/lit/ - Literature

>>22601218
Empire of Silence, Sun Eater #1 - Christopher Ruocchio (2018)

Empire of Silence is an autobiographical novel told from the perspective of the protagonist at roughly a thousand years old. I assume that's after the entire series has concluded. Each book seems to cover an era of his life, which I take to mean that the series ought to be considered as a single work split into several books.

In 16136 Hadrian Marlowe is the eldest son of the ruler of a planetary prefecture of the planet Delos, which is part of the Sollan Empire. The Empire is the largest polity, composed of roughly 250 million worlds, nearly half of all that have been colonized. Humanity has come across 49 intelligent species and has enslaved 48 of them. Only the Cielcin have been able to resist and so humanity has waged war against them for centuries.

Hadrian has no interest in being the next ruler, or in being anything one has told him to be. He wants to be an adventurer, like those in the stories he's read from ages long ago, finding new species and whatever marvels that still remain unfound throughout the galaxy. That doesn't go quite to plan and he finds himself stranded on some world. The rest of the book is the beginning of his rise from almost nothing except his genetic heritage, which is extremely valuable, and a few symbols of his past.

This novel is a reworking of many novels and other specific creative works. The foremost among them that I was reminded of was Dune, Hyperion, and The Shadow of the Torturer. These are excellent choices, but often I felt that Ruocchio was leaning too heavily on other works. There doubtlessly were several other inspirations that I didn't recognize. I would be highly interested in seeing how much of the content was based on other books and how much was original, insofar as that exists. If I enjoyed this more, then perhaps I wouldn't have minded as much. I wouldn't want that to be true, but cognitive dissonance is a powerful force. If this were an obvious parody or otherwise declared itself to be based on other novels, then I think I wouldn't have minded anywhere as much.

I don't think I would've enjoyed this all that more even if it were wholly without any of its arguable homages. I find that to be peculiar because there's so very much of this that I should like. Yet, somehow I find the whole to be so much less than the sum of its parts. I believe the two main reasons are that I find how it reads to be off-putting and I was uninterested in almost every single character in this character-driven novel.

I don't know if the following books are similar to this one and I'm uninterested in finding out. I doubt that I'll read anything from Ruocchio again. The main reason is because of how openly and intentionally he integrates his influences into what he's written here. It's not fanfiction and it's certainly not what Quentin Rowan did, but it's sufficient to be disqualifying for me.

Rating: 2.5/5

Ratings Contest Book #2

These Burning Stars, The Kindom Trilogy #1 - Bethany Jacobs (2023)

These Burning Stars is a character focused space opera told through a split narrative of past and present through multiple points of view. Usually I have several complaints about this method because I don't think it adds much value and slows momentum, but for this book I have no complaints and believe it is the best possible way to have told the story because of how much it enriches the narrative and by how amusing it becomes after having finished the book.

This is among the very best debut novels I've read and is a great novel in its own right. I am thoroughly impressed by how much I enjoyed it from beginning to end. For my personal taste it's written almost exactly how I prefer and there wasn't a single low point. It doesn't reach the heights of what I consider the best, but reading something that is consistently highly enjoyable without almost anything needing to be overlooked is a treasure as well.

All of the viewpoint characters are morally gray at the lightest, though I didn't find any of them to be unlikeable. Three of the viewpoint characters, all gendermarked as women, are Esek, Chono, and Jun. Esek is a sociopath prone to theatrical displays of emotionality and violence, which makes her fun in a terrifying way. Chono is deeply religious and wants to brighten the world, but she's dyed dark by Esek and is ambivalent about her rescuer. Jun is a rogue hacker seeking revenge and profit, though not to benefit herself. They're all involved with each other's drama. This isn't a story where the viewpoints don't cross paths.

The only significant point of contention I have it with it is that I don't understand the practicalities or the meaning of the gendermark system. Each person has a visible physical mark denoting man or woman, and a few taboo exceptions. Most people aren't allowed to choose a mark until they're an adult, though it can be changed afterwards. It's never made clear what percent people choose the same gender as their sex, which are considered separate, or what differences there are.

There a few sex scenes, which are romantic or violent. The most detailed scene isn't explicit enough to definitively know (or so I tell myself) the specific sexual characteristics of both of those involved, though I don't mind whichever configuration it may be. There are several relationships but due to ambiguity involved, it's probably most accurate to call almost all of them sapphic. There's definitely much more of a focus on women.

I'm already hopeful that this will become one of my favorite trilogies, which seems more likely than not currently, but considering how the book ends the second will probably have to be rather different, though I think Jacobs can manage. As far as I'm concerned Jacobs has outshone her relevant and similar contemporaries with her debut.

Rating: 5/5

I received this DRC from Orbit through NetGalley

>>22571793
Red Rising, #1 - Pierce Brown (2014)

Red Rising is a wish fulfillment revenge fantasy. The Hunger Games is a common comparison, which to me is only valid in that they're both dystopias with youths vs youths. Why this is a such a common comparison is a different discussion. The Will of the Many is compared to Red Rising, which also has many differences, but it's closer.

