wijfr

What I Just Finished Reading

WIJFR: The Mongoliad: Book Two

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The Shield Brethren, an order of warrior monks, search for a way to overthrow the horde, even as the invaders take its members hostage. Forced to fight in the Mongols’ Circus of Swords, Haakon must prove his mettle or lose his life in the ring. His bravery may impress the enemy, but freedom remains a distant dream. Father Rodrigo receives a prophecy from God and believes it’s his mission to deliver the message to Rome. Though a peaceful man, he resigns himself to take up arms in the name of his Lord. Joining his fight to save Christendom are the hunter Ferenc, orphan Ocyrhoe, healer Raphael, and alchemist Yasper, each searching for his place in history.

Today I finished “The Mongoliad: Book Two“, a collaborative effort by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, Nicole Galland, Mark Teppo, and Cooper Moo. This second part of the Foreworld Saga picks up immediately from Book One (which makes sense since it was originally one long online serial story that was later split into three parts for publication).

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WIJFR: The Mongoliad: Book One

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It is the spring of 1241. The Mongol takeover of Europe is almost complete. The hordes commanded by the sons of Genghis Khan have swept out of their immense grassy plains and ravaged Russia, Poland, and Hungary … and now seem poised to sweep west to Paris and south to Rome. King and Pope and peasant alike face a bleak future – until a small band of warriors, inheritors of a millennium-old secret tradition, conceive of a desperate plan to kill the Khan of Khans. Their leader, an elder of the order of warrior monks, will lead his elite group on a perilous journey into the East. They will be guided by an elusive and sharp-witted young woman, who believes the master’s plan is insane. But this small band is the West’s last, best hope to turn back the floodtide of the Mongol Empire.

I received “The Mongoliad: Book One” (by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, E.D. deBirmingham, Mark Teppo, and Cooper Moo … whew!) as a Christmas gift and finally got around to reading it.

“The Mongoliad” apparently started as a social media experiment, a serialized subscription service by Stephenson and his fellow co-authors. Each chapter was published online with related materials (graphics, etc.) and encouraged community discussions. When the story was complete, the “definitive” text was then published in three volumes in the traditional way.

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WIJFR: Life of Pi

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After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound royal bengal tiger.

We started “reading” the audiobook version of “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel back around Christmas time and on the way to Miami this weekend, finally finished it. Too bad Ang Lee’s movie is out of theaters now, guess we’ll have to rent it.

If you’ve seen any of the trailers for the movie, you probably know that the main plot of the story revolves around a young Indian boy named Pi, shipwrecked and trying to survive on the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat with a tiger. That’s pretty much all I knew going in so the rest of the book really surprised me, in a good way.

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WIJFR: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

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When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Back in January, I saw the Broadway musical “Wicked” for the 4th time. Three years prior, when we had taken my daughter to see it (her first time, my third), I had purchased Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” novel intending to read it but never did. As evidenced by this post, I finally got around to it.

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WIJFR: Judas Unchained

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The Prime are the Commonwealth’s worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Twenty-three planets have already fallen to the invaders, with casualties in the hundreds of millions. And no one knows when or where the genocidal Prime will strike next. Nor are the Prime the only threat. For more than a hundred years, a shadowy cult, the Guardians of Selfhood, has warned that an alien with mind-control abilities impossible to detect or resist–the Starflyer–has secretly infiltrated the Commonwealth. Is the Starflyer an ally of the Prime, or has it orchestrated a fight to the death between the two species for its own advantage?

I started Peter F. Hamilton’s “Judas Unchained” immediately after finishing “Pandora’s Star” which was a good thing since “Judas” picks up immediately where the previous book ended without any intro or recap. The Commonwealth is still reeling from the initial Prime invasion which claimed 23 planets after the barrier fell. The new Navy is re-lifing suspended criminals for soldiers and building warships and super-weapons as fast it can to fight off the Prime threat. All of the characters from the first book (plus a few more with some surprises), along with their complicated back-stories and plot lines are back in the conclusion of the Commonwealth Saga.

