Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by David Soyka
It's an insider's book not just because of the myriad references to such iconic figures as Samuel R. Delany, Philip K.
Dick, Robert A. Heinlein and, big daddy of them all, but perhaps not nearly as hip as it once was since the
Peter Jackson cinematic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. More importantly, it's the evocation of how you felt
as a teenager in first discovering authors whose extraterrestrial or otherwise fantastical settings somehow seem
to be speaking directly to your awkward, too-smart-for-your-own-good, virginal kid self.
Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Jo Walton's latest novel is already being touted as one of the books of the year. Paul is not about to dissent
from that opinion, except that what most critics have picked out for praise is one of the things that bothers
him about the book, and what excites him about it hardly seems to have been noticed by other reviewers.
Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by Rich Horton
Morwenna is a Welsh girl, with an identical twin named Morganna (also
called Mor), and with an involved family history, living in the valleys in South
Wales. But some months before, there was a terrible accident and
Mor's sister dies, while Mor is sufficiently injured that she still uses a cane and walks with pain.
Mor blames her mother for what happened, though somewhat indirectly -- it seems her mother, a somewhat
dreadful and rackety woman is also a magic user, and had plans to became a Dark Queen.
Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis
reviewed by Christopher DeFilippis
In Blackout/All Clear, we revisit the mid-21st Century Oxford University time travel
program featured in The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, where
historians make routine forays into the past in order to study it.
For those familiar with the earlier Oxford books, there are some familiar faces, most notably Professor
James Dunworthy, who heads the time travel program. But a new group of historians takes center stage.
The City & The City by China Miéville
reviewed by Rich Horton
Beszel and Ul Qoma are two cities that occupy the same geographical space.
They are intricately interwoven, such that some areas are "total" -- all one city or the other -- but some
are "crosshatched," so that one building might be in Beszel and its neighbor in Ul Qoma. The residents have
been trained to "see" and "unsee" their surroundings.
Tyador Borlú is an Inspector for Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad. His new case is the murder of a young woman who turns out to be
an American graduate student in archaeology with an interest in the theory,
generally regarded as crackpot, that there is a third, invisible, city occupying the same area as Beszel and Ul Qoma.
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
an audiobook review by Sarah Trowbridge
In the city of Bangkok, in the kingdom of Thailand, sometime in the future, a dizzying
array of characters serving a most unlovely tangle of masters and agendas seethe and simmer
in a stinking, humid cesspool of misery and failure. This seems to be the final, decaying
remnant of human history on planet Earth.
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
reviewed by Dan Shade
The Windup Girl takes place in Thailand, in and about Bangkok. Huge retaining walls have been built
to keep the sea out. Water is pumped back into the sea with coal driven
machines. Petroleum is non-existent. People are starving the world over. The population of the world has been
greatly reduced by a virus called cibiscosis which continues to mutate and cause more death. Crops suffer
from attack by mutant viruses. In the midst of all this, the Thai people seem to be sitting on a seed bank.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
an audiobook review by Nicki Gerlach
Meyer Landsman is about as hard-boiled as detectives get. He lives in a cheap flop-house of a hotel, and smokes too much,
drinks way too much, and works obsessively -- besides abstractly thinking about suicide, drinking and working are what gets
him through his days. He's divorced and estranged from his ex-wife Bina, who is now his superior officer, and he's plagued
by family ghosts -- his chess-obsessed suicide of a father, his sister Naomi, a pilot who crashed her Piper Cub into a
mountain, the tiny voice of his aborted baby. He's long on bitterness and short on hope, unable to see anything but the
bleakest future for himself or his people. Because, unlike your run-of-the-mill depressed and hard-bitten police
detective, Landsman is also facing Reversion.
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Since recorded history, human beings have looked to the skies for wonders and inspiration. We have found everything from myths
and legends to confirmation of scientific theories in the observations made of space and what it contains. Imagine the
implications, for both human understanding and human psychology if one night the sky was taken away.
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
One summer night the stars abruptly blink out.
Three young people are lying on the grass behind the splendid house belonging to the parents of the twins, Jason and Diane
Lawton. With them is Tyler Dupree, a year younger, son of the housekeeper to the Lawtons. They react, like the rest of the
country, with a variety of emotions, and everyone wonders if the sun will come up.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
Mr Norrell emerges out of decades of seclusion in his isolated library to prove that English magic has not completely
been lost and that he is the sole remaining practical (rather than theoretical) magician. He sets about, in his own
pedantic way, to restore English magic and make himself useful to the government in the wars against the French,
and so on. It soon becomes evident, however, that he is not the only magician in England. There is
another: Jonathan Strange. Norrell takes on Strange as his pupil but refuses, in his paranoid way, to teach him
even half of what he knows. Nevertheless, Strange is obviously more naturally talented than Norrell.
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
The Royina Ista, a middle-aged widow, decides to go on pilgrimage through the land of Chalion, which
feels a lot like a Renaissance alternate-Spain, one that is overseen from the other-worldly realm by five gods, so there are five
religious traditions going on here. On the way, she and the divine leading her entourage discover that demons have been appearing in
the world with disturbing frequency, having escaped from the fifth god's hell. The pilgrimage is then waylaid by a lost contingent of
Roknari warriors from the neighboring kingdom; she is rescued by a swashbuckling horseman who attacks a troop single-handedly.
Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Hard science fiction is easy. Rising above the facts, figures, phenomena, and fancy gadgets to create a
story that is so much more is where the true artistry lies. That rarefied air is where you will find
this author's novels. Near the top of that even more select list, you will find this one, his latest
novel. It's a blend of physics, anthropology, and sociology that snatches up the reader with
a sharp hook of a first sentence and just keeps gaining speed.
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Where do they go, the monsters of our childhood? After we conjured these boogeymen and solid shadows
and beasties under the bed, did we really think they would fade away with our childish fears? Did we expect
them to go quietly when we didn't need them anymore? Come to think of it, whoever said we had grown up?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Donna is surprised that outraged adults aren't pounding on J.K. Rowling's door.
By her fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
she has broken most of the unwritten rules of current children's literature.
Bad things happen to good people. Adults lie to children and make bad decisions. Life isn't fair or safe. And here's
the kicker. People die in Harry Potter books. Even children. Even good, heroic children. Wow.
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Several thousand years from now, expeditions from two human
cultures meet near an astronomical oddity known as the OnOff star. The Qeng
Ho are interested in trade, the Emergement in more direct forms of
exploitation. Neither group is there just for a chance to study a unique
star system.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
reviewed by Thomas Myer
As the plot chases down the streets of Victorian Oxford and down
the Thames, our hero collects a gaggle of hilarious characters, trying
to set things straight, bungling about as many things as he gets right.
In the background of the narrative, the entire time-space continuum is at risk, threatening
the end of everything as we know it.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
Interwoven with humour, wit and unfailing romanticism, this book is a pure pleasure which leaves you feeling
as relaxed and satisfied as a picnic on a green lawn by a rolling river on a warm summer's day.
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Steven has enjoyed several Connie Willis short stories or novellas. At longer lengths,
he subscribes to the minority opinion that her work is vastly overrated. While sure that
To Say Nothing of the Dog will sell well and may even garner Willis another Hugo or
Nebula, it is another book supporting his opinion that she should stick with short fiction
and stay away from time travel.
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Julian Class is a "mechanic", a virtual soldier in America's war of 2043.
20 days a month Julian is a professor of mathematics in Houston. The other 10, thanks to his draft board,
he's part of a Remote Infantry Combat Unit in Central America. Except that Julian doesn't fight with his own
body. He and the other 9 members of his platoon are plugged in via remote neural connection to fighting
machines. The mechanics themselves never leave base.
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
reviewed by Robert Francis
For the longest time, Robert tried to figure out how to tell people that this
was a very good book. Then it hit him... Forever Peace has already won the
Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award. As much as he hates to admit it,
his standing on the rooftops proclaiming the merits of this book would be
a bit anticlimactic and unnecessary.
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
reviewed by Steven H Silver
A new SF novel by the author of The Forever War is an excuse to celebrate, and Steven never
misses a good party.
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
In the 3rd volume, Mars has been terraformed and is now politically
independent. There are canals and shallow seas that are subject to
sudden storms and rapid freezes. It is also warmer than ever with
plants and animals specifically engineered for life on the planet.
Many of the First Hundred have died and the few remaining are
like walking mythological figures to the majority of Martian youth.
But on Earth there are troubled times. With terminal
overpopulation, reduced resources, and the bitter nationalism that these
problems create, many Terrans see Mars as a potential escape.
Thus the safety of the Martian culture depends on the health of Terran
cultures on Earth. And so on Mars a campaign is begun which
will aid Earth through this difficult time in its history.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson took the SF world by storm when Snowcrash was published. One can
only compare its presence in retail to that of Dan Simmons' Hyperion. Shortly
thereafter, the buzz began. Can he do it again? Will the sophomore jinx kick in? Will he
rise like Gibson did or will he see bleak times like Card did? Well, it's hard to tell
until this book is in paperback. What he has written is a truly different novel full of
intriguing and goofy technology and the people who use it and abuse it. Some of the technology
is already passe. The bulk is to come and, if true, it will change humanity forever. Great
characters, neo-victorian stuff for fans, a so-so plot and great movie possibilities. It
has everything that should have been in The Difference Engine.
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Not everyone would envy young Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, even though he had formed his own mercenary
fleet before attending the naval academy, and even though his mother was the beautiful Cordelia, the ship
captain who has taught the Lords of Barrayar much about the perils of sexism. Even the fact that Miles is third in
line to the throne and personally owns a major chunk of his home planet would not tempt any normal person to
change places with him."
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Winner of the Hugo Award, in this, the 2nd volume of the trilogy,
change is evident. However, not for the best. The
dream of a new world is under way, but corrupted. Red Mars is
gone, ripped apart by the violent and failed revolution of 2061. The
First Hundred have scattered or died, and for the moment their
dreams with them. The rebels are underground, dreaming of their utopia.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
"Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in
space, from super-intelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple
creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of
thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly
unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence."
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
"For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving
inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For
her instructors in the 21st century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous
location where Kivrin would be received.
But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to
rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin -- barely of age herself -- finds she has become an unlikely
angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours."
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