Blood Siren – Michael Formichelli

If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that I’ve been on a streak of really bad, or at most mediocre, books. I honestly started to wonder if this whole self-published endeavor wasn’t worth it; why spend hours each week reading crappy books. Luckily, I stumbled upon Blood Siren by Michael Formichelli, which was a refreshing breath of fresh air. Set thousands of years in the future, long after mankind had escaped the sol system and joined galactic politics, Blood Siren follows the interactions between Barons, the leaders of the Confederation. The Confederation is one of the main powers in the galaxy, and while mention is made of other groups, and the Confederation’s wars with them, they do not play a role in the story thus far.

Formichelli brings us into a world that is as fully fleshed out as any I have seen. There are a plethora of different aliens, which are all distinct from anything I’ve seen before, artificial beings, and humans modified so much by cybernetic enhancements that they are almost unrecognizable. One of my favorite aspects of the book is how Formichelli deals with the relationships between different species. One human who is in relationship with a Nyangari has to deal with the fact that his sense of smell can detect her pheromones, and thus knows her mood far more intimately than any other lover she’s experienced. Though this doesn’t play a part in the overall story, it does set up a rich world.

Through this rich world we travel with a cast of diverse characters: Two barons, one mired in self doubt and depression since his family was killed five years prior, the other dealing with the recent murder or suicide of his father and his own ascent to Baronship. A reporter who, in rather typical fashion, will do anything to get the story, but provides a unique perspective and a way for Formichelli to show a little of what life is like outside of the elites. An artificially created human who is filled with cybernetic enhancements, including an onboard computer with a distinct personality, and is ultimately beholden to an unknown AI. My favorite aspect is that all of these characters are flawed in their own ways, yet remain likeable and compelling. It is easy to become attached.

Blood Siren is a complex work, and requires the reader’s full attention. It even includes a tree of the complex bloodlines within the Baronies; very helpful while trying to untangle the complex relationships within. It has everything I could ask for, political intrigue, action, mystery, and even romance. It is the first book in a series, and while little is concluded in it’s pages it didn’t leave me feeling that it was unfinished. There were enough plot points resolved, or at least transitioned into different phases that I left satisfied. And honestly, with a story as complex as Blood Siren’s it would be too much to ask it to be wrapped up in one volume. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel to what was my favorite book so far in my self-published challenge.

 

Steel World – B.V. Larson

Today I’ll be review Steel World, by B.V. Larson. Before I get into the review, I must provide a disclaimer, along with Steel World, I also finished reading The Rise of Endymion today. By sheer coincidence the books have a major aspect in common, and the different ways that they handle it ripple throughout the story. As is so common with stories like Steel World, we start out meeting our protagonist, James McGill, as he is forced to drop out of college and join up with Earth’s Mercenary Legions. In the Galactic Empire each planet is allowed to export one thing in order to justify their continued existence. For Earth, that is soldiers for hire. McGill is deemed too independent for the high profile Legions and is forced to join Varus Legion, an outcast. Soon after joining, he and the rest of the legion is shipped out to their first contact, on Cancri-9, a steel world.

This is where we meet the interesting device used by Larson to make the series unique, and give the series its name: The Undying Mercenaries Series. When a trooper dies, and they frequently do, their consciousness is transferred to a new body, leaving them almost immortal. This is where we can see the similarity to The Rise of Endymion, and Endymion. In The Rise of Endymion There exists a parasitic life form in the shape of a cruciform that allows it’s host to be resurrected, even if only a sliver of the cruciform remains. The entire way of life changes, for example ships are used that turn humans into pulp when they translate between systems, only be be resurrected upon arriving at their destination.

The problem with this is that it gives the characters in the series, and therefore the reader, very little to fear. The Rise of Endymion solves this by only allowing certain characters to use the cruciform; most of the major players see it as evil. In Steel World everyone is revived multiple times. At one point a character is killed with a missile instead of being transported with a shuttle. There are some moments when McGill and his companions are at risk of being ‘permed,’ the term for a death that cannot be revived. However these are quickly resolved.

This brings me to my next complaint about Steel World. James McGill is too good. He’s immediately the best at everything that he does. He saves his superiors, or the entire unit, several times during the story. There’s no one better at marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, or finding female recruits to bed. It’s hard to root for a character that already has everything going for him. And, when a character has bested every single challenge thrown their way, it’s easy to assume that the next one is going to be similarly handled. I want to root for a character to overcome his initial nature, to grow in the doing. I want a character to screw up once in a while, make a choice that, while it seemed right in the current situation, causes him real hardship in the long run.

