Starship Troopers

In my last post, I mentioned that I reread The Ghost Brigades by Jon Scalzi. This in turn prompted me to reread Heinlein's classic, Starship Troopers. Both are great military scifi novels. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to tackle Troopers at the beach (It’s getting a bit cold for that!).  If you haven't gotten around to reading this one, you need to.

Much has been written about Troopers in the decades since it was first published so I'll spare you an in-depth analysis. It touches on a variety of themes such as suffrage, militarism, politics, and more.

Basically, Juan Rico is a member of the Mobile Infantry, fighting an interstellar war between humanity and some arachnid aliens known as the "Bugs", and their allies, the "Skinnies". The novel details Rico's enlistment, training, and rise in rank in the military. The novel features a mix of action sequences, in which Rico's team battle hostile aliens, and Rico's classroom studies in both high school and Officer Candidate School.

While it's not such a light beach read, Starship Troopers is fun and has some meat to it. It's great for a book club or someone looking for a novel with substance.

I recommended Starship Troopers to Paul Aridas, a friend and frequent contributor to this blog. Here's what he had to say:

"Adam recommended I read Starship Troopers, arguing that Heinlein’s piece is essential reading from 1950’s science fiction canon.  I agree with his endorsement. It’s not as sophisticated a work as Catch-22 or as emotionally taut as The Things They Carried but it is enjoyable nonetheless.  Ender’s Game was influenced by this work, and those familiar with any of the aforementioned novels will be able to see the connections of structure and theme.” -Paul Aridas

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Thanks for reading.

-Adam Delaura

The Ghost Brigades

On my most recent trip to the beach, I opted to reread The Ghost Brigades by Jon Scalzi, the sequel to Old Man's War. It's a fast-paced military science fiction novel; the perfect accompaniment to a relaxing day in the sun.

The novel tells the story of the life and death of Jared Dirac, a cloned, genetically-engineered super-soldier. Basically, a trio of hostile alien races has united against humanity with the help of a traitorous human scientist named Charles Boutin. The scientist faked his death and defected for reasons unknown. Mr. Boutin’s scientific focus is on consciousness transfers and on computers implanted into soldier’s brains called BrainPals.

In order to better understand the threat facing humanity and find the renegade scientist, the Colonial Defense Forces clone Charles Boutin’s body. They attempt to transfer his consciousness (found saved on a computer drive) into the cloned body. The transfer doesn’t work. The clone of Charles Boutin is then renamed Jared Dirac and it’s given to the Ghost Brigades, an elite force within the Colonial Defense Force. Within a short period of time, Charles Boutin’s memories begin surfacing in Jared Dirac’s mind.

Many questions are raised in the novel such as; will Dirac remain loyal to his Ghost Brigade companions? Will the consciousness of Charles Boutin take over? Can Dirac learn the location of Boutin through the revealed memories? Does Dirac have free will? There’s a good amount of suspense as the story unfolds.  

I found this novel to be quite enjoyable and I would recommend it to any scifi or military action fan.

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Also, if you liked The Ghost Brigades then you should read our review of another Scalzi novel, The God Engines

Thanks for reading!

-Adam Delaura

Death Star: Beach Ball of Death

Here’s another quick beach read, Star Wars: Death Star, by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. While this wasn't the best Star Wars novel I had ever read, it did spark a conversation among my friends about the engineering and technological challenges to building a Death Star in real life.

Star Wars: Death Star tells the story of the original Death Star, mostly from the perspective of the soldiers and employees aboard the massive space station. (I can't help but wonder if the authors were influenced by that scene in Clerks) There are a whole bunch of characters such as, a Tie fighter pilot, a storm trooper, a gunner in command of the Death Star's super laser, some cantina workers, and a station design engineer. Unfortunately there were too many for me to keep track of and most of them I just didn't care about. (Nova, a storm trooper with a conscience, was the only exception.)

This book was pretty average to me. Nothing special,but not complete garbage either. While reading it, I felt like I was reading the script for some deleted scenes in A New Hope. However, it did serve its purpose for me as a beach read. It fit in well between swimming and arguing over which Jedi is the "best".

