Science Fiction Unlimited

Review: 'Pushing Ice' by Alastair Reynolds

2006-01-01T19:27:00.000Z

Alastair Reynolds’ latest novel ‘Pushing Ice’ follows the current trend for one-shot space operas with vast scope and scale. A little less dark in feel than his previous output, it is nonetheless a compelling and enjoyable tale. Midway through the 21st Century, the comet-mining ship ‘Rockhopper’ is asked to chase after Janus, an ice-clad moon of Saturn which appears, all of a sudden, to have decided to make a beeline for the star Spica, many light-years away. ‘Rockhopper’ is the only human vehicle anywhere near this unprecedented event, and gives chase across the Solar system. It transpires that Janus is no moon at all, but a vast chunk of highly advanced alien machinery, whose only intent is to high-tail it back to what humanity has to assume are it’s origins. But the crew’s decision to accept the challenge of following Janus is only the start of the story. As events unfold, the crew are put through enormous stresses and challenges as they hurtle towards their destiny, very far removed from what they expected. And this is where this novel shines. Reynolds has great skill with characterisation. The main players in the plot go through successes and defeats to equal degrees as the politics of the crew are changed by circumstance, and the portrayal of these events and their impact on the people concerned is excellent. In contrast to the criticism often levelled at science fiction, the characters are very human. They have real and believable emotions and aspirations which are used to full effect in a story of brain-bending physical and temporal scale. Not just a simple swashbuckling space adventure, the tale develops many themes as it progresses, most notably (in the second half of the book) that of the ‘first contact scenario’, a trope that currently seems to be making a comeback in British SF. There’s something for every SF reader in this book; plenty of ‘hard’ technology and astrophysical malarkey alongside the more human dramas of the crew overcoming all the obstacles. Granted, it may not entirely satisfy a reader accustomed to (and demanding of) Reynolds’ darker works (the ‘Revelation Space’ sequence, for example), but it will no doubt pay dividends in introducing him to a wider audience, especially in the US where this sort of character-driven story is much more popular.

Technorati tags: books, science fiction, sci-fi, Alastair Reynolds, Pushing Ice

Review: 'Learning the World' by Ken McLeod

2006-01-01T18:56:00.000Z

(This review republished from my 'main' blog (with a few edits), VelcroCityTouristBoard.)

Ken MacLeod’s latest novel, ‘Learning the World’ is a new twist on the classic ‘first contact’ trope that has been a long been a staple of SF. A generation ship from a huge post-human federation is in the final approach to a new system that they intend to colonise, much as their origin system and hundreds before it were colonised. The model for this operation is ecologically based, relying on outer system resources and rarely straying into gravity wells. The generation ship has a complex society based on extrapolations of current political, social and financial systems; it is geared towards producing a generation of colonists to exploit the rich resources the new system can provide, while eventually producing a new ark to repeat the process. But the smooth running of this process is thrown into disarray by an utterly unique and unprecedented event – the discovery of a sentient race on the system’s terrene planet, where previously humanity has only discovered very basic life forms of a similar evolutionary level to algae or lichen. This race of avian humanoids are at a technological level that has recently discovered basic electronics and advanced astronomy, but due to their nature as flying creatures they have yet to achieve heavier-than-air flight, and hence have yet to consider the possibilities of spaceflight. The novel focuses on not just the POV of the would-be colonists, but the bat-like race that they stumble across. MacLeod handles both perspectives brilliantly; the baffled but dynamic ethical politicking of the colonists, and the justifiably paranoid responses of the bat-people as they react to the arrival of an unknown factor into their pre-spaceflight worldview. The resultant tale bristles with tension, each opposing section pulling the reader through the plot as one is tempted to discover how each side in the conflict will react to the latest developments. But what makes this a unique ‘first contact’ tale is the introduction of MacLeod’s deep understanding of advanced science and social dynamics, and the sensitive treatment of situations that, thirty years ago, would have been written as a straight martial conflict with little examination of ethics. At once an intriguing vision of a future post-human society and a commentary on human imperialism today, ‘Learning the World’ scores points as both a scholarly work and a superbly written and imagined story. An inspiring read.

Technorati tags: books, science fiction, sci-fi, Ken McLeod, Learning the World

Review: 'The Baroque Cycle' by Neal Stephenson

2006-01-01T18:51:00.000Z

(This review republished from my 'main' blog (with a few edits), VelcroCityTouristBoard.)

