Reviews :: Book Genre :: Science Fiction :: Page 25

Admit it. Once upon a time you read Tom Clancy too. There’s no shame in that admission. Clancy had some awesome stuff…you know, before he just seemed to lose his touch. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER. WITHOUT REMORSE. Yeah. Awesome. But here’s the thing, there came a point where the story took a back seat to Clancy showing off how much he knew about the technical aspects of everything military related. If you go on for a full chapter talking about how a bullet works, and then don’t do anything with that chunk of pages, you’re doing it wrong in my opinion. It’s about the story. It’s about the characters.

Tom Clancy went away well before he wrote TEETH OF THE TIGER (I still shudder), and there wasn’t really anyone who captured my imagination the same way.

This is the part where a lesser reviewer would say, “Until now!” I refuse to say that.
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In THE POSTMORTAL (Amazon), Drew Magary explores what the realistic fallout would be if scientists discovered a cure for aging. A “vaccine” that would stop aging in its tracks. Take it when you’re twenty-five, and you’ll be twenty-five forever. On the surface, this sounds really appealing. Who wouldn’t want to live forever, after all? But that’s where the “realistic” part comes in. The future Magary paints is much bleaker than the knee-jerk reaction everyone automatically thinks of.
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If I haven’t said so before, Night Shade Books is putting out some seriously great stuff. There just comes a point where I get tired of all the same crap out there, and need something completely different. I’ve had this type of experience before with other novels from Night Shade like THE WINDS OF KHALAKOVO and NEVER KNEW ANOTHER. This time it was Kameron Hurley‘s GOD’S WAR (Amazon) that had me nodding in appreciation.
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Full disclosure. I loved Mira Grant‘s novel, FEED (EBR Review). I didn’t think I would because I was a tad tired of zombies, but FEED was still awesome… especially the ending which was absolutely incredible. Sure there were some things that made me say “meh”, but I personally thought the characters were fun (specifically in the latter half of the novel when the story got really grim and bleak), and the setting was fantastic. Not to mention, Mira Grant’s writing appealed to me with its accessibility and her sense of pacing. If was my personal pick for the Hugo this year. I bought copies of her books and lugged them to WorldCon so I could stalk Mira down for signatures. Yeah, I’m a fan.
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Before there was Avatar there was Ursula K. Le Guin‘s THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST (Amazon). Written in 1972, and the winner of the 1973 Hugo Award for best novella, Tor decided that the current furor over sustainable ecology would make this novel a timely re-release. At the very least it’s an entertaining comparison to Cameron’s blue-peopled visual extravaganza.
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Good short stories in my opinion are those that get in, get memorable, and then get out. They’re quick, they’re sharp, they’re efficient. Sometimes you can’t help but come out a little dirty. Others catch you with your back turned and give you the once-over of your previously boring life. And then there are the stinkers. Ugh. Let’s not talk about those though.
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My dad and I have an ongoing argument. My dad seems to think that China Miéville (Amazon) is a superior work to THE SCAR (Amazon), which is also by Miéville and set in the same world as PERDIDO. While I know better. THE SCAR is better, better plotted, cooler stuff. In one thing we are agreed, however. In my opinion THE SCAR is a 10 (on a scale of one to ten, ten being perfect) whereas PERDIDO is a 9.9. For my dad it’s PERDIDO that gets the 10 and THE SCAR the measly 9.9. They are both good books. Fantastic books, genre-altering books.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because EMBASSYTOWN (Amazon), the latest novel by China Miéville, is probably a strong 9.8 in my opinion. Easily my favorite of Miéville’s books since THE SCAR.
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Frederik Pohl’s GATEWAY (Amazon) is one of my favorite Science Fiction books from the Golden Years. I read it during a stint of trying to find out what made a good Science Fiction story. That was a tough row, let me tell you, but I definitely liked that book and remember it from all the rest. So, when I saw a new Pohl book pop up on our list of those available, I took on it—hoping that I’d find another instance of good Science Fiction.
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Ever since we started this lovely little blog we’ve found our horizons broadened. Out of necessity–and due to our unwavering commitment to be being completely awesome–we read a pretty much everything that is sent to us. If we had to point at one area where our appreciation has grown significantly, it would be with YA novels.

That brings us to Robison Wells and his first major novel, VARIANT (Amazon). It is completely awesome. Why? Because we said so.
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VORTEX (Amazon) is the latest novel by author Robert Charles Wilson. I’ve been a rabid fan of Wilson’s ever since his Hugo-winning SPIN (Amazon). After that novel I went out and read four or five of his previous novels and I’ve read everything he’s written since. He doesn’t always hit it out of the park, like he did in SPIN, but he never fails to be entertaining.
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