Speakers for the Dead

 Speakers for the Dead Card is Card's follow up to Ender's Game, and while it also claimed various awards, for me this is where the series heads downhill.

 Notably, this book is absolutely nothing like Ender's Game, the setting is a remote alien planet that humans have begun colonizing, and Ender himself is now and adult, and bears little resemblance to the character from the first novel.

 The plot involves lots of uninteresting religious-style babble, some weird trees, and a weak Ender unable to cope with what he did in the war(despite having no knowledge of it..).

 There are more sequels after this one, but their quality is takes an ever steeper dive-- too be avoided.

7.4/10

Ender's Game

 This book is the reason Orson Scott Card is a recognized name, it won him the Hugo and it is if nothing else, an
entertaining read.

 The story follows Ender a third child, and whose birth was only allowed because of his parents high IQ, as he is shipped off to battle school to be trained to fight the alien menace Earth faces.  Battle school is where the majority of the story transpires, with Ender having to learn to fend for himself, but also to lead his squad in battle.

 The book ends with a twist ending, which is probably what has made this novel somewhat enduring.  Card also wrote numerous sequels and related books, but none are as captivating as this first one.

 Ender is interesting to read about, and the book is quickly and deftly paced, I've encountered very few people who didn't enjoy this one.

9.1/10

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was the debut novel for Susanna Clark, it is set in an alternative version of 19th century Europe.

 This book was the recipient of a great deal of praise, and awards, such as the Hugo.  It is a rather lengthy book at around 850 pages, and written in a dry British style.

 This book did not work for me, the pace was lethargic, and its characters seemed far to classical and uninteresting.  Somewhat like reading a dull 19th century novel that just happens to be 850 pages long.  It was not so bad that I quit reading it entirely, but I never found myself so captivated that I'd read continuously for hours.

  Clark does succeed in creating a parallel magical word into which the characters sometimes step, but this happens rarely, the vast majority of the time is spent on 19th century trivialities.

  Overall a solid book, but I felt it was a far cry from the legions of praise piled on it.

 8.0/10

The Forever War

 The Forever War is Haldeman's classic novel of interstellar war,  and this one should not be missed.

  An elite group of soldiers is formed on Earth, conscripted into this group is Mandella, our narrator.  It is the not to distant future, and Earth has encountered a hostile alien race.  In response they form Mandella's squad-- with the best and brightest Earth has to offer, and send them out into the stars to wage war.

 There is an element of Vietnam to the war, and the story, and not suprisingly Haldeman served in Vietnam.  Eventually Mandella returns to Earth, but due to the effects of relativity, it is not the Earth he knew.  He doesn't belong, and once again he heads out into the stars for a second tour of duty.

 Read this shit

9.2/10

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

 This is the story of a rebellion, and I consider it the best of Heinlein's many works.

 The narrator is Mannie, he's a technician born and raised on the Luna(which is used a sort of castaway location for the unwanted of Earth), and as the story begins he is assigned to fix a malfunctioning computer.  As it turns out the malfunction is that the computer has become self aware and developed a personality, this is of course ridiculous, but this is not a hard science fiction, more science lite.  Mannie names this computer "Mike", and they strike up a friendship.

 Soon enough Mike has Mannie running a few errands, others are brought in, and talk of rebellion against Earth begins. Mike is the brains behind the rebellion which soon consumes Luna.

 One thing many might find off-putting initially about this novel, is that it is not written in standard prose. It is in first person, from the perspective of Mannie, and Mannie writes in a very abbreviated style with a heavy accent. You do get used to it.

 Heinlein fills the story with ideas, and it is these ideas that make this novel his best.

9.3/10

The Snow Queen

 The Snow Queen is a space opera of sorts, written by Joan Vinge, it won the 1981 Hugo for good reason.  Although it appears science fiction, but this is more of a fantasy novel in feel, as are most of Joan Vinge's other works.

 The plot focuses on two cousins, Moon and Sparks, brought up as "summers" on the ocean planet Tiamat.  Tiamet has two cultures, the "winters" and the "summers", the winters live with technology and embrace off- worlders.  The summers are more traditional and avoid most technology.

