Review: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

Published: Orbit, 2015

Awards Nominated: Campbell & Locus SF Awards

The Book:

“Many years ago, a generation ship set out with the purpose of spreading humankind to the stars.  Their goal was the planet Aurora, which was expected to be both devoid of life and suitable for human habitation.  The original travellers are long gone, but their descendants--who were given no choice in the matter--now struggle to maintain the delicate balance of their ship’s ecosystem long enough to reach their destination.

The humans are aided by the ship’s AI, a sophisticated computer whose interactions with the brilliant engineer Devi have set it on a path toward self-awareness. Freya, the mildly developmentally-impaired daughter of Devi, will be in the generation that must attempt to colonize Aurora and handle whatever comes after.” ~Allie  

I like generation ship stories, and I have been a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson for years. Thus, Aurora was an obvious book for me to pick up.  I bought the audio version (narrated by Ali Ahn), and my husband and I listened to it while driving across Provence and then the eastern US.

My Thoughts:

Aurora is what I would consider characteristic of a Robinson novel, a story constructed with careful attention to scientific detail in its treatment of the future of the human race.  It can be dense sometimes, and there are occasional digressions on topics of interest. The story is told by the ship’s AI, who has been tasked with building a meaningful narrative account of the voyage, so it’s understandable that the narration sometimes focuses on technical aspects.  The development of the AI’s character was one part of the story I particularly enjoyed. She learns about the nature of self and life both through her attempt to create meaning out of events and through her connections to members of the crew.  I also appreciated her understated sense of humor.  The narrator of the audiobook did a pretty fantastic job with the voice and intonation of the AI.

I am a big fan of stories about building societies, so it must be no surprise that this aspect of a generation ship is one that appeals to me.  A lot of Aurora involves exploring how people can structure the ship to survive, both physically and socially.  Not only do the colonists need to deal with the very delicate balance of materials needed to support life, they also have to make sure the people stay happy and under control.  It was interesting to see the social forces that come into play, and to see the decisions people make about priorities.  The ship is large enough to have habitats with different biomes and cultures, and I enjoyed seeing how the various groups of people came to terms with their situation.  

The story takes a darker turn once they arrive at Aurora, and it was interesting to see what the stress from the crisis they face there would do to their fragile community.  There is so much that happens after their arrival that it seems like it could easily have been a series.  The novel has several notable narrative shifts, and by the end it felt a little like there was just too much packed in.  It also makes it a little difficult to talk about in review, since I try to avoid major spoilers. The story wraps up nicely in the end, but the final segment runs a little longer than I would have liked. As a planetary colonization story, the conclusion is pretty pessimistic regarding humanity’s prospects, but I think there is value in stressing that we shouldn’t be cavalier with the health of the one planet that we know will support human life.

My Rating: 4/5

Aurora is yet another novel by Kim Stanley Robinson that I have greatly enjoyed. It is a compelling and thoroughly-researched take on the idea of a generation ship. I loved seeing how people might manage to make their circumstances work generations down the line.  The AI made for an unusual narrator, and I appreciated her digressions about language, humanity and self. The story takes several unexpected turns, and it has a rather dim view of our chances of successful colonization.  After seeing all the difficulties the colonists encounter, I hope that our current planet remains viable for human life for many years to come.

Review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Published: William Morrow & Co., 2015

Awards Won: Prometheus Award

Awards Nominated: Hugo, Locus SF and Campbell Memorial Awards

The Book:

“One day, the moon was destroyed.  No one really knew how or why it happened, but soon these questions were wiped out by a more urgent concern. The pieces of the moon would continue to collide, and eventually the rubble would wipe out all life on Earth for thousands of years.

Most of humanity will not survive, but some believe that a fragment could endure.  All resources on Earth pour towards building a habitat for humans in orbit, who may be able to live in the darkness of space for long enough to one day return to their home planet.  Will they be able to overcome mechanical problems and human nature, or is this truly the end?” ~Allie

I’ve read a number of Stephenson’s books, and The Diamond Age and Anathem are my favorites so far.  I generally enjoy Stephenson’s creative ideas.

