Posts Tagged ‘sci fi’
SHIFT, Book Two of the SILO series, A No-Spoiler Review
SHIFT is book two in a trilogy, so beware of spoilers as you read this in regard to book one or in regard to the first season of the tv series. I may mention details that will spoil book one/season 1, so stop reading now and click on WOOL to read my review of book one of the SILO series. This novel, like the first is rated PG/PG-13.
SILO is currently showing on Apple tv+. You can view the first and second season now. I recommend the first season for sure, but am still wading through the second…it’s excellent so far, but I’ve only watched the first couple of episodes.
I’m guessing this series would make a great audiobook. It’s not so complex as a story, follows few characters and takes place primarily in the silo, a setting that becomes very familiar by the middle of book 1.
The Short Review: 4 Reasons I Recommend SHIFT
- If you liked WOOL and are curious about how the world fell apart and the silos were conceived of and created, you’ll want to read this novel. It contains a lot of backstory.
- While some questions are answered, there are many unknowns and therefore more page-turning tension
- This story follows two characters, two different narrative voices who so far have not met/do not interact. One of the characters was a peripheral character in WOOL and one is new (almost) to the reader.
- All the characters are flawed in different ways, but relatable and trying against many odds to do good…or at least to make things right
Note: If you loved Juliette as a character, know you’ll see very little of her in this novel, but based on how this book ends, I have the feeling she will take center stage again in book 3. It’s a guess, but an educated one.
The Longer Review:
The SILO series so far has been a fast read, despite the number of words. Don’t let size fool you. If you’re like me, you’ll be turning pages quickly and staying awake too late at night so you can figure out what is happening. Also, I skimmed less of the text in this novel, but still read it quickly.
Regarding the order in which you do this…reading first or viewing first, one thought: I watched the first season of SILO without knowing about the books. Once I posted my review, I did receive notes from some of you encouraging me to read the books. Just know, that the series follows the books very closely, so some of the tension and mystery (either when you read or when you watch) may be diminished because you will know in advance what takes place. It changes the experience a little, though I am determined to do both and realizing the tension will come one way or the other, either on the page or on the screen. I do like the combo though. I like seeing what the screenwriter chooses to put into the script, what to leave out, or what to change. So far the series SILO, has few deviations from the novels, but there is one BIG ONE. At the end of season 1 of the SILO series, Juliette has been sent out to clean and the audience does not know what will happen as she refuses to clean, then walks over a hill and disappears from sight.
It’s a perfect season-ending cliffhanger that the screenwriter exploits, so I don’t blame him for constructing the story in this way. However, in the novel, Juliette’s next hours and days are right there in the last chapters of WOOL. So…it could be strategic to watch season 1 and 2 on Apple+ before even reading the first book, WOOL. The mystery might be more satisfying that way.
Whatever, the case, the series is fun and I’m enjoying reading it. The writing is not perfect, but it’s perfect enough to engage me (and I’m really picky) and fan the flames of my imagination. I can’t comment on the overall themes and human story yet because I’m still figuring out what Hugh Howey is saying about humanity. Maybe the third novel will give me a window into his worldview.
SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD, A No-Spoiler Film Review
SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD, a 2010 film starring Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers, dishes out a nerd meets cool girl story and takes it to the videogame/superhero plane, right into transmedia storytelling. This is an entertaining and funny PG13 story, full of teen angst, youthful lust and the longing for true love.
The Short Review…6 Reasons I Recommend this Film
- Pleasing visuals and interesting action sequences…I would watch it for this alone
- Surprising and entertaining turns with the characters and the story, many of which will make you laugh
- Angsty youth longing for connection
- Vibrant characters, like the melancholy Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) and the spunky Knives Chau (Ellen Wong)
- A mix-up/mash-up of reality and virtual reality in the story world
The Long Review…
SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD is a film co-written, produced and directed by Edgar Wright. It is based on the graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim, by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The film plumbs issues surrounding a young man longing for love. Scott Pilgrim is in his mid 20s and coming off a breakup. He finds himself in a relationship with Knives Chau, a highschooler who adores him, then meets Ramona Flowers, a captivating twenty-something cool girl. To win her, he has to contend with Knives as current girlfriend as well as Ramona’s ex boyfriends.
