THE WEATHER TAG

Every time I see an interesting bookish tag I can’t help but scheduling it for one of my next posts: I encountered this one on the site of fellow blogger Bookstoge, and I immediately liked the comparison between books and weather phenomenons, so here are my answers…

SUNSHINE:  A BOOK THAT MADE YOU SMILE

Firefly: The Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove

Firefly is one of my favorite TV series, and one of the most unfortunate since it was canceled before it had been given the chance to truly fly.  Luckily for me, and for the many fans that still care about Serenity and its crew, there is a series of books, now numbering to six and with a seventh expected for later this year, that manage to recapture the adventurous fun mood of the show.

RAIN:  A BOOK YOU COULDN’T PUT DOWN

Empire of the Vampire, by Jay Kristoff

Simply mention the word ‘vampire’ and I immediately pay attention: this is one of the horror tropes that most fascinate me. Learning that one of my favorite authors was penning a new series focused on a world dominated by these monsters was a huge incentive for me to read this first book as soon as it became available, and I was more than captivated by its dark, dreary background and by the story’s compelling main character.

WIND:  A BOOK THAT BLEW YOU AWAY

The Shadow of the Gods, by John Gwynne

John Gwynn is one of the epic fantasy authors that compel me to read their works without even looking at the blurb, because I know that I will be enthralled by whatever story he chooses to tell. In this particular case we have a Norse mythology-inspired story following the journey/quest of a number of fascinatingly flawed characters in a world where the vestiges of the gods who once ruled are still able to wield great power and are therefore sought with any means. Both gritty and emotional, I believe this is the best Gwynne book so far, and the sequel is almost here!

HURRICANE:  A TRAGIC BOOK

The Hunger, by Alma Catsu

This was my first encounter with the tragedy of the Donner Party, which is not so well-known outside of the USA – even though, since then, I happened to find several references to the story. The caravan of hopefuls who tried to travel from Missouri to California in the mid-19th Century, was lost in the inclement weather conditions of the Sierra Nevada, and the few survivors had to resort to eating the flesh of their dead to keep alive.  This was both a tragic story and an in-depth examination of human nature under stressful conditions.

BLIZZARD:  A BOOK YOU HAD HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR

Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse

I “met” this author through her Sixth World Series, and I was eager to explore her new work focused on pre-Colombian cultures: Black Sun exceeded even my wildest expectations in depicting a violent but fascinating world imbued with magic, political machinations and family feuds, and peopled with fascinating characters.  The second book in the saga is forthcoming and I’m sure that it will meet and surpass my expectations just as its predecessor did.

TORNADO:  A BOOK YOU DIDN’T LIKE AT FIRST BUT ENDED UP LOVING

Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

RED RISING, by Pierce Brown

While I enjoy a good tale of vengeance, Red Rising did not seem to be exactly tailored to my tastes, mostly because I struggled to connect with Darrow, the main character who goes against the caste system implemented in this remote future where society is modeled on the ancient Roman Empire. And yet, little by little, he and his quest won me over and I ended up rooting for his fight against such an inhuman system.

Want to battle the elements with some good books? Then share your weather-inspired favorite stories!

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CONQUERING THE WORLD (The Siege #3), by K.J. Parker

The third book in K.J. Parker’s The Siege presents once again a story set in the same world as the two previous volumes, but this time not in the City we have come to know through the chronicles of Orhan the engineer and Notker the actor turned leader: here the protagonist is Felix (the lucky), a Robur national sent as a diplomatic envoy and translator to the Echmen empire. 

Felix ended there under a cloud of disgrace caused by an ill-considered liaison which cost him dearly, both physically and socially, and all he wants now is to keep a low profile and read books: easier said than done though, because first he ends up saving the life of a Hus princess-hostage, who was going to be executed because of a grammatical misunderstanding, and then he’s in turn saved by that same princess once it seems that the Robur nation has been obliterated and that Felix is its only survivor. From that moment on, Felix – and the princess – will embark on a journey across the wide world that will lead them to meet its many different peoples, as the former translator starts what can only be termed as an incredible revolution that will change the balance of power through the application of an apparently unplanned conquest strategy.

