Fun space-opera-ish romp about janitors saving the civilized galaxy, built on a good science fictional foundation. Our heroes and villains are all borFun space-opera-ish romp about janitors saving the civilized galaxy, built on a good science fictional foundation. Our heroes and villains are all born into an unjust world that they did not make. While the world is unjust, it is better than many easily imaginable alternatives. They are all assigned roles that maintain the unjust-but-better-than-it-could-be world. What does a moral actor do? The varying responses are satisfying and sometimes quite explosive. Well worth the time....more
Humanity became zombies. Mostly zombies. Helpful alien cephalopods raise some of us up from zombiehood and give us jobs in military and sanitation. WeHumanity became zombies. Mostly zombies. Helpful alien cephalopods raise some of us up from zombiehood and give us jobs in military and sanitation. We blame ourselves for becoming zombies. There might be something in there about being complicit in your own oppression. Or about dark tentacled things under cold oceans. Quite a funny book, considering. Really, I laughed out loud many times. ...more
The humans and their autonomous AI allies won the first great war. They thought. Turns out, that was just a battle in another great war being fought bThe humans and their autonomous AI allies won the first great war. They thought. Turns out, that was just a battle in another great war being fought between iterations of Skynet with varying attitudes about whether victory with humans in prison camps being transformed into new and exciting cyborgs was the end game or whether extinction was the real goal. That war goes on.
Many of the heroes of the first book are transformed in ways glorious and tragic in this one. Their weaknesses are vigorously exploited by a machine intelligence that seems to revel in cruelty.
There are only two female characters whose point of view we occupy, and neither are quite human. That kinda bugs me.
A more readable book that Robopocalypse, though also more gruesome. ...more
Judgment Day comes. The Machines rise. Humans fight back. Wasn't expecting zombies. That's on me.
I liked this book enormously while I was reading it.Judgment Day comes. The Machines rise. Humans fight back. Wasn't expecting zombies. That's on me.
I liked this book enormously while I was reading it. It purports to be a human survivor's recapitulation of the war as told through materials archived by "Big Rob" (this story's version of Skynet) in a deep, radioactive hole. Big Rob collected our stories, called us heroes, and killed us by the billions.
Having finished it . . . I'm not sure there was much there there. The characters, from the pre-pubescent, partially cyborged daughter of a representative to an American soldier in Afghanistan to an Osage Nation cop to a terrible, terrible, British gamer, to the white man who leads the squad that wins the war all have incredibly similar voices. Only a machine ally and an elderly Japanese engineer have distinctive tones. And I cannot tell if the epigraph the narrator repeats several times: "We are a better people for having fought this war" is supposed to be taken on face value or as one of those things the traumatized seize on to make sense of their trauma or something darker still.
Still, great fun to read and I suspect would have been a smashing movie. ...more
Wu Zetian rises like a dragon. She is a poor girl her family is eager to sell for coin. She wants revenge on the pilot who killed her sister. She is wWu Zetian rises like a dragon. She is a poor girl her family is eager to sell for coin. She wants revenge on the pilot who killed her sister. She is willing to die, and condemn her family, for that revenge. She gets that revenge and so much more.
Wu Zetian is a woman in a world that does not value them - except some rare ones who, in concert with rare men, can pilot Pacific-Rim-Jager-esque murder bots repurposed from the (they believe) invaders who are trying to wipe them out. Once Zeitian starts to buck against the role she's given, she discovered that not only has the patriarchy made her complicit in her own oppression, the world is much, more more evil than that. As she reflects:
I've been told endless lies since I was born. That I was not kind enough, considerate enough, humble enough, honorable enough, pretty enough, pleasing enough. And that if I failed to meet the needs of those around me, I did not deserve to live.
Propaganda. All of it. Propaganda to keep me chasing after the approval of others on my bound and broken feet, as if being a good servant is the only thing I should feel proud of.
Now, I see the truth.
This world does not deserve my respect. It is not worthy of my kindness or compassion.
