate with her work "innie". I thought this story was just OK and don't understand how Lumon's "message finder" system didn't stop this type of communication which is impossible in the TV show.
The second half of this book is the Microdata Refiner's Orientation Booklet which was fun to read but didn't provide any new information to fans of the show. I think new fans of the show would benefit from reading this booklet as it goes in to detail what our heroes Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan are doing while working. It covers everything from health and hygiene, dress code, inter-department fraternization, the wellness center, rewards, and core principles. It's hilarious.
I saw Ballard's Hello America on my bookshelf and read the blurb and thought I had already read it but after further review I discovered its setting wI saw Ballard's Hello America on my bookshelf and read the blurb and thought I had already read it but after further review I discovered its setting was something I read before in Ballard's The Drought. In both books, the primary characters are traveling through drought-stricken lands.
In Hello America, set in the early 22nd century, the United States' climate has been severely altered by a dam built by the Russians in the Bering Strait. The dam altered the ocean currents and the end result was the majority of the US turning in to a desert with an exception of lands west of the Rockies being turned in to a tropical rain forest complete with exotic animals and plant life. Most citizens of the United States relocated to colonies on the other continents, and there are very few people left in the country.
The story kicks off with a steamship expedition from Europe consisting of folks with a variety of skills to the US to explore and look for the cause of rising radioactivity, which was detected in Europe. After scraping the ship's hull on the fallen Statue of Liberty, they land in New York City and begin to explore and set up scientific experiments.
I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book in which the group explore New York, along the east coast, and then head west. A number of interesting discoveries are made in the strange arid setting. Once they get to Las Vegas and discover other folks it felt like the novel dragged somewhat. And like many other future dystopian novels I've read the characters in Vegas were fascinated with the history / historical figures / pop culture of when the author wrote the novel. You mean to tell me that one hundred years from now people will be obsessed over the criminals and presidents of today? I don't buy that. I don't go around talking about Calvin Coolidge or Baby Face Nelson. It's as if there weren't any notable people of note to admire between 1989 and 2100.
The ending was strong and redeemed the one-third or so which I felt dragged and was sometimes nonsensical. The central mystery was solved and the climax was quite intense and dramatic. I would recommend this to any fans of the dystopian genre or any fans of Ballard. It is a short novel and I found the majority of it entertaining. ...more
Thunderbird is the sequel to Ancient Shores which I thought had one of the worst endings of any book I've ever read. I thought Thunderbird was a betteThunderbird is the sequel to Ancient Shores which I thought had one of the worst endings of any book I've ever read. I thought Thunderbird was a better novel but still frustrating and suffered from the same issues as its predecessor, and I'm wavering between two and three stars on this one. I did like the reveal at the end and the shocking final scene but the majority of this novel was frustrating and full of too much meaningless goings on.
Thunderbird picks up right were Ancient Shores left off. The focus of the plot are the too few "away missions" taken by astronauts / scientists / random people through the portal discovered in the first book. Of course we have the continuation of the political drama with a paranoid President and the Native American tribal leaders of the land the portal is located on. For some reason the President wants the portal destroyed because the technology which no one understands would crash the global economy somehow. The tribal leaders want the best for their people and wonder how they'll manage the positive (monetary) and negative (influx of people from all over the globe) effects of having the portal on their land.
Too much of the novel is jibber-jabber between secondary and characters, and not enough time is spent exploring the several locations the portal can transport those who enter. The missions through the portal are fairly dull, with the exception of one where a linguistic expert is able to establish communications with aliens inhabiting one of the worlds. Eventually, the author reveals what the different locations represent. The ghostly spinning-cloud alien returns in this novel as well but we learn virtually nothing of them. There are a lot of questions left unanswered.
