Swarm by B. V. Larson

This is a real scifi with aliens, robots, spaceships and laser guns. Time after time it is refreshing to listen to an audiobook without overcomplicated concepts. The story goes around an old concept: aliens attack the Earth to pirate its raw materials. Other aliens send help, so the humanity has a chance to defend itself. But then comes a spin: the help arrives in a form of automated ships, which pick up their command personnel by their own. In the process selecting the suitable candidates they kill the unsuitable ones without hesitation.

After losing his children, it takes time for the hero to come to the conclusion that these ships are not evil, but simply follow an algorithm. Nothing is black and white, as it is the case in real life.

I enjoyed the story, which develops from ships killing people to war with giant robots. And of course, there are nanorobots, which injected into people make them superhuman.

If you want a "shoot the alien robots" type of story, this one will entertain you.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The girl with the dragon tattoo strikes back - with a little help of her friends. This book is the third in the series, and I enjoyed all of them. I'm really sorry that there will be no more books in the Millennium series.

For many people the plot flows slowly. I like fast paced stories myself, but Larsson draws so rich picture of events that I didn't mind the very detailed scenes. Sometimes I was wandering if some particular chain of events was necessary, for example the subplot about the harassment of Erika Berger could be left out. However it added to the whole picture, and I was satisfied that the bad guy got caught.

The characters are very well done. You not often see an anti-social, introvert person as protagonist, but I have ot admit, it worked just fine. Lisbeth Salander is small, but very capable. Her look doesn't say anything about her hacker skills and problem solving abilities. By the way, I was thinking about who is the real protagonist in the Millennium trilogy, and I would say there are two: Salander and Blomkvist. So actually, besides the strange protagonist we also have a hero, who fights for the truth.

In spite of the relatively slow flow, there is a lot of action. The story is compelling, the stakes are high, even the constitutional rights are threatened. There are some really bad guys on the loose within the secret service, who do anything it takes to keep their secret undiscovered: they break into apartments, bug telephones, deceive prosecutors, and they are not afraid of killing people.

Fortunately the good guys outsmart them, and the end gives the satisfaction that the truth wins over the lies.

On Target by Mark Greaney

Sometimes I discover new authors, I mean they are new to me. One of them is Mark Greaney. I have never heard of him before, but I'm glad I've bought his book.
On Target is about an "independent contractor", meaning assassin called the Grey Man. At first it was strange to see a bad guy as a protagonist, but soon I learned that he is more like a surgeon: cutting out tumors from the body of the society. He is after the really bad guys, which makes him somewhat a good guy.

The story got me from the beginning, and kept my dopamine level high: cool, what's next? The idea of kidnapping the Saudi president is crazy on it's own, but when following the story, it's completely logical. Which doesn't make it less dangerous, because something always go wrong.  Planning is necessary, but plans are always turn into mess at the end. It is so in On Target. The Grey Man has to adapt and improvise right from the beginning to be able to accomplish the final goal. And at the end it's still not what he wanted. Ok, I may sound a little cryptic here, but I don't want to spoil the story, in case you haven't read it yet.

This is the second Gray Man book, I believe, and sometimes I missed some backstory (what happened in the first book), but there were enough references to enjoy this story.

The book is well written, and I could immerse in the story forgetting that I'm listening to a book.

 

Redshirts by John Scalzi

I'm fan of Scalzi since I read Old Man's War. I could hardly wait to lay my hand on Redshirts. If you've read Scalzi before, you have some idea what to expect. Interesting plot, good characters and sarcasm, which mix into an enjoyable story. And I got it this time, too.

I love the story. Besides being a story on its own, it is a tribute to Star Trek. I was too young to watch the original Star Trek series, but I was deeply involved in The Next Generation and Voyager as audience. So the message comes through just fine.

Spoiler here, so you may want to skip this paragraph if you haven't read the book. The "protagonist realize that he is within a story, being a puppet of the writer" can be a cliché, but Scalzi does it well, and I like the part when the story characters come into the real world. The way Hester (I'm spelling it after hearing, I hope it spells like this) saves Matthew's life is really original.

