Death Is Bad

Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear

Brief Synopsis: A prince, having survived being on the losing side in a civil war, tries to avoid assassination. An unrelated princess joins an order of wizards to avoid assassination by her power-consolidating brother. They meet up, and are embroiled in a plan by an evil sorcerer to foment chaos and war in their lands so he can conqueror them easily after they’re exhausted.

Book Review: Not a bad book. It has some stunning imagery, really very well-worked scenes. And Elizabeth Bear is quite creative, introducing many fantastic concepts that are a pleasure to immerse yourself in. A cosmology that changes based on the beliefs of the peoples ruling an area? How cool is that? About 10,000 times cooler when it’s revealed that a city being conquered will change what happens in the sky above it, and people travelling to it can tell it’s changed hands by that! Unfortunately the writing is rather haphazard. We seem to dash from one plot point to another without much reason for going there, aside from “Well, this is where the next plot event happens”. There are a few plot holes which may be patched over in subsequent books (this is the first in a series), but they still irritate the mind. Worst for me – I just couldn’t relate to the characters. Their motivations seemed imposed on them by authorial fiat, rather than natural desires. So not a great book, but I can’t tell anyone to avoid it, because it really isn’t bad either. It’s right about the middle. However if I was asked to recommend a good fantasy novel written recently, this wouldn’t come to mind so… Not Recommended.

Book Club Review: That being said, this teetering on the edge of good actually makes for interesting discussion, because different people like and dislike different things about it. There were several people in our book club who thought this was a strong book most of the way through, and the disagreements between what was believable and what was strained made for some good talking. This branched into discussion over what makes believable characters, and what can be overlooked for the sake of moving a story forward. It isn’t emotional disagreement about politics or the meaning of life, but it is grist for the mill. I find myself in the position of saying that while I wouldn’t read this book on my own, it makes for a pretty good group-discussion book. Recommended.

Like everyone else with a blog and a Hugo vote, I’m posting my Hugo noms. Final deadline for nominations is March 10^th, don’t forget.

First, a confession – I don’t have much time to read anymore. I’ve never been a very fast reader, I simply had a lot of free time, which can be deceptively similar from the outside. But the past couple years I’ve taken on other projects and a serious relationship, both of which have cut into my time sharply, so I barely even have time to read the two-books-per-month for the local SF/F Book Club. Which means that the amount of novels I read is already low, and the number I read in the same year they’ve been published is astonishingly low. Therefore the majority of my nominations are more aspirational nominations than actual “I read this and I think it’s amazing and it was just published so it’s still eligible for the award I think it deserves!” nominations. They are books that I want to be good, and if enough people think they were then I’ll get a copy to read with the Hugo Packet (which we read in our Book Club every year) and I can actually make an informed decision then. :)

When it comes to short stories… I’ve never been an avid reader of them. Usually I find an author I like first, and then go read his backlog of stories afterwards. Fortunately that’s not as true this year! So let’s start with the short stories!

Short Stories

First and foremost:

Comes The Huntsman, by Rachel Acks

I know the author, which is how I came to actually read a short story (a rarity for me). However that’s not why I’m nominating it. This is truly an amazing, epic short story. People who know me IRL know that I often rave about Hal Duncan’s Vellum. It is, IMHO, the best book ever. It isn’t written linearly, because its story isn’t a linear story. It is a mosaic which you can only see small pieces of at a time, and once you’ve read the whole thing you have all the pieces and you can hold them in your mind and mentally take several large steps backwards and finally see the actual picture. As such, it’s hard to tell people what it’s about. It has to be experienced personally, and most people don’t like the experience.

Comes The Huntsman has the same structure. If you were to take Vellum and turn it into a short story, it would be Comes The Huntsman. Not in terms of story or characters or any of that, but in terms of emotion and structure. Which is my way of saying that I love this sort of story structure, it resonates with me like no other type of fiction can.

On top of that, Comes The Huntsman has an excellent story of its own, with real emotional pull. It is an excellent work, and everyone should read it. All the short stories I’m nominating are strong, I don’t mean to disparage any of them. But this one should win the 2012 Hugo, IMO.

 

Your Cities, by Anaea Lay

Again, I read it because I know the author. It is a fantastic story, in a world of upheaval that feels like it’s blossoming into something beautiful, and a character who’s personal storyline mirrors that narrative. That feeling of watching something amazing begin is infectiously exciting. It’s also available in audio form at Toasted Cake, and the reading is superb. I’ve subscribed to TC on the strength of that episode. They beat me to win the 2012 Parsec Podcast Awards, and very deservedly so!

 

The Three Feats of Agani, by Christie Yant

Brought to my attention by the formerly mentioned Anaea Lay. A great story of gods, which I imagine speaks strongly to any tranhumanists (which is why I personally loved it).

 

On to Books:

The Killing Moon, by NK Jemisin

I haven’t read it, but Anaea Lay has promised to “throw a spectacularly childish fit […] in order to solicit nominations for this book.” Thus I am nominating it. Plus I trust her taste.

 

Existence, by David Brin

Because he’s awesome and I’ve loved all his stuff to date.

 

Auraria, by Tim Westover

Again, I haven’t read it. But it’s recommended by Van Aaron Hughes, who doesn’t have exactly my taste but who’s opinion I trust. Moreover, it is a self-published book that is apparently awesome (coming in 2nd place in the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books), and I am ideologically committed to supporting people who bypass the established powers to strike out on their own and do a very good job of it.

