Great North Road

by Peter F. Hamilton 

In Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton humanity has discovered the ability to travel around the galaxy through “portals”. The North family has found great riches as the discoverers and exploiters of the technology. The Norths are special, though: each generation is a clone of the last. Generations of this has created genetic mental and physical flaws, with each branch and generation in an escalating rivalry with the rest of the family. But even with all this, the family is huge and powerful. So when one of these clones is murdered, it’s a huge, public scandal. 

Detective Sidney Hurst trying to understand the killing and why it’s so similar to a murder 20 years prior for which a young woman was convicted. Despite the scope of the crime, the politics and power of the North family makes the investigation a complicated quagmire. 

Angela Tremelo is the woman charged with the old murder and has now been released from prison. She insists on her innocence and is convinced a malevolent alien force is responsible for new murders. She’s now working with an expedition to the wild lands of the North world of St. Libra, but danger is following them as members are being picked off one by one. 

Peter F. Hamilton’s world building is very thorough. Every facet of the universe is deliberately plotted, each little detail is created explicitly to tell part of the story, even if it doesn’t actually contribute to the plot. Compare it to the set dressing in films like Blade Runner or Minority Report. Everything you see (or read, as in this book) is there to give you a feeling, a sense of the world, one that colours the story and steers your imagination where Hamilton wants it to go. 

One thing to remember about Peter F. Hamilton: he doesn’t know how to write a short book. This is not a criticism, mind you. If you are a fan of space opera it’s part of the appeal. It’s a compelling mystery in a richly detailed universe. Think in terms of the scope of Game of Thrones and the sci-fi of The Expanse mixed with the gritty (and moral questionable) police of Luther.

Futurist Violence and Fancy Suits

By David Wong

There are so many internet connected devices available.  I have the usual devices: smartphone, gaming consoles, a connected TV, a tablet, a regular computer.  I haven’t got a smartwatch yet and virtual reality googles are still a bit too expensive, but I expect I will get them eventually.  All this technology is going to mean that I’ll be connected to everyone else all the time.  The consequences of this may be… interesting.   This is where David Wong’s action comedy novel Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits comes in.

Set in a near future where global citizens’ public and private actions are publicly broadcast over the internet daily and criminals commit crimes on demand to get high view counts on entertainment feeds, Zoey Ashe is forced by circumstance to flee her comfortable trailer park life. She finds herself in the new city of Tabula Rasa, the ultimate corporate town, totally free of government interference, where money rules the day and even murder is a regular business transaction. Zoey discovers upon her arrival that she is tied to the city much more closely than she could have expected and that she has enemies quite eager to see her dead as soon as possible. With everyone streaming her whole ordeal live Zoey can’t find a moment of peace or a place to hide.  How will she manage to keep her potential killers off her back, even as the whole world watches nearly every move she makes?

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is exactly what the title promises.  You can expect fancy technology, weird weapons, and fashionable hitmen.  It’s far from an intellectual piece, though it does work as a goof on modern internet culture.   After all, it’s an action comedy with lots of crude humor and cultural references, a bit like a version of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One that doesn’t rely as much on nostalgia.  Think of it as a modern-day Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as written by an American editor of Cracked.com, the successor to the magazine that was the competitor of MAD magazine (because it was: David Wong is that editor).

A Fire Upon the Deep

The Hugo Awards shortlist were recently announced so I thought I'd go back and read a previous winner.  A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge was the co-winner in 1993.

The Galaxy is inhabited with thousands of civilizations.  The farther from the core, the more advanced the technology and the intelligence of each species.  This isn't coincidence: the physical laws of the universe cause this.  So out on the edge of one of the zones in the galaxy a group of humans try to transcend to the next level and become a Power.  Instead, they awaken an ancient evil that destroy all but a few refugees.  These remaining few land on a medieval-level planet that is dominated by wolf-like aliens embroiled in their own intrigue.  And they aren't very friendly.

Meanwhile, others in the galaxy realize that the refugees may hold the key from preventing the evil from spreading.  The race is on to catch them before the evil does.

Fragile Things

By Neil Gaiman

Here is a collection of short stories and poems by award winning author, Neil Gaiman. This book is filled with some fun and quick reads. I found this book after Neil Gaiman showed up on my YouTube feed reading one of his stories. I was drawn in by the fact that the author wrote in so many different styles within this one book. Gaiman has a wonderful sense of humour and has a way of creating a whole and complete story in just a few pages. Gaiman ensures that readers have an understanding of all of the characters simply by ensuring the characters are relatable. One story in particular that really hooked me is  “How to talk to Girls at Parties,” an interesting tale of two friends. Our main character and his friend Vic are typical highschool boys obsesed with girls and hooking up. Vic has found out about a party and the two head off to crash it. Unfortunatally Vic does not know the exact address. The two head in the general direction and when they hear party sounds coming from a house in the right neighbourhood they feel they must have the right party, or do they. The party is filled with friendly, pretty girls and the two feel they have hit the jackpot. Alcohol is flowing and conversation is going well but readers will soon realize that the boys may have wandered into the wrong party.

If you are looking for something a little different, some variety in your reading, then I recommend you pick up FragileThings today.

 

The Three-Body Problem

by Cixin Liu

Contact has been made.  Aliens exists and they know we are here. This is the story of what happens when people find out that we aren't alone in the universe.  