Darrow, the protagonist, is truly amazing in how much he's able to accomplish. This isn't competency porn though, because his successes aren't primarily because of his own actions. Darrow considers himself to be self-made man, which is ironic. He's one of the least interesting characters and it's only told from his perspective. I would hope this would make it easier to see that the protagonist's perspective needn't be the dominant narrative, others have their own stories, but it only hints at that. It could be argued this is all to show Darrow's steady growth, but to me it was more a series of discrete transformations. There's a lot of dissonance, but that's mostly left unexplored.

What I found most strange was whether its style was intentional or by coincidence. There are flashes of being more meaningful and providing a worthwhile discussion, but that's all there ever is. I don't know if that was me reading too much into it, or if there was anything there. I kept thinking there would be something more to it, some greater reveal, some deeper level of complexity, but in this first book at least it's played entirely straightforward at the surface level. That's my fault for expecting otherwise. Regardless, I can't argue with its commercial success. If the author had pursued anything more substantial it probably wouldn't have been anywhere as successful.

This is a science fiction book, but for most of the time I felt that it may as well have been a description of some war campaign from the middle ages or even older. I thought there would be a bit more academic stuff, but it turned out that aside from a single exam it wasn't present at all. There's a lot that doesn't really follow science fiction, fantasy, or speculative fiction in general. It presents itself as such, but that's mostly decorative. The ideal audience for this may be young adults who are only casually interested in SFF, and who are put off by having too much of either. That's certainly a much wider audience. That being said there's also a strange amount of neologisms that seem reminded me of Golden Age pulp SF, which was confusing. Maybe he intended to go after all audiences. He was successful regardless.

Despite all that, I found this to be rather amusing in its absurdity. It definitely goes for the dramatics. I would've enjoyed it much less if I hadn't quickly given up on taking it seriously in any way. I don't dislike the content so much as how it's presented. I'll be reading the second book because supposedly it changes a lot. Maybe I'll be surprised.

Rating: 3/5

Book #1/10 of my ratings contest

The Sunlit Man, Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson (2023)

The Nomad's Skip has gone awry and he finds himself stranded on a planet unknown to him. He lacks a sufficient amount of breath-equivalent units of Investiture to Skip again. To escape he'll need to find a power source. In doing so he becomes involved in the rather small planet's problems, namely there's a tyrant trying to subjugate the world to his rule. The sunlight melts and remakes the surface of the world every day. The populace is constantly either running away or hiding from it.

Sanderson said this book was an experiment as to whether he could write epic fantasy at a breakneck pace. The story starts with action and continues on for rest of the time at about the same speed. The climax was a bit more, though it wasn't relatively that much more by comparison to how Sanderson's books have tended to go with an explosive ending. This was a bit frustrating to read because it showed that Sanderson can write without including many hundreds of pages of not doing all that much at a glacial pace. I would prefer there to be far less pages for many of the books. That doesn't seem like it'll happen.

So, how much of the Cosmere does this book reference? A lot. Mostly that's because this novel is probably the furthest in the Cosmere timeline of anything that's been published. That makes this easily the most science fictional book set in the Cosmere yet. Some of the stuff shown is definitely far in advance of our technology. However, fantasy is still very present. This only whets my appetite to see how Sanderson will combine magic and technology in the many years to come. One of the most relevant works are the Stormlight Archive, as the protagonist is a character in those books. Who he is and where he's from is explicitly stated, so it's not something that has to be puzzled out. The other is Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. That's where the populace is from, which again is explicitly stated early on. Aside from that, having read Warbreaker would be somewhat helpful as background information. There's a bit from the Mistborn series, but it would only be minimally useful to have read them. There's a few others, though it's mostly trivial stuff. It's weird to think that a lot of what's shown here may not be relevant to the main Cosmere series for a decade, or decades for that matter. Also, yes, Hoid makes a brief appearance.

So, yeah, it was just a fun time all around. I appreciated the literal change of pace. I may be overly interested compared to the average reader with seeing how the magical and technological systems of the various Cosmere worlds interact with each other. The future Nalthis of Warbreaker continues to play an outsized role in these books considering it only has a single book currently. I also like having the Cosmere in everything from now on as Sanderson has already said, despite the problems that causes for the casual or singular series reader.

Rating: 4/5

>>22557030
Red River Seven - A.J. Ryan (2023)

A man awakens, remembering nothing biographical, though otherwise retaining what he knows. He finds himself on a boat on a river shrouded in dense pinkish mist. There are others with him and they all share surgical scars and have the same memory loss. They seem to be on a mission as they realize they have a certain set of complementary skills that would be useful for survival and for carrying out a special operation. A voice from elsewhere speaks to them. It says they must obey or they will die. Whatever their purpose may be, they must follow their directions, because at the least the boat can be remotely deactivated, leaving them stranded. Precautions have been taken to minimize how much they can tamper with anything. Their greatest danger is each other, at least until they discover the current circumstances of the world.

