Monday, May 3, 2010

Time for the stars by Robert A. Heinlein

Time for the stars by Robert A. Heinlein
ISBN:0345301862
Copyright 1956 by Robert A. Heinlein
There is a reason this man is a master of the sci-fi genre, don't forget that.

He has a writing style that lends itself to being understood. Not everyone can write sci-fi without explaining a lot of made up technology, or coming up with easy ways to grasp modern theoretical concepts.
He does neither here.

This is simply a well written story, that grasps a piece of everyday humanity.
You do not need to have been born when this was written, there is no popular slang or difficult scientific concepts.
In fact the concepts he uses are still debated today over fifty years later.

I'm not sure if I should be proud of the progress we have made understanding the human mind or appalled at the lack thereof.
If I were appalled then I would have to think that the human mind and brain are the same thing. Well I'm not and I know better, so do you.

When reading this you do not feel as if are reading a contemporary novel written over fifty years ago. Actually considering the theme for this book he'd appreciate that.

Take normal late high school teenage brothers, twins that don't have that sick instant bond that is seen in many novels or horror movies, add twins abilities to have their own communication. Sounds like normal life right?

Now lets make this Science fiction.
Take a research company who sees the potential of having twins speak telepathically to each other aboard research vessels. Discoveries and information is instantaneous.
Its still not quite science fiction.
Take one twin and put him on a space ship and the other stays back on earth, dirtside, while the ship searches for planets to colonize. There will be times when the ship travels close to light speed and then back to relative time. Years pass for one and not the other. How will they keep passing information back and forth if the other dies?

With the instant passing of scientific information scientists can keep up with the frontiersmen.

There is a nice twist at the end of the book about technology and Columbus, mentioning it here will spoil it.
When you have that quick intake of breath that preceeds having realized you just overlooked something obvious, remember I warned you. There is a satisfying ending, with bits of happy.

Everyone should read one of the masters, this is just a good reason why.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

All the Weyrs of Pern (Dragonriders of Pern Series)

by Anne McCaffrey
Do not read this book as your first leap into the dragon riders of pern universe. This is the end of the series.
That said if you have read all of the other books in order, keep going.

I believe there are two responses to the conclusion to the mythos; satisfaction or disillusionment for the science fiction fantasy genre.

Pern is a world that is plagued intermittently over hundreds of years according to the orbit of their planet with Thread. Thread is a red parasitic entity that burns everything it touches. Dragon riders are people who go up into the sky with their trained intelligent telepathic dragon partners to burn the Thread before it coats the ground. If Thread is allowed to fall unchecked, everything below will be killed. Not even the crops will survive.
The whole existence of the dragon riders is to find a way to destroy the thread of thread forever. Now here in this book is their chance.

You will love Jaxom, Lessa, and Masterharper Robinton. You will despise the narrow mindedness and fear of the people you are supposed to. You will see the enormity of their struggle and how far this branch of humanity has actually come. If you liked the rest of the series chances are you will like this one.

I do believe that this end is fitting to her series.
We want a safe world for our children, our families, where we can live in peace and thrive. We may never live to see what we dream come to fruition but there is hope that our children's children will. Nevertheless that knowledge does not stop us from trying to lay the groundwork for what we dream will come.
That sacrifice is the heart of humanity.


I was pleased with the ending and glad to have read it.

End of non spoiler review.

POTENTIAL SPOILER:
The first publication of this book was in 1991, and it was on the forefront of the trend to take fantasy worlds and connect them to modern day. Its not the first of its kind, its not the last of its kind.

MAJOR SPOILER THIS IS THE MIDDLE AND THE END OF THE BOOK FOLKS:
Did we really not see it coming that Pern is one of the first attempts at colonization after humanity left Earth? no. The potential was too strongly written into the other books.
Do we enjoy seeing the fear and prejudices inherent in humanity thrown in our faces as an object lesson on why we are doomed to fail any great scientific journey? No.
Did we appreciate the irony that finding this out after a long series of books will annoy some people who think they are above needing the message? yes.
Did we shed a tear for Masterharper Robinton? oh yes many.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Next by Michael Crichton

There are a lot of reviews that state this book mixes the comic, bizarre and frightening. I found nothing frightening about it.

Universities, Independent research labs, pharmaceutical companies all have blanket patents on genes. this is fact, legally in America today.

Next explores what happens when companies go beyond what they've gotten legal rights to do and create more. The problems with genetic modification, the problems with a company owning your "unwanted" tissue samples and feeling entitled to replenish their stock if something happens to their supply. Where does ownership end? their children? can that take it from you while still living?

How many types of genes separate humans from apes, what do these genes do? what can we do to them can we make a hybrid trans species ape that talks and reasons? What if it works? What do you do with the essentially child like creature when the company wants it destroyed as so much test subject waste?

At the end of the book are recommendations from Michael himself:
1 stop patenting genes.
2 establish clear guidelines for the uses of human tissue.
3 pass laws to ensure that data about gene testing is made public.
4 avoid bans on research
5 Rescind the Bayh-Dole Act. (from rjladya: I don't know if this has been done or not.)