Translated from the original Chinese Cixin Liu brings a under-represented point of view to science fiction to the West. A fair amount of plot points are based on modern Chinese history, including the Cultural Revolution.  Both the author and translator have added footnotes to help clarify some points for the reader unfamiliar with that part of history.  That said, Liu admits that he is heavily influenced by major Western writers, so you can find planety of similarities with Arthur C. Clark, Philip K. Dick, and others.

The order of some chapters are changed from the original Chinese versionwith the author's approval. He felt that differing tastes would make the book more appealing if he changed the order of the narrative, but the content is still all the same.

This is the first in a trilogy, with books two and three coming soon in English. The whole trilogy is already available in the library is Chinese.

Bioshock: Rapture

by John Shirley

Based on the video game series BioShock, this novel stands very well alone as a story in its own right. Set in the underwater utopian city of Rapture, BioShock: Rapture tells the story of the founding and Ayn-Rand-type vision of a city where all people are equal, paid each according to their contributions to the city, with no government interference.  Of course as often goes in these perfect plans, everything goes wrong and inequality inevitably divides the city (but you already knew this part from playing the game).

You don't need to play the game to appreciate the story: none of the games features appear in the book beyond providing background texture.

If you are curious, you can also find the games in our DVD Dispenser.

Brilliance

by Marcus Sakey

A conspiracy thriller in a Heroes/X-Men-type setting. Except no one's flying or teleporting; the "Brilliants" in this story are born with gifts, but they're much more to do with exceptional pattern-recognition skills - so, reading people's intentions, honesty or even their movement by their body language, or reading the patterns in the stock market so easily they rack up $3 billion before anyone catches on...

Sakey's main character, Nick Cooper - a Brilliant himself - is very convincing as a federal agent who truly believes that he is helping to keep the balance between Normals and Brilliants by hunting those of his kind who become dangerous... until his world crumbles around him and he's forced to make a decision that could plunge the country into a devastating civil war.

While the concept's not anything new, the world Sakey has built here is much more believable than that in Heroes, X-Men, etc. He also does an amazing job of pulling you into the events through the sometimes agonizing decisions his characters have to make, which always makes for a great read.

The sequel - A Better World - also just came out, so that's my next read!

The Long Mars (Book 3 of the Long Earth series)

by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

This, the third book in the ongoing series, expands on the future of humanity.  It's now the mid-21st century, a couple dozen years after Humanity discovers a means to travel to parallel Earths.  All are empty of intelligent life, so humans spread and settle onto thousands of worlds with plenty of space and plenty of resources.  Nations spread their influence over their equivalent lands.  But some worlds are dead, barren of life.  If that's true, is there a Mars that does host life?

Figure out how we got got in the first two books, The Long Earth and The Long War.

Heaven's Shadow



By David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt

There's an asteroid on course for a near approach of Earth.  Both NASA and a conglomerate of Brazilian, Russian and Indian space agencies send crews out to be the first to land on an interstellar objects. 

Both crews learn quickly that all is not as it seems.  The asteroid (named "Keanu") may not be merely an asteroid. And it may contain things, familiar things, that no one could ever have expected.

Authors David Goyer and Michael Cassutt are both screenwriters and it shows in the writing.  This book is very much an action movie on paper. 

The Girl With All the Gifts

by M. R. Carey

My measure of a good book is if it keeps me up way past my bedtime because I just keep wanting to read one more chapter. This one did that for me, and I finished it in two sittings because I couldn't put it down.

It's about a girl named Melanie, whose entire living memory has been spent in two rooms: her cell, and a classroom where she and the other children are taught by a rotation of teachers. Her favourite is Miss Justineau. She loves Miss Justineau, and she knows Miss Justineau likes her, so Melanie's just not sure why she and the other children have to be strapped into wheelchairs by men with guns the entire time they're in class, and when they're travelling to and from their cells. Or why some of the other children disappear and never come back.

Ok, yes, it's technically a zombie book, but this has way more heart and soul (and a better ending) than just about any I've ever read. If you like your sci-fi more on the human side, but don't want to give up the page-turning thrills, this is a great read!

The Martian

It's nice to see some light-hearted science fiction every now and again and Andy Weir's The Martian is a great example.

After being left for dead after a disaster on an expedition to Mars, Mark Watney must find a way to survive on the Red Planet until the next expedition is scheduled to arrive.  A relentlessly optimistic fellow, Mark has to piece together enough tools and supplies from what was left to keep himself alive for over a year.  The worst part? He has no communications- so no way to let anyone know that he is still alive.

No monster or aliens or here; this is an entirely plausible science-based story.  And, given the weight of the situation, it actually has a few laughs, too.

Memory of Water

by Emmi Itaranta


A novel of a future where water is scarce, and tightly controlled by an oppressive military. It's not your average dystopian novel though; it's more meditative than action-packed, and its focus is more on the characters - their motivations and choices - rather than the world itself. Despite that, it's still a page-turner.  I loved the tone of the writing - it's lyrical and elegiac. If you like dystopian books, but are looking for something that doesn't follow the usual conventions, pick this one up.

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Find out what RPL staff are reading, and get recommended reads on a wide variety of genres and subjects!