REVIEW: The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell

Hardcover: 302 pages
Publisher: Tor (3 Sep 2010)
ISBN-10: 0230748643
ISBN-13: 978-0230748644
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought online

From the inside cover:
God is a slick god. Temple knows. She knows because of all the crackerjack miracles still to be seen on this ruined globe...

Older than her years and completely alone, Temple is just trying to live one day at a time in a post-apocalyptic world, where the undead roam endlessly, and the remnant of mankind who have survived, at times, seem to retain little humanity themselves.

This is the world she was born into. Temple has known nothing else. Her journey takes her to far-flung places, to people struggling to maintain some semblance of civilization - and to those who have created a new world order.

When she comes across the helpless Maury, she attempts to set one thing right. If she can just get him back to his family in Texas then maybe it will bring redemption for some of the terrible things she's done in her past. Because Temple has had to fight to survive, has done things that she's not proud of and, along the road, she's made enemies.

Now one vengeful man is determined that, in a world gone mad, killing her is the one thing that makes sense...

I was initially resistant to reading The Reapers Are The Angels because I don't like zombies. There, I've admitted it; the very mention of the undead is enough to put me off any book or film that mentions them. However, I decided to face my prejudice as this book has been highly praised by many of my peers. Reading reviews by other bloggers indicated that the undead zombies in Alden Bell's novel are an incidental, background feature rather than the main event and so I settled down with a mug of hot chocolate and started to read.

What soon becomes clear is that this is a post-apocalyptic tale centred around Temple, a fifteen-year old girl. She has been born into this world and knows nothing of what came before. Indeed, the events that created this bleak and decaying landscape are not described and, to a certain extent are not relevant either to the story or to Temple's life. We meet her living alone in an abandoned Florida island lighthouse, surviving on what fish she can catch and scavenged plants. When she finds a man washed up on the beach, back broken, jaw missing, yet still squirming and moving in the sand, Temple recognises him as a 'meatskin' or undead and knows her sanctuary is no longer safe. After smashing his head in with a rock, she packs up and leaves for the mainland. This is her life, forever moving on, avoiding the meatskins, also referred to as slugs. Is she heading for some unknown destination or running away from her short past? Within the first two chapters there are many questions about Temple that keep me reading, looking for answers to why a teenage girl is alone in a hostile and dangerous environment.

For the most part Temple is travelling alone across southern America, haunted by a past that is hinted at throughout but only fully revealed towards the end of the book. When she meets Maury, she tries to seek her own redemption by helping him get to his family in Texas. But she is also being pursued by the enigmatic Moses Todd, a man intent on killing her in revenge for something she has done. While both of these characters provide the plot structure, The Reapers Are The Angels is more of an exploration of how humanity survives in a destroyed world, using the character of Temple as the focal point. And this is what irritated me... for an illiterate and uneducated girl, Temple had too much knowledge, too much poetic lyricism. Amidst the stark and desolate world she inhabits she finds beauty in unusual places. She is a philosopher of sorts and this did not work for me. Neither did the fact that she was able to find food and drink in deserted service stations and stores that were fit for consumption - how would this be possible after twenty-odd years?

"She takes the rest of the box [of peanut butter crackers] and a twenty-four pack of coke, some bottles of water, three tubes of Pringles, a few cans of chilli and soup, and some boxes of macaroni and cheese."

There were several similar examples of current society norms throughout the book that jolted me out of the whole post-apocalyptic scenario and undermined the credibility of the book.

It is fair to say I was disappointed in The Reapers Are The Angels. For me, it did not live up to the hype and I found I was making unfavourable comparisons to other, better books such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I also did not like the style of writing, where the dialogue was undifferentiated from the descriptive prose and mostly written in a heavy southern accent

"She takes one and puts it in her mouth to show him.

Mmmm. I ain't had bingberries in I don't know how long . That Albert, he may have been a scoundrel all told, but he knew how to raise himself some crops, didn't he? Go on, eat one." 

Overall I felt I was being expected to suspend my disbelief just a bit too far and that Temple was almost superhuman in her ability to do what she had to do to survive. Temple was an intriguing character, however, I did not really engage with her and it was only the fact that I had agreed to review this book that kept me reading to the end. The Reapers Are The Angels has not changed my mind about zombie novels and it is unlikely that I will choose to read another in the near future.

Rating: 5/10

[Book Review] The Technician (A Polity Novel) by Neal Asher (Tor UK)

I would like to introduce my pick for Best Book of 2010.

The Technician is about an intriguing alien mystery explored through the life of a few colorful characters. It is also a return to old familiar premises on the planet Masada for us old Asher fans.

Visiting Masada again for me was a bit like coming home and I got to enjoy some of the characters from previous books (You can read my review of them, links are below. The Line of the Polity is the one with most Masada in it).

As usual with Neal's books this one also has an intriguing and well developed back story that tightly fits together with what happened before. I can understand why he went back to Masada. It is such a wonderful quirky place with its weird ecology. There are huge Hooder predators that can swallow a man or a minor car and Gabbleducks (the novel is based on a short story about them) walking around copying human talk but not making any sense; the whole world is wrapped in the mystery of a disappeared alien civilization called the Atheter. On top of this an oppressive theocracy was toppled by rebellion a few decades ago facilitated by the mysterious Dragon's destruction of their orbital lasers. The Dragon was the mysterious being behind much of the intrigue in the Cormac series but it only figures here through its descendants the Dracomen created when the Dragons crashed on the planet.

One of my favorite characters Amistad the war drone from Shadow of the Scorpion is back in charge of Atheter research as events set in motion by the Dragon once again threatens humanity. With him we get to follow a bit of personal growth and development, AI style.

I might be the only one but I thought it was hilarious when Blue, the only colored Dracowoman was introduced, I immediately thought; Neal your rascal, you sneaked in a Na'vi on us. The next explanation that came to mind was the blue pill from Matrix in reverse.