The protagonists of Parker’s novels, despite their differences, share a common unreliability as narrators, and what’s more they make no mystery of it – Felix is indeed the one who seems to be the most open on the subject, in respect of his predecessors:

I really don’t understand why people go on about how wonderful the truth is. In my experience, all it does is make trouble.

This is even more true here because, as the story moves forward, we learn that what appears as a series of unconnected and unplanned choices ends up generating very serendipitous results that point toward a carefully orchestrated plan. Felix’s narration makes it all look quite accidental, or at the very least the product of inspiration drawn from one of the many books he’s read, but after a while it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that he’s not “encouraging” the outcome from the sidelines.  Especially when he says things like this:

Everything I’ve touched I’ve translated, into one thing or the other.

To further muddy the waters, at some point he makes a mention of his offhand humorous approach to situations, drawing a parallel between it and the ink squids use as camouflage against predators, and adding that under the layers of that protective humor he’s quite scared, but given his unreliability as a narrator it’s not so easy to fully believe him. 

All of the above turns Felix into a character that is difficult to relate to, and there are times when I felt quite annoyed with him – in a half-amused way, granted, but still annoyed, so that I could quite sympathize with the princess when she berated him and looked ready to use physical violence.  And yet, the relationship between the two of them (which cannot turn into a romantic pairing because of Felix’s… unfortunate situation) is one of the narrative delights of the story, with the two of them forming a complicated partnership that nonetheless works on many levels and offers some very amusing scenes, like the ones where Felix translates her profanity-laden speeches into something more diplomatically appropriate.

What truly differentiates this book from its predecessors is that the story follows a journey/quest model rather than being set in the City, which offers the author the chance to have a lot of fun with the different names and customs of the many tribes our two fugitive travelers meet: the travelogue might look somewhat confusing because the book does not have a map, which might have made things more visually understandable, but it’s a minor inconvenience after all, because Felix’s tongue-in-cheek descriptions of these peoples, their history and above all their quirks, makes for an amusing sketch of this world and its inhabitants who, despite the outward cultural differences, seem to share a deep distrust of strangers – but also the inability to resist the translator’s quick tongue and powers of conviction.

At times, the long lists of places and tribes – complete with details about customs and laws – feels like too much information and one could be tempted to skip forward to get back to the main story, but I don’t recommend it, because you might lose some entertaining detail. Granted, these finer points might not be indispensable in the Grand Scheme of Things, but they are often too funny to be missed, like the long, drawn-out story about a man who wanted to make money by selling camels. And in the end, camels DO prove to be quite effective in battle… 😉

In the end I had great fun with the Practical Guide, even though the third iteration of this series reserved little surprises as far as the outcome would be, but like the story it tells, what truly matters here is the characters’ journey and not its end, and in the course of that journey there is great room for fun and a few laughs – and we all need that, from time to time.

My Rating:

THE ANGEL OF KHAN el-KHALILI (Dead Djinn Universe # 0.2), by P. Djelì Clark

While searching for a short story to act as “intermission” between books, I saw this second short offering in P. Djèlí Clark’s Dead Djinn series (you can read it online on Tor.com) and the first paragraph totally captured me with its mysteriously evocative tone: written in an unusual second person POV, it details the journey of young Aliaa searching for a miracle to save her sister, the victim of a factory fire and now dying of her grievous injuries.

Knowing that the granting of such a momentous wish from a djinn would carry its own uncertainties, since djinns are fickle creatures, Aliaa seeks the help of an angel, one of the enigmatic beings who hide inside huge,  human-shaped constructs, and to do so she roams the bazaar’s streets at night.  The description of the deserted night-time market, in opposition to its bustling daytime activity, is one of the best parts of this story: as it happened with the previous one set in this same world, I am in awe of Clark’s descriptive skills that not only paint a picture of this sector of Cairo, but bring to life the sounds and smells of it, making it the perfect setting to Aliaa’s desperate search and to her fears and insecurities.

