Teaser Tuesday 10/12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

As frequent readers may have noticed from the lack of anything going on here, I'm in a slump. Since I think the universal cure for a slump is well-loved classics, I'm browsing my shelves these days looking for something that seems appealing. Over the weekend, I read an old favorite: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. This week's Teaser:

As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed me through the door leading to Customs, Health, and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed him.

This isn't my favorite Heinlein by any stretch, but it's a quick and fun read (especially if you skim the typical Heinlein lectures on everything from politics to astrophysics and avert your eyes from the outdated sexual politics).

Let's read some Science Fiction

I was poking about and found this great post from io9's Sci-Fi University: A syllabus and book list for novice students of science fiction literature. I love reading lists. I'm terrible at using them, as I never want to feel like I have to read a book and it always seems like I've read barely a fraction of the books listed, but I love them anyway.

(On a related note, they also have 25 Classic SF Movies of which I've seen most. I find it suspicious, though, that several of the movies are form the last few years. Doesn't something have to be older to be classic?)

Anyway, this reminded me that the Hugo Awards are due to be handed out and I have read none - none! - of this year's nominees for Best Novel.

2010 Hugo Nominees for Best Novel

• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
• The City & The City by China Miéville
• Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
• Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
• WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

I think Boneshaker and The Windup Girl look the most intriguing. Anyone have a recommendation for where to start on this list?

Book Links 9/02/10

Just read a great appreciation of Robert Heinlein by author Jo Walton: “Out far, and onward yet!” Heinlein’s future history stories of the thirties and forties. It's part of Tor.com's celebration of all things Heinlein, in honor of his new biography. [Via Whatever]

I quote from my friend and fellow blogger Laura: If you were a superhero, you'd need to have this as your fortress of solitude. Of course you might not come out to fight crime. She is referring to The Giant Fort Of Books.

From Shelf Awareness: a cool bookcase/sculpture. As they put it, this makes on "look at the square states in the middle of the country with new appreciation."

On a non-book related note: those of you who are the right age/demographic, you might get as big a kick out of today's date as I did. In which case, you should check out Go Fug Yourself today and their celebration of all things Brenda, Brandon, Kelly, Steve, Donna, and David.

Review: The Ear, the Eye and the Arm

Nancy Farmer's The Ear, the Eye and the Arm is a bizarre and interesting novel. Zimbabwe, 2194: when General Matsika's three children wander venture out on their first solo trip outside of their restrictive home, they end up missing - kidnapped, just as the General had feared. So their parents' hire a trio of unusual detectives, the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, each named for the mutation that gives them special abilities, to find them. The detectives are just one step behind the children, always catching up to them just as they are taken or escape to the next place.

It is a hard book to define - it's mostly science fiction, with traditional folk tales and some fantastical elements mixed in. I can see a lot of different younger readers enjoying this, as it really covers several genres. I found the plot to be a little repetitive, because of this constant cat-and-mouse chase, but I enjoyed getting to see the many different aspects of Farmer's Zimbabwe. Although I didn't feel compelled to pick the book up, when I was reading it, I found it quite engaging.

This book was a Newbery Honor awardee in 1995.

Buy The Ear, the Eye and the Arm on Amazon.

Review: The Passage

My husband recently read The Passage by Justin Cronin and suggested I may want to hold off on reading it (I'm just not sure I'm in a place where I want to read scary things right now). Instead, he agreed to let me interview him about the book.

In just a couple of sentences, can you tell us what The Passage is about?

The Passage is a dystopian vision of the Western United States where society has collapsed under the oppression of a genetically engineered race of monsters. The survivors live in a constant state of siege trying to scratch out a meager existence. The crux of the drama focuses on a small group of defenders on a hopeful quest (hence the title The Passage) to secure help/resources for their community.

What made you decide to read it?