. . . Fuck the cabin in the mountains . . . Let's rule the world.(388)
This book is dark. Wu Zetian and those she love are the victims of horrific violence. She, in turn, inflicts horrific violence. The blurb on the front call it "a primal scream of a book" which is not wrong. Humanity is described as the scourge on the universe and there is no lie I see in these humans. Wu Zetian is not Buffy. While she desperately wants to save girls from going to their deaths in murderbots as a general proposition, she's willing to kill innocents herself. If the fucking patriarchy had been smart enough to suborn her, it could have ruled a thousand years. But it wasn't.
Stross has made me empathize with a vampire. A vampire who, when she was human, appeared to be a sociopath. Who used to be the HR manager for a bunch Stross has made me empathize with a vampire. A vampire who, when she was human, appeared to be a sociopath. Who used to be the HR manager for a bunch of quants. And who is now a baroness and Nyarlothotep's executioner. Stross is amazing.
The Laundry Files have always been dark. Since at least the days of Queen Elizabeth I, it seems, the Brits have been keeping demons on the payroll for the greater good, James Bonding their way to save humanity from worst demons. Now they've installed an elder god as PM. He's deemed, correctly, the lesser of eldritch evils in a world where the Americans are attempting to wake up Cthulhu and install him in the president-sized hole the Black Chamber made when it made almost all Americans forget we ever had three branches of government.
The PM has sent his executioner, Mhari Murphy, to extract the president -- possibly for his skull -- and to chat with Cthulhu. Wackiness ensues.
While the Laundry Files have always been dark, this one seemed darker. Might just be the stakes are more immediate. Cthulhu could eat the world if he wakes up and it seems the entire might of the US intelligence services have been turned to wake up duties. Our friendly eldritch god, the PM, is planning a monument of skulls in London. Mhari Murphy is a superhero surrounded by superheroes and she is absolutely terrified.
Great cover; great conceit; okay execution. One of two books I got on one trip to the library that should have been great but were just too glib to geGreat cover; great conceit; okay execution. One of two books I got on one trip to the library that should have been great but were just too glib to get there. This one largely ends up a Star Wars satire where Luke's a Nazi and Han's a rich heiress.
Normalizes Nazis in a way I find disquieting....more
The last surviving piece of a hive mind that once was a war ship goes on a Mission of Vengeance against the hegemony (or at least, what ever hegemons The last surviving piece of a hive mind that once was a war ship goes on a Mission of Vengeance against the hegemony (or at least, what ever hegemons she can get to) with her trusty alien gun and her less trusty former captain who has become a drug addict sometimes in the last 1,000 years. With singing.
Self conscious updates of some traditional stories about lone gunmen, lone gunmen with buddies, and appropriate responses to horrific oppression. (Our POV character had her identity wiped away and replaced by a war space ship for FSM’s sake). Plays with identity, gender, and justice in a fun way. Don’t get why it got the Sad Puppies’ so worked up. ...more
The bad guys write the framing narrative. In this world, the beneficent Doom creates Captain Marvel out of the baby Carol Danvers to be their shield aThe bad guys write the framing narrative. In this world, the beneficent Doom creates Captain Marvel out of the baby Carol Danvers to be their shield and she, with her merry band of fighter pilots, protect the Battle World from bad guys. The Carol Corps start to get suspicious about the framing narrative, which is nicely meta.
I'm hopelessly out of touch with the Battle World/Secret Wars story line, so I'm sure I missed a lot of the layers here, but it was still fun. ...more
The Odyssey in space with a nearly all female cast. Including the cyclops. Who still barfs the remains of Odysseus's shipmates on her and still has heThe Odyssey in space with a nearly all female cast. Including the cyclops. Who still barfs the remains of Odysseus's shipmates on her and still has her eye taken out -- this time by All Men, not No Man. Which is dark because Zeus (female in this take) killed almost all the males.
The writing is beautiful, the art is beautiful, the story . . . not sure yet. It's a freaking retelling of one of the greatest stories ever told; a seminal text told by the best story tellers of our world again and again. Joss Whedon even sang a tribute verse. These women are coming back from the war transformed; these women's journey home is beset by trials and monsters. Just like so many soldiers and adventurers before them. But if there's a little deeper level I haven't seen it yet. ...more
A tale of a well accomplished man coming to terms with the fact that he is, in fact, a geek.
It is not a deep text. It reminds me of a lot of the bookA tale of a well accomplished man coming to terms with the fact that he is, in fact, a geek.
