I got this book to prepare for a trip to Nova Scotia, so that's what I'll be speaking to in this review.
My wife and I just got back from a trip to HaI got this book to prepare for a trip to Nova Scotia, so that's what I'll be speaking to in this review.
My wife and I just got back from a trip to Halifax. It was our base of operations. Some days we just stayed in the city; other days we rode around in our rental car to visit some sights.
While the content was accurate, I found it to be limited. A friend of mine who lived in Halifax up until 20 years ago actually provided more of the kind of information that met our needs. And while the city has changed a lot since then, the information was still better for us than what I got from Fodor's local guides.
I don't want to dig on Fodor's here. The content was presented in an easy to read manner. I think it has a target audience, and the material they provide to that audience works for them. But while I got some useful information out of it, I'm not that audience. ...more
This is the last installment in the Cities in Flight series, and it presents the most dire problem for Amalfi and company: the end of the universe.
WitThis is the last installment in the Cities in Flight series, and it presents the most dire problem for Amalfi and company: the end of the universe.
With New York permanently grounded on New Earth, Amalfi has resigned as mayor and is bored to death. He has a permanent case of wanderlust and is itching to get back to the stars. He's pretty psyched to see the wandering planet He make its way to the New Earth system. Meeting with them, he learns that they've made a discovery: the birthplace of continuous creation. He and some scientists head out with the Hevians to check it out and discover further that there's an anti-matter universe on the other side. And we all know what happens when matter and anti-matter come together.
But while all of the scientists are conjecturing about what, if anything, can be done, others are trying to come to terms with what this means. Amalfi isn't the only one who's grown unhappy with life on New Earth. He and Dee finally get to explore their attraction to one another since her husband, Mark Hazleton, is busy with work and a philosophical group known as the Stochastics. And a couple of young adults struggle with traditional bonds of love in the face of the end of the universe.
Eventually, the scientists come up with come up with a way to cope with the end. I don't want to spoil what discoveries they find and obstacles they encounter, but Amalfi tackles the end of the universe in a very Amalfi way....more
In this, the third book in the Cities in Flight series—but the first one to be published—Mayor John Amalfi leads the city of Manhattan through severalIn this, the third book in the Cities in Flight series—but the first one to be published—Mayor John Amalfi leads the city of Manhattan through several adventures.
Early on, we learn the fate of Chris, the main character from A Life for the Stars. I have to say that it was a disappointment. Considering what we learned here, Blish should've kept going with Chris's story until said fate occurred.
Anyway, Chris's replacement as City Manager is Mark Hazelton, but this story is strictly told from Amalfi's POV, which is a shame. Hazelton is much younger than Amalfi (by a few centuries) and hasn't grown too cynical to love or dream. It would've been more enjoyable had we got to read about Hazelton's experiences and motivations rather than have Amalfi explain them to Hazelton and us.
Despite the fact that we only get Amalfi's POV, we never truly get to know Amalfi. When he gets passionate about something (good or bad), it seems like it comes out of left field. Blish leaves the reader (and Hazelton) hopelessly in the dark on Amalifi's plans. It isn't until things are already in motion that we have any idea that Amalfi is prepared for the plot twists. Maybe if we were allowed to get in his head, Amalfi wouldn't have seemed like such a jerk at times.
Another thing that bothered me was the passage of time. Blish doesn't offer any clues that it's happening. He lays out the development of a project or the travels of a city but doesn't offer us any signposts. A year passes in the blink of an eye on a mining project when it seemed like it had just started. And decades can pass when the city travels from point A to point B, but there's no indication the journey took nearly that long.
Despite my grumblings, I did enjoy this story. The technological shortcomings (slide rule, Saturn's rings thought to be solid) were easy to overlook when compared to other ideas: AI, energy weapons, anti-agathics. The adventures were entertaining, and Blish put down the cultures that practiced misogyny and aggressive serfdom. For a story published in 1955, it's aged fairly well. I just wish the actual storytelling had been better.