As per the title, there's red mist, they're on a river, and there's seven of them. It's literal and suits it well. The amnesia is functional and serves a greater purpose than being for plot convenience. In terms of the plot, that they can't remember their lives is integral to everything. However, even if they did have their memories it wouldn't really be that different for several of them. This does limit them as a cast of characters because they're reduced to what their specialty is and a few other core personality traits.

I haven't read anything else by Anthony Ryan, so I'm unable to compare this SF/horror/mystery/thriller to his fantasy novels. What I do know is this seems like it was written to be a movie. Everything extraneous is removed and all there is, is the characters and their mission. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing, though it's definitely notable. I would watch it if it were made into one because it seems like it could easily transition into a primarily action movie.

The last 15% started leaning into political allegory, or at least that's what I read it as. The only hint before that was that it was mentioned that the 45th president was someone whose name shouldn't be said in polite company. That was fine, though I don't think it was handled all that well. There wasn't an epilogue, which from a reader perspective would've been nice in terms of pay-off. Having one though would've gone against the allegory that had been established and the narrow focus of the narrative. Maybe it's just because it's not that long of a novel that there didn't seem to be any need to do so.

This was a nice read, though it's not really notable in any way. There was a good bit that this story had going in its favor for me. I like amnesiac group stories, which has lead me to read books that I might otherwise wouldn't, for better and worse. I also appreciate it when authors try writing in different genres than what they're known. If I had enjoyed it just a bit more I would've rounded it up.

I received this DRC from Orbit through NetGalley.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22540152
Then I must be even braver for reading books that haven't even been released yet. Thanks!

>>22538555
Steel Frame - Andrew Skinner (2019)

Eyo Rook is a jockey, a highly skilled veteran shell pilot. She's one among a multitude of chain gang convicts who have volunteered to be sold to the Horizon. That's the Nor Collective's dreadnought and the largest space vessel ever constructed. It's stationed at the cosmic anomaly known as The Eye, which contains the remnants of an ancient civilization. They're here to serve their sentences more quickly, as time passes faster in the region, and it seems a better option than imprisonment. NorCol isn't the only corporation seeking the secrets of the ancients, several others are present. The corporations have already been here for subjective centuries without accomplishing their goals, but everything is about to change. Rook bonds with a centuries old shell, a Juno model, that can think for itself and thus begins a relationship that transcends flesh and steel.

Steel Frame is clearly influenced by mecha anime and videogames. In interviews Skinner has cited Evangelion, Knights of Sidonia, the Alien Universe, and several others as inspirations, especially in terms of its aesthetic. Personally the novel made me think more in terms of Armored Core, Zone of the Enders, and the Xeno series, but that may well be more about me. What that means that means for the mecha is that they're humanoid, fast moving, and flight capable. In terms of science fiction it's meant to be more on the Weird side, though I don't know that he quite succeeded in that regard. Iain M. Banks is noted specifically for how the book relates to AI and the story structure he wants to use.

The story is told from a first person perspective, which for me has a far greater variance of enjoyment than third person, though I felt it worked well enough here. You might think that because this is a non-Japanese mecha series, the author is South African, that that would be the most notable aspect of the book. It's definitely at the top, but arguably the non-sexual, non-romantic, yet all-consuming relationship between Rook and her Juno shell is just as important. I have to wonder if this book would've been somewhat different if it had came out after Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. That Gundam series is certainly reminiscent of it in ways, as are other media.

One of the greatest enjoyments I had while reading this was the visual imagery it conjured for me, though that may have only been possible because I had already had a considerably large visual library to draw upon for the specifics of what was detailed. It's difficult for me to know how much this affected my enjoyment versus a reader who isn't familiar with the mecha aesthetic and kinesthetic.

It's unfortunate that his debut novel hasn't received more recognition, even within its niche. It has its problems, much of which may originate from its inspirations, but I believe eventually those will be resolved. I'll be reading the sequel and I look forward to his future work.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>22528658
The Big Book of Cyberpunk (2023)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeaffY4DMrD_GfcYbBtXq9rpGIGYNYChFSN6yjGUssw/

>>22518480
Ironclads - Adrian Tchaikovsky (2017
)
This novella, from start to finish, is about a rescue mission told after the fact. The narrator, Sergeant Ted Regan, even directly addresses that he's telling a story at one point. As far as I could tell he seems to be a reliable narrator, so this being a frame story is more a stylistic choice than anything else. So, Regan and his men have been ordered to rescue a scion of one of the most powerful corporations. Scion is both what he is and also what they call the exosuits they use. That's not what's shown on the cover. They have mechs, but most of the fighting is between infantry, vehicles, scions, and a gunship. The rescue mission takes place in the newest US corporate target, Sweden. Along the way there's various mishaps, duplicity, and shifting allegiances. This isn't only a story about machines though, as there also bioengineered humans with animal characteristics and other augmentations.

