Posts Tagged ‘Iain Banks’

Better Late than Never…

Sep 1st, 10 / 0 Comments

So it has been far too long since I last posted on the site. A number of things have conspired against me. First there was the asinine WordPress error that would not allow me to enter into the Admin area at all. Then the fact that work has been crazy. And finally the reason I finally fixed WordPress, I have the god damn flu with pneumonia.

Since I last posted here I have finished four novels.  Just to save time I will list them below and tell you whether you should read it or not. I’m way too doped up on meds to do much more than that.

  1. Excession – If you are a Culture fan this is a must read as it fills in a lot of details regarding The Minds.
  2. Inversions – This is another Culture novel that can be read by anyone. Banks referred to it as a Culture novel without being a Culture novel. Either way it is a brilliant piece and a must read.
  3. Changeless – The second novel in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, Changeless was not quite as good as the first but still a fun read. And the ending will leave you wanting for more.
  4. The Warrior’s Apprentice – This was my first introduction to the character that I am quickly falling in love with, Miles Vorkosigan. This series will be on my shelf for quite awhile I imagine.

Ashes to Ashes is the sequel to the ridiculously good Life on Mars from the BBC. I have finished season one now and am working through season two. But progress has slowed since I started watching the excellent Star Gate: Universe on Netflix.

Again sorry for not giving everyone an update sooner, it just wasn’t in the cards.

Books, Personal, Site News

Windup Girl Wound me up

Jun 10th, 10 / 0 Comments

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This past weekend I finished Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl from NightShade Books. I’ve waited a bit to write this because I wanted to let the story settle some and I didn’t want to write on that initial lump in my throat that might have made this a much more angry posting.

So to the setting, not the story the setting. Mr. Bacigalupi’s setting in The Windup Girl is a mish-mash of several sub-genres that can be described best as a post-environmental-dystopian-steampunk-future. At first, it does not sound like it can work but believe me it does. The story is set in a Thailand after a series of global viruses, oil shortages, pestilence, war, etc. Essentially a series of global calamities has reverted the world back to a closed door policy across the globe. But this is not a Victorian steampunk novel, and as such there is a whole cluster of generippers, virologists, and bionetic engineers who are trying to genetically re-engineer crops to be plague resistant. This type of science brings us around to the title name, The Windup Girl. A windup is a vat grown humanoid genetically engineered to pick up the gap left in the workforce after a century of disease and famine has nullified them. Some windups are engineered with 10 arms as very efficient crop pickers, some are military units designed for war. A windup girl therefore is a whore, typically of Japanese make (because the Japanese are always ahead in weird sex-tech I guess). Regardless of their type a windup is naturally resistant to the various plagues and famines that have befallen the world, but they are infertile. And more importantly, windup girls are made for beauty, meaning their skin lack pores, so they overheat. And so they can be told from the regular people they have a natural shutter-stop motion to their movements that I imagine would be like watching bad stop motion animation.

Instead of a heavy reliance on steam power, and as an inferior answer to the lack of oil based fuels, almost everything is ran from ‘kink-springs.’ Yeah everything is spring based. I know it sounds fishy now, but trust me, Bacigalupi pulls it off, and well.

There was a lot of trepidation involved starting this book initially, but the setting really saved me from this, and I am glad it did. I went in blind, however, not knowing much about this book aside from the recent Nebula award nod. That was probably a mistake, I should have looked a little more into the book before grabbing it up. So for your sake here is the shit you need to know:

  • this story is not an environmental dystopian parlaying the fears of current world bullshit
  • this setting is an environmental dystopian parlaying the fears of current world bullshit
  • the setting is awesome… you will love it
  • this is an identity searching story
  • there are no Mary Sue’s (can’t stand them)
  • it does get exciting in the last quarter of the book

The story here left me feeling a little disappointed, it’s not that great. And when you have it standing up in comparison to the amazing setting that is woven through the book, and the Nebula win, it is just downright lacking. This is not to say that the story is bad, just that you can tell that Mr. Bacigalupi has spent far more time in the setting, having at least two other short stories in this world and I would imagine at least one of his unpublished novels falls in this category as well. Some of the side plots seemed to be more woven around the setting as opposed to the main plot line, you know who you are Jaidee. Basically his time was spent making the world and it shows. This book would have rocked my world if he had played to that more I think.

Overall I think you should read this book if you like dystopians, or Dick-ensian futures. If you are looking for a griping environmental thriller read it. If you have never heard of Paolo Bacigalupi and have never read his short stories, put the book down and read his short stories, primarily The Calorie Man and Yellow Card Man find them both here. If you haven’t read either of these and are not a dystopian fan run to the store and find those stories.

I give it a 3/5 for story and a 5/5 for setting.

What’s next?chart

So I have stepped up my fiction intake somewhat and have finally started reading epubs on my Motorola Droid last 129131week. I have been using the Word-Player app (QR Link to the right) as my primary reader and I love it. The format lends itself very well to short fiction and I read a number of shorts on it last week. I also started The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks on it last Friday and have been very pleased with it so far. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to 51D5wpcgF1Lget back to the Culture series.

