The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

This is Book 22 started, book 19 finished

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Published by Tor Books, 2011

I’ve read post-Singularity/post-human science fiction before but this is one of the best examples of it.  It’s fast paced, it give absolutely no quarter to the reader and it expects you to keep up with it instead of leading you along.  Little is explained in this book as far as the technology infusing this culture; it’s just there and a part of the story and the reader is expected to infer the tech as the story unfolds.

This opens in a prison with an uploaded prisoner being played with/tortured/rehabilitated through a series of scenarios that make little sense but paints a mental image of a Escher-esque multi-dimensional space until he’s broken free and on a ship that may or may not be sentient and may or may not be charge of the human piloting it.

On some levels, this is a detective thriller with Jean le Flambeur, the thief, performing a service in exchange for his freedom and being pursued by detective Beauretlet in a science fiction wonderland.  But it’s not that.  It’s much more.  Most of the book is set on a Mars full of near immortal humans and sentient and near sentient machines.  There are characters galore with various interesting vignettes and technobabble to decipher.

There are thematic currents on what is means to be human, our ultimate purpose and what death is all jumbled in with playful hedonism.   Perhaps the chaos will be better explained in future books but I somehow doubt it.

This is possibly not for everyone in that it’s not Star Trek and while it does entertain, this book insists that you pay attention as you read.  If you read in small bits here and there, you may end up lost and it’s too good a book for that.

4.5 stars.

1635: The Dreeson Incident by Virginia DeMarce

This is Book 21 started, book 18 finished

1635: The Dreeson Incident by Virginia DeMarce
Published by Baen Books, 2008

As I’m making my way slowly through the entire Ring of Fire alternate universe, I find myself sometimes enthralled, sometimes disbelieving and sometimes even a bit bored by it all.  In this book, I found all three.   I apparently skipped over the book the first time I read the main books in the series as I would have remembered it.  It connects the end of the Ram Rebellion to the start of the upcoming war against Brandenburg, Saxony and Poland.

The main piece I noticed I missed the first time through was the election in which Crown Loyalists – the nobility – take over the government.  It occurs in this book but by skipping it, when I got to 1635: The Eastern Front, it was fait accompli and the effects from that had already started rolling.  There were other pieces I didn't realize I was missing – mostly details in different character’s lives – that occur in this book but the election is the primary piece.

At the time, I think I skipped it because so many reviews were unfavorable.  They generally said that the book was just a slow telling of family histories and nothing much occurs – and that it’s fairly unreadable because of it.  Well, there is quite a bit of Grantville family history and a lot of character backstory and, compared to other books in the series, not as much happens to rearrange socio-political gameboard of 17th century Europe.   But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The backstories at times read like so many separate short stories from the Gazettes simply because of the multiple storylines going on at once – but they were mostly very interesting and well-done.  They filled in gaps I didn't realize were there in the overall humanity of Grantville.  There were parts where the backstories and the current interpersonal relationships did get longwinded and somewhat repetitious; this was especially true with Vera Hudson playing the role of disapproving town gossip and general harpy.

In general, though, they were necessary.  They showed everyday life; something missing from the grandiose storylines in this series.

The book does end on a large note with a sweeping change to the Germanies and their philosophic future.  It’s not as large scale as defeating Denmark or redrawing the political landscape in the Low Countries, but it will do.

3.5 stars.

Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead

This is Book 19 started, book 17 finished

Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead
Published by Harper Voyager, 1997

To a degree, writing a review about this book will only show that I’m somewhat biased in my opinion of it.  This was my 4th time reading it since it came out 17 years ago.  Once every 4-ish years isn't too obsessive.  But, I adore this book.  It’s massive in scope and it could have been a tragic failure of overreach but instead is just a beautiful accounting of life in 10th Century Europe and the Middle East.

The book opens with an almost magic relationship between Aidan, a Célé Dé monk and priest, the world around him and his God.  It’s a more mystic relationship than most are painted as and very well done.  As he begins a pilgrimage to Constantinople with his fellow monks and subsequently set upon by Vikings, his religion falters as he’s taken as a slave.  Throughout the novel, one of the recurring themes is Aidan’s relationship to his God as his fortunes fall, rise again only to fall lower and rise even higher.

He is taken to Skania and from there eventually to Constantinople via Russia.  He is a slave.  He is a spy.  He is an advisor to an Abbasid Emir.  Eventually, he becomes something few attain, he becomes a free man.