It is not a deep text. It reminds me of a lot of the books I am mildly exasperated with in my reading groups; books where some accessible POV character bridges the gap between us ladies in the reading group to some putatively alien or alienated group or person, and ends up telling us more about the POV character’s journey than anything else. I think there must be a style guide somewhere for books to be sold to reading groups that requires such. And some of the metaphors are cringeworthy. “Making a Python reference in a room full of geeks is like bringing brownies to a Weight Watchers meeting. It could take hours to restore order.” (21). Really? We gotta insert a gratuitous, mildly misogynistic slam on people who engage in a different sort of social game play, Ewalt, implying that brownies would cause hours of chaos among mostly-female dieters?
In fairness, this book is about this guy’s journey, woven into a thousand foot high sketch of the history of Dungeons and Dragons, and not a deep dive into the archetypes and architecture of group story telling. I would have liked that latter book better, but this is the book my husband (a once again gamer) asked me to read.
The title is connotatively misleading. Ewalt may have suffered mild discomfort coming to terms with his geekness, but it was in no way a meditation on the agonies of life on par with Robert Burns’ mouse or Steinbeck’s men. I would have enjoyed the book more if that hadn’t been irritating me.
I enjoyed the author’s affection for Gary Gygax, and I appreciated learning that D&D had roots in military strategy games. And I love Ewalt’s proposal for a Michael Cera, Channing Tatum, and Kristen Stewart D&D buddy movie. (103).
Could have used a hard edit and some deeper themes, but competently written. ...more
Enjoyed the pages as they turned. This story was cleverly told and this book was cleverly constructed. But it's suffused with nostalgia, and, with apoEnjoyed the pages as they turned. This story was cleverly told and this book was cleverly constructed. But it's suffused with nostalgia, and, with apologies to Linton Barwick, nostalgia is a thing I cannot abide. (cf http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/In-the-L...) (also cf. SIR MALCOLM). And it left me disgruntled. Love the idea we'll be essentially crowd sourcing our resistance to the interplanetary invasion. But seriously, the human race is so dump we can't figure out that the space Nazis are - well, spoilers. But OMFSM, I hope we aren't that dumb if, with apologies to WITS, it comes right down to it.
I discovered Heinlein, I think, about the same time I discovered Star Trek; when I discovered the idea that we could build a better world and go live I discovered Heinlein, I think, about the same time I discovered Star Trek; when I discovered the idea that we could build a better world and go live in it. For some heady teenage years I read him again and again, delighted and fascinated by this brave new world with such people in it who were tackling the big questions with seemingly clear eyes. And then I stopped, increasingly soured by his flat characters, their smugness and certainty, the intrusive bits of racism, misogyny and homophobia, and my increasing discomfort with whatever the frell Lazarus Long was doing with his mother.
In my more forgiving years, I realize the man was a progressive and so much better than he should have been. Recruiting engineers for the World War Two effort he took schools that did not allow women to take classes to task and accused them of losing the war. He had characters of various religions and ethnicities and would not budge to make his books more palatable to publishing houses. He worked hard on anti-poverty programs. He tried hard not to succumb to the prejudices of his culture and succeeded more than most of us.
This book was a bit of a hagiography and I ended up skimming large portions where, as far as I can tell, Heinlein lived an ordinary life. But I liked the bits where he didn’t. ...more
We go to war on false pretenses. We throw our best and brighest into battle as the world turns away into its own transformations. Our reluctant hero, We go to war on false pretenses. We throw our best and brighest into battle as the world turns away into its own transformations. Our reluctant hero, Mandella lives for four years in a series of time dilated deployments and humanity becomes something entirely different. And the it was over.
A classic of the genre. An unsparing look at a ridiculous war and a ridiculous society that wages it.
It hasn’t aged all that well, though it was a progressive text at its time. Most glaringly, while the war is being fought elsewhere, humanity starts taking charge of its own evolution, which includes a long period of mandatory homosexuality. That’s interesting, though the mechanisms are implausible and the people our hero brushes by end up stereotyped in cringeoworthy ways. I hear tell Haldeman says he would have done it differently now. It was the 1970s.