I had a hard time getting excited to read this book. It dragged often and wasn't hard to put down. I did like the reveals but there was too much blabbering between people I didn't care about and not enough science fiction. Still, it was interesting having the mysteries reveled somewhat and it least the story arc was resolved....more
The Wanderers was not what this science fiction geek expected. Having just watched and greatly enjoyed (unpopular opinion) the movie Slingshot I was eThe Wanderers was not what this science fiction geek expected. Having just watched and greatly enjoyed (unpopular opinion) the movie Slingshot I was envisioning a similar experience, after all both stories featured a three-person crew on a long-term space mission, although in the book the mission was a seventeen-month simulation in preparation for the real thing.
The Wanderers was more of a character study not only of the three space travelers but also of a particular member of each of their families. The movie was more of a deep-space mystery wrapped in hard science fiction. The book was relatively light on science fiction in comparison.
I think the book was successful in developing the three characters and their featured loved ones. On the mission were American astronaut Helen Kane, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kuznetsov, and Japanese astronaut Yoshihiro Tanaka. All are employees of a private space company, Prime Space, whose goal is to land the first humans on Mars. To prepare the space travelers for their mission Prime Space constructed a detailed space ships (one to Mars, and one from Mars) in a remote part of the Utah desert to simulate what the actual mission would like. The space travelers were monitored closely around the clock to gauge how well they would get along and how their mental and physical health would hold up.
The three family members consisted of Helen's daughter, Mireille, a struggling young actress trying to cope with the recurring loss of her mother on space missions; Sergei’s 16 year old son Dmitri, who is gay but doesn't feel accepted by his family; and Yoshi’s wife Madoka who doesn't seem to fit in to society while her husband is away. Additionally, there are chapters devoted to the experience of Prime Space employee Lucas who is assigned to be the mission contact for Mireille. He gave an interesting behind the scenes perspective to the mission.
I liked the way the book was structured- short chapters titled by which character would be the focus. I listed on Audible and the narrator did a good job changing accents to differentiate the characters.
What the reader gets in this novel is a deep dive in to the thoughts and emotions of the characters, all of whom were thoroughly fleshed out in flashbacks and current experiences. What would it be like to be in cramped quarters for seventeen months, and on the most important space mission since Apollo 11? What would it be like if your closest family member left for 17 months, only to return and leave again for a slightly longer period? These are the questions the novel takes on, not so much addressing the details of the science behind the simulation and subsequent mission.
There were some odd things which happened during the simulation which I thought would lead to plot twists but they did not. I thought the ending was non-eventful. I'm giving this 2.5 stars as I thought was better than just OK. Another unpopular opinion....more
Frankenstein is another classic (1818) novel that I'm late to the party for. I've seen a movie adaption or parts of one I think, watched The Munsters,Frankenstein is another classic (1818) novel that I'm late to the party for. I've seen a movie adaption or parts of one I think, watched The Munsters, and eaten Frankenberry cereal but Shelley's book is far superior to all which it has inspired.
I really liked how the novel with structured, with the changing narratives from three points of view with most of the novel told as a flashback by the young scientist Victor Frankenstein who uses human body parts from graves to create an eight-foot creature and reanimates it using electricity. I was surprised how little Shelley describes the process of the creature's construction and animation as the inspired movies spend a lot of time showing how this happens.
Of the three narratives, Captain Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the Creature, I found the Creature's most affecting. Captain Walton, who is sailing a ship to the North Pole, tells of his encounter with Victor Frankenstein in the form of letters to his sister back in England, and Victor Frankenstein tells his life story to Captain Walton while aboard Walton's ship, and also through letters from his father, cousin Elizabeth, and best friend Henry Clerval. Consisting of 24 short chapters and four letters, I found this to be a quick read. Even though I knew the basic outline to the Frankenstein tale I was pleasantly surprised to find I had no idea where any of this was going.
My copy, maybe all post-1818 editions do(?), contained a very interesting author's note which Shelley wrote in 1831 in which she explains her inspiration for the book and what alterations she made from the original 1818 edition.
Written in 1896, The Island of Dr. Moreau is an early science fiction treatment of what makes a human and the ethics of biological experimentation on Written in 1896, The Island of Dr. Moreau is an early science fiction treatment of what makes a human and the ethics of biological experimentation on sentient creatures. I found it it be sad and disturbing.