Once she finds herself in the presence of the angel, the young girl discovers that the payment for the requested miracle might be more than she is ready to pay, and that it will require a painful soul-searching that translates into actual physical pain: the main theme here is that of revealing one’s secrets and guilt, of bringing them to the surface and – maybe – letting go of them, even though the process of gifting them to the angel sounds both painful and gruesomely mechanical.

Mixed with the personal details of Aliaa’s life there are some intriguing peeks into Cairo’s evolving society, one where women are striving for emancipation and the right to superior learning, but are also struggling to turn those dreams into reality by working themselves ragged in factories, where laborers’ conditions are dreadful and accidents a daily occurrence.  Aliaa – and her sister Aisha, or their co-workers – are the other side of the coin represented by the more emancipated Fatma el-Sha’arawi, so that, through these two loosely connected stories, we gain a more detailed knowledge of the social background of a city whose eyes are turned to the future but whose roots are still firmly set into the past.

I am quite intrigued by this series of short stories, and very much look forward to the others that await me down the line…

My Rating:

A PALE LIGHT IN THE BLACK (NeoG #1), by K.B. Wagers (DNF @ 46%)

My first DNF of the year: statistically, it was bound to happen sooner or later, but still the disappointment stings…  The blurb for this book promised a space opera focused on an organization, the NeoG, labeled as the space equivalent of the Coast Guard, and on the crew of one particular ship, Zuma’s Ghost, also adding that “A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core . . . a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more […]”. 

Quite intriguing, indeed, and the start of the novel – despite some slight info-dump concerning the characters – introduced some captivating themes, like the promotion and subsequent transfer of a beloved second in command coinciding with the arrival of a new officer, whose past history and present uncertainties would add some spice to the interpersonal mechanics aboard the ship.  Given these premises I expected a lively, adventurous story peppered with some interesting character evolution, but unfortunately things did not work that way at all.

From the very start the story seems focused solely on the annual Boarding Games that pit the various branches of Earth’s military against each other, with much space given to Zuma’s Ghost’s commander and crew lamenting their defeat in the previous edition of the Games, and their preparations for the upcoming session: up to the point where I stopped reading there were only a couple of instances in which the crew faced emergencies related to their actual job, and they were solved quickly, almost off-handedly, immediately going back to talk of the impending Games. From a quick online search I discovered that the more adventurous section of the story does come into play once the “Space Olympics” are over, but I could not find the strength to go through chapter after chapter of fights and simulated battles to reach what might have been the “meat” of the story.

To be entirely truthful, I have to admit I don’t care for team sports of any kind, so that might very well have colored my reaction to this story, but still I don’t understand the importance of the competition in the economy of the novel (at least as it’s presented in the blurb): a passing reference seems to indicate that the winning faction would get the greater portion of the government’s funds destined to military operations, and since NeoG did not gather any wins they are forced to go into space with sub-standard and/or old equipment. If that’s how things are in this future vision of humanity, it’s a ludicrous way indeed to manage a space-faring civilization…

Which brings me to the background, or rather scarcity of it: there are references to a Collapse that threatened to end civilization, but since it’s now four centuries in the past no more details are given about what it entailed, or how Earth overcame it; technology seems advanced enough – ships achieving light speed, instant communications spanning great distances with no time-lag, rejuvenating treatments keeping people young well beyond human standards, and so on – but it looks like an afterthought rather than an organic part of the whole. Then you are met with weird details like swords as onboard armament because “no one yet had the lock on a reliable handheld laser weapon”. Granted, once my inner Nasty Nitpicker is awakened, it tends to sink its teeth onto these trivial details and to never let go, but to me this speaks of poor planning, or editing, or both.

When all is said and done, A Pale Light in the Black looks like the kind of book I might have read – and probably enjoyed – a few decades ago, when I began reading SF: now that I have a good number of books under my proverbial belt, and that I have hopefully honed my tastes, books like this one feel totally unsatisfying.  This is not the droid… pardon me … the novel I was looking for.

Moving on….