We carry our romantic histories with us and they are not always easy to shed. This is true about Scott letting go of his ex girlfriend and Ramona figuring out how to move on from her controlling ex-boyfriend(s). Both characters carry wounds and the strange action sequences in the end are a fantastical outworking of how they need to slay those old demons that might keep them from true love.
I really like this film. It’s different, quick-paced, visually gorgeous and spins a good yarn.
ALIEN CHILD, A No Spoiler Review of the YA Novel
Pamela Sargent, prolific middle grade scifi writer, wrote ALIEN CHILD in the 80s. I recommend this book as a thought-provoking vision of a possible dystopian future.
The Short, No-Spoiler Review: 4 Reasons to Read this Book with your Middleschooler/Young Adult
- ALIEN CHILD delivers a story that unfolds like a mystery, rated PG
- the characters are young, the aliens are unique
- the world is both bleak and surprising
- the questions that arise around “species extinction” are worth pondering, even for a young person
Novels like ALIEN CHILD give a parent or educator a reason to read with a teen. This is an entertaining book that has the potential to give rise to great discussion. I highly recommend this story for parent or educator/child consumption.
I also recommend the audio version.
CONSIDER PHLEBAS, A No-Spoiler Review
I highly recommend CONSIDER PHLEBAS, an epic space opera written by the great Iain M. Banks. See below for the details, but suffice it to say: You MUST read Banks (especially books in the Culture Series) before you die…and don’t wait too long. You’ll need the brain-power to absorb the complexities of his broad, beautiful and sometimes terrifying future.
Iain Banks wrote literary fiction and science fiction. His literary fiction was written under the name: Iain Banks. CONSIDER PHLEBAS, and all his subsequent science fiction novels were written under the name Iain M. Banks. Banks, a Scottish writer, was born in 1954 and died at age 59 in 2013. I rate this novel PG-13. A sensitive person might not appreciate the violence (this is a space opera, with battles and alien species and robots/drones. Think, Star Wars.) A bit of sex, but no explicit sex scenes.
First, The Short Review
Four reasons I recommend this novel:
- Banks is a talented and careful writer, so the world building is new, weird, but not overwrought
- Compelling characters, unique in that they inhabit a future unknown to us, but relatable in their “humanity”
- Broad/epic adventure story, but a focused and well-crafted arc that follows one character
- The philosophical underpinnings of this first in the Culture Series is a must read for anyone who considers him/herself a scifi aficionado.
The Longer Review
CONSIDER PHLEBAS is not only the first of Banks’ scifi novels, it is the first of several in the acclaimed Culture Series. I’ve referred to this article in my review of FEERSUM ENDJINN, but to understand Banks and his philosophy around the future, tech, especially AI, and the massive impacts of “culture” on the future, this article by Professor Joseph Heath is a must read.
I also recommend 5 blogposts by the folks at: The Quill to Live. This is the most thorough review of each book in the series I have ever encountered, all on one easy to navigate and well-written site.
Here is an excerpt from the first post called: Why You Should Read the Culture: Part 1 — The Hub
“The two pieces of worldbuilding that really drive home how different The Culture is from your typical fare are how Banks approaches humanity and AI. When I first started the series I was so surprised to find that the humans aren’t Terran (from Earth). That is to say, this isn’t a story about our humanity or even our Earth, and there is absolutely none of the baggage that would come with a narrative built in our history. At first, it feels weird. I thought Banks was just trying to make his world ‘special’ or ‘original’ by calling the Terrans something else. But I quickly realized that really isn’t what’s happening. Banks removed the “humanity” element because he wanted to build something new. A tabula rasa. A fresh canvas on which to showcase ideas. It means that the reader has a lot more leg work than your average science fiction story, but that you will get to see the birth of something completely new.”
There are reasons to read books in a series, especially when it comes to genres like science fiction and fantasy. Most of you who read these genres know what I’m going to say…you read in a series because it’s so pleasurable. Once you fall in love with a place, you want to dwell there for a time.