My Thoughts:

If you’re looking for a book about what could destroy the moon, or looking for an action-packed post-cataclysm space adventure--this is not that book.  However, if you’re more interested in what might happen if the moon were to spontaneously break up, and how one might harness current and extrapolated near future technology to ensure the future of the human race--you’re in the right place.  Seveneves is less interested in traditional narrative arcs than it is in exploring the details of a program the human race might cobble together to allow humans to live in orbit for thousands of years.  There are a few recurring characters to get attached to, but there are also many individuals who might show up only on a single sub-project. The pace is pretty glacial, as we go basically day-by-day through the efforts made in the time leading up to the destruction of life on Earth.  This makes for a very interesting technical story, but not one that is necessarily all that narratively compelling.

For me, the highlight of the book was the detailed focus on science and technology. It must have taken a tremendous amount of research to put together such a thorough picture of the scenario and the human response to it. The idea of keeping isolated humans alive in orbit for thousands of years with near-future technology initially seemed ludicrous, but it began to feel more plausible as the novel went through every angle on the proposed solutions. I enjoyed reading about the construction of the swarm of habitats, the collision avoidance system, and the plans for future genetic diversity.  It was also interesting to see how the people coped with the loss of Earth and their suddenly relatively tiny community.  The writing could be very dry at times, but it was a genuinely fascinating idea.

On the other hand, I had some issues with the pacing and the story.  At the beginning, we were presented with a nearly day-by-day accounting of the time leading up to the end of the Earth.  However, time eventually sped up, and later there was a time jump of thousands of years.  I know that was the only way to show what became of the program and humanity.  Unfortunately, the abruptness of the time shift damaged the sense of plausibility I had with the story, since it skipped over so many details of the intervening time.  Also, a jump of thousands of years means jettisoning a cast of characters I had slowly been growing to enjoy, and instead introducing a whole new group of people in a drastically different society.  This snowballing of the pace also made the ending feel sudden, and some things tied up too neatly for my taste. While I am glad to have read this one, it’s not my favorite of Stephenson’s work.  

My Rating: 3/5

Seveneves is hard science fiction with the science front and center, while the characters and story take a backseat.  Stephenson’s novels usually have really cool ideas, and the novel does not disappoint on that account. I had never considered what would happen if the moon spontaneously broke up, and the intense level of detail lavished on the development of the orbital habitat program made the aftermath feel surprisingly plausible.  While I enjoyed the science, I felt that the latter part of the book seemed rushed and the ending was too sudden.  There was also not all that much to hang on to in terms of character arcs, especially since the cast changes completely after a large time jump. For my part, the interesting ideas were more than enough to keep me reading, despite my complaints. I hope we never actually lose our moon, so that we only ever have to consider this as an interesting hypothetical situation!

Review: Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

Published: Gollancz/Tor, 2015

Series: Book 1 of Luna

Awards Nominated: BSFA Award

The Book:

“The Moon wants to kill you. Maybe it will kill you when the per diem for your allotted food, water, and air runs out, just before you hit paydirt. Maybe it will kill you when you are trapped between the reigning corporations--the Five Dragons--in a foolish gamble against a futuristic feudal society. On the Moon, you must fight for every inch you want to gain. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon's newest "dragon," Adriana has wrested control of the Moon's Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family's new status. Now, in the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation--Corta Helio--confronted by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana's five children must defend their mother's empire from her many enemies... and each other.” ~goodreads.com

Surprise, I do actually still write book reviews!  One of Ian McDonald’s other novels that I have read is The Dervish House, which made me want to visit Istanbul. I still hope I can one day, since it sounds like a beautiful city, rich in culture and history.  Anyway, though it also had a very vivid setting, Luna most definitely did not make me want to visit the moon!

My Thoughts:

I’ve heard this book often described as Game of Thrones on the moon, but it seems to me to be closer to a multicultural, lunar Godfather (even to the extent of featuring five families). The original lunar colonists did not set about to shape a new society, but instead allowed their new world to be shaped by market forces and corporations that form around, essentially, mafia families.  The end result is a society with no criminal justice system, where charisma, money, physical violence and connections can get one out of any tough spot.  The only form of law is contract law--which contributes to making lunar relationships strangely businesslike--and contract conflicts seem to be resolved primarily by razzle-dazzle and single combat.  This all makes for one of the more unusual societies I’ve seen fiction, but it’s also one I would never want to live in.  

