The Deaths of Tao - Wesley Chu

   2013; 460 pages.  Book 2 (out of 3) in the “Lives of Tao” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Action-Intrigue; Sci-Fi Fantasy; Humorous.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    Right now, there’s a global war going on, and not many people are aware of it.  That’s probably because it involves two factions of an alien race that was marooned on Earth a long time ago when their spaceship crashed here.  How long ago, you ask?  Well, the dinosaurs were walking around back then.

 

    Our planet’s atmosphere is toxic to them, but they’ve found an effective way to overcome that.  They simply “inhabit” the body of a living creature.  It could be a human being, it could be a shark, it could be a brontosaurus.  The earthly creature is referred to as its “host”.

 

    Nowadays, the two alien factions—the Prophus (the good guys) and the Genjix (the baddies)—both utilize humans almost exclusively as their hosts.  But the Prophus view the arrangement as sort of an equal partnership (kind of like roommates), while the Genjix consider it a master-slave relationship.  Guess which one’s the master.

 

    So the next time you hear voices in your head—well, just a single voice, actually,—choose your words back to it carefully.  You don’t whether it’s a Genjix or a Prophus.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Deaths of Tao is the second book in Wesley Chu’s (completed) trilogy called “Lives of Tao”.  The Prophus-Genjix conflict is heating up, and the Prophus continue to get the worse of it.  The protagonist from the first book, Roen Tan, is back again, along with his Quasing (that’s what you call an alien that’s inhabiting your body) Tao.  This time he shares the spotlight with his wife Jill (although they're separated now), who’s Quasing is named Baji, and an up-and-coming an bad guy named Enzo, who’s Quasing is named Zoras.

 

    There are 45 chapters covering the 460 pages of the story, and for the most part, they cycle among the three protagonists.  There are a bunch of plotlines, but the three main ones mostly take place in Taiwan (Roen’s), China/Tibet (Enzo’s), and the US (Jill’s).  The Taiwan setting became my favorite, because you very rarely find a novel set there and because it is where the author was born.

 

    If you’re a lover of Action-Intrigue stories, The Deaths of Tao is the book for you.  All three storylines have plenty of it.  The fight scenes are well-written and easy to follow: you can feel the punches, kicks, bullets, and deaths.  The intrigue is equally fascinating – why are the Genjix so concerned about US trade sanctions, why is a Quasing prison camp in Tibet so crucial to their long-term plans, and where in the world did Dylan disappear to?

 

    Each chapter opens with a short “intro” written by one of the Quasing.  It’s not crucial to the story, but it is a clever way to give the reader their version of “history” here on Earth.  I chuckled at the mention of durian; I once had an opportunity to partake of this fruit when I was traveling in Asia, but passed on it.  I think I would do the same with the “stinky tofu” mentioned here.

 

    The ending, or “endings” to be precise, are okay but incomplete.  Each of the three main storylines closes with an exciting battle, but none of the plot threads are resolved.  That’s “none" as in "zero”.  The Prophus are still in dire straits, only they’re more dire now.  Both sides have suffered some deaths, including both Quasing and humans, but the losses by the Prophus are far more grievous.  The human world has become more aware of aliens amongst us, but discover there’s not much they can do about it.

 

    Oh well, that’s why there’s a Book Three, The Rebirths of Tao.

Kewlest New Word ...

    Ghillie Suit (n.) : a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow, or sand

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 216 ratings and 150 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.91/5 based on 3,580 ratings and 329 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Zoras watched with disdain as Enzo played the crowd like a politician walking the rope line.  Keeping his face stoic, he touched the outstretched hands and made eye contact with the worshipping masses.  It was a far cry from how Devin, who played the role of an isolated Egyptian Pharaoh, treated his people.

    You are a god.  Remember that.

    “A god who leads, Guardian.”

    To lead is a human trait.  A god demands obedience.  (pg. 79)

 

    Sixteen behind you.  Ten on both sides.  All armed and probably awful shots.  Four bosses in front.  Oh, and you have Hutch, the narcoleptic guard.  You got a plan to get out of this?

    (…) He shrugged.  “I got nothing.”

    I find it ironic that you had a plan to fight your way out of Prophus Command, but not out of a triad warehouse.  I am starting to doubt your loyalties.

