Science fiction and fantasy: recs
Apr. 30th, 2011 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kraitShame on me for not posting yesterday, but by the time I got off work I was exhausted; I fell into bed without even showering, and woke up with Snape hair (heh), but otherwise much refreshed.
After talking about my own experiences with science fiction and fantasy yesterday, I thought I should make today's post more interesting for you-the-reader by talking about what I've read and liked lately! For a given value of "lately" that includes pretty much any time in the last couple years, anyway.
Science Fiction:
Foreigner, C.J. Cherryh.
This series (_Foreigner_ is the first) blew me away. It's the first time I've ever encountered an alien race who were truly alien, despite a humanoid form. Foreigner introduces us to Bren Cameron, the "paidhi" -- the only human allowed into atevi culture, a translator/ambassador who mainly spends his time reviewing dictionaries and arguing with the council about rail travel... until atevi politics explode in an unexpected direction, and suddenly he's much, much more involved than he'd ever planned on being.
I admit that I had a hard time starting this book, because the little "mini introductions" or initial sections or whatever you call them threw me off, and I still want a LOT more detail about Ian and the first contact! But Bren is amazing and lovely, and his atevi cohort fascinating.
Eifelheim, Michael Flynn.
Aliens crash-land on Earth... in the midst of the Black Plague. Stranded, alone, and inhuman in the midst of one of the least tolerant centuries ever, they're discovered by a curious village priest. Some of the villagers take them in with pity for strangers far from home; some loathe and fear them as devils, and the divide may tear the whole village apart. All of this is told interspersed with and informed by the lives of two modern scientists, one of whom is an astrophysicist, one a historian who is trying to solve the question: why was the town of Eifelheim never rebuilt after the plague, when all the towns around it have recovered? Overall a fascinating combination of medieval German life, first contact, speculative physics, and the development of scientific language!
Fantasy:
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch.
I'd seen this recced by several flisters, so I picked it up. They were right! I have a weakness for the Rogue With A Good Heart, and that's precisely where Locke -- con artist, thief, liar, and priest -- falls. The world is well-built, too, with a watery city that makes me think of Venice, and politics that put one in mind of the Medicis and Macchiavelli; and the little world of organised crime within the wider world that Locke occupies is well-built, too. I ran out and bought the sequel immediately, and can hardly wait to start reading!
Flesh and Spirit, Carol Berg.
I'd been meaning to read this for some time, but could never find the first book in stores! When I finally got a copy, I was deeply pleased -- this is another fantasy novel with good worldbuilding and an excellent main character. Valen is very much not a typical hero; a mage in hiding (because mages are strictly controlled by their families/social class, he has run away and been evading capture for 12 years), addicted to a pain-killing spell, and with no goal except to continue avoiding both capture and spell-overdose death. Despite himself, he gets caught up in politics when the monastery where he's hiding turns out to have a big secret, and over the course of the two-book duology he learns the secret about his own nature and his family that means he's possibly the only one who can save the world and his society from spiraling into meltdown.
Fellow sci-fi and fantasy readers, what have you read and liked lately? Reading and access list, what would you like to see me give recs for? (More military SF? Urban fantasy? More high fantasy? Either, from female authors? Novels with great aliens? Novels with great female protagonists?) Or I'm also happy to elaborate on any of the above, whether you want funny excerpts, warnings/triggers, or just a better plot or character summary!
After talking about my own experiences with science fiction and fantasy yesterday, I thought I should make today's post more interesting for you-the-reader by talking about what I've read and liked lately! For a given value of "lately" that includes pretty much any time in the last couple years, anyway.
Science Fiction:
Foreigner, C.J. Cherryh.
This series (_Foreigner_ is the first) blew me away. It's the first time I've ever encountered an alien race who were truly alien, despite a humanoid form. Foreigner introduces us to Bren Cameron, the "paidhi" -- the only human allowed into atevi culture, a translator/ambassador who mainly spends his time reviewing dictionaries and arguing with the council about rail travel... until atevi politics explode in an unexpected direction, and suddenly he's much, much more involved than he'd ever planned on being.
I admit that I had a hard time starting this book, because the little "mini introductions" or initial sections or whatever you call them threw me off, and I still want a LOT more detail about Ian and the first contact! But Bren is amazing and lovely, and his atevi cohort fascinating.
Eifelheim, Michael Flynn.
Aliens crash-land on Earth... in the midst of the Black Plague. Stranded, alone, and inhuman in the midst of one of the least tolerant centuries ever, they're discovered by a curious village priest. Some of the villagers take them in with pity for strangers far from home; some loathe and fear them as devils, and the divide may tear the whole village apart. All of this is told interspersed with and informed by the lives of two modern scientists, one of whom is an astrophysicist, one a historian who is trying to solve the question: why was the town of Eifelheim never rebuilt after the plague, when all the towns around it have recovered? Overall a fascinating combination of medieval German life, first contact, speculative physics, and the development of scientific language!