The plot centers on Jeremiah Tombs of the original religious leadership and his journey back to sanity. A theme Neal also used successfully with Mr Crane/The Brass Man. Tombs is not the only point of view or main character in this novel but I enjoyed him most because he changes the most. The characters are well developed with much more 'meat' than in his early novels something I as a character person like and appreciate.

The Dragon's hidden agenda goes like a chain from Grindlinked to this one. That is a nice touch even if there is not much Dragon action in this one. It is more like a heritage.

The Technician is no doubt one of the best new novels I have read this year. It got a fantastic inner journey with fast-paced alien-world action. I am in awe of Neal Asher for this amazing feat of original writing. If you haven't read Neal before you might as well start with this one, you will not be sorry but you will get a bit more out of it if you read the Cormac novels first. Maybe I should add that Mr Asher is very fond of gigantic insects and might get a bit graphic in his descriptions.

Reviewer: Ove Jansson
Copy: bought by me

Rating: 10/10

Information
Title: The Technician

Universe: The Polity
Author: Neal Asher
Genre: Space Opera
Jacket art: Jon Sullivan
Hardback: 512 pages
Publisher: Tor UK, August 2010

Order from: PanMacmillan | Amazon US | UK | sfbok

The Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hitlist. Escaping his sanatorium Tombs is pushed into painful confrontation with reality he has avoided since the rebellion. His insanity has been left uncured, because the near mythical hooder called the Technician that attacked him all those years ago, did something to his mind even the AIs fail to understand. Tombs might possess information about the suicide of an entire alien race. The war drone Amistad, whose job it is to bring this information to light, recruits Lief Grant, an ex-rebel Commander, to protect Tombs, along with the black AI Penny Royal, who everyone thought was dead. The amphidapt Chanter, who has studied the bone sculptures the Technician makes with the remains of its prey, might be useful too. Meanwhile, in deep space, the mechanism the Atheter used to reduce themselves to animals, stirs from slumber and begins to power-up its weapons.

Related Posts
Asher, Neal
Agent Cormac Series
0. Shadow of the Scorpion
1. Grindlinked
2. The Line of the Polity
3. Brass Man
4. Polity Agent
5. Line War

• Best SF&F Books of 2010 [My Pick]
• 13 SF Books for the rest of 2010
• New Science Fiction Books in August 2010 Revisited

[Review] Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt

When a small-town farmer digs up a yacht on his land, something strange is afoot. The yacht is in pristine condition; the land is nowhere near a sea, lake or river on which to sail it. However, the location of the find is on the shore of the ancient Lake Agassiz, a huge inland sea that disappeared at the end of the last glacial period, some 10,000 years ago. The locals see this as an opportunity to attract tourists to their town, a curiosity to put them on the map and make some money. But there are wider implications... how did the yacht come to be buried? Who built it? Could there be more artifacts to be uncovered?

It soon transpires that the yacht is made from a material unknown to modern science, namely a transuranic element, which has been artificially created and is beyond the technological capabilities of any scientist on earth. Further exploration reveals another surprise further along the old Lake Agassiz shoreline; a building made from the same material, a bright green glass-like roundhouse with a channel leading to where the water's edge used to be. This turns out to be a portal to another world, a world that seemingly used Lake Agassiz as a holiday spot!

These revelations are all within the first quarter of the book, and given the green building is depicted on the cover, I am not giving anything away here. But what could have been a novel of space exploration becomes an examination of how the US (the rest of the world is barely mentioned) reacts to the discovery of the yacht and the portal. Industry and big business is threatened by the new, non-decaying material, stock markets crash as traditional manufacturing is almost rendered redundant by the promise of the new technology. Religious extremists are also threatened by the reality of the existence of other-world beings. The US government wants to destroy the artifacts and claim all rights to them in equal measure. Within all of this politicking, the original characters get lost and, in my view, the author loses his way and squanders what could have been a great opportunity to explore the possibilities of the portal, rather than focussing on the squabbles and fears of hide-bound politicians and big business. At one point, an alien being makes an appearance, but this is not followed up and is turned into a quasi-religious hysteria.

One aspect I did enjoy was the involvement of the Sioux people, on whose land the portal was uncovered. It was good to see the Native Americans getting a fair deal for a change. However, my overall enjoyment of the book was let down by the ending, which appeared contrived and rushed to me. Pulling in such luminaries as Ursula le Guin, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and others to a final showdown seemed at odds to the rest of the book and I felt it was a cop-out on the part of the author, almost like he had lost interest in ending his story and had run out of ideas.

Overall, Ancient Shores is an enjoyable, light read, a book that would be suitable for a longish plane flight when you don't want to have to concentrate too hard on the content. But the initial premise is more exciting than the actual execution and characters that are built up in the beginning are dropped midway through, leading to a lack of engagement on my part. I found I was overly keen to finish the book, just to find out how it ends, which is not a good sign. I have read other books by Jack McDevitt and know he can produce better books than this one, so my disappointment in Ancient Shores will not put me off reading more by him.

Reviewer: Cara (@murf61)

Rating: 6/10

INFORMATION
Title: Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Eos; Reprint edition 2008, Originally published 1996
ISBN-10: 0061054267
ISBN-13: 978-0061054266
Genre: Science fiction
Copy: Bought secondhand
Available from Amazon UK - US | B&N | Book Depository

REVIEW: Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

Title: Darwinia
Author: Robert Charles Wilson
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Orb Books (first published 1998)
ISBN 10: 0765319055
ISBN 13: 9780765319050)
Genre: Science Fiction, Alternative history
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought myself

Synopsis:
In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the Old World of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle was an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire.

Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalists, young Guildford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine… to a shattering revelation about mankind’s destiny in the universe.