Our protagonist, Englishman Edward Prendick, is saved by a passing ship after the ship he's on wrecks in the south Pacific. The ship that saves him is unfortunately full of animals on its way to the infamous island. The man who saves Prendick, the doctor's assistant Montgomery, mentions that the labs of a Dr. Moreau are on the island and Prendick recalls the name as Moreau worked as a physiologist in London until his horrifying biological experiments were made public which caused him to flee from England to parts unknown. Prendick is taken care of on the island but is kept in a hut away from the labs.
While on the island Prendick eventually encounters Moreau's ghastly creations, some of which exhibit a subhuman intelligence, and hears the screams of the animals being experimented on. He eventually discovers exactly what horrors are taking place and confronts Montgomery and Moreau, and the plot picks up steam from that point on. Things do not go well for any of the characters, human and proto-human.
I listened to this on Chirp and Gordon Griffin did a fantastic job telling this chilling tale. This story is typical HG Wells - cutting edge science fiction for his time. While the subject matter was dark and more bizarre than what I'm used to for HG Wells I still really liked this despite the dreadful imagery it planted in my mind. ...more
The Invisible Man is another classic I should've read long ago. This is another novel ahead of its time (written in 1897) based on an interesting scieThe Invisible Man is another classic I should've read long ago. This is another novel ahead of its time (written in 1897) based on an interesting science fiction premise of altering the optics of matter to render oneself invisible. Actually, our antagonist and main character, scientist Jack Griffin, was partially successfully performing his experiment first on a cat. So for a while there was a partially visible cat roaming around the English countryside.
Jack Griffith was completely successful in changing his body so that it neither reflects nor absorbs light but could not turn it back to normal and so his adventure begins. Due to his condition, the only way to initially acquire clothes, food, and money was through nefarious means. But once he was found out and had to go back to stealth mode, he had to enlist the help of a down-and-out-fellow to transport his precious science diaries and stash of cash. Eventually word gets out about him throughout the countryside and life begins to get progressive bad for the invisible man, and he becomes increasing desperate.
Going in to this novel I thought I would have a lot of questions about how the whole premise would even be feasible but Wells does delve quite a bit in to the science and not just resort to hand waving. I questioned the way some of the villagers handled their encounters with the invisible man but then again I read this in 2024 and probably have a different take on due to more experience with wacky science fiction shenanigans than your average late 19th century reader.
All in all this was a short, disturbingly fun read. One really has to appreciate the science fiction ideas which came out the mind of a fellow born in 1866. ...more
H.G. Wells never disappoints. His science fiction was so ahead of its time. I bought The Dream for a pittance on the Chirp app and was happy to see thH.G. Wells never disappoints. His science fiction was so ahead of its time. I bought The Dream for a pittance on the Chirp app and was happy to see that it was narrated by Edoardo Ballerini whose voice I remember from Trust, War and Peace, and Stella Maris. He's fantastic.
The Dream is set around 4,000 AD. A biologist named Sarnac and his lady friend Sunray are on vacation in the mountains and with a group of other folks visit two-thousand year old ruins being excavated in the area.
After this visit Sarnac takes a nap and wakes up from a vivid dream which he recounts to Sunray and the others in the group they are with. What was this dream? It was experiencing the entire life of a young chap, Harry Mortimer Smith, born in the late 1800s in a small town in the south of England up until his death the 1920s. Pretty much the whole novel is Sarnac's telling of the dream with occasional interruptions from Sunray and the others, looking for an explanation of a particular life event or just wanting to discuss primitive life in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
I found this method of story telling fascinating - Harry's life wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the time but was never dull and really wonderfully told with a lot of emotion and feeling especially once Harry finds love and nears his end. What made this novel great to me were the reactions and commentary from the 41st Century folks - interesting points of view and really not that different than ones progressive modern 21st century have. Topics such as equality of the sexes, war (Harry fights in WWI), birth control, animal hunting/ abuse / extinction were all bantered about. And as an atheist, my favorite topic of discussion was regarding religion. As Harry's life goes on and the reader (and he) can see the end coming one is totally swallowed up in the drama.