  A cycle has been established on Tiamat where each culture gets to rule for 150 years, ruled by their respective Queen, the Snow Queen or the Summer Queen.

  The story begins near the end of the rule of the Snow Queen, the time of the summers is approaching and many off-worlders are preparing to leave. The competition for the next Summer Queen will soon start, but the Snow Queen does not wish to give up her rein.

 This is a very enjoyable story, the world Vinge constructs is excellent, and the characters are solid, particularly  the Snow Queen.

9.1/10

Rainbows End

Rainbows End is the most recent work of Vernor Vinge(sadly, his output is rather slow).

This is not a space opera like some of Vinge's other award winning books, instead it takes place in the not too distant future, right here on Earth.

 Vinge constructs a world where technology has progressed, and virtual reality has stepped into the real world.

  People wear lenses which are able to overlay augmented information and mix it in with what is already there.  Add any vista you want outside of your window, decorate your house in any way you wish, and even use it for a form of x-ray vision, seeing what you cannot naturally see.

 The characters and plot are solid, but not really up to the standards I'd come to expect from Vinge. It centers around a man brought back from Alzheimer disease(since a cure is now available), he enters a world quite different from the one he left and must learn to adapt.

 It did win the Hugo award, but I don't consider this one of Vinge's best works, though it does present some very good idea's as is common with Vinge.

8.5/10

A Deepness in the Sky

 A Deepness in the Sky was written after Vinge's earlier work, A Fire Upon the Deep, but it is a prequel of sorts.

 This time the story takes place in The Slow Zone, where FTL travel is not possible, and humankind has not yet discovered The Beyond.

  An exploratory mission is formed by a group, the Qeng Ho, to travel to what is known as the on/off star, which has a regular cycle where it deactivates and produces no light.  Pham Nuwen is the central character and he arrives on board the Qeng Ho ship, he is something of a legend in his section of the galaxy.

  They discover an inhabited planet orbiting the on/off star, with an intelligent species living there that has found a way to survive the cold periods when the star goes off.

 Shortly after the Qeng Ho arrive, another group known as the Emmergents also arrive, this starts the central conflict of the story.


 This is yet another great space opera by Vernor Vinge, and it does have a few tie-ins with his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep, although they are rather faint.

9.3/10

A Fire Upon the Deep

Vernor Vinge! What more need be said?

 A Fire Upon the Deep is Vinge's first space opera, it takes place in a future so distant that all knowledge of Earth is long forgotten.   Humans have crawled out of the "Slow Zone", that is the region where FTL travel is impossible, over the passage of eons.

  Now humankind, along with countless alien races live in "The Beyond", where is FTL travel is possible, and an interstellar communication system(somewhat like the internet) , allows communication between distant planets.

  The plot revolves around a human ship on the run with sensitive information, it lands on a remote planet where a race of dog like creatures known as Tines live.  Soon it is known that these humans discovered something of great importance, and a race/war is on between various alien civilizations to be the first to this planet, and retrieve the information the humans found.

 Vinge bounces around many ideas, something he is known for.  Aside from the various zones of space concept, he constructs very unique aliens.  The Tines are only intelligent when enough dogs form a collective consciousness, each entity is actual a composition of numerous dogs.

 This is a terrific book, one of the best "space opera" that I'm aware of.

9.5/10

Dune

 Dune was one of my absolute favorite novels growing up, and I still regard it as an essential SF.

I'm sure most people are familiar with the basics, having either read it or seen one of the movie adaptations, although as should be obvious, the movies don't remotely compare with the book.

 The story follows Paul and his family as they are uprooted and given the honor of controlling Arrakis, otherwise known as Dune. All space travel is dependent on a spice which is found only on the planet Arrakis, making it the most vital planet in the universe.

 A people known as the fremen live in the desserts of Dune, they have something of a religious obsession with the planet and the spice, and it is through them that the book becomes something great.

One of science fictions best.

9.6/10