LibraryThing reviews of books in charliebucket's library)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson [reviewed by pixxiefish]

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 04:36:20 -0500

pixxiefish's review: "<a href='http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2007/07/cryptonomicon-by-neal-stephenson.html' rel='nofollow' target='_new'>http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...</a> Well, the third time's a charm. I first started to try to read this a number of years ago, while still a grad student, and quickly put it aside. Too big, too much. Then I tried again this past Christmas, while on vacation in Bali, but having just finished Simon Winchester's lengthy, though fascinating, book on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it was again quickly put aside, again, too big, too much. But as my time in Japan was winding down, I tried once more. And this time, I couldn't stop reading. In the classic 'just one more chapter' routine, I stayed up quite late, night after night, reading on and on, wanting to know and see and hear and experience more and more. In a nutshell, it's a fascinating (but GIANT) novel, covering over 50 years in cryptography (code-breaking, essentially), from WWII to modern-day. There are three major story lines, but once I got used to who was who (which took a few chapters), I never got lost again. It's an excellent, compelling, fascinating read, and I highly recommend it."
Arrow (2000), Paperback, 918 pages

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson [reviewed by bluetyson]

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:22:38 -0500

bluetyson's review: "<a href="http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780380788620">http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780380788620</a> A great, rambling novel. At times the rambling and wandering can lead to it seeming to become tedious, and sometimes the rambling is good. Some discourse on computer systems, as three university friends are working in different parts of the world during the war, all having studied the same sort of cryptanalysis. There is a lot more than that in this geeky tract, however. <a href="http://freesf.blogspot.com/2008/10/cryptonomicon-neal-stephenson.html">http://freesf.blogspot.com/2008/10/cryptonomicon-neal-stephenson.html</a>"
Hugo Novel

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson [reviewed by bluetyson]

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:34:19 -0500

The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge [reviewed by jshillingford]

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:20:10 -0400

jshillingford's review: "This novel reminded me of "Dune" in a lot of ways. It was a sweeping epic that spanned galaxies, with lots of main characters, but was centered on a small world with a very important commodity that extends life. And both commodities have unusual, biological sources. But, after that these two books diverge greatly. Tiamet is ruled by the Snow Queen. She has ruled for nearly 150 years and will die when the wormhole to other worlds closes during "summer." Tiamet changes from a technological society to a rural one when the other worlders take their advances and go. It is then that the Summer Queen will reign. Only, the Snow Queen doesn't want to give up her throne, or the technology. One technology may hold her answer - cloning. Like Herbert, Vinge does get a little carried away with her world building. There are a lot of details that aren't really necessary and bog the book down at times, but overall a reader is completely absorbed. The main characters are fully developed, especially the Queen, and the political machinations are believable and complex. Vinge dallies with serious issues like witholding technology from lesser-developed societies and exploiting natural resources, while also giving us a plot ripe with murder, intrigue and pursuit of power. This book has a lot of depth, great character development and an intricate plot. Highly recommended!"
Grand Central Publishing (1989), Mass Market Paperback, 469 pages

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [reviewed by bluetyson]

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:24:15 -0500

bluetyson's review: "War is bad, and takes way too long. An obvious anti-war criticism piece, as we follow the two protagonists through a war between humans and aliens. The smartest, strongest and fastest young are recruited to be soldiers in this fight, and some of them don't even make it through training, and everyone knows only a small percentage will survive, perhaps. Because of time dilation effects coming back from missions survived will mean much time has passed on Earth and the combatants will feel out of place and inclined to sign up with the military again as people that understand them. An outstanding example of its type. The book is a 'fix-up' if you like, taken from a novella, two novelettes and a short story published in Analog magazine. The details, with the book name for the piece second :- Forever War : Hero [Private Mandella] - Joe W. Haldeman Forever War : We Are Very Happy Here [Sergeant Mandella 2007-2024 A.D.] - Joe W. Haldeman Forever War : This Best of All Possible Worlds [Lieutenant Mandella 2024-2389 A.D.] - Joe W. Haldeman Forever War : End Game [Major Mandella 2458-3143] - Joe W. Haldeman "...Then some bright lad in the General Assembly decided that we ought to field an army of footsoldiers to guard the portal planets of the nearer collapsars. This led to the Elite Conscription Act of 1996 and the most elitely conscripted army in the history of warfare." 5 out of 5 Stuck in an interstellar war for a bloody long time, lying bastard Army. 5 out of 5 Panty raid, prosthetics and promotion. 4 out of 5 When the war is over got to start again. After a worldclone debrief and a time machine shuttle meetup. 4.5 out of 5 <A href="http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/10/forever-war-joe-haldeman.html">http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/10/forever-war-joe-haldeman.html</A>"
Nebula Novel