In the interesting epilogue the 41st century people try to come to terms with the cause / reason for such a detailed dream to come out of Sarnac's head. Was this just something invented by his brain, or is reincarnation real? The end of Harry and the attempt of the 41st century people to make sense of what happened made for a poignant and fascinating end.
The snippets below are from my favorite part of the novel. Harry longed for information but education was considered unnecessary and even something to avoid to some, such as Mr. Moggeridge.
"Old Mr. Moggeridge waved his hand in front of himself with an expression of face as though it was I who emitted an evil odor. 'Geology!' he said. 'French—the language of Voltaire. Let me tell you one thing plainly, my boy, your mother is quite right in objecting to these classes. Geology—geology is—All Wrong. It has done more harm in the last fifty years than any other single influence whatever. It undermines faith. It sows doubt. I do not speak ignorantly, Mortimer. I have seen lives wrecked and destroyed and souls lost by this same geology. I am an old learned man, and I have examined the work of many of these so-called geologists—Huxley, Darwin and the like; I have examined it very, very carefully and very, very tolerantly, and I tell you they are all, all of them, hopelessly mistaken men.... And what good will such knowledge do you? Will it make you happier? Will it make you better? No, my lad. But I know of something that will. Something older than geology. Older and better. Sarah dear, give me that book there, please. Yes'—reverentially�'the Book.'
"His wife handed him a black-bound Bible, with its cover protected against rough usage by a metal edge. 'Now, my boy,' he said, 'let me give you this—this old familiar book, with an old man's blessing. In that is all the knowledge worth having, all the knowledge you will ever need. You will always find something fresh in it and always something beautiful.' He held it out to me.
"'Thank you, Mam,' I said, made shift to stow her gift in my pocket, and with the Bible in one hand and the empty coal-scuttle-lining in the other, escaped.
"I returned wrathfully to the basement and deposited my presents on the window-sill. Some impulse made me open the Bible, and inside the cover I found, imperfectly erased, the shadowy outlines of these words, printed in violet ink: 'Not to be Removed from the Waiting-Room.' I puzzled over the significance of this for some time."
I've grown to love melancholic and dystopian fiction, and Klara and the Sun was both and right in my wheelhouse.
Set in the near future, this novel isI've grown to love melancholic and dystopian fiction, and Klara and the Sun was both and right in my wheelhouse.
Set in the near future, this novel is mostly told from the point of view of Klara, a life-sized AF (artificial friend / android) who is adopted by the family of Josie, a 14-year old girl who is battling serious health issues. Klara is as human as an android can get, and programmed to be a loyal human companion and perfect friend - she picks up on emotions and can interpret mannerisms and expressions expertly. But even though Klara is hyper-intelligent when it comes to human relations she knows little of how the world works. For example, she is solar powered but doesn't understand what the sun truly is; she knows it is the life-giver and it moves across the sky during the day but personifies it and doesn't understand where it goes at night.
Klara's ignorance of how the world works makes her an interesting narrator. The prose is often times clunky and unconventional as she describes what's going on in her world or relates her interactions with humans. The whole time reading this I felt a little off in an interesting sort of way.
In the novel's future setting, some kids, Josie included, are lifted (genetically enhanced) to increase their intelligence, but it comes with the price of possible health deterioration and that's what Josie is experiencing. Josie's older sister died due to the effects of being lifted. Josie's family lives out in the country and her best friend is a boy named Rick whose family is their only neighbor. Rick is not lifted and is therefore faced with an uphill battle competing against the lifted in his life but he and Josie become best friends and are planning a life together as young loves are apt to do.