My favorite character in this novel was, by far, the elderly Adriana Corta.  I loved the chapters where she narrated her extraordinary life: her immigration to the moon, her romantic entanglements, and the building of her empire.  It was fascinating to see lunar society in these early stages, and Adriana’s story was full of intense risk, loss, and success.  Her children, on the other hand, seemed petty and overly fond of posturing.  Unfortunately, the younger generation makes up most of the story’s viewpoint characters.  This did not help me to become emotionally engaged. On the positive side, I enjoyed how the five families represented such different cultures, with origins from Ghana, Australia, Russia, China and Brazil. I enjoyed reading about Adriana’s childhood in Brazil, and in seeing the ways the younger generations, which can never physically return to Earth, hold to their cultural heritage.  We spend most of the time with the Brazilian family in this first novel, but it would also have been fun to get more insight into the other families.

The story built up very slowly, and seemed sometimes to not have much focus.  It seemed to bounce from one subplot to another--Adriana’s amazing life story, Lucasinho’s teenage rebellion and sexual conquests, Rafa’s relationship problems, Ariel’s career, and so on.  However, the story eventually comes together into a climactic final act.  It was an exciting conclusion, which both resolves this novel and points the reader toward what to expect in future novels.  On the other hand, I felt that the way some of the characters resorted to violence diminished the meaning of the maneuvering that had taken place earlier in the novel.  At least, it was very effective in showing how close to the surface chaos and violence lies in the kind of society the five families have created.  Though I did enjoy aspects of Luna: New Moon, I doubt I’ll be continuing on to the rest of the series.

My Rating: 3/5

Luna: New Moon is a family drama about essentially mafia on the moon.  It takes place after the moon has been colonized by humans, and a society dominated by five crime families/corporations has been established. The five families represent interesting selection of different Earth cultures, with the main focus on a family originating from Brazil.  For me, the history of the colonization of the moon, as related through the matriarch Adriana Corta’s life story, was the most fascinating part of the novel.  I was less into the family squabbles that engaged the younger generations of Cortas, which took up the bulk of the novel.  The story didn’t seem to have much focus in the beginning, but it did eventually culminate in an exciting conflict between families.  I think this is ultimately not the series for me, but it has a lot to offer readers who have more interest in organized crime stories and family dramas.

Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Ballantine Books, 1968

Series: Space Odyssey Book 1

The Book:

“After the discovery of a mysterious alien artifact on the moon, a manned mission is sent out deep into the solar system.  Their mission is so secret that not even the astronauts themselves know their true purpose. The ship carries danger with it into the void, and no one knows what the astronauts might encounter at their journey’s end.” ~Allie

I meant for this to be a part of my Sci-Fi Month participation, but November ended up being extremely busy this year (especially near the end).  Hopefully, I can be a bit more active next year!  On to 2001, I was surprised that HAL didn’t play a larger role in the story, since that was mostly what I remember from a long-ago movie viewing. Also, just a note on Clarke adaptations, Childhood’s End will be airing on Syfy in just a few weeks!

My Thoughts:

I find it kind of hard to talk at length about Arthur C. Clarke’s older works, because they are generally such pure and simple expressions of scientific and/or extraterrestrial wonder.  2001: A Space Odyssey is no different in this regard, a story of first contact and the value of sentience in a wide universe.  This novel in particular has had a massive impact on science fiction culture, partially due to Kubrick’s film adaptation.  I barely remember the movie, and I’d never read the book, and still much of the story felt familiar.  I remembered the monolith and its uplift of proto-humans, the space journey in the ship with the dangerous AI, and the astronaut’s eventual destination.  All of the journey is carefully told in Clarke’s usual dry, meticulous style, which I have always enjoyed. HAL provided some conflict and excitement along the way, but I was also drawn in by the awe in the descriptions of approaching massive planets.  

Also usual of my experience with Clarke’s writing, the characters are secondary to the story’s ideas, which are what stay with you after the closing scene.  On top of the first contact and uplift ideas, the future Clarke imagines deviates from our own recent history and present in some interesting ways.  In particular, I was very intrigued by his solutions for the difficulties of space travel--including eating and eliminating in microgravity--and how they differ from the solutions used by today’s space agencies.  However, he also seems to have missed a lot of social progress in his extrapolation to the future.  Given how the story ends, I was surprised to read that Clarke originally intended 2001 as a standalone work.  It seems perfectly set up to show more of humanity’s future, though the sequel didn’t follow until over a decade later.  Clarke seems to have had a way of writing novels that leave people eager to know what might happen next in the universe he has imagined.