Steel World was a fun ride, but it felt like nothing but a summer action flick. You jump from fight scene to fight scene, often without much understanding on how you got from one to the other, see some aliens getting killed, have a brief intermission while the romantic interest is introduced, and then culminate the story with another big fight. I can’t say that Steel World was a bad story, but I also can’t say that it was a good one. If a book isn’t going to make me feel something, then it’s action should at least be crisp and exciting. Unfortunately Steel Wool was mediocre on all counts.

 

Salt – Colin F. Barnes

Salt – I mean with the likes of Wool and Sand in the single noun titled post apocalyptic thriller category I just had to give it a try. The premise behind Salt is that the world has flooded, leaving almost everything underwater. A flotilla of ships, containing a little over a hundred survivors, sits on top of Pico De Orizaba, where one of their number ran aground. The story starts several years after the waters first rise, and follow the journeys of Jim, the leader of the survivors on the flotilla, and Eva, the police detective who wound up onboard. There are murders and Eva must find the culprits. A thriller set within a group of people trying to deal with the apocalypse. What could go wrong?

A lot, it turns out. First off is the apocalypse itself. The obvious issue is that the world has flooded. Now, I’m not really sure how this happens, because Salt is very obviously set in the near future and the flooding is extreme. I mean, Pico De Orizaba is barely scratching the surface of the water, and it’s eighteen thousand feet above sea level; the third highest mountain in North America. With just two seconds of research on Google I know that if all of the ice on Greenland and Antarctica melted the sea level would rise two hundred and twenty feet, approximately. So that’s only seventeen thousand, eight hundred feet short. Even suspending the absurdity of a waterworld situation I have more issues with the apocalypse.

The title of the book, Salt, is based on the premise that as people move from cabin to cabin they wash themselves with salt to cleanse themselves from the contagion. Wait, there’s a contagion? At least that’s what I said. As we find out later in the book the melting Antarctic Ice released a plague, though it’s effects are never fully described. In the last scene or two I got the impression that it inspires violence in those it infects, but that contradicts earlier aspects of the story. No matter what the actual symptoms it doesn’t play a large part in the story. Even the salt aspect is only mentioned two or three times.

This might be a minor part of the story, but ends up being a major gripe of mine. Most of the time that characters are moving between ships they don’t cleanse themselves with salt. There’s no mention that they’re constantly tasting salt on their lips, or that their skin is dry and cracked because of constant exposure. For a contrast simply read Sand, by Hough Howley. Characters are constantly dealing with the ever present sand. Barnes should have done the same thing with salt in his story. As it was there were multiple times I forgot about the salt motif of the book.

Looking back, it feels like Barnes took a murder mystery – and a bad one at that – and shoehorned it into a post-apocalyptic setting. The details of the apocalypse play next to no part in the actual mystery; it is simply a setting. That might be forgiven if the mystery is compelling, but it’s not. The story rambles, jumps from scene to scene without flow, and the characters are barely distinguishable from one another. If you’re looking for a mystery during an apocalypse your search isn’t over, keep moving past Salt. It’s not worth your time.

 

Pennsylvania – Michael Bunker

I found an interview with Michael Bunker on Jason Gurley’s blog, while researching Greatfall. Simply reading the words “amish scifi” made me buy Pennsylvania. It starts off slowly in an Amish village in Pennsylvania, this was a real shocker. Gradually the characters of Jed, central to the story, and his brother Amos are introduced. While working through their chores on the farm Amos forces Jed to explain why he’s going to New Pennsylvania – a colony world eight light years away from Earth – and how he’s getting there – a ship in which he will remain in suspended animation for the eight year length of the journey. I really liked the way that Bunker introduced the story and showed Jed’s motivations.

Before long Jed is leaving to journey to the station from which his ship is leaving. First, he stops in an airbus station where he’s given extra money, and a note that tells him to keep quiet. Obviously something is afoot. On the bus ride we’re introduced to The Transport Authority, the main force of the state. All priate forms of transportation are illegal which leaves The Transport Authority in control of all movement throughout the world. Jed had the audacity to be told about someone else’s plan to defect to the Amish, which lands him in a bunch of hot water. However, he’s still allowed to board the ship and leave for New Pennsylvania.