If you're a diehard Star Wars fan then you should read Death Star. Others should skip it. I'm just glad to know how that thermal exhaust port was left unshielded!

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Deceived

For me, the summer is all about sitting on the beach and reading a book. In my next few posts I'm going to highlight a handful of books I tackled while soaking up some sun.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp, takes place at a dark time. The Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic have been engaged in a long, costly war. Neither side is capable of defeating the other. It seems like a stalemate, until a daring surprise attack on the Republic capital of Coruscant, led by the cunning Sith lord, Darth Malgus.

The attack takes even the Jedi by surprise. As a reult, many Jedi are killed, including Jedi Master Zallow. Coruscant is quickly subdued and the Jedi Temple is destroyed. Darth Malgus hopes that this will hasten end of the Republic and the Jedi.

Malgus is furious when he learns that the Sith Emperor is engaging in peace talks with the Republic. He believes that only through conflict can one achieve a greater understanding of the dark side of the Force. Darth Malgus feels the Sith will weaken themselves if they make peace.

The destruction of the Jedi Temple does more than just give the Sith a bargaining chip at the negotiating table. It ignites a fire of vengeance within the Jedi, Aryn Leneer. She believes the Jedi are failing to respond appropriately to the destruction of the Temple.   She decides to leave the Jedi Order intent on hunting down the Sith lord who killed her master, the fallen Master Zallow. 

The one person Aryn knows who can get her through the Sith blockade of Coruscant is her old friend Zeerid, a smuggler who is in debt to a group of criminals. As fate would have it, Aryn runs into Zeerid shortly after he is forced to accept a job smuggling spice, a highly addictive narcotic, to Coruscant.

This book is full of edge-of-your-seat action and suspense. A rival criminal gang is trying to stop Zeerid's smuggling run, Darth Malgus is unsure of why the Jedi have sent a clandestine operative to Coruscant, and Aryn doesn't know exactly who killed her master. There are shoot-outs, space battles, and epic light saber fights. There's even a shuttle that crashes into the Jedi Temple, filled with dark Jedi, who leap out and start kicking Jedi-butt. What's not to like about that? ... As a bonus, Darth Malgus is an interesting villain, not your average two-dimensional bad guy.

I would recommend Deceived to anyone interested in SciFi, even if you're not a Star Wars fan.

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

As always, thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught

In The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught, Admiral Geary is back in command of the Alliance fleet, this time on a mission to explore the territory controlled by the mysterious Enigma race. Fans of the previous novels will no doubt enjoy this installment of Black Jack Geary commanding the fleet from the flagship Dauntless. For Geary and his familiar side-kicks, confronting the Enigma race proves difficult. The Enigmas are secretive and go out of their way to prevent the Alliance Fleet from learning anything about them. In addition to the Enigma race, the fleet faces challenges to Geary’s command, and politicians who would rather see them fail.

Like previous novels in the series, this one is full of tense fleet battles, political maneuvering, and close calls. If you like the others in this then you should definitely stop by the library to pick this one up.

Here are some links to other reviews of this book:
cybemage.se
alternative-worlds.com

You can also read our previous review of the Lost Fleet series here.

As Always, thanks for reading. Leave your questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

If Dickens designed Star Wars...

Today’s review comes from Paul Aridas, a relative newcomer to the SciFi genre. Read his take on Frank Herbert’s classic, Dune.

William Styron’s quote, “A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it”, is true when it comes to the experience of reading Dune by Frank Herbert.

It is immediately apparent, early in the novel, that it is a book that is meant to be savored: slowly, meticulously digested by the reader with a standing invitation to rediscover the book again and again at a later date, each time garnering something new from the pages. Dune is when of those books, where, when someone asks, “What is it about?” a solid half an hour is required to answer. 

There is the basic plot: new conquerors of a planet must adjust to the precarious political situation of a new life….but this is also a story of family, betrayal, politics, religion, humanity, ecology, power, mysticism, and legacy. The details unfold in a systematic way, but lend themselves to multiple interpretations, depending on the reader, and the particular character’s perspective they have chosen to embrace.  This journey differs when comparatively seen through the eyes of Paul, the beliefs of  Jessica and the Bene Gesserit, the prophecy of Muad’Dib, and the political alliances of the Baron.  The adventure evolves into a complicated series of alliances with epic consequences when the  Fremen, the worms, Paul and Chani’s love story, and the wretched climate all begin to intersect.

