Patterns of Chaos

I didn't finish this book, nor come close, as I was really put off by Colin Papp's overt misogynistic writing style. One of the primary characters in the book is consistently referred to as "Honey-Bitch" and the back cover describes her as "a sadistic bitch-goddess," which I guess should have been a dead give away. I guess I didn't realize it was going to permeate the entire book so sordidly. It's rather nauseating. Why not call the male lead "ball sac?" That might even things out a little bit? And while this is an old book, published in 1972, it's still "new" enough to have been published well after women's lib got its start, so it should have been more sensitive to this fact, unless the author was, as I've suggested, simply a show more misogynistic asshole. Which I assume is the case. So I read two chapters and quit. It didn't seem like I would be missing much anyway. Not the most enticing sci fi I've read. If you want dated, sexist, bad sci fi, this is for you. Otherwise, trash it. One star. show less

Another of the books that I greatly enjoyed as a teenager but haven't read for some years. Fortunately it turns out that this is one I still enjoy. A man wakes in the middle of a vicious attack upon a city by a starship, dragged from unconsciousness by a voice inside his head. He has no memory of who he is and what he's doing there, but the voice in his head is no hallucination. The first priority is to get him up and moving to where he's supposed to be -- because Bron is a deepcover agent with a telepathic link back to his base, and being amnesiac doesn't excuse him from the job he was sent to do. Within a few hours, the planet he's on will be destroyed by hellburners, deadly missiles that can tear a planet apart. And in those hours, show more the Destroyer fleet will raid, taking slaves and goods, and most particularly anyone with expertise in chaos theory -- the concept that the patterns of chaos can be read to predict the future. One of the first things Bron learns about himself is that he has a synthetic personality embedded to allow him to pass as one of those experts, making him a target for the raiders - and a Trojan horse.

Which would be an interesting story in its own right, and the initial phase of the book is a very good story of a deepcover agent rediscovering who he is a bit at a time, while in the middle of the most dangerous job he's ever done. But Kapp takes it to a new level, as Bron comes to understand that the hellburner was aimed at him. Specifically him, personally. And that it's been on its way for 700 million years...

This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. It's short by modern standards, but that's all to the good, as it's a tightly written story. An entertaining way to pass a few hours. show less

A fun scifi book with an amazing amount of ideas, most of which actually get fleshed out and used.

The ending is a little anti-climactic, but mostly because the ideas are so grand it would be hard to get an ending that lives up to them.

The story though, does come to a mostly satisfying conclusion.

ZB5

This book gives you a hell of a ride. It’s all pretty implausible, both overall and in detail, but you don’t stop and think about that at the time because you’re along for the ride; and it’s a good ride, well paced, full of excitement and striking images.

It kicks off with a bang in classic style: a normally capable man has been dropped defenceless into a mysterious situation of crisis and mortal peril, and an unlucky bump on the head has given him amnesia. Furthermore, people he can’t see are talking to him inside his head.

It goes on like that for at least 70% of the book: by luck or good judgment, he gets through crisis after crisis as we gradually learn with him more about what’s going on. Beyond the 70% mark, we’ve show more found out more or less what’s going on, so the ride is still of interest but somewhat less exciting. The ending completes the picture of what’s been going on; the details are implausible but at least they involve striking and memorable images.

This is probably Kapp’s best book, and one of my old favourites, which I’ve been rereading from time to time over the decades. I deduct a star for implausibility; because it seems rather old-style sf for a book published in 1972; and because the last 30% is not quite as good as the rest of the book. But I warmly encourage sf fans to read it anyway. show less

Abre los ojos y vagamente se da cuenta de que está herido. Las bombas caen cerca, a su alrededor. Pero su mente está en blanco. No sabe de esta guerra más que de sí mismo. De pronto una voz suena dentro de su cabeza, una voz que guía sus pasos hacía el lugar de la cita. Poco a poco va descubriendo la situación y su cometido: él es el caos.