Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

You don't have to like Card to recognize that this is a superb piece of writing.  Reading this book has always been powerful to me.  You get hooked in from the first page and it's hard to put it down after that.  And it's great that it could be read as a standalone, but is part of a series in case you want to continue Ender's story.

Ender is a brilliant child.  So much so in fact that he was specifically bred to take part in a program designed for gifted kids.  You see, families aren't allowed to have more than two children on future Earth, but Ender's family was given special permission to have him.  When at first they remove his monitor though, he think he's flunked out.  But time shows that he is about to be groomed to become a commander of the fleet.  The buggers are a constant threat in humanity's eyes and the school Ender is sent to, floating in space, is specifically designed to train to neutralize that threat.

Ender is a fantastic character.  He is relatable even though he is a substantial amount smarter than your average person.  And he has so much going against him and so much expected of him.  You're right there with him with his pressures, frustrations, and triumphs.  All of the other characters pale beside him, yet they are still complete because they serve a purpose in a way.  Especially his brother and sister, who enter into politics and discussion and play their own games.  He also has several interesting classmates that play the games with him and they too are incredibly smart.  Although some of them can be quite vicious.

From my description you'd probably think this is an action book.  But that's just because I can't fully explain the themes and details in such a short time, you'd really need to read the book to get the full experience.  It does have action.  But it also has political commentary, social morality and lessons about making hard choices in life and the consequences of them.  There are gritty details and violence.  It's not a pleasant book at all.  But it's one that will make you think.  And it's so well written that the pace, characters and setting draw you in and don't let you go. 

One of my favorite books that I've read and one that I could read over and over.  If you've never read the book, or if you've only seen the movie, make sure that you read it, it's well worth it.

Enders Game
Copyright 1985
368 pages

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

So it's never a good sign for me when a book starts out with a lot of jargon I don't know.  Sure, it may get explained later, but it starts me off irritated that I don't know what's going on and feeling slightly dumb for not knowing all the lingo in this cool happening world.  So yeah, if you haven't guessed already, this is a book set in a futuristic world where quite a few things have changed.

There's no need to work anymore.  Or die.  And there's no money but there is "Whuffie" which is sort of a popularity contest that lets you pay for things through prestige.  So for all of us nerds we have no chance to ever be among the richest.  Alas, such is life.  In this world, Julius has been alive and kicking for nearly a century.  And he keeps going back and back to the Magic Kingdom as his girlfriend works (volunteers? ad hocs? something?) there and he takes a special interest in the Haunted Mansion ride.  Just go with it.  But someone wants to change the historic place and make it more technical and up to date, and they'll murder Julius (which makes him extremely upset) to make sure nothing can stand in their way.

I really didn't understand the motivations.  Why not just have two rides?  One for the tech lovers and one for the lovers of tradition?  It made no sense to me whatsoever.  Julius ran around like a crazed person most the time and was somewhat annoying.  He had passion, but it was misguided.  And while he seemed human because of his flaws, he wasn't a character I wanted to read about.  Lil, his girlfriend, was a pretty flat character.  I think she was actually supposed to be, but for being as nice as she was she sure did some not so nice things.  And Julius' friend Dan?  Well he didn't really add anything to the story for me at all.  He was just there to add twists to the plot.

I really liked the concepts in this book.  The way the future played out and all the gadgetry they had was interesting.  I just wish it had explained more in the beginning of the book so I could have understood it right away and not had to have struggled through piecing it together in the story.  And when it came to the story itself, I just wasn't that interested.  It was over a ride.  If that's the biggest thing they have to worry about (because obviously murder isn't) then things are going pretty good.  I think a different story in this high tech world would have been fascinating.

Maybe I'm just a whiner but this book wasn't for me.  I liked the technology but wasn't as fond of what was done with it.  Oh well, I'm sure true lovers of Disney will probably adore it.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Copyright 2003
208 pages

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlen

I thought this was supposed to be science fiction? Or at least, that's what everyone (including the cover says). But anyways, this is a classic in a lot of people's eyes. And since I've heard nothing but good things about it, I thought I'd give it a try.