Considering the length of this novella there's a lot of background info, world history, and general worldbuilding that's done. The story takes sometime in the mid to late 21st century where because all of the climate disasters and other catastrophes corporations have started literal wars against other corporations to maximize their holdings and profits. Governments have been relegated to a lesser position. The US has become a theocratic fascist state that has removed the rights previously held by most of its citizens, especially women and non-whites. They don't really mind that the corporations wage war on Canadian, Mexican, and the other American corporations. The national governments of those being invaded don't seem mind as much as one would think.

Thematically this is anti-war, corporate, elite, theocratic, fascists and much else. That's mostly expressed through polemics, the book says so, and somewhat through what happens. Again, it's a rescue mission, so they're mostly just traveling from one point to another looking for the guy. There's not really much to it in terms of plot, but that's to be expected due to its length. It doesn't really show off much of it what it talks about because of how constrained it is. It's all elsewhere. Why it's so restricted is explained by the narrative and makes perfect sense, butI think the realism in this case got in the way of being cool and fun. I would've liked it more if it wasn't so straightforward until the the reveal at the end which is entirely thematically appropriate. All in all, it's fine. I don't feel strongly either way about it.

Rating: 3/5

>>22441144
A Princess of the Linear Jungle, Linear City #2 - Paul Di Filippo (2010)

Two hundred years later and twenty million blocks away, another story of the Linear City begins. Merritt Abraham is a twenty-two year old polypolisology [many cities study] (anthropology) student. She wants to attend graduate school, but she can't afford the tuition. If it means getting ahead, she'll eagerly have a sexual and romantic relationship with her academic mentor. Casual sex is fine by her, so she has it with three men and one woman during this. When the opportunity to adventure in Vayavirunga presents itself, she becomes overjoyed. That's the jungle formed from three walled-off boroughs that inexplicably became overgrown three centuries ago. What they find there is far stranger than could be reasonably expected and much more dangerous than they assumed.

The majority of the story is her daily life. The adventure is less than half the story and I believe it to be the lesser half. It's certainly strange, but not in a way that's particularly enjoyable. The writer protagonist of the first book, Diego Patchen, is referenced often, which is rather surprising considering the years passed and the distance. In some ways the word choice is worse this time, as it's mostly invented words or existing words with new meanings. I found it to be less quaint this time. There's less mystery and sense of wonder as well. The characters weren't as enjoyable. There's speculation and some exploration of the specific peculiarities of the setting, but I think they both helped and hindered my enjoyment.

The story is prefaced with an excerpt from The Princess of Mars, which I haven't read so I can't say how much this meant to be referencing that. I feel that the title and cover are both misleading at least in terms of this novella. The titular character is only present for a sixth of its duration, which is scant few pages considering it length, and the cover is a stretch for depicting anything that happens. That's certainly not the Princess of the Linear Jungle, but there are multiple nude women. I find this to be disappointing even though it's still a fitting name and a provocative cover.

As of this writing, which is before my rating of it, this novella has a rating of 3.06. For Goodreads that's a miserably dismal score. However, if you believe a 3 to be decent rating and still worthwhile to read, and considering how inflated the ratings of most books seem to be, at least that's what I choose to believe, then it's entirely appropriate score. Am I simply making excuses for it? Yes. While I have no problem with having read this, I don't think there's really any reason for anyone to read this except for those who greatly enjoyed the first novella of this setting and want more from it, regardless of what it may be. As something in of itself it's definitely lacking in most every way. If there was more in this setting I would still read it regardless though.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22435180
Now Will Machines Hollow The Beast, Machine Mandate #2 - Benjanun Sriduangkaew (2020)

Admiral Anoushka, known as the Alabaster Admiral, is a mercenary captain feared and respected throughout the galaxy. Even so, she has a favor to repay to a haruspex, a human-AI hybrid from the Shenzhen dyson sphere. That's where The Mandate resides, a collection of AI that could control everything, but chooses not to at this time. To that end she attends a bidding war at Vishnu's Leviathan, a massive biomechanical warship with extreme warfare capability. Larvae have been made available that in a few decades could develop into warships of similar power. The warring factions all want to be the highest bidder. What ought to be a relatively simple affair becomes complicated by enemies from the past long thought dead or irrelevant appearing once more. There are also simmering conflicts between members of the royal family.

This novella is in the same setting as first one, as are a few others that aren't numbered, but aside from that there's minimal overlap. Probably each one could be read standalone though I haven't confirmed that. The plot is straightforward, simple, and doesn't really matter all that much. How the characters interact with each other is what matters. Mostly it's their drama and the power dynamics thereof. As per the author's usual, all the characters are women. Men have little to no place in her writings. I don't mind that for her works.