I spotted this book when I was browsing the SFF section of a large city centre branch of Waterstones, it was the title that initially caught my eye, the book being shelved with only the spine visible, and knowing that Robert Charles Wilson has written several Science Fiction novels, I was curious to see what Darwinia had to offer.  Once I saw the beautiful cover (credited to Jim Burns) I knew I had to have this book and the summary on the back confirmed what I had thought… this is my kind of book! A catastrophic event, alternative history, humanity’s destiny; I had high expectations for Darwinia.

This is a book of two halves; I wonder if it was originally 2 or more linked novellas because the tone of the second half is markedly different from the first. I was entranced by Darwinia within the first few pages, it read like an old-fashioned adventure novel similar to Jules Verne or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Europe was completely replaced by a new land almost overnight. The entire population disappeared, all signs of civilisation – buildings, farmland, cities – were gone, to be replaced by a dense green jungle populated by strange, sometimes venomous creatures.

The principal character, Guildford Law is a photographer with a fascination for Darwinia since the Miracle happened when he was a child in the US. He joins an expedition to the interior of the continent with a group of scientists, travelling by steamship with his wife, Caroline, and their daughter Lily, to London, now a frontier town in the same location as the old city. I loved the descriptions of London, the Thames clogged with false lotus plants, strange sea snakes living in the murky water, a ramshackle town surrounded by dense vegetation. As the expedition sets off into continental Europe, pursued by Partisans who resent the intrusion of Americans into their former homelands, and facing unknown creatures in a Europe where only the physical features of the former landscape remain, we still do not know how the Miracle came about, or why? Just that the new Europe appeared, fully formed, over the course of a day or two, accompanied by earth tremors and auroras visible around the world.

A big reveal comes towards the end of the first part of the book, and without giving too much away, this is where the science fiction of Darwinia emerges by way of an Interlude. This is also where my interest in the book starts to wane, for I found this information to be confusing and it led to me wondering what was going on… I felt I had missed some important plot development and was struggling to understand the progression of the story. From the comfortable adventure-in-a-new-world scenario, Wilson introduces a completely new and dominant element without warning and this threw me off balance. From this point on, the book becomes choppy, with the point of view switching between various characters, not always in a time-linear fashion. It is fair to say I struggled to reach the end, and while most loose ends were tied up by the conclusion, I had lost interest.

Overall, Darwinia starts out with great promise with the overnight replacement of the Europe we are familiar with. The effects on both religion and American politics is well realised, and the descriptions of Darwinia itself are magnificent. However, I found the characterisation to be flawed – women do not fare well in this book, there being very few to start with, and Caroline was just annoying, forever playing the weak, insipid wife. Lily, although a stronger personality, was too one-dimensional for me and I failed to engage with her as much as I possibly could have. Darwinia would probably appeal to readers with more of an affinity with hard Science fiction than me. There are familiar SF themes in the second half of the book, with some interesting ideas explored, but the sudden lurch from adventure/fantasy territory proved a bit overwhelming for me. I still love the cover though!

Rating 6/10

Taking Stock

Having catalogued most of my book collection on Goodreads I have found that there are now 304 UNREAD books in the theoretical ‘To be read’ pile. That is more than I thought, and the number is still growing as I feed my addiction to the printed page. Not all are Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror genre novels, though the majority fall within these categories. I read non-fiction too, mainly eco-politics, history, rock biographies and travel books, but Fantasy is by far the most populated category with 256 books out of a total of 721 that I have added to Goodreads so far. So, with a move to the north of England coming up later this year, I am taking stock of my collection and trying to prioritise some kind of reading order for the books I already own.

Science Fiction

I want to read more classic Science Fiction and have collected a number of the excellent Gollancz SF Masterworks series. Top of the list to read is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes…

“Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone’s jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental transformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.”

From flicking through the book, it appears that the story is told by way of progress reports written by Charlie himself. This appeals to me as a way of describing the effects the experiment has on Charlie, how he copes with the changes he experiences and the emotional impact of these.

I have long been a fan of classic British SF, having grown up watching TV adaptations of The Day of the Triffids, and Quatermass alongside Dr Who and Blake’s Seven. I have recently been catching up with authors such as John Christopher, Arthur C. Clarke and H.G.Wells and next in my list is The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos are probably more well known, but The Chrysalids comes highly recommended as possibly the least dated of his novels…

“The Chrysalids is a post-nuclear apocalypse story of genetic mutation in a devastated world and explores the lengths the intolerant will go to keep themselves pure.”

Anyone who knows my reading preferences will be aware of my love of post-apocalyptic fiction and so I am keen to read The Chrysalids as it was written in 1955, when the threat of a nuclear holocaust was very real.

Next up is The Complete Robot, the definitive anthology of Isaac Asimov’s stunning visions of a robotic future. This is classic SF at it’s finest, if the multitude of reviews and recommendations online are anything to go by. I enjoyed the film I, Robot, but have been warned that The Complete Robot is much, much more than the film…

“In these stories, Isaac Asimov creates the Three Laws of Robotics and ushers in the Robot Age: when Earth is ruled by master-machines and when robots are more human than mankind.”

Last in the list of classics are two books by Philip K. Dick: A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? An American author, renowned for exploring political, sociological and metaphysical themes in his novels and short stories, he is an author I have never read. I have thoroughly enjoyed the films based on his writing; Bladerunner, Total Recall and Minority Report for example, yet have never read the source material. Both books are part of the Gollancz SF Masterworks series.

A Scanner Darkly: “Substance D – otherwise known as Death – is the most dangerous drug ever to find its way onto the black market. It destroys the links between the brain’s two hemispheres, leading first to disorientation and then to complete and irreversible brain damage. Bob Arctor, undercover narcotics agent, is trying to find a lead to the source of supply, but to pass as an addict he must become a user…”

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: “War has left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalks the runaway androids who are his prey. When he isn’t ‘retiring’ them, he dreams of owning the ultimate status symbol – a live animal. Then Rick gets his next assignment: to track down six Nexus–6 targets, for a huge reward. But life is never that straightforward and Rick’s quickly turns into a kaleidoscopic nightmare of subterfuge and deceit.”

