Reviews

India comes to San Antonio

“Ian McDonald’s newest novel is one of the best blends of literary and science fiction writing I’ve read. River of Gods is full of the descriptive writing that permeates literary novels. For instance, it opens and closes with garlands of sun-colored marigolds swirling among the debris and corpses that fill India’s holiest river. And yet the book is also a vision of India madly in love with computers. Not surprisingly, McDonald, a previous Philip K. Dick Award winner, snagged the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel when River of Gods debuted overseas and was nominated for the Hugo and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2005…McDonald unveils the plot in flashes of evocative phrasing, such as ‘the couple of generals gorgeous as parakeets in their full dress.’ He can be succinctly biting, as with ‘the guilt and thrill of a really good class system.’ But the novel’s true richness comes from offering an immersion in Hindu and Muslim mythology and social norms…McDonald offers a glossary to ease reading…River of Gods is so dense that I suspect a second reading will offer lots more meaning than first perceived. And it’s worth the challenge to dip into a realistic vision of a future driven by technology.” –San Antonio Express-News, Nov. 12, 2006

India comes to San Antonio Read More »

Mappa Mundi Enters Neth Space

Ken at Neth Space posts his review of Justina Robson’s Mappa Mundi:

“…allows enjoyment for both the thinking and the escapist reader, while providing the excitement and twists of a typical thriller. After its slow start, the pace increases to evoke the cliché reaction: I couldn’t put it down. On my 10-point rating scale, Mappa Mundi scores a 7 and a solid recommendation in spite of a few hang-ups. I’m looking forward to reading other offerings from Robson.”

Mappa Mundi Enters Neth Space Read More »

Thrill Kill Cult, Hindu Style

John DeNardo has posted a review of Alan Dean Fosters’ Sagramanda over on SFSignal. He gives the book four out of five stars, and praises it for its characters and action, though feels that it has too many plot threads running in parallel for too long. Overall, though, DeNardo seems to have liked it, as he proclaims Sagramanda a “wonderful depiction of Indian culture; fast-paced; entertaining characters and back stories; excellent finish.”

But what catches my eye is his concluding remarks that “the detached threads unite into a nail-biting, Tarantino-like finale.”

There is definitely a Pulp Fiction / Jackie Brown vibe to this techno-thriller. Talking about the amorality of the characters in Sagramanda, DeNardo says, “even though most of the characters were not quite likable, their stories were consistently and thoroughly entertaining.” Yes, exactly. And it occurs to me: could it be that mystery readers and the audiences for mystery/thriller/crime films are sometimes more comfortable with morally-ambiguous protagonists than science fiction and fantasy readers? The crime genre is full of bad people fighting worse people, and Sagramanda certainly shares attributes with the many Elmore Leonard novels and their ilk, where we root for the losers going for their one big score.

Thrill Kill Cult, Hindu Style Read More »

The Importance of Being Ernest

Ernest Lilly reviews two Pyr books over on SFRevu. I’m glad that he seems to like both, while being upfront about what he sees as weaknesses in the works too. But I read these two reviews late last night, rather hurriedly/tiredly and didn’t – I confess – glance at the byline. When I was done, I was struck by how remarkably well written they both were. As a former full-time, now occasional, journalist, I appreciate the well turned phrase, whether its being turned in the service of one of our authors or not. So when I read both reviews back to back, I wasn’t surprised to discover both stemmed from the same source. Ernest is the Sr. Editor of SFRevu’s as well, though by no means the only reviewer. But I wanted to pause to give a shout out to some good writing before continuing with your regularly scheduled Pyr plug. Now…

Ernest says a lot of good things about Alan Dean Foster’s Sagramanda, which you can check out for yourself, though what struck me the most is his concluding remarks:

“Alan Dean Foster is a master of creating alien worlds for his protagonists to deal with, but his near future India is more complex and alien than anything he’s attempted yet. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it doesn’t feel like India as much as it feels like one of his created worlds, though I admit I’ve never been there, and Foster, an accomplished world traveler, had undoubtedly done thorough research on the ground. In the end, Sagramanda’s strength is the author’s willingness to engage in cross cultural conversation with people who may well emerge as the technological leaders of this century, but it’s only the beginning of a dialog which will hopefully lead to understanding on both sides. To achieve this, Foster needs to keep the story going for another few books, though Sagramanda has a stand alone feel to it.”

The city of Sagramanda is definitely a character in its own right. I don’t know that the other (human) characters from the book need to continue, though if New York has a million stories, a city of 100 million – even a fictional one – surely has a few more to tell, right? And Ian McDonald, who wrote the other big Indian novel out now, keeps spinning off new kyberpunk tales. Why not?