My Rating:

The STAR TREK Book Tag

The new season of the Trek show Picard opened with a couple of quite intriguing episodes which promise an interesting run for the series this year, so when I found this bookish tag focusing on Star Trek I thought it very serendipitous: how could I ignore it? Therefore…. ENGAGE! 😉

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – A CORNY YET ENTERTAINING BOOK

A Thousand Words for Stranger, by Julie Kzerneda

This novel was not exactly corny, but since it was a bit romantically-inclined it was somewhat outside of my comfort zone, although those romantic elements were offset by an intriguing world-building that proved fascinating enough to keep me interested in the story from start to finish.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION – A SEQUEL THAT WAS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL

Gods of Blood and Powder (series) by Brian McClellan

This trilogy represents the sequel to McClellan’s amazing Powder Mage trilogy, which I enjoyed even more than its predecessor: a series filled with high stakes and a compelling narrative peopled by engaging character that reserve many surprises.

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE – A BOOK OR SERIES WITH A GREAT ENSEMBLE CAST

Rogues of the Republic (series) by Patrick Weekes

Well, this is a story featuring two former soldiers, a shape-shifting unicorn and a virgin bumbling teenager; a failed mage with a penchant for illusions; a skilled lock-picker and her gravity-defying companion; a death priestess, who used to be a love priestess, and her talking warhammer with a very limited vocabulary. With a cast like this one, success is unavoidable!

STAR TREK: VOYAGER – A BOOK OR SERIES INVOLVING AN EPIC JOURNEY

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

This novel proved to be both epic and fun, exploring the journey of a group of former soldiers of venture reuniting for a last mission: besides the theme of adventure, the concepts of friendship and loyalty are explored with a delightful combination of light-hearted fun and welcome depth.

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE – A BOOK OR SERIES WITH A BAD ENDING

Planetside by Michael Mammay

This space opera story was going very well until the main character took an unexpected path that left me stunned and angry, both because of his savage act and for the nonchalance with which he performed it. I doubt I will read the following books in the series…

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS – YOUR MOST ANTICIPATED FUTURE RELEASE

Oh, there are a few, indeed!

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse (second volume of Between Earth and Sky)

Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky (second volume of The Final Architects)

Reckoning by W. Michael Gear (sixth volume of the Donovan series)

And I’d better stop right here, because my TBR is already scowling at me in warning! 😀

THE KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY, by John Scalzi

I received this novel from Macmillan-Tor/Forge through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity

The past two years have indisputably affected us all, one way or the other, and yet it was still a surprise for me to learn that even a cheerful personality like that of writer John Scalzi, who comes across as an individual gifted with an inexhaustible reserve of whimsical humor, suffered from the heavy toll of the situation: in the Author’s Note at the end of this book he shares his difficult journey with a book he was attempting to write, a book that was ultimately put on the back burner in favor of this one. In Scalzi’s own words, that other book was a “brooding symphony”, while The Kaiju Preservation Society is a “pop song”, one “meant to be light and catchy”: I, for one, am very grateful that he was inspired to write it, because it turned out to be a delightfully escapist story that for a couple of days managed to entertain me, making me smile often and laugh out loud in several occasions. In these times, this is a precious gift, indeed.

At the onset of the Covid pandemic, Jamie Gray works in the marketing department of a food-delivery startup named füdmüd, from which he’s suddenly fired: in dire need of paying the bills, and with job opportunities vanishing quickly due to the crisis, he has no other choice but to accept work in actually delivering food to füdmüd’s clients.  Having been befriended by one of them, Jamie is offered a chance to work with the KPS and he accepts eagerly: what he does not know is that the job will entail direct contact with huge, Godzilla-like creatures in a very unusual, very unexpected environment. While making new friends and adjusting to the new work situation, Jamie will need all his resourcefulness and dexterity to deal with the unexpected challenges presented by this job, and to defeat the dastardly plot of the (required) evil corporation – and to lift things, of course, because that’s what he was hired to do…