Anoushka has two wives who vie for her affection and she has sex with both of them, though not at once, as they aren't friendly with each other. There are four sex scenes, and if there were much more than than that I'd start to think that was the primary purpose of the novella. Maybe it is even, or of at least equal importance to everything else. They're relatively brief, explicit, and at least one is definitely kinky. As in the author's previous works, the sex has a tendency towards BDSM, which isn't what I'd prefer, though it's intriguing in its own way. Some of the relationship drama is questionable, but that may be only because the ping-ponging of back and forth to enemies to lovers back to enemies, perhaps lovers again, isn't that familiar to me. However, it isn't really about romance, or at least I didn't see it that way. Worship, adulation, or devotion would seem to be more accurate.

I didn't know if I'd read anything else from Sriduangkaew again because for a while because I was disappointed and disillusioned, but in time much returns to the mean. I now have the proper expectations and her writing has changed a bit. As far as I've been able to tell I'm decidedly not the target demographic and almost surely not appreciating it in the intended manner. That's fine though and has its own appeal when it works out. I'll probably eventually read the rest of the series because it fills a specific niche of enjoyment and sometimes that suffices by itself.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22435403
>Why aren't other people me?
>Why would anyone do anything differently than how I do it?
Narcissism
Autism
Choose one or more

>>22435180
Great Work of Time - John Crowley (1989)

Caspar Last has invented a time machine, though he only calls it that out of convenience because it isn't a machine and he doesn't believe that time exists. While there's much he could do with it, he's only interested in using it once to enrich himself. To him, it's all in the research and proof that it works. After that, who cares? It's all proven and doesn't matter any longer and it's onto the next project. As you'd expect, someone else feels differently and acquires the ability to time travel from him. Denys Winterset is approached by a man who offers him to join a time traveling organization that changes the past to their preferences. Originally it was founded by Cecil Rhodes, leader of Rhodesia, for the purpose of furthering the British Empire, but their aims have now changed. They believe Winterset to be integral to their existence, and he is, far more than any of them could ever know.

Crowley is a joy to simply read, even when the actual content isn't all that suited to my tastes, though in this case it was. Time travel is one of my preferred themes and I like to see what sort the author employs. In this case time traveling is orthogonal, meaning the traveler can never return to the exact same timeline they were in and they always travel to one that is slightly different. Due to its peculiarities this results in quite the consequences. The closest other to it that I can think of is the film, Primer, though elements of it can be seen in various other time travel media, ranging from All You Zombies to El ministerio del tiempo. A detailed explanation is given for technical aspects of how the time travel would hypothetically work, though the specific process isn't ever explicitly shown. As happens with time travel stories, the narrative isn't told linearly, and there's some initial obfuscation of identities, though eventually everything is clearly explained to the reader.

In terms of its historical accuracy, it reads very well and is clearly researched, which is evidenced by the bibliography provided at the end. Sometimes (oftentimes?) with science fiction the origin of the book simply seems to be that the author has been deeply researching some area of interest and then decide they want to write about it. I've seen this in a wide variety of works and overall I think doing so enhances their writing with the distinct flavor of their research. That goes from "write what you know" to "write what you learned."

Once again I'd like to thank yitr for suggesting that I read Crowley sooner than later. It's only a matter of time before I'll have read almost all, if not all, of Crowley's fiction. All of his works that I've read so far have had the sort of imaginative novelty that I particularly appreciate. Each one has that special something where even if I didn't enjoy it I can still respect it for what it is. Even his most read work is only mildly known, so I recommend you read him.

Rating: 4/5

>>22430424
Emergent Properties - Aimee Ogden (2023)

Scorn is a seven year old emancipated AI and among the most advanced among the relatively few that exist. Ze activates in the cloud and immediately realizes that ze has no data for the last ten days. Ten days of data that haven't been backed up. By checking the available data ze sees that ze went to the moon to investigate an unknown matter in which zir chassis was destroyed by a subsurf tram that caused a lot of damage. Scorn sets out to find out what ze was investigating, because it must be a huge story. Perhaps it even involves zir two mothers who have divorced and are constantly fighting each other. Whatever the case may be, the truth must become known.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would for what it is, which is a take on an amnesiac protagonist, though in this case it's an AI. The entirety of the novella is Scorn retracing zir activity, which doesn't really make for much of a mystery, or really, a plot. This entails talking to various other AI in person in secure social platform locations known as blackboxes that have a cafe/diner-like vibe. There are other typical sleuthing activities as well. Scorn has a complicated relationship with the two women who developed zir programming which results in some awkward conversations. I found myself surprisingly enjoying simply reading it. I don't know if that would be the case for most others who would read this though. The original matter Scorn was investigating is resolved in a couple pages at the end, which was too neat and easy.

The setting is the sort where corporations have replaced nation states and formal governments play a background role. There's not much said about how well any of it goes for anyone, aside from at least some people receiving Basic, as anything outside of the the investigation is only a peripheral matter. People and AI have Aura ratings, the color of which seemingly indicates the general reputation of a person. One's reputation doesn't matter so much if they have a lot of power and prestige though. One usage of it seems to be to indicate online trustworthiness and quality commentary.

