Book Reviews: Old Man's War, Her Majesty's Dragon and others
Normally right now I would be down at WRUW doing my show, but I have a really impressive runny nose, and I decided to conserve my strength for the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah concert tonight. If this keeps up I won't be fasting for Yom Kippur, unless by fasting you mean 'nothing ingested but tea.'
In any case, I was the library yesterday and I realized that I haven't posted a book review since well before my UK trip. I will now rectify that situation.
This morning I read Old Man's War which is the first novel by John Scalzi. The book clocks in at a relatively short 313 pages, but every one of them is good. In terms of the described technology and scenario you might consider this to be a modern updating of Robert Heinlein's classic Starship Troopers, but Scalzi focuses more on the action than on the philosophical implications that made Troopers such a great book. Here the underlying gimmick is that the Colonial Defense Forces only accept recruits who are 75 years old. They are given new genetically enhanced bodies and training and sent out to fight the hordes of alien races that surround Earth's worlds in what sounds like the greatest Civilization scenario ever. To put it bluntly: there are a lot of races out there fighting for the same terrain, and mankind must kill or be killed to claim new colonies for themselves. This means that the CDF has to be even badder than Heinlein's M.I.. Combat is described in detail from the viewpoint of a private John Perry. He and his friends are real people, not just stereotypes or sketches. My only complaint is a mild one: after explaining that 75-year-olds have the life experience and knowledge needed to fight the enemy, the characters by and large act pretty much the same way a 19-year-old grunt would. I have no other complains and strongly recommend this novel to those who like military oriented science fiction. I was also amused by brief appearance of Gaimain and McKean as CDF privates.
The other book I read today goes the opposite direction in the timestream to the Napoleonic wars, specifically 1804. However, this alternate history does not consider trifles such as what might have happened if Nelson lost the Nile or if Napolean had successfully invaded England. Instead, it asks what would have happened if these countries had air forces back then? Specifically what would have happened if that air cover had been dragons? Yeah, you read that right. Naomic Novik answers part of that question in her debut novel Her Majesty's Dragon. This book follows a captain in His Majesty's Navy who accidentally ends up riding a rare breed of dragon. This book is clearly inspired by Pern, including details of training and varying types of dragons, but it draws equally on the sea tales of Aubrey Maturin and Horatio Hornblower. The result is a fast-paced and very enjoyable read. I will be reserving the sequels at the library very soon.
While I was on vacation I read Neil Gaiman's adaptation of his own screenplay for Neverwhere. It felt a lot like his movie Mirror Mask in tone, but I did enjoy his story of London Below.
When I got back to Cleveland I knocked off The Sandman Companion by the improbably named Hy Bender. This revealed a number of in-jokes and other things I missed the first 20 times I read through The Sandman, but as a serious reference you are probably better off with The Sandman Annotations, even thought the web page hasn't been updated in at least 5 years and is still missing the last few issues.
The other major vacation book I read was appropriately enough Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island which tells of his adventures wandering around Great Britian on train and by foot in a wry self-defacing tone. This is a highly enjoyable, albeit lightweight, read. Where else do you see youth described as [paraphrased] "the time of life when sex is something more than just a welcome opportunity to lie down for a bit?"
The last book I can recall from the fiction pile was a new novel by Timothy Zahn called The Green & the Gray. A couple is drawn into the conflict between two species of alien refuges as they duke it out in New York City. It is not Zahn's best work, but it's not bad either.
I know I forgot some fiction books, and I also read a pile of non-fiction, but I think it's time for a nap.
In any case, I was the library yesterday and I realized that I haven't posted a book review since well before my UK trip. I will now rectify that situation.
This morning I read Old Man's War which is the first novel by John Scalzi. The book clocks in at a relatively short 313 pages, but every one of them is good. In terms of the described technology and scenario you might consider this to be a modern updating of Robert Heinlein's classic Starship Troopers, but Scalzi focuses more on the action than on the philosophical implications that made Troopers such a great book. Here the underlying gimmick is that the Colonial Defense Forces only accept recruits who are 75 years old. They are given new genetically enhanced bodies and training and sent out to fight the hordes of alien races that surround Earth's worlds in what sounds like the greatest Civilization scenario ever. To put it bluntly: there are a lot of races out there fighting for the same terrain, and mankind must kill or be killed to claim new colonies for themselves. This means that the CDF has to be even badder than Heinlein's M.I.. Combat is described in detail from the viewpoint of a private John Perry. He and his friends are real people, not just stereotypes or sketches. My only complaint is a mild one: after explaining that 75-year-olds have the life experience and knowledge needed to fight the enemy, the characters by and large act pretty much the same way a 19-year-old grunt would. I have no other complains and strongly recommend this novel to those who like military oriented science fiction. I was also amused by brief appearance of Gaimain and McKean as CDF privates.
The other book I read today goes the opposite direction in the timestream to the Napoleonic wars, specifically 1804. However, this alternate history does not consider trifles such as what might have happened if Nelson lost the Nile or if Napolean had successfully invaded England. Instead, it asks what would have happened if these countries had air forces back then? Specifically what would have happened if that air cover had been dragons? Yeah, you read that right. Naomic Novik answers part of that question in her debut novel Her Majesty's Dragon. This book follows a captain in His Majesty's Navy who accidentally ends up riding a rare breed of dragon. This book is clearly inspired by Pern, including details of training and varying types of dragons, but it draws equally on the sea tales of Aubrey Maturin and Horatio Hornblower. The result is a fast-paced and very enjoyable read. I will be reserving the sequels at the library very soon.
While I was on vacation I read Neil Gaiman's adaptation of his own screenplay for Neverwhere. It felt a lot like his movie Mirror Mask in tone, but I did enjoy his story of London Below.
When I got back to Cleveland I knocked off The Sandman Companion by the improbably named Hy Bender. This revealed a number of in-jokes and other things I missed the first 20 times I read through The Sandman, but as a serious reference you are probably better off with The Sandman Annotations, even thought the web page hasn't been updated in at least 5 years and is still missing the last few issues.
The other major vacation book I read was appropriately enough Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island which tells of his adventures wandering around Great Britian on train and by foot in a wry self-defacing tone. This is a highly enjoyable, albeit lightweight, read. Where else do you see youth described as [paraphrased] "the time of life when sex is something more than just a welcome opportunity to lie down for a bit?"
The last book I can recall from the fiction pile was a new novel by Timothy Zahn called The Green & the Gray. A couple is drawn into the conflict between two species of alien refuges as they duke it out in New York City. It is not Zahn's best work, but it's not bad either.
I know I forgot some fiction books, and I also read a pile of non-fiction, but I think it's time for a nap.