Jamie is an easy person to get attached to, not least because he’s a nerd, his dialogue crowded with pop-culture and SF references that bring instant recognition and a sense of easy kinship: in the course of the story, he turns from a simple Things Lifter to a hero (even if an unassuming one) and where other less skilled writers might have fallen into the “Gary Stu Trap” with him, Scalzi takes that trope and turns it on its head, creating a fun, very relatable main character we can all root for.  He’s the lone Everyman in the midst of a group of quite talented scientists, and yet his penchant for SF-related themes allows him to take the mental steps necessary to adjust to the KPS environment and to thrive in it: I’ve often maintained that the kind of “mind training” offered by speculative fiction makes us nerds able to bridge chasms that might scare other people, because we can go that extra mile with no effort at all, and Jamie is indeed proof of that.

As far as personal interactions go, I found The Kaiju Preservation Society enjoys the same kind of easygoing, humorous banter I first encountered in Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series: here it serves both to define characters and to provide the necessary scientific explanations (both real and imagined) that might otherwise have felt like weighty info dumps and that instead flow easily and at times even become entertainingly informative.  The sense of camaraderie, and then friendship, that binds these different people is a joy to behold and serves to balance out the unavoidable drama and loss that at some point hit the small community, forcing these dedicated, peaceful scientists (plus the Weight Lifter) to tap their reserves of courage and face an impending threat and the high stakes it brings about.

That threat comes – of course – from corporate greed and in particular from an individual Jamie knows well: this guy is the epitome of the mustache-twirling villain and, again, he might have turned into an unavoidable trope, but once again Scalzi manages to poke some fun at this particular cliché by shining a bright light on it instead of trying to mask it. It’s a well-know (and much scorned) habit for villains to launch in detailed monologues about their intentions before attempting to kill the heroes, and this particular bad guy indulges in it quite a bit, but here the habit of “monologuing” is openly addressed both by the villain and his would-be victims, turning what could otherwise have been a trite situation into another opportunity for John Scalzi’s peculiar brand of humor. In other words, this is a… tongue-in-cheek villain, one I both loathed and enjoyed.

Last but not least, this novel focuses on a singular and fascinating environment inhabited by these huge, towering creatures – and their proportionately big parasites – and sporting its own well-crafted ecosystem in which even the most outlandish feature has its reason to be, and is part of the fun in the story.  I quite enjoyed The Kaiju Preservation Society, not only for its amusement quotient, but because of its hopefulness and optimism: these elements might look utopian, given that in the real world things almost never work so well, but as I said at the start of this review, we all need a bit of light in the darkness now and then, to believe that good can triumph over evil, and this book provided these features at the right time. For which I’m certainly grateful…

My Rating:

TV SHOWS TAG

Even though I have been a relentless bookworm since I first learned to read, I am also quite partial to the… visual arts, particularly TV shows (and movies, why not?), so for this tag, for which I am once again indebted to a fellow blogger (link HERE), I will step away from books and talk a bit about TV shows.

FAVORITE SHOWS?

I would have to say, anything that grabs my attention with depth, thought-provoking themes or engaging storytelling and often compels me to watch more than one episode at a time – which is nowadays made easier thanks to Netflix & Co. unless we’re talking about some of my old-time favorites, like Babylon5 or Farscape or Firefly, whose DVDs hold pride of place on the dedicated shelves. 

Streaming platforms gave me the opportunity of considerably broadening my horizons, so I enjoyed series like Vikings, Versailles or The Crown, which have spanned many different genres and stories.

FAVORITE GENRE?

On TV I tend to gravitate between SF and Crime/Thriller, with a few forays into horror, which also mirrors my usual reading tastes, but sometimes I encounter other shows that are out of my “comfort zone” but nonetheless encourage some binge watching, like the recent Inventing Anna, which tells the true story of a very successful swindler posing as a heiress and entrepreneur, or The Queen’s Gambit, about a prodigy chess player.

Thinking about it, I probably don’t have a favorite genre as far as TV shows are concerned: what truly matters is the story and the way it’s told and portrayed – if I can be drawn into it like it happens with books, then it’s a good one.

LEAST FAVORITE SHOW?