I decided to read it after my favorite book reviewer suggested I crack it open. I also was at three social events on three consecutive days where everyone seemed to be talking about it. I had also just loaded the B&N e-reader onto my iPhone, and thought I would put it through it's paces by chugging through a 700+ page book. The Passage fit the bill nicely.

Aw, I'm "your favorite book reviewer." That's so sweet. Also, wise to say since I know where you sleep.

700 pages is a lot no matter what the format. Did it seem long? Too long?

Actually, no, it wasn't too long... but then again I am a big fan of the epic story line. If though you are looking for a quick summer read this isn't it. It also isn't a light-hearted, sweet and fluffy piece. It's dark, and make no mistake, it's got horror in its bones.

For the most part the action and plot rolled along well. There were only a few chapters that seemed slow, but this was just obligatory background and atmospheric stuff that taken in the context of the whole story were necessary to communicate to the reader. On that note, Cronin has a very simple communication style. It is descriptive but not overly wordy which I believe will make this book accessible to many readers.

One word of caution: despite the basic writing style, this book has so many characters in so many geographic locations over such long time periods that taking a short break in reading could present a challenge. I happened to chug through this book in about three days so I didn't run into this problem, but I could see that if a reader approached this tome in a casual manner they could easily be confused.

So, it sounds like you liked it, then. What did you like the most about The Passage?

I think I liked the dystopian aspect best for a couple reasons.
First, it gets you thinking about how fragile our society is, and what you would do in tough times. Not necessarily when bloodsucking monsters attack, but you know... when things go really south and our world turns on it's ear. It's that pervasive fantasy that makes you think you'd have what it takes. The hubris that makes you think that you above others would have the gumption to be one of the survivors.

Secondly, and on a more cheerful note, I am also a big fan of movies and books where the common man rallies against uncommon odds, successfully or not. And that's what this book is all about.

Well, knowing you, I am sure you'd be one of the survivors. Too bad you'd be saddled with me, the least outdoorsy woman you know.

But back to the book - would you recommend this book to other readers? Who do you think might enjoy it?

I would recommend it to a mature reader who enjoyed post-apocalyptic fiction. I believe that you'll like this if you liked:

• The Stand by Stephen King
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien
• The first Mad Max movie
• The Dark Tower universe by Stephen King

Thanks to my fantastic husband for helping me out and sharing his thoughts!

Buy The Passage on Amazon.

Octavia E. Butler Week - Friday Wrap-Up

Over the past week, I have reviewed/discussed four different books written by Octavia E. Butler: Fledgling, Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, and Kindred. Today, I'd like to have a discussion about these works more generally and about some shared themes I saw. I appreciate all the comments I've gotten so far on each post and welcome more. As a word of warning, some of my comments below contain spoilers.

Slavery
No point in beating around the bush - we're starting out with the hard stuff here today. When I wrote my review of Kindred, I had to look up synonyms for "horror." That was just the word that kept coming back for me as I thought about the events in this book. The horror of slavery, the horror of what happens to Dana, the unbelievable horror that slavery really happened in this country and for so long.

While Kindred is demonstrably about slavery, I also saw this theme pop up in the other books I read. In Parable of the Talents, Lauren and the other Earthseed members are enslaved in the name of religious re-education. The symbiots in Fledgling are held voluntarily - but how voluntary can it be when your life depends on staying?

Race
Another loaded topic - and one that, as a Caucasian woman, I can give only my thoughts on. I'm not capable of talking about race in a larger sense, or even of analyzing all the ways Butler discusses race. But in everything I've read from Butler so far, race is there as an issue, whether overt or not, so it would be impossible for me to write this post without at least touching on the subject. Examples of racial discrimination are present everywhere in Butler's books, even if its not vital to the plot. Like, in Parable of the Talents, Bankole is a doctor but his white neighbors distrust his skills, because he is black.