Fantasy
Fantasy is by far my favourite genre and while I have read a lot of Fantasy over the years, I still have some catching up to do! I sometimes get sidetracked by Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, as they tend to be light, enjoyable reads requiring little concentration or thought on my part, but epic fantasy, particularly involving the Sidhe, Fae/Fairy, or Elves are a real favourite of mine. This could be because I grew up in Ireland on tales of banshees, mythical heroes and magical beings. I also read the Chronicles of Narnia quite young, followed by The Hobbit and then later, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so the preference was set early on in my reading career.

It is at this point that I have to admit to never reading some of the most well known and popular fantasy authors such as Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson, or Terry Goodkind for example, and possibly may never do so. I have bought books by Guy Gavriel Kay, Terry Brooks, Lois McMaster Bujold, Tad Williams and Mary Gentle but they are still amongst the many waiting to be read. So, in order to start catching up on the range of classic fantasy books I have not yet read, here are the five I have selected as ones I really must read as soon as possible…

First up, and one which may shock the sensibilities of many a Fantasy fan is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I bought it when it was first released in paperback, took it to New Zealand last Christmas, intending to read it on the return journey but left it behind as my bag was over weight. My sister and brother-in-law thoroughly enjoyed it! I have since repurchased it and am determined to read it before the sequel is released next year.

“I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that made the minstrels weep.

My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.”

With a blurb like that, I’m not sure why I haven’t devoured this book long before now. And so it takes the top spot in my list of Fantasy books I really must read!

Next up is George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, book one of A Song of Ice and Fire series. It is currently being made into a TV series, filmed in Belfast, and I fully intend to have this book read before it is broadcast. It has been described as ‘one of the greats’ and while I tend to shy away from multi-volumes series, I like the sound of this epic fantasy.

“As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must… and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty. The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, a vengeance-mad boy has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities beyond the sea. Heir of the mad Dragon King deposed by Robert, he claims the Iron Throne…”

Some familiar Fantasy themes here, plus dragons, I think I will enjoy reading this hefty tome.

I have read some of Elizabeth Moon’s Science Fiction but have overlooked her fantasy books. With Oath of Fealty, book one of Paladin’s Legacy I aim to change this situation. She comes highly recommended, and as I have a tendency to prefer female authors, I am interested to see how she writes Fantasy.

“An unexpected death has made Kieri Phelan king of Lyona. Here humans and elves live in uneasy peace, united only by their failure to see the dangers at their borders. Harmony has never been more important – or elusive. But will Kieri’s soldier background allow him to navigate these difficult politics? And can he awaken the powers his mixed blood promises?

An older evil also threatens Lyona, and all surrounding kingships. The Verrakai family has been practising forbidden blood magic for generations, and its scions are becoming bold. When they infiltrate a foreign court and assassinate key nobles, it’s clear they must be controlled, or eradicated. Phelan will send Dorrin, the only Verrakai he can truly trust, on this mission. She must overcome her abhorrence of the power that is her birthright and awaken her own hidden magic. This will lead to long-hidden secrets and a mystery that neither Phelan nor Dorrin could have anticipated.”

Politics, court intrigue, elves, magic; these are all very appealing ingredients for me so I am eager to find out why Elizabeth Moon’s fantasy writing is highly praised.

When I mentioned on Twitter that I had not read The Lies of Locke Lamora there were several shocked responses. Scott Lynch’s debut novel, the first in The Gentleman Bastards Sequence (what a great title for a series!) appears on many lists of favourite novels so I am curious to find out for myself what all the fuss is about.

“The Thorn of Camorr is said to be an unbeatable swordsman, a master thief, a friend to the poor, a ghost that walks through walls.

Slightly built and barely competent with a sword, Locke Lamora is, much to his annoyance, the fabled Thorn. And while Locke does indeed steal from the rich (who else would be worth stealing from?), the poor never see a penny. All of Locke’s gains re strictly for himself and his tight-knit band of thieves: The Gentlemen Bastards.

The capricious, colourful underworld of the ancient city of Camorr is the only home they’ve ever known. But now a clandestine war is threatening to tear it apart. Caught up in a murderous game, Locke and his friends are suddenly struggling just to stay alive…”

Certainly The Lies of Locke Lamora appears to be an irreverent swashbuckling adventure story and I am fond of a novel where the main characters are not good, honourable and noble heroes.

Finally, another great author I have not yet read, despite owning at least four of his standalone novels, is Guy Gavriel Kay. I intend to rectify this by starting with the first in his Fionovar Tapestry series, The Summer Tree.

“The first volume in Guy Gavriel Kay's stunning fantasy masterwork. Five men and women find themselves flung into the magical land of Fionavar, First of all Worlds. They have been called there by the mage Loren Silvercloak, and quickly find themselves drawn into the complex tapestry of events. For Kim, Paul, Kevin, Jennifer and Dave all have their own part to play in the coming battle against the forces of evil led by the fallen god Rakoth Maugrim and his dark hordes. Guy Gavriel Kay's classic epic fantasy plays out on a truly grand scale, and has already been delighting fans of imaginative fiction for twenty years.”

I generally enjoy reading novels where people from our own world are suddenly transported to a magical other world, for example, Narnia, or The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub, so this epic fantasy trilogy would seem to be as good a place to start as any.

The ten books listed here are my planned reading over the next few months and I intend to review them as I finish each one. I will continue to read new novels… I have I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar and Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey already lined up. So the intention is to read one ‘classic’ followed by one ‘new’. Whether that plan will actually happen is anyone’s guess as I can be quite fickle when it comes to choosing my next book from the ever-increasing pile. Only time will tell!

REVIEW: Orgasmachine by Ian Watson

Orgasmachine by Ian Watson
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: NewCon Press (2 April 2010)
ISBN-10: 1907069151
ISBN-13: 978-1907069154
Copy: Bought online
Reviewer: Cara

Synopsis:
Forget Stepford Wives; this goes way beyond anything seen in Stepford.