We follow Klara's life from her beginnings in a retail store window through her experiences as part of Josie's family. As the novel progresses, Josie and Klara's relationship grows and Klara becomes an important part of her life as she deals with her serious health issues and typical teenage drama. The big questions become: will Josie overcome her malady and have a future? will Josie and Rick will continue as best friends or more? and, what will eventually happen to Klara?
As I saw the remaining pages dwindle I couldn't put this down. What was going to happen to my girl Klara now that she felt virtually human? This was probably a 4 or 4.5 star read for me until the final of the six chapters which wiped me out. I just loved the ending and haven't stopped thinking of this novel.
I recently read Ishiguro's Remains of the Day which also was a 5 star read for me and very affecting. For some reason his Never Let Me Go didn't have the same affect as Remains of the Day or Klara and the Sun. I might have to give it another go.
This was the July read for the Apocalypse Whenever Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group....more
Sawyer won the 1995 Nebula Award with this novel. It felt like two novels to me as the plot seemed to take a turn a ways in from the original idea preSawyer won the 1995 Nebula Award with this novel. It felt like two novels to me as the plot seemed to take a turn a ways in from the original idea presented. It was set in the year 2011 or 16 years in the future so it was interesting to take in how Sawyer projected our technological progress from 1995, when the internet was just getting going, to current times.
The story centers around brain scientist Peter Hobson, his cheating wife Cathy, and his computer genius friend, Sarkar. Peter develops an EEG machine which detects an electrical impulse leaving the brain as a person dies which is deemed the "soulwave", since this wave is interpreted the soul leaving the body, to the delight of all who believe in life after death. He explores how this discovery changes society.
Then, Peter and Sarkar use Peter's technology and Sarkar's to create three AI versions of Peter. In the meantime, Peter's wife Cathy gets drunk and sleeps with a coworker, which she claims was a mistake but apparently hooks up him two more times on separate occasions. Peter's AI triplets have access to everything on the net and pretty soon mischief happens to those close to Cathy and the novel turns in to a crime whodunit.
The novel was based on some interesting premises which opened up all kinds of philosophical and moral dilemmas. A good read if not a bit dated.
I listened to this on Audible, and the chapter breaks in the audio file were random and did not match the narration. This has happened a number of times with Audible. Irritating. ...more
This is my least favorite of the Robert J Sawyer books I've read. I'm a fan of the time travel subgenre of science fiction and this book was touted inThis is my least favorite of the Robert J Sawyer books I've read. I'm a fan of the time travel subgenre of science fiction and this book was touted in a blurb as a different take on time traveling back to the age of the dinosaurs, to the Mesozoic to be exact. It sure was a different take.
Our two time traveler scientists happen to be two brilliant fellows who unfortunately are two legs in a love triangle. I'm not sure why the leaders of the most important scientific mission in the history of mankind would pick two people with built-in personal tension between them.
When the two scientists go back in time they discover that the gravity in only half what is normal in the present and there are visitors already there from another planet in our solar system. The aliens happen to be in a war with yet another planet in the solar system and are using dinosaurs and their size and strength to aid them in their war effort. The aliens befriend the future earth men but all is not what it seems and tension builds as the plot races on. Our protagonists ultimately discover what is causing the drop in earth's gravity and the true nature of the aliens, but can they get back to the present in one piece? Oh, and remember, their actions could cause a divergence in the time line, like in Back to the Future.
This is a short novel and a very fast read. There is a lot of action. A person who enjoys time travel novels might enjoy this but for me the premise just got more ridiculous as it went on. There were just too many "HUH?!" moments. I still have a few more Sawyer novels on my shelf so he'll get another chance to entertain me ....more
This short novel translated from French started slow for me but gradually became un-put-downable. It has sort of a John Wyndham soft apocalyptic / HugThis short novel translated from French started slow for me but gradually became un-put-downable. It has sort of a John Wyndham soft apocalyptic / Hugh Howey Wool vibe to it. There are no violent explosions, gunfights, or zombies. The plot centers around a group of women relying on their shared friendship, compassion, and humanity in order to survive this strange predicament they find themselves in.