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [reviewed by bluetyson]

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:21:55 -0500

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [reviewed by Jvstin]

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:35:56 -0500

Jvstin's review: "Why did I wait so long to read this? Bester's depiction of a future world where nearly everyone can jaunte, or teleport, and his protagonist Gully Foyle is a classic of SF and now I know why. The plot is strongly reminiscent of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, complete with an undereducated, imprisoned protagonist who escapes and uses the power and wealth he falls into as a tool against his enemies. However, its more than that. Bester explores the implications of a society where everyone can teleport. What happens to privacy in homes? How do you imprison someone? How does the social structure change? And Bester doesn't even stop there, when the nature of the real Macguffin that was aboard Foyle's ship is revealed, and even beyond that, the true abilities that Foyle protests. Sure, by the standards of today, there are a few weaknesses in the plot and the writing--characterization, mostly, of the characters outside of Foyle himself. Still, the book holds up today very well indeed. Its clear that The Stars My Destination is one of those novels that anyone who considers themselves educated in the seminal texts of SF must read. Let me clarify that though, since it makes it sound like its a chore to read. The Stars My Destination is fun, engaging, well written and entertaining. If you enjoy SF and you haven't read it--do so."
Vintage (1996), Paperback, 272 pages

The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper fforde [reviewed by revslick]

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:11:59 -0500

revslick's review: "way too many plots... but still funny enough to rate a 3 but just by a fraction"
Viking Penguin (2003), Edition: 1st, Paperback

Neuromancer by William Gibson [reviewed by tkraft]

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:06:11 -0400

tkraft's review: "The father novel of cyberpunk giving rise to the vocabulary and feel of future cyberpunk such as The Matrix. Lots of fun, a must read for anyone who even pretends to be a sci-fi fan."
Ace Hardcover (2004), Hardcover, 384 pages

The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber [reviewed by nwhyte]

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 15:25:53 -0400

nwhyte's review: "<a href="http://nhw.livejournal.com/357870.html">http://nhw.livejournal.com/357870.html</a> Set in the very near future (Russians and Americans have manned missions to the moon). A rogue planet appears out of space and starts to dismantle the moon. The resultant high tides and earthquakes cause widespread devastation on Earth. So far, so pulp. But what I think won Leiber the award is that the story is so well written. A dozen or so different viewpoint characters, some of them rather less prominent than others; a proper sensawunda with regard to the main plot; aliens who actually seem alien; a surprising amount of sex (of course, this was coming into the Swingin Sixties I suppose). Recommended."
Gollancz (2001), Collectors, Paperback

The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge [reviewed by nwhyte]

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 15:24:33 -0400

nwhyte's review: "<a href="http://nhw.livejournal.com/360447.html">http://nhw.livejournal.com/360447.html</a> A great story of concealed clones, hidden knowledge, the interaction between cultures, and good pacing and characterisation."
Bantam Doubleday Dell (1984), Paperback

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [reviewed by nwhyte]