Then there is a whole slew of books on genetics listed in a bibliography in the back.

Good book, makes you wonder about what is going on in places where research will never see the light of day. I recommend it highly.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Little Magic by Nora Roberts

Ok This is a collection of three romantic stories, they delve deeply into the beliefs and legends of Ireland.

Yes when I am depressed I read romance novels. sigh I admit it but I am very picky about the authors I choose and the type of stories I choose.

Spellbound- A man has dream of a woman through his whole life, she grows with him and he can not find a living woman to compare. Taking a break from his life as a photographer he travels to Ireland and much to his astonishment finds her.

Ever After- A woman who is more of a dreamer than practical is working as a tour guide helper to her sister. She loses her way and finds a lonely man living in the woods, a famous sculptor. She brings life and joy to his home and even though he was told she was meant for him he doesn't want to live his life the way fate dictates. Little does he know love freely given is not the chains he once feared.

In Dreams- A man who wields magic is betrayed by a woman he loved. He took a life and is punished for it by living in a dream state doomed to only have seven days of existence every hundred years. A woman in the midst of a personal crisis untouched by love wrecks her car in a storm and finds her way to him. IF she stays at the end of the seventh day she will live his existence with him. She doesn't believe in fairy tales but maybe this one man can teach her how to dream.


These three stories are short, novellas. The intimate scenes are romantic, not the descriptions of bodies writhing like in so many other romance novels.

Nora Roberts leave you with the feeling that in modern times you can find your fairy tale ending if you trust to fate, and a little magic.

Incubus Dreams by Laurel K. Hamilton

This is another one of her Anita Blake vampire hunter series, published in 2004

There are more Anita Blake novels but I haven't gotten to them yet. Yes this is another paranormal romance but there aren't very traditional romantic scenes in the book.
Anita is second to the master vampire of the city, has her own metaphysical bond to five different men for different reasons. Some of which are wereleopards,vampires, a vampire servant and some because thy were there at the time she hit a metaphysical crisis. Her day job is raising zombies, her night job is to assist the local police with crimes they might think are vampire related. Vampires have legal rights as citizens now but that doesn't make her job easier.

spoilers:
OK we all know that the Anita Blake books revolve around "intimate moments" to feed her vampire hunger, her wereanimal hungers, to keep her triumverates alive, and the ardeur, but my god there was so much of it with different pairings in a row that i started skimming for it to stop. After about twenty pages three quarters through the book I felt as if I had lost some plot in there somewhere. Yes Anita gets over some of her hangups and treats Nathanial the way he wants ot be treated, gets some of the closure she needs from Richard and helps Jean-Claude but somewhere I missed some plot. I don't know if its true but it feels like it.

oh I think I have a mental crush on Requiem.
658 pages long and it took me most of the day to read it. Have fun!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Vampire of the Mists (Ravenloft Books Book1)

I have the September 1991 version with the old Ravenloft logo and original cover art.

TSR decided that it would be a good idea to make a bunch of open ended Ravenloft books, this is the first one in this series. That way the only thing that continues the story is the main villian Count Strahd Von Zarovich.
WARNING: the ending is not a happy one, fitting yes happy no.

Jander Sunstar is a sun elf. He is native to Evermeet in the Forgotten Realms. Yes TSR makes their worlds connect. Jadar was turned into a vampire at the young age of 200 barely the beginning of his elven existance. Five hundred years later, while wishing he could kill himself and get it over with he meets a woman in an asylum who was magically cursed and seemed insane. He takes care of her and when she dies it destroys what little is left in him of the light. He screams to the heavens for vengance against the one who made her this way and the mists answer.
He finds himself transported to the realm of ravenloft and there is where his downfall starts. Add a gypsys, a young priest some good folklore, and sit down with a box of tissues because our Elf does not survive.
Its a good start to the Ravenloft books. I still hate Strahd but its one of those fun kind of hates that we have for a favorite villian.
If you are a dragonlance, ravenloft, forgotten realms or other d&d world fan this is like old home week. have fun, took me three hours to read.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Dark Tower by Stephen King (Book 7)

I put off reading this book because I didn't want to end the tale, and an epic tale it is.
Mr. King started the dark tower series in 1970 and finished it in 2003.

(I take a knee and say Thankee-sai King)

This book is well worth waiting for. All of our epic struggles, the fear, the hopes the years of waiting to hear how this was going to end and I can't even begin to describe it to you.
~
Roland, the gunslinger, must stop the Crimson King from reaching the Tower, if he does not all worlds, all versions of our world will be destroyed (thrown into Discordia). Roland is the last of his bloodline, (the line of Eld) and only he can climb the stairs and save the tower.
~
Do you want to know if he makes it?
Does Everyone die?
Does Roland live through it?
What about the other characters and references from over fifteen other books King has written outside of these seven?
~
You learn everything here, and more than you wanted to know.
(let me know when you get out of odd's lane.)
I am trying not to give away secrets from this book or any of the others and this is hard, there's a part of my heart that wants to sing the song of the rose to the heavens, and a part of me that weeps, actually did weep as I closed that back cover.