    “Or intelligence.”

    Or will to live.

    “Or delusions of invincibility.”  (pg. 166)

 

“He should be alright when he wakes.” (…) “Ground hit him in the head when he jumped out of a second story window.”  (pg. 223)

    There are some nits to pick.

 

    There’s a moderate amount of cussing in The Deaths of Tao, 16 instances in the first 20% of the book.  That’s not excessive, but given that I didn’t note any adult situations or other R-rated stuff, it has to be asked whether the cusswords could've been omitted.

 

    More serious is the abundance of errata, something other reviewers also pointed out.  Spelling miscues such as eying/eyeing might be shrugged off as choices of British-vs-American English. But grammar boo-boos like “Sure buddy”/”Sure, buddy”, “several startled crewman”, and “could happened” are just sloppy proofreading.

 

    So are continuity issues such as a guy named Jim showing up (page 432), followed one paragraph later by Roen asking where Jim is, and being told one paragraph after that that Jim was blown out to sea by a grenade.

 

    The most egregious typo is the misspelling of “Genjix” on the back cover of the book, where it is rendered as “Gengix”.  Sheesh.  Angry Robot Publishing is already rivaling Tor Books as the publishing house with the worst set of copy editors.

 

    At the other end of the Picky-to-Egregious Scale was a chemical cited on page 315 as “Osmium Quintoxide”.  We’ll forgive the chemistry issue regarding Osmium’s possible/impossible valence states.  But calling those five Oxygens “quintoxide” instead of “pentoxide” is like fingernails-on-the-chalkboard to a chemist.

 

    Still, cusswords can be tolerated when they’re used in moderation, typos and grammar can be corrected by copy editors, and if you aren’t a chemist, you won’t care whether it’s quintoxide or pentoxide.  True, the ending doesn't tie up any plot threads, but the story has lots of action, significant character development of all three protagonists, and a rapidly deteriorating outcome for the Prophus that now seems inevitable.

 

    7½ Stars.  In summary, The Deaths of Tao didn’t captivate me the way Book 1, The Lives of Tao did (and reviewed here).  But that doesn’t merit the 1-star and 2-star ratings that some reviewers gave it.  Book 2 in any trilogy is mostly just tasked with linking the first and third books together in a coherent, if forgettable, manner, and The Deaths of Tao does that successfully here.

 

    For comparison, consider J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.  You probably remember the epic endings in both The Fellowship of the Ring (Book 1) and The Return of the King (Book 3).  But how much, if anything, do you recall about the ending of Book 2, The Two Towers?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams

   1987; 291 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genre : British Humor; Fantasy; Quasi-Mystery.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    Gordon Way has been killed.  Even he can see that.  Literally.  Because he’s now a ghost, and everyone knows you can’t become one of those until you’re no longer alive.

    Strangely, Gordon has no idea who shot him.  Neither do the police.  But they have a strong lead – Richard MacDuff.  He has a motive and the means, no alibi, and was caught acting very strange on the night of the murder.

    Richard needs to hire a Private Investigator to clear his name and determine who really did kill Gordon.  So he pays a visit to Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency?  After all, he’s met Dirk once, albeit many years ago.  And funnily enough, Reg was just asking about him at dinner tonight.

    Wait a minute.  Just what the heck is a “holistic” detective agency, anyway?

What’s To Like...

    Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency follows Douglas Adams’ (first three books of) Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series, and simply put,  has the same captivating weirdness that makes HHGTTG so popular.  You might think from the title that it is going to be a Murder-Mystery, and both those elements are present, at least for a while.  But really the focus isn’t on the “who” and “why”, which are both revealed early on.  Instead, it’s on the “how’d this come about?” aspect.

    All the characters are well-developed and unique.  Dirk Gently may be the headliner, but he’s pudgy, doesn’t appear until 37%, and is somewhat of an a$$hole.  Still, it’s fun to watch him as he utilizes his Sherlock Holmesian logic to “solve” the case.  Richard MacDuff is the perfect schmuck of a protagonist, and it’s a blast to watch Gordon as he “learns” the physics of being a ghost. 