3.5 stars rounded down to 3 because of Amalfi....more
Chris stood on the outskirts of Scranton, PA, hoping to watch it take off to join the multitude of cities that had left Earth for the stars (natural rChris stood on the outskirts of Scranton, PA, hoping to watch it take off to join the multitude of cities that had left Earth for the stars (natural resource depletion being the #1 driving force for said exodus), but an impressment gang snagged him and brought him aboard, forcing him to leave his family behind. Going into space was something that he dreamed of, but this wasn't how he envisioned it. Now he needs to prove himself useful or else be forced to shovel slag for the rest of his days.
This is one of those coming of age stories for young men that were written in the 50s and 60s. The common lesson being: A good education and a solid moral compass is all you need to make yourself a valuable member of society. Yes, Chris has a couple of adventures, too, which showcase his bravery to save others even when he lacks the self-confidence to do so. It was a fun read, but the real exciting action took place off-screen as it wouldn't be prudent for a teenager to get involved in combat situations.
Another complaint: It was too short! I felt like Blish was just getting started with Chris's story.
While A Life for the Stars is the second book in the series, it was the last to be written. It's set about 1,100 years after the events that took place in They Shall Have Stars. The reader is filled in about what they missed over that span through Chris's schooling: fact dumping directly into the student's brain via a VR helmet. It's interesting to note that, in this series, the decline of Western Civilization came as it began to mimic the Soviet Union (repression, not economics). Today, some of us worry about a similar decline coming in the West as certain leaders have begun to mimic authoritarian Russia. Hopefully, we meet a better fate.
3.5 stars rounded down because Blish deprived us of what could've been some fun action sequences....more
To be honest, I thought the iconic Boston album cover was inspired by the Cities in Flight series, of which They Shall Have Stars is the first in the To be honest, I thought the iconic Boston album cover was inspired by the Cities in Flight series, of which They Shall Have Stars is the first in the series. But I can find no evidence of that.
For old science fiction, this one had some elements to it that were surprisingly not dated. There were female characters—one major, one minor—that held technical jobs. Both were described as being rather plain instead of being made to uphold the era's standard of beauty. One woman's Latin name was just that, a name, as "such once-valid tickets no longer meant anything among the West's uniformly mixed-race population." Blish was apparently downright progressive for his time.
While paper is still a thing, robots can be operated remotely via VR gear. "Believer" terrorists spray gasses at people to induce feelings of euphoria or shame. Fireworks can be designed to bring sparkling messages to the sky.
Published in 1956, Blish was living in an America deep in the Cold War and infected by McCarthyism. So he took that fear and paranoia and ran with it. Domestic spying is rampant, and everyone, including Congressmen, has to watch what they say and do lest they be tossed in prison. But there's one senator that's determined to restore freedom to his fellow Americans.
But Big Science is still a thing. There's a "bridge to nowhere" down in the depths of Jupiter being used for scientific study and experiments. Remote workers on Jupiter's moons use VR to control robots on the bridge to affect repairs in the gas giant's tumultuous atmosphere. The experience can be off-putting and tends to stress out the workers.
And some astronaut has retrieved soil samples for a pharmaceutical company in hopes of discovering something useful to aid mankind. He's miffed that no one at the company is dropping everything to attend to him. While waiting he gets suspicious that there's something going on at the company. Impatient with waiting, he gets downright mean with a receptionist, and it takes a while for him to stop being an ass.
These three plotlines take nearly the entire length of this short novel (novella by today's standards) to bear fruit. I couldn't figure out where any of them were leading or how they were connected until the big reveal. The astronaut's work with the pharmaceutical company offered some clues, but the disgruntled bridge worker's story was just so much angst. If the individual storylines did more, then I would've liked it more. ...more
Larry Niven is most well known for his Ringworld series. Therein, he established his hard sci-fi credentials with his elaborate world-building, an artLarry Niven is most well known for his Ringworld series. Therein, he established his hard sci-fi credentials with his elaborate world-building, an artificially constructed ring around a star providing enough livable surface area equivalent to thousands of Earths. And true to form, this book's strength is its world-building. It posits a star system composed of a G-class star in orbit around a neutron star. Closer in, the neutron star has a doughnut-shaped ring of gas fed by a gas giant, whose atmosphere is slowly being stripped by said neutron star. Life exists here in the form of kilometers-long trees, shaped like integrals (You know: the kind from Calculus), inhabited by alien birds and insects. Free floating ponds (giant spheres of water) occasionally crash into the trees, providing life sustaining water.