Often a narrow piece of the world is captured in the first book, so that the many books or films that follow can hone in on or add new details that if included in the first novel would have bogged it down. Think about Herbert’s Dune and the incredibly complex societies that exist within that first universe. Then, read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune and one begins to see how narrow the scope of the original story was. An author often holds these details and nuances in her/his head but resists (in part because it is impossible to do so) revealing everything there is to know about the world in the first story. It’s the way we operate as humans as well…we take in information, absorb our environment and over time our picture of a place changes over time. Similarly, a reader can have a relationship with a fictional place. Many Millenials (and others) in our society have had that experience with the world of Harry Potter. Reading the Potter Series is in part travel adventure. We crave the familiar locales at Hogwarts, like the dining hall, or the cozy Gryffindor common room. In the novels, the first kiss takes place between Ron and Hermione in this lovely space.
“The common room was a circular room where Gryffindor students could relax after a long day of studying. It was full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a bulletin board where school notices, ads, lost posters, etc. could be posted.”
But we delight in discovering new places in and around Hogwarts, like The Room of Requirement, which comes about in book 5 of the series thanks to Dobby, the elf.
So, I am making the case that the series is probably worth reading, though I haven’t read it myself. I’ll have to figure out if I want to read it now and at once. My “to-read” book pile is large and includes Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, which I want to read soon.
However, even if you don’t want to read the entire Culture Series, dipping into it by reading CONSIDER PHLEBAS is a worthy pursuit. The novel stands alone and is entertaining in its own right. Then, make sure you pay attention to Professor Heath’s article that I linked to above. That much analysis will get you close to being able to have an intelligent conversation with most of Banks’ most devout fans.
FEERSUM ENDJINN, A No-Spoiler Review
Iain M. Banks is a Scottish writer who produced literary and science fiction. He is a must read for all scifi fanatics. I only say this to the purists because if you are not a scifi purist, you might find Banks challenging. This is a review of FEERSUM ENDJINN, one of his scifi books. I have no idea if his lit fiction is easier to consume. That is not my genre. He wrote his literary fiction under the name: Iain Banks…without the “M” middle initial.
The Short Review
I recommend FEERSUM ENDJINN with reservations. Yes read for these reasons:
- If you want to gather the fathers and mothers of scifi into your knowledge base, you need to read Banks. Some would say, start with Consider Phlebas (the first novel of his Culture series). I will read that one next. Review will follow.
- Banks writes honestly in that he is someone who sees technology in his story as a power that infects every aspect of culture (will explain more in the longer review)
- You find a story thread in this novel that creates tension. The mystery is embedded in the story and characters and even the style of writing, but the reader has to work to figure out the narrative.
My reservations:
- Very little of the arc is made plain to the average reader, the story is a nut to crack. Not everyone wants to work that hard.
- 4 points of view give the narrative its shape, not all of those POVs are created equal
- One POV is told from the perspective of a creature, probably a bird of some type. It does not know traditional spelling so the reader will have to endure paragraphs that are confusing…reading sentences like this: That woz how we used 2 reech our hoam, 1 ov thi birdz tells me. The narration written in this form is about 1/6 of the book and it was very unpleasant for me to read…even though I knew Banks was doing something experimental and interesting. I wanted to like it, but didn’t.
The Longer Review:
FEERSUM ENDJINN is a story, rated PG or PG-13…Regarding the PG-13 rating, there is a reference to a character in bed with two women…and a couple of other random references to sexual desire that might deem the book PG-13…however, those references reveal character and were not given much airtime overall. For the most part, the characters are not interested in, or engaging with sex. Violence is also not prominent in this story.
The mystery lies in how a future earth exists and in what form it is inhabited. Four characters give the sense of what this reality might be. Seemingly, Earth is really messed up. People are living underground and there is a battle between AI and a computer program that gives human beings their existence. I didn’t fully understand this dynamic from the text, but read a few articles to help me grasp the full meaning. The story was imaginative and made me wonder about the world, but overall…I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters. Maybe Gadfium (one of the POV characters), but even he/she only sometimes evoked my empathy. I call Gadfium he/she because of the story world that brings characters back from death, but sometimes in male or female or even animal form.
A book that requires this much work to understand is not a joy for everyone. However, if you want to read the really nerdy people on Banks like Professor Joseph Heath you might begin to understand how groundbreaking was Banks’ vision of the future.
When I read Consider Phlebas later this year, I’ll comment on this more, I hope. For now…you have to read one Banks novel if you’re a fanatic and this one could be the one for you.