The topic of race is somewhat related to that of slavery. The black characters in Kindred are enslaved because they are of the wrong race. But in the other books I mentioned above, race isn't, that I saw, a factor in the slavery aspect. For example, in Fledgling, Shori is an Ina (a vampire), so therefore is of the race that holds the power. But she is also black, the result of the mixing of genes from an African-American woman and Ina. So she is held to be inferior by many of the other Ina and is Other, even to them.

Religion
Butler was raised Baptist but walked away from it. So its really, really interesting to me that she ended up founding a religion. Unlike L. Ron Hubbard, I don't think she did it intentionally. But there are people practicing Earthseed, the religion she created in Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. They call it SolSeed. I wonder what Ms. Butler would think of that.

Octavia E. Butler
This isn't a theme, obviously, but these books do all share one very important point: they were written by Octavia Butler. An African-American woman, writing science fiction. Add in her personal history - dyslexia, her father dying when she was a baby, her spiritual upbringing - and its clear that there are not a lot of writers like her. All in all, she was a remarkable woman.

I hope you have enjoyed my week celebrating Octavia E. Butler. There are many more books from her I haven't read, so maybe I will do this again some time in the future. If you have a suggestion for the next Butler book I should read, please leave it in the comments.

Review: Kindred

In Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, Dana is a young African American woman living in 1976 California with her white husband. Starting on her twenty-sixth birthday, she gets sucked back in time and across the country to the antebellum South by Rufus Weylin, her distant ancestor and a young white slave owner. Rufus calls for Dana whenever his life is in danger, starting with a near drowning when he is a young boy and continuing throughout his life. But Dana gets trapped in the South as a slave, sometimes for just a few minutes, sometimes for extended periods of time. She has to learn to live on the Weylin plantation as a slave, and develops a terrible kind of relationship with Rufus. Because for all that she hates her life as a slave, if she wants to ensure that her family exists in the future, she also has to ensure that Rufus lives to father a child on a free woman named Alice.


One of the hardest things about this book is defining it. The copy I have (a former library copy) is labeled both Science Fiction and African-American Literature. Butler herself called it "a grim fantasy." Except for the time travel element, it could even be Historical Fiction. What struck me, though, was that it is (again, except for time travel) a slave narrative. Slave narratives are the autobiographical accounts of life in slavery and were often published by abolitionist groups to educate the public about the horrors of slavery. It has been years since I read one, but the few that I read stick in my mind, particularly Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs.

It seems to me that what Butler has done is taken the traditional slave narrative and put it in the voice of a modern woman. Which is brilliant. Slave narratives can be hard to read, not just for their tragic contents but because of their old-fashioned writing style. By putting these words in the mouth of a woman whose life echoes my own much more closely, it just made the horror of what I was reading even more real. Isn't that strange? That this fictional account, which includes something as out there as time travel, can feel more real and immediate than the true story of a woman, written in her own hand?

It helps, of course, that Butler is a writer of such skill. For all that I feared for Dana and grieved for the atrocities committed against her and the other plantation slaves, I never wanted to walk away from this book. It was just so well written, so simple and beautiful, I just wanted to keep going.

Read this book. It doesn't matter whether you have to go to a section of the library or bookstore you never go to (whether that means sci-fi or Africa-American literature). Just find a copy and read it.

Buy Kindred on Amazon.

Review: Parable of the Talents

Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents is the sequel to Parable of the Sower, which I reviewed last year. It picks up a few years after Sower left off and deals primarily with Lauren Olamina's struggle to establish her new religion Earthseed, especially after her community is struck by unbelievable violence.

Lauren Olamina's love is divided among her young daughter, her community, and the revelation that led Lauren to found a new faith that teaches "God Is Change". But in the wake of environmental and economic chaos, the U.S. government turns a blind eye to violent bigots who consider the mere existence of a black female leader a threat. And soon Lauren must either sacrifice her child and her followers -- or forsake the religion that can transform human destiny.