It is a nice touch that Wil Wheaton narrates the audio book, who himself was part of the show, being more than an extra :) I have one problem with the narration, though. He does it on the same voice, no matter which character speaks. The intonation is very good, but I miss that the tone of the voice doesn't change (as, for example Nick Podehl performs in The Wise Man's Fear).

And I have another problem: every time somebody speaks, there is that " he said". Or "she said". Or "(place the name here) said". Sometimes "asked" instead of "said". Every time the dialogue goes to another character. Every. Time. It drove me crazy at the beginning, then it faded to slightly irritating.

I like the codas, by the way. I enjoy those stories, which have cross-references to other stories, or feature characters from another one. They give a deeper layer to the book, and they have their own message.

Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I liked The Name of The Wind, the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles for the same reasons I like The Wise Man's Fear. It picks up the story right at the point when the previous book ends.

The author is very good in storytelling; I really enjoyed the way the book was written. (I listened to the audiobook, the voice narration added a lot to the pleasure.) Generally I enjoy more the fast paced stories. In this book the author took his time to build up the plot, and to explain the whys in detail, so I cannot say that the story flows quickly. But it didn't bother me at all. Moreover, I enjoyed that everything what happened had a well-established reason and explanation.

There were more adventures in this book, and they were more interesting. The trouble Kvothe got into were more serious, and the mood of the story grew darker.

The characters were well drawn, alive and believable. It was satisfying that Kvothe was not an undefeatable hero, who always won. He had his talent and also his flaws.

There is a well explained magic system, which makes the whole thing believable.

Sometimes the story got a little bit lengthy, I wouldn't say it was boring, but I could imagine some cuts.

All in all, it was an excellent book; I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Live Free or Die (Troy Rising, #1) by John Ringo

I listened to the audiobook version.

The story takes an interesting approach to alien contact. An advanced race, the Glatun places a space gate close to Earth, which makes possible to travel huge distances. Doing so, they connect the Earth to the other species. But instead of a big hype, they simply give a "phone notification" to the presidents of the most important countries, and then they leave.

Another unusual turn is that another race, the Horvath oppresses the Earth, taking our valuable metals.

Usually, in other books what comes next is a heroic fight for the freedom of the planet, but not in this one. Vernon takes small steps, first trading with the Glatun to get finance for other projects, and then he buys space ships to mine asteroids. Finally he builds a super asteroid-fortress to defend the Earth from the Horvath. This makes the story more "real", more believable.

Another point, which distinguishes this story from the tiresome hollywood plots is that people die in the fight. Whole cities are destroyed.

The one thing I found disturbing is that the author gave too much scientific details. While it could be compelling to someone working in the research or science field, sometimes it was boring for me.

I think the title really fits the story, because the main character, Tyler Vernon rather dies than let the aliens occupy the Earth. Vernon is not a hero like Superman. He is an ordinary man, but still he has strong values.

I enjoyed this audio book, and recommend for listening.

Redshirts by John Scalzi is out

Old Man's War is my favourite book. If you can get the audiobook version, don't hesitate, it's awesome.

His new book, Redshirts is out. First I was disappointed that the kindle version will come out on 15 November. Who can wait so long? Not me. Fortunately I could buy the Audible version, and I'm looking forward to listen to it.

Review: The sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Being a sci-fi fan, I don't really know why I haven't read this book earlier. It's a classic one.

The Sirens of Titan is very well written, I enjoyed the unmistakable style of Vonnegut. His satiric voice is famous, and is a trade mark of his stories. His choice of words is very good.

Using important subjects, for example religion, the book mocks at the human nature, which sometimes can take strange curves.

The story is funny, and often surprising. Vonnegut don't spare the characters, he gives them hard time.

I suspect that there were more hidden messages behind the front story, which I couldn't really grab. By one hand because I'm not good in deciphering symbols, sometimes I have trouble finding the hidden message between the lines. And by the other hand because the book was written in 1959, in a completely different era, with different problems, different world and all.

Still, there is something strange about the Sirens of Titan I cannot put my finger on - is it intentional? - so I gave four stars.