The world is in an uproar when a space mission to Mars discovers the wrecked remains of a crew that was sent years earlier. Mainly they're in an uproar because they found the son of two of the crew living among the native Martians and very strange in his own way. He is brought to Earth, where it is thought to use him in intrigues, and possibly control him because due to inheritance, he is also very rich. But a group of people who don't want to see him disappear make plans to get him out of the government's clutches. The only thing is, they have no idea what they're in for.

Michael Valentine Smith, the "martian" is a strange character. He's not supposed to be quite human since he was raised by Martians. But he also is human, with normal human genetics. So that makes things puzzling at times. Jill is probably the other main character that travels with Mike a lot but I never felt as if she had a fully developed personality. She kind of mirrors Mike in a lot of ways, sometimes intentional, sometimes not. It's actually a flaw with most of the feminine characters in this book. And then there's Jubal, the lawyer/writer/so many other things. He's interesting, and has a sense of humor, and I actually found myself liking him even if he was somewhat chauvinistic. There were a lot of people to keep track of in the book. And since a lot of them had the same personalities, you didn't really distinguish between them. Which actually kept some complications down while reading.

I said before I thought this was science fiction. Yeah, the guy is from Mars. But honestly, the whole story could have happened with him being from Earth in any time rather than in the future and from Mars. It was more philosophical than science fiction. With some politics thrown in at the beginning. I actually did enjoy the writing. It was descriptive without being flowery and moved at a smooth pace, despite it being a long book. That being said, there was one sentence in the book that really kind of ruined it for me. "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it's partly her fault (pg. 304)." That quote, along with the way females are portrayed in this book just made me sick to my stomach and wiped out most of the enjoyment of reading the book for me. I almost stopped reading there, and wished I would have as it just devolved into more of a theological/spiritual/alternative lifestyles experiment than a book about a guy from Mars and political book. I'm not normally against those things, but it just seemed to be a completely different story than what it started out as and going for more shock value than anything else.

A book that was sadly taken down by a few ideas I just couldn't stand. As a result I don't know if I'll be reading any more Heinlen in the near future.

A Stranger in a Strange Land
Copyright 1961
438 pages

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

This is a very bleak steampunk themed look at a dystopian world.  I like dystopian books normally, but I had a lot of trouble connecting with this one.  It had some good premises, but unrelatable characters.

In the future the world's wealth is measured in calories.  Human bings have messed too far and now food is scarce, there are terminator genes in the food, and several mutated diseases and bacteria abound.  There are also new creatures that have been bio-engineered, even people.  Among them there is Anderson, a calorie man who is the Thai realm looking for a seed bank and the treasures it could hold within, to return to the big corporation he works for.  And then there is Emiko, a windup human who was left for trash when the Japanese business man who owned her decided he didn't want her anymore.  She makes her living hiding from the authorities who hate her kind and whoring herself out at a sleazy bar.  Together these two will cause upheaval in the city and start a new future that could be more frightening than the one they are already living in.

Emiko, despite her degrading experiences and unique situations I couldn't really get a feel for.  I felt pity at times, but that's about it.  And I'm not sure if this is the reaction I was supposed to have.  After all, she is a wind-up and considered not a real person by society.  So maybe that was the author's intent.  Anderson was also not that great of a character.  I couldn't really feel out his motives.  Same with pretty much everyone else in this book.  None of them had clear cut thought processes or even inspired sympathy.  And finding a glimmer of hope in them was near impossible.

I liked the different ideas presented in this book.  Certainly messing with the food system is a scary thing and even eerily similar to some of the experiments companies are doing already.  To add in changing the genetic makeup of humans too just seems logical.  But as for the actual telling of this story I was confused on so many things.  There are just so many unanswered questions on how the world got to the place it did in this book.  And then the plot itself is just so rushed around jumping between different characters that it was hard to follow.  I was never quite sure who was on who's side, doing what, and why.  And I should warn that there are a lot of graphic areas of this book involving sex, violence, murder, rape and sickness.  And it is explicit and described in-depth.

Not really too my taste but it had a lot of unique concepts.  I'm sure someone who enjoys science and dystopians would enjoy it very much.  But I need to relate to the characters if I'm going to enjoy a book.