    Like HHGTTG, DGHDA is a geek’s delight.  There are multiverses and time travel, an impossibly stuck sofa, and a horse in a bathtub.  We learn the truth about Bach and Coleridge, and even Ginger Baker gets a brief mention.  Since it was written in 1987, it was an unexpected treat to meet up with some obsolete technology – car tape decks, telephone answering machines where you rewind the tape to play back messages, and outside public telephones.

    I liked the writing style.  Adams spins several separate (POV) storylines simultaneously to keep things from becoming boring; then gradually and skillfully brings them together.  There’s wit aplenty, lots of plot twists, and a couple cusswords thrown in to keep the prudes away.

Kewlest New Word ...

Moggy (n.) : a cat, especially one that doesn’t have a pedigree (a Britishism)

Others : Pettishly (adj.); Mazy (adj.); Dep (v., Britishism, and unclear in meaning)

Kindle Details...

    Amazon offers the e-book version of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for $11.99, which seems somewhat steep to me.  The rest of Adams’ sci-fi books are priced in the $6.99-$7.99 range.

Excerpts...

    By means of an ingenious series of strategically deployed denials of the most exciting and exotic things, he was able to create the myth that he was a psychic, mystic, telepathic, fey, clairvoyant, psychosassic vampire bat.

    What did “psychosassic” mean?

    It was his own word and he vigorously denied that it meant anything at all.  (loc. 603)

    “Do you know,” said Sergeant Gilks of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, blinking with suppressed emotion, “that when I arrive back here to discover one police officer guarding a sofa with a saw and another dismembering an innocent wastepaper basket I have to ask myself certain questions?  And I have to ask them with the disquieting sense that I am not going to like the answers when I find them.

    “I then find myself mounting the stairs with a horrible premonition, Svlad Cjelli, a very horrible premonition indeed.  A premonition, I might add, that I now find horribly justified.  I suppose you can’t shed any light on a horse discovered in a bathroom as well?  That seemed to have an air of you about it.”

   “I cannot,” said Dirk, “as yet.  Though it interests me strangely.”  (loc. 2391)

 “Now.  Having saved the entire human race from extinction I could do with a pizza.”  (loc. 3519)

    The only issue I had with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency was the ending, which was a bit of a letdown.  While it’s true that Dirk deductively reasons out the “big picture” conundrum, none of the lesser plotlines are resolved.  Gordon remains a ghost, and the misadventures of Dirk, Reg, Richard, and Susan, etc. just kind of grind to a halt, to be continued in Book 2.

    Along those same lines, the reader meets a number of fascinating characters, who enter, get developed, then exit the story, never to reappear.  Among them are Sergeant Gilks, Janet Pearce, and a precocious young girl named Sarah.  But I suppose some of them will show up in the sequel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

    But this is a small price to pay for another heaping helping of Douglas Adams zaniness and wit, and it’s a pity that he passed away while working on Book 3, The Salmon of Doubt,  the unfinished pieces of which were issued in a patchwork collection of his other writings in 2005.  I borrowed DGHDA from my local digital library, which offers the other two books in the series as well.  I will probably read the second one, because I’m an Adams Aficionado, but I’m iffy on Book 3. 

    8 Stars.  Listen, the Dirk Gently series is never going to  supplant HHGTTG as everyone’s favorite Douglas Adams reading.  But it’s a fine, well-written supplement to Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox, and it kept me entertained throughout. 

Look To Windward - Iain M. Banks

   2000; 483 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book #7 in the Culture series.  Genre : Science Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

    Mahrai Ziller is both a brilliant Chelgrian composer and one of Chel’s foremost revolutionaries.  (Think ‘Ignacy Paderewski').  But he has been in self-imposed exile for many years, living on the Masaq’ Orbital in the Culture Empire, which chafes Chelgrian pride.

    Therefore Major Quilan is dispatched to travel to the Masaq’ Orbital and to convince Ziller to return home.  Ah, but there are ulterior motives for his visit.  Quilan’s been told about them, then had his memory banks modified to where he’ll only gradually recall those further plans at the appropriate times.