The premise: thirty-nine women and an unnamed young girl are held prisoner in a cage underground. The women can remember their past lives to a degree but have no memory of how they were taken captive. The young girl has no memories from before her time in the cage. The only contact the women have are the all-male guards who give them food and and keep and eye on them all times, but never speak to them. The women have no privacy and any signs of physical contact between them or chatter at the guards results in a whipping.
An alarm goes off one day and the guards all bolt, and luckily the women are able to get out and escape up in to the outside world. They have access to the well stocked supplies, frozen and canned food stores, and other rooms in their underground bunker and must make a choice about what to do and whether to leave or not, not knowing what is out there in the world.
The novel is told in first person by the unnamed young girl who is recounting her past life - from her time in the cage to her last day. She is an interesting narrator as she has no knowledge of how the world works and has to rely on what her friends amongst the thirty-nine other women tell her.
The cause of the apocalypse is never stated and the things the women discover are never explained. It's all a mystery. The author does a great job balancing the hopefulness of the narrator with the bleakness of her situation, right up to the poignant ending. This is a gem. 4.5 stars....more
In its beginning, The Bear felt like The Road: an unnamed father and his unnamed child (a girl in this novel) are trying to survive in a post-apocalypIn its beginning, The Bear felt like The Road: an unnamed father and his unnamed child (a girl in this novel) are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. But it didn't take long to realize that the two were maybe the only humans left on the planet, living off the land peacefully in a cabin.
Initially, there is little to no drama -the dad is busy teaching his daughter how to survive, and the two regularly make a trek up a mountain to visit the mother's grave - but when dad decides it is time to hike to the ocean to replenish their salt stores the plot begins to take shape. As the book's blub states - there is an accident and the girl finds herself trying to survive on her own in an unfamiliar setting, with winter on its way.
This is a tough one for me to rate. What I liked: *the melancholy tone - sadness over the loss of a parent was ever-present and daily life was a struggle. There were a number of poignant scenes, especially at the end. Very affecting. *realistic and detailed descriptions of the nature in the natural settings and activities such as hunting and fishing. Some hunting scenes were gruesome but when a person's survival is on the line suffering is part of the equation.
What I didn't like: *this is a dystopian fantasy book. I'm not a fan of fantasy. No spoilers but about halfway through the title character is introduced and with it some fantastical elements that made me groan initially. But by the end of the book I had bought in. *the effects of winter living / survival after some life-threatening crises. I'm not sure if a person could've survived what the girl went through in the extreme winter conditions she faced. Maybe a person could, but it just seemed like a stretch. I know how fast my fingers begin to freeze if I'm outside in frigid weather with no gloves.
This is a tough one to rate but based on my strong feelings after I finished the last page I'm going to give it four stars. It is a quick read, and I'd recommend to someone who likes some fantasy sprinkled in with their melancholic dystopian fiction.
Andy Weir won not one but two Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction for The Martian and Project Hail Mary, the latter being one of my top tAndy Weir won not one but two Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction for The Martian and Project Hail Mary, the latter being one of my top ten favorite science fiction novels. When I saw this collection of his short fiction on sale at Audible I decided to take the plunge.
There are nine stories in this with most of them being very short, and his most well know short story, "The Egg", as the finale. "The Egg" is a mind blower and the standout, and I suppose could be considered science fiction or fantasy. The rest of them vary genre-wise but all have a surprise twist ending which I didn't see coming. A re-listen will make you realize how clever the writing is. Some would have made good Twilight Zone episodes.
As I've gotten old I've found that I prefer chunky novels over rapid-fire short stories. And short story collections are hard for me to give a rating to as some I tend to enjoy and some I tend forget. I enjoyed this collection, and it is worth a listen for fans of any genre. ...more
This book didn't age well. Written in 1951 probably for a teen to 20-something male audience, it maybe reflects how genders behaved towards one anotheThis book didn't age well. Written in 1951 probably for a teen to 20-something male audience, it maybe reflects how genders behaved towards one another but not very appealing 73 years later. And I thought the 70s were gross. I understand books are often a product of when they were written but the sexism in this is over the top compared to other Golden Age science fiction I've read.
