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2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke
This is not a great book. It’s really more of an extended novella or perhaps part one of Arthur C. Clarke‘s SPACE ODYSSEY finale, 3001. This story has none of the depth, nuance or scale of Clarke’s classic original, 2001 nor its solid follow up 2010.
Beware of spoilers for the previous novels below. I’m assuming anyone who reads this review will likely have read the two preceding novels,
June 23rd, 2016. Jason Golomb´s rating: 2 | Arthur C. Clarke | SFF Reviews | 5 comments |
In the year 2054, virtual gaming has become a major sport with a huge following, and the RAGE tournaments are the ultimate competition, a virtual fight to the death between two five-person teams. The death matches take place in a simple virtual world: a field of tall wheatgrass and two stone towers, one tower assigned to each team. The rules are simple ― kill everyone (in a virtual kind of way) on the opposing team ― but real-world strength and skills translate directly to this virtual world, so rigorous physical training and well-developed martial arts skills in real life are critical.
June 17th, 2016. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 2 | Holly Jennings | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Stardance by Spider Robinson & Jeanne Robinson
Spider & Jeanne Robinson’s Stardance was first published in Analog in 1977 and won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards for Best Novella. It was up against Vonda N. McIntyre’s Aztecs, John Varley’s In the Hall of the Martian Kings, Gregory Benford’s A Snark in the Night and Keith Laumer’s The Wonderful Secret.
June 14th, 2016. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2 | Spider Robinson | Audio, Hugo Award, Nebula Award | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Last year I gave a qualified thumbs-up to James Gunn’s Transcendental, which as I noted in the review, read like a mix of old guard sci-fi, The Canterbury Tales, Ship of Fools, and And Then There Were None. I absolutely loved (seriously, loved) the Chaucerian aspect, which were a series of stories embedded in the larger narrative that explained how various individuals — human and alien — ended up aboard the spaceship on a pilgrimage in search of the rumored Transcendental Machine (TM).
June 13th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | James Gunn | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer is a very popular Canadian science-fiction author, with many novels under his belt and several major awards, including the 1995 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, 2003 Hugo Award for Hominids, and 2006 John W. Campbell Award for Mindscan. I hadn’t read anything of his so I decided to give The Terminal Experiment a try. It’s about an engineer who creates three artificial copies of his consciousness,
June 2nd, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 2 | Robert J. Sawyer | Audio, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of writing by Kameron Hurley, much of which was originally published online. And at the risk of sounding curmudgeonly and persnickety, from my viewpoint the problem was they read that way. Some of that I think is in the nature of the writing, and some of that probably is my own issue in the expectations I come with when a book is subtitled “Essays” (and there’s that “persnickety” part).
The collection is made up of nearly 40 essays divided into four sections,
May 30th, 2016. Bill Capossere´s rating: 2 | Kameron Hurley | Non-fiction | SFF Reviews | 18 comments |
The Ruby Airship by Sharon Gosling
The Ruby Airship is a direct sequel to The Diamond Thief and the second book in Sharon Gosling’s DIAMOND THIEF YA steampunk trilogy; though some key events from the previous book are recapped in this installment, I suggest that if you’re interested in the trilogy, you should read these books (and their reviews) in sequential order.
It’s been roughly six months since the water-soaked conclusion of The Diamond Thief.
May 30th, 2016. Jana Nyman´s rating: 2 | Sharon Gosling | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Red Queen reads a little like a YA lucky dip. You get the feeling that Victoria Aveyard just chucked a list of YA clichés into a bag and picked them out blindfolded. Katniss, sorry, Mare Barrow is a “Red”, which makes her a lower class of citizen compared to the “Silvers” who govern the world. But… isn’t that exactly the concept behind the “Reds” in Red Rising? And wasn’t the protagonist of that YA mega-franchise called Darrow?
May 25th, 2016. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2 | Victoria Aveyard | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
How did Joe Haldeman’s Camouflage beat Susanna Clarke’s monumental work Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for the Nebula Award in 2005? Granted, I haven’t read that book, but I have read many glowing reviews from my fellow FanLit reviewers and Goodreads friends. It was also made into a major BBC miniseries and received many accolades. Clarke’s book is incredibly long and filled with dense footnotes that show the depth of research and creative energy,
May 23rd, 2016. Stuart Starosta´s rating: 2 | Joe Haldeman | Audio, Nebula Award, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas
There is something rather bold about naming your Victorian protagonist Devil, and that sets the tone for the premise of Rosie Thomas’s novel, The Illusionists. Add to the mix a bad-tempered dwarf called Carlo Bonomi, a Swiss inventor named Heinrich who becomes obsessed with his creations of automata — mechanical women with rubber skin — and you’ve got yourself the beginnings of quite a tale. But The Illusionists falls short of the magic it promises and readers may struggle to sit through Devil’s performance.
April 19th, 2016. Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2 | Rosie Thomas | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Pretty challenging book. Cut by half, speed up the cadence. Trying to figure out the plot, the main point of…
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…