Meanwhile, Ernest puts Joel Shepherd’s Crossover on his highly recommended list and includes a sidebar that notes the books similarity to Masamune Shirow’s landmark work Ghost in the Shell. Again, I encourage you to go read the review for yourself, while I mull over something from his concluding remarks:

” I liked Crossover both for the hot cyber combat action and the chunks of exposition that the author drops from time to time. Call it perverse, but I think the discussion of technology and philosophy is one of the things that makes SF more interesting than mainstream fiction. As a result I’m all for spending a few paragraphs or even a page or two musing about the humanity of machines, or the cultural subtext of warfare, or why androids need breasts. A more aggressive editor might have trimmed this book back a bit, but I’m glad it didn’t happen.”

I don’t know what I would have done if the manuscript had come in on loose leaf, as opposed to my taking on board a book that was published some years ago in another territory. For N. American debuts of existing work, unless the author expresses a strong desire to revise something specific into an “author’s preferred edition,” and not counting the correction of any typos that have come to light, I prefer our edition to match the original published edition for the sake of history. I know that if I bought a US book, then read that 50 pages were cut from the Australian or UK edition, I’d be rushing out to see what those 50 pages were. In fact, I held off buying the US edition of the aforementioned Masamune Shirow’s latest work of manga, when I heard the US edition was missing 12 pages deemed too “mature” for an American audience.

But in Joel’s case, I would like to think I would have resisted the urge to trim the fat here if I’d come to the work cold. For one thing, as Ernest points out, once you get through the first chapter, “the action comes fast and hot by the end and never lets up thereafter.” For all the above talk of philosophy and grand ideas, this is one hell of an action story, with machine pistols blazing and bionic women leaping out of flying cars from hundreds of feet in the air. Joel really knows his combat, too, and manages to translate the kinetic feel of anime into prose better than I’ve ever seen done before. But what I always loved about the Shirow is the way that amid all the violence and hardware fetishization, suddenly the comic book will go into a discourse on geopolitical theory or some social/ethical concern and that’s vital for the tone of the work as well.

Plus, I’ve cited Joel’s book several times now, on blogs and on convention panels, as a perfect example of entertainment plus depth, in my ongoing insistence that these are not mutually exclusive concepts. Joel’s work is rife with politics and philosophy, as well as sex and combat. Just like its clear inspiration, it manages to marry both rousing adventure and rousing speculation – and while not perhaps a perfect book by all assessments, I hope I would have recognized these asides as central to the work he was creating.

Now, with all these Ghost comparisons, it should be said that Shirow usually seems to insert these dialogues into the mouths of naked anime girls in a shower or massage scene. Joel, for his part, leaves out that slightly uncomfortable/puerile aspect, trading the somewhat exploitive scenes for a more mature, balanced portrayal of his many strong female characters. Oh, the sex is still there and then some, but it feels sexy not sexist; it’s a sexuality that owes more to the well-drawn characterization and tension of something like the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle than it does to Shirow’s work. Several female readers asked me recently, in fact, how Joel was able to write women so convincingly, and we not surprised to learn that he also writes about women’s basketball as well. So, I guess what I’m saying is – remove the doll-like anime women from Ghost in the Shell, insert Lucy Lawless, equals great book.

The Importance of Being Ernest Read More »

The Map of the World @ SFFWorld

Rob H. Bedford, of SFFWorld, on Justina Robson’s Mappa Mundi:

“Justina Robson is one of the more interesting SF writers to have emerged from the UK in recent years. In a relatively short time, she’s produced some of the more thought-provoking, critically acclaimed novels in the genre, with nominations for awards such as the Philip K. Dick award and the British Science Fiction Association award. Her second novel, Mappa Mundi, published in the UK in 2000, now appears on US shelves through Pyr, is no exception. The novel is part medical thriller, part spy/geopolitical thriller, and Big Idea SF novel… While the technology of mapping the human mind may not be readily available, one gets the sense that it might be something the government is working behind closed doors. The political climate and global settings also resonated with those of today’s world. It isn’t always easy for an SF writer to blur this line, and Robson did so very effectively. …with Mappa Mundi, Robson proves she is a smart and thought-provoking writer with her hand on of the pulse and thoughts of today’s world.”

