Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

Red Side Story is the second novel in Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey series and follows directly on from it. It’s a great sequel. Sometimes sequels are a bit slow moving, especially the second in a trilogy. But this one has some serious plot. And continues Fforde’s captivating ability to create such cool alternative histories. Well worth a read.

Shades of Grey is a dystopian novel Jasper Fforde. The story revolves around a society that has largely abandoned technology and now lives in a strict hierarchy where your class is determined by your colour perception, which most people have lost.

It is the third Fforde novel I have read, and it is once again excellent. I don’t know if I love it quite as much as Early Riser, but that quickly rocketed up to one of my favourite fiction books, so tough competition. This one is part of a series and I’m going straight on to part two.

Early Riser is a fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde, set in an alternative history where the climate is much colder over winter and humans hibernate. The story follows the protagonist as he joins the Winter Consul Service who stay up through the winter to and keep everyone safe.

This is the second Jasper Fford novel I have read, after The Constant Rabbit, and I enjoyed this one even more. In fact, I think this is pretty high up my all time favourite fiction reads. Great storytelling and great world building in a place that feels very familiar but also intriguing. Well worth a read.

Visitors is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. It is the third and final novel in the Pathfinder series and picks up where Ruins left off. There are quite a few spoilers below.

I’m glad it read it. The book has been criticised for its convoluted plot, and while it is complicated and hard to follow at times, much of it was still very engaging. And the twist at the end was good.

Where I did struggle was in seeing the importance of some of the storylines. The series starts out as a fantasy and then suddenly turns into science fiction. In this book, it was half science fiction across multiple worlds, and yet they were still fighting a war in Ramfold, which seemed fairly irrelevant given the wider picture. As a result, I’ve had it on the backburner while I read other stuff at the same time.

Overall, if you have read the first two and enjoyed them, this is worth reading, too. Although it might not be as good as the first two in the series it is still a great novel.

Ruins is the second novel in Orson Scott Card’s Pathfinder series. I went straight from the first book to this one and it is probably even better.

Card gives an introduction in which he says trilogies are often rubbish because the middle book/film is just filler. I think he is spot on: most trilogies would do better as two books. This one is more like an Asimov book. Stuff happens. Interesting stuff. And we get even more into the science fiction that was promised in book one.

Pathfinder is the first novel in Orson Scott Card’s series by the same name.

I loved the Ender’s Game books so I thought I would give this a try. I wasn’t sure at first as I was looking for science fiction and this started out more as a fantasy book. And it is, although it got more science fiction-y as time went on.

I’m glad I stuck with it. It turned out to be a great fusion of fantasy and science fiction involving time trial but with some good twists on the way time travel is usually presented. Rather than getting caught up in ensuring causality loops, Card just tells a great story.

A month ago I read Ender’s Game and it was superb. It sounded too violent for me but it’s actually a brilliant story. Ender’s Shadow is another book by Orson Scott Card that tells the same story from Bean’s point-of-view. It’s equally excellent.

Ender’s Game is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. I was looking around for more science fiction (I love Asimov and really enjoyed Blade Runner recently) but I wasn’t sure about this one. Sounded all about war and fighting. But it was recommended by so many sources that I thought I would give it a go.

It was excellent. I really enjoyed it. There was quite a lot of fighting in it. But it didn’t get in the way of a good story. Ender is a very likeable character, in my opinion, faced with difficult moral choices. It is easy to forget that he is a child, which itself adds another layer of complexity to the rights and wrongs of the situation.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? often titled Blade Runner is a novel by Philip K. Dick.

It’s really good. Dystopian future up there with Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World. The book explores what it is to be human. The answer, according to Dick, is empathy. Androids, not matter how sophisticated the AI, can’t quite get human emotions. Whereas humans, even when given a Penfield Mood Organ to programme their feelings, still want a full range of experience.

For me, the most important theme of the book Mercerism. Does it matter where Mercer is real or not, if a collective experience and spiritual unity is generated from that idea? The answer is yes, it does matter. But that doesn’t mean there is no value in it. It could still be meaningful and worthwhile. So take that, Buster Friendly.

Mostly Harmless is the fifth and final novel written by Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy triology.

The first couple of books wrapped everything up in a beautiful circle. Since then, it has taken various plot devices to keep the story going and explain how the Earth is back again. Mostly Harmless gets back to good old-fashioned science fiction which still maintaining the dry humour of the series.

Also, I’m sold on being the sandwich maker on Lamuella. Sounds lik a good life. That said, it was more difficult to follow what was going on than previous books. But definitely worth a read if you like Douglas Adams.