I’m going to bend the rules a little here, and rather speak of the shows I somewhat enjoy but don’t feel compelled to binge watch: one such example is The Handmaid’s Tale, inspired by Margaret Haywood’s famous novel, which I read several years ago. Dystopian tales end up being less… palatable (for want of a better word) when filmed: I can read the books, but somehow seeing these stories on a screen makes them harder to bear, so I tend to let some time elapse between viewings, probably to… better metabolize the darkness.

The same goes, to offer another example, for Snow Piercer: I was not overwhelmed by the original movie, and decided to watch the TV show only because I read some positive reviews, and it’s a good one, granted, but once again I can tolerate “screen grimness” only in small doses.

MOST REWATCHED SHOW/FAVORITE SHOW TO BINGE WATCH?

Having already mentioned some of my favorite shows, I have of course to add The Expanse to the list, as a very successful translation from the book series: these are the kind of shows that feel always fresh and engrossing even through repeated watchings.

A recent revisitation of the new Battlestar Galactica proved to work better than my first viewing, and of course I quite enjoyed retracing my steps through the various Star Trek incarnations once I subscribed to Netflix: oldies but goodies always work…

And last but not least, these days I am enjoying a walk down Memory Lane with Stargate SG-1 on Amazon: no matter how predictable and cheesy the stories might be, they offer what most modern SF shows lack, a bit of optimism – and these days we need that, badly.

DO YOU PREFER WATCHING THINGS WEEK-BY-WEEK OR BINGE-WATCHING?

Something in the middle: streaming TV made me impatient so that the wait for new episodes on a weekly basis has become harder, but on the other hand, I’m unable to watch more than 2 – 3 episodes of the same show at the same time, because I need variety and – let’s face it – sitting still in front of a screen for too long is NOT advisable… 🙂

FAVORITE TELEVISION CHARACTERS?

I would have to list practically the whole cast of The Expanse, with special attention to female figures like dragon lady Avasarala or Bobbie Draper, the determined Martian marine, or again Camina Drummer with her hard-nosed attitude, without forgetting Naomi Nagata whose strengths might be less apparent but can certainly stand on the same level as those of the other characters I mentioned.

FAVORITE TELEVISION SHIPS?

None that come to mind, but mostly because I’m not very romantically inclined – you know, grumpy old lady and all that… 😉

SHOWS YOU COULD NEVER GET INTO?

One of my more recent DNFs, as far as TV series go, is Another Life: the premise was an intriguing one, concerning the journey of an Earth crew to investigate the origins of a mysterious artifact that appeared on our planet, but the story felt too confusing and the characters did not inspire my sympathy, so I abandoned it after a few episodes.

SHOWS YOU FELL OUT OF LOVE WITH?

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: this one started with the proverbial bang, a show that was both well written and well portrayed, graced by funny characters and witty, sarcastic wordplay, but unfortunately it did not seem able to sustain this kind of excellence for long, and after the first two seasons I left it by the wayside. 

CANCELLED TOO SOON?

Firefly and Stargate Universe are the two most notorious examples of this category, and now I might add The Expanse, which was not given the renewal necessary to cover the last three books of the series. Although for this one there is still some glimmer of hope…

GUILTY PLEASURE SHOW?

Anything to do with cooking: I love to spend time in the kitchen trying out new recipes to share with family and friends, so every time I see someone busy in a kitchen while zapping through channels, I stop and watch. And maybe learn something… 🙂

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WATCHING?

I’ve recently discovered an older, but still delightfully fresh, show from the mid-80s called The Golden Girls, focusing on a quartet of older ladies sharing a home: the dialogues make me laugh out loud several times in each episode, and I love the interactions between the four of them. 

As I said I’m rewatching the whole Stargate SG-1 series, slowly moving through Snow Piercer and Supernatural (nice, but only in small doses) while consuming with some alacrity the older episodes of Chicago PD. As a rule, I try not to balance too many shows at the same time, because I still want to keep reading my books, of course!  And last but not least, this past Friday the first episode of the second season of Picard aired, and it looks promising, so I’m again onboard for the journey…

Are you fond of your TV shows? If so, share your preferences: inquiring minds want to know 😉

STARS AND BONES (A Continuance Novel), by Gareth Powell

I received this novel from Titan Books through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.