The Map of the World @ SFFWorld Read More »

The Pirate in PW

Just got back from the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas – about which more soon on my personal blog – to find this wonderful bit of news in my in-box. Publishers Weekly has just given Mike Resnick’s upcoming Starship: Pirate (out in time for Christmas) this glowing review in their November 6th issue:

“One of the characters in this sequel to Starship: Mutiny (2005) asks, ‘Whatever happened to heroes who didn’t think everything through, but just walked in with weapons blazing?’ The answer is ‘They’re buried in graveyards all across the galaxy.’ This sums up nicely Hugo-winner Resnick’s approach to military SF, which isn’t so much about fighting and hardware as it is about strategy and leadership…. Readers craving intelligent, character-driven SF need look no further.”

The Pirate in PW Read More »

Crossover @ SFFWorld

More love for Joel Shepherd’s Crossover, this one from Rob H Bedford over at SFFWorld:

“With this novel, Shepherd … joins the ranks of writers like Karen Traviss, Marienne de Pierres, and Elizabeth Bear…. The other balancing act Shepherd dances throughout the entire novel is between the thoughtful dialogue (both external and inner) and the slam-bang action sequences, the assassination attempt or the various skirmishes throughout the book. In many ways Crossover is a very visceral book, evoking strong and powerful thoughts and emotions, both of which Kresnov inspires in those who surround her…. What makes Crossover stand out is how plausibly and realistically Shepherd draws his characters. The dialogue between Kresnov and her new colleagues propel the narrative and plot very well. Their thought processes and reactions occur very logically and are on equal standing with the plot/action elements of the story. Crossover is a satisfying, engaging, and thought-provoking read from another great new voice from Pyr. The good thing is that Crossover is the first of three books. “

Crossover @ SFFWorld Read More »

Sean Williams Interview & Review

Ken of Neth Space interviews author Sean Williams about everything from Star Wars to atheism, writing in collaboration to owning monkeys. The interview is online at both Neth Space and Wotmania. Speaking of writing The Crooked Letter, Sean says:

“I have a fascination with religion that goes right back to Sunday school, when I persistently queried theological points that didn’t make sense to me. When I was in High School, my father had just started studying for the priesthood, so I was exposed to nuts and bolts of theology from a practitioner’s perspective, as well as a parishioner. Later, I realized that any faith I had once had in Christianity had evaporated, and I became an atheist, where I’ve been comfortable ever since–but my fascination with religion has never gone away. There’s an awful amount of energy invested in world-building and story-telling behind every religion. It’s not so different from science fiction, in that sense, if you look at it long enough. So wanting to devise a natural system that might be the big picture lurking behind all human religions was a perfectly natural step. The world behind the Books of the Cataclysm was the result, in which there is a form of reincarnation as well as an afterlife (in fact there are two afterlives, which reflect the belief of some cultures that we have two souls), and there is an almost-supremely powerful deity ruling over a lesser pantheon. Magic used to work, but does no longer. The world has undergone several apocalyptic changes, and might yet go through another one. As theological world-building goes, this one has everything.”

Meanwhile, Rick Kleffel sounds off about monsters in his thoughts on the second book in Williams’s Books of the Cataclysm, The Blood Debt:

“Williams is one of those writers that I suspect readers will someday twig to en masse and wonder why the hell they weren’t rabidly buying his books long, long ago. That said, these Books of the Cataclysm are particularly appealing to me, combining as they do big chunks of monsterific horror with a surreal science fictional / fantasy setting and characters from the here-and-now who give us regular folks something to grab on to. Book One, The Crooked Letter set Seth and Hadrian Castillo loose in a wildly-conceived universe chock-a-block with monsters and underpinned by a couple of master’s theses worth of religious imagery…Dirigibles. Monsters. Boatloads of research. What more can you ask for?”

Sean Williams Interview & Review Read More »

Two More Pyr books @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist

Patrick returns with two more reviews at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. First, he says of Ian McDonald’s River of Gods that “only on the rarest of occasions will I encounter a work that totally blows my mind. Hence, I’m pleased to report that Ian McDonald’s River of Gods is one such works… Ian McDonald has written what could well be the best scifi novel in quite a while. River of Gods is definitely one of the books to read in 2006. For my money, it ranks among Hal Duncan’s Vellum and R. Scott Bakker’s The Thousandfold Thought as one of the best novels of the year.”

Earlier, he calls Joel Shepherd’s Crossover “a remarkable scifi debut,” adding that “the novel is a fast-paced thriller with enough action sequences to satisfy anyone. And yet, there is also enough political intrigue to give this book a convoluted and well-executed plot. In addition, Shepherd manages to imbue the darker moments with the right amount of humor to make your lips curl up into a smile on more than one occasion.”

Two More Pyr books @ Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist Read More »

Scroll to Top