Sower can be unbelievably depressing during much of that book. But I thought that Sower was ultimately hopeful, with Lauren and Bankole in love, married, and starting Acorn as a community of like-minded people. Maybe its just the current political environment, but I found Talents to be even darker. This is the kind of book that makes me question the decency of human beings. Its scary to think of the awful things that happen in this book happening and yet Butler makes it all seem very possible.

The hard part in discussing this book is judging it on its own merits. In some ways, Parable of the Talents does actually stand on its own quite well, since the tone of it is so different from Sower. This book is told mostly through Lauren's journal, introduced by her daughter Larkin and interspersed with journal selections from Bankole (Lauren's husband) and Lauren's brother. So rather than just getting Lauren's opinion, we get multiple points of view. Which was hard in its own way. While I don't always agree with Lauren's actions, I find her to be a very sympathetic character, someone I emotionally root for. for me, Larkin was not. She presents herself as a historian, a chronicler of events. But she is, for obvious reasons, emotionally involved in the actions of the book. She blames her mother for how unfairly life has treated her and her bitterness seeps into her words. Is it fair of me to dislike her for her anger? No, of course not. She has an incredibly hard life, filled with tragedy and heartbreak.

I have to give credit, though, to Butler for creating this world, filled with these characters, and making them so real and believable. Clearly, this is a powerful book and one that I highly recommend. I do wish that the ending wasn't so rushed, but that is a minor quibble in the overall impact of the book.

Buy Parable of the Talents on Amazon.

Parable of the Sower was nominated for a Nebula for best novel in 1994. In 1999, she received the Nebula for Parable of the Talents. According to Wikipedia, Butler had originally planned to write a third Parable novel, tentatively titled Parable of the Trickster and mentioned it in a number of interviews.

Teaser Tuesday 4/6: Kindred

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

In keeping with my Octavia E. Butler theme this week, my teaser is from her famous novel Kindred:

I liked the boy, and from what I'd heard of early nineteenth-century medicine, they were going to pour some whiskey down him and play tug of war with his leg. And he was going to learn brand new things about pain.

Review: Fledgling

Octavia Butler is an amazing author. I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with reading any of her books. I could almost just leave it at that - no review, just demand that you go read Fledgling. Instead, I will try to articulate what I thought was so interesting about this book.


First, there's the writing. The prose was spare, I thought, but incredibly compelling. There was something so irresistible, to me, about how simple yet descriptive the writing was.

The second interesting thing about this book was the story. I thought there would be more of an action arc but overall it wasn't very action driven. Instead, the story was engaging, moving forward interspersed with bursts of action. In fact, Fledgling was a real page-turner. I really wanted to know what was going to happen next.

The third interesting thing about this book is the ideas. There are some very uncomfortable moments in Fledgling - a grown man has sex with someone who looks like a child, people are kept as possessions, even if they are there voluntarily, and, as in all of Butler's books that I have read, race is never a comfortable issue. But there is so much to think about it in here and no easy answers. It makes for a just fascinating read.

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't given a plot summary. As so often happens, I found the description on the back of the book to be misleading. But I rather liked not really knowing what would happen, so I don't really care to correct it and lay it out for you here. In short, though, Fledgling is about a 10-year-old black girl who is actually a 50-plus year old vampire.

It does feel a little like there should be a sequel to this book - like Fledgling set up the world and the next book would expand on it. Sadly, Ms. Butler passed away after its publication, so this is all we have of the world of Fledgling. But its a really interesting book and one that I would recommend to anyone who likes their SF/Fantasy a little smarter.

Buy Fledgling on Amazon.

Teaser Tuesday 3/16

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

Instead of randomly picking two lines, I'm sharing with you the first lines Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, the sequel to the wonderful Parable of the Sower:

They'll make a God of her.

I think that would please her, if she could know about it.