From a lesser author, this book would be a mess. In Herbert’s hands, it is a masterpiece.  If Dickens designed Star Wars, this would be the result.  From the intricate details of the planet’s ecology to the historical narrative of  Princess Irulan, this book is well thought out and brilliantly layered in complexity.  My reading registry is more complete for having discovered this title, and I look forward to continuing the adventure with the other novels within the Dune series.

Paul Aridas

Stop by the library to checkout Dune in a variety of formats.

Paperback

Audio Book

Downloadable Audio

As always, thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

The Early Work of PKD

One of our frequent contributors, Tom C. Smith, offers this review of The Early Work of Philip K. Dick Volume 1: The Variable Man and Other Stories.

Picking up The Early Work of Philip K. Dick you might mistakenly think that it’s going to be light reading.  After all, it’s just a bunch of short stories, no heavy weight novels.  Hah!  Partially because the reading is easy, no prolonged descriptions, no academic vocabulary.  More likely though, the short story format makes for immediate action and dialog that leads you on.  Until you get to the end of the story and you find yourself re-reading the last several pages, making sure that you ‘get it’.  Take for instance the first story, Beyond Lies the Wub, within two or three pages your curiosity grabs hold.  You think the Wub, a giant pig in appearance, is an amusing creature whose primary interest for a spaceship crew is dinner.  But that’s before the Wub starts talking about Ulysses and his quest to get back home.   How could an alien pig know about Ulysses you ask?

Story number two, The Gun, is also a space tale of a seemingly dead planet that had been the sight of a devastating nuclear war.  A war that had left the planet bereft of life a ‘pitted, fused, slag’ with nothing to say for itself.  Or was that truly the case?  After all, museums are full of culture but with no animated movement. Nasha, Tance and Dorle (typically off beat Philip K names) must make the call on this surprisingly fruitful exploratory trip.    

The 13^th story, The Adjustment Team, is the basis of the recently released movie, The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon & Emily Blunt.  The Adjustment Team is about as paranoid a tale as most writers can approach, but as we all know, Philip K was not ordinary writer.  His books were the first sci-fi books published by the Library of America.  That’s right, entertaining and literary.  In many ways, although there’s no drugs in evidence here, The Adjustment Team is a baby step towards dark internal horror sci-fi such as A Scanner Darkly, Ubik, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich.   That being said, there is a kernel of romance (Ed & Ruth) in this well-constructed short story.  Although nothing to compare to the Damon and Blunt chemistry that sustains the worthwhile movie.  But then, the twist in the Movie is small potatoes compared to the ending of The Adjustment Team.

Read On!

Tom C Smith

If you enjoy The Early Work of Philip K. Dick then stop by the library to check out some of Dick's other writings:

Confessions of a Crap Artist
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Reviewed Here)
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
The Man in High Castle
The Man Whose Teeth were all Exactly Alike
A Scanner Darkly

And check out some films based on his work:
Minority Report
Paycheck

As always, thanks for reading. Leave your questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Cryoburn

The Labyrinth Librarians are back from a rather long holiday break. We have a whole bunch of great SciFi and fantasy books to look forward to this year. Feel free to send us your sugestions for books we should purchase.

I had never read anything by Lois McMaster Bujold before picking up Cryoburn. I now feel compelled to read the previous novels in this series. While I’m sure it would have helped me better understand the plot of Cryoburn if I had read the previous books, I had no difficulty following the plot. That being said, Cryoburn turned out to be a well-paced space opera with plenty of corporate and political intrigue. I should also mention that I listened to this book during my commute rather than physically read it in my spare time. Thankfully the narrator’s voice was pleasant.

Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan, the central character of the series, is dispatched to investigate the cryo-corporations on Kibou-Daini. These Cryo-corporations enable the citizens of Kibou to avoid death by freezing them in cryogenic stasis until a cure is found for whatever ails them. These frozen citizens maintain the right to vote which is signed over to the cryo-corporations who vote by proxy and therefore control the government of Kibou. Miles finds himself thrust into the middle of the political, economic, and social turmoil created by Kibou’s unique political system.

Much of the mystery in Cryoburn revolves around the political activist Lisa Sato. She was cryogenically frozen by the authorities under dubious circumstances following a political rally that turned violent. Mile’s attempt at recovering and reviving Madame Sato’s cryo-corpse turns out to be more difficult than anticipated. Added into the mix are corrupt cryo-corp executives who attempt to bribe Miles and cover up their actions, a secret cryo-facility being run by social outcasts, a violent political activist group without any real agenda, the questionable loyalty of the embassy staff, and a boy with a large collection of animals.

Cryoburn begins with a bizarre scene in which I began to doubt whether this was the right book for me. However I was hooked by the end of the first five minutes, even though I didn’t have any idea what was going on. It turns out that Miles had escaped from some disorganized political rebels who had drugged him in order to subdue him. All of the surreal details in the opening scene are Miles’ hallucinations. This wasn’t immediately clear to me and I felt like I was reading a Philip K. Dick novel.  I couldn’t easily go back and re-read the parts because I listened to the entire novel in my car. If I had a print copy of the book I could simply go back and re-read the section for more clarity.

Nevertheless Cryoburn is highly recommended to fans of the space opera genre. It’s a compelling investigative tail with enough twists to keep a reader interested. Check it out in both print and audio format.

As always questions and comments are encouraged below. Thanks for reading.

-Adam Delaura

Calculating God

Paleontologist meets giant, six legged, spider-like alien.  A marriage made in heaven?  Well Toronto; if you believe internationally acclaimed author Robert J. Sawyer.  And, that’s just the start of the lives-up-to-it’s-title Hugo Award finalist novel, Calculating God.

Having been a sci-fi fan for over forty years, it’s been a while since I’ve come across a novel that can stand toe-to-toe with Arthur C. Clark classics such as the imposing Childhood’s End, and with a sense of humor to boot.  Calculating God is no light weight, as is recognized by the sci-fi community.  Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine put it best, “Robert J. Sawyer seems to be content on revisiting all the classic themes of science fiction,  often with new twists that arise from a genuine rethinking of their premises…A writer whose willingness to give us new takes on the central questions of SF makes him a valuable barometer of the genre’s health.” 

It’s not just the ‘hard core’ sci-fi cognoscenti that appreciate Sawyer.  The short lived, unfortunately,  ABC television series FlashForward is based on Sawyer’s same titled novel.  Oh, and if you happen to enjoy international magazines;  the latest issue of the British based Philosophy Now magazine has an engrossing interview with Sawyer.    

Lastly, next time you’re surfing the net, you might want to check Sawyer’s complimentary (includes reading group guides for his novels) website: sfwriter.com

Read On!

Tom C Smith

P. S. The Avon Free Public Library does not own this title but we will get it for you if you request it. Call us or stop by.

Gardens of the Sun

Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley

The Quiet War is over; the forces of Earth have defeated the Outers and conquered the colonies around Jupiter and Saturn. Some of the Outers escape to Uranus and Neptune while the Three Powers Alliance of Earth competes to plunder the economic and technological spoils of their newly won territories.

This hard SciFi space opera, and sequel to The Quiet War, traces the paths of various characters during the aftermath of the Quiet War. Many of these characters will be familiar to those who read the previous book, the gene wizard Avernus, the spy Ken Shinto, Sri Hong-Owen, Macy Minnot, and others.

Most of the characters are well developed and the plot lines held my interest. McAuley’s vision of the future is well worth checking out. However the one thing that keeps me from loving this book is all the scientific “explaining” that happens. I found myself skimming sections of genetic techno-babble. There are certainly readers who would enjoy this sort of realism in a SciFi novel. However I am not one of these people. I don’t want to know why or how the technology works; I want to see it in action on the page.

Overall the novel is compelling and worth a read if you don’t mind the techno-babble. Stop by the library and take a look. Thanks for reading.

Leave your comments & questions below.

-Adam