Counting Heads

Counting Heads (by David Marusek) is in some ways a throwback to classic science fiction. It's interested in two things: cool science and  realistic characters. The book has scenes written in the modern cinematic style but the priorities of the book are decidedly old school- hardish science mixed together with some interesting characters thrown in and then see what bubbles up.

The characters are the real gems of Counting Heads. They run a gamut of ages and types, races, creeds, backgrounds, and social status. Each one of the main point of view characters has something compelling about them and each one goes through a full character arc. By the end almost every character has learned something new about themselves and their world. And props need to be given to David Marusek for managing to write convincing first person passages from the point of view of not one, but two children as well as an extremely elderly character.

The plot basically is as follows: a supremely powerful CEO dies in a spaceship crash and her only heir is decapitated but survives due to a safety helmet. This head in a jar is a prize that many people want to kill or protect for a wide variety of reasons. The book follows the lives of men and women who are caught up in the conflict over the severed head of Ellie Starke. Characters that include, Ellie's elderly father, a ten year old boy, clones, robots, AIs, a defrocked Bishop, and a coffee table that transforms into a war-machine.  OK, that last one isn't a main character. While all this is playing out there are several plots running in the background. These include the future of colonizing other planets and the deactivation of the shields surrounding Chicago that keep nano-biological terror weapons out. These subplots never come to any sort of resolution despite a fair amount of time spent on them.

Kind of like this but not really at all.

That all probably sounded like a mess. And Counting Heads is a mess, plot-wise. There is a reason it was not released to grand fanfare and fame. The characters are great. The setting of the book is compelling. But Marusek keeps getting sidetracked. In fact, 'sidetracked' is too generous. The pacing of the plot, such that there is a plot, is a total mess. A main PoV character is rendered mute and irrelevant for the last third of the book. The book opens with a nice short story that is both relevant but also not too relevant to the main plot. Charcters arcs jump and jitter. Plot threads are picked up only to be left dangling. Things like killer coffee tables pop up, are dealt with, and are never explained. Vastly complicated ideas and technologies are introduced and never explored.

Perhaps the most mind boggling example of Counting Head's plot problems is found on the jacket cover. This is the summary of the plot from the jacket: "The year is 2134, and the Information Age has given rise to the Boutique Economy in which mass production and mass consumption are rendered obsolete. Life extension therapies have increased the human lifespan by centuries. Loyal mentars (artificial intelligence) and robots do most of society's work. The Boutique Economy has made redundant ninety-nine percent of the world's fifteen billion human inhabitants. The world would be a much better place if they all simply went away." Absolutely none of that information is ever mentioned or alluded to within the pages of the book. And it sounds pretty damn important to me. Probably the colonization subplot, the poor characters, and the Chicago shield deactivation subplot all tie back into that central premise but without reading the book jacket no one would ever know it.

Despite the abysmal plotting of the book, the characters and the innovative setting make for a good read. While Counting Heads may not convert any new readers to science fiction, fans of the genre will find a solid compelling story. Counting Heads receives seven out of ten severed heads.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a fun book. It is not, however, filling. Ready Player One is the sci-fi equivalent of popcorn. And you know what? That's fine.

The book is set in the not too distance dystopic future. This dystopia isn't as garish or grim as most though. The world of tomorrow in RPO (Ready Player One, natch) is faded and rundown. The energy crisis never gets solved and so all of humanity is slowly being strangled by the lack of cheap energy. To escape this grey reality most people in RPO spend their time online playing a virtual reality Massive Multiplayer game. This all sounds like some pretty heavy stuff for a lite fare book but we the reader also spend most of our time online in the Virtual Reality universe of OASIS.

The story is incredibly straight forward. Wade Watts is a teenager with nothing to lose. He and thousands of others are hunting for the inheritance of the mutli-billionaire who created OASIS for years. This eccentric genius, James Halliday, was a huge geek who was particularly obsessed with the 1980s. Dying without an heir Halliday reveals there is series of riddles and tests hidden in OASIS. The first to complete these hidden tasks becomes the master of OASIS. All the riddles and games are related to various geek pop culture. Young Wade races his fellow hunters and an unintentionally hilarious evil corporation to win the game and the (VR) world. It is literally that simple and (spoilers!) there are no twists or turns at all. Everything is as it seems; which is kind of shocking for a tale taking place in that bastion of lies and illusions, the internet.

See this banner? You love this movie and now by association you love this blog.