An exploration vessel from Earth happened upon this system. The entire crew of the ship disembarked, telling the ship's AI that they wanted a close-up look. But they never returned, choosing to settle there instead rather than live under the oppressive Terran government, simply referred to as "the State." The story picks up 500 years later. The AI is annoyed but still has some measure of patience.
The descendants of these mutineers have split into tribes and live on separate trees or opposite ends of the same tree. They've adapted to these new low gravity conditions while technology has almost all but reverted to primitive means. And so does the culture! Back to patriarchy! Oh yay!
Niven's early work is guilty—as many sci-fi authors of his generation are—of being stuck with outdated attitudes about women. This early 80s story shows a modicum of progress, but still clings to the past. In one tribe, there's a group of women warriors who patrol and hunt, but it's because the other option is to just cook and make babies. One character joins this group because she was tired of being groped all the time. She wants to find some kind of middle ground, but can't find it in her tribe. Others in this group are hinted at being lesbians, and there's one man who's been granted the "courtesy" of joining as he's gay. In other tribes, women have multiple roles, and in one, a woman is a scientist-apprentice. But lest you think this tribe is progressive, they take slaves from other tribes. The men are forced into labor while the women do the cooking and laundry while occasionally serving as "comfort women."
Niven flits about with which character runs the narrative, so we get multiple POVs within the same chapter. Just as we get to know a character, the POV switches and that's that. We start with the AI, then Gavving, the teenager coming into manhood, and then he-man Clave takes over with his twin girlfriends (eyeroll). The character of Merrill was born without legs, but we never get her POV of things.
It was an entertaining read for the first 70 pages, but after that, the writing felt amateurish. It was like Niven put most of his effort into the world-building and the start of the story, but didn't have anything left to continue. With his editor complaining about a deadline (I have no idea. I'm just making this part up.), he had an event hijack the story, forcing the characters into a slave rescue plot.
While this book is listed as being in the same series as A World Out of Time, there's no connection to it other than a reference to the nefarious State....more
In the fourth novel of the Kaspar Brothers series, Steve Anderson cranks up the dramatic tension. The story is set in a postwar Europe transitioning tIn the fourth novel of the Kaspar Brothers series, Steve Anderson cranks up the dramatic tension. The story is set in a postwar Europe transitioning to the Cold War. The Soviets have begun to flex their muscles in Europe, and the Americans are trying to hold them off while the U.K. and France are busy mending their wounds. Weary of war, all sides have resorted to brinkmanship to see who takes the leadership role for the second half of the twentieth century.
Into this setting, we reunite with Max, who we first met in The Losing Role, where he was an operative in Operation Greif during the Battle of the Bulge. Max spent most of that novel running scared, fearing for his life. He wasn't a hardened soldier or zealous SS officer. He was just a down an out German actor conscripted into service.
But since the war, he's spent the time trying to forget it, except when he's called upon to do the right thing (as in Lost Kin) because the factions may have changed, but there are still evil men in the world bullying the weak and downtrodden. And it makes him angry. When he's visited by an odd, little man while working at his nightclub that anger resurfaces. The man claims that Max's brother Harry is being held for ransom, which Max must deliver. Max is furiously protective of his brother and can barely restrain himself from taking it out on the messenger. Later, when Max encounters the man responsible for the death of a dear friend, he so desperately wants the man to suffer, but as the man is necessary to complete the mission, he has to tamp down that anger.
As suggested in the book blurb, no one is completely forthright with Max. Whether that's to protect him or deceive him is dependent on the person in question. It leads to a constant string of surprises for Max (and the reader), forcing him to react quickly or change plans in order to find his brother and get home safely. He reacts differently to these deceptions. They become a way for him to work through his anger, on some level accepting what he cannot change, which leaves him exhausted.
Lines of Deception is another solid entry in the Kaspar Brothers series. The setting is thoroughly researched with Anderson dragging in historical events to craft a credible and entertaining story. Strong characterization leads the reader into believing what the characters are telling Max, but when their deceptions are revealed, it doesn't strike one as being out of character. One realizes that Anderson left clues all along the way. Ultimately, it enables Anderson to turn a spy thriller into catharsis for his protagonist.
I received a free copy of an advance release manuscript in exchange for an honest review....more
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