Don't Forget to Read a Book!

Hello, Stranger. Looks like I'm back. Let's talk about George R.R. Martin's  A Game of Thrones. The Short of It Plot:  In the game of thrones, you win or you die. You all know what this is. Page Count:  835 Award:  1997 Locus Fantasy Worth a read : Yes* Primary Driver:  ( Plot ,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  N/A. Review:  Superb use of perspective swaps, compelling characters, tight dialogue... this book is a masterpiece. An excellent start to a well-realized world. For a book heavy enough that the TSA could call it a weapon the pacing is remarkably swift. So many twist and turns, so much to take in, so many paths to trace and connections to make. This is peak medieval fantasy. The Medium of It Spoiler Free I had forgotten just how good this book is. I read through the whole series at the beginning of GoT fever - 2011. And I read it at the same time as I reread Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.  While...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Greg Bear's  Queen of Angels. The Short of It Plot: Overlapping stories show our world fundamentally transformed and stratified by a combination of nanotechnology, AI, and surveillance.  Page Count: 420 Award:  Prequel to 1993 Nebula winner Moving Mars Worth a read : No. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail? Technobabble:  Astounding. Review:  A truly miserable read. Densely packed with trite innovations and a tepid future to go with them. At every turn does nothing more than recall better works by better authors. Only one of the many stories here is even remotely interesting - that of an AI gaining self-awareness - but even that drags like a dragon but with none of the flames. Character work is dreadful, pacing is abysmal, and word building is drab. Books like this change this from a reading challenge to a masochistic slog. The Whatever of It Spoiler Free! What is there to say abou...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Lewis Shiner's  Glimpses. The Short of It Plot:  There are so many songs that could have been, music that we almost heard. What if we could get those lost songs, those forgotten albums, the greatest hits of an alternate history? Page Count: 343 Award:  1994 World Fantasy Award Worth a read : No...ish. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Hot damn. Review:  An odd mix. Bits of time travel and parallel universes, used to pepper a story about two things: a love of music and the difficulty in coping with loss. It's a brutal read and often extremely slow. Characters are frequently terrible, self-destructive, and generally difficult to get along with. Every part of this is too long: the musical sections are only impactful if you're interested in that specifically, the relationship and personal drama drags as well. Yet there are... glimpses... of something much better here. ...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about James K. Morrow's  The Eternal Footman. The Short of It Plot:  People are dropping, replaced by sad husks - fetches - of their former selves. Is there anything that can be done to fight this plague of ennui? Page Count:  368 Award: Third book in the Godhead trilogy Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character )  Bechdel Test : Pass(?) Technobabble:  Spiritual Babble, sure. Review:  A retread of almost the same thing we've read from Morrow, but even less inspired. A dull slog without even the sparks of wit that helped make the previous two books a bit less of a chore. Atmosphere is extremely oppressive, characters are all depressed, bitter, or both. Impossible to care about actual outcomes or story.  The Only of It Spoilers? Not really. Congratulations, this is basically the same book, again. It's just a bit worse each time. I thought about spending a bunch of time writing up a more nu...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Lois McMaster Bujold's  A Civil Campaign. The Short of It Plot:  You've seen Miles Vorkosigan face down armies, conspiracies, and empires. But isn't it about time you saw him in a romantic comedy? Page Count:  428 Award:  Part of the  Vorkosigan Saga Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minimal Review:  Fine! I'm invested! It's a comedy of errors, an interwoven net of fumbling affections and budding romances. It's basically not science fiction, or action, or anything but a sappy romance. Yet after spending so much time with Miles we just want him to be happy. The same could be said for Mark, and Ivan, and Gregor, and everyone else who ends up amorously entangled throughout the novel. Of course, it wouldn't be a Vorkosigan book without some plotting and subterfuge, but all of that is background to the multiple romances all going on. The ...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Peter S. Beagle's  The Innkeeper's Song. The Short of It Plot: Tikat will stop at nothing to be reunited with his deceased love, three mysterious travelers try to track down their friend, and Karsh just wants his inn to run smoothly.  Page Count: 346 Award:  1993 Locus Fantasy. Worth a read : Yes. Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Nope Review:  Beautifully written straightforward fantasy. Excellent use of perspective switches to both contextualize events and add depth to characters. Leans into tropes and clichés to place characters and interpersonal relationships at the fore. Superb use of diction and speech style to distinguish between different narrators. Pacing does not always work - there are major lulls which do not have enough payoff to be worth the break. Overall a warm glass of milk with honey: inoffensive but hits the spot. The Medium of It Spoiler Free...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Kim Stanley Robinson's  Red Mars. The Short of It Plot:  The ongoing evolution of Mars following its colonization.  Page Count:  Green Mars: 650 Blue Mars: 780 Award:  Green Mars:  1994 Hugo, 1994 Locus SF Blue Mars:  1997 Hugo, 1997 Locus SF Worth a read : Nope (Directed by Jordan Peele) Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Make it stop. Review:  Written in response to somebody who said, "Mr. Robinson, I enjoyed Red Mars,  but it was just too exciting." This might be the dullest trilogy known to humankind. A massive spread of different topics and world building come into play, once again immaculately detailed. It is just impossible to care because it is impossible to be engaged in any part of this book. A lot of important plot and character moments are built upon an assumed connection between the reader and the First Hundred, which is simp...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Tim Powers's  Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather . The Short of It Plot:  When a particularly powerful ghost resurfaces, the boy he's possessing becomes a major target for all sorts of arcane sorts. His expertise in ghost handling makes him useful to Scott Crane as well. Page Count:  Expiration Date: 384 Earthquake Weather: 416 Award: Earthquake Weather: 1998 Locus Fantasy. Worth a read : No. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass. Technobabble:  Mild to moderate. Review:  These two forgo the dark humor and bitter charm of Last Call  and are instead ceaselessly miserable to read. It's hard to tell if this is an intentional choice or if the attempts at humor just don't land here. Pacing is spasmodic: one moment there will be an abrupt string of action sequences, and then nothing happens for the next thirty pages. Characters are generally too selfish to be engaging, and la...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. The Short of It Plot:  An international coalition of 100 scientists is sent out on a mission to establish the first colony on Mars, but interpersonal strife mars their mission.  Page Count:  592 Award:  1993 Nebula. Worth a read : No. Fight me. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  (Technobabble * Technobabble) < Technobabble["Red Mars"] Review:  Undeniably a masterpiece of hard SF. Incredibly in depth and thought through systems and technologies with a rigorous scientific approach. Also heinously tedious and drier than pre-terraforming Mars. Characters tend to be irrationally inflexible or utterly spineless. Shocking levels of high school-esque romantic drama tossed in to the mix. Pacing is a full on dumpster fire. One can recognize the brilliance of Robinson without finding this remotely enjoyable. The Medium of It Spoiler ...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Lois McMaster Bujold's  Komarr. The Short of It Plot:  Miles settles into his new life as a full time Imperial Auditor, but his father's shadow towers over him. Page Count: 332 Award:  Part of the  Vorkosigan Saga Worth a read : Yes Primary Driver:  ( Plot ,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minimal/Moderate Review:  Miles is back in business. An excellent entry into the series. Komarr, a planet famously butchered by Miles's father, is an excellent backdrop for well-executed suspense and romance plots. Miles has a mentor here, and it's nice to see him actually need to learn something, no just be good at it. Pacing stays brisk, aided by alternating narrators by chapters. This also helps reestablish characterization: we're so accustomed to Miles as he is that is helps to see him from an outside perspective. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! Miles is a real Auditor now! Not just a hal...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Tim Powers's Last Call . The Short of It Plot:  Scott's life is falling apart. Maybe because of the alcohol, maybe because his dead wife keeps talking to him, or maybe because of that poker game where he bet his soul. Page Count:  535 Award:  1993 World Fantasy Award, 1993 Locus Fantasy Worth a read : Yes. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail. Technobabble:  Not really. Review:  Somehow walks the line between relentlessly dark and darkly humorous. Lots of fun world building showing off a hidden side of what we know, though occasionally gets lost in the weeds on the very same. Scott is such a depressing character that we both cheer on his improvements and believe his failures. For a book that really dives deep into the rules of both magic and card games this manages to maintain a remarkably solid pace. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! At the heart of this book is an extremely detailed ...