Review: Genesis

I first heard about Genesis by Bernard Beckett from the joint discussion/review held by Presenting Lenore, Pop Culture Junkie, and Sharon Loves Books and Cats. When I saw it on the shelf at a local library, I pulled it off, grabbed a seat, and started reading. About two hours later, I came up for air and realized I had just read the whole book in one sitting. Its a short book, obviously, and a compelling one.

Anax, the dedicated student historian at the center of Beckett's brutal dystopian novel, lives far in the future. The world of the 21st century, we learn, was ravaged by plague and decay, the legacy of the Last War. Only the island Republic, situated near the bottom of the globe, remained stable and ordered, but at the cost of personal freedom. Anax, hoping her scholarly achievements will gain her entrance to the Academy, which rules her society, has extensively studied Adam Forde, a brilliant and rebellious citizen of the Republic who fought for human dignity in the midst of a regimented, sterile society. To join the Academy's ranks, Anax undergoes a test before three examiners, and as the examination progresses, it becomes clear that her interpretations of Adam's life defy conventional thought and there may be more to Adam—and the Academy—than she had imagined.

I'm not sure why this book was classified as Young Adult. Anax is young, but the ideas presented were sophisticated. The structure of the book was unusual - the book is the proceedings of Anax's exam. The few other bits of action are either Anax reflecting on events that led her to this point, or the few holographic videos played during her exam. It is a book about thoughts, not of action. But I found it to be an interesting book; one that kept my attention and made me think, even after I put it down.

Buy Genesis on Amazon.

Review: The Host

I'll admit it: despite having read multiple positive reviews for The Host, I assumed it would be sort of awful. It is, after all, by Stephanie Meyer, the woman who wrote the Twilight series. Therefore, I figured it would be fun to read, and yet annoy the living daylight out of me, and make me kind of want to pluck my eyes out. I am quite pleased to say that I was wrong. Yes, the book was fun to read so I got that part right. But it was not at all annoying. In fact, it was quite good.

Earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

This is definitely one of those books where the reader spends a lot of time with the main character, so you better like her if you want to read the book. Fortunately, I liked Wanderer quite a bit, and found her to be sympathetic, especially since she really could have been the bad guy in this situation. I liked Melanie, too, though she's a secondary character in her own body, and can be a bit bratty when she is asserting herself.

The one big drawback to this book is that it is pretty long - the library copy I read weighed in at 2 lbs and 619 pages, not exactly easy to slip into my purse. I didn't really notice, though, until about halfway through. I struggled to keep going for a bit, but pretty soon, the big climax sucked me back in and the ending was totally satisfying. So don't let the length put you off, is what I'm saying. I think non-science fiction readers might enjoy this one in particular would enjoy The Host, as it doesn't feel like sci-fi, even though it definitely is.

Buy The Host: A Novel by Stephanie Meyer on Amazon.

One more thought about The Host: according to the publisher, this is Meyer's first book for adults. Uh, why? Not that I'm saying that adults won't like it (I did! Then again, maybe I'm not the best judge of age appropriateness), but I don't think it's particularly mature. Actually, even though Wanderer is an adult, Melanie is only 17, and while she's forced to grow up, she still seems a lot like a teenager to me. Is it because there's some assumed se x? (No one actually does it in the book, or anything, you just kind of assume that certain people are.) If I hadn't read that it was for adults, I might have thought this was YA.

Wonderful Things at Tor.com

I visited Tor.com this weekend, which I'd never done before. I went to read a free short story written by John Scalzi, set in the Old Man's War universe, After the Coup. I poked around a bit, too, and came upon a most amazing little video that I just had to share with you: A Record Of Life from Owen Gatley and Luke Jinks on Vimeo.



This video makes me wish I could draw better. And compose music. Just wonderful!

Review: The Android's Dream

From the back of the book:

A human diplomat kills his alien counterpart. Earth is on the verge of war with a vastly superior alien race. A lone man races against time and a host of enemies to find the one object that can save our planet and our people from alien enslavement... a sheep.