The escalation, action, and intrigue continue up until the final chapters, in which (most) questions are finally answered. Who was the Starflyer agent on the Second Chance mission?  Who erected the barrier around the Dyson pair and how was it shut down? What is the Starflyer? What have the Guardians of Selfhood been planning on Far Away? Is genocide against the Primes the only way to save the human race? (and countless others).

The sheer number of characters, locations, astronomical distances, and ultra-powerful weapons in “Judas Unchained” made it difficult to follow at times (especially since I was only reading bits and pieces over the course of three months), but it was a very enjoyable read. The end was satisfactory, although I was surprised at what characters seemed to drop out of the story line about halfway through and which ones emerged as more important players near the end. I might have to revisit Hamilton’s universe (and apparently some of the same characters) in the Void trilogy in the near future.

WIJFR: Pandora’s Star

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The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter, contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by a web of transport “tunnels” known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: over one thousand light-years away, a star . . . vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears. Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, a faster-than-light starship, the Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat.

I just finished “Pandora’s Star” by Peter F. Hamilton, the first book of his Commonwealth Saga. This was another recommendation by Steve Gibson (many times) on his Security Now! podcast that I finally got around to reading. It had been over a year since I last read some good hard SF so this was a pleasant return to the genre.

In the 24th century, mankind has spread out among the stars thanks to Compression Space Transport’s (CST) wormhole network. Much like the web of the airline routes of old, CST’s train system carries millions of passengers instantly across hundreds of light years to distant planets. The average Commonwealth citizen sports a myriad of optical inserts for heads-up-displays, an e-butler, and a connection to the ubiquitous unisphere (the intersolar internet on steroids). Memories are backed up constantly on insert chips. Killed in an accident? No problem, just spend a few weeks in rejuvenation and have your memories re-loaded into a newly cloned body. Body death no longer means complete death and people live for hundreds of years with many different re-lifes.

Lowly astronomer Dudley Bose has confirmed that the envelopment of the Dyson Alpha and Dyson Beta stars occurred instantaneously.  The only explanation is an unknown, superior alien species has constructed a Dyson sphere around both star systems. The Dyson system is too far away to reach by the existing wormhole network, so the Commonwealth government decides to build a wormhole-based FTL starship to go and investigate the envelopment. Did the inhabitants of the Dyson systems enclose themselves for protection, or did someone or something else imprison them? You’ll quickly understand the title reference when the Second Chance arrives at the Dyson Pair.

“Pandora’s Star” combines the astronomical engineering feats of “Ringworld” with the strange, blockaded alien species like “The Mote in God’s Eye” and the governmental/political themes of “Foundation” into a very enjoyable SF epic. Be warned, however, it ends abruptly and leads directly into “Judas Unchained,” which I’ve already started.

WIJFR: Redshirts

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Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Today I finished John Scalzi’s “Redshirts.” You can probably guess from the title what this novel is about but just in case you’re not a Trekkie, “redshirt” is slang for those characters in the original “Star Trek” TV series that always died on away missions. If Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were going down to an alien planet there would be one or two extras with them and they usually wore red Starfleet uniforms. You knew the stars of the show weren’t going to be killed so if anyone was going to die on the mission it was one (or more) of the redshirts.

Now take “Star Trek” (including TNG) mixed with “Galaxy Quest“, a little “Futurama“, the “Wormhole X-Treme!” episode of “Stargate SG-1” and a dash of time travel and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re in for as you read “Redshirts.” (The Stargate reference works in more ways than one since Scalzi was a creative consultant on “Stargate Universe“).

Welcome to the starship Intrepid, where “crew deaths are a feature, not a bug.” Shortly after his assignment to the Intrepid, ensign Andrew Dahl figures out something is not quite right: everyone avoids the commanding officers like the plague and inevitably some member of the crew dies a horrible death while on an away mission with them. As crazy as it sounds, Andrew and his friends come to the conclusion that they are characters on a television show, and the worst part is “it’s apparently not a very good show.” If their lives are out of their hands, controlled by the Narrative, do they have any hope of survival?