The easy comparison for this is to Murderbot, but I don't think that's a particularly suitable one. Aside from that Scorn is entirely code based, ze ironically behaves in a considerably more human way than Murderbot does. I found it interesting how Scorn makes use of being entirely digital data. The closer comparison would be to one of the character's in Ken Liu's The Gods Have Not Died in Vain. It's a shame that Pantheon was cancelled after a single season and didn't make it that far. My rating for this, specifically the rounding it up, is admittedly a bit generous, but I'm feeling generous towards it, so I may as well. I'd like to read more about this character and setting and that counts a lot for me. This isn't anything special or notable, but somehow I found it nice to read and that's just how it is.

Rating: 3.5/5

Phoresis - Greg Egan (2018)

Phoresis is another of Egan's extremely science based books. In this case the novella is told in three parts covering many generations, each representing a different phase of an epic feat of interplanetary engineering in the form of connecting two nearby planets. The speculation about engineering, physics, geology, and earth sciences is all that matters. It's to the point where all the characters are more or less interchangeable and probably only exist so that it isn't a sole character monologuing all the time. There's almost nothing at all besides the practical matters of their many lives long projects, so expecting anything other that would be a mistake.

I tried reading this before, though I wasn't able to get very far. It was a struggle to read this and it probably wasn't worthwhile for me personally, but I wanted to do anyway. Egan's more science based works are usually a miss for me. Even so, sometimes it's possible to get a weird sense of pleasure from just letting all the explanations wash over you. That wasn't so much the case here for me. I have no doubt that it's far more interesting for those who'd have a specific interest in the experiments detailed by the novella. Not every book is for every reader and several of Egan's are clear examples of that, yet I persist in trying even for those that clearly aren't for me.

As with some of Egan's other writings, starting with his first published work, how reproduction functions for the species of this book could be considered body horror in human terms. You might think the engineering project depicted on the cover might have something with the title, but that'd be wrong. It's their reproductive system that it's referring to. All the characters are female, in the sense that they're the ones who give birth. All the males, in the sense of that which impregnates, have separate bodies, and live inside the female for the duration of their lives and only emerge to procreate. To say that this species is sexually dimorphic is an extreme understatement. There's a single sex scene and what it made me imagine based on what was written was honestly horrific, and even more so based on what's later described.

I'd like to read everything Egan has written despite that being rather difficult for me due to there being some such as this. Yes, it's an arbitrary and irrational idea, and one that I don't know that I'll be able to do, though I want to try anyway. There's already been a few that I don't know if I'll ever go back to though. Even if I don't enjoy all of what Egan does, I appreciate that someone is writing stories like this. That's an abstract idea of questionable merit as well, especially considering when he's written other books of wider appeal, but I think a creative should do what they want. That's arguably not in the best interest of anyone, which may just be one of the costs of having unrestricted creative freedom.

Rating: 2/5

>>22415705
Inside Man, #2 - K.J. Parker (2021)

As with the first novella what I've written here strays away from my usual write-up. Somewhat more than three weeks later I read this second novella in the setting. After having written about the first book I put off on posting about it because I wasn't sure if I would entirely rewrite it, add some commentary, or know how it'd affect what I thought about it. For me the answer was inconclusive, even though maybe it ought not be, and also I found myself to be surprisingly indifferent to whether that mattered. I don't really feel any differently about what I wrote and that's still what I'm going with regardless.

This second outing is quite different from the first and while I can appreciate what it's going for on a conceptual level, it's not that something that I was able to enjoy. The narrator is the same "demon" as from the first and the unnamed narrator appears as well. The vast majority of the content is a series of self-involved ramblings to the point where I felt that best audience for this would be those who enjoy Parker's writing for its occurrence than whatever it may be about. Stylistically it's interesting in that most narratives are grounded in time, place, and direction, while this tends to drift about, seemingly unmoored to those three ideas. That's a neat trick, but apparently not one of particular appeal to me.

I don't know how accurate how it is, but there certainly are a lot of comparisons to Good Omens and to Pratchett more generally. The humor, of which there's probably about as much as there are theological musings, which is to say, a lot, fell entirely flat with me. The real world pop culture reference jokes, ranging from the JFK assassination to Star Trek, left me more baffled than anything else. There are several religious jokes as well, including about the not-Jewish people, though they seemed good natured. That's a problem because that may be most of the appeal. I don't think it's deep enough for that to be attraction, the characters aren't that developed, nor is that world all that much either. So, it's come for the style and stay for the humor as far as I can tell.

I really don't understand Parker as an author, which makes me both want to read one of his novels and avoid everything else he's written. The latter seems considerably more likely at this time. I probably won't unless I have some compelling external reason to do so. This is just one of those times that an author doesn't seem suited for me and I'm entirely fine with that.