Great job of using the power of the genre to literalize metaphors and play with them. ...more
Captain Marvel can punch a planet. DeConnick did a masterful job of giving her an un-punchable enemy. Who, with a little help from her friends, she maCaptain Marvel can punch a planet. DeConnick did a masterful job of giving her an un-punchable enemy. Who, with a little help from her friends, she manages to beat and save the world, again. She does that a lot. ...more
At last, the civil war is won by a confederate spy-turned Pinkerton-turned Union agent, a pirate on a dirigible, the first computer engineer, a nurse,At last, the civil war is won by a confederate spy-turned Pinkerton-turned Union agent, a pirate on a dirigible, the first computer engineer, a nurse, Abe and Mary Lincoln, President Ulysses S. Grant, and a man deciding not to unleash a doomsday weapon against a major American city.
Priest can write. The pacing is excellent; the stakes gripping, and the small scale prose is beautiful. For example, this paragraph about the President of the United States breaking into the Secretary of War’s office:
“He reached for the knob, but its firm, reassuring lock suggested that a smith would be required to compromise it. The president did not have a smith handy, and he didn’t feel like calling one. Instead, he had the silence of this particular hall, confidence that the office’s occupant was absent, and a hammer hidden inside his coat.” (156).
That’s beautiful.
That said, I’m unsettled by this series. I can’t tell if it’s a deep and wry exploration of war and how it gets its own inertia; treating people as things; Dick Cheney; and dirigibles or if it’s just a set of stories about people dressing up in steam punk gear and having adventures. With zombies. I enjoy them while I’m reading them, but not so much the having read. Maybe it’s just my profound skepticism about Steam Punk as nostalgia for feudalism with gears on hats, pace http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-..., Girl Genius notwithstanding. ...more
Great repurposing of a text. This Captain Marvel is not a damsel in distress. Though, I’m getting from the summary in the back, she often has been. ShGreat repurposing of a text. This Captain Marvel is not a damsel in distress. Though, I’m getting from the summary in the back, she often has been. She is a woman who was transformed by will, desire, and alien technology, into something astonishingly powerful. And now she goes back in time and makes the world just a little better. Or, at least, just a little less conquered by the Kree.
I saw DeConnick at Girl Geek Con a few weeks ago, and she commented that she made a mistake. Once upon a time, she dismissed the possibility of making one of the WWII era fighter pilots African American because that historically inaccurate. Since, she’s noted all the other historical inaccuracies in this work and others and has come out feeling pretty ookie about it. I need to think more about these things.
Modern mythology. With a sense of humor. Worth the time. ...more
Darn enjoyable. The pages turned. I like the idea that "It's a compelling point" is code for "You are completely full of shit, but arguing with you woDarn enjoyable. The pages turned. I like the idea that "It's a compelling point" is code for "You are completely full of shit, but arguing with you would be pointless, so I am going to change the subject on you." (139). I may have to add that to my communication armory.
This book is set after the not-Federation ("The Conclave") bypasses the not-Evil Empire ("The Colonial Union") and sends a trade delegation directly to Earth ("Earth"), letting Earth know that the not-Evil Empire has been pretty stingy with information about the bigger galaxy, among other things. Each story is a stand alone tale about a loose cast of important but (mostly) secondary characters in that grand drama of humanity's future history. The stakes are very high, the enemies very sneaky and Kantian-Imperative violating. As are our allies and heroes. But one of them saves a dog, so I've gotta like him.
Probably suffered from being the first book I read after The Ocean at the End of the Lane and re-reading American Gods. The characters seemed less vivid and more interchangeable with each other, the plots-within-plots more quotidian, the moral arc from beginning to end less satisfying. Too many of the characters seemed to have the same voice. (An homage to Heinlein?).
It doesn't wrap up the problem it presents. But it does leave me wanting the next season.
This book begins with an extended fart joke. Sheep diddling is a major plot point. The protagonist of the book might be a wee bit too perfect, in a HeThis book begins with an extended fart joke. Sheep diddling is a major plot point. The protagonist of the book might be a wee bit too perfect, in a Heinleinesque way, but he’s so funny I have to forgive it. And the ending – oh man. Good chum of mine says that Scalzi writes excellent endings, and I think she’s right. Ties up the story and has some fun things to suggest about parliamentary procedure. Also sheep. ...more
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