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July 17
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New comment on Elizabeth's review of
Snuff
reply to this comment
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July 11
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Kathryn
gave
 
to:
The Ophiuchi Hotline (Sf Collector's)
by John Varley
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Kathryn said:
"Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting book and pretty fun to read. I just couldn't bring myself to care much about the story.
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Kathryn
gave
to:
Millennium (Paperback)
by John Varley
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"This book was...interesting. I watched the god-awful movie "Millennium" YEARS ago, so it was pretty shocking to find out my new favorite author wrote the book it was based on. It was also shocking to read the book and find out it's...pretty...more
This book was...interesting. I watched the god-awful movie "Millennium" YEARS ago, so it was pretty shocking to find out my new favorite author wrote the book it was based on. It was also shocking to read the book and find out it's...pretty good, actually.Varley goes into a lot more about paradoxes, and how tiny inconsistencies can have a MUCH bigger effect than just wiping out your own existence. His explanation of the "Cosmic Disgust Theory" ("If you're going to be like that, I'll just take my toys and go home. Sincerely, God.") is downright creepy. This definitely isn't Varely's best book (that honor goes to, hmm, "Demon"? "Steel Beech"? It's hard to decide), but it's still worth a read....less
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Kathryn
gave
to:
Red Thunder (Paperback)
by John Varley
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"People have been saying for years that Varley is the new Heinlein. Apparently he's started to take this seriously, since all his books after "Golden Globe" are written in a kind of Junior Heinlein style. Heinlein's okay, I guess, but you kn...more
People have been saying for years that Varley is the new Heinlein. Apparently he's started to take this seriously, since all his books after "Golden Globe" are written in a kind of Junior Heinlein style. Heinlein's okay, I guess, but you know who I like better? John Varley. Wonder what ever happened to him......less
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Kathryn
gave
to:
The Persistence of Vision (Paperback)
by John Varley
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"I would do just about anything for a new collection of Varley short-stories like these. Most of these are set in Varley's "Eight Worlds" setting (that would be the human-colonized solar system, minus Earth and Jupiter, plus the moon. Hmpf. ...more
I would do just about anything for a new collection of Varley short-stories like these. Most of these are set in Varley's "Eight Worlds" setting (that would be the human-colonized solar system, minus Earth and Jupiter, plus the moon. Hmpf. Pluto's still a planet in HIS universe, anyway.), along with creepy end-of-the-world "Air Raid", and "The Persistance of Vision", which is beautiful and impossible to describe. ...less
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Kathryn
gave
to:
Bel Canto (Paperback)
by Ann Patchett
bookshelves:
fiction
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"I have no, zero, absolutely no interest in opera. This book made me want to go out and buy a CD of it. Beautifully written, sad, and sweet, with romance that I absolutely didn't expect.
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Kathryn
gave
to:
Smoke Ring (Mass Market Paperback)
by Larry Niven
bookshelves:
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"More of Larry Niven's free-fall world, with Niven's usual talent for taking hard-science and making it at once part of the story, easier to understand (relatively), and completely fascinating. The last book mostly took place on the moon-sized trees t...more
More of Larry Niven's free-fall world, with Niven's usual talent for taking hard-science and making it at once part of the story, easier to understand (relatively), and completely fascinating. The last book mostly took place on the moon-sized trees that float through the Smoke Ring, where there's at least a little gravity. This book explores an entire city floating in mid-air, with no gravity at all, with all the little details of HOW anything gets done in that kind of environment. (Example: to make tea in free-fall, you pour the boiling water into a teapot tied to the end of a rope, then swing the pot around your head until the tea is steeped.) This would have gotten five stars, but I really didn't care about the characters or their story as much as the details about their world. It might be personal preference, but I really thing Niven's style of writing works better in short stories than for novels....less
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July 07
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Kathryn
gave
to:
Brave New World (Paperback)
by Aldous Huxley
bookshelves:
classic,
sci-fi-fantasy
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Kathryn said:
"A happy story about a happy world where everyone is genetically and subliminally tailored to be happy in work, in play, in sex, in everything. The only thing missing is hoards of people committing suicide from being so damn happy all the time. But of...more
A happy story about a happy world where everyone is genetically and subliminally tailored to be happy in work, in play, in sex, in everything. The only thing missing is hoards of people committing suicide from being so damn happy all the time. But of course, there's soma to stop that...