Even if I had not already read – and greatly appreciated – Gareth Powell’s Embers of War trilogy, I would not have let this story pass me by: ark ships traveling into the unknown is one of my favorite themes, so there was no doubt I would enjoy the start of this new series. And I certainly did.

The core concept of Stars and Bones sees humanity embarked on a huge fleet of arks journeying away from Earth: seventy five years before the start of such journey, a very advanced race of powerful aliens understood we were going to destroy ourselves and our planet and therefore, to give Earth a chance to repair itself, mounted a massive exodus, relocating humans on these vast, customized arks that offered artificial environments and a comfortable home away from home.  While the majority enjoys the good life aboard the arks, some more adventurous individuals forge ahead exploring the emptiness of space in search of a new planet, and it’s on the surface of Candidate-623 that tragedy strikes when the scout ship sent there to check out a mysterious distress call breaks contact with the fleet.   Main character Eryn, whose sister was aboard the missing ship, goes to investigate with her own vessel, the Furious Ocelot, and what she finds is the kind of horrifying danger that might bring about the annihilation of the entire human race.

While it took me a little time to become fully invested in the story, once it launched into its core mystery and subsequent terrifying chain of events, I could not turn the pages fast enough because the threat Eryn and crew discover on Candidate-623 comes out of the same stuff nightmares are made of.  The beginning of the novel needs of course to establish the background and – more importantly – the path humanity took to get where it is when things start to go horribly wrong, and it does so through a series of flashbacks that, though quite informative, felt to me like a distraction from the main narrative thread: given the threat level encountered by the Furious Ocelot, I came to perceive any other kind of information as an obstacle to be cleared before reaching the “meat” of the story, and that’s the reason for my delay in getting immersed in it. Of course, once that… hurdle was past, there was indeed no turning back.

I don’t want to offer any more information about the plot because I’m convinced it must be as much of a surprise (albeit a scary one) as possible, but let me tell you that as I read I kept thinking that every space-faring expedition should make a certain 1979 movie a mandatory part of their training, so that when faced with mysterious signals people would know to exercise extreme caution, or better yet avoid its origin at any cost… 😉

If the story is quite shocking in its increasing threat, its background is quite enjoyable, particularly where the arks are concerned: think of immense ships that can be modified (both internally and externally) according to the specifications of their occupants, so that each ark becomes a very distinctive microcosm with its own peculiar environment and social customs. What is fascinating here is the way in which humanity has now adapted to the post-scarcity civilization offered by the Angels of Benevolence (the aliens who intervened to prevent Earth’s demise), crafting habitats and societies that range from an old-style consumer economy to a laid back tropical paradise, under the supervision of the ship’s A.I. – or envoy – whose appearance is tailored according to the ark’s style: in this respect, I’m still smiling at the recollection of the hammerhead shark look of the tropical environment’s envoy, swimming through the air with total nonchalance for the absurdity of the whole situation.  

Sentient ships seem indeed to be Gareth Powell’s favorite theme, and since I enjoyed reading about Trouble Dog in the Embers of War series, I was pleased to find a similar idea here and to become equally fond of Ferocious Ocelot’s envoy and of its interactions with the ship’s crew, and with Eryn in particular. Add to the mix the Ocelot’s ability to change its appearance according to the circumstances (from a portly gentleman in quiet times to a battle-ready guard when necessity arises), and its intelligently facetious repartees, and it’s no surprise that it turned out to be my favorite character in the novel.

Unfortunately, the human characters in this story did not fare equally well: some of them were woefully short-lived (prepare yourself for quite a number of sudden deaths), and Eryn herself turned out to be a little too inconsistent for my tastes – I did not truly dislike her, but I have to admit she made it quite difficult for me to connect with her. While I could sympathize with her grief over the loss of her sister, and with the huge burden of responsibility that the situation ends up placing on her shoulders, still she seems more focused on the emotional pains of the past to be the effective problem solver that the present situation requires.  For once, though, I don’t mind much my lack of total connection with the main character, because the story itself is so gripping that the non-stop action takes precedence over any other consideration, and the cinematic quality of some scenes makes me hope that this novel might one day be turned into a movie, because it would be a very spectacular one.