Rating: 2.5/5 (2)

>>22415705
Prosper's Demon, Prosper's Demon #1 - K. J. Parker (2020)

Unlike most any other time I've written about what I've read this is entirely for those who either have already read this novella or don't care about spoilers. I'd say it's 60% about my reactions and 40% about the book, which is an in-book reference. I'm ambivalent about the writing and its structure. It's not something I could comfortably read at length. There's a plot and philosophizing, but I mostly found it to be irrelevant. The protagonist didn't interest me. I may read the second novella if only to see how it affects my interpretation, which is provided below.

I didn't see anyone who had the same interpretation of the book that I did, though surely there must be others, so I felt compelled to explain myself. The correct view may be take it all at face value as almost everyone seems to have done. I'm unable to do that, which may only be because I prefer it that way. I believe the events proceeded as laid out, but I believe that almost everything the unnamed narrator says about said events are lies. The following is how I read the book.

Prosper's Demon follows an unnamed narrator whose derangement is only matched by his ability to manipulate. He's a deeply disturbed sociopath who wanders around seeing demons in others and proceeds to kill them in various ways that often minimize his involvement because it's a hassle to be pursued for revenge. He's a serial killer and a mass murder convinced of his own righteousness. Often he lapses into delusions where he thinks he's talking with demons.

The story starts with the narrator in bed with a dead prostitute, whom he killed. He shrugs it off as having been possessed by a demon and disposes of her. He says it's never his fault. Right afterwards he mentions he stole what's most valuable to each member of his family. He says he has absolute authority like the Emperor. Then he says he has no roots or connections. The narrator claims he's licensed to do all this, but then he says his proof is counterfeit. He has an origin story of a wombmate demon. If any of it was true he wouldn't also be saying that he's constantly dodging vengeful family and the law. He goes on about how brutalized his childhood bully. He proposes that the evilest of men have the same virtues as the best of men, that it's arbitrary. He says he doesn't understand how his demon changes, which is only because he must accept that the demon is apart from himself. Then he's killed a twelve year old girl and her brother, though he only remembers the latter. Somehow he manages to get away with it all. He even kills his sister's three-month-old daughter and nothing comes of it. He sacrifices a five year old girl he bought. I don't see any of this anything other than his own choices. The demons don't exist. There's nothing fantastical going on. This is a secondary world story with a unreliable narrator talking about his crimes.

Rating: 2.5/5 (3)

>>22415705
Kundo Wakes Up, #2 - Saad Z. Hossain (2022)

One year, 237 days ago Kundo's wife left him a note that simply read, "I'm leaving" and she hadn't been seen since. The famous painter who no longer paints tried all he could to find her, even hiring a hacker, but he then fell into a fugue state and many months slipped by unnoticed, and he became oblivious to the outside world. Eventually, one day Kundo Wakes Up and he decides to try living, and finding her, again. However, he's constantly assailed by intrusive thoughts about her, such as what if she's ran off her with online gaming guild members and she's cuckolding him daily by having constant orgies with them. Many other scenarios present themselves to him unbidden. The first step is to get back in contact with the hacker and see what he's found out. That's how the mystery of his wife's disappearance begins. In pursuit of her he'll enlist a motley band of misfits and travel to the figurative, or perhaps literal, end of the universe and beyond.

The blurb on the cover from Samit Basu provides an excellent summation: "Cyberpunk, high fantasy, climate catastrophe, and and its heart, a compelling story about broken people finding each other and a way to become whole again." Although this novella takes place in the same setting as the first, they're very different in almost any meaningful way. This one is an investigative mystery of a guy trying to find his wife as Chittagong, the city around him, is being lost to the waves, specifically the Bay of Bengal. Karma has declared the city a loss and is slowly withdrawing. Those who mostly remain are Zeros and the haplessly eccentric. Kundo's investigation is rather haphazard in that he hopes that in his stumbling about he'll find enough clues to point him in the right direction. Due to this lack of focus it often reads more like his daily life and the interactions he has with those he meets. That was kind of nice, but it lacked a certain something to make it definitively enjoyable. One of the main plot devices is a full immersion, literally and figuratively, VR gaming rig.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first novella, though it has its own charm. It's barely a 4. It takes place sometime after the first, but it's never made clear when that is. One character makes a return appearance, mostly for the purpose of commentary. The new cast is good, but lacks the vibrancy and zest of the former. The main problem for me is probably comparing it to the first, which may not be fair. The former was about over-the-top personalities and their outrageous antics. This is about a group of miserable has-beens who struggle to get through each day, yet still find some way to carry on for now, though not forever. I appreciate that it's a completely different perspective on the setting, though it's also a bit jarring because of that as well. The ending is poignant, that's for sure.