The Three Laws of Feministics:

1. Your body is not your own; it belongs to another. Therefore you may not damage it nor, through inaction, allow it to be damaged.
2. You must obey all orders given to you by your owner (or in cases of loss of ownership, by any man) even if such orders conflict with the First Law.
3. You may not injure any man, nor through failure to comply with the Second Law, cause him displeasure and mental injury.

Women as chattels, as customised sex slaves; bodies freakishly modified to their owners’ dictates, personalities preset to order. Welcome to the world of the Orgasmachine.


But Jade and Mari escape their masters and dream of revenge, of revolution, of freedom.

Originally written in 1970, after Ian Watson spent three years living and teaching English in Japan, Orgasmachine was eventually published in 2010.

I must confess, I spent much of my time reading this book with my jaw hitting the floor! There were numerous exclamations of “WTF?” and at one point I considered abandoning Orgasmachine thinking it couldn’t get any more bizarre and extreme, but I continued on to the end and I am glad I did. Make no mistake, this is most definitely an adult novel as the sexual content is about as explicit as it gets. But if you are looking for titillation, this is not the book for you. Instead Ian Watson describes an overtly misogynistic society, where women are purely sex commodities, to be bought and discarded at will, used and abused in all manner of disturbing ways, and denied even the most basic of human rights.

Orgasmachine begins in an offshore island facility; here women are ‘grown’ in bottles, genetically modified to custom specifications, and, once they reach maturity, refined by plastic surgeon. Their personalities are developed according to their future owners requirements. Here we meet Jade, she of the giant cerulean eyes and the central character, who is leaving the island for the city, into the care of her owner. She makes her farewells to Hana, her closest friend, then her dormitory companions, all of whom will make the same journey across the water to the city beyond.

“Lili the hermaphrodite, Mari the girl with fur and claws, Sue and Susan the Siamese twins who live back to back like two playing cards, Una and Remi the twin lesbians almost narcissistic in their devotion to each other, and Cathy the executive girl, one of whose prosthetic breast conceals a drawer, empty now but intended for cigarettes or small cigars, while the other holds a rechargeable battery which makes her nipple glow red-hot for use as a lighter when the breast is squeezed.”

The introductory chapter gives us some idea of just how warped and bizarre this futuristic society is, yet we are lulled into a false sense of security as the girls harbour romantic notions of being wanted and cherished by their owners, having been created for these unknown men. Once in the city, we find that how these girls are treated is even more disturbing than their genetic modifications. The degree of cruelty and degradation experienced by Jade and her friends defies belief. Hana, the mute, sensitive girl with six breasts that lactate aphrodisiac milk, is taken to a ‘fuckeasy’ bar, where she is fitted with a brass collar and chain, then a brass chastity belt with a coin-operated unlocking mechanism… Mari, the tiger-girl is caged with wild animals… Jade is obliged to dress in the skin of a different girl each night. Just when you think it cannot get any worse, another depraved scenario is revealed and the horror is chilling. Orgasmachine describes the abyss of male sexual behaviour within a society that does not consider women to be of any value or worth. Women die and are replaced, they are discarded without a thought for their welfare, they are punished, mistreated, abused without consequence. This is the ultimate in misogyny and it is painful to read, knowing that in our own society today there are women who undergo similar treatment.

But there is hope. Towards the end of the book, when I was beginning to despair of the relentless cruelty, some of the women escape their sexual slavery and end up in a roller derby team. Here they find respite from the cruelty and degradation and instead have some degree of freedom and independence. It is here that the revolution begins. Mari, Carmen and Jade question the lives they have been forced to lead and rebel against the society that sanctions and legitimises the abuse of all women.

While reading Orgasmachine I thought about how women are treated in our own world; from the total oppression of the Taliban regime, the trafficking of East European women into UK brothels, the highly sexualised imagery prevalent in our media. Yes, Ian Watson’s vision of a future society was extreme to say the least, but is our own culture any better? We live in a society where girls aspire to be glamour models (with Jordan as their role model), where the newspapers are full of reports of rape and domestic violence, where women are stoned to death for alleged adultery. Sex is glamourised in the media, yet women are vilified for being single mothers. Double standards are everywhere – where is the outcry over the men who don’t take responsibility for their children, or the reluctance of men to frequent brothels where East European or Asian women are forced into prostitution? Orgasmachine is a very disturbing book that left me with a lot to think about in terms of the world I live in, and for that I think it was worth reading, bizarre and extreme as it was.

[Review] Wake by Robert J. Sawyer (WWW 1)

Title: Wake

Series: WWW 1

Author: Robert J. Sawyer

Cover art: Steve Biver/Getty & John Lundh/Getty

Genre: Science Fiction | Coming-of-Age | First Contact

Publisher: ACE 2010 (1st serialized in Analog 2008)

Paperback: 352 pages

Order from: ACE | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

Reviewer: Ove Jansson

I like coming-of-age and first-contact stories. Wake is both. Young blind girl, jump on chance to get sight back, the operation fails and blind girl return disappointed to her home in Canada only to discover she can see the World Wide Web. But she sees something else there too, between the connections, a something, an entity. In wonder she reaches out to the something and it reaches right back. Then it becomes a story about how she helps it learn and grow.

The Author presents some plausible and interesting ideas about what consciousness is and how it has developed over the centuries. I have not dived into the hard science of it so I have no say on that other than it creates a relevant and believable framework for the story to work in. The same can be said about the technical explanation for the Internet becoming sentient.

Wake is also the story about Caitling Decter, a talented teenager fresh out of school for the blind that just started school in a new city, just like in so many other YA novels. There she makes friends with the seeing and to no big surprise starts to develop interests in boys. So besides from her being a feisty beautiful blind genius in math with a web based entity for a friend her life is pretty normal.

