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Science Fiction

2017 Ardis Books Reviews Science Fiction

Weir’s Artemis Entertains

written by Ardis

By the way, we also hate it when people . . . call Artemis “the city in space.” We’re not in space; we’re on the moon. I’m mean, technically, we’re in space, but so is London.

Artemis was Andy Weir’s much-hyped second book, after the astonishing success of his breakout debut, 2014’s The Martian. I fell immediately and deeply for The Martian, and waited with bated breath for his next book. Given that, I cannot discuss Artemis without touching on this context simply because that context informed my experience with Artemis not only far before I picked up the book, but before Artemis was even announced.

You see, as I consumed all of the post-Martian content I could find (in the hunger for more that overtook me after reading the Martian twice and then seeing it in theaters), I found an article, then another, then a video, wherein Andy Weir said his next book would feature a new take on FTL travel. I was ecstatic! I reveled in the storm of eager anticipation.

And then Weir announced Artemis.

October 5, 2018 1 comment

Byron Reviews Science Fiction

Ancillary Justice: It’s pretty good. Overrated. But still pretty good. (A spoiler-free review)

written by Byron

Or is anyone’s identity a matter of fragments held together by convenient or useful narrative, that in ordinary circumstances never reveals itself as a fiction? Or is it really a fiction?

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was published in 2013. It won the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards. Some sci-fi/fantasy fans did not think this book should have won those awards, arguing it did so for political reasons and not due to the quality of the writing. It has languished in my TBR stack for years, but I finally got around to reading it.

It’s a solid, flawed first book of a fairly standard space opera with some original ideas clumsily executed.

September 3, 2018 0 comment

2018 Ardis Ardis's Favorite Books Books Reviews Science Fiction

Becky Chambers Inspires Once More with Record of a Spaceborn Few

written by Ardis

This story is nominated for a Hugo award for best novel, to be announced on August 18th. Click the link above to view the other nominees, and to keep track of the award itself.

Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why we’re great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story. Or maybe the people kill the king because they don’t like his story and have begun to tell themselves a different one.

It’s no secret that I’m completely “ride or die” for Becky Chambers and her Wayfarers series, and Record of a Spaceborn Few is further affirmation of what A Closed and Common Orbit cemented (read my review here), what The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet began. Like the two before it, Chambers’ latest book tells a fresh, personal story set in the world she first described in 2014’s Wayfarers #1.

Note: This is a standalone story set it the world and the continuity of the Wayfarers series, and does not directly reference any of the characters in the previous two books.

This time, we readers are finally getting up close with the oft-referenced human travelers, the Exodans. This story follows four (or five) characters living in the Exodus Fleet, which has long since left its mission to travel the stars behind it and entered a permanent orbit around a small sun. The Exodan community faces many challenges, mainly stemming from the necessities of living in the closed environment of the fleet. Complicating this are two factors: 1) Exodans by-and-large insist on perpetuating as insular a lifestyle as possible, wanting to be self-contained and self-sufficient, and 2) more Exodans leave the fleet to seek life elsewhere in the Universe than come back to rejoin their old home. In addition, the remains of an exploded Exodus ship are in orbit with the rest of the fleet, casting a permanent dark cloud over Exodan life and standing as a reminder of how fragile, how tenuous, life in the fleet truly is.

August 28, 2018 1 comment

2017 Ardis Award Winners Science Fiction

Dreams Before the Start of Time

written by Ardis

The Arthur C. Clarke award will be announced July 18, 2018, at this year’s Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. This post is part of a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Nebula award for best novel. The other nominees are Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, American War by Omar El Akkad, Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar, Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed, and Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.

And just as Anna created a new start to Dominic’s day, she made a change to Dominic’s routine of working in his garden studio after dinner. Connie had regarded his studio as a private lair and rarely ventured in. She took him tea occasionally, didn’t linger. So Anna takes wine and stays to chat. She loves the smell of his studio. She loves Dominic, and she loves the idea of him too. The artist in his studio. He calls it his shed, but she refuses to follow this lead – it’s his right to be self-deprecating, not hers.

Normally, I’m not a very enthusiastic champion of multi-generation stories (unless they’re on generation ships!) and I would not have picked up this book had it not been on the short list for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award.

