Book Review: Head On

John Scalzi's follow up to his 2014 book Lock In continues to follow FBI Agents Chris Shane and Leslie Vann as they examine an accidental death/potential homicide during a game of Hilketa, an especially violent professional sport specifically for Hadens (the 1% of the population locked in to their own bodies and forced to explore the world either online or through surrogate robots called Threeps).

The novel works as a fairly fun action mystery and speaking as someone who is not particularly interested in professional sports, I still found it to be a really fun read read and one that continued to expand and eplore the world that Scalzi created in the first novel.

Well worth a look, although I'd strongly recommend you read the first novel before digging into this one.

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 Review: The Android's Dream

This weekend I read one of the early novels by John Scalzi, The Android's Dream, which is both a political satire, and an Adventure/Thriller story, wherein galactic war may be averted, but only if a specific breed of sheep, "The Android's Dream" (and yes, it is Electric Blue in colour).

The story follows a man called Harry Creek, who has the unique job of effectively delivering bad news to various alien cultures.  It's not a great job (and definitely makes me think of the film Up in the Air), but like George Clooney's character in that film, Harry is pretty darn good at what he does.

Then an old friend asks Harry for a favour, it seems that an alien species, The Nidu, are looking for a specific type of genetically modified sheep, and Harry needs to find it first.

The story bounces around through war story, political intrigue, slapstick comedy and even into artificial intelligence, and in my mind, has more in common with Douglas Adams than with Philip K. Dick (from whom the author clearly borrowed the title - which he states in the acknowledgements), and although it is not nearly as accomplished as Old Man's War - I definitely preferred it to Agent to the Stars - and to be honest, I quite liked Agent to the Stars.

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.

Things I've noticed: I'm getting behind on my reading

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m pretty regular in terms of what I read; I like to visit my favourite genres, current author, my two book club selections as well as whatever other book tickles my fancy in any given month.

Right now (20 days into the month) my list looks like this (let's focus on September):

Which shows I’ve still got a book dating back in July (and it’s not even mine, I’ve borrowed it from a friend), two from August (Luckily I own both of these) and six remaining from this Month.

Lets break it down shall we?

Science Fiction: This month I’m planning the read Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi – I loved Old Man’s War a few months back and this was the next one published.

Horror: I had originally written The Flesh Eaters, as it is the 2011 winner of the Bram Stoker Award for best novel, but it is actually the third in a series, starting with Dead City, by Joe McKinney, so there you go.

Fantasy: The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.  Completed, blogged about it here.

Book Club 1: Ubik, by Phillip K. Dick.  Completed, actually it was a re-read from an earlier Phillip K. Dick read through I did in the mid-90’s.

Book Club 2: The Passage, by Justin Cronin.  Currently Reading – actually re-reading, but am quite excited as it’s sequel The Twelve is coming out next month.

Matheson: …Now You See It.  Won’t be touching this one until I finish his previous book, Shadow on the Sun, which was my Matheson book from August.

Me: Die Trying, by Lee Child.  Completed – after reading Killing Floor for one of my book clubs last month I just had to continue on with the series.

Classics: The Plays of Aeschylus, which I’m not going to be starting for at least a few more months as I’m still working on the previous book in my Classics list, The Old Testament (I’m currently up to Proverbs), but haven’t touched it since I started my new job.

So there you go, I attempt to read eight books a month and if I have time left over I hit my backlog of comics and magazines (which I haven’t looked at since May).

Thank goodness there haven’t been any Saw novelizations as I think October is going to be crazy busy as it is (8 movies, including the original short, a comic book, and two PS3 games).

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.