The main storyline is Caitling’s but we also gets to follow a Chinese blogger who won’t give up when the government takes down the Internet. His successful attempts to break through the firewalls play a role in the creation of a self aware conscious on the web. The Chinese authorities cut the connection to try to hide a massacre and that will have repercussions on world politics as seen later.

I think the author included Hobo, the ape famous for being the first ape to use videoconferencing to talk to another ape, to further exemplify the development of consciousness. It is also another cute story with some dire threats to overcome. Later Hobo will become even more important.

This book has characters I like and it has interesting and intriguing characters, like Caitlin’s autistic father who hates change but moves his whole family to a new country and a new town so he can work with Stephen Hawking for one month every year. Young Caitlin’s feelings and inner dialogue is also fun and entertaining to read about. I was never an adolescent girl so I have no idea how their minds work but this way works until I know for sure.

This is an adorable empowering young adult novel you should feel proud of reading. Make your kids read it too, they will love it.

Rating 9/10

[Review] Captain's Share by Nathan Lowell (Age of the Solar Clipper 5)

A trader’s life in the Deep Dark is dangerous for a working stiff like Ishmael Horatio Wang as we have seen in the previous four books, now he is about to take his first independent command on the tanker Agamemnon. This is an epic down to earth story of personal growth, trading and leadership methods in the Age of the Solar Clippers.

Title: Captain’s Share

Author: Nathan Lowell
Voice: Nathan Lowell
Series: A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper book 5
Audiobook: 16.5 hours (22 x 45 minutes episodes)
Genre: Mercantile Science Fiction
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Get it: Free Online | iTunes
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 3.0 United States License

Reviewer: Ove Jansson

Be warned that this is a really capturing story, when you begin listening to it you might not stop until you listen to all the books in the series as I did.

A shuffling of cabins puts Ishmael Horatio Wang in command of the worst ship in the fleet. He learns that being Captain doesn't make you infallible and that life in the Captain's Cabin is filled with new kinds of challenge as he tries to keep the ship moving, the crew out of trouble, and turn a profit to earn his Captain's Share. In a ship where the officers outnumber the crew, how can he manage to keep everybody happy? Welcome to the SC Agamemnon.

The Author
Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His sci-fi series, The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard.
Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to 1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska. He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters.

Background
Ishmael Wong signed up on the merchant ship Lois McKendrick when his mother died in a flier crash and found a second family there. The ‘Share’ part of the title refers to what part of the ship’s profit a crewman receives at different levels.

The first three parts could be called the Lois McKendrick Trilogy and is about Ishmael’s learning the ropes as a spacer. Reviews of Quarter Share, Half Share and Full Share.

Ishmael is assigned to a deeply dysfunctional ship directly after the Academy in Double Share. It is more of a traditional story with a protagonist and an obvious antagonist in the first mate than the other books.

World building
The whole series focus on everyday life of a spacer. World building is not very extensive outside the ship and the trade and it isn’t any problem, you feel that the important part is the enclosed ship society, mostly everything outside the ship are not really important to the story.

Plot
First Mate Ishmael Wang ships out on the SC William Tinker. They find a modern day Flying Dutchman on the approach to Backall. Ishmael leads the salvage and they get a lesson in not taking chances in the Deep Dark and always keep spares that will matter later in the book.
Back on Diurnia he passed his Captain’s exam and is assigned to the tanker Agamemnon, a ship with a bad reputation and a crew of apparent misfits. Ishmael approaches the crew with his usual charm and with determination, people skills and extensive knowledge and skills in all the aspects of being a spacer when he starts to turn the ship around. Making good coffee and knowing his way around the kitchen is also a big help.

He also uses a bet to make it interesting for two of his crew to improve the cargo they carry. Trading strategies has been an important part of all the books in the series. Here they are more a tool for personal development.

Ishmael’s leadership strategies is built on little things that helps along and in finding people where they really are and listen to what they say and building up their confidence in themselves. This is something the author is really good at describing, you’ll notice his background in the field. Ishmael gets many chances to use his people skills with the original characters in the new crew.

There is also Ishmael’s personal story about his love for the Deep Dark and the adult way he handles his unhappy marriage.

He himself will also learn a valuable lesson about being in charge and what taking risks and not taking risks really mean.

Characters
This is a very character driven story. The characters are extremely easy to love. Ishmael’s inner dialogue is detailed and realistic. I think both he and the author presume inner goodness in people.

Ishmael is a good guy and has an endearing and charming way of dealing with life and the characters he meets. Spacers usually don’t marry outside their group. Ishmael married a stationer and he feels the strain it puts on his relationship every time he leaves, but he loves the Deep Dark.

My View
The Captain’s Share is a fantastic warm and mesmerizing story about a true leader of men in everyday situations that have bearing on our life today even if they take place in the future.

I have to give Captain’s Share an even stronger recommendation than the previous books.

Rating: 9/10

[Review] The Myriad by R. M. Meluch

Title: The Myriad

Author: R. M. Meluch
Cover art: Romas Kukalis
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: DAW (January 3, 2006)
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Series: Tour of the Merrimack 1
Order: DAW | Amazon US, UK | B&N | Sfbok

Reviewer: Ove Jansson

I stumbled on this entertaining military science fiction on my latest trip to Stockholm and it is the first of a series. The battleship Merrimack is on a mission to find the home world of the ravenous Hive and destroy it when it stumbles on the Myriad, three populated worlds the Hive have overlooked. Adult with charming and colorful gung-ho characters just as I like it.

The U.S.S. Merrimack was the finest battleship class spaceship in Earth's fleet, able to stand up against the best the Palatine Empire could throw at them, even able to attack and kill swarms of the seemingly unstoppable Hive. But nothing could have prepared the captain and crew of the Merrimack to face the Myriad-three colonized worlds in the midst of a globular cluster that the Hive had somehow overlooked.