Heinlein presents a really neat concept: some extraterrestrial slugs (nicknamed the Masters) first land in Iowa and begin taking over humans by crawling up their backs and taking over their brain functions, and also have access to that person's knowledge. Tricksy! Our three main characters show up to investigate the spacecraft and the plot proceeds with our heroes spearheading a full on battle against the Masters. The group is lead by the Old Man, a super-smart former military guy who always seems to be one step ahead of the other two. Next is his prized agent Sam, a dashing tough guy who also narrates the book and never misses and opportunity to describe the physical attributes of the women he meets. Lastly is Mary, also a top secret agent, who is always packing several weapons and who we are initially lead to believe is physically and mentally tough.
About two-thirds of the way through the plot started getting weirder. For instance, in the US it is determined that everyone must walk around naked so it can be determined whether or not they are wearing a slug. And then Mary finally succumbs to Sam's advances and becomes his puppet as well. She goes from a kick-ass secret agent to a quivering subservient sex object. And look out if Sam gets mad
So to sum it up - cool idea, pretty well told tale, but some of what went on took me out of the story at times.
This was a freebie on Audible and the narration by Bronson Pinchot was pretty good except Mary's voice became a bit too breathy and meek by the end....more
While I think Richard Powers is an excellent writer and the topics he bases his fiction on are interesting to me, the second half of The Overstory andWhile I think Richard Powers is an excellent writer and the topics he bases his fiction on are interesting to me, the second half of The Overstory and the whole of Bewilderment fell flat for me. Bewilderment features a melancholy tone and a “humans bad� theme like The Overstory but tells a more personal tale, focused on the two main characters -a widowed astrobiologist Theo Byrne and his grade-school son Robin who is struggling with autism and attention-deficit disorder. The gist of the plot is Theo trying to help Robin navigate the pitfalls of growing up while the project that Theo is working on is in jeopardy of being cut by an anti-science political regime running a near-future USA. Theo does not believe in medicating his son and is struggling addressing his sons up-and-down and sometimes violent behavior at school and at home.
Right off the bat I was irritated with Theo’s parenting skills. “Parenting� used lightly. Any parent knows that part of parenting is teaching right and wrong and knowing when to be a parent and when to be a friend and Theo seemed focused on the latter and was a bit patronizing. I don’t care what malady someone has, there is such a thing as acting with human decency. He is against prescribing drugs to help his son but goes all-in on some experimental neural electronic brain stimulation treatment. Early in the book Theo and Robin read one of my favorite books Flowers for Algernon, and the plot of Bewilderment resonates with it.
I really liked the theoretical science fiction aspects of the novel. Theo models extraterrestrial worlds based on findings of deep space telescopes and uses software to “visit� these worlds, and lets Robin partake in these visits as well. Theo laments the fact that the current administration is considering cancelling the successor to the Kepler Space Telescope (2009-2018). This didn’t make sense to me as the James Webb telescope (launched December 2021) and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) (launched April 2018) essentially replaced Kepler with better technology. The satellite Theo was hoping for would have orbited in deeper space than anything humans currently have now, but still all the hand-wringing about the loss of Kepler seemed odd when two superior satellites were recently launched to replace it. And not mentioned. OK, probably nitpicking.
This book is really political � leaning heavily to the left. I was fine with this and the anti-religious jabs the author dished out on occasion but I think the heavy-handedness of Powers� message and the fact that he incessantly beats you over the head with environmentalism and abuses of flora and fauna by bad humans got a bit much at times and would be a turnoff for some readers. There is a even a Greta Thunberg character thrown in for good measure. Running America is a far-right Trump-like presidency and Theo and his fellow scientists take shots at the president and the administration’s anti-science policies. All this sounded very familiar to what we heard in the US in near recent current events. Powers paints a more dystopian picture than what actually went on scientifically speaking during the Trump administration and throws in some human rights restrictions in to the mix, but the reader will get where he is coming from and it's sadly not all that far fetched.