The book itself is a great adventure and the themes are of loss and pain and failure and redemption.  I’m not a particularly religious person at all but I liked the religious threads running throughout.  They are appropriate for a tale of a monk and for a tale set in Medieval Europe.

There is a lot I want to say about this book but I don’t want to give away any major plot elements.  It’s a wonderfully done book.  There are some gruesome parts and there are some beautiful parts and at 900 some pages or 12000 locations, it’s a major read but it’s definitely worth the effort.

5 Stars.

The Other Dead by Kevin Eastman, Joshua Ortega, Digger T. Mesch and Qing Ping Mui

This is Book 18 started, book 16 finished

The Other Dead by Kevin Eastman, Joshua Ortega, Digger T. Mesch and Qing Ping Mui

Published by IDW Publishing, April 2014

NOTE: This book was provided by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a graphic novel combining the first 4 comics in a new zombie series, The Other Dead.  In this series, the twist is that animals, not humans, become the zombies, turn into crazed killers and attack all humans.  

This is another series riding the wave of zombie popularity.  To my mind, this one misses the mark.  It’s just not well done; it’s trying too hard. 

First, the characters in the book are mostly unlikable and uninteresting.  I found myself not really caring about any of them.  There is little character development - they are mostly there as place holders - and the dialogue is trite.  There is a President Obama character who just decides to head down to Louisiana in front of a hurricane with a couple Secret Service Agents and one advisor to personally check out these reports of zombies.

The idea of zombified animals has been done before in other universes and done better.  This virus affects all animals and turns them into angry killers who hunt for humans in groups.  Even animals who normally do not travel in herds become pack killers and animals that are otherwise non-aggressive become skilled hunters.  Humans are apparently immune to the virus that affects animals ranging from manatees to squirrels.   Even when one man bites a zombie squirrel to kill it, that isn't enough to pass on the virus to humans.

I enjoy a good zombie tale, but unfortunately, this isn't one of them. 

2 Stars.

Liberty 1784: The Second War for Independence by Robert Conroy

Sorry this one is a bit late ... life happened to me.  I actually finished reading this on the second and just got a chance to write up my thoughts on it....

Book 16 started, Book 14 finished

Liberty 1784: The Second War for Independence by Robert Conroy
Published by Baen Books, March 2014

NOTE: This book was provided by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is my 4th book by Conroy and this one shows he has grown as a writer.  The writing style in this book is much different from 1945, written 7 years ago and even from Castro’s Bomb and Himmler’s War written 3 years ago.  It’s less self-conscious; it pays less attention to the Great Men involved and the History that was changed and pays more attention to the characters as people and their lives as the story unfolds.  There are still the great men and there are still great events but they tend not to be the primary focus.

The turning point for this timeline is the Battle of Yorktown.  A British supply fleet was not defeated prior to the battle so it was able to resupply Cornwallis and Washington was defeated.  This started a series of events that ended with the colonies’ surrender, Washington’s beheading in London, most of our Founding Fathers imprisoned in Jamaica and the rest fleeing west the remnants of the Continental Army not captured and likewise imprisoned.   It’s a decent turning point.

After this, the American colonies are under an increasingly tight rule from Britain with known rebels in hiding or fled.  Rumors abound of a place near present-day Chicago called Liberty that is a rebel stronghold and something of a pressure valve for the colonies as well as an irritating thorn in the British sides.  At the same time the French Revolution is also occurring but with British help for the monarchy; they are worried that these republican uprisings will boil over to Britain and are anxious to stamp them out.

This story, then, is the British determined to stamp out the American rebel stronghold before doing the same to the rebels in France and preserving their way of life.  It is told primarily from the perspective of everyday men and women on the side of the Rebels and from a British Major for the British.   The British are a bit of a caricature of the opinions of the 18th Century Georgian nobility and the American rebels for the most part are all Fine Upstanding people; but it works well.  There’s enough humanity in the British and enough foolishness and self-centeredness in the Americans to make it work.

I did like that the characters spoke like people and not like dry historical figures.  However, there were times when their language went a bit too modern and it just felt wrong.  For example, in one scene, Abigail Morgan, wife of a US Representative from our timeline and a member of the Virginia upper classes, said to a room full of other women, “Fairer and weaker sex my ass.”   That’s just too modern and too blunt.   But, that sort of thing, while there, wasn’t commonplace.

Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I found the premise acceptable.  I’m happy that Conroy stepped away from the mid-20th Century.  He knows that era well, but it’s been done quite a bit in alternate histories.   The story itself was entertaining and well written.  I will look forward to future books from him.

4 stars.