Hello, Stranger. Did you miss me? Let's talk about Neal Stephenson's  The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. The Short of It Plot: Perhaps an interactive children's textbook is the only tool powerful enough to break the constraints of a feudal cyberpunk dystopia. Page Count: 499 Award:  1996 Hugo, 1996 Locus SF Worth a read : Yes. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Hot damn. Review:  Feudal. Fantasy. Cyberpunk. Dystopia. Cool! Compelling characters with convincing drives successfully ground some pretty outlandish SF concepts. Book spends extended swathes in its own fiction as depicted by the Primer - but does so in a way that illuminates real-world issues. Pacing leans a bit too rushed, particularly in the third act. Classic Stephenson: excellent writing, often opaque, totally gripping. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! From start to finish there was no point at which, had I been asked what...

Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about James K. Morrow's  Blameless in Abaddon. The Short of It Plot: Who is responsible for the tragedies of existence? God. And he will answer for his crimes... at the Hague.   Page Count:  372 Award:  Sequel to Towing Jehovah Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or Character)  Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minor. Review:  A brilliant short story which far overstays its welcome. Feels like an introductory theology class by a disaffected tween. Lots of clever and funny moments, including the creation of a theme park around God's comatose body - but not enough to carry a story. Also relentlessly miserable at points. This is not so much a novel as a point to prove: and the point is reiterated to death. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! Déjà vu Deus dampnas libri! Which is, I believe, French and Latin (Fratin, as the kids say) for, "This book about God feels pretty  familiar." Welcome to...