What’s To Like...
    As with any Iain M. Banks novel, the world-building (universe-building, actually) is incredibly detailed and believable.  There’s a planet-sized ring instead of the usual sphere.  The robotic drones have personalities; and the foxlike Chelgrians and 9-foot tall Homomdans mingle with the humans.  If you liked the two-heads/one-body setup for Rand and Lews in WoT, you’ll find Quilan and Huyler similarly fashioned. 

    There’s a certain somberness to Look To Windward, but it’s balanced by some witty dialogue, strange creatures, and fascinating sentient beings.  Ziller is great; so is the scholar Uagen Zlepe.  Then there’s the names of the spaceships, such as “Resistance is Character Forming” and “Experiencing a Significant Gravitas Shortfall”.  The gradually-revealed scheming is a clever device.

    Iain M. Banks explores a number of themes in LTW, including revenge, euthanasia, religion, and the caste system.  There is a small amount of critter sex and some adult language, but only prudes will be bothered by it.

Kewlest New Word...
Trefoil  (adj.) : In a clover-like or lotus (sitting) position.

Excerpts...
    “Of course, this is always assuming that none of your ship Minds were lying.”
    “Oh, they never lie.  They dissemble, evade, prevaricate, confound, confuse, distract, obscure, subtly misrepresent and willfully misunderstand with what often appears to be a positively gleeful relish and are generally perfectly capable of contriving to give one an utterly unambiguous impression of their future course of action while in fact intending to do exactly the opposite, but they never lie.  Perish the thought.”  (pg. 29)

    “There are those who believe that after death the soul is recreated into another being.”
    “That is conservative and a little stupid, certainly, but not actually idiotic.”
    “And there are those who believe that, upon death, the soul is allowed to create its own universe.”
    “Monomaniacal and laughable as well as probably wrong.”
    “Then there are those who believe that the soul--“
    “Well, there are all sorts of different beliefs.  However, the ones that interest me are those concerning the idea of heaven.  That’s the idiocy it annoys me that others cannot see.”
    “Of course, you could just be wrong.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.”  (pg. 275)

 “Tonight you dance by the light of ancient mistakes!”  (pg. 10)
    There isn’t a lot of action in Look To Windward until the very end, and even then it isn’t of epic proportions.  This makes for some slow spots as Banks gradually develops the plotline and pauses to spend time on numerous topics.

    OTOH, the darker side of The Culture is revealed here.  Their benevolent meddling does not always work out as planned, and if you cross them seriously enough, they have some brutal ways of dealing with you.

    This is my third Iain M. Banks book (the other two are reviewed here and here), and I am beginning to see a pattern.  The storylines are not on a particularly cosmic scale, but the worlds and creatures he creates are eminently believable and richly developed; and he addresses various topics, particularly ethical ones, in a thought-provoking way that keeps the reader’s rapt attention.  Add to that his obvious writing skills, and you can see why he was one of the top-tier contemporary sci-fi authors.

    Iain M. Banks passed away on 09 June 2013, at the too-young age of 59.  He will be sorely missed.  8½ Stars.

The Fall of House Nemeni - M.D. Kenning

 

   2012; 222 pages.  Full Title : The Fall of House Nemeni (Allmother’s Fire).  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Science Fiction (sez I); ClockPunk (sez the author).  Overall Rating : 4*/10.

    Fallen, fallen, fallen is the great house Nemeni.  Domin, the head of this powerful family, and his wife, Vinessi, are gone.  Domin’s brother, Genissi, has fled for his life, taking Domin’s three children to safety with him.

    But that was ten years ago.  The children are now grown.  Their assumed identities have held.  And revenge still smolders in their hearts.

What’s To Like...
    The world-building is innovative – a bunch of islands floating in the air (see book cover) between two suns – One Above, One Below.   The islands are inhabited; and you can travel by airships from one to another without any breathing difficulties.  This solar system setup boggles my scientific mind, but let’s not get too hung up on the astrophysics of it.  After all, this is fantasy.

    All of the characters are well-developed.  The book starts out with lots of action – Domin fleeing for his life.  There is an interesting interplay of Magic (“Clockwork Grand Laws”) versus Religion ("Cogs of the Universe”).  Spells versus prayers.  M.D. Kenning presents them on equal terms, which I like.  The ending doesn’t tie up all the threads, but it does logically set up the next book in the series.

