During the week I spent in Michigan – away from work, the internet, my Xbox… well, you get it – I had time to write up reviews for three books I have read. These are Subterranean by James Rollins, UBIK by Philip K Dick and Destiny’s Road, by Larry Niven.
Reviews right after the jump.
Subterranean, by James Rollins
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I bought this book one summer while vacationing in Michigan (where I happened to be at the moment of writing this review). I knew nothing of Rollins, for if I did, I would have surely spent my hard-earned moolah on something more worthwhile, like a couple of coffee drinks. Seriously, if you’re contemplating reading Rollins, do it only while under duress, extreme intoxication or when faced with a trans-continental flight. In the latter case, this book will actually be a welcome distraction and, with some suspension of disbelief, will be an quick and semi-enjoyable romp.
So, that being said, let’s get to the actual review?
Short summary: the characters are flat, stereotypical and at no point do they become anyone we can sympathize with or even like; the story is predictable, unimaginative and jumps around at the most inopportune “cliff-hanger” moments.
Shorter summary: this is a novelization of a made-for-TV-movie or a few episodes from a cheap action/adventure show.
The story is about a South Pole cave-dwelling society of marsupial humanoids, the velociraptors who hunt them, giant diamonds and the trouble they bring (which, inevitably, manifests itself in the form of a bomb-wielding traitor), and of course hook-ups and love between people who have known each other for about twenty-four hours. Now, don’t forget that the narrative is written with all the depth and complexity of a 9th-grade essay and is entirely action oriented. Add to the mix the fact that (as I mentioned) the story routinely switches focus just at the start of the action (timed perfectly for commercial breaks, no doubt), and so makes for quick, dumb and extremely forgettable fiction.
I don’t particularly wish to say much more than this, except to add that I have another Rollins book on my Reader: “Excavation”. I’m certainly hoping that it was one of the books included on the Reader when I bought it. Wouldn’t want to accidentally give the author the impression that he should keep this gig up. But maybe I’m being too harsh. If I run out of books to read (not likely, but always a possibility), I’m sure I won’t mind succumbing to this little guilty pleasure.
Overall rating: C
UBIK, by Philip K Dick
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“UBIK” has to be the strangest non-Vonnegut novel I’ve read to date. A coworker suggested that the entire thing is a result of a drug trip and I am inclined to agree. I won’t spoil the surprises, so this review will be rather vain, as in, quite shallow.
First of all, you have to understand that the book was written in the 1960′s, so certain assumptions about the future will seep in. Scratch that, they will knock down the walls with all the subtlety of a Viking invasion. From the language (think of Monty Burns, just older), to the coin-operated EVERYTHING (this one really irked me), to punch cards still in use on space ships, to mild but widely-accepted racism and sexism, the whole story feels incredibly old. (Which, I must admit, is perhaps something that the author was striving for all along.)
The story starts out with a company of telepaths whose job it is to stop other telepaths from using their gifts, most often in a business setting (think corporate espionage with the help of a mind-reader). A few very 50′s-style commercial exerts are presented to drive the point home. In a quick succession we are introduced to the protagonist, a man who makes his living in measuring the “power” of a potential telepath hire, and the telepath in question, a young woman with a gift to reverse time. Due to a mix of classic male-centric sci-fi and the sexist attitudes of the day, following the interview the woman seduces the protagonist and announces that she is going to be moving in with him. That’s not weird, right?
Actually, compared to the rest of the book, this is pretty tame.
Oh, I forgot about this one little detail: the dead aren’t quite dead and can speak to the living from beyond. I’m still not sure how this is helpful, extending the “life” of a deceased person through some half-dreaming, half-awake state.
Overall, the book is a mind-trip that starts out simply enough, if extremely archaic, becomes something practically incomprehensible in the middle, but does manages to pull off a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
Overall rating: A-
Destiny’s Road, by Larry Niven
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“Destiny’s Road” is one of a few novels by Niven (that I’ve read) that are stand-alones, existing in their own universes that are not connected to any other Niven stories. The only other examples I can think of is “Wrong Way Street” and possibly some stories from N Space, Scatterbrain or Playgrounds of the Mind.
First off, this is classic Niven. I haven’t written a review of any other Niven books or stories, so this is a good time to explain the various conventions and elements that are common to most of Niven’s writing. And of course you know what that means: bullet-list time!
Niven’s stories often:
- Are set in the Known Space universe
- Deal in-depth with politics of a given universe/world/planet/village
- Have male protagonists
- Lack a clear antagonist, often being purely explorational or simply open-ended stories
- Assume that all characters think the same, which gives the protagonist an uncanny ability to reach the most extraordinary, and correct!, conclusions based on very little information
- Are self-contained who-dun-it mysteries: all the required information is presented to the reader, so it is theoretically possible to arrive at the solution before the protagonist does so
- Are written in a very short-hand’ed way: Niven gives minimalistic descriptions of action, instead relying on the reader to infer parts of the story from characters’ speech or other clues. (This description isn’t particularly clear, I know, but I’m not quite sure of how to explain it.)
- Have long, drawn-out dialogs between main characters that (thankfully) describe the story, the intricate plots and the convoluted plans. This helps with the above point.
- Have frequent, but not thoroughly described, sex scenes
- Focus on the science behind the technologies presented, considering its applications on society and using it as plot points
- Follow the same character (or sometimes ensemble of characters) through multiple stories and over a span of years, sometimes decades or centuries
- Have ironic endings (but then, this is something that is quite common to science fiction)
- Emphasize a more open, not a very restrictive society (once again, commmon science fiction theme)
“Destiny’s Road” shares a number of these themes: it is a story that spans decades in following its main protagonist on a colony planet. The protagonist shows off his reasoning skills multiple times, even discovering and gaining an insight into the secret control scheme on the planet while only possessing a few bits of information. The action sequences are, as usual, muddled messes, with the author only bothering to explain the results and relying on the reader to understand, from the tidbits of clues, exactly what the hell just occurred. Thankfully the characters talk non-stop about the story, so the reader is never left in the dark for more than a few pages. Sure, those pages can be quite confusing in the mean time, but things are eventually cleared up.
The story consists of a quaint mix of politics, action, conspiracy, exile, discovery and the protagonist’s decades-long plan to free Destiny’s people from an imposed control. The main plot point is the protagonist’s forced exile after an accidental murder of a trader. This plot point is soon overshadowed by the protagonist’s realization that the colony’s dependence on travelling traders and their mysterious “speckles” is not an accident but a carefully orchestrated form of populace control. The underlying conspiracy is a satisfying one (as in, it actually makes sense and is not just plot device), as is the conclusion of the novel.
As I said, the book is classic Niven. The science doesn’t disappoint, but realize that it is uncharacterstically un-Niven in its level of technology. The setting is a colony planet, Destiny, that is an approximate equivalent of early Wild West, right down to armored wagons traversing the Road, trading with the locals. It’s a good change, considering how high-tech Niven usually get, and it’s a pleasure to read something so down to earth, even if the earth in question is a different planet.
There’s only one real character, the protagonist, and the rest is just accomponiment, helping drive the story forward. There is not much to say about these characters, as we mostly see their actions and rarely, if ever, encounter the actual person. It’s something that is fairly common to Niven’s writing (as well as sci-fi in general), so no one should be particularly surprised at encountering an almost empty world.
Overall rating: A