Neil Stephenson’s ‘Baroque Cycle’ is huge. That’s no hyperbole; three volumes, each weighing in at around 900 pages. A big story, and no mistake. But despite the immense size of this opus, one is still astonished by the sheer volume of things it contains. Namely, nigh on a hundred years of fictionalised history covering the period after the English Civil War, commonly referred to as The Enlightenment. Historical fiction (as any library worker could tell you) can be dry as ship’s biscuits, or alternatively somewhat slushy if leaning towards the romantic styles. The ‘Baroque Cycle’ blows these traditional styles right out of the water.

But what’s it about? Well, it’s a history of science, alchemy, philosophy, politics, war, money, geography, piracy, slavery, poverty, cryptography, state secrets and skulduggery. But to simply list these things does the work no justice. Stephenson has managed to combine a selection of almost geeky threads into an immense tapestry of ideas, and on this he has embroidered the tales of a diverse cast of characters, fictional and historical, noble and common. The sheer scope of it makes it virtually impossible to summarize, and to do so would fail to explain the complexity and depth of the tale, which spins from character to character and country to country in a gyre of symbols and swashbuckling adventure. Stephenson makes no bones that he modelled the style after the ‘picaroon-romances’ of the era under scrutiny. These used an authentic historical background to frame the daring and dastardly deeds of their progenitors, while encapsulating the social mores of the time in the just desserts meted out to the heroes and villains. The ‘Baroque Cycle’ does something very similar, discussing as it does a lot of subjects close to the bosom of modern society (money, cryptography and science being arguably the most relevant). These discourses are voiced through the characters with wit and verve; it is plain to see that Stephenson has really got beneath the skin of the language of the time, and the enjoyment in using it is apparent all through the trilogy, blending the verbose declamations of the noble and the chatty brogues of rogues together with a modicum of modern geek-speak to produce dialogue that sparkles, informs and entertains all at once.

To be honest though, it would be false to describe it as an easy read; the archaic language alone will be enough to deter a fair few readers. But like much of Stephenson’s output, it rewards the reader who jumps in head first and elects to swim around in the story, accepting it briefly as his medium for existence. Complex, erudite and hugely entertaining, The ‘Baroque Cycle’ is a truly unique piece of work without precedent in the world of speculative fiction. Once you’ve read it, you’ll never look at history the same way again.

(The titles of the three volumes, in order, are ‘Quicksilver’, ‘The Confusion’ and ‘The System of the World’.)

Technorati tags: books, science fiction, sci-fi, Neal Stephenson, Baroque Cycle, Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World

Review: 'Accelerando' by Charles Stross

2006-01-01T18:36:00.000Z

(This review republished from my 'main' blog (with a few edits), VelcroCityTouristBoard.)

Charles Stross has sold more than a dozen novels to publishers, but has done so in such a short period of time that less than half of them are actually in print yet. He’s a hot property whose grip on the leading edge of British (and arguably world) SF grows stronger season by season. Stross’s writings are a case study in the talent that exists in this country, and ‘Accelerando’, his latest to be published, a prime example of how invention and skill can combine in a synergistic fashion.

Technically, this tale isn’t new; it has been assembled from a sequence of short stories that saw publication in a selection of SF magazines and anthologies. The stories follow the exploits of one Manfred Macx and his future descendents over hundreds of years, from a near-contemporary Earth, then deep into a post-human future where the solar system itself is virtually unrecognisable. Macx is some kind of benevolent meme-factory; at the start of the tale he is traipsing across a pre-singularity Europe, his brain (and all the external hardware that feeds it) stewing up viable patents and business blags, then giving the rights to them away to entrepreneurs. As the story moves on in incrementally larger leaps of time, we follow the development of humanity into post-humanity, as well as the fragmentation and forking of Macx’s dysfunctional but brilliant family. Along the way we meet uploaded lobsters in space, autonomous data-based life-forms evolved from limited liability corporations, numerous incarnations of most of the main characters, and an AI in the form of a cat that knows more than it is letting on.