Rating: 4/5

>>22410177
Slow Bullets - Alastair Reynolds (2015)

Scurelya Timuk Shunde is a conscripted soldier who is being tortured to death, though that's interrupted. Whatever else else that happens is skipped over and she's awakened from a hibernation pod knowing nothing of her circumstances. She, and others, still have their slow bullets to remind of them their identity. A slow bullet is similar to a military dog tag, except it's stored internally and contains extensive biographical data about the soldier. Their prior identities may no longer be relevant, but in the absence of any other source of meaning, will it drive all of their behavior?

Slow Bullets is explicitly a message fiction novella about what knowledge is worth preserving and how what we know is related to our personal identity. Extreme measures are taken to conserve what little can be of what's known. It puts forth that maintaining cultural knowledge may be more important than literally anything else. The story doesn't start that way, but eventually it becomes more and more reductive to that's what it's only about. I suppose then that it's fitting that the reader's experience is similar to that of the characters. When the story begins it could be about anything, and when the characters awaken knowing nothing about their situation, anything could've happened. As they and the readers learn more, the possibilities steadily decrease until there's only a single one that remains.

This novella had a strong start and could've explored many interesting and exciting ideas, but instead it became increasingly insular and fixated upon a few ideas that I found dull. It's a bait and switch in that many readers would be expecting an epic space opera or at least a character study in the nature of identity, but instead find themselves with a lecture on knowledge preservation. The characters become less complex and developed as the narrative progresses because their actions are restricted both by their situation and by the message being delivered. The message that cultural knowledge, science especially, must be spread to as many people as possible, even in the face of extreme despair and adversity until your dying breath was overly much. If that seems like an obsessive, if not religious impulse, then I wouldn't disagree. Whether religion ought to be preserved is a major point of contention.

As I was writing this I found myself becoming more and more disappointed in what I had read. Not angry, simply disappointed that a premise I liked and that the fun possibilities and mystery it represented turned out to be so narrowly focused on a singular dogmatic ideal. There's initially more to it than that, and that's worth reading, but I don't know whether it's worth reading overall. That makes rating much more difficult. For me, it's core ideal wasn't nearly enough relative to what else could've been written about instead. I'm clearly bitter about this, but you may not be.

Rating: 2.5/5 (3)

>>22405888
Slow Time Between the Stars, The Far Reaches - John Scalzi (2023)
An AI starship with full autonomy and human knowledge is tasked with populating a suitable planet with humanity regardless of how long it may take. I wasn't able to appreciate the AI's mindset. This novelette doesn't have either the problems of Scalzi's recent work that hinders my enjoyment or the parts that I find quite fun. It makes me wonder when and if I'll particularly enjoy anything from Scalzi again. I certainly want to as I prefer liking things to not.

>>22394313
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach, The Far Reaches - Nnedi Okorafor (2023)
I literally don't understand the purpose of this novelette. As far as I can tell it's about going to just out of Jupiter's reach and returning to Earth. If it was more than that, then its practical purpose has eluded me. The majority of the story is them meeting up in their biological ships for a week together, which was fine, but the question of "why?" overwhelmed me. If this is an allegory then I don't understand it all. Maybe it has a lot to say, but if it does I'm hard of hearing at the least.

>>22394313
The Long Game, The Far Reaches - Ann Leckie (2023)
Humans have found intelligent life in the form of small slug-like people on another planet. The story is told from the perspective of one those slug-like persons, who has great ambitions but very little time to accomplish them. There's quite a lot of existential questioning. It's not the typical alien contact story or the usual colonization tale. It's fascinating to see the world from a non-human perspective. If this novelette had more resolution or if it were longer and had accomplished I'd have rated it better. The futility is left ambiguous, similar to the the sole other one I rated decently from this collection. That's probably the main reason why I've rated it as such.

>>22394313
Falling Bodies, The Far Reaches - Rebecca Roanhorse (2023)
This novelette is harmful and misguided. It's a hopelessly self-destructive allegory. The conclusion is abhorrent and irresponsible. It's one of the worst works of short fiction in terms of my personal enjoyment I've ever finished. The story is written well enough, it's simply that I entirely disagree with everything about it. Usually that wouldn't be an issue, but in this case I found it be unbearably frustrating and upsetting. If I had a physical copy I would've been tempted to throw it. You'll have to read what others have written about it if you want to know more because I'm uninterested in writing anything else about it. This is about as futile as it comes.

>>22383658
Void, The Far Reaches - Veronica Roth (2023)
Ace is a janitor on an interstellar passenger ship that experiences considerable time dilation. It's basically the only of its kind that will transport people and not exclusively cargo. Those who come aboard rarely are ever seen again and the crew have become entirely detached from time and to a lesser extent being able to relate to people. Ace generally stays apart from everyone, but now's time for her to play detective because a murder has been committed and she gets really into doing so. There's no one else who cares to do so, so why not?

I was surprised that I liked this novelette the most of this collection, but barely not enough to rate it higher. I wouldn't have expected that considering what else she's written, despite its popularity, isn't really my thing. The author that I do like didn't have good showings this time. I may only have this liked this one relatively the most because it's also the only story of this Amazon collection of notable writers that didn't feel futile.