My Rating: 4 /5  

2001: A Space Odyssey is another classic by Arthur C. Clarke that deserves its enduring popularity.  As a fan of science fiction and Arthur C. Clarke, it was high time I finally got around to reading it.  2001: A Space Odyssey covers the wonder of space travel and first contact with an alien species, and it has a fair amount of conflict with the untrustworthy ship AI.  The novel also provided a view from 1968 of an imagined future of space travel.  We’re clearly far behind Clarke’s imagined manned space program, but it was really interesting to compare his dreams of the future to our recent past.

Review: Permutation City by Greg Egan

Permutation City by Greg Egan

Published: Millenium, 1994

Awards Won: John W. Campbell Award

Awards Nominated: Philip K. Dick & British Science Fantasy Association Award

The Book:

“When it becomes possible to make an electronic copy of a human mind, the practice is initially the domain of the eccentric rich who want to cheat death. Over time, though, the reasons people have for copying themselves have begun to change. For instance, Maria is neither rich nor in fear of her own death. After grieving over the death of her father, she’s determined that she’s going to make enough money to copy her mother before it’s too late.

Maria’s interest in the Autoverse, a software environment with simplified natural laws, leads her to contract with a man whose motives are even stranger.  He claims to offer his electronic-copy clients true immortality--free of the fear of loss of computing power--in a universe that can offer all the joys of our physical world, even up to the possibility of alien life.  He is either wrong, a charlatan, or a man who is about to learn the meaning of eternity.” ~Allie

This is the first book I’ve read by Greg Egan, but I plan to seek out more of his work in the future.  I listened to this one on audiobook, and was not really a fan of the voice patterns of the narrator, which seemed too monotonous to me.  Once the story got going, though, I was so interested that my personal dislike of the narration style didn’t matter.

My Thoughts:

This was basically everything I wanted in a book about mind uploading.  It addresses the hardware problems of the copies, the idea of whether they represent a continuation of self, what motivates different people to copy themselves, how it might affect them to exist while knowing they are not a physical entity, how the existence of copies is dealt with in the physical world, and much more.  It’s clear that a lot of thought went into exploring all the implications of this kind of technology, and that is exactly the kind of speculation that I most enjoy reading about.  One point I especially enjoyed was the exploration of flexibility of one’s sense of self. For instance, if you can directly modify the way that you think and feel, does your choice to do so change who you are?  If not, then what is it that defines your core self?  Maria once pointed out that a single person at two random points in their life might seem like two different people, but their lived experience gives a sense of continuity of identity.

On the tech side, Permutation City has a few pretty accurate predictions of the future, and further entertaining speculation.  For instance, this was published just a year after WWW was declared a public asset, but Egan already predicted grid computing and trading of processing power.  I think Egan also accurately concluded that accurately modeling humans would not be a reasonable feat in terms of computing power, and the story acknowledges that many ‘short-cuts’ are required to make copies a reality. Even with the shortcuts, minds can only be run at a maximum ratio of 17:1 real time to subjective experience.  For software environments, I also thought the idea of the Autoverse was really interesting.  It kind of reminds me of the appeal Minecraft seems to have (I may be wrong, I’ve never played it), providing the user with tools, resources, and defined rules for how this specific version of ‘reality’ works.

The second part of the novel takes a turn towards the weird side, and I think that how readers will respond to that will largely depend on how they feel about the “Dust Theory”.  I thought it was a very fun idea, and I liked the direction that it allowed the novel to go.  I don’t want to explain the theory here, since I don’t want to give away any major plot details.  In general, the first part of the novel is embedded in a pretty believable near-future world with some speculative technology, while the second half launches confidently into complete ‘what-if’ territory.  Many of the ideas introduced earlier in the story are allowed to run to their extremes, and the result was fascinating.

My Rating: 5/5     

I think this is the best novel I’ve read about mind uploading thus far.  It addressed pretty much all the aspects of the technology that I find interesting, including the hardware limitations, the social implications, the effects on those involved, and how the it could stretch the idea of a sense of self.  A variety of perspectives and reactions to mind uploading are presented through the handful of viewpoint characters.  The second part of the story veers off wildly from the ordered near-future world, into the idea of the “dust theory” and the potentially eternal lives of electronic copies.  Permutation City was an engaging story from start to finish, and I am looking forward to reading more of Greg Egan’s work!

Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir

Published: Crown Publishers (2014)

The Book:

“Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?” ~WWEnd.com

The Martian is Andy Weir’s debut novel, and it has a pretty interesting origin.  It was originally posted serially on his blog (which I think is here, though he has another author page here), and it took off in a serious way after he self-published the full novel for Kindle.  Now, it’s a best seller and already has a movie adaptation in the works for later this year!  I originally noticed the novel due to very positive reviews from other bloggers, so I had high expectations from the start.

My Thoughts:

I would highly recommend The Martian for fans of stories of survival in harsh conditions, realistic science, and optimistic, intelligent protagonists.  The events takes place in the near future, where Weir has carefully imagined a potential manned space program to Mars. Though the mission does include some technology that is not currently in existence, the capabilities are clearly explained and internally consistent.  I admit that I did not double-check Mark’s math, but I really enjoyed that the basic math and science were explicitly described.  The novel makes the future where we have a Mars program, and where a man could struggle to survive for years alone on Mars, feel like a plausible extension into the future of our current reality.

While this is a science-based tale of survival, Mark’s personality keeps it from ever getting too dry or grim.  The story is mostly told through Mark’s logs, where his conversational style, optimistic attitude, and good sense of humor keeps things relatively light in the most difficult situations.  A lot of his humor also involves pop culture, as in the following excerpt:

“I got really bored, so I decided to pick a theme song!  …  There are plenty of great candidates: “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie, “Rocket Man” by Elton John, “Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan.  But I settled on “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees.” ~p. 223

Things are not always quite so goofy, though, and when things go wrong Mark’s panic (and his use of profanity) comes through just as clearly. Mark also has MacGyver-level resourcefulness and an expertise in botany.  I think his charming personality and intelligence are a large part of why the story works so well— I can’t imagine anyone not rooting for him to make it home alive.

The Martian is a pretty straightforward story, where essentially all of the conflict is external.  Mark faces one crisis after another, but I felt that the different circumstances and details kept the pattern from feeling repetitive.  Everything that happens seems to arise naturally from Mark’s situation and the consequences of his own actions. The precariousness of Mark’s situation kept the tension up, and it was fun to try to figure out what might go wrong next.  The story was well-paced and easy to read, and this was a book that I flew through very quickly. I can see why it was optioned as a movie, since I think this is the sort of novel that would be relatively easy to adapt.  I’m looking forward to seeing the film— maybe I can even review it here as well!

My Rating: 4/5

The Martian is a debut novel that has exploded in popularity, and I’m happy to say that it has lived up to the hype for me.  It’s an entertaining survival story that features an upbeat protagonist and a thoroughly imagined future Mars mission program.  In his log, Mark clearly lays out the science and math behind the problems he faces, as well as his proposed solutions.  Events move along quickly and Mark’s personality from his log entries keep things optimistic and funny.  This was a really fun book, and one that I think could translate well to a movie!

Review: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Published: Galaxy Science Fiction (1973), Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1973), Gollancz (2006)

Series: Book 1 of the Rama Series

Awards Won: Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell Memorial, Locus SF and BSFA Awards

The Book:

“At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft.

Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits -- just behind a Raman airlock door.” ~WWEnd.com

Through a weird twist of fate, I actually read all of the sequels to Rendezvous with Rama when I was a teenager, but somehow managed to miss ever reading this award-winning science fiction classic. Happily, this oversight has now been corrected! 

My Thoughts:

Rendezvous with Rama is a classic example of a hard science fiction Big Dumb Object story.  The mysterious, alien spacecraft Rama is the setting, the main character, and the point of the entire novel.  The exploration of Rama is undertaken methodically and carefully, and resourcefulness and careful thought is often required to overcome or predict the difficulties that they encounter.  I enjoyed the depiction of how humans might explore and study an alien spacecraft and what conclusions they might be able to draw from it.  The story was therefore pretty simple and straightforward, but the topic is one that I found to be very interesting. 

In my experience, Clarke’s novels tend to be about exciting ideas, but not to have much in the way of memorable characters. In Rendezvous with Rama, the characters did not really have anything in the way of character arcs, and they were mostly defined by a single trait, skill or characteristic.  Typically, a character would be introduced when their particular trait or skill became important to the exploration, and they would fade back into the background afterward.  Thus, the characters served the plot and the ideas of the novel, rather than the other way around.  In this case, I think the characters were sufficient to fill their roles in the story, and Rama was enough to hold at least this reader’s attention.

