I think I’ve been saving these up for months …
Escape from Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (2009)
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I love their mid-70s Inferno (it’s a book I regularly revisit). This sequel rightfully tries to be something different, but muddles it by trying to be too philosophical, too complex, too political, too preachy, too meditative, too many big ideas. The original was a mysterious tapestry; this one becomes one part puzzle box, one part seminary thesis. Worth a read, but I doubt I’ll come back to it again.
New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear (2007)
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Lovely setting, fabulous concept — turn of the 20th century, in a world where high magic works and is woven neatly into history, where the British still own the unquiet American colonies, and where a self-exiled woman named Garrett is the Detective Crown Investigator in the titular city. The setting and characters are great; the stories somewhat less so (well-written, but not my romantic cuppa).
Saturn’s Children by Charles Stoss (2008)
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This self-subtitled “space opera” is dedicated to Asimov and Heinlein, but it is to the latter that the greater homage lies. Stross takes Friday (one of my Heinlein favorites), barely files the serial numbers off, chunks it up and remixes it into a story of a robot culture (nod Asimov) and a sexy robot geisha/courier (Heinlein) trying to make her way through it amidst threats and double-crosses and identity crises. Heinlein would have admired (and been flattered by) the result, complete with a Heinleinesque weak ending.
Underground by Kat Richardson (2008)
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The latest “Graywalker” book delves even deeper into Seattle’s past, with zombies, Indian curses, and a strange creature lurking in the ancient city-beneath-the-city. She also makes her detective protagonist, Harper Blaine, and the supporting cast richer and deeper. I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (2005)
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This book (and its sequels The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale) all owe a lot to Heinlein, too. In this case, it’s Starship Troopers (with large leavening of Haldeman’s Forever War; others in the series touch on Heinlein’s Friday, Tunnel in the Sky, Podkayne of Mars, and many others — but all with a personalized touch from Scalzi that keep them from being much more than mere pastiches). I can’t summarize four books in one paragraph, but to say it’s highly entertaining (and thoughtful) space war/opera — and while I’ve come relatively late to following Scalzi’s work, I’d recommend it to anyone without question.
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (2009)
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Correia claims to be addicted to B-movies and guns, and this incredibly fun romp is overflowing with both, telling the tale of a bar-fighter-gun-nut-turned-accountant who joins up with a company of monster bounty hunters to avert the Apocalypse. A bit like Aliens, only with more bad jokes (but just as much carnage). It’s a laugh, scare, and explosion a minute, and the enjoyment of reading it seems only matched by the enjoyment the author clearly had in writing it. Waiting for the sequel.
Ariel by Steven Boyett (1983)
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I desperately loved this book until the last few chapters. The extensive Afterword indicates this is a not-uncommon reaction, and I understand and even support what Boyett was doing there … but it still feels very abrupt, a major change in tone and direction, and curiously disappointing. Until then, though, this book — several years after the Change suddenly made Technology stop working and Magic (along with Magical Creatures) start — is a great combo of post-Apocalyptic fiction and quest fantasy. Recommended — and I’m looking forward to reading the new sequel, Elegy Beach. I think.
Chasing the Bear by Robert Parker (2009)
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If you like Parker’s Spenser novels, you’ll likely enjoy this “Young Spenser” novel, a YA effort which tells, episodically, of the detective’s youth. A thin (widely spaced) 169 pages, it’s an even faster read than his recent novels, but still entertaining for all that, and more of a creative stretch than he’s done with Spenser in a while — though, really, there’s more fleshing out of Spenser’s past than any brilliant or unexpected revelations.
(I recently reread the entire Spenser series, all 30-odd novels. Even while acknowledging that they’ve gone from relatively rich, thoughtful, complicated tales to familiar-as-Fritos simple novellas, they’re still enjoyabe, if unchallenging, reading.)
Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters (1980)
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I’ll confess to a weakness for Peters’ Brother Cadfael mysteries. The twenty novels in the series, telling the tale of a Welsh Benedictine monk — and crime-solver — in 12th Century England — are charming, educational, thought-provoking, exciting, and contemplative. (That they were made a faboo TV series starring Derek Jacobi doesn’t hurt). I’m rereading this series now, and just finished enjoying this particular twisted tale of marriage, inheritance, parentage, property, poison, and, of course, murder. Triffic stuff, highly recommended.