Science Fiction and Fantasy: June 2005 Archives

Recommended:



Conquistador by S.M. Stirling. Wonderful tale of "someone stumbled across an alternate earth 50 years ago". The people in this tale tend to be neither villains nor saints, but instead come across as real people, with real world virtues and failings. I geniunely hope he tells us more about what happens with this people.



Lord of Castle Black by Steven Brust. A novel in the universe of Jhereg, the second book of a planned trilogy about the end of the Interregnum. Not much to say but that I enjoyed it.



Gods Old and Dark by Holly Lisle. Third in the World Gates Series. Earth is part of a long chain of worlds. Those "above" Earth are all dead, killed by the Dark Gods that they may feast on Necromantic energies and increase in power. Against them are arrayed a loose group of Sentinels who mean to save the Earth if they can. Unfortunately, those who choose to fight a purely defensive war always lose, a fact the Sentinels are well aware of. But there are those who refuse to fight a purely defensive war...



The Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove. Sixth Book in the series. I shouldn't need to plug Turtledove. After defeat in the Great War, the Confederacy turns to a populist and blames a scapegoat. Seems more of a set up book than anything, but I want to read the next one!



Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Says it's the second book in a series, but I never saw the first and liked it just fine. If you like Modesitt, you will like this book, and he has done enough really good work that you need to pick one up and find out if you like Modesitt.



Mixed:



The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. The first real Miles Vorkosigan book. Liked it well enough, but the antagonists never really did anything except react.



There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo. What happens when a future advanced nanotechnology economy crashes. Kind of formula but I liked it anyway. Promises to be first in a series.



The Unwilling Warlord by Lawrence Watt-Evans. This story is an enjoyable read that committed the sin of getting a little too cute. Otherwise well thought out.



For Love and Glory by Poul Anderson. There is something profoundly sad that the man who gave us Van Rijn and Falkayn and Flandry was obviously trying very hard in this, his last book. I unfortunately could not feel any dramatic tension even though I enjoyed the writing. Pick up one of his earlier works - it's hard to go wrong with anything he wrote before he started getting sick



Not Really The Prisoner of Zenda by Joel Rosenberg is another book in the Guardians of the Flame series. Once again, enjoyable enough but there wasn't a lot of plot to it.



The Grand Crusade by Michael Stackpole is the third or fourth book in the series. I think he got tired of the characters, because it's not up to the standards of the previous ones.



Truth Until Paradox. Three words: Bad Gaming Fiction. I would have been upset if I had paid money for it instead of picking it up at a book swap.

Recommended:



The Return of Santiago, by Mike Resnick. I don't know why Resnick isn't bigger. Every story of his that I've ever read since Birthright: The Book of Man has been fresh and worthwhile. This book is admittedly better if you've read Birthright and the original Santiago, but is worthwhile even without.



Advance & Retreat, by Harry Turtledove is a mirror of our own Civil War's western theater (Think Georgia and Tennessee, as opposed to Virginia and Pennsylvania). Third in a series, but stands on its own as worthwhile reading. He makes a very good point with regard to our own Civil War, though.



Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. If I had ever thought in Math 103B that coding theory and it's history could be the heart of this good a story, set against both WWII and modern day...



Mixed:



1633 by David Weber and Eric Flint is a sequel to 1632, and a pretty decent story in it's own right, but ended up going a little too far in the populist direction for my taste.



The Apocalyse Troll by David Weber is a different take on basically the same story told by SM Stirling in Drakon, but still worthwhile. At least one too many convenient coincidences, though.



The Med Series by Murray Leinster: basically good stories that are just too jingoistic for me. They also haven't aged as well as some of their contemporaries (the original copyrights are 1959 to 1961).



Hell's Faire by John Ringo is the fourth in the series. Don't get me wrong, as a loyal Sluggy Freelance reader I love the idea of an uber-tank named after Bun-Bun. But there have gotten to be too much deus ex machina in the storyline. I get the impression the author's heart isn't in it anymore.



No Phule like an Old Phule by Robert Asprin and Peter J. Heck. Some good moments but overall I just couldn't see the point. I've seen Mr. Asprin do much better - if I didn't already like some of the characters from previous books I'd likely not have finished. This series is offically on probation.



Otherland Volume 4 by Tad Williams: Based upon the recommendation of a friend who likes Williams, I gave him one more try and spend nearly 5000 pages slogging through the four books in the series. Lots of cute thought experiments to fill it up, and much angst, but there's not enough plot for a book a tenth of the size. The fact that I couldn't get myself to actually care about any of the characters didn't help either. I'm sorry Mr. Williams, but I gave you one last, very extended chance and now I don't think I can bring myself to read any more of your stories. Pity, because I see potential there.



More in a few days.