Science Fiction – Page 6 – Carol's Notebook

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

The Fifth Season is an amazing book. It's set on a post-apocalyptic earth that's plagued by constant seismic activity. This leads to frequent near-extinction events called "Fifth Seasons" that keep people always on alert. The evidence of past civilizations litters the planet -- ruined cities, incomplete 'stonelore' handed down from earlier generations, and strange obelisks that float through the atmosphere. The Sanze Empire has survived for centuries by harnessing the power of orogenes -- people born the ability to control their environment. The orogenes can stop earthquakes or start them. They can save cities, or draw power from living creatures and "ice" them. Their powers are terrifying but essential such a volatile world, so the empire develops a caste of Guardians who have the power to neutralize the orogenes when necessary. The orogenes are held in contempt and called "roggas" by ordinary humans. Despite all their power, they cannot control their own lives. They are either hunted down and destroyed...

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

June 29, 2020June 27, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed A Memory Called Empire. It was engrossing and smart. It's science fiction centered around political intrigue and a murder mystery. One of the themes of the book is colonialism. Teixcalaan is a galaxies-spanning empire with a capital that is a planet-spanning City. In their language, the word for the world and the planet and the city is the same. Peoples who are not part of the empire are "barbarians" and while in the City are not granted the freedoms and technology of the Teixcalaani. It is an old culture rooted traditions and deeply connected to its poetry. I found the importance of poetry to the culture fascinating and is part of what I loved. Poetry as history, political rhetoric, battle cry, prayer for peace, everything poetry can be but that we don't give the power it deserves. Teixcalaan's size and influence dwarfs the small, but still independent Lsel station. Mahit Dzmare is the new ambassador from Lsel to Teixcalaan,...

The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren

June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

When I was pulling together my to-read list for Sci-Fi Summer, I ran across The Aleph Extraction, which sounded fun, but I decided to start with the first in the series instead, The Caledonian Gambit. Starting with the first in a series, or the zero-ith in the case- the numbering's odd, is rarely the wrong choice. The Caledonian Gambit is a fun spy novel that happens to take place in space. I enjoyed it, but the sci-fi trappings weren't really necessary to the story. It could have happened on earth now, with just minor transportation and weapon changes. And that's fine by me. Basically, we have two political entities at war, a special ops team, and a lost pilot that could save the galaxy. We also have the requisite superweapon that could change the tide of the war. And at the end we have two political entities at war, a special ops team and a pilot who will probably have to...

Finder by Suzanne Palmer

June 17, 2020June 17, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Finder is fun ride. Fergus Ferguson, a large, redheaded man from Scotland by way of Mars, has made a “career out of chasing things and running away.” Right now he’s focused on chasing an expensive spaceship, Venetia’s Sword, that was stolen from its makers by Gilger, a criminal mob boss. This mission has led Fergus to Cernee, a space colony where Gilger has his home base. Fergus has a plan and a secret method of taking control of Venetia’s Sword, shared with him by the shipbuilders. But things go wrong for Fergus right from the start, when he almost gets killed in a cable car explosion in the space colony. Fergus allies with Gilger’s enemies, who have their own issues with the power-hungry boss, and puts his plan into play, but there are complications … including some mysterious aliens with their own agenda. Finder is more or less a heist story, just with some added complications and a sci-fi background. It's a...

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Altered Carbon is compulsively readable. It's fast-paced, full of sex and violence, and just grabbed my attention. Kovacs is our rather hard-boiled detective. He's is a loner with a tendency to violence and a willingness to do whatever he needs to, legal or otherwise. He is also more than willing to take "justice" into his own hands and wracks up a body count to prove it. He also has a softer side that only shows up rarely. He was killed on another world and re-sleeved in Bay City in the body of a disgraced cop. People's personalities, souls, consciousness, whatever you want to call it, are digitized and can be downloaded into new bodies with the right reasons or enough cash. Kovac's has one mission: find out who killed Laurens Bancroft, a Meth (short for Methusaleh) billionaire. Bancroft is offering Kovacs some money and more importantly his freedom as a reward. Only a lot of people don't seem to want...

Dune by Frank Herbert

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

I tried to read Dune a couple of years ago and got about 1/3 through before sitting it aside. It's long and the copy my daughter has has small print. But the new movie's coming out later this year and one of our friends picked up the re-issued board game, so I decided it was definitely time to finally read it. I had heard good things about the audiobook, so I decided to give it a try this time around. I don't know if the timing for me was just better or the audio was the way to go, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, right from the beginning. Dune is a classic. There is little I can say about it that hasn't already been said. The world-building is monumental, and Herbert weaves the geopolitics, religion, and philosophy into that setting seamlessly. In the distant future, humanity is ruled by an intergalactic feudal Empire. Duke Leto Atreides accepts control of a desert...