Now, it’s worth taking a minute to talk about the society that Jed has found himself in. The Transport Authority requires that everyone use a head implant, a TRID, in order to keep tabs. The TRID also serves as a way of connecting to the internet, facilitated by a drug that most of the population uses regularly. THis is where the issues start. It’s fairly obvious that Bunker is using this as an analogy for the current world and it’s obsession with the internet. And we can all admit that while we may not take a drug and disappear into our own heads for hours on end we do spend plenty of time hunched over our computers, oblivious to the outside world. If Bunker was simply setting up this analogy I would be fine with it, it’s a perfectly reasonable concern and one that’s common throughout fiction. However, as the book progresses he spends more and more time talking about how wonderful the Plain Folk, as the Amish are often referred to, are and how their way of life is superior. Even during the climax of the book the characters participate in a barn raising, complete with pages of descriptions on how the way the Amish band together to help one another makes them better.

All the time Bunker spends on praising the Plan Folk, or complaining about the way the rest of society acts, takes away from the rest of the book. Every time I got to a cliffhanger and was anxious to find it’s resolution I was forced to read several pages about the merits of the Amish lifestyle. It was frustrating. While reading the book I felt that it was just running around in circles, without a concise story, but once I finished it I could easily identify the plot. And the plot was good. I think that I was forced to spend so much time reading about Bunker’s personal philosophies that I kept forgetting what was going on in the story. If he were to cut out ninety percent of the unneeded opinionating the book would flow much better, be far more engaging, and be about thirty percent shorter.

Pennsylvania sets up a sequel, but I’m not sure if I’m going to read it. I spent a lot of time with Pennsylvania without much reward. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I simply think that there are books out there better worth my time. If you’re curious about the Amish you should certainly read Pennsylvania, but if you’re not I would only read it if you’ve got nothing better to read.

 

Chains of Destiny – Pax Humana 2 – Endi Webb

Jake Murcer and company return in Endi Webb’s continuation of the Pax Humana Saga: Chains of Destiny. I enjoyed The Terran Gambit, the first book in the series, so I read Chains of Destiny as soon as it was released. I had some issues with The Terran Gambit, though they were minor, and mostly concerned with how the action started. In Chains of Destiny we are yet again dropped into the middle of the action, but this time it makes a lot more sense.

The book starts with the Phoenix, the only ship to survive the ill-planned gambit by the Earth’s Resistance, in combat with another starship. Soon after, the ship is attacked and driven off by a group of pirates. The pirates offer a place to refuel and resupply, and despite reservations Jake accepts the offer. Thus begins another adventure.

I don’t want to give away any more of the story; it’s quite good and unpredictable. It also highlights the fact that there are many ways in which Jake is not ready for command, which I think is a nice touch. At the end of the Terran Gambit he falls into command of the Phoenix with no experience, and Webb does a good job of showing what happens when you give the keys of a starship to a fighter jock.

The other refreshing aspect of Chains of Destiny is that it breaks up the story a bit. No longer is the plot centered around the action on the ship, there are other storylines. Webb also hints at a great deal of intrigue that will probably play out in the next few books. With The Terran Gambit setting the major elements in motion Chains of Destiny is free to delve into the more subtle plot points. There are several things that are hinted at that I feel will be important later on, even if they don’t play a large role in Chains of Destiny.

In terms of character development Chains of Destiny only improves upon The Terran Gambit, creating a convincing story and adding some depth to the characters in a natural way. While after The Terran Gambit I had a hard time separating some of the characters from each other, they are now distinct personalities. I think the reason is an interesting thing to call out. In The Terran Gambit, Webb had an interlude between the two sections of action, showing the characters on leave. Here they talked a lot about their lives, and their past, and had some occasional deviations into autobiography. This, to me, felt like I was being spoon fed a character outline. In Chains of Destiny, the basics of the characters have been established, so all of their development is through their action. This lets the characters develop naturally, as we see how they interact with the world. I think that if Webb had simply cut out the interlude between battles in The Terran Gambit, and let us get to know the characters as they responded to events, it would have lead to a better experience.

Overall, Chains of Destiny has everything that made me enjoy The Terran Gambit, while getting rid of some of it’s issues. If you enjoyed The Terran Gambit at all, and if you haven’t read it I would say you should consider it, you’ll love Chains of Destiny. I certainly did. Considering the improvement from book one to two I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series, set to land in August 2014.

