Book Review: Lock In

Ever since I came across Old Man's War a few years ago, I've kept my eye out for the latest John Scalzi novels.  Through his writing I've read some great epic science fiction, been introduced to H. Beam Piper, enjoyed a novel that moves from science fiction to fan fiction and back again, and have even enjoyed one of my favourite mixes (although rarely done well), a Science Fiction Horror.

Last month I picked up his latest, Lock In, and at first was a little hesitant.  A brief scan of the description made the book sound like a mix between the Fox series Almost Human, and a Bruce Willis movie called The Surrogates (which yes, I know was based on a comic book).

But I figured, what the heck, it's a Scalzi, and dug right in.

The book is actually pretty great, and although it does have a lot of elements similar to those two texts (buddy cop procedural, people moving around their daily lives through robots), it actually went to a lot of places I wasn't expecting, and had a great murder mystery plot that I feel does play fair with the reader.

The book is a lot of fun, well worth the read, and I'm already looking forward to whatever the author comes out with next.

Book Review: The Martian, by Andy Weir

So let's talk about The Martian, by Andy Weir.

I actually first came across this book in a local book store on the Staff Picks wall.  Having never heard of Andy Weir (who actually e-published this book a few years back), I simply looked at the cover and thought - you know what?  I don't read enough contemporary science fiction.  I'm pretty great at classic SF, but the recent stuff is all sort of hit and miss with me.

So I cracked open this book on Saturday morning and within about ten pages I was hooked - think (minor spoiler here) Castaway mixed with Apollo 13 and you can get a pretty good idea what to expect from the novel.

The novel itself focuses on a Botanist/Engineer accidentally left behind on a Mars mission (again, sorry for the mild, chapter 1 spoiler), and his attempts to survive on Mars until he can be rescued.

First of all, considering the book is pretty much the definition of hard SF (Science fiction focusing on scientific or technical detail) I was really blown away by just how readable the book was, it felt an awful lot like Scalzi's Old Man's War or Wilson's Robopocalypse for sheer page-turning enjoyment.

If you haven't picked up any SF in a while, it would really be a pretty great place to start, the story is fun, fast paced and definitely thrilling.  I will absolutely be keeping an eye out for what Mr. Weir comes out with next.

Book Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

So last May I first came across the book Old Man's War for one of my book clubs and pretty much immediately jumped on the John Scalzi band wagon; telling friends to check out the book and deciding (as I often do) to work my way through the various novels of any new author I come across who really impress me in Fantasy, Science Fiction (SF) or Horror.

Since then I've read a majority of Scalzi's fiction, and I've honestly got to say it's some pretty great stuff.  As a die-hard SF fan I could draw a lot of comparisons with other SF authors, but in simplest terms what it comes down to is the guy writes book I like, my mom likes and (when they get around to it), I'm pretty sure my kids will like.

Which brings us to Redshirts.  

The thing is, much like with Old Man's War, some of the best parts of the book come from discovery, so here I am with a book I'd like to review/recommend, but without saying much about it.

It's science fiction, it focuses on a number of new crewmen on a starship, and after joining the ship's crew they all quickly begin to notice that something is very very wrong with the ship.

Also, the term redshirts is a pretty clear reference to the original series of Star Trek wherein the lead characters would go through all sorts of dangerous situations, but escape while token characters (often wearing red uniforms) would be killed to show the viewer exactly how dangerous the situation was.

The book is a lot of fun, just won a Hugo and again, having read most of Scalzi's novels at this point, I'm pretty confident in saying it's worth your while.

Book Review: The Last Colony

So I just finished the third novel in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, and I’ve got to say it was a lot of fun.  Moving away from the sheer shock and awe tactics of the original Old Man’s War, and the dark storyline of The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony brings us full circle back to the life of James Perry, the main character from the first book.

Like many of my favourite series, Scalzi has allowed Perry to grow and change between novels, so although he is still recognizable from the first book, his character and the story have changed since the last time we saw him.

As Old Man’s War does better the less you know about it, all I can really say about The Last Colonyis that it nicely ties the series together, it should be read after the other two, and I found it fast paced and satisfying.

Book Reviews: Little Fuzzy / Fuzzy Nation

For one of my book clubs last month I read the novel Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi, who wrote one of my favourite Science Fiction novels of the last few years, Old Man's War.  The book is a reboot of the 1962 H. Beam Piper novel, Little Fuzzy.


So, being me - I decided to read both.

Little Fuzzy (pictured left), tells the story of a miner named Jack Holloway, who while looking for fossilized rocks called sunstones on a far off planet discovers what may be a new life form, adorable little creatures he calls Fuzzies, who may or may not be sentient creatures, which if it turns out they are sentient, would mean that the prospecting on their planet is entirely illegal.  What starts out as an adventure novel ends up as a courtroom drama and it is pretty awesome - read it if you can find it, it was a lot of fun.

John Scalzi's 2011 novel, Fuzzy Nation (Pictured right) tells the story of a miner named Jack Holloway, who while looking for fossilized rocks called sunstones on a far off planet discovers what may be a new life form, adorable little creatures he calls Fuzzies, who may or may not be sentient creatures, which if it turns out they are sentient, would mean that the prospecting on their planet is entirely illegal. The story is basically identical to Little Fuzzy, but with more action, and the Holloway character is portrayed as more of a rough-and-tumble loner, than the grizzled-prospector type in the earlier novel.

Both books are fun, well worth your time, and although they cover the same bases, they each bring a very different feel to the concepts of big business, colonialism, and decency.

Genre Character of the Week: John Perry

So I may have just found one of my new favourite writers (the last time this happened was reading Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box), in that I just read John Scalzi’s first novel, Old Man’s War and it was freaking amazing!  Basically mix together concepts from both Joe Halderman’sThe Forever War and Robert E. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and then give them an incredibly intriguing twist and you get what this book has to offer.

 

To get a taste of what I’m talking about, here’s the first three sentences:

 

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday.  I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.

 

This is how we are introduced to the main character (and our genre character of the week)John Perry.

John is a retired advertisement writer who has enlisted in the Colonial Defence Forces (CDF), who supposedly defend Earth from something, but as there is a complete media blackout on what exactly service with the CDF entails, new recruits have no idea what they are in for.  The rules for registration are simple, 1) You must be at least 75 years of age, and 2) You must agree to leave Earth permanently, legally listing yourself as deceased and hoping for the best.

 

Now on the John Perry - As a character he’s great, he’s adventurous, inquisitive and a wonderful lens to view this world through, in a lot of ways he makes me think of Miles Vorkosigan in the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster-Bujold in that he is quite clever and incredibly fast on his feet (mentally speaking).

 

The best part of this book (for me) was in discovering exactly what the CDF is about, so try to avoid spoilers like the Wikipedia page or Amazon reviews.  In fact, if you want to enjoy the book the most, even skip reading the back cover.  Trust me, it is worth the read.