Ernest Cline really pushes the 80s nostalgia in Ready Player One. It isn't really a detriment to the enjoyment of the book. But it didn't seem to add anything either. There is more to nostalgia than just dumping as many titles and catchphrases as possible into a movie/show/novel. And that's all there really is in RPO. A writer should captured the actual feelings and atmosphere of those halcyon days. I ended the book with a slightly dirty feeling actually. Cline's love of the 80s appears authentic. But the way he markets RPO is transparently base pandering. It all but shouts, from the cover to the back, "Love my book nerds because I reference things you liked/like!" Ugh.

So should you read RPO? Depends really what you are looking for and your interests. RPO is simple: simple prose, simple plot, simple delights. It is almost a Young Adult book I'd say. But it's simplicity makes it easy to digest. If you are looking for some low calorie fun and have some geeky interests you could do a lot worse than Ready Player One. Final score: 6 out of 9 hidden stars found.

Fallen Dragon

Fallen Dragon by Peter Hamilton is a depressing read but I'm not sure it was intended to be depressing. Which makes the whole read just a little bit more disturbing. This is a book with a philosophy behind it and I'm not sure I personally support it. Still, I strive to be as unbiased as possible- a review loaded with individual preferences and opinions isn't much use to anyone after all.

Fallen Dragon follows a fairly simple structure in which chapters alternate between the present and flashbacks. The main plot follows career soldier Lawrence Newton on his latest adventure- yet another invasion of a colony world. The book doesn't waste time filling in his tragic past. In fact it deflates the action of the main plot completely as a large chunk of the first third of the book is devoted to Lawrence's childhood and teenage romance. There isn't much to recommend to these flashbacks- they are overly long and lack drama for the most part. It is all in the service of world building of course, the problem is the world being built isn't very compelling. For the most part it seems to be life as usual. Apparently alien worlds are mostly filled with hotels and ski resorts. The rest of the flashbacks I found interesting, so don't despair.

The future in Fallen Dragon is a grim one. Corporations based on earth have all the military power and use that power to raid the far flung colonies of man. Since Lawrence is one of the corporate foot soldiers and also a big believer in the benevolence of corporations towards the end of the book we are put in the awkward  position of kind of rooting for these monstrous pirates. The age of human expansion is ending as there is no money in creating more colonies. All opponents of the oppressive corporate mono-culture are dismissed by our hero as fanatics and idiotic idealists. As for the reason human progress is grinding to a halt, spoilers, its poor people. The mindset and cynicism behind the book I found a too ugly to get much enjoyment out of the book.

The book has it's good points though. Lawrence is an interesting character: he is jaded, a dreamer, and a nihilist in equal turns. Some of the technology in the book is pretty cool although descriptions of fictional spaceplanes and whatnot sometimes border on fetishistic. While grim, the plot at least is fairly engaging. And perhaps the best thing going for Fallen Dragon is that it IS disturbing and ethically challenging. The world of the future is going to be as morally horrifying to our modern day eyes as our culture would be to someone from the 1800s. If anything Fallen Dragon could have gone even further.

So, in summary, Fallen Dragon is definitely a book you could read. It isn't a great read but it's certainly not a horrible book. It would rate 4.5/10 on a sci-fi review blog.

That's all for now.

This little experiment has run it's course I feel. Feel free to re-read the reviews or whatever. If you are looking for quality sci-fi books... well there are tons of course but these are some of my favorites:
Neuromaner
Hyperion
Dune
Ender's Game
The Foundation


Nothing to revolutionary but classics are classics for a reason hahaha.

FALL OF HYPERION

Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons,  is the second book of the Hyperion Cantos. It certainly earns it's all Caps treatment in the title.This massive tome of sci fi goodness has taken me the better part of a month to read so I apologize that the updates have been a little scarcer than usual.

Fall of Hyperion can technically be read on it's own but I don't suggest it. There are plenty of recaps for those  picking it up off the shelves without reading Hyperion. Given that this book was fused with it's predecessor in the Cantos I actually found it a little annoying. But the background sketches are likely not enough to make Fall of Hyperion very fun. If you want to jump into this series (and it is a series as there are a set of books set after the Cantos called Endyimion) your going to want to start from the beginning. If for no other reason than Hyperion is the superior book.

Which doesn't mean that the Fall is bad by any means. It is beyond grandiose and does a a good job answering all the questions raised by the first book. It takes the vast foundation of Hyperion and builds a satisfying galaxy spanning conclusion that somehow makes all the disparate pieces work (for the most part). In many ways Fall is a paragon of the conventions of sci-fi. It is optimistic, bombastic, speculative, and towards the end there is a bit about the power of love. For some reason the power of love, along with talking sea mammals, are stalwarts of sci-fi. Not sure why.