June 19, 2018 0 comment

2017 Ardis Award Winners Reviews Science Fiction Westerns

Sea of Rust is Great Action Fluff (now with robots)

written by Ardis

The Arthur C. Clarke award will be announced July 18, 2018, at this year’s Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. This post is part of a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award for best novel. The other nominees are Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock, American War by Omar El Akkad, Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar, Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed, and Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.

“I miss it, you know. Being a bartender. But the people. I mostly miss all the people.”

Most dying robots do. People gave us purpose.

C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust is a very fun read that, ultimately, appears to offer little more than “fun”. Set in a far (presumably Earth) future, his book follows a robot named Brittle as she forges her path in the post-human world. Between shootouts, repairs, and upgrades, Brittle spends her time wading through the Sea of Rust looking for spare parts – whether or not they’re still walking and talking.

June 5, 2018 1 comment

2018 Ardis Books Science Fiction Uncategorized

Semiosis: A Story That Failed To Bloom

written by Ardis

“Grateful for this opportunity to create a new society in full harmony with nature, we enter into this covenant, promising one another our mutual trust and support. We will face hardship, danger, and potential failure, but we can aspire to the use of practical wisdom to seek joy, love, beauty, community, and life.”

Sue Burke’s Semiosis tells the story of a group of colonists, departed from Earth and dedicated to peace above all else, as they survive on a foreign planet generation by generation. As the back cover promises, their survival will hinge on a bizarre alliance – with a new kind of sentient life.

While the premise is excitingly promising, I’m afraid that, as far as I could tell, it never quite managed to deliver on that promise.

The whole “sentient alien plant” concept intrigued me from the moment I first heard of it, and I wondered more than once (in the four months between when I pre-ordered the book and when I was finally able to read it) just how Burke would present not just a non-human sentience but one that was truly alien. In this, I think, Burke did a wonderful job.

Where I think Semiosis fails to fulfill its potential is in the peculiar structure Burke chose to portray her narrative, as it progressed through the generations. Each chapter is told from one character’s perspective, one character per generation. While this is a fine way to approach storytelling, and served the story well structurally, Burke chose vastly differing voices for each of her characters. I found the switch from voice to voice jarring to the point of disorientation.

It took me until the third chapter to decide that the incongruity in the voice was intentional characterization instead of clumsy writing, and by that time Burke had already lost me. I think, had I been prepared for this narrative quirk from the onset, I would have had a better chance at enjoying the book.

The thing is, I really want to write this up as a fascinating and well-executed technique. Each chapter is written from a different character’s point of view – one per generation (or near enough). Not only are all people different, these people are changing (socially, culturally as well as biologically) in response to the challenges they face and the requirements of their environment. That Burke convincingly represents the POV of multiple very different people in order to assemble her IS an admirable accomplishment. I can’t tell you why it hurt the narrative instead of helping.

That’s hardly the book’s only issue, however. Notably, Semiosis falls victim to what you might call the “Prometheus problem”. Particularly in the first two generations, the decisions of these premier scientists can be downright baffling. Time after time they make terrible calls – beginning before they even leave Earth. For scientists that are supposed to be incredibly smart and thoroughly prepared, it was their repeated failures to think critically or act reasonably (within the bounds of Burke’s established universe) that almost demolished my ability to buy in.

I will say that once I powered through those first few generations, I began to notice some wonderful techniques. Burke pays particular attention to the cultural relationships between generations, knitting them together through graceful and delicate touches. Seemingly small events or symbols from one chapter appear in another as tradition, fable, or law.

Additionally, the colonists’ dedication to “peace,” even generations after the opposite was anything other than an academic concept, is explored and even employed to great effect throughout the book. Themes of identity, intergenerational communication, and the struggle one generation faces as it tries to pass both its knowledge and its priorities on to the next all feature prominently and are well explored within these pages.

All-in-all, I expect Semiosis to pop up on many readers’ “Best Of …” lists, and I absolutely see why. I’m very glad I read it, but a part of me will always yearn for the story I imagined Semiosis would be.