Fantasy:
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch.
I'd seen this recced by several flisters, so I picked it up. They were right! I have a weakness for the Rogue With A Good Heart, and that's precisely where Locke -- con artist, thief, liar, and priest -- falls. The world is well-built, too, with a watery city that makes me think of Venice, and politics that put one in mind of the Medicis and Macchiavelli; and the little world of organised crime within the wider world that Locke occupies is well-built, too. I ran out and bought the sequel immediately, and can hardly wait to start reading!
Flesh and Spirit, Carol Berg.
I'd been meaning to read this for some time, but could never find the first book in stores! When I finally got a copy, I was deeply pleased -- this is another fantasy novel with good worldbuilding and an excellent main character. Valen is very much not a typical hero; a mage in hiding (because mages are strictly controlled by their families/social class, he has run away and been evading capture for 12 years), addicted to a pain-killing spell, and with no goal except to continue avoiding both capture and spell-overdose death. Despite himself, he gets caught up in politics when the monastery where he's hiding turns out to have a big secret, and over the course of the two-book duology he learns the secret about his own nature and his family that means he's possibly the only one who can save the world and his society from spiraling into meltdown.
Fellow sci-fi and fantasy readers, what have you read and liked lately? Reading and access list, what would you like to see me give recs for? (More military SF? Urban fantasy? More high fantasy? Either, from female authors? Novels with great aliens? Novels with great female protagonists?) Or I'm also happy to elaborate on any of the above, whether you want funny excerpts, warnings/triggers, or just a better plot or character summary!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-01 01:15 pm (UTC)If you liked Foreigner and haven't read everything else by CJ Cherryh, get to it ;) I'm fond of her Alliance-Union series, and her fantasy is pretty good, too. The Faded Sun trilogy is great fun, and for a story in which a human meets aliens & becomes one of them, it doesn't suffer from "what these people need is a honky" syndrome. Duncan becomes a bit of a proto-paidhi between the mri and the humans.
Mark Van Name writes space opera (marketed as military SF, but he calls it "adventure stories") that isn't as plagued by right-wing loonies as the rest of the Baen catalog. (He calls himself their token liberal.) I read Children No More last year, and it was really good. It's about rehabilitating child soldiers, so it's not a light, fun romp, but it's *really* good. He donated his advance and all the proceeds from the first print run to Falling Whistles, an NGO that works with child soldiers in Africa. His first two books and a couple novellas have just been republished in an omnibus called Jump Gate Twist, with a cover that has some art that's not what you'd expect from a Baen Cover™. It's sitting on my desk, and I need to read it.
Basically, there's this guy Jon who's a mercenary-ish ex-soldier, and he's got a really cool spaceship with a snarky AI named Lobo. They go adventuring.
If you can stomach right-wing nuttery threaded in, Darkship Thieves, the book I was ranting about earlier, isn't TERRIBLE. I can't completely wholeheartedly recommend it, but it's worth borrowing from the library.
Yaaaaay, another Foreigner fan! This makes my day!
Date: 2011-05-02 01:31 am (UTC)Heh, I understand! This is why I only have 11 of them; waiting for the 12th to come out in paperback before I buy. (I hate hardbacks; the way I read, they hurt my wrist. Also, I have spent most of my life packing up and moving, so I refuse to have my precious books weigh any more than necessary -- it reduces the number I have to leave behind.)
I'm currently halfway through the Faded Sun trilogy! Paused for a little while whilst trying to finish books I need to return/sell/give away first, but I'll get back to it! I cannot resist Aliens By Cherryh, it seems. :D Though the Union-Alliance stuff just doesn't appeal to me, for some reason; every time I think to pick it up, I put it back again unpurchased. *shrugs*
I will definitely look up Mark Van Name's! (I support Token Liberals! Heh. Which actually reminds me of some artical I read discussing military SF, and pointing out how Bujold was an odd author out, writing from a leftist rather than strong-right position...)
Hahaha, do people really recognise Baen Covers as such? They really are so interchangeably... I could do this in Photoshop in half an hour, using no more than 15 objects, aren't they? :D
Re: Yaaaaay, another Foreigner fan! This makes my day!
Date: 2011-05-02 10:49 pm (UTC)Baen Covers are usually also hideous and bizarre, with a certain characteristic art style, though that's changing a *little* bit recently. Darkship Thieves has a pretty cool cover, even if the inside text has problems.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-02 06:02 pm (UTC)I bought and read most of The Handmaid's Tale several weeks ago, but it didn't much work for me - it was kind of fascinatingly written/narrated, but mostly boring.