 

The somewhat rare: Novelette!

(rare because I don’t read these, and few people includes them in their noms lists)

Wool, Omnibus Edition, by Hugh Howey

I haven’t read it yet, but I keep seeing it pop up over and over by various people I trust. I’m enthusiastic about it because it started out as simply a guy writing and posting his work online, and more and more people finding it and loving it and spreading it. It is essential a self-published work, which I think is awesome. A great story that also tells the publishing industry to go screw itself at the same time? Sign me up!

 

Dramatic Presentation

MLP:FiM: How Should A Pony Be?

Because Dr Who is overrated. I mean, it’s a’ight, but I don’t bother watching it unless it’s already on and I have nothing else to do. Which is why I’m only maybe halfway through season 2. My Little Pony, OTOH, is made of pure awesome, as I’ve written before. If it gets the nom, this will be my top vote.

 

HPMoR: 74a – Self Actualization, Part 9, Escalation of Conflicts

Because I’m not about to not nominate myself, even if I have no chance of even making an “also nominated” list. :) This episode was one of the most fun ones, I figured the more dramatic ones require too much background knowledge.

 

CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER

Van Aaron Hughes – who I know personally from the Denver SF/F Book Club and who is a damn good writer! I’ll also be nominating him for Fan Writer for Fantastic Reviews, which runs the really freakin’ cool Battle of the Books every quarter which you really should read, it’s fun. :)

Anaea Lay – who I’ve met and who is awesome, and still eligible!

 

As you can see I’ve got free nomination room, so if there’s something you think is really deserving let me know.

The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman

Synopsis: Two factions war for control of a Steampunk Old West. A young psychologist (Liv) must find and cure an insane old man who’s mind may hold the key to ending the war permanently.

Brief Book Review: An interesting read, but not a compelling one. The super-human powers that rule the two factions are fascinating, and could have been a great examination of how non-human intellects interact with humans, and how intelligences without the ability to directly manipulate the world can still have huge effects by offering humans things they want in exchange… but it was never explored in much detail. The world itself is beautifully rendered, with great locations and extremely cool chaotic environs in the non-Made section of the world, where reality is still somewhat fluid and objects can change when you aren’t looking – and which doesn’t seem to make much difference to anything, aside from making a great backdrop. Liv is slowly stripped down to her constituent parts over the course of her journey, which is a neat concept but doesn’t have as much impact as it should. She doesn’t actually do a single thing of any importance until literally the very last scene of the book. The book feels unsatisfying because the protagonists are passive, rarely initiating anything themselves – merely reacting to this neat world. While it works well as a mood piece, those sorts of works are usually written as short stories for good reason. It doesn’t quite work at novel length. Not Recommended, unless this is exactly your type of book (and you know it if it is).

Club Review: Unfortunately there isn’t a great amount to chew over in a discussion setting. The villains are painted too strongly as villainous to provoke empathy, and the heroes don’t do much to cheer about. The sets are pretty, but there’s only so much to say about that. It has a very similar problem to Permanence – a lot of cool ideas that are great in concept, but without the execution to make them compelling. Merely thinking up a cool idea isn’t enough, you need to do something with it. Even if this is your type of book, it’s more of a solitary pleasure rather than a group discussion piece. Not Recommended.

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, by Phillip K Dick

Synopsis: Living in a police state, a famous and genetically superior man is suddenly stripped of his identity and erased from everyone’s memory. As far as he can tell, he never existed. He struggles to regain his past and avoid the attention of the corrupt authorities.

Brief Book Review: It’s hard to evaluate this book, because it isn’t really a novel. There isn’t a plot really… there’s just a thing that happened. A lot of words are used on introspection and silent despair without a lot happening. When things do happen, they often don’t make much sense. The writing itself is clumsy, and none of the characters are very likable. That being said, all this seems to work together to make this book a compelling and fascinating exploration of helplessness. It may very well be worth it for that alone. Some books try to make you feel a certain way, this one tricks you into it while you aren’t looking, and does so well. However overall – Not Recommended.

Club Review: And yet, for book club purposes, this book is ideal. While none of the characters are likable, they’re all memorable, and their actions can spark quite a lot of discussion. Criticism, empathy, dissection – all are likely to be applied to any single character, sometimes all three from a single reader. It is a disjointed and confusing narrative, and as such it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It is this sort of fertile soil that nowadays leads to fan theories and fanfiction, and it makes for great discussion. Many of the things that make it a poor novel actually make it quite a good Book Club book. It’s likely that most readers will be ambivalent about the book and unsure what to make of it, but there will be plenty to talk about. Recommended.

City of Bones, by Martha Wells

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic fantasy. After out-of-control magic reduced most of the world to a desert wasteland, the survivors do their best to survive while trying to find magical artifacts and piece together what went wrong.

Brief Book Review: A lackluster effort. There is never any build-up of tension, the world building suffers from multiple holes, and the book commits the cardinal sin of fiction: it is boring. Not recommended.

Club Review: As a club review, it’s not as bad as a solitary read. The book club will likely find itself comparing this to other post-apocalyptic or dystopian works they actually enjoyed, and may get into some fun conversations about the contrasts, and how people react in truly desperate situations. Those with a historical background might draw comparisons to Rome. And everyone will have some fun talking about the various inconsistencies and snafus. It’s not awful, and it’s an early book – I’ve heard the author has gone on to write much better things. But that’s not enough to recommend people spend their limited time reading or skimming it. Not Recommended.