The surprising way in which Stars and Bones ends made me wonder whether the rest of the series will concentrate on other aspects of humanity’s journey, but previous experience with Gareth Powell’s works makes me quite optimistic about the next books, and also quite eager to see where the story will take me. Hopefully, the wait will not be too long…

My Rating:

THE “WOULD YOU RATHER” TAG FOR BOOK LOVERS

Time to entertain myself once again with a bookish tag that I stole… ahem… borrowed from HERE!

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A FRIEND WHO LOSES YOUR BOOKS OR ONE WHO DOG-EARS THEM?

No third option? I hate both of them! 

Well, if I have to choose, I’d go with the dog ears: a slightly manhandled book is far better than a lost one, although I would have to question my wisdom in having befriended someone who does not respect books…

WOULD YOU RATHER SECRETLY LOVE A BOOK EVERYONE ELSE HATES OR SECRETLY HATE A BOOK EVERYONE ELSE LOVES?

Neither, because I tend to be openly vocal about my likes and dislikes, so there would be no secrecy involved 😉

WOULD YOU RATHER BE STUCK ON A VERY LONG PLANE OR TRAIN RIDE WITHOUT A BOOK?

Me? Caught in any situation without a book? Not in a million years!

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE DINNER WITH YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR OR YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER?

The author, no doubt, because with the character, who is imaginary, I might end up having an equally imaginary dinner, and a girl needs food! 😛

WOULD YOU RATHER DATE A CHARACTER YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON OR YOUR CRUSH FROM REAL LIFE?

Of course I’d go for real life – for obvious reasons – although I guess I’m a little too old for crushes…

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE YOUR FAVORITE BOOK TURNED INTO A MOVIE OR YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TURNED INTO A BOOK?

Many of my long-time favorite books have been turned into greatly successful movies or TV series, so my hope is that other beloved books might find their way to the big screen, or to TV should a series be in the works. If someone from Hollywood is listening there is, just to mention one, a certain space opera saga from Lois McMaster Bujold… 😉

WOULD YOU RATHER READ A BOOK WITH AN ANNOYING CLIFFHANGER OR ONE WHERE YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER IS KILLED OFF?

I would have to go with the cliffhanger, because the death of a favorite character is never a pleasant experience… (RIP Ned Stark)

WOULD YOU RATHER LOSE THE ABILITY TO READ ANY NEW BOOKS OR THE ABILITY TO REREAD BOOKS YOU’VE ALREADY READ?

I’m starting to think that the person who created these questions must possess more than a streak of sadism…

Anyway, books I’ve read remain a very fond memory, but I could not give up on new ones. Ever.

WOULD YOU RATHER LIVE IN A LIBRARY OR A BOOKSTORE?

Bookstore. See above.

WOULD YOU RATHER LOSE YOUR PLACE OR GET A PAPER CUT EVERY TIME YOU READ A BOOK?

Given that I always use an e-reader, I can’t lose my place because the appliance has far better memory than I do, and paper cuts are out of the question. Unless e-readers gain sentience and decide to zap our fingers now and then to remind us of paper cuts… 

WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE TO ALWAYS READ IN THE DARK OR ALWAYS READ BOOKS WITH TINY TEXT?

Again, e-readers are a bookworm’s best friends, and they can be used in the dark. And tiny text is not an issue, since you can increase the font – which I always do because old age and tiny text don’t get along well… 😉

WOULD YOU RATHER READ BY A FIREPLACE OR ON THE BEACH?

Wherever I can sit comfortably. But I have to say that the fireplace looks like a perfect setting for losing oneself in a book.

Well, that was fun. If you enjoyed the… challenge, borrow the tag and share your answers!