That's right, a sheep. And if you think that's the most surprising thing about this book, wait until you read Chapter One. Welcome to The Android's Dream.

For Harry Creek, it's quickly becoming a nightmare. All he wants is to do his uncomplicated mid-level diplomatic job with Earth's State Department. But his past training and skills get him tapped to save the planet — and to protect pet store owner Robin Baker, whose own past holds the key to the whereabouts of that lost sheep. Doing both will take him from lava-strewn battlefields to alien halls of power. All in a day's work. Maybe it's time for a raise.

This book is so weird. Death by farting. A human/sheep hybrid. An ironic religious cult. There's sci-fi... and then there's Scalzi.

I'll be honest - this was my least favorite of his books that I've read. Old Man's War and the rest were great, though, so maybe it is inevitable that one of his books will fall short for me. Don't get me wrong - I still think he's great writer and I normally really like his tongue-in-cheek sense of humor (really evident on Scalzi's blog). On this one, though, I had a hard time getting past the weirdness. In the moments when I did, there was a lot to like about this book. The rest of the time, though... weird.

Buy The Android's Dream on Amazon.

Review: The House of the Scorpion

The House of the Scorpion is a very interesting teen science fiction novel. Set in a dystopian, near future, it is the story of Matteo Alacrán. To most people, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. He's just a clone, not a human. But he's the clone of El Patrón, lord of Opium -- the country lying between the U.S. and what was once Mexico.

As I said, this is a very interesting book. The writing is crisp and straight-forward, as you'd imagine for a YA book, but the subject matter is not - cloning, genetics, nature vs. nurture - there's a lot going on in this book, and most of the characters' motivation is murky.

For about 75% of the way through this book, I kept thinking that this may be the best YA book I've read this year. Then the story went off in a new, different direction, that just fell a little flat in comparison to what came before. It was still good, just not excellent.

Still, I highly recommend The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. If you haven't read it, check it out. I think you'll be impressed.

Buy The House of the Scorpion on Amazon.

Review: Terra Insegura

A few weeks ago, I read and reviewed Marseguro by Edward Willett. Terra Insegura is the sequel.

Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.

This back-of-the-book description really only scratches the surface of what happens in this book, but it tells you everything you need to know about Marseguro to enjoy Terra Insegura. Otherwise, Terra Insegura stands on its own very well. In fact, for some, I think it will even compare more favorably, as it is a real action-packed science fiction novel, with a lot less of the back story and philosophizing found in Marseguro. This is not to say that the characters in Terra Insegura don't grapple with some weighty issues - they do, and how - but they are much too concerned with surviving to spend too much time talking about it.

My only quibble (because of course I always have a quibble) is that the author has a habit of taking a cliche, pointing out its a cliche and then doing the cliche anyway. I loved this the first time he did it.

"As you know, Captain-"
Richard sighed. "Please don't start your explanation like that, Smith. It makes me feel like I'm trapped in a bad adventure novel."

After the third time a cliche was turned on its head, though, I started to think that just because you're pointing out the cliche, it is still a cliche. You only get to use a few, so use them wisely.

That criticism is minor, though, and really did not detract from what was otherwise a very fun novel. Anyone who likes their science fiction fast and well-written will enjoy Terra Insegura.

Buy Terra Insegura on Amazon or read the first two chapters at the author's website.

Review: Never Let Me Go

There are a lot of really spoiler-y book reviews out there for Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I will try very hard to not make this one of them. I was spoiled for this book and still thought it was incredibly powerful, but I think it would be even better to not know. So, what can I say that doesn't give too much away?

Set in England, Never Let Me Go is narrated by Kathy, a woman on the edge of a major life change, as she looks back on her past, especially her years at an exclusive boarding school with her friends Ruth and Tommy. The book builds up slowly. Kathy's story is mostly chronological, but she jumps around as memories come to her and we learn about where all three of them go as adults. As the story comes together, realization emerges of just who these people are and why they were at Hailsham.

