science fiction

Playing Catch Up on my Spring Reading – Books #18-22

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After last month’s lengthy and much needed blog post, I realized I needed to play catch up in other regards as well.  I would like to spend more time on the creative, personal, as well as fun, but I cannot do that if I let these older reviews I put off clog my blog space.  Not to short change any of them, mind you, but after so much time, I cannot do them much justice in their own lengthy posts anyway.  So, here are some short rundown’s on 5 of the books from my Spring Reading.

Really, all I need to say here is that I have yet another example of a book that just really isn’t quite up my alley.  Tananarive Due’s The Good House is not a bad book, but it isn’t really my style. In short: Angela Toussaint hopes that returning to her Grandma Marie’s house, the house of her youth, will bring her some peace, but tragedy follows. Five years later, she returns, hoping to face the demons of her son’s death and let them go.  But ghosts and real demons follow, and Angela is left to puzzle out the pieces and solve the mystery her son’s death.

A haunting tale, with horror and mystery, you would think I’d embrace it.  But truthfully, I didn’t connect to the characters or story as much as I thought I would.  I know this is more me than the quality of the writing or the story itself. It is an interesting tale, but it is a little predictable with too nice of a bow on top.  It reads more as ghost-story written for the NON-ghost crowd rather than them being the primary audience.

Next up we switch to a very different genre, young adult fantasy.  Stolen Songbird, by Danielle L. Jensen is a bit of a misleading title. On the eve of leaving her home town to study music with her mother, Cecile is kidnapped and forced to marry the Prince of the Trolls.  Trapped under the mountain, where a powerful witch has cursed them, the trolls hope the marriage between human and troll will lift their 500 year old curse.  When it doesn’t, Cecile is thrust into a confusing world of politics, betrayal, and unexpected love.

With such a summary, it is no wonder I picked it up: fantasy, music, politics…wooo! However, it is also still a young adult novel…I should have kept that in mind.  Music, or singing, has VERY little to do with the novel, and the annoying romance tropes of “pretending to hate each other” play out here.  But, the politics and intrigue are interesting. The world is interesting, if a little flat, and while I want to see where she takes her version of “trolls,” I’m not necessarily sure I like it.  I might read the rest of the series eventually, but I’m not in a rush.

The next book, #20, was a bit of a surprise for me.  Rysa Walker’s Timebound was one of those free E-books I picked up on a whim. It took me about a year to actually decide to read it, and I didn’t expect much.  However, I was incredibly impressed.  Is it great literature? Definitely not. But, it does embrace originality.  Kate is given a strange glowing medallion and told that she has inherited the ability to travel through time. She doesn’t believe it for a second until her world is turned upside down with time shift.  Kate must then travel to 1893 to prevent a murder that threatens her entire future without altering it further.

Overall, it’s a quick, fun read that doesn’t over complicate (or over simplify) time travel and it’s theoretical problems.  Plus, through in a little YA romance, historical fiction, and good old adventure/mystery, and you can’t go wrong.

I know I said I’d NEVER read Jim Butcher, but I gave in since one of my very best friends kept recommending it. So for #21, I gave in and tried Storm Front, book #1 of the Dresden Files.  Harry Dresden is a Wizard for hire, a Paranormal Investigator. The Chicago PD comes to him for help with a dark double murder where black magic is involved, and it’s up to Harry to stop him

Honestly, with my preconceived notions of this series, it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would.  However, I’m still not a huge fan. I’ve been told it gets better, but Dresden is a bit misogynistic, having a thing for the damsel in distress.  I’ll give Butcher some credit though, his women aren’t necessarily weak and the world is intriguing.  I’d like to understand more of his method of urban fantasy.  Still, the story is fairly flat and not really my thing. Eventually, I’ll probably try some more (see Cort…I keep my promises eventually)!

I picked up this book basically because it was an Audible Daily Deal, but I am SOOOOOO happy I did.  Chris Taylor’s How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise, is not only incredibly informative, it’s a well written analysis of our popular culture.  Essentially, it’s a biography of the Star Wars franchise, not just one person but the entire dream, development, cultural obsessions, fandoms, etc.  It embraces all aspects and doesn’t shy from questioning the creative vision when needed. Really, it’s a lovely balance of fact, fun, and analysis.  If you like Star Wars at all, I HIGHLY recommend it.

More coming soon….I promise!