 

Buy it on Amazon

 

The Terran Gambit – Endi Webb

The Terran Gambit is the first entry into Endi Webb’s The Pax Humana cycle. It’s wasn’t that surprising, at least to me, that The Terran Gambit is about the end of the Pax Humana. Global, or galactic, peace is hard to make interesting. Humans have spread far beyond Earth, and have created a vast state, called The Corsican Empire, which is styled upon the Roman Empire. At the edges of the Empire there are small pirate groups or unaligned planets, but the vast majority of the empire lives without war, leaving humanity in a state of peace, or a Pax Humana.

The book opens with the citizens of the Earth rebelling, though their reasons for revolt are not clear. This lack of real motivation was a problem for me throughout the book. There are some passages where it’s mentioned that the bureaucracy is overwhelming, and basic support services are hard to come by, but nothing that convinced me that rebellion was necessary. This rebellion is quickly crushed, though one Resistance battleship escapes. At this point the story jumps forwards three years, after the resistance has been crushed and reintegrated with the rest of the empire.

Here we join our heroes, three hotshots who distinguished themselves while fighting for the resistance and one latecomer, as they report to a newly forming fleet. This fleet features the newest, biggest, and baddest ships the Empire has to offer, and the majority of the crew is former Resistance members. Obviously we all see where this is going. In between the action Webb uses his heroes to showcase a bit of what’s going on down on Earth that compels everyone to rebel. As I mentioned before, he didn’t sell me on it. Hopefully in future editions he delves more into the Resistance’s background.

Along the way we meet the enemy, an Empire Admiral by the name of Trajan. It’s quite clear that he’s modeled off of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn from The Thrawn Trilogy. Instead of art Trajan analyzes people using their taste in music, and despite lacking the red alien eyes has his face disfigured from a lost eye. Now, before anyone starts making assumptions, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Thrawn is one of my favorite villains, and it’s nice to see another take on his character. So far Trajan hasn’t been developed much, but I get the sense that Webb is setting him up for some big events in future installments.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed The Terran Gambit. The action was tight, and the combat exciting. One thing that did strike me as an issue was some of the descriptions of women, I personally think that the phrase “tight little ass” should only be uttered by a character, not used as a descriptive phrase. Still, the story grabbed my attention, and the characters were likeable. I’ll be reading the sequel (supposed to come out this month – May 2014) as soon as I can.

Per G Jonsson on PG’s Ramblings liked the book, and had a few interesting comments. One that struck me was that he found some of the action to be unrealistic. I have to agree, but I will give The Terran Gambit the benefit of the doubt; I put it in the category of sci-fi totally opposite of “hard sci-fi,” whatever that may be. It never tries to be hard, and so shouldn’t, in my opinion, be held to that standard. Another comment he made was that the book mostly is setting up the later series. This I wholeheartedly agree with, but again, don’t hold it against the book. We’ve all got to start somewhere. I think we have to see how the sequels are handled to determine if this was the right move or not.

Unlocked – John Scalzi

Being a fan of Scalzi I pre-ordered the short story Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome as soon as I became aware of it’s existence. I spent an hour reading it this evening and really enjoyed myself. Scalzi slowly builds up a compelling, and frightening world where a plague reshapes humanity. Throughout reading Unlocked I was constantly reminded of World War Z, specifically the audio edition. I hope that one with the same production value is created for Unlocked. I did not read the first chapter of Lock In, the full length book that Unlocked is teasing, but simply because I did not want to spoil anything. I did pre-order it, however.

 

Ilium – Dan Simmons

What do a stoic observing the Trojan War of the Iliad in the flesh, a cyborg obsessed with the sonnets of William Shakespeare, and a society of people who’ve forgotten that reading is possible have in common? This is the first question that Ilium, by Dan Simmons, poses. In the introduction of each story there’s no way for the reader to figure out how they will relate. I must admit that I’ve spent many hours while not reading trying to figure out the puzzle. With each new turn of events more pieces come into view, sometimes confounding, other times confirming, my earlier suspicions. At every point of the story Simmons kept me engaged, even while I wasn’t reading. To me, this is the mark of a great story. I was listening to the audio book, and found myself doing extra chores or sitting in my car once I had reached my destination just to hear the next turn of events.