Zelda Pryce: The Razor's Edge by Joss Llewelyn

Zelda Pryce is a young talented security expert, who uses arcane machines in her work. When she accepts a job to test the security of the British Museum she finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy against arcane objects. If these objects would disappear, thousands would suffer, even die, because arcane devices are widely used, for example as prosthetic limbs.

Zelda joins the French secret agent alchemist, racing against time to find the dangerous person behind the misuse of the Checkov Gun, Occam's Razor and other magical devices. A talented thief also appears and helps them time after time. They travel from London to Rome, and from the Castle of Frankenstein to the Taj Mahal.

The story is entertaining, and I found the arcane devices interesting. They are based on real objects, persons and theories, and they moved my imagination.

Axis by Charles Wilson

I enjoyed Spin, the prequel of this book, and I was looking forward to read Axis. The story is interesting. It picks up the storyline 30 years after Spin ends, and it is about the alien race who caused Earth's spinning. Scientists try to establish a connection by altering the DNA of a child, who - according to the hopes of the scientists - would be able to "speek" with them.

While the idea is compelling, I was disappointed at the end. I felt the book unfinished. The whole purpose of the story was to pave the way to the big event of the connection with the aliens. But I never learned what happened when the superboy entered the gate and finally met the aliens.

Most of the time I enjoyed Wilson's writing, but several times I skipped paragraphs, because I found them only ranting.

The Name of the Wind

This is the first book I read from Patrick Rothfuss, and I defenitely will read more. The story is very entertaining, and well written, I could see the the whole plot unfolding in front of my eyes.

The characters are deep, well drawn, without any cliches. For me the most important about characters, that their acts are based on their emotions, thoughts, earlier experiences. So nothing sudden an unexpected happens, nor they have attributions only for the sake of the story. Rothfuss did it well.

I enjoyed the world building. It is so detailed, that I had the feeling like reading a real story, not a fiction. The places were well described. I was not overwhelmed by the history, but always got enough information to be able to place what was happening. The magic, mithology and arkana is worked out well, make sense, not overdone.

At the beginning I thought it flowed slowly for my taste, but then I realised that every event had its importance, and was referred to later. I was sorry when I arrived at the end, and decided to buy the next book in the series.

Where is the pure genre?

I recently read the novella titled His Name In Lights by Patty Jansen. It was refreshing. This is the review I wrote on Amazon:

Real science-fiction story. This is what came into my mind reading this novella. I'm tired of novels I read lately, mixing romance, paranormal and SF. His Name In Lights is a refreshingly original sci-fi story, reminding me of Asimov's robot novels. It raises questions I'm not sure ever would be answered, like: what makes us human, our body, our soul, or both together?; what is the relation between creator and creature?
The story has some aspects reflecting to the desire for political power, which is again, an attribution the mankind cannot get rid of.

I was thinking about the phenomenon I see in more and more books: mixing sci-fi with fantasy, paranormal with sci-fi, romance with paranormal, and so on. I member of the Goodreads and The LibraryThing community, and I received several books for free in exchange of reviews. Some of them were good, some others were average. There were some of this "mixed genre" type books, and while I did enjoy reading them, I could not get rid of some strange feeling.

When I considered one aspect of these books, I didn't find it compelling enough. They were not really sci-fi. They were not really paranormal. They were not really romance. Something was missing, those things which make you say "aha!" or "ooh!". You would think that when all of the aspects are put together, they compose a complex and interesting story. Strangely, it didn't work for me as it should have. I think it's because non of the genre lines were exploited in great depth, like you do writing a pure genre book.

Maybe it's just me, remembering the pure sci-fi books of old days. This is why I enjoyed the book His Name in Lights more.

Change in content

I started this blog to post my book reviews, but decided to strech it a little. I will write about other subjects too, mainly writing - learning to write, that is.

I consider myself a wannabe writer. I started to take writing seriously a year ago, and I'm reading a lot about it, practically everything I can put my hands on. Fortunately valuable sources are available online. I wrote a few short stories, and I'm working on my first novel.

So here I am, learning how to write compelling stuff.