THE CHILDREN OF MEN, A No-Spoiler Review of the novel by PD James
If you’re a person born before 1990, you’ve probably seen the film Children of Men, based on the novel by PD James. I recommend this scifi novel without reservations. This book is rated PG and appropriate for young adults. The rating is due to adult themes and some violence. I’m guessing it would make a great audiobook…especially if you enjoy listening to British voice actors.
The Short Review. Why read when you can watch the film instead?
- I recommend you do both! I loved the film which adopted the premise of the book, but the novel is unique and interesting in a different way
- Beautifully written
- Decent tension and a mystery to solve
- Subtle ideas about Christianity (Anglicanism in particular) that only partially made it into the film
The Longer Review
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness of Holland Park, was a much beloved writer of primarily detective novels. Her first was published in 1962. It was later in her career, in 1992, that she wrote THE CHILDREN OF MEN. While this book is not exactly a detective novel, James unrolls the story with a similar template. She tells the story from the perspective of one man, Theodore Faron. Theo, as he is mostly called in the novel, is a fifty-year old professor of History at Oxford University. More importantly, the backdrop or the world in which he is living is aging and sterile. In the story (all set in England), no one has had a child for over twenty-five years.
The story opens with Theo’s journal entry about the violent death of the “last born” child on earth.
Early this morning, 1 January 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl in a suberb of Buenos Aires, aged twenty-five years, two months and twelve days. If the first reports are to be believed, Joseph Ricardo died as he had lived. The distinction, if one can call it that, of being the last human whose birth was officially recorded, unrelated as it was to any person virtue or talent, had always been difficult for him to handle. And now he is dead.
This book was an interesting read for me as a writer for a couple of reasons, one of which is the wobbly point of view part-way into the novel. First person journal entries in chapter 1-5. At the beginning of chapter 6, Theo grapples with his journal writing as a task in his overly-organized life that gave him no pleasure. So, in this chapter, Theo is still the primary “voice” of the story, but now telling the tale in 3rd person. In chapter 7, he’s back to a journal entry, therefore first person, and in chapter 8 and from here on out, the tale is a close 3rd POV, all from Theo’s perspective. I don’t think the average reader is disrupted by these slight shifts because Theo is still the storyteller. I noticed mainly because novice writers will sometimes shift like this accidentally and most editors would discourage these shifts. James pulls it off because of the “journaling” aspect of the beginning. I think she is using this to show Theo’s passivity. He observes and writes, but does not act. By chapter 8, he has fully made the decision to be a part of the story, not just an observer. He acts as a character in the unrolling narrative and will continue to do so until the end.
Another aspect of James’ writing that I enjoyed were her vibrant descriptions of faces and clothing. Long descriptions seem to be Theo’s favorite way (James’ favorite way) to judge/describe character. Of course, given the descriptions are coming from Theo, they also tell the reader about him. Regardless, I found myself enthralled by some of the descriptions, their length and detail…like this description of Jasper, a minor character and one of Theo’s older colleagues.
He was the caricature of the popular idea of an Oxford don: high forehead, receding hairline, thin, slightly hooked nose, tight-lipped. He walked with his chin jutting forward as if confronting a strong gale, shoulders hunched, his faded gown billowing. One expected to see him pictured, high-collared as a Vanity Fair creation, holding one of his own books with slender-tipped fingers.
Here is Miriam, a midwife and one the primary characters in the second half of the novel.
The woman was the only one to come forward and grasp Theo’s hand. She was black, probably Jamaican, and the oldest of the group, older than himself, Theo guessed, perhaps in her mid- or late fifties. Her high bush of short, tightly curled hair was dusted with white. The contrast between the black and white was so stark that the head looked powdered, giving her a look both hieratic and decorative. She was tall and gracefully built with a long, fine-featured face, the coffee-coloured face hardly lined, denying the whiteness of the hair. She was wearing trousers tucked into boots, a high-necked brown jersey and sheepskin jerkin, an elegant, almost exotic contrast to the rough serviceable country clothes of the three men. She greeted Theo with a firm handshake and a speculative, half-humorous colluding glance, as if they were already conspirators.
Science fiction is not always well-written in the literary sense, so it’s a pleasure to read a book like THE CHILDREN OF MEN, with literary flair on top of a good story.