Huxley's story was something I read as a class assignment in high school. Best assignment ever. It's a classic novel, and one that'll probably be taught in English Literature classes forever, but it's also the story of a civilization that's focused so much energy on having a stable, content society that they've all gone foolish and insane. And the one person who can bring his own world-view to stand against the rest of the world is...just as foolish and insane as everyone else. More so, probably....less
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Kathryn
read and liked
Rindis's
review of The Invaders Plan (Mission Earth, Vol. 1):
"I admit, I was taken in by the hype. To my defense, the name 'L. Ron Hubbard' was only vaguely known to me as a recently-deceased past SF great, and 'Dianetics' was merely the exploding volcano on throughly-ignored commercials.
The idea of a 10-vo...more
I admit, I was taken in by the hype. To my defense, the name 'L. Ron Hubbard' was only vaguely known to me as a recently-deceased past SF great, and 'Dianetics' was merely the exploding volcano on throughly-ignored commercials.
The idea of a 10-volume SF epic (and the individual volumes are by no means short) had me skeptical, but I was willing to see what he had to say. A well-orchestrated promotional campaign didn't hurt in the decision (I harp on this some, because I generally consider myself at least somewhat hype-resistant).
The general idea is that there is a vast empire marching steadily towards being a galactic empire. That is, it is the strongest power in the galaxy, but only actually controls a fraction of it. It's march to power was laid out in a master plan some generations ago and has been proceeding smoothly. (Kind of like Asimov's Foundation—which is probably no accident—but this is a detailed, bureaucratic plan, not a generalized, sociological one.)
This plan is threated to be derailed by the fact that Earth, someday to be an important staging point, may well destroy itself via a variety of ills before the empire is due to invade in another 50 years. Rather than change the plan (a bureaucratic no-no), it is decided to send a small covert (that is, unknown to Earth and the empire) team to establish some control of the power structures on Earth, and steer the planet from it's self-destructive course.
The novel is told as a confession by one of the two principles of the mission to the emperor. The character is, let's set this straight right now, scum. He is a scheming, out-for-himself, sycophantic sort who would probably get everyone around him in trouble just so he could climb up the ladder if he wasn't already between a rock and a hard place because of conflicting orders from feuding superiors. The other head of the mission comes out of Hollywood central casting for 'hero': handsome, brilliant, great at whatever he does, honest, and rather naive in the face of imperial court politics.
The first book is devoted entirely to getting the mission put together, outfitted, and on its way. Prying the plot out of the mire it had been stuck in was such a stunning literary achievement that I continued on to the second book. Sadly, it was downhill from there. As Mr. Hero gets to be the one to go out and do things, the viewpoint character turns from someone who at least knew what strings to pull to get things done to mere voyeuristic scum, as he gets to see what the other main character is doing via a bunch of implants (convenient, that). Also convenient is how the implants fail anytime Mr. Hero is about to have sex. Which is pretty often, and absolutely meaningless to the plot. It's rather like a Gor novel with all the titillation removed.
The sad thing is, the basic premise could have worked. Just take out all the plotless fluff (about half the text), tighten up the plot (which might demand removing half of what's left), and it'd be on its way. The next thing would be to refit the characters from two-dimensional constructs in a story that actually has some depth (hidden behind the bloat, sadly).
[Okay, that's a rant I'd forgotten I had inside me.]...less
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Kathryn
read and liked
Elizabeth's
review of Perdido Street Station:
"Okay, so lately I've found that some people don't know exactly what "steampunk" is. Here goes: imagine a fantastic technologically advanced society...that never got past the steam engine. Instead of airplanes you have dirigibles. Instead of...more
Okay, so lately I've found that some people don't know exactly what "steampunk" is. Here goes: imagine a fantastic technologically advanced society...that never got past the steam engine. Instead of airplanes you have dirigibles. Instead of electricity you have clockworks and chemical "batteries." Instead of robots you have steam-powered "constructs" clanking past with coal-burning boilers inside.
Add in strange otherworldly creatures and a state-approved punishment system where they CUT PEOPLE APART AND GRAFT THEM TO THINGS (machinery, livestock, other people, etc) and you've got Perdido Street Station. It's very dark and disturbing and WONDERFUL....less
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