The Windup Girl
Copyright 2009
359 pages

Cerulean Dreams by Dan O'Brien

**This book was received as a free advanced readers copy**

O'Brien has a very distinctive writing style. I hesitate to call it masculine, but I do feel that it may attract more of a masculine crowd. I'm not saying those who like a feminine tone won't like this book, just merely stating the ideas that flitted through my head as I read it. I thought the premise was interesting myself, but I just couldn't connect to the characters.

In a place called Orion, human beings are connected directly into the system. A company called Cerulean Dreams has everybody on the grid, and they are seemingly content that way. And everybody stays in Orion because the desert outside wouldn't allow anyone to live, or so they've been told. So when Alexander, in his pursuit of finding a murderer who's been preying on young girls, comes across one of these girls and they have to flee the city for reasons that are somewhat unknown to them, he learns just how hard Cerulean Dreams wants to keep everybody in the dark. And if they make it out of the city, they have no idea what may lie in store for them.

Alexander was interesting to say the least. He was a strong character, and very convinced of his convictions. He was actually admirable in that way. But he has some strange tendencies too, which are in part brought on by his world and the events that happen to him. Dana, the girl, is kind of a strange character too. She starts off all knowing and quickly falls to the role of a damsel in distress. I think I would have preferred her to be one or the other consistently through the book. And the main bad guy was somewhat odd in his motivations too, although he made a very compelling threat.

The plot started out as sci-fi, drifted into philosophical and then returned to sci-fi. The problem was the ideas didn't mesh in a way that was cohesive and supportive of each other. I think that maybe letting it all be sci-fi and removing such elements as the creature "the Mimic" and other philosophical things would have made a smoother read. They were actually all really good ideas, but perhaps better suited to two different books. And the ending was a bit rushed and kind of threw a curve ball in with no real answers. I would have liked to have seen several different plot elements elaborated on more to support the ending. But I did like the writing, the dialogue was nicely done and the descriptions were crisp in tone.

Not a bad book. I think there are ideas that could be expanded on but any sci-fi person will probably like it.

Cerulean Dreams
Copyright 2011
345 pages

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

This was a fairly impressive book. While it didn't hold quite the allure for me as Scalzi's first book Old Man's War, it still had a decent plot and did quite a bit to further the reader's knowledge about the universe its set in.

Jared Dirac is a member of the Ghost Brigades, or as they prefer to call it, the Colonial Defense Force's Special Forces. Unlike the rest of the CDF's recruits, the Special Forces are a unique breed of human. They are put into a body that once belonged to a dead person and have higher capacity for thinking and combat than most humans do.

Dirac is not just any Special Forces member however. He is an experiment that failed. Originally created to house the consciousness of a scientist named Charles Boutin, when the consciousness doesn't stick, he is sent to be part of the Special Forces. Boutin, once a great inventor for the BrainPal system that CDF uses in its army, had become a traitor and when knowledge of an attack coming from three joined enemy alien races is learned, the CDF needs to find out just what Boutin knows. Hence, Dirac is created.

While at the beginning he is just a regular Special Force recruit, he gradually feels himself remembering things that are not from his own life, but from a life he learns was Boutins. As he grows a deeper understanding of the man he has to choose between helping the CDF or turning traitor as he understands Boutin's beliefs.

While this novel is technically a sequel to Old Man's War, it could easily be read on its own. Some characters reoccur, most notably Jane Sagan from the first novel, the romantic interest of the protagonist in that novel. A few army leaders as well reappear but don't play nearly as large a role as she does. In fact, Dirac is placed in Sagan's care after he joins the Special Forces.

Unlike the first book, this one is written from a 3rd person perspective. It makes the novel somewhat lose the relatability the first has, but does not hinder the telling of the story. Many of Scalzi's innovations were quite creative and believable that such technology would be available this far in the future. He describes them with such ease it isn't impossible to understand the concepts of how they work.

My only complaint about this book would be that the alien races aren't really described very well. Scalzi gives you have half descriptions and you are left to try to figure out the rest of the society of these beings and even sometimes how they look. I would have liked to see some more description when he introduces these characters to his novel.

While I had hoped for a continuation of the first story, this was a good book on its own. My only hope is that the next novel in the series continues on with the characters I grew to like in the first one.