Stephen King said at the end of this book, I am going to paraphrase a paragraph into a sentence here:
If you don't like the ending don't yell at me this is how its supposed to end.
~
He's right, you won't like all of it, you may not like any of it, but the ending feels RIGHT.
That's why I cried and I'm going to save these books and give them to my son when he's old enough to read them for himself.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Black Hole by Alan Dean Foster

ISBN: 0345285387 published 1979

An exploratory team of scientists and a reporter are returning from deep space. They discover a black hole. Not just any black hole but the biggest ever found. At the edge of it sitting next to the event horizon not moving is a ship, the first deep space exploration ship ever launched by earth (the Cygnus). Is the ship still inhabited? Why is the ship not being torn apart by the gravitational forces of the black hole is is so close to? Why is it not moving towards the black hole? After trying to get close to the Cygnus and almost being destroyed, this team of scientists must land to try to salvage parts to continue their own journey home.

Good scifi, different ending not typical of the late seventies. This book was made into a Disney movie in the eighties.

Worth it for people who want science fiction without aliens, trust me humanity is sometimes horrific enough.

Circle of magic, Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce

isbn:0590554085

The circle of magic series is comprised of four books, each telling the story of a young magician with unique abilities. Their lives are intertwined so their stories are as well.
Book one is really an introduction to about how the four of them ended up at Winding Circle to be trained.
They are all from different lives; street thief, noble woman, sea trader child, and a girl abandoned by her relatives. Their unique magics in a world of magicians are; weather magic, metalworking, spirit weaving and plant magic.

They are all characters designed to be easily sympathized with. Any early teenage child will find their thoughts and hopes similar to their own. They deal with all of the normal issues of life in ways we would never have the opportunity to.

The thing that makes this book more interesting than the other children's fantasy books out there is the way the story is told. There are twists and turns that are actually not expected.
Word of advice though if you plan to read it or give this book to a child get all four books the stories do not end at the end of the book.

Monday, January 11, 2010

David Eddings, The Diamond Throne (Book 1 of the Elenium)

Its so nice to read a book that doesn't annoy me.
This is high fantasy, knights, a bit of magic, intrigue and a queen to rescue.
There is nothing I can say to cram all of the things that were in this book into a summary.
I'll have to come back to this one just READ IT!!!

A Gentleman's Honor by Stephanie Laurens

ISBN: 0060002077
Disclaimer: I don't read romance novels normally, but when they are given to me i give them each a good read, usually with a bowl of popcorn.

This is the second book in the Bastion Club series. The Bastion Club is a private residence owned by friends who are all ex-agents for the government. They needed a last bastion from the dowagers of the ton.

Alicia is a capable, intelligent woman who after her family died had to pretend to be a widow to chaperon her sister to the ton. They could not afford to hire maids or other things that two young women who should be launched into society should have. Their hope is that she marries well and that they can pay off their debts, have money so their younger brothers can go to school and grow up well. They decide that they will not try to fool a man into thinking they are wealthier than they are and hope for a love match.
They design and sew their own gowns and are in general resourceful.
Tony is an ass, he has this moment of wounded male pride where he wants to force a confession from our heroine and has an intimate night with her. yeah... um ok whatever.

I was fine with the brooding hero but after that I barely finished the book. I felt let down by an author who has given better plot twists than this.

The Truth About Love by Stephanie Laurens

ISBN:9780060505769
Disclaimer: I don't read romance novels normally, but when they are given to me i give them each a good read, usually with a bowl of popcorn.

This Cynster novel is about a brother-in law to one of the first 7 Cynsters. So not technically a Cynster novel but it works.
There is a nice tragedy and a couple of murders to make the book a good read. Her accurate portrayal of society and the damage that the haute ton can do to people's lives makes a nice commentary about polite society.
Again an artistic intelligent woman but she is forced to live apart from the circles that she was born into because of scandal. Enter our nobleman artist commissioned ot paint her portrait. He has no interest in her only her family's famous estate gardens in honor of the greek gods. Intrigue ensues and a romance is born.

Keep the popcorn handy.

On a Wild Night Stephanie Laurens

ISBN: 0380812037
Disclaimer: I don't read romance novels normally, but when they are given to me i give them each a good read, usually with a bowl of popcorn.

This is another installment of the Cynster novels by Stephanie Laurens. This time its The story of Amanda Cynster. Her first 7 novels in the series dealt with each of her male cousins. I think she wanted to bring a female point of view into the male world but I have no way of knowing. Its a historical romance set in Regency England. Be prepared for horses and gentlemen of the ton.
Amanda is intelligent and far from helpless, along with beautiful. That's always helpful.
All in all a fun read and if you like your heroines smart, sarcastic, and capable; go read this.