Science Fiction; Chiang, Butler, Hopkinson, Barnes

[poilass.livejournal.com]

I haven't been reading much the last few months, and have been procrastinating on writing up the books I have read, but now that I have begun procrastinating on starting my Yuletide story instead you can expect to see more from me ;/.

1. Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life" is a book of short stories, all of which are excellent and clever and will make you to think. The impact is somewhat lessened though, by reading all the stories one after another -- better to put it down after each and keep coming back to it. Very Highly Recommended. Even if you don't think you like short stories. Or science fiction!

2. I have the vague idea that "Mind of My Mind" by Octavia E. Butler is part of a series or something, but I haven't read any others. Certainly it stands perfectly well on its own. It concerns a 4000 year old sociopathic superhuman, his human breeding program, and his telepathic daughter/rival. Butler is a master storyteller, which makes this a very unsettling novel as it puts you in the heads of a number of utterly vile people, and even makes you hope for their success. Recommended, though I doubt I will read it again.

3. I am sort of cheating with "Brown Girl In the Ring" by Nalo Hopkinson, which I read shortly before I joined this comm, but I think some of you might be interested, especially since Hopkinson is so often one of the first people mentioned as an sf writer of colour whenever anyone asks for recs. I liked the setting of the book - a future Toronto abandoned by the rest of the country, and inhabited only by those who didn't or couldn't leave -, the day to day stuff at the start, and the down to earth use of an Afro-Caribbean magic system; I was less interested in the villain and the climactic showdown etc. This is not an anti-rec by any means, I admire the scope and originality of the book -- I just don't love it as I'd hoped to. I think there's an excellent chance of Hopkinson writing a book I like better at some point though, and any comments on her other books would be appreciated.

4. "Iron Shadows" by Steven Barnes has so very, very bad a prologue I laughed out loud and almost put it straight back down again. Fortunately he manages to recover quite well from starting off with a heroine who has blue eyes, blonde ringlets, superb legs, martial arts skills and a tragic past (and even makes up for it somewhat by describing the male lead as looking like "a WWF wrestler moonlighting as a librarian"). It is a supernatural thriller, with a sex cult and some detecting type stuff. It reminded me a bit of Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde books, and is somehow very ... 1990's. I mean, even if it wasn't set in the '90's, I would still know that was when it was written, you know? So, hey, if you liked the Tregarde books and have a freakish nostalgia for the 90's, this might just be the airplane novel for you! Personally I found the author's obsession with heterosexuality tiresome, but the plot has some surprises and there are a few moments of humour. All in all, I can't really recommend it, but I'd be willing to give another of his books a try, if the library had one.

In conclusion: Chiang: yay, Butler: yay-ish, Hopkinson: hm, Barnes: eh.

Comments

[sanguinity]

Mind of My Mind is the immediate continuation of Wild Seed. Both are prequels to Patternmaster, but loosely-bound prequels. Clay's Ark is also part of the series, but not in a way that most folk can recognize. Which is all to say that you're correct: any of those could be read as stand-alones. For myself, Wild Seed and Clay's Ark are my two faves in the series.

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

Iron Shadows is not some of Barnes' best work, IMO (even though I own it in hardcover) however, if you were ever interested in trying him again go with Blood Brothers and Charisma. I think both of them are much stronger.

[poilass.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs! I did quite enjoy it in parts, so if I can find either of those I'll give him another shot.

Butler is amazing....

[femmeflame.livejournal.com]

Suggesting Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents series actually as well as the Xenogenesis series.....

I don't recommend Fledgling sad sad sad to say.

Also I did not like Brown Girl in the Ring at all, it was overambitious to the point of disrespectful in some parts of ritual. I think she rushed that one.

I have liked her as an editor... I have yet to read the new book out this 2007.

F

Re: Butler is amazing....

[poilass.livejournal.com]

I have read all those, except Fledgling. I like Parable of the Sower very much, the sequel not quite as much, though I'd like to re-read it and see what I think now. The Xenogenesis books I read in high school, and found them really disturbing, though I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. But I seem to recall, as in Mind of My Mind, they have enslaved and forcibly altered people come to accept and *like* being enslaved, which is a theme that really freaks me out.

I intend to re-read the Parable books again soon though, and see what others I can find. She's definitely a fantastic writer.

Re: Butler is amazing....

[sanguinity]

I felt the same way about Fledgling. At the time, I was all, "Well, she's gotten that out of the way, and it got her through the writer's block. So that's something." I never imagined it would be her last book ever. :-(

Kindred was amazing. But it was so emotionally exhausting that I'm scared to read it again. I keep looking it on the shelf, and asking myself if I'm ready yet...

Re: Butler is amazing....

[femmeflame.livejournal.com]

I keep hoping that someone handling her estate finds a book with something of what she was looking for when she took on the vampire theme. It's been over done and somehow I had hoped she would have spun something new in it.

As for Kindred, the hand lost in the wall during the translation was plenty.....

Warmly,

F