    Alas, there are some serious issues with TFoHN, starting with the typos.  Theirs/There’s; Lead/Led (the two tenses are not spelled the same); Than/Then; plus dozens more.  I normally don’t comment on typos because self-published authors can rarely afford professional proofreaders.  But their frequency here really detracts from the story.

    Then there are the run-on sentences.  These are by nature clunky, but the author seems averse to using commas.  This makes the run-ons almost unfathomable unless you read them multiple times.  One example : Even the food that was now sitting warmly in Genissi’s belly as he reclined on a velvet laden couch and watched the kids talk excitedly together had been delivered to their door that lead inside the tavern (not the one that lead to the door in the alley) by one of the inn’s maids and she did not see who received the meal later.  Wow.  There are lots more like that.

    Finally, there is too much Telling, and not enough Showing.  There are pages upon pages devoted to what’s running through the various characters’ minds.  It would have been much stronger to convey these thoughts via actions in the storyline.

Excerpts...
    Three words.
    Caution.
    Focus.
    Discipline.
    These were the bywords of the Nemeni family, and three words could not sum up Genissi any less in most people’s eyes.
    Gadfly.
    Layabout.
    Drunk.
    Those were much more accurate descriptors of the laughing stock of the Nemeni family.  (loc. 463)

    Sivana of course had no way to know for sure exactly how much time had passed.  The rotten smell of her own sick being on her clothes however invited the possibility she was not in a spiritual afterlife.  Not once in the teachings or songs did she remember anything about vomit existing in the Sun Below or in the arms of the Allmother.  (loc. 3722)

Kindle Details...
    The Fall Of House Nemeni sells for $2.99 at Amazon.  This is reportedly Book 1 of a trilogy.  M.D. Kenning has one other book available for the Kindle – Mandatory Paradise – also for $2.99.  I think the latter is unrelated to the Nemeni storyline.

“Are you touched by the Sun Below?” (loc. 1784)
    For me, The Fall of House Nemeni comes off as a novel-worthy concept, but still in rough-draft form.  That’s unfortunate because, although the basic plotline grabbed my interest, the project is incomplete.

    The writing needs to be polished up (add commas, break up the long sentences).  A good editor/proofreader needs to be utilized (a writer doing this himself just doesn’t work).  Finally, the first-draft needs some beta-readers.  Mom and Aunt Martha won’t cut it – it needs people who will tell you what is confusing, clunky, and/or just plain boring.  And every five minutes, the phrase “Show!  Don’t Tell!” should be mentally chanted.

    Admittedly, polishing, proofing, and rewriting are not as fun as creating the first draft, but they’re just as vital.  This will be a great book - and a great series - once those steps are taken.  4 Stars.  For now.

Mendoza In Hollywood - Kage Baker

    2000; 334 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book #3 of the “Company” series.  Books 1 and 2 are reviewed here and here.  Genre : Science Fiction; Time Travel.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    The title is only half-correct.  Mendoza is where Hollywood will be, but it’s 1862, the greater Los Angeles area is little more than a dusty collection of shacks and saloons, and the movie industry is non-existent.  The Company has sent Mendoza there to collect a number of plants that will shortly become extinct.

    But the climate is changing, the plants are dying out faster than Mendoza can collect them, there is jealousy among Mendoza’s colleagues, and worst of all are the troubling nightmares she’s having about her lost love from the 1600’s.  There are even hints that the Company may not be as beneficent as they claim.

What’s To Like...
    For those who are not reading this series in order, Kage Baker gives the backstory in a handy 3-page prologue.  There are new Company agents to get to know – Einar the zoologist; Oscar the anthropologist, Porfirio the Company overseer, and Juan Bautista, a young ornithologist who gets way too attached to some of his work.  Joseph is absent, but Imarte is back to spice things up.

    The setting – 1860’s California is superbly done.  There isn’t much of a plot for the first 2/3 of the book, but it’s fun to be immersed in the lives of Mendoza and company – taking field trips for specimens, ducking from the occasional gunshot, and eating crappy food.  Einar is a film enthusiast, and he smuggles some early movies in for entertainment.  Those are a joy to “watch”.