I listened to this on Audible and narrator Edoardo Ballerini did a fine job going back and forth between the dad and kid voices, and keeping the minor characters voices straight. There is a lot of good science fiction and interesting near future dystopian ideas in this novel but I in the end there were too many things that didn't click with me.
Death to Anyone Who Reads This is the sequel to Hugh Howey and Elinor Taylor's excellent short novel The Balloon Hunter, which I recently finished. ThDeath to Anyone Who Reads This is the sequel to Hugh Howey and Elinor Taylor's excellent short novel The Balloon Hunter, which I recently finished. The action picks up right after The Balloon Hunter ends and we have the same main characters in the same setting, near a Costco in a post-apocalyptic America. This is also a short novel, only 100 pages in my print copy and a quick read. Whereas The Balloon Hunter was presented as written on a series of postcards, this novel was presented as written in a journal. Very unique and creative they are.
Hugh Howey knows how to tell a depressing bleak tale, and Elinor Taylor is know for her dark flash fiction so I expected these two novels to be deliciously grim. I found this novel to be easier to digest as the entries were longer than what was found on postcards in The Balloon Hunter and it was easier to follow.
I loved this. The twist ending absolutely blew my mind and I immediately went back and started reading over again. I'm not going to write anything more about either book as I would hate to give out or even hint at any spoilers. Any fan of Hugh Howey's fiction will enjoy these two short dark gems. ...more
Earthborn is the fifth and final installment of the five book series called Homecoming. The series is originally set on the planet Harmony, inhabited Earthborn is the fifth and final installment of the five book series called Homecoming. The series is originally set on the planet Harmony, inhabited by humans descended from people who fled a ruined Earth a long time ago. Harmony's inhabitants are monitored by an orbiting satellite called the Oversoul. Somehow, all the people of Harmony are genetically altered so that the Oversoul can speak to their minds and influence their thoughts and actions.
This system was set up by those who fled Earth so that the Oversoul could maintain peace on the planet. It was able to prevent the invention of certain technologies which led to weaponry, etc., which ultimately led to the downfall of Earth. Well, when the series starts the Oversoul is getting old and worn down and it is losing its ability to perform its duties so it recruited a group of humans to trek to the hidden spaceport and return to Earth to get an updated software upload from the Keeper of the Earth which is the planet's central intelligence and which presumably spawned the Oversoul.
In book four, the humans arrive on Earth to find two other sentient species living there which have replaced them and things go predictably bad, and factions are made and fights are fought. Read my previous review for a summary of that book.
Fast forward hundreds of years later to when Earthborn is set. The human decedents from Harmony have assimilated with the other two species of intelligent life, flourished and established states, and (surprise) are still not getting along with themselves. One of the surviving humans from Harmony survives in their orbiting starship Basilica - she is kept in suspended animation but woken on occasion by the Oversoul to monitor the goings-on on Earth.
In all this time the Oversoul has not found the Keeper of the Earth. The Keeper seems to influence the dreams of some of the humans but that's about it. It didn't take long for this novel to start to feel like the rubbish supernatural and spiritual dreck one would find in our "holy" books. Omnipotent hidden god influencing its primitive subjects through dreams - sounds familiar. UGH. I'm aware that Card patterned this series after the Mormon story so I should not have been surprised when the science fiction was overpowered by its religious tone.
I thought Earthborn and the whole Homecoming series concluded in a very unsatisfying way. The issues brought up in the early novels concerning the decay of control of Harmony's citizens and the Oversoul's future were long cast by the wayside in order to tell the story of the nebulous Keeper and it's religious-hungry inhabitants. And this novel dragged for me. It was slog. I was bored. But I had to know how this series was going to end so I finished.
I rated other four novels three stars as I enjoyed them just enough to keep reading. I really didn't like this novel at all. What a way to start the new year. ...more
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