Arthur C. Clarke’s writing style is very noticeable in Rendezvous with Rama (though less so in the sequels).  He has a very plain, precise style that I have generally enjoyed.  Clarke pays careful attention to detail in the story and in the setting, and I think that his straightforward style enhances the sense of wonder upon which the story depends. Rendezvous with Rama might not have much in the way of character drama or development, but I think that the exploration of Rama is a story that will capture the imagination of readers for many more years.

My Rating: 4/5

Arthur C. Clarke’s award-winning classic, Rendezvous with Rama, tells the story of a brief human exploration of an alien vessel. I thought that the novel was very characteristic of Clarke’s style, with its careful description, sense of wonder, memorable events and ideas, and forgettable characters. The story is pretty straightforward, and I am surprised, in this era of adaptations, that it hasn’t yet been made into a film (apparently there are script-writing issues).  I think the novel will continue to be loved for many years to come by fans of hard science fiction. 

Review: The Integral Trees by Larry Niven

The Integral Trees by Larry Niven

Published: Ballantine Del Rey, 1984

Series: Book 2 of The State

Awards Won: Locus SF Award

Awards Nominated: Nebula and Hugo Awards

The Book:

“When leaving Earth, the crew of the spaceship Discipline was prepared for a routine assignment. Dispatched by the all-powerful State on a mission of interstellar exploration and colonization, Discipline was aided (and secretly spied upon) by Sharls Davis Kendy, an emotionless computer intelligence programmed to monitor the loyalty and obedience of the crew.

But what they weren't prepared for was the smoke ring-an immense gaseous envelope that had formed around a neutron star directly in their path. The Smoke Ring was home to a variety of plant and animal life-forms evolved to thrive in conditions of continual free-fall. When Discipline encountered it, something went wrong. The crew abandoned ship and fled to the unlikely space oasis.

Five hundred years later, the descendants of the Discipline crew living on the Smoke Ring no longer remember their origins. Earth is more myth than memory, and no recollection of the State remains. But Kendy remembers. And just outside the Smoke Ring, Discipline waits patiently to make contact with its wayward children.” ~WWEnd.com

I chose The Integral Trees as the Locus SF award winner for my 2014 12 Awards in 12 Months Challenge. 

My Thoughts:

Above all, the setting in The Integral Trees was extremely cool. It’s a colonization story, but instead of settling on a planet, the humans settled in a gas torus around a neutron star, in a binary star system.  It was clear that a lot of thought went into what kind of environment this would create, what kinds of creatures would develop in that environment, and how humans would adapt to survive over time, with their planet-evolved biology. The origin of the system, the mechanics of how it persists, and the forces that would be exerted on lifeforms within the torus (especially the large integral trees) is also explored in a lot of detail.  This is definitely a story where the science is very fun, very thorough and very creative.

  

While the story begins 500 years after the colonization, their society still has lingering marks of their past as a part of a civilization of higher technology.  For instance, words have persisted through the years, though many have drifted in pronunciation or meaning.  They also still value science, and each community has their own Scientist, who is able to access information from ancient machines.  It’s not so long since I was a grad student myself, so I enjoyed that the scientist’s apprentice was known as the Grad. The adventures of the main group led them through many different communities in the Smoke Ring, and it was neat to see the differences and similarities between them. Some of these communities, though, show a pretty dark view of future-humanity, with respect to slavery and the sexual exploitation of women.

The main party is a group of community misfits, sent out from their home in search of food in a time of lasting famine. The party has some of the usual adventurer types—a scientist, an alpha male (and his small harem), and a promising young man—but it also includes some more unusual people, such as a bitter elderly man, and several people with physical handicaps.  They also meet up with others along the way, including a woman warrior. While the ‘promising young man’ Gavving is probably the main character, the story follows different party members at different points.  They were a pretty interesting group of people to follow, but I think that having so many of them limited the amount to which each could be developed.

In the end, I feel like this is almost a setting-driven story, where the plot and characters are primarily focused around showcasing and exploring different parts of the physical and human environments. The events of the story were very action-oriented and exciting, but it seemed mostly like a series of adventures designed to propel the characters through different parts of their world.  This, in addition to the way Kendy’s situation concluded, led to the ending being a little underwhelming. However, I still enjoyed cheering on the group of explorers as they struggled to stay together and survive through many different hardships.  