    There is some humor – Juan Bautista’s pet birds are – well – a hoot.  Imarte’s role is that of a saloon girl, and she collects several love-struck “clients”, who tend to not appreciate others vying for her attentions.  Oscar’s efforts to sell a “Criterion Patented Brassbound Pie Safe” are subtly hilarious.

    The Alt-History and Time Travel aspects are well done.  And Romance wheels its way back into Mendoza’s life, something she’s been missing for a couple centuries.  As always, Kage Baker’s writing is excellent.

Kewlest New Word...
    Shigella (n.) : A bacterium that is an intestinal pathogen of humans and other primates, some kinds of which cause dysentery.

Excerpts...
    If I had only stayed...
    “You couldn’t have, man,” Einar said.  “You know that.  You belong to the Company.  First time Dr. Zeus had a job for you somewhere else, you’d have had to go.  And even if you stuck around, do you think you could have kept on micromanaging their lives forever?  We may be immortals, but we can’t control mortal destinies.  We can help them when they want help, but that’s it.  When they want to destroy themselves, not even God can stop them.   (pg.194 )

    “There are those, sir, who might construe your detestable negligence as the next thing to treason, which, let me remind you, is a hanging offense.”  Ingraham brandished his cane.
    The driver explained where he was minded to put that cane if Mr. Calliman shook it at him one more time, and added that Mr. Calliman was going to find it uncomfortable to sing or, for that matter, dance in any shows with the cane in that particular location.  (pg. 212)

“We are the actors on a stage where the curtain hasn’t risen!”  (pg. 13)
        I’ve made my peace with this series – more than anything else, it is Science Fiction.  There is some Action-Adventure in Mendoza in Hollywood, but it’s towards the end, and is there mostly to advance the “big picture” plot of the Company’s manipulation of the cyborg protagonists.  This isn’t Xena, Warrior Princess; this is Mendoza, Immortal Botanist. 

    I’ve been reading this series in order, and MIH does advance the overlying storyline.  We discover that snafus can occur in the Company agenda, and that there may be dire consequences for Immortals who the Company no longer wants around.  Still, this is beginning to feel like Robert Jordan’s WoT series – there are a lot more questions being raised than being answered.  7½ Stars.  I’ll probably read at least one more book In the series, but I don’t feel compelled to read all 9 books.

The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks

    1988; 391 pages.  Book #2 of the “Culture” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Science Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    Azad.  It’s the name of an Empire on the other side of the galaxy.  Like the Romans, they are ruthless in their conquests, and rule their lands with a heavy hand. 

    Azad.  It’s also the name of the national game of that empire.  Think “Warhammer”, but make it 100x larger, 100x longer, and 100x more complex.  It is engrained in the national psyche, and the winner of its periodic tournaments becomes Emperor.  Azadians study and play it their entire lives.

    This year, the Azadian Empire has invited “our” world, called the Culture, to send one player.  He’ll get creamed, of course, and even if he were to win, he’s not eligible to become Emperor.  Gurgeh is selected, and he’ll have a scant two years to study the game as his spaceship travels across the galaxy.  He’s in over his head.  But there are games within games.

What’s To Like...

    The worlds are beautifully rendered, particularly the Fire Planet, where the final act plays out.  This is a stand-alone novel, despite being part of a series.  The first 120 pages are frankly a bit slow, as Banks maneuvers Gurgeh into being selected.  But if you make it past there, the rest of the book hums along marvelously, and there are some neat little twists that lead to a most satisfying ending.

    It's fun to find oneself immersed in Azadian society.  The “Culture” ethos is equally interesting.  The characters aren't exactly compelling, but they're not boring either.  The Drones are a great addition.

    Hardcore gamers may be disappointed that Iain M. Banks chooses not to explain the details of the games of Azad, but so what?  This isn’t a Dungeons-&-Dragons quest; it’s a science fiction novel.  We’re following Gurgeh, not the game he happens to be playing.

Kewlest New Word...

    Snaffle (v.) : to take something quickly for yourself, in a way that prevents someone else from having or using it.  (Britishism)

Excerpts...

    This is the story of a man who went far away for a long time, just to play a game.  The man is a game-player called “Gurgeh”.  The story starts with a battle that is not a battle, and ends with a game that is not a game.
    Me?  I’ll tell you about me later.
    This is how the story begins.   (pg.1.  Is that a great way to open a novel, or what!?)