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 06:25:56 -0400

nwhyte's review: "<a href="http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/forwar.htm">http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/forwar.htm</a> William Mandella is a physics graduate, drafted in the year 1997 to fight an interstellar war against the unknown Tauran enemy. Because the battlefields themselves are light-years away, Mandella spends most of the book slipping forward into the future thanks to time dilation, and thus becoming progressively more alienated from the society which he was recruited to serve. But he falls in love with a fellow soldier (the army of 1997 and later years being gender-balanced) and despite all obstacles they get back together. The book ends with a birth announcement from the happy couple - a narrative closure which is also used by Mary Gentle at the end of her medieval fantasy war novel, Ash: A Secret History. The sequences portraying life as a soldier, in training or in a combat situation, are gripping and unforgettable. Haldeman has put a lot of his experiences as an actual soldier in the Vietnam war into the book. William is his own middle name, and Mandella almost an anagram of Haldeman (see his interview with Spaced Out, the Australian gay and lesbian sf club). Mandella's lover has Haldeman's wife's maiden name, Marygay Potter. The two colossal strengths of the book are the portrayal of the psychological experience of combat, and the depiction of the progressive alienation of the soldiers from the rest of humanity, culminating in the awful revelation that the war was basically a mistake. As a civilian veteran of Balkan and Irish conflicts myself, I'm not unfamiliar with the psychological effects of war on the participants, and Haldeman gets it right. In a sense the protagonists of the Forever War are relatively fortunate in that there seem to be very few civilian casualties directly resulting from the conflict. Not that they see it that way, as the casualty rate among military participants is huge, and our hero gains rapid promotion merely for staying alive (though as a highly intelligent graduate he must have been officer material anyway). (Brandon Ray subsequently pointed out on rec.arts.sf.written that this isn't necessarily so, since all the recruits were enlisted by the Elite Conscription Act.) The military stuff seemed well thought out. I particularly liked the gimmick of the stasis field, within with electricity doesn't work so our soldiers have to resort to edged weapons. The science behind it may well be rubbish but the military implications were sensibly developed. (And anyone who doubts that the military could possibly jump at shadows to such an extent as to wage war against an enemy that wasn't in fact an enemy should consider such recent events as the US military's hysterical reaction to the International Criminal Court and its bizarre fixation with National Missile Defense, a project that will cost vast amounts of money to defend against a threat that is vanishingly unlikely to transpire.) However despite the undeniable power of the core message of the book, much of the packaging is flawed. The book begins in a world where interstellar space travel has been developed by 1997, which now seems optimistically premature to the 21st century reader. The first edition, which actually won the Hugo and Nebula awards, features a section set in a future Geneva where the UN is now based - a Geneva where the local population has suddenly started speaking German! And although there may some day be a gender-balanced army which tolerates soft drug use, encourages other ranks to say "Fuck you, Sir!" to officers, and enforces (hetero)sexual activity among its recruits, this seems as unlikely now as it must have done in 1975. The book's biggest problem - and this has often been acknowledged by Haldeman - is its handling of sexuality. In a year when Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren, Joanna Russ's The Female Man, and Robert Silverberg's The Stochastic Man were pushing the boundaries of the portrayal of sex in science fiction, The Forever War's take on the issue seems rather unimaginative. The 1997 army enforces one-on-one heterosexual activity, with daily rotation of partners, among its personnel, none of whom appear to be particularly upset by this. A few decades later, the entire world has become homosexual as a means of population control, which seems rather disproportionate. Mandella sticks to his heterosexual guns, and does not appear in the least tempted to try it the other way (unlike the hero of Frederik Pohl's Gateway which also won both Hugo and Nebula, two years later). And the ending, where our hero retrieves his lost love while the rest of the human race has surrendered its identity to a race of bisexual telepathic clones, seemed to me on first reading simply silly. I may be being unfair to the author here. Haldeman retorts in the introduction to "A Separate War", in the Robert Silverberg-edited collection Far Horizons, that: The Forever War does not have a happy ending. Marygay and William do get back together - the book ends with the birth announcement of their first child - but they're together on a prison planet, preserved as genetic curiosities in a universe where the human race has abandoned its humanity in a monstrous liaison with its former enemy. That's all very well as an explanation (twenty years on) of what was in the author's mind when he wrote it, but it doesn't really come across on the printed page of the book where the happy ending appears to be the point of the narrative. And it isn't sufficient, to this reader anyway, to justify the proliferation of homosexuality followed by the telepathic clones as a part of the metaphor for the alienation of Mandella from the rest of the human race; by today's standards this is either naive or offensive. To an extent we should forgive the book its anachronisms; we still enjoy Shakespeare's Julius Caesar even though his depiction of Roman life (with clocks, hats and doublets) is rather different from ours. The flaws are real, but the passion is real as well. The Forever War is not a timeless classic, but it is a classic of its own time, and will no doubt continue to be read for its passion rather than its predictive accuracy. And after all, sf would be a very boring (and small) genre if it was actually rated on its ability to predict the future! "
Orion Pub Co (1998), Paperback

The forever war by Joe Haldeman [reviewed by nwhyte]

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 06:23:24 -0400

Neuromancer by William Gibson [reviewed by nwhyte]