On thing that I think helped this is the pacing of the three stories. (Note, Simmons has only one viewpoint for each storyline, which I think is a very clean way of setting up the story.) Each chapter is finished at just the right point so that I was left left wanting more, but the story has advanced. However, cliffhangers weren’t used often until the end of the book, when the climax is approaching. Everytime we revisit another plot thread we’ve been away from it long enough that we are wondering what’s going on. This kept me anxious to move through the book, reaching for the next piece of action, even when the individual stories weren’t moving with great speed. I also think that having three stories that are completely different, in terms of characters and feel, is helpful. I never felt like I was spending too much time on any one type of story because all three were different. Just as the litany of Greek names starts to become overwhelming Simmons switches focus to the robots, who speak and think in a completely different fashion.

I think the important lesson that we can all learn from Simmons and Ilium, beyond those of proper pacing and leaving the proper amount of mystery, is the importance of balance. Each storyline in the Ilium balances the others, and Simmons doles them out in just the right amounts. He walks the thin line, like he did with the Hyperion Cantos, between boring the reader with info-dumps and leaving them confused because they know nothing about the world they’re exploring. Considering that I felt that Hyperion’s sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, was an improvement, Amazon can not get Olympos, the sequel to Ilium, to me fast enough.

 

Greatfall – Jason Gurley

Because I missed the world of silos, and had been recently reminded of it while looking for it in the world of Sand, I dug through my to read pile until I found a fan fiction, if that’s the right category, recommended by Howey. Greatfall, by Jason Gurley, is set in a silo not visited in Wool or it’s sequels, and I was interested to see how the world was maintained by other authors. Until I saw Howey’s recommendation I did not realize that other authors were venturing through his universe. I think it’s quite interesting that Howey is so willing to open his world to others; it’s not something I’ve seen often.

Greatfall takes place in silo twenty three, which has been dark for several hundred years. Silo 1 sends out a scout to determine what has happened to the silo, though why they waited so long is never explained. While they have been cut off, the leaders of silo twenty three have created a religious cult in order to maintain control. A “Great Father” communicates directly with supreme being, and has unquestioned authority. Except of course when his assistant intervenes.  Instead of cleaning, the method of population control used in the other silos, Silo Twenty Three sends it’s children to “Greatfall,” a one way trip down central shaft, after making their coming of age pilgrimage from the bottom of the silo to the very top.

Greatfall starts with Issac’s pilgrimage to the top of the silo to signify his coming of age and his assignment into the workforce. As Issac rests on his journey the Wise Father is brought into the picture, providing a unique perspective of the man in power. Afterwards, the reader is introduced to Maya, who is journeying outside of the silos, from Silo 1. Greatfall engages the reader immediately, and forces investment into the characters. It doesn’t hurt that Issac, the Wise Father, and Maya are interesting characters, and Gurley finds a way to invest the reader in their stories from the beginning.

Gurley sets up a religious cult, complete with psychotic breaks and brainwashing. He brings Issac, the Wise Father, and Maya through interesting arcs, and handles the fallout from their storylines well. Not all of them end the story sane. There are certain aspects of the book which he could have explored more, however. Some of the characters, one in particular that becomes very important to the story, come out of nowhere to save the day, leaving a taste of Deus Ex Machina in the reader’s mouth. Gurley also struggles a bit with using the passive voice, and the viewpoints aren’t always consistent. Overall the writing is good, if not exceptional, and the story interesting. I plan on reading more books by Gurley as well as other works in the Silo universe.

 

Sand – Hugh Howey

I honestly started Sand hoping for a continuation of Wool, and though I did not get my continuation I was nevertheless left quite satisfied. Just as in Wool Howey builds a complete world in mere pages. He tells just enough to give the reader the same vision of the world, without overloading them with detail. Then, when he builds on the vision he set out in the opening pages later in the book the world is coherent. The reader is never left with an impression that is later contradicted.

Like Wool, Sand uses several main characters, though this time they are all in the same family. Through successive chapters we meet them all, and find the contradictions in their views of one another. Despite sharing the spotlight, every character we see the viewpoint of is fully developed. Not only that, but they all go through changes throughout the story.

For any of those thinking that Howey was a one trick pony should be satisfied with Sand; it shows that he is not tied to the world of silos. Anyone looking for their next dystopian flick could do far worse than picking up Sand. I’m hoping that it’s not the only the Howey ventures into this new world.