    “But Jernow!” At-sen said, from Gurgeh’s left.  “You must have a scar-portrait!  So that we may remember you when you have gone back to the Culture and its decadent, many-orificed ladies!”  Inclate, on his right, giggled.

    “Certainly not,” Gurgeh said, mock-serious.  “It sounds quite barbaric.”
    “Oh yes, yes, it is!” At-sen and Inclate laughed into their glasses.  At-sen pulled herself together, put her hand on is wrist.  “Wouldn’t you like to think there was some poor person walking around on Ea with your face on their skin?”
    “Yes, but on which bit?”
    They thought this hilariously funny.   (pg. 199)

“You’re coming perilously close to talking about destiny, Jernau Gurgeh.”  (pg. 303)

    Although the central focus is on the game of Azad, The Players of Games is really about what happens when Imperialism and Democracy (for lack of a better term) collide.  The author gives them equal treatment, showing the “warts” of both societies and mindsets.

    He also puts forth the question : What would happen if our world did happen to meet up a technologically-comparable Empire hell-bent on conquering all who cross their path?  Would we view them as barbarians?  What would they make of us?  If we had to go to war with them, what approach would we use?

    I enjoy Iain M. Banks’ writing style, as well as his story-telling.  The Player of Games is a good read, and poses some interesting questions about what exactly the term “civilized” means to us, and about us.  8 Stars.  Add another star if you’re reading this series in order, cuz I think I'm missing some of the nuances of the characters by not doing so.

The Avatar - Poul Anderson

1978; 404 pages.  Genre : Sci-Fi.  New Author? : Kinda.  I've read the "Hoka" books he co-wrote with Gordon Dickson, but never one that he wrote alone.  Overall Rating : 5½*/10.

    Ah, T-machines!  A.k.a.  portals, star-gates, wormholes, etc.  If you enter them via the carefully-placed guidance beacons (placed there by the mysterious "Others"), you will come out at a pre-selected, terra-compatible planet many light years away.

    But if you enter it haphazardly, as the spaceship Chinook and her crew did (the alternative was to be obliterated by rapidly-approaching missiles), you will come out at any one of thousands of other time-space points.  And the odds of you ever finding your way back to present-day Earth are ...ahem... astronomical.

What's To Like...
     The Avatar is a nice blend of space opera and "hard" science fiction.  Poul Anderson held a degree in Physics, so it is not surprising that he works a lot of Quantum Mechanics into the story.  Which is timely, given that I just got done watching a 4-part PBS/Nova special ("The Fabric of the Cosmos", hosted by Brian Greene) on that subject.

    Being part Space Opera means that there are lots of worlds to visit, some of which have strangely different life-forms.  It also means there is lots of sex.  Too much sex.  Free love with lots of partners.  Poul either was writing out his own fantasies, or else those of the teenage boys that would presumably be his target audience.

    The crew of the Chinook are interesting enough - there's the rugged captain, a "hippie" first mate (with emphasis on "mate"), a holothete (huh?), etc.  Most interesting of all is the alien ("Betan")  dubbed Fidelio, who is there as an emissary to try to understand human beings.  The book cover captures his description nicely.

    Finally, it's nice to have to deal with alien races that are actually more advanced than us.

Kewlest New Word...
Sophont : an alien being, with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of humans.

Excerpts...
    "You're being a government, Aurie," he remarked.  When she gave him an inquiring glance, he explained, "The single definition of government I've ever seen that makes sense is that it's the organization which claims the right to kill people who won't do what it wants."
    He could have gone on to admit that he was oversimplifying, since she was obviously acting on behalf of a group whose own behavior might well be unlawful, but he didn't think it was worth his while.  (pgs. 27-28)

    "We could stay here, in spin mode and a wide orbit," Weisenberg suggested.  "Apparently we've a reasonable chance that a ship will come in before we starve.  I daresay her civilization can synthesize food for us and won't mind doing that.  Her crew won't be able to guide us home, but doubtless we could live out quite interesting lives on her planet of origin."
    "Are you serious, Phil?" Caitlin asked.
    "No.  I have a family.  I did think one of us ought to state the case for remaining."  (pg. 331)

"Ever heard of Occam's razor?  I've shaved with it from time to time."  (pg. 26)
    All the trappings in The Avatar are well-done.  Unfortunately, the crux of any science fiction novel is its storyline, and that's a major weakenss here.