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 16:50:32 -0400

nwhyte's review: "<a href="http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/hn2.htm#neur">http://www.nicholaswhyte.info/sf/hn2.htm#neur</a> Won absolutely all the prizes and now identified as the archetypal cyberpunk novel. I have read it but actually can't remember anything about it except for Gibson's dazzling style. I have the same problem with his later books - you know you're being bombarded with description which all seems to hang together but after you've finished you can't remember any of the plot"
London: Voyager, 1995, c1984. [320]p 20cm pbk

Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) by Neal Stephenson [reviewed by bezoar44]

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:31:22 -0500

bezoar44's review: "I loved this book, and think it manages to be the simultaneously the best cyberpunk novel and the best parody of the genre (and there aren't too many genres where that's possible). The neologism "burb boxes" still pops into my head every time I see a minivan."
Spectra (2000), Paperback, 480 pages

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde [reviewed by littlebookworm]

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:56:02 -0500

littlebookworm's review: "This book is such entertainment. I loved it. I’m not going to try and explain much beyond the basic premise; Thursday Next is a SpecialOps Literatec in a world we could have had if certain historical events had turned out differently, except with some added surrealistic touches, like time travel and the ability to enter books. Thursday naturally gets herself involved against the main villain and chaos ensues as they frantically try to ensure that literary classics remain the same and aren’t corrupted. The book stands alone, but it is part of a series featuring Thursday Next. The literary allusions, the humor, the names, the fun of seeing alternate history, and the excitement of entering into one of my favorite books were all major attractions for me. I’ve seen people complain about Fforde’s writing; I found it on the light side but certainly readable. This book isn’t meant to be anything but entertainment, and it does a great job at that. I’d call it a must for readers who love classics and are up for some lighter reading. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. http://chikune.com/blog/?p=55"
Penguin (Non-Classics) (2003), Paperback, 384 pages

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Jr. Walter M. Miller [reviewed by Clueless]

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:03:18 -0500

Clueless's review: "A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Mary Doria Russell wrote in the introduction, "I am sufficiently fed up with my species to share Walter Miller's resigned amusement at this bleeding world, which would surely convince sentient vultures that God created it for them." The priest kept wondering how it was possible for such a youth (not particularly intelligent insofar as he could determine) to manage to find occasions or near-occasions of sin while completely isolated on barren desert, far from any distraction or apparent source of temptation. There should be very little trouble a boy could get into out here, armed as he was with only a rosary, a flint, a penknife, and a prayerbook. IT WAS said that God, in order to test mankind which had become swelled with pride as in the time of Noah, had commanded the wise men of that age, among them the Blessed Leibowitz, to devise great engines of war such as had never before been upon the Earth, weapons of such might that they contained the very fires of Hell, and that God had suffered these magi to place the weapons in the hands of princes, and to say to each prince: “Only because the enemies have such a thing have we devised this for thee, in order that they may know that thou hast it also, and fear to strike. See to it m’Lord, that thou fearest them as much as they shall now fear thee, that none may unleash this dread thing which we have wrought.” But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; earth shall be mine. Historians list nothing but trivia. When you tire of living, change itself seems evil, does it not? For then any change at all disturbs the deathlike peace of the life-weary. “Ignorance has been our king. Since the death of empire, he sits unchallenged on the throne of Man. His dynasty is age-old. His right to rule is now considered legitimate. Past sages have affirmed it. They did not unseat him. “Tomorrow a new prince shall rule. Men of understanding, men of science shall stand behind his throne, and the universe will come to know his might. His name is Truth. His empire shall encompass the Earth. And the mastery of Man over the Earth shall be renewed. A century from now, men will fly through the air in mechanical birds. Metal carriages will race along roads of man-made stone. There will be buildings of thirty stories, ships that go under the sea, machines to perform all works.” “And how will this come to pass?” He paused and lowered his voice. “In the same way all change comes to pass, I fear.” And I am sorry it is so. It will come to pass by violence and upheaval, by flame and by fury, for no change comes calmly over the world.” Men must fumble awhile with error to separate it from truth, I think – as long as they don’t seize the error hungrily because it has a pleasanter taste. They belonged to a race quite capable of admiring its own image in a mirror, and equally capable of cutting its own throat before the altar of some tribal god, such as the deity of Daily Shaving. It was a species which often considered itself to be, basically, a race of divinely inspired toolmakers; … In was inevitable, it was manifest destiny, the felt (and not for the first time) that such a race go forth to conquer stars. To conquer them several times, if need be, and certainly to make speeches about the conquest. But too, it was inevitable that the race succumb again to the old maladies on new worlds, The closer men came to perfecting for themselves a paradise, the more impatient they seemed to become with it, and with themselves as well. They made a garden of pleasure, and became progressively more miserable with it as it grew in richness and power and beauty; for then, perhaps, it was easier for them to see that something was missing in the garden, some tree or shrub that would not grow. When the world was in darkness and wretchedness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needle’s eye, and that rankled for a world no longer willing to believe or yearn. Speak up destiny, speak up! Destiny always seems decades away, but suddenly it’s not decades away; it’s right now. But maybe destiny is always right now, right here, right this very instant, maybe. From a distance, one’s adversaries seemed fiends, but with closer view, one saw the sincerity and it was as great as one’s own. The trouble with being a priest was that you eventually had to take the advice you gave to others. Nature imposes nothing that Nature hasn’t prepared you to bear. Ashamed of his fright, he tried to pray, but the prayers seemed somehow unprayerful—like apologies, but not petitions—as if the last prayer had already been said, the last canticle already been sung. The fear persisted. Why? He tried to reason with it. You’ve seen people die, Jeth. Seen many people die. It looks easy. They taper off, and then there’s a little spasm, and it’s over. That inky Dark—gulf between aham—and Asti—blackest Styx, abyss between Lord and Man. Listen, Jeth, you really believe there’s Something on the other side of it, don’t you? Then why are you shaking so?"
Bantam Books (1976), Paperback