I also signed up for Audible last week and started listening to Feed by Mira 6381205Grant thanks to the new Audible Android app that is in beta.  I’m really digging Feed as it is set post  zombie infection and followers a trio of bloggers through a presidential campaign fraught with, what else, zombies.

In addition to these I am reading Gail Carriger’s first novel, Soulless. This is a quirky Victorian steampunk supernatural detective story that is very enjoyable so far.

Books, News, Tech

The End of Alera and Use of Weapons

Dec 15th, 09 / 0 Comments

51tQt3vs5tL._SL160_ So I just finished First Lord’s Fury, the sixth and final book in the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. This book held a lot of meaning for me and others that are fans of Mr. Butcher’s other excellent series, The Dresden Files. The reason is this, Butcher has never wrote an ending until now. Sure he has written about seventeen books total, some very successful, but he has never ended a series. So this book held the expectations of all of his fans, and might I add that he delivered in spades.

Without spoiling too much, the entire book is a war against the Vord as introduced in the first novel and expanded upon in later ones. Character progression is great, the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you interested. To put it bluntly, it was an awesome read and a worthy finale to an excellent series.

{25B30B33-FA5A-4FF5-B00F-3DA6C521E126}Img100 Also finished last night was Use of Weapons by the man quickly becoming my favorite sci-fi author, Scotsman Iain M. Banks. This is another of The Culture series and follows a mercenary named Chernadine Zakalwe in a double story, one set in the past, one current. The theory here is that since The Culture is basically against violence, they find highly capable military professionals to work on their behalf. Zakalwe is one of these recruits, a veritable genius of 418YEF83BGL._SL160_military action used on countless worlds by The Culture. The story follows his exploits, but is truly about his hidden demons.

This is another shining example of Mr. Bank’s shear superiority of, not just the space opera, but of just damn good story-telling to boot. This is another must read for sci-fi fans out there.

So, next on the reading list is Singularity Sky by Charles Stross. This is a book that I have been meaning to read for a year now, and well no time like the present I suppose.

Books, SciFi

Blades, Culture, & Shells

Nov 2nd, 09 / 0 Comments
{Use of Weapons}Img100 Well I finally finished Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold. About three-quarters of the way through and I started getting really pissed with Mr. Abercrombie and the somewhat predictable nature to which he tends to place in his stories. But alas, he has redeemed himself and the ending of Best Served Cold was far far better than the so-called ending of the First Law Trilogy. He still tends to have an issue with leaving characters alive that probably should have died, but honestly this novel is filled with death. So characters not dying was against the grain. I have to say that I will read anything else that Mr. Abercrombie produces. On a second note, I have started reading after much delay, Use of Weapons by the great Iain M. Banks. This marks the third in the Culture series, which has taken its place as being the best Sci-Fi series that I have read ever. I have only gotten about 50 pages deep into it, but I cannot tell you how nice it was to bridge the gap from epic fantasy to space opera in one day. It was like a long awaited homecoming. More on this novel later. I have managed to finally come to terms with Windows Vista. I replaced the shell. Yes in the 90's fashion of Win200 and XP I tried several old favorites (Litestep, BB4Win) and some new ones (Geo-Shell, Object Desktop) but it was SharpE that grabbed my attention. SharpE is a very polished and usable shell that can be used without heavy customization, although some tweaking won't hurt at all. If anyone is fed up with the default Windows shell environment, the window manager for those in the know, then I highly recommend SharpE!
Books, Tech

My Quintessential Sci-Fi

Jun 10th, 09 / 0 Comments

Every time you read a book in a genre you love you always end up, subconsciously or consciously, comparing it to your mind’s own vision of that genre. Usually this is another book you have read in the past that is for you the closest to what your mind’s eye sees of that genre.

In my case for the last several months every time I read science fiction of any type, from Cherryh to Stross, I find myself comparing it to one novel in particular. The funny thing is that when I read it I thought it a great book, but would not have put it at the top of my sci-fi pile. But as time goes on I realize that so far Consider Phlebas is my quintessential sci-fi.

This actually came as a surprise to me, although now I am not sure why, but really it does make perfect sense. It has everything that a great space opera should have: action, intrigue, aliens, sex with strange furry proto-human females, and a super advanced society capable of giving its inhabitants anything they desire. Seriously, what’s not to love?

So now I am reading the second novel in the Culture series, The Player of Games, and while it is told from the viewpoint within Culture whereas Consider Phlebas was told from without, it is still shaping up to be an excellent read. Part of the reason for that I think is because of Mr. Bank’s voice throughout both novels so far. There is no struggle to read it and in fact it flows from one line to the next, from one page to the next.

I honestly have not been so keen to finish a series since I first found Jim Butcher’s amazing Dresden Files or Charles Stross’s Laundry series. Iain M. Banks’ Culture is the reading list through the summer.

Books, Personal, SciFi