Regarding the Anglican tidbits. I am a practicing Anglican as of 2018, so I was keying into the references. Theodore (whose name means God-lover) has a distant relationship with the faith of his people, but the reader encounters him coming more alive to this faith even as he moves toward more actions. In the world in which he is living, taking risks and acting, symbolize hope. Hope for a future is what the whole world has given up on. No science and knowledge has been able to solve the problem of humankind’s infertility. The idea of extinction and of God’s abandonment of his creation are stark in Theo’s understanding of the world. There is a beautiful moment, later in the story where a prayer is given from the Anglican book of common prayer over a dead friend.
Theo does the reading.
At first, his voice sounded strange to his own ears, but by the time he got to the psalm the words had taken over and he spoke quietly, with confidence, seeming to know them by heart. “Lord, thou hast been our refuge: from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that is past as a watch in the night.”
Theo has awakened to the religion of his youth. It will play a large role in how he manages the final chapters of this gripping story.
THE FERRYMAN, A No-Spoiler Review of the Novel
Published in 2023 and still in hardback only, THE FERRYMAN, a novel by Justin Cronin, was a surprise find. My friend tipped me off. She is a serial reader, but normally reads lit fiction. She knows I read science fiction and speculative stuff. This book is science fiction and I’m not spoiling here. The first hint of a future/science fiction reality comes in the prologue. For the beginning half of the of the novel I was captured by the beauty of the writing. However, it’s always difficult to write a great ending, and THE FERRYMAN’s story/plot is complicated, very complicated and I’m not sure Cronin pulled it off.
First the Short Review: I Recommend THE FERRYMAN with Reservations
- Overall, lovely writing
- Suberb mystery and tension
- Interesting world-building
My Reservations:
- This is a long book, many words. Did it need to be this long?
- The last 1/3 of the book is a lot of explaining…the mysteries are not easily unwound and I’m still not sure I really get the ending
But still…it was a fun read. Here is one example of lovely writing in an early chapter:
“It came as a pleasant shock to me, how the man I’d known as a rather dry intellectual transformed himself so completely into a craftsman–a man who actually made things that the world could put to practical use Which only goes to show that people are more complicated than they let on and that even tragedy (sometimes only tragedy) can open the door to who we really are.”
This idea that tragedy opens up doors to identity is a theme that runs through the novel.
The Longer Review:
THE FERRYMAN’s setting is the fodder for much of the good writing. Prospera, a temperate island utopia, is home to a class of people known as Prosperans. Think Brave New World. Its inhabitants not only live and eat like royalty, they never die. In this world a technology exists that transfers the consciousness of an elder individual into a new body. Much of this process is surrounded in mystery because when the transfer takes place, memories are also wiped.
The new consciousness in a new body is in theory “the same person” being reborn, but without the baggage of memory. So is it really the same person? The reader wonders. For example, the main character, Proctor Bennet, dreams, and his dreams indicate a previous life, perhaps? Mysterious, though Prosperans are not supposed to dream. Something is amiss with Proctor Bennet.
Moreover, all is not well in Prospera. This becomes clear early in the story and drives much of the tension. There are other oddities in this world. Children with the re-inserted consciousness come from across the water on ferries at an older age, not as babies. All Prosperans have monitors inserted into their arms that measure their health and well-being. More importantly, an underclass of people perform the menial work on the island. These people have children naturally, live in a slum called the Annex, and do not seem to have access to the life-preserving technologies of the Prosperans. However, they make great art…an interesting discovery along the way, that those living in the Annex (as opposed to the Prosperans) live deeper lives, even though they are the underclass in society.
Proctor Bennet is a ferryman. He assists elders in the society who are ready to “end” their current lives. All this is done calmly, with signed contracts and quiet ceremony. When his own father is ready to board the ferry, Proctor is called and escorts his father to the ferry until his father unravels. A “scene” at the ferry is exactly what the Properans hate. Proctor’s experience around his father’s ugly departure across the sea thrusts him on a fact-finding mission. Clues emerge all around him. It’s around this section of the novel that I got the feeling there was glitch in the Matrix.