The plot is as stated above by the publisher, USS Merrimak is on a deep strike mission to try to find the home world of the Hive, a race of ravaging space traveling insects that have been striking ships and planets, eating anything living that comes their way and leaving only lifeless shells behind.

They come upon three inhabited worlds in a star cluster that seems to have been overlooked by the Hive. They meet a mystery. The Myriad as the inhabitants call themselves don't have faster than light travel, but how do their three worlds broadcast the same news at the same time? The crew sets out to find out more before the Hive could find them.

The World building is intriguing and inventive. The Roman Empire never died, it just went underground. Have you ever wondered why most scientists or intellectuals speak Latin? They are part of a secret society that eventually will break loose from earth civilization and start their own Palantire Empire. The Hive onslaught forced the old enemies of the New Roman Empire and Earth to an uneasy peace to fight the new threat. The Neo-Romans is a nice twist.

Rebeca holds degrees in Communications and Classical Civilization which is noticeable in the rich historical backgrounds and the historical basis for some of her characters. She also talks Latin . . .

She also has a delightful and endearing ability to create lovable and colorful characters like Captain Farragut and his Roman liaison Augustus. Characterization is an important part of my enjoyment when I read, and I am very happy that I found another author that write characters I can love and root for.

I think you will enjoy this entertaining book. The Myriad has space battles, relentless insects , sword play, first contact, steamy relationships and surprising paradoxes. The characters Rebeca M. Meluch created here are on pair with the ones by some of my favorite authors like Elizabeth Moon and Lois McMaster Bujold. I can recommend the next books in the series too, reviews of Wolf Star and The Sagittarius Command. A Review of book 4 Strength and Honor is coming up on Cybermage. I think next review will be non-military or you might think I have a single track mind.

Interested in Military Science Fiction? check out my list of 10010 Top Military Science Fiction Series.

Rank 9/10

[REVIEW] Pleasure Model by Christopher Rowley

Title: Pleasure Model

Author: Christopher Rowley

Series: Netherworld 1

Paperback: 240 pages

Cover art: Gregory Manchess

Illustrations: Justin Norman

Genre: Heavy Metal Pulp | Science Fiction Noir

Publisher: Tor Books, Feb 2, 2010

ISBN-13: 9780765323880

ISBN: 0765323885

Reviewer: Ove Jansson

Copy: Bought it myself

Rook Venner bring the evidence home, said evidence being Plesur, a pleasure model with long golden hair, deep blue eyes, a pert little nose and large mouth loaded with heavy lips that works like triggers on the heterosexual male mind all packed into a gorgeous young body, to protect her from rape. Only to wake up in the middle of the night by a phone call telling him to get out NOW!

Presenting Heavy Metal Pulp, a new line of novels combining noir fiction with fantastic art featuring the themes, story lines, and graphic styles of Heavy Metal magazine.

In Pleasure Model, the first book in the Netherworld trilogy, down-and out police detective Rook gets a big break when he’s assigned to a bizarre and vicious murder case. The clues are colder than the corpse and the case looks like it’ll remain unsolved—until an eyewitness is discovered. But the witness is a Pleasure Model, an illegal gene-grown human. Plesur’s only purpose is to provide satisfaction to her owner—in any way. When the murderer targets Plesur in order to eliminate the one witness, Rook takes her into hiding to protect her. Thus begins a descent into the dark world of exotic pleasure mods and their illicit buyers and manufacturers. Rook frantically looks for clues, struggling to stay one stop ahead of those looking to kill them both. But is Rook falling under Plesur’s spell….?

Christopher Rowley is a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy including the Compton Crook Award-winning “The War for Eternity”, “Starhammer”, “Bazil Broketail”, the Books of Arna trilogy, etc. He also co-wrote two television animated series by Robert Mandell, and is the author of the illustrated novel “Arkham Woods”. Rowley lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Plot
The story is fast paced with quite a few improbable but convenient twists in true style with pulp fiction. It starts out simple as a murder investigation but turns out as something much much bigger and more complex.

The plot starts with the vicious and mysterious murder of former military operative Sangacha while the dominatrix Mistress Julia/Angie hides under the sink in the bath room. She hears the killers, and think they finally caught up with her after 25 years on the run. Her boyfriend was killed 25 years ago before warning her to run, and she has been hiding ever since.

Sangacha was a man riddled with guilt, he had Julia there to whip him on a regular basis to atone for it. What kind of secrets does he hide? Why was he killed? And what was he doing with the pleasure model hiding in the closet? Where the men there for him, Julia or the pleasure model?

Rook Venner is the cop assigned to the case. He and his partner discover the pleasure model, she and a fuzzy photo of Julia/Angie as she flees the scene are the only clues they have. The Feds are also on the case, and Feds here are like nothing you have seen before, they even have a armored robot soldier accompanying them to the crime scene, and they are not the good guys. Rook sets out to solve the case any way he can, but its not easy being a knight in not so shiny armor with an oversexed not so bright pleasure model to protect while the other sides do their best to capture it and kill him and they have resources he couldn’t even dream of.

Style
The book is a delightfull heavy metal mix of pulp fiction, noir crime, cyberpunk and erotica. The format is 240 pages divided in 21 chapters with fantastic illustrations by Justin Norman on about two thirds of the pages, see example below.

The story is told in 3rd person with either Rook or Angie as the voice.

I would guess there is quite a few people, a lot of them women who have a problem with this book which clearly caters to men with men being men, women being objects, at least on the surface. The story is a bit randy and explicit but not more than the usual romance novel. All of it is gritty enjoyable noir.

Illustrations
The cover is made by Gregory Manchess. The cover perfectly recovers the look and feeling of pulp fiction while being relevant to the story. Please visit his website and have a look at his illustrations.

Justin Norman [his deviantart page]made the inside illustrations, they add another dimension to the text, especially in the action sequences they seems to speed up the action. I enjoyed the illustrations a lot, though there was a few places they where out of sync with the story. They add a movie feel to reading the book.