    First off, the pacing sucks.  The book's more than half done before we enter the first T-machine.  That's way too long of an introduction.  Then we visit some really neat new worlds and times, but without any advancing of the plot until there's only 50 pages left, at which point we still have no idea why this is called The Avatar.  We finish off with an ending that is unconvincing and feels rushed.

    One gets the feeling Anderson was more interested in preaching his libertarian politicial views here than creating a compelling sci-fi story.  I still enjoyed this book, mostly for the "hard science fiction" it presented.  But if Quantum Physics isn't your shtick, you might give this a pass.  5½ Stars.

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds

2000; 585 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Sci-Fi.  Laurels : nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2000); and the BSFA (2001).  Rating : 7½*/10.

    On a faraway planet, archaeologist Dan Sylveste is excavating ancient (900,000 years old) ruins that he thinks indicate that a civilization on the brink of achieving space travel was wiped out in a cataclysmic event.

    Spaceship pilot Ilia Volyova has other plans.  She intends to kidnap Sylveste and force him to work on healing her starship captain.  Ana Khouri has a straightforward aim.  She wants to assassinate Sylveste.  To save the universe.

What's To Like...
   Set in the 2500's, Revelation Space is a good example of "hard" (technologically plausible) sci-fi.  Among other things, Reynolds' universe abides by the "you can't go faster than the speed of light" principle.  This is the first book of a series of either 3 or 5 books, depending how you view it, but it is also a stand-alone novel.

    The three main characters are well-developed, and we have lots of time to get to know them as they start off light-years apart from each other.  Ana and Ilia hook up pretty quickly, but we're halfway through the book before they reach Sylveste's planet.  None of the three is completely likeable, and I like that.  But we warm to all of them as the events unfold.

    There are some quibbles.  Revelation Space is a slow and difficult read, mostly because of Reynolds' technological asides.  Being a scientist, I didn't mind.  But non-techies might.  The non-linear chapter dates can be confusing at first, and there are a number of loose ends left untied at the end of the book.  I presume these are addressed in the sequels.  Finally, if you're a secondary character, your odds for survival are slim, and your demise will probably be arbitrary.

Kewlest New Word...
Svinoi : a pig-breeder; or just a pig itself.  (Russian, pejorative)

Excerpts...
    "State your identity," the woman said.
    Volyova introduced herself.
    "You last visited this system in ... let me see." The face looked down for a minute.  "Eighty-five years ago; '461.  Am I correct?"
    Against her best instincts, Volyova leaned nearer the screen.  "Of course you're correct.  You're a gamma-level simulation.  Now dispense with the theatrics and just get on with it.  I've wares to trade and every second you detain me is a second more we have to pay to park our ship around your useless dogturd of a planet."
    "Truculence noted," the woman said, seeming to jot a remark in a notebook just out of sight.  (pgs. 84-85)

    "A splendidly inept thing," Sylveste said, nodding despite himself.
    "What?"
    "The human capacity for grief.  It just isn't capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number.  And it doesn't just level off - it just gives up, resets itself to zero.  Admit it.  None of us feel a damn about these people."  (pg. 323)

The trouble with the dead ... was that they had no real idea when to shut up.  (pg. 17)
    Revelation Space reminds me both of Arthur Clarke's "2001 - A Space Odyssey" and Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy.  It is a bit less "sweepingly epic" than the latter, but then again, there are four more books (and a number of short stories) to go.

    I personally liked the "hard science" parts - discussions of the history of the universe, and of Fermi's paradox (if interstellar flight is theoretically plausible, why haven't we been visited yet?).  But the storyline at times seems disjointed and could have been more compelling.  And there a couple jaw-dropping cases of deus ex machina.

    Still, this is really quite good for a "first effort" (there are nine Alastair Reynolds novels now, with a tenth due out in 2012), and makes for a fascinating introduction to a new and complex universe.  7½ Stars.