The problems with Fall of Hyperion are all tied into the fact that it is so ballsy in its span. I missed the smaller, personal scope of the first books six stories. There are still plenty of nice character moments but they tend to gum up the frantic flow of Fall. For a book with time travel in it Fall follows a fairly linear timeline... but the characters narratives are all chopped to pieces which can be frustrating sometimes. The final flaw, in my personal opinion, comes from the nature of what Fall does. Hyperion was much like sci-fi TV series like Lost and Battlestar Galactica in that all these narratives had all sort of crazy mysteries and unexplained events. When it comes time to tie all of it together... the only explanation big enough to fit is 'God did it.' Which I find rather unsatisfying. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph fall does a good job wrapping things up and providing solid reasons behind a lot of the mysteries (certainly better reasons than Lost). My tolerance for deus ex machina is fairly low so like I said this is really just a minor quibble.

The Shrike: still awesome

In conclusion, if you enjoyed Hyperion you'll enjoy it's conclusion. Fall of Hyperion is a good book that occasionally suffers because of it's scale. It's hard to imagine a more satisfying conclusion to Hyperion though. Go! Read Hyperion! You'll love it, and you'll love it's sequel!

Hyperion

Hyperion by Dan Simmons. This book and its sequel, Fall of Hyperion, are combined in the Hyperion Cantos. Neither book is short so the Cantos is a veritable tome. Given this fact I'm dividing my review into two parts one for each of the books. One other thing to note, I've read both books before. I generally don't reread books but I enjoyed Hyperion the first time and it's been awhile since I've read it. It's one of the better sci-fi books out there so I feel a responsibility to share it with the public.

Dan Simmons does not mess around when he creates a universe to play around in. Hyperion and its sequels feature: teleportation, time travel, the cyberscape, AI, post-humans, and biological starships. As much as I respect the grand old sci-fi tradition of focusing on one or two future technologies I prefer this 'everything and the kitchen sink' approach to sci-fi. You don't get a carefully nuanced, multi-faceted exploration of what each technology means for humanity. For example, time travel plays a large role in Hyperion without really any text wasted on moral and philosphical implications of tampering with the past. But the technologies in this series aren't really what Hyperion is about.* It is, at its core, just interested in telling a complicated enjoyable story. This is a focus that many sci-fi books could stand to share. 

Hyperion is broken into six short stories with an overarching story serving as a framework between the stories. The master plot itself manages to be a compelling story in itself- seven strangers on a haunting trip through an alien world- a world on the brink of apocalypse. Each story details how each of the seven ended up on their doomed pilgrimage. Hyperion lives and dies therefore on the quality of these six stories. And for the most part the six vignettes are successful.

Each of the six stories have their own little sub-genre. The first is a story of religious horror, it is probably the strongest of the bunch. It's been a long time and I could still remember most of it. Other genres of the stories include cyberpunk, military sci-fi, and a sentimental tragedy. Most of these stories I could remember the gist of- they were quality tales. Two of them are a bit weaker (the cyberpunk story didn't do it for me at all) but overall there is something for everyone here. The entire book features quality writing and the characters are all interesting flawed creatures.

Pictured: the Shrike and his tree of thorns

Some mention needs to be made of the Shrike. The Shrike gets built up a lot- he is the God of Pain, Angel of Atonement. The Shrike is the boogeyman, Satan, and the Horseman of Death all rolled into one. That... is a lot to live up to. In my experience when you have this level of build up the actual thing is sure to disappoint. It is a testament to Dan Simmon's writing skill then that the Shrike truly is as horribly awesome as he is meant to be. The Shrike is one of the best literary monsters in my humble opinion. Like Dracula and werewolves the Shrike taps into some pool of elemental human fear. 

So do I recommend Hyperion? Of course I recommend it fool, haven't you been reading the review? It is not a flawless book. There are times when it could delve a little deeper and times when the mysticism of the stories can be obnoxious. But these are truly minor quibbles. This book is what sci-fi is all about. Small personal stories with universe shattering implications set in a wild and weird future.                                        7 out of 8 torchships

*although it should be noted that one particular technology is explored this way: the farcasters. Farcasters are doorways that can open to any other farcaster anywhere in the universe. It is the key peice of technology of the setting and all of society is shaped by the fact that nearly every human world is basically physically linked through these doorways. The farcaster system is a brilliant commentary on our own world where globalization is still transforming all societies and environments.

