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Science-fiction nano-reviews

I've just re-read all four of the available paperback novels by Alistair Reynolds:

• Revelation Space
• Chasm City
• Redemption Ark
• Absolution Gap

I very much enjoyed these books. They are all set in the same universe, and touch on classic (post-cyberpunk) themes such as where are all the aliens, what does it mean to be human when advanced cyborging and downloading are commonplace, what are the implications of a human society split across multiple systems with long travel times and so on. In my view, they are well written, with good character development and decent explorations of the big themes. I recommend them to anyone already interested in sci-fi.

I'm also reading the Dune prequels written by Brian Herbet and Kevin J. Anderson. The claim is that there are "nuggets" in each of these five (so far, a sixth forthcoming) books based on Frank Herbert's notes and papers about the Dune universe. I thought the three House: novels were pretty weak, but even so I was interested to check out the three Butlerian novels, since they promise to explore the development of the society that we see in the real Dune novels. The first of these three I thought was frankly horrible. It could have been done with much greater effect as a short story. However, I'm warming up somewhat to the second one, since finally we're starting to see the origins of the Bene Gesserit and the Fremen, and to have the back-story of the Holtzman inventions (shields, foldspace drive etc.) fleshed out. I suppose I'll have to buy the third one when it comes out in paperback, but I can't really recommend these books except for Dune obsessives such as myself. I wonder whether Frank is spinning in his grave, or is just happy that the kid found a way to make money...

Tag: Science Fiction

( Aug 03 2005, 12:24:27 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]