Reading Log, January 2012 (Part 1)

Is it that time again? Is this thing even on? Testing, one, two...Of course it is! January has run it's course and it's time for the monthly recap. Which in hindsight should have been broken down into a mid-month review again as I certainly read enough to fill them both. And after having tweaked the post format with my look ahead for the year, I'm adopting the newer format for this reviews. Although in further retrospection as I'm now including the publisher's descriptions, this is taking up more room.

Well if I get industrious this next month, maybe I should play with each book review getting it's own post, then adding a short review at the end of the month.

Och well, time for this month's review!

Fuzzy Nation - John Scalzi

A reboot of the 1962 classic science fiction novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper.

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Alone in the wilderness of an untamed, barely taped planet, he is content to be an independent contractor, a prospecter surveying at his own pace.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped — trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute — shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed… and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a brilliant writer, publishes a new novel that's more homage to a particular classic then a re-write of that classic, is it still that classic? Fuzzy Nation, in short, is a brilliant treatment of a classic novel from Sci-Fi's "golden age". Having read the original, and this generation's version I was struck by how much it both made me nostalgic for those earlier novels, while also thoroughly enjoying the novels of today. I won't say that Scalzi somehow dug up Piper, channeled his spirit and wrote the novel for this generation. No, Fuzzy Nation is most definitely Scalzi all through, while at the same time you can see the influence of Piper.

Or in length, it really rocks.

So if you like some of the pulps, like a good adventure, subtle but pervasive humor, and well a better story about corporate greed and alien exploitation then Avatar, then I strongly recommend this book. And no science degree needed to understand this science fiction.

(cost: 12.00 / rated: 9.00)

Diving into the Wreck - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(Diving Universe Book 1)

Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she's an active historian. She wants to know about the past — to experience it firsthand. Once she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.
 
Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It's impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn't be here. It can't be here. And yet, it is. Boss's curiosity is up, and she's determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won't give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.
 
What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war.

When I got done with this novel, the first thing that popped into my head, was that it reminded me a lot of Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series and even the Engine of Gods series. The narrative, pacing, and even some of the subject make a kind of slow burn Indiana Jones Sci-Fi Archeology mystery. ie, something also like a slower, less intense and more spacey version of some of Dan Brown's novels.

That being said, like all those novels, some of the personal interactions feel a little stilted. Probably due to the nature of the novels though so I'm not faulting it that much. I do like Alex Benedict's interactions more then the Boss, but likely further books in the series will improve on those. Also as the entire book is in a first person narrative, we can also ascribe some of that to the narrator themselves and not the writer.

All in all, it's still a good book. As mentioned above, if you like mystery, a bit of slight horror, and a bit of adventure, you should like this novel.

(cost 9.60 / rated: 7.00)

Model Spy - Shannon Greenland
(The Specialists Book 1)

Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn’t have many friends and David has always been nice to her. it doesn’t hurt that he’s supercute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government’s main computer system. but a few hours later, her whole life changes. she is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn’t your run-of-the-mill arrest. rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she’s sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

Urk. Now I enjoy the occasional Young adult novel. Even a YA novel that isn't Sci-Fi. I spent a couple of years confined by librarians to the children and young adult section, so I had to learn to enjoy what I read. It's just that when I read this my brain just went splat. It wasn't that the book as a fantasy, it's more the whole plot and character interaction is a little to unbelievable. I know the point was to make a Charlie's Angels style series for teenagers, about globetrotting spys, in settings that obviously are different then what the are used to. But per this series it usually meant taking them from their personal and comfortable settings and glamming them up. Really it felt like the whole point wasn't about exploring how great they really are, but how great the world of the rich, famous, or popular is for them to be in.

So that being the case, I didn't enjoy this novel very much. To teens who read Vogue and Us, it'd probably be a good fit. Just not for me.

(cost 7.00 / rated 3.00)

The Outback Stars - Sandra McDonald
(Outback Stars Book 1)

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is a hero. She has the medals and the scars to prove it. She's cooling her heels on Kookaburra, recovering from injuries sustained during the fiery loss of her last ship, the Yangtze, and she's bored – so bored, in fact, that she takes a berth on the next ship out. That's a mistake. The Aral Sea isn't anyone's idea of a get-well tour.

Jodenny's handed a division full of misfits, incompetents, and criminals. She's a squared-away officer. She thinks she can handle it all. She's wrong. Aral Sea isn't a happy ship. And it's about to get a lot unhappier.

As Aral Sea enters the Alcheringa – the alien-constructed space warp that allows giant settler-ships to travel between worlds, away from all help or hope – Jodenny comes face to face with something powerful enough to dwarf even the unknown force that destroyed her last ship and left her with missing memories and bloody nightmares. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is about to be introduced to love.

It felt like a cross between Honor Harrington and Quartershare and not quite in a good way. The universe, setting and plot were rather novel, but the character interaction just seemed to lack depth. The half military half trader feel just also didn't quite gel with me. Thus all the intrigue and danger in the second half the book also felt a little out of place. It was still a fairly good novel, and likely the rest of the series is better, but the first book is enough for me to pause and feel wary about venturing down this particular rabbit hole. However if you like Quartershare there is a good chance you'll like this novel well enough also.

(cost NA ebook, 8.00 paperback / rated 5.00)

Star Fraction - Ken MacLeod
(Fall Revolution Book 1)

In a turbulent twenty-first-century Britain ruled by an absentee Hanoverian royal family and controlled by US/UN technology cops, security mercenary Mohn Kohn; Janis Taine, a scientist on the run from the US/UN; and Jordan Brown, a teenage refugee from a religious fundamentalist cult, become caught up in a series of events, controlled by a rogue computer program, that could change the world.

Oh goodie, a Pre and post Singularity novel infused with essences of Cyberpunk, this has Ken MacLeod written all over it. Oh he wrote the novel? That explains why it felt so good. Having read Newton's Wake another of the author's novels prior to this, I can say with certainty that Ken MacLeod really understands the Singularity. From the possibilities inherent in Nano, to how Alien and yet not AI can be, he can really craft a wonderful story in a universe on and over the edge of technology.

Modern fans of Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, take note, you'll like this book as well. Heck if you also liked Charles Stross' Eschaton Series, you'll also feel particularly at home. And the best part? There are three other stand alone novels in the same universe. Different characters, different stories, but all with the same essence and narrative styling. Also all in two omnibus double novels, which definitely make them a bargain. Highly recommended for those who like a good action orientated novel set in a singularity.

(cost 10.00 with the second novel combined / rated 7.00)

To be continued...