Characterization
There are a lot of recognition from noir crime novels in the character types the strong silent hero, the unreliable boss, villains, femme fatales etc

I like to have well thought out characters with interesting backgrounds, and characters that grows and are changed by events in the story. Here the characters have the look and feel of pulp fiction but they all have interesting backgrounds that makes you want to learn more. They also grows as the story progresses some more than others, a lot more. More character development is found outside the book, on Rowley’s homepage, the story there is sligtly different but more fleshed out.

What is not explained so well is Rooks motivation for being a good guy. Not that it hurt the story much but it would be nice to have more on his background to explain this. And again, there is more on the web, whole chunks of the story that never made it to the book.

World building
The not explained major Emergency (luckily it is explained somewhat on his homepage) that seems to have formed the world is a frustrating lapse in an otherwise well built world. It feels believable if twisted as New York 2060, with bio-engineered humans (pleasure models), robots, enhancement chips and an assortment of spiffy and useful gadgets. I especially like Ingrid, Rook’s Nookia Supa an AI with charming personality . It is immensely competent for a personal assistant slash telephone. Left to its own devices, at night, it read 19th century literature and fought bitter doctrinal battles on the Strindberg forum on Newsnet.

I never quite get their current social structure, they used to have some kind of military dictatorship, now they seems to live in something different, or not? After reading the web project Netherworld on Rowley’s homepage I realize most of the world building I lack used to be there but where designed out of the book. Pity, It would have made this book excellent if they left more of the world-building parts there in my opinion.

My view
The book doesn’t end with a Cliff hanger but leaves enough unresolved that I long for the next volume. I enjoyed the fast paced illustrated action packed spicy Pleasure Model immensely. It is a good read. It lacks somewhat in depth that can be remedied by checking out Rowley’s homepage. I would recommend it to any adult science fiction fan. I myself can’t wait until I have read the next two Netherworld books.

Book two: Bloodstained Man will be out June 8, 2010.

Book three: Money Shot will be out November 9, 2010.

Extras
Rowley’s homepage www.christopherrowley.net contains a Netherworld Web Project with 28 slightly different chapters (the book has 21). The texts are without the delightfully noir illustrations. There is also world building notes in the ‘Need to Know‘ section

Rating: 9/10

REVIEW: An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair

Title: An Accidental Goddess
Author: Linnea Sinclair
ISBN-10: 0553587994
ISBN-13: 978-0553587999
Paperback: 434 pages
Publisher: Bantam (29 Aug 2008)
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance
Series: Standalone
Reviewer: Cara
Copy: Bought myself

On the back cover: Gillaine Davre is wonderingwhere the last three hundred years have gone. Waking up in an unknown space station, the last thing the Special Forces captain remembers is her ship being attacked. Now it seems that while she was time-travelling, she was ordained a goddess. But if she’s to survive, she can only hope no one notices.

Admiral Mack Makarian suspects Gillaine may be a smuggler. But he can’t even begin to imagine the truth. For the ethereal beauty is now Lady Kiasidira, revered by countless believers, including Mack – an irresistibly commanding man who inspires feelings in her that are far from saintly… Feelings that are clearly mutual. But when a longtime enemy attacks the station – again – can Gillie stop the invasion without revealing her ture identity and losing the man she loves?

This book had been sitting on my TBR pile since last summer, so when I felt the need to read something light and frothy, An Accidental Goddess was an obvious choice. Billed as a romance, the relationship between Gillie and Mack grows as the threat of invasion by the old enemy, the Fav’lhir, becomes real.

An Accidental Goddess is set on a space station, Cirrus One, in the Khalaran sector. It has strategic importance in that it is due to serve as the primary terminus for the critical Rim Gate Project. We learn early on that Gillie was originally assigned to the Khalaran Confederation to help them develop the technology needed to build a space station, explore space and to resist the threat of the Fav’lhir, some 342 years previously. She is a Raheiran Special Forces captain, something we do not understand the significance of until later on in the book, but has to hide her true identity on finding that in the intervening years, she has been deified as the Lady Kiasidira by the Khalarans.

Gillaine Davre is a feisty and independent heroine, one who is strong enough to carry the book. She is helped by Simon [Sentient Integrated MObile Nanoessence], a kind of AI advisor and companion. The science elements felt real to me, and the addition of magic, as used by both the Fav’lhir and Gillie, was in keeping with the world created by Linnea Sinclair. One thing that amused me were the parrots in the main atrium of the space station, hundreds of them flying free, oblivious to the annoyance caused to Mack in particular. But parrots aside, the space station setting seemed familiar, reminding me of Star Trek DS9 in many ways. The friction between military and station personnel, security versus religious priorities, and a space station with key strategic importance… these themes are present throughout, and while being somewhat tired tropes, they work well in An Accidental Goddess as a setting for the romance between Gillie and Mack.

Luckily, the romance element of the book is not over done. The relationship progresses as expected – initial attraction tempered by suspicion on Mack’s part, and Gillie’s knowledge of who she really is adds tension to the developing attraction. There are no real surprises here, however, the Fav’lhir plotline balances out the romance story, and for me, was more interesting and engaging. Both Gillie, as a Raheiran, and the Fav’lhir character are sorcerors, their powers being determined by their mage bloodlines. I enjoyed the magic aspect, despite it being a clear good against evil battle. Telepathy is a gift enjoyed by both protagonists and the ethics surrounding it’s use are explored to good effect.

This is not a book to read if you want grand themes and deep philosophical thinking. It is basically a romance, but set in a well-developed science-fiction setting which adds something extra to the attraction between Mack and Gillie. Both plotlines have predictable outcomes, although this did not detract from my enjoyment of An Accidental Goddess. I wanted a light, entertaining read that did not require too much concentration on my part, and Linnea Sinclair delivered exactly that.


Rating: 6/10