The last chapter of the book (24) made me laugh out loud, and the three Codas after that (told in the first-, second-, and third-person respectively) wrap up the story nicely. “Redshirts” is a quick, easy, and enjoyable must-read for any TV science fiction fan.

I probably shouldn’t mention this, since it’ll probably get stuck in your head like it did mine, but as I was reading I heard Captain Abernathy’s voice as Zap Brannigan from “Futurama” (which would make Lieutenant Kerensky Kif  :-D).

WIJFR: Under the Dome

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On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day, a small town is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and rain down flaming wreckage. A gardener’s hand is severed as the dome descends. Cars explode on impact. Families are separated and panic mounts. No one can fathom what the barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away. Now a few intrepid citizens, led by an Iraq vet turned short-order cook, face down a ruthless politician dead set on seizing the reins of power under the dome. But their main adversary is the dome itself. Because time isn’t just running short. It’s running out.

On our flight up to Cleveland today I finally finished “Under the Dome” by Stephen King.

“Under the Dome” takes place in the small town Chester’s Mill where, suddenly and inexplicably, an impenetrable force field has cut off the town from the outside world: no power (except for propane-powered generators), no burbling river, no winds or breezes, no rain, no fresh air. It’s a chilly late autumn in Maine, but under the dome, it’s unseasonably warm and getting warmer.

Like many other of King’s books, the cast of characters is vast and there’s a lot of stuff all going on at once, described from multiple viewpoints, much like “The Stand.” This was initially hard to keep track of, but once you get sucked into the world of Chester’s Mill, everything flows together nicely. The novel also has the “benefit” of being confined to one place (under the dome) and thus the locations aren’t as spread out as they were in “The Stand.”

The themes of the story range from small town politics, religion, environmental issues, and emergency management to “Breaking Bad”-like drug lords and meth labs. And, of course, there’s the Dome. Where did it come from? Why does it only surround Chester’s Mill? Will the U.S. military be able to break through and free the trapped citizens of the Mill before it’s too late?

At over 1,000 pages, “Under the Dome” wasn’t a quick read for me (I started it back in April after I finished “11/23/63“), but it was definitely a page-turner.

WIJFR: 11/22/63

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Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine. His friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

Today I finished Stephen King’s “11/22/63.” I’m always a sucker for a good time travel story and while this one doesn’t break any new ground in the genre I enjoyed it.

Jake Epping is shown the “rabbit hole” by his friend Al, the owner of a local diner that connects to September 1958 through the storeroom. Al has been using the rabbit hole for years to buy supplies for the diner at 1958 prices, keeping his own costs down. Every trip into the past is a “reset” … it’s always the same day when you arrive, and when you get back to the present only two minutes has passed.

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WIJFR: In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks

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 In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks is Adam’s comedic gospel of modern America. He rips into the absurdity of the culture that demonized the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, turned the nation’s bathrooms into a lawless free-for-all of urine and fecal matter, and put its citizens at the mercy of a bunch of minimum wagers with axes to grind.

Continuing my break from fiction, after finishing Chris Hardwick I moved on to Adam Carolla and his first book, “In 50 Years We’ll All Be Chicks … and Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy.”

If, like me, you listen to the Adam Carolla podcast (I’ve done so since the first episode), you’ve probably already heard a lot of the ideas, stories, and rants Adam writes about in the book. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining though (if anything it was funnier since as I read, I could hear Adam’s voice in my head).

If you’ve never heard his podcast, or listened to Loveline (back in the day), or seen Adam on “The Man Show,” “Dancing with the Stars,” or, currently, on “The Celebrity Apprentice” (I’m rooting for him to win!) you might still enjoy the book. It’s a humorous look at today’s society that you just might find yourself agreeing with.

Mahalo!