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde [reviewed by Irisheyz77]

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:09:30 -0500

Irisheyz77's review: "I had heard mixed things about this book before picking it up but in light of my reading Jane Eyre a few weeks ago my interesting in this story was renewed. The book takes place in an alternate England where the impossible is possible - things like vampires, time travel and the resurrection of long extinct animals. In some ways the England of Eyre Affair is far more advanced then in ours....and in others its still stuck in the past. The differences in the two worlds are a delight to explore. The characters all have equally delightful names like Thursday Next, Victor Analogy, Braxton Hicks....and my personal favorite Jack Schitt. This book made me giggle from start to finish and I loved seeing newfound favorite characters brought to life - literally. I'm also very glad that I read Jane Eyre before this book for there are a TON of plot spoilers. Granted I did know the basic plot of JE before reading it but this book goes into far greater detail then I had heard previously. So while I throughly recommend this book I would also add the caution that if you haven't read JE but plan on doing so at some point then to hold off reading Eyre Affair until after you've done so."
Penguin (Non-Classics) (2003), Paperback, 384 pages

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville [reviewed by lampbane]

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:50:24 -0400

lampbane's review: "<A HREF="http://lampbane.livejournal.com/484053.html">http://lampbane.livejournal.com/484053.html</A> "So Mieville is creating something completely different here, and it really is new. It's new to the level of being completely alien, and sometimes I think he's just being weird for the sake of being weird. Which really doesn't add to the story, I think. A good chunk of the book is world-building, all these really interesting little tidbits that add depth and texture to the city of New Crobuzon, but when you consider their purpose to the storytelling, it doesn't do anything except add a few hundred pages to the book. This novel is laden with so much cruft, it really weighs the story down at times. It's never really boring, but it does take you places you never needed to be.""
Del Rey (2001), Paperback, 720 pages

The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next Series) by Jasper Fforde [reviewed by ajkohn2001]

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:35:07 -0500

ajkohn2001's review: "Jasper Fforde’s The Well of Lost Plots is third in the Thursday Next literary detective series. Thursday (our hero and literary cop) is pregnant by a husband who no longer exists and is hiding out in an unpublished murder mystery (something like a poorly constructed blend of Patricia Cornwell and John Grisham.) Makes perfect sense right? Well, if you’re a fan it does and I am a fan. To enjoy Jasper Fforde’s novels you should make sure you have a funny bone. Once that’s been confirmed you might want to brush up on your classic literary works. While the plot is generally of the soap opera or spy thriller genre, it is wrapped in a literary fun house where you’ll meet Heathcliff from Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and speak frequently of Shakespearean works. Fforde’s alternate universe includes time-travel, a menacing corporate entity aptly named Goliath, and is populated by Neanderthals and dodos which have been genetically re-engineered. Read my full review on the Used Books Blog: http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/the-well-of-lost-plots-by-jasper-fforde/"
Penguin (Non-Classics) (2004), Paperback, 416 pages