Reviews :: Book Genre :: Science Fiction :: Page 23

Sometimes the only way to stop an unstoppable alien spaceship is with a group of outcast sociopaths. Or at least that’s what the novel FAITH by John Love (Amazon) would have us believe.

Faith is the name given to a mysterious and seemingly invincible ship that is coming to attack humanity. The ship has been seen before and every time it has struck, Faith has left that civilization on a downward spiral towards decay. The only chance of stopping it is an Outsider ship–a slender ship packed to the gills with weapons and crewed by people with special abilities. The term “Outsider” is derived from the the crew including some sociopaths. The Outsider ship must then do battle with the alien vessel of unknown abilities and weapons.
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I don’t often read YA, but when I do, I read Dan Wells. His writing is just so accessible to younger and older readers alike. So when he approached me a year ago about reading a draft of his newest novel, a dystopian SF titled PARTIALS (Amazon), I jumped at the chance.
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Wow! Is it just me or has Orbit quietly become one of the better SF&F publishers out there? It seems that just a few years ago I was joking about them, yet here we are now, and they have Daniel Abraham publishing some excellent books (THE DRAGON’S PATH and LEVIATHAN WAKES). Jeff Somers has been writing some addictive and fun SF with his Avery Cates novels. Mira Grant and N.K. Jemisin both were nominated for Hugo’s last year for best novel. And now I’ve discovered Philip Palmer.
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I grew up in a small farming community in Oregon, so when I left for university–with a student body three times that of my hometown–it’s reasonable to say that it was an intimating experience. THE HIGHEST FRONTIER by Joan Slonczewski (Amazon) reminded me about those first overwhelming months. Except with way cooler stuff.
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KNOW NO FEAR (Amazon) marks the 19th book of the Horus Heresy series. For those of you who are unaware, Warhammer 40,000 is a table top game set in the 41st millennia: in the grim darkness of the future there is only war. Anyway Warhammer 40,000 is epic in the truest sense of the word, a science fiction universe with a slathering of dark fantasy thrown in for good measure. For a table top game it has a surprisingly rich and detailed history due to contributions from some great fiction authors. The greatest of those authors is without a doubt, Dan Abnett and the greatest event in the history of the game’s whole shared-world fiction is the Horus Heresy.
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Aliens have invaded Earth. At first glance, the Overlords’ motives appear altruistic—they eradicate war, poverty, and sickness—but some men question their motives, and the aliens aren’t exactly forthcoming.

Written in 1953, CHILDHOOD’S END by Arthur C. Clarke (Amazon) shows us the results of an alien-imposed utopia on mankind. With this book Clarke asks a lot of questions—he answers some of them with possible solutions of his own, but leaves others open that are worth exploring. First contact with aliens is a common theme in Science Fiction, from Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS, to Star Trek, and other, more current fiction. Clarke’s version imagines mankind as a small, but still meaningful, part of the universe.
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One of the very few Science Fiction series I truly enjoy is “Diving” series written by Kristine Kathryn Rusch for Pyr. The series follows the character Boss as she progresses from diving the wrecks of space ships to leading a huge corporation that is focused on controlling the scientific progression of a dangerous version of stealth technology. Why do I like this series so much? I think it mainly boils down to two points. 1) I like the main character, and 2) it is one of the more accessible SF series out there.
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Pern is a planet inhabited by human colonists, whose way of life is affected by the deadly Thread that rains down at intervals from a nearby star. The only way to stop the Thread from reaching land and causing destruction is to burn it en route using genetically engineered telepathic dragons with their dragonriders to guide them.
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You know him for his Science Fiction like THE DERVISH HOUSE (EBR Review) and others, but now Ian McDonald invades YA territory with PLANESRUNNER (Amazon) and a world where the Earth exists in almost limitless parallel universes.

Our PoV character is teenage Everett Singh, soccer goalie, science smarty-pants, and son of the brilliant Tejendra Singh, who created the infundibulum–a sort of map to the parallel universes, or “planes”. Before now only the ten Earths that have been able to create gateways can visit each other, but with Tejendra’s invention any earth can be jumped to. But agents from the E2 plane will do anything to get the infundibulum, even kidnap Tejendra from under Everett’s very nose. Little do they know that it’s Everett who his dad left it to for safekeeping, and he’ll do anything to rescue his dad.
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READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline (Amazon) is a book I’d come across in various online blogs and forums. Going into it, I knew it was some sort of love letter to 80s pop culture. Since I’m sort of an 80s pop culture nut myself, I figured I’d give it a go.

What I got was so much more.

There are few books these days that can make me stay up late, read during breakfast, and keep reading during my lunch breaks (or skip my lunch breaks altogether). This is one such book. I finished it in under a day. Once I started reading, I just had to know what happened next.
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