Except, the Matrix did the explaining soooo well. Maybe, this was because the Matrix was a film and not a novel. The backstory that unfolds in THE FERRYMAN is convoluted and complicated. The layers upon layers eventually are revealed, but the revelation felt forced to me, and so much less interesting than the setup. There was also a degree of cliche that felt disappointing to me. Same old, same old villains. Same old, same old catastrophe that set the thing in motion. All this is revealed by lots of explaining and lots of people having conversations with one another. Certainly, there needed to be some of this, but I felt there was too much. The style reminded me of Asimov, who loves to put two “smart” people (usually dominant white males) in a room together talking about and therefore telling the audience what’s going on. I’m not a fan of the style. So…those are my hangups. I think many will love this book. I know folks who adore Asimov for his ideas (if not his writing), but if I were you, I would maybe wait for the paperback, or pick up the audiobook…THE FERRYMAN could be fun to enjoy on a very very long road trip.
THEY CLONED TYRONE, A No-Spoiler Review
Tudum, Neflix’s official fan site, calls THEY CLONED TYRONE a gonzo sci-fi caper. I watched it with my son last week, a second time with my husband last night. Here’s my review. I enjoyed this caper at least as much the second time through. THEY CLONED TYRONE is rated R for violence, nudity and language. This film is streamable on Netflix.
The Short Review
5 Reasons I recommend this film
- starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, a fantastic trio, absolutely dynamic in all good ways
- authentic and gritty including design elements wonderfully contrasted in the 2 versions of “the Glen” portrayed
- a story that surprises…even knowing a clone is involved (see title), there are still some fantastic mysteries to solve
- THEY CLONED TYRONE was laugh-out-loud funny in parts, I found the dialogue and characters delightfully entertaining
- a serious social commentary worth contemplating
The Longer Review
When Jordan Peele decided to get into the film creation business and write/direct Get Out, Hollywood (and the general audience) sat up and took notice. Not only was Get Out entertaining in so many compelling ways, it was the fleshing out of an urban myth that a racially charged society like the US understood, even feared. Peele broke the mold with Get Out and then deepened his creative impact with Nope and Us, paving the way for creators like Juel Taylor. Taylor wrote and directed THEY CLONED TYRONE.
One of the things I loved about THEY CLONED TYRONE is that the narrative puts forward an allegorical reality in which systemic racism can be discussed in the real world. Moreover, it does this in an entertaining and thoughtful way. There is a scene early on, a face-off between the Slick, played by Jamie Foxx, and Fontaine, played by John Boyega, where Slick expresses his frustration about black on black violence in The Glen (the story’s setting–a poor black neighborhood of unknown location). To hear the phrase black on black violence verbalized in a narrative by a black character from the hood is a bold move by the filmmaker. He has to know that this idea has been taken up and championed by many conservative politicians, but rarely with appropriate context and compassion. However, when the Foxx character says it, I felt the sadness of the filmmaker’s commentary. It felt appropriately like a cry into the void. 
Taylor didn’t overplay his hand with that line, but did leave the phrase vibrating throughout the rest of the narrative. By the finale of the film, the idea is turned upside down. I hesitate to say more because *spoilers*, but there are so many good questions posed in this film, I might just have to watch it a third time.
HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD. A No-Spoiler Review
Murakami. Ah Murakami.
I took up this science fiction novel because having read so much mainstream scifi in the last few years, I found myself pining for beautiful prose. Haruki Murakami did not disappoint and HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD is not only an imaginative story that passes the muster of science fiction, but had me laughing out loud at various points.
This story is rated R for sexual content.
First, the short review.
6 Reasons I recommend HARD-BOILED
- Masterful storytelling, including a full-blown mystery embedded in the structure of the novel
- Beautifully drawn characters who not only feel true, but are likeable in their quirkiness
- An imaginative world where scifi touches magical realism
- Humor
- Gorgeous prose and great writing in general
- Unicorns
2 Reasons to Avoid HARD-BOILED
- If you only read sciency science fiction and could care less about prose…this book might not be for you
- If you need a straight-forward ending, this story does not have that
The Longer Review
Step into the world of Murakami, his imagination and his Japanese way of looking at life. In this novel, he alternates point of view chapter by chapter. He does not explain how the two POV’s are connected until close to the end. Both storylines are told in first person. Both protagonists are male in midlife. His easy prose and everyman protagonist give the fictional world not just shape and beauty, but allow for emotional access. This hero is not someone extraordinary and with super powers. He is any one of us caught in a dilemma. The story meanders through a Tokyo imagined, not exactly futuristic on the surface. People drive cars, listen to Bob Dylan cassette tapes, and drink Miller High Life, but the city is run by two rival factions, the Factory and the System. A third group, the INKlings, folktale creatures that rule an underground society, live beneath the city. One character summarizes this way:
“Is Japan a total monopoly state or what? The System monopolizes everything under the info sun, the Factory monopolizes everything in the shadows. They don’t know the meaning of competition.”