It’s a hard story to describe, simply because of the vast scope of it; the break-up into smaller parts, each containing a little snippet or two of narration to let you know what has been happening in the interim, helps you keep abreast of the leaps in time line. These back-story slices could easily come over as info-dump, but are handled with finesse, only letting you find stuff out when it will serve the story, though one gets the feeling that Stross could easily pontificate at great length on his vision of the universe at any point in the story. Simultaneously ‘hard’ and playful, ‘Accelerando’ is a must read for anyone who enjoys the exuberant visions of Ken McLeod, and the cheeky yet subtle humour of Ian McDonald, combined with the geek-pleasing trans-human speculations of William Gibson or Greg Egan. He doesn’t write *like* any of them, but he’s receiving some or all of the same frequencies. Also a must read for anyone who says SF has run out of new ideas; it might make you reassess that opinion.

Technorati tags: books, science fiction, sci-fi, Stross, Accelerando

Review: 'Flowers for Algernon' by Daniel Keyes

2005-12-27T16:23:00.000Z

‘Flowers for Algernon’ earned Daniel Keyes a Hugo award in its original novella format, and the novel-length version that this review concerns won him a Nebula award 6 years later. It is also justifiably included in Millenium’s ‘SF Masterworks’ collection.

The story is told from the POV of Charlie Gordon, a mentally deficient bakery worker. Through the reading and writing classes he takes at a local institution, he is offered the chance to be the recipient of an experimental operation to drastically increase his IQ. Charlie is keen to better his lot, and jumps at the chance he is offered. The text consists of the ‘progress reports’ the scientific team encourage him to write so that they can observe his mental state before and throughout the experiment. And the experiment appears to be a resounding success – within weeks, Charlie’s intelligence levels soar to way above those of even the scientists who have transformed him. These changes are reflected in his language and attitudes as he pours out his heart onto the pages of his reports. The reader follows the trials and tribulations of a man having to adjust to a world that seems to change around him as his perceptions of it are altered.

SF is often defined as being concerned with the ‘encounter with otherness’. In ‘Flowers for Algernon’, Charlie encounters the otherness of being a new-born intellectual in a world that always seemed to him as simple as he himself once was. The novel’s power stems from Keyes’ subtle and emotive treatment of Charlie’s reactions to the revelations that pour into his mind as the experiment progresses, through his meteoric rise and then his tragic fall back to the point where he started. This is a touching, indeed heart-rending, story. The entire text brims with Charlie’s emotional confusions, evoking a sense of pathos in the reader that will stay with them for a lifetime. This human element has ensured that, while always lauded as an SF classic, it has also been recognised by the world of ‘straight’ literature as a powerful piece of writing. Some would argue that was given the ultimate accolade by being made into a movie (‘Charly’) which subsequently won an Oscar. However it is considered, ‘Flowers for Algernon’ is a novel that can be appreciated by anyone who enjoys a good story told well. But considered as a work of Science Fiction, it shines as an example of the genre that demonstrates that great SF doesn’t necessarily have to involve aliens, outer space and so forth. Despite being nearly forty years old, it is still as relevant now as it was when it was first published, and is a worthy addition to any collection of fiction, genre or otherwise.

Technorati tags: books, science fiction,Flowers for Algernon

Introduction: what SFU is all about

2005-12-27T14:58:00.000Z

Right...like the net needs another blog. So how can I justify the existence of this one? Well, I intend this blog to become an archive of book reviews, mostly pertaining to Science/Speculative Fiction novels but also including other genres of fiction and non-fiction titles that I believe have a connection to the interests of readers who are engaged by the SF/Fantasy genres. The books reviewed will not necessarily be new releases. I am a reviewer for UK Science Fiction magazine 'Interzone', and hence recieve occasional advance copies, but obviously the magazine gets first dibs on anything I write on these titles. Therefore most reviews will be of titles old and new that I obtain for my personal collection, or ones that I borrow from the library service (of which I am an employee). I hope to bring an enthusiastic objectivity to these reviews, avoiding obvious lazy comparisons to other authors and titles in favour of as accurate a description of the basic plot and theme (avoiding spoilers wherever possible, apart from in the case of 'classics' where the overall plot is well known). It is my hope that over time this site will become a useful resource for readers who, like myself, enjoy having their minds stretched by the books they consume. Here they will be able to get a ballpark impression of what a title is like as a piece of literature, what the feel and theme are and so on. I would welcome feedback on any of these reviews, and if anyone would be interested in contributing their own reviews please get in touch.