Category: book review


Book review: “The Cleansing” by Sam Kates

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March 18, 2014

“The Cleansing” is the first book in the “Earth Haven” trilogy by Sam Kates – and it doesn’t disappoint. H.G.Wells was the first author who wrote about an alien invasion in his 1897 “War of the Worlds.” Today, 117 years later, that concept seems almost mundane, but Kates managed to find a few new angles that make his book stand out.

For one thing, the alien invasion in this book begins in a very low-key way. There are no spaceships and lasers – in fact, the aliens have lived among us for a very long time and they’ve come up with a great way to get rid of the pesky humans. (I won’t post any further details to avoid spoiling the book for you.)

The book’s pace is deceptively slow, with just the right amount of foreshadowing and quite a few gory details that show how 99.98% of mankind died out. One of the main characters is a British schoolteacher who is one of the lucky 0.02% that survived. The book switches between his point of view and those of the aliens who have spent far too much time on Earth and, in some cases, became a bit too attached to humans.

Despite the book’s dark and gloomy atmosphere, the author maintains just the right balance: the aliens aren’t omniscient (and, on occasion, screw up just like a baseline human would) and the human characters react to the near-extinction of the human race in very believable ways. There are occasional gems, too: the author explains the origin of vampire myths and the true purpose behind the Stonehenge. (The latter makes just as much sense as any of our current theories.) Although most of the book doesn’t feature a lot of action, Kates does a great job of painting a “what if” scenario. Here is hoping the next two books are even better!

Score: five stars

Amazon page

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Book review: “Have Wormhole, Will Travel” by Tony McFadden

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March 12, 2014

Some science fiction books have dozens of characters and giant, space-opera settings. Tony McFadden’s “Have Wormhole, Will Travel” is from the other end of the spectrum: it tells a single story with only six characters and few plot twists.

The premise is definitely original: the aliens live among us, and they’ve been monitoring our scientific development for the past 400 years. Why? Because if we manage to develop space-flight technology, we’d most likely visit their planet and try to conquer it. (Humans don’t have a very good record when it comes to playing well with new neighbors.) The undercover aliens are tasked with sabotaging some of the more dangerous inventions. If that fails, there’s always the nuclear (or gamma, to be precise) option.

The main characters are two aliens that could almost pass for humans if you don’t look hard enough. They live in a suburb of Sydney and stalk a physics professor at the local university. They, in turn, are stalked by three local girls who are convinced they’re vampires.

The “Men in Black in reverse” premise is creative and the book has occasional hilarious gems such as: “the neighbour’s cat, a tabby male with the personality of a permanently pissed off high school teacher” or “You know there are no such things as vampires. The mythology about them has been around for centuries, but they are no more real than the Loch Ness Monster, werewolves or honest politicians.”

The author also knows his science – or knows somebody who does. There’s a brief history of breakthroughs in physics, a basic explanation of the string theory, wormholes, etc. This science fiction book actually pays attention to science!

The book’s plot moves fairly slowly, driven mostly by dialogue where the characters rehash the things the reader already knows. (If you liked the pace of Orson Scott Card’s “Xenocide,” you will love this book.) There isn’t a whole lot of action until the very end. The ending itself is very iffy from the ethical point of view. (Not unlike the ending in the “The Last of Us” video game.) It’s hard to root for the alleged good guys when they substitute one catastrophe for another instead of truly saving the day. Although the author put a fair amount of effort into fleshing out his characters, the “bad guys” in the book don’t seem all that bad and make some valid points.

Overall, this book’s strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out. It would make for some good, slow reading on a rainy day or during a flight, when you just want something amusing to pass the time.

Score: 3 stars

Buy it on Amazon

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Book review: “Across the Universe” by Beth Revis

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March 9, 2014

“Across the Universe” by Beth Revis is one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read lately. The premise is simple: a giant spaceship is sent to a potentially habitable planet in Alpha Centauri. The voyage should take 300 years, which is why all the essential personnel are cryogenically frozen, while the crew of 3,000 people (and their descendants) keep the ship running.

The main character is a 16-year-old girl Amy. She is one of the frozen passengers on Godspeed, since both her parents are essential to the colonization effort. (Her mother is a geneticist and her father is a high-ranking military official.) Amy is also the first frozen passenger to be thawed out due to an act of sabotage. She wakes up 50 years before she’s supposed to and she can’t get frozen again. She is stranded on the spaceship and forced to live with its people, discovering one creepy, disturbing secret after another. Who sabotaged her cryogenic chamber? Why is everybody acting strange? Who is killing other frozen passengers? And can she trust the boy destined to become the ship’s future leader?

This book is a rare mix of hard science fiction and young adult fiction. The first chapter is profoundly disturbing as the author describes (in excruciating detail and through Amy’s eyes) how Amy’s parents get frozen alive. It’s followed by a fair bit of exposition as we meet Elder, the spaceship’s future leader. Once we’re introduced to all the main characters, the novel really takes off and culminates in several plot twists. I could see some of them coming from a mile away, but the ending still shocked me.

I didn’t expect this book to explore political and philosophical questions (what’s the best way to govern thousands of people with no future?), so it came as a pleasant surprise. The only other sci-fi book that I can think of that made politics an essential part of the plot was Frank Herbert’s Dune.

I normally don’t comment on book design when I write my reviews, but I’m glad I got my hands on the hardcover edition. The cover design is gorgeous, the tagline (“What does it take to survive aboard a spaceship fueled by lies?”) is eloquent, and the inside of the dust jacket features the spaceship’s blueprints! I usually donate the books I’ve read to Goodwill in order to conserve the valuable shelf space, but I think I’ll hold on to my hardcover because of the design eye candy.

“Across the Universe” is the first book in the trilogy, and the sequels (“A Million Suns” and “Shades of Earth”) are already out. If this book is any indication, the followup novels should be just as good.

Score: 5 stars

Amazon product page

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Grub: a novel novel on novelists

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July 27, 2013

Quite a few people write for a living. Some writers write about writing. In “Grub,” Elise Blackwell takes it one step further and writes about writers who write about writing. (And yes, I’m well aware of the irony of writing a review about a writer who writes about writers who write about writing.)

“Grub” follows the lives of four young writers over a period of five years. Their approaches and personalities differ wildly, from a starving writer who risks his life to save a manuscript, to a business-oriented writer who is in it for the money and fame. The novel switches between the characters’ points of view, but they’re easy to keep track of. Blackwell fleshes out their personalities well enough to avoid having two-dimensional cardboard cutouts some writers end up with when they try to tackle this style.

In addition to the main characters, there are quite a few writers, critics and editors in the background, each with their own storyline. Some of them end up living happily ever after; others, not so much.

This book doesn’t have exciting action scenes or the trendy elements of suspense and intrigue. Instead, it talks about writing: the many different styles, the way authors find (or lose) inspiration, the excruciating process of finding an agent and getting your book published, the devastating impact of bad reviews, etc. Above all, it’s a book about writers themselves: what makes them tick and how one’s success (or failure) can alienate one’s friends.

If you’re at all curious about writing – or writers in general – grab “Grub” and give it a shot. You may very well end up loving it as much as I did.

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