Aaron
This book is fun. It's hard to put down. It has the same witty first person humor as the Martian. The plot is a fast faced optimistic scifi romp. But it won't win any awards for prose and it feels too much like the Martian in a different coat. There are no characters except for Weir/Mark Watney in various tropes. I'm so conflicted about this author.
I tried reading this as my first Culture book, as it was written first, but bounced off it. After jumping ahead and reading Excession and Matter, I returned to finish Consider Phlebas and enjoyed it significantly more. It's worth reading for Culture history, and it's very different from the later books both in tone and structure. You can tell the author was still finding his footing in the genre and universe, but it's enjoyable.
I loved these books - so hard to put down! The series, to me, asks “what if Harry Potter magic had rules and cost” and extrapolates from there. Good and evil wizards, a semi-sentient boarding school, a prophecy. Such a world though, where labor is required to build “mana” and magic can do almost anything, would likely be dire. Dangerous monsters & exploitation lurk around every corner and society is bleak. The storytelling itself is super fun and the Scholomance trilogy is a respectable YA sci-fi/fantasy romp about saving the world (or ending it).
As with most YA series the final act suffers from leaving the incredible setting of Book #1 and forces our characters to be bigger than themselves which always loses some of the magic of the world-building. The pacing of Golden Enclaves struggles a bit with using all its set pieces and characters being totally forgotten, but it nevertheless has a perfect ending to the series.
How do we find meaning in life when we know our inevitable fate? Art, love, acceptance in our cliques. I enjoyed this as a character story.
If you have to call it sci fi, here's a few nods to reality that stood out to me: scientific and industrial advances hiding their moral costs, the good-intentioned but inevitably doomed nature of liberal attempts to ease the suffering without reshaping things, and our own meek acceptance of impending suffering
I read Piranesi in a single sitting because I could. not. put. it down. It was the most intriguing, atmospheric, liminal thing I've read in a long time and that doesn't do it justice. It's nominally a fantasy book but really only to serve this wild mystery that kept me asking “where am I?” One of my favorite reading experiences that I can remember.
I was told this book is somewhat of a tribute to Philip K Dick, my all time fav, and I would rate it as my favorite by Le Guin! I loved Dispossessed and liked Left Hand of Darkness but would say that Le Guin can be slow to a fault. I found Lathe to be much better in that regard. It still has its slower moments, with deep character introspections and commentary on the world. However, it is so whimsical and jarring with hard cuts (as dreams often are) which I found fascinating. Her writing chops are also on full display! Just check out the opening line:
“Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. The light shines through it, and the dark enters it. Borne, flung, tugged from anywhere to anywhere, for in the deep sea there is no compass but nearer and farther, higher and lower, the jellyfish hangs and sways; pulses move slight and quick within it, as the vast diurnal pulses beat in the moon driven sea. Hanging, swaying, pulsing, the most vulnerable and insubstantial creature, it has for its defense the violence and power of the whole ocean, to which it has entrusted its being, its going, and its will.”
What a good read! The world-building is 10/10 with a cool magic system, deep society lore, and so much mystery you have to keep reading. The characters are consistent if a bit grating and you really get invested in them. This book is also incredibly novel in its use of second-person POV which somehow works excellently.
As with the first, an intriguing world with interesting Sci-Fi tropes inhabited by utterly forgettable and dry characters. I like the more consistent narrative (read: less character/time jumps) compared to Foundation #1 but as others have mentioned, this one is more of a suspense thriller that doesn't completely stick the landing.
The world-building is excellent. These books definitely influenced Star Wars and the aristocratic galactic empire. It can feel a little disjointed as it was originally a collection of short stories. I also found the prose and style not really to my preference (maybe it just feels antiquated?) but it's a page-turner on its Sci-Fi merits nevertheless.
This one is quite a bit different than the original trilogy, in that it's a complete story following consistent characters on an epic journey through space. In my opinion, Asimov's writing had really matured by this point and it makes for a fun romp through his intriguing Foundation galaxy. He's still not the best character writer but the mystery that they follow across the stars is gripping and the conclusion mostly satisfactory.
There's also a neat tie-in with his other works.
I wanted to like this book so badly – I just couldn't get into it, and the massive length makes it a real slog at times. It's a very complete speculative tale of colonizing the red planet including all of the difficulties humanity would face; space radiation, exploiting ones environment, terraforming, societal upheaval, inequality of the vast technological advances that allow for such a feat. However, between interesting plot advancements are hundreds of pages describing characters driving through red desert for months on end quite literally talking about how boring it is.
This was a very fun, quick read. The sci-fi elements of string theory/multiverses were interesting and not annoyingly over-explained while the suspense kept me reading way past a healthy bedtime.
I'm knocking a star because a few sections of the book are a total drag where the main character puzzles at what's happening when it is painfully obvious to the reader.
Heinlein has a way of exploring political philosophy in in a much more entertaining way than say, Le Guin. I couldn't put this book down!
It's a straightforward tale of revolution where the formula for success is literally spoon-fed to the POV character by a professor and a Deus ex machina artificial intelligence handles all the logistics.
However, it's also a great sci fi action romp with moonrock missles, space ships, and a swappable multitool robo-arm.
Great read!
I read this book for the very interesting thought experiment on an anarcho-communist society. Le Guin addresses some pros and cons and potential downfalls using her syndicalist moon-dwelling society but remains extremely critical of the decadence of capitalism and the required exploitation of a lower class.
The sci-fi element of the Hainish Cycle is expanded with another human planet and the invention of the Ansible (prominent in Left Hand of Darkness). Speaking of, I enjoyed the storytelling of this one a bit more than Left Hand of Darkness. It follows a tortured physicist, too intelligent and progressive for his own hyper-progressive society, on a quest to move his society forward.
I love a fleshed out universe and this book certainly has that. It covers so much time and space (literally) with all sorts of futuristic technologies and wonders, yet these are mostly the background for a captivating story about a poet and impending doomsday. It follows a series of stories-within-a-story, and how they intertwine becomes more apparent as you go. The ending is a total cliffhanger leading into The Fall of Hyperion.
Atwood did a great job of putting the reader completely inside Offred's head and feeling the crushing hopelessness of her world. It's a bit dry and long-winded at times, and you desperately want something positive to happen, but this was a fascinating read. The way Atwood describes the rise of the dystopian Gilead society feels completely and eerily plausible thirty years after writing.