Lost Fleet: Fearless

Lost Fleet: Fearless by Jack Campbell, is the second in a ongoing Lost Fleet: adjective series. It is a straight up, no nonsense military sci-fi book. I deliberately sought out a military sci-fi book to read after the disappointments of Fledgling and Rollback. They were low action books and particularly in Rollback's case simply too dull for me to really enjoy. I've always maintained that any story can be improved by a bitchin' helicopter or maybe a motorcycle that shoots rockets. I actually set out to find a Warhammer 40K book as 40K is probably the best source for modern military sci-fi. Because a vast range of different writers have worked with the intellectual property I'm sure like most brand books (IE Star Wars Extended Universe) the quality of 40K stories varies quite a bit. But I really liked the one Warhammer 40K book I've read and the 40K universe is a vast and deep setting. But I've begun to ramble, lets circle back to Lost Fleet. Lost Fleet was attractive to me for two reasons- it had an original setting and it had bad cover art (the herald of good sci-fi is shitty art).

From the back of the book: "The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century - and losing badly.  Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory.  Their only hope is a man who's emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he had been heroically idealized beyond belief .  Captain John "Black Jack" Geary's legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild.  Revered for his heroic "last stand" in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead.  But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics.  Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty.  And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance's one chance to win the war.  But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic "Black Jack" legend."


So there you go. It's kind of Battlestar Galactica-esque in that it's a battle fleet cut off and travelling through enemy territory. The Fearless is written from the perspective of Jack Geary as he deals with mutiny and trying to strike and an enemy stronghold system. That is the plot. I haven't read any other books in the series and I could follow what happened easily enough. There were certain plot points that weren't entirely clear (How exactly did a man out of time qualify to take over as Admiral?) but for the most part you can read this as standalone. Ideally you should read the series in order though. 


Jack Geary is a complicated character made a little too idealized. He sometimes feels like less than a real man and more like a living paean to strong leadership. That said his character and his orbiting cast of friends/lovers/enemies work well together. There is a problem with the first person perspective though. We have virtually no background on Geary. We have no background on the Alliance he loves and serves. We have no details on the enemy Syndics other than the surmise, based on their name, that the Syndicate is a made up of hundreds of dictatorial super-corporations.   Everything is focused on Navy life and even that lacks detail. Because Geary is a high ranking officer he never actually has any conversations with the common sailors. The reader knows they are there but they are rarely seen and never speak. All information about how the sailors feel about various fleet actions are relayed second hand through ship captains. Thus when the big mutiny goes down it's entirely anti-climactic. This lack of backstory is frustrating in a book that is part of a series. Too much world building can be boring and stifling but Lost Fleet's universe is a threadbare thing. A hastily constructed scaffold to be blasted apart.


Lost Fleet: Fearless works well as a military sci-fi story and not much else. If you have that itch to scratch, that desire to see the hellances boiling through durosteel plate as missile drones flit through the void, then Fearless will keep you happy. But its a flimsy thing and when your finished don't be surprised if the whole thing felt a little empty. Lost Fleet: Fearless hits 6 out of 10 stealth mines.


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Lost Fleet does have several interesting elements that I would like to do an aside on. The first is space warfare. I feel like space warfare would be a natural extension of the sort of 'push button' war that we imagine WW3 will be. Lost Fleet has an interesting twist on this though. Because the distances in ship to ship combat are so vast the speed of light actually plays an important part in fighting. If you launch attacks from too far away the image of the missiles and their vectors reaches the intended target long before the actual attack. Thus ships actually need to close the distance on one another to land any hits. And even then they are going so fast (fractions of the speed of light) that even with computers aiming is extremely tricky. All of this seems a lot closer to what space combat would be like than most sci-fi ever gets. Generally space combat ignores the laws of physics whenever it can. Which can be entertaining but it's nice to see someone has actually put some serious thought into how it might actually work.

Pictured: Not realistic!!!

The other interesting thing is how many damn solar systems are wrecked. Lost Fleet depicts total warfare on a galactic scale. It isn't about taking and holding territory- it's about destroying the enemies ability to make war. In Syndic system after system the Fleet rolls on in and annihilates every war factory, orbital installation, spaceport, and supply depot. Galactic scale sci-fi often features empires and whatnot recovering from apocalyptic wars from centuries past (everything from the Foundation to Dune really). Rarely do we, the reader, see first hand what such a war would look like. This is it though. I imagine by the time this series ends thousands of human worlds will have been blasted back to the stone age.