Book #12 – Ancillary Justice, by Anne Leckie (or Guess Who Found a New Favorite Book)

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Another winning recommendation from Annie.  Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice deserves all the awards and commendations it has received and then some. It won’t be up everyone’s alley, but for me, I can easily put it in my top dozen favorite reads.

Briefly, Leckie’s website summarizes the book as follows:

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was Justice of Toren–a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose–to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.

Basically we have an epic, lovely space opera with a militaristic society, complex AI, and an absence of gender (as we see it).  Breq and the entire Radch society only use feminine pronouns (she, her, sister, daughter, etc.).  Now, there are indeed different sexes, but it simply does not matter to the main civilization. It is only through interactions of other races that gender becomes an issue (really more of an issue of propriety but little else).

Special Edition Artwork by Lauren Saint-Onge

Now, you may think this means the entire novel is about gender, but really it is more powerful that gender isn’t an issue at all.  Leckie’s real power is her storytelling, her ability to create a complex society within a detailed universe seemingly thousands of years old filled with developed characters who struggle with their own sense of identity and purpose and the morality of their choices.  She tackles really deep existential concepts, that moment of self-awareness and “becoming,” and she does so artfully for both the more advanced as well as the common reader of sci-fi.  In the end, gender doesn’t matter to what is an overall incredible and meaningful story.

These themes of identity, meaning, and morality are what stand out to me the most.  Of course, the single gender pronoun grabbed me and the concept presents great ideas for discussion, but Breq (or Justice of Toren) is more importantly an example of self-reflection and growth, of facing down destiny, and of learning how we can operate as individuals as well as part of a community (and how important both things are).

I’m not sure any of this makes sense unless you delve into Ancillary Justice.  For me, it took me back to some of my favorite philosophical discussions, and I hope my saying so doesn’t deter potential readers. Leckie’s work just hit me that hard.  I will be reeling from it for months and years.  If you like well written sci-fi, you’ll enjoy this book.  After all, there is a reason Ancillary Justice is the first book to receive all three major awards-The Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards-for Best Novel.

Book #8 – Wool: Omnibus (Silo #1) by Hugh Howey

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Well, I promised to get caught back up on the books I’ve finished this last month and here I am!  I can’t think of a better place to start than with perhaps one of the best pieces of dystopian fiction to emerge in recent years.  The popularity of Hunger Games started a surge on the market of dark, futuristic worlds where “ordinary folk turned heroes” fight for justice, equality, etcetera, etcetera…I’ve always enjoyed dystopian tales, so I’m OK with this trend.  However, as with all fads, the true gems of the bunch are few and far between.  Wool by Hugh Howey is one of these diamonds.
Howey started this series as a novelette, self published on Amazon. It received such high praise that fans clamored for more, and the book was born.  Wool is actually a collection of these first 5 short stories and is book #1 in the Silo Saga (you can rest assured I’ll be reading the other two soon enough!).  The 5 stories tie together into one nearly seamless tale about living within the strict boundaries of a highly controlled society. When those rules are challenged, and the the lies that built them addressed, everything and everyone must either change or ultimately be destroyed.

Without giving too much more away, the story is essentially set on Earth, sometime in the distant future, where society lives underground after some unknown long-ago disaster destroyed everything on the surface and filled the air with toxic chemicals.  This space underground is a huge silo, 144 floors deep.  Every once and a great while, someone breaks the law by saying they want to go outside. They are sent outside to Cleaning, an act in which they clean the sensors/cameras on the top of the silo (which give the upper levels a view of the bleak landscape outside) and summarily die from exposure (even in their cleaning suits).  One Cleaning sets a series of events into motion which bring the lies to the surface and the Silo to it’s knees.

Art by Jasper Scheurs

The dystopian idea of people left to survive underground indefinitely is a great sociological exercise. Howey uses this experiment to his advantage to explore how society and culture is constructed or created; how the pieces work together but eventually wear around the edges to create gaps.  What happens when the entire world is built on falsehoods? Who do you trust and how do you deal with the sudden confrontation of this altered world?

Character development in Wool is also very solid. You probably know by now, I’m big into strong, or at least realistic, female heroes.  Howey succeeds at this as well.  Jules is a wonderful character: strong, believable, and vulnerable in the right ways.  She is a born leader with clear morals and beliefs about building and maintaining her community. Her rise, fall, and dangerous adventures in the silo unite all the stories. Jules is the vehicle for change who is believable for her imperfections as well as her honorable actions.

In the end, go read this book. It may stand for a long time near the top of my favorite books.