“Inklings? A sharp guy like you don’t know about Inkling? A.k.a. infra-Nocturnal kappa. You thought kappa were folktales? They live underground. They hole up in the subways and sewers, eat the city’s garbage, and drink graywater. They don’t bother with human beings. Except for a few subway workmen who disappear, that is, he he.”
As for Murakami’s prose, an excerpt:
Something has summoned me here. Something intractable. And for this, I have forfeited my shadow and my memory. The River murmurs at my feet. There is the sandbar midstream, and on it the willows sway as they trail their long branches in the current. The water is beautifully clear. I can see fish playing among the rocks. Gazing at the River soothes me. Steps lead down from the bridge to the sandbar. A bend waits under the willows, a few beasts lay nearby. Often have I descended to the sandbar and offered crusts of bread to the beasts. At first they hesitated, but now the old and the very young eat from my hand. As the autumn deepens, the fathomless lakes of their eyes assume an ever more sorrowful hue. The leaves turn color, the grasses wither; the beasts sense the advance of a long hungry season and bowing to their vision, I too know a sadness.
Ah, Murakami and the magic of his prose.
RED MARS, by Kim Stanley Robinson, A No-Spoiler Review of the Classic Scifi Novel
The Short Review
5 reasons RED MARS is a must-read for the scifi fanatic and anyone remotely interested in planetary geology:
- RED MARS is a KSRobinson classic, published in 1992 and winner of the Nebula and the first of his acclaimed Mars Trilogy
- The story imagines life on Mars in a way that feels scientifically viable and compelling, therefore relevant to the current and growing conversation around Mars exploration
- Scientists are the narrators of this story. They are also the heroes, sometimes the villains, the problem solvers and the work horses. I was especially drawn to the “builder” character, Nadia
- The planetary geology content, naturally integrated into the story, is breathtakingly fun
- Despite being over 170K words long, KSR does not get bogged down in the “how would that ever be possible” science scenarios, but drives the story forward through characters and the politics that pressure a budding Martian community
The Longer Review
RED MARS tells the story of the first 100 scientists sent to Mars by a multi-national Earth entity called UNOMA, United Nations of Martian Affairs. The story PG-13 (for some sexual content) follows about 10 of those scientists closely, though many others are referred to and are part of the action in direct and indirect ways. The novel is broken up into eight parts and each of the parts has a different primary narrator. I do think Robinson’s choice on point of view works in a novel this long, adding a level of complexity and depth to the very audacious idea that Mars might be “tamed” by human beings. Robinson plays with themes around the idea that really smart people might be able to build a better civilization from scratch, and form some kind of utopia, but does not make the task easy on the idealogues within his story.
Various characters, all of whom are scientists in one discipline or another, give voice to ideas of alternative governing and living environments. The sharing of abundant resources is the initial reality for the first 100, but eventually, when new groups arrive on Mars, the corporations who have funded the exploration and building, come calling for the planet’s vast natural resources.
The conflict that arises is somewhat predictable and draws out the best and worst of the people in charge who are trying to manage a fragile, but quickly expanding human presence on Mars.
Meanwhile, Earth is falling into total chaos. Robinson does not spend any time showing the reader Earth itself, but shows it via news stories viewed by the inhabitants of Mars. Earth’s chaos is also a reason why many thousands of migrants are streaming to the new world. Robinson does lean left in his politics (proudly so) and sees corporate giants as the villain, though the villain is also amorphous in the story. Robinson’s ideas don’t come across as preachy to me. He’s a deep thinker and a thoughtful writer, so he understands the grittiness of governing and the probable impossibility of building that utopia even if one does start with 100 brilliant scientists.
Many science fiction readers will not mind the length of RED MARS, but at times, I confess to being a bit bored and wondered…Where is this story going? However, I did stick it out and the payoff was decent. It stands alone as a novel, without the kind of cliffhangers that drive you to the second book. Will I read the next two books in the trilogy? Probably yes, but not this summer.