My Rating: 3.5/5

The Integral Trees is a basic party exploration adventure story, but with a really fascinating environment to explore.  Instead of colonizing a planet, humans colonized a kind of space ‘trees’ living in a gas torus within a binary star system.  I was really drawn in by the amount of thought and creativity behind the description of the physical setting and its extrapolation to how native life would develop and humans would adapt.  The characters were a little simple in comparison, but they made for a fun group to follow as they traveled through such an impressive world.

Review: Jack Glass by Adam Roberts

Jack Glass by Adam Roberts

Published: Gollancz, 2012

Awards Won: Campbell Award and British Science Fiction Association Award

The Book:

“Murder has been committed, and Jack Glass is guilty—that much is certain.  But what exactly has he done? How? Why?  These are the more interesting questions. In a future world where trillions of expendable humans live in fragile bubbles in space, even the rumor of faster than light travel is enough to cast the power structures of the world into disarray—and to cause several very unusual murders.

A series of three mysteries form the backbone of this story, and each one of them is impossible in its own way. These three mysteries include: a need to escape from an isolated prison asteroid, a murder that conveniently occurs for a wealthy girl detective’s birthday, and a gun that seems to have shot in the wrong direction. When something is impossible, though, it usually just means that you’re overlooking a crucial detail.” ~Allie  

I’ve been meaning to check out Adam Roberts’s work for a while, but for the longest time, his work wasn’t published in e-book format (or, sometimes, outside the UK). I’ve already bought Jack Glass and By Light Alone in physical form, but it looks like his work has become more easily available (as e-books) since then! I expect that I will read more of his novels in the future.

My Thoughts:

Jack Glass was an incredibly entertaining mystery science-fiction novel, with an enthusiastic style of narration and mysteries that seemed to invite reader speculation.  Rather than just trying to figure out ‘whodunit’ (that much was given), the challenge was to figure out all the intricacies of the situation before they were revealed.  I think that sufficient clues were given in most situations, such that figuring it out was possible, though sometimes challenging. The science aspects were sometimes a bit sketchy, but I was willing to overlook that in order to enjoy the story.  I often found myself pausing in my reading, to sort out what I thought the explanations would be.  I definitely missed some details, but, happily, the solutions are also given within the novel!  It was really fun to see what I had right, and what I’d overlooked.

Beneath the fun of solving the mysteries, though, Jack Glass slowly shows a pretty dark, pessimistic future.  Trillions of humans live on the edge of death in fragile slum bubbles, and the luckiest of these are heavily drugged in order to become ultra-loyal servants of the wealthy.  The solar system is a cold place, governed by power politics and profit, and human beings are seen as a cheap, renewable resource. In such a world, and especially in a murder story, it should come as no surprise that there’s some fairly gruesome violence and references to sexual assault.  Most of the more disturbing violence occurs within the first third of the novel, in which Jac is trapped for an 11-year sentence in an asteroid with a group of convicts. In the later parts of the story, though, I think the liveliness of the story tends to balance the grimness of the setting.

A lot of that liveliness comes from the voices of the characters through which we experience the story—who are, surprisingly, not Jack Glass, though he is often present.  This includes the unnamed (until later) narrator, who is ‘doctorwatson’-ing the story for our benefit, who has an engaging voice, and the wealthy, young detective, Diana Argent.  While the middle section is in Diana Argent’s voice, it still seems to be written by the unnamed narrator. Diana Argent is an extremely wealthy young girl, who has been raised as a data analyzer, and who specializes in people.  She has therefore developed a deep interest in murder mysteries, and it is her very own “birthday” murder mystery that leads into the larger story. Her voice is full of enthusiastic slang (“No wavy way!”), a good portion of which she probably doesn’t even understand (“That’s close enough for government work.”).  The minor characters in the story seem only very lightly characterized, but Diana, Jack, and the unnamed narrator are more than sufficient to bring life to the mysteries they encounter.

My Rating: 4/5

Jack Glass was an extremely fun mystery science fiction story, set in a surprisingly depressing future scenario for the solar system.  I really enjoyed trying to work out the details of each of the three ‘murder mystery’ situations before the answers were revealed, though I was not 100% successful.  The main story involved the social effects of the rumor of the possibility of faster-than-light travel, in a society governed by politics and profit, where the vast majority of people live in extreme poverty. The distinctive, enthusiastic narrative voice, especially in the second section, helped to give a lively feeling to the story, despite the grim setting.  Overall, Jack Glass was an entertaining novel, and I plan to read more of Roberts’s novels in the future.