May 29, 2018 1 comment

2017 Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Books Fantasy Science Fiction

Nebula Award for Best Novel, 2018

written by Ardis

The Nebula awards 2018 will be announced tonight, at the SFWA Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the past few months, I’ve been working to read and review all of the nominees in the Best Novel category. As theVerge.com describes:

The Nebula Awards are issued annually by SFWA to the best works in genre novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories published in the last year, alongside the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Nebulas are a sort of industry award, determined by professional authors.

Below, I’ll talk a little bit about each book as a nominee, as well as give you both my vote (which book I think should win) and my prediction (which book I think will win). Also, for each book I will include a link to my full review so you can get all caught up and (if I’ve done my job right) form your own opinions just in time for the award announcement.

May 19, 2018 0 comment

2017 Ardis Ardis's Favorite Books Award Winners Science Fiction Thriller

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is a joyful must-read

written by Ardis

The Nebula award will be announced May 19, 2018, at this year’s Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. This post is the fourth in a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Nebula award for best novel. The other nominees are Jade City by Fonda Lee, Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory, Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly, The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (which I reviewed for the Philip K. Dick award), and Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.

“Spectacular cases are usually simpler, and less interesting, than they initially appear.”

My love affair with this book began in 2014, when I stumbled upon it in the short story collection The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. Though the anthology contains a number of truly excellent short stories, it was Theodora Goss’s “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” that struck me, and I carried it with me in the years that followed. Much of my reading through 2015 and 2016 was inspired by Goss’s short story. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw that Goss was expanding on “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter” for The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter in 2017.

With eager hands and hungry eyes I tore into this book, ready to devour it at unmatched speed. But I couldn’t. For all its humor and all its fantastic premise, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is stunningly beautiful.

May 15, 2018 5 comments

Award Winners Byron Reviews Science Fiction

Barry’s Deal: It’s a good time. (A Spoiler-Free Review)

written by Byron

The Nebula Awards will be announced May 19, 2018. The awards are given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This post is the fourth in a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Nebula award for best novella. The Nebula defines a work as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 40,000 words. These are short books.

The Half Price Books store in my town used to be in a rundown house, with a few cats running around underfoot. I’d go to the science-fiction/fantasy section, blow dust off of the yellowed pages of the paperbacks, and try to find some hidden gem by an author I had never heard of before.

Past-me would have loved to have discovered Barry’s Deal by Lawrence M. Schoen in those stacks. It’s about a chaotic good stage hypnotist con man that travels around the universe with a pet dog/buffalo/alien/thing that eats anything (ANYTHING) going to an auction for a rare bottle of liquor on a shady casino outpost on Triton. Shenanigans ensue.

May 14, 2018 0 comment

Award Winners Byron Reviews Science Fiction

And Then There Were (N-One): I’m Now a Huge Fan of Sarah Pinsker (A Spoiler-free Review)

written by Byron

The Nebula Awards will be announced May 19, 2018. The awards are given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This post is the first in a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Nebula award for best novella. The Nebula defines a work as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 40,000 words. These are short books.

And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker is a sci-fi/mystery genre mashup with a terrific premise: when hundreds of versions of “Sarah Pinsker” from alternate universes get together on a remote island for a SarahCon, there is a murder. Who done it?

Fans of mysteries should like this story. Apparently inspired by a classic Agatha Christie novel,the narrative is fast-moving. There are multiple clues scattered throughout such that the reveal feels earned. The outcome cannot be predicted immediately, however, due to clever false leads and red herrings.

The science fiction aspects are equally wonderful, involving trippy alternate universe thought-experiments and pondering real implications, moral and philosophical, of an infinite alternate-worlds multiverse.

Where Pinsker truly excels, however, is by marrying the (excellent) genre conventions and tropes with fantastic characterization and genuine, expressive human emotion. What I initially thought was going to be a lighthearted mystery romp involving goofy physics turned out to be a quiet contemplation of regret, missed opportunity, unrealized expectations, curiosity at the nature of existence, the consequences of seemingly minor life-events, ambition, and love.

I hadn’t heard of Sarah Pinsker until I read Wind Will Rove for my review of the novelettes nominated for Nebulas. That story is my favorite for that award, so when I noticed that she also had a different story — — nominated in the novella category, I was intrigued. And I was not disappointed. I look forward to reading even more of her thoughtful yet exceedingly readable work in the future.

April 21, 2018 0 comment

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