This is an incredibly powerful book. I found it to be very moving and sad, but in a very subtle way. This isn't a weepy book, where I need to carry a box of Kleenex around with me while I read. Instead, I felt like a blanket of sadness was being pulled onto me, as I gradually realized the magnitude of Kathy's story. When the book was done, I put it down and sat quietly for a while, just absorbing what I'd read, and in the days since, I've thought about it several times. (This is actually my next book club book and I'm very disappointed that I will not be able to attend the meeting, as I would love to have a long conversation about Never Let Me Go with someone who's also read it.)

I highly recommend Never Let Me Go. It was one of the best books I've read so far this year, and will stay with me for a long time to come.

Buy Never Let Me Go on Amazon.

Never Let Me Go is by the author of Remains of the Day, and was a Man Booker Prize finalist.

Review: Marseguro

I first heard about Marseguro by Edward Willett via the “Big Idea” column on Scalzi’s blog. I thought the concept was really compelling and, after I had the good fortune of winning the sequel from the author, asked if I could review both here (he was kind enough to send both books).

After a disaster strikes Earth, a fanatical religious group that preaches against the genetic modification of humans, takes over the planet. Geneticist Victor Hansen flees with the Selkies, his newly-created race of water-breathing humans, and some normal humans to Marseguro, a distant planet. But the Earth government isn’t going to let them get away and, fifty years later, they sic Victor’s own grandson, Richard, on them. But when the Earth strike force arrives to attack, they discover that the Selkies will fight back, and Richard Hansen learns something about himself that changes his life.

I’ve tried my best to describe the plot, but there’s a lot going on here, so my summary really only touches on the high points. The first section of the book gears up slowly, as the author spends some time introducing us to the world he’s created, but the action picks up in the book’s second act as the attack/defense story gets ratcheted up to the next level. Actually, while I know not everyone appreciates this kind of slower start, for me, Willett really shines at world-building. He brought Marseguro (the planet) to life for me and I enjoyed getting to know Earth of the Body Purified (which reminded me of Heinlein’s religious dictatorship of “If This Goes On –“ and Revolt in 2100), however briefly the action takes place there.

I won’t say that this was the best sci-fi book I’ve read this year. For one thing, there were a few spots where something took me out of the story – either the writing got a little rough or a character did something that came out of left field and threw me off. But, in general, Willett is a strong writer with a great concept and good story. Anyone who wants to read a novel that talks about tough ethical questions and has characters whose lives are in shades of grey will enjoy Marseguro.

Buy Marseguro on Amazon.

On to sequel Terra Insegura next!

Review: Agent to the Stars

Agent to the Stars was John Scalzi's first novel. As he explains in the book's introduction, he wrote it in 1997 as a "practice novel," never expecting it to be published. *

The spacefaring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: they're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish.

So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone to help them close the deal.

Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He's one of Hollywood's hottest young agents. But although Stein may have just concluded the biggest deal of his career, it's quite another thing to negotiate for entire alien race. To earn his percentage this time, he's going to need all the smarts, skills, and wits he can muster.

I thought this was just going to be a funny sci-fi book - which it was, mostly - but then it got all serious and I liked that, too. The first part of the book, the section that introduces Stein to the aliens and us to the problem, is campy and fun, with enough weight to the characters to engage the reader. The latter half of the book is still campy, but deals with some pretty heavy concepts in a somewhat lighthearted manner. I'm not really sure what I think about some of the decisions the characters made, actually, but I still enjoyed the book.

So, is Agent to the Stars worth reading? Yes, but especially for fans of Scalzi's work and anyone who loves a good sci-fi B-movie.

Buy Agent to the Stars on Amazon.

* If you Google around, you can find Agent to the Stars as a free online book, but its not quite the same thing as the published version. Scazi (as he explains in the book's intro) updated the story a bit for this addition.