The Ghost Brigades
Copyright 2006
343 pages

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

This was a really intriguing novel. Very original and it kept you wanting more.

John Perry has just turned seventy-five. After visiting his wife's grave, he goes to enlist in the army. Unlike most programs, the Colonial Defense Forces take only those who have experience and knowledge in life, which is why they must be old. There are some rules however, despite the promise of being able to fight in an old body (they must do some kind of regeneration the enlistees believe) there are some heavy prices to pay for joining.

You are considered dead to the World and not allowed to come back to Earth. Nor can you communicate with anyone from your past. You belong to the Colonial Forces for ten years, if you make it out alive.

Not sure what to expect, he takes the special elevator to space where the main headquarters are located. There, they undergo a physical and mental exam and are introduced to how they will fight the war.

Once he is battle fit, he heads out to training. Quickly promoted a leader of his area, he gains the respect of his fellow soldiers. Once they complete training they are engaged in several battles. After a particular bad one, he believes he sees his wife, but that would be impossible as she had died eight years before.

The colonial forces must gain places in the galaxy for colonies. How will John Perry help complete that.

Scalzi writes very intriguing characters. They are real and complicated and best of all, not perfect. They all have flaws and make mistakes.

My only complaint about this novel would be the language used in it. For being hundreds of years in the future, the language is written as someone would talk now. The cuss words are all modern cuss words. When you look at history in just a mere hundred years going from "cad" to "d**k" it stands to reason that those same names would not be used that far in the future. They'd be replaced by something else. But in this novel they are not. Other patterns of speech don't seem like they follow this progression as well.

For a science fiction book it does bring in a lot of innovation. They are unique ideas and he presents them very well. I look forward to the next one in the series.

Old Man's War
Copyright 2005
311 pages

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card

I'm a big fan of Orson Scott Card. His books show that he has one of the most imaginative minds out there. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is no different.

It starts out with a small prologue, that explains how the world has ended up in the not so distant future. We learn that many species and many humans have been wiped out but despite this, humanity has taken a turn. It has become, while not Utopian, a more understanding society, interested in learning from mistakes.

We then are shot into the past at a look at Christopher Columbus' life. It is just a little snippet and gives us an idea of the story to come. We also learn that someone has been watching this interatction of Colubus, someone from the future.

Tagiri is part of the project Pastwatch. Essentially, there are two different machines that researchers use for Pastwatch, Tempoview and the newer TruSite. Both machines allow researchers to look back in time. Tagiri is especially interested in the life of slaves, and becomes convinced that Christopher Columbus' voyage is what causes the more brutal slavery and killings in the America's.

She eventually marries and has a daughter, Diko, who joins her mother in her research of Columbus. Her father is also part of the team. In the course of their research they also are joined by Hunahpu and Kemal.

The researchers come to the conclusion that Columbus must be stopped, but also learn that the future has changed the past before. It is learned that originally Columbus went on a crusade to the East, not his journey to the West. A future pastwatcher plays the holy trinity to change his mind.

When time travel is finally invented in their time, it is decided that Kemal, Hunahpu and Diko will travel back in time to save history. They are shuttled to three different times in the Caribbean to set about their work.

Throughout the entire novel, chapters on Columbus's life and his original journey are written. It explains some of his past and his love of navigation. It also details to how he rose from being a Weaver's son, to being able to meet with Kings and Queens.

Overall I was very intrigued by this novel. Card writes believably and makes sure that even a non-scientific reader can understand his concepts. His writing style is very clear and detailed and you can picture in your head the scenes and people that he describes.

Pastwatch is also a very interesting concept because it is a believable invention. It is conceivable that in the future we may develop a machine like this. And if we did, would we use it to the same purposes. Tied into this are Card's views of the morals of the future. They give up their own future to improve the world before them, and that, in this time, is not very believable due to human greed and nature. But it is a wish that we could evolve so highly.

My only complaint on the novel is the ending. It doesn't really describe how much is changed, other than the ending of slavery, in this newly created future. I would have liked to know what the countries of the world were all doing, if the great World Wars had happened, etc. It seems like Card did his job of rewriting the past and didn't want to go further.

Pastwatch
Published in 1996
398 pages plus 4 pages of sources