Amberlough, by Laura Elena Donnelly

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this one since it is nominated for a Nebula award. As a story, the book is excellent. It doesn't grab you immediately but does it soon enough. The story is pretty straightforward in terms of good vs. evil, but has a lot of poignancy. You really get to know and like the sympathetic characters--they are very complex and fully human. Through them you get to know what Amberlough is like as a place--I imagine it as some kind of cross between New York City and New Orleans. Flawed and corrupt, but the interstices allow all kinds of people to thrive.

It's speculative fiction, I guess, but mostly what is speculative about it is that it doesn't conform to Earth's boundaries. Gedda is definitely in Europe somewhere, and it operates a lot like the European Union. The Ospies aren't overt Nazis, they are more like the authoritarian parties and rulers currently on the ascendance in the world. All the culture is European, right down to port bars. Nothing fantastical about it. Us, in a different place.

It's probably a contender, and definitely a really good first novel, but probably won't win the Nebula. Still, I enjoyed reading it and would read more of Donnelly.



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A Human Stain, by Kelly Robson

A Human Stain by Kelly Robson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this because it is nominated for a Nebula. But horror is not so much my thing. It's appropriately ghastly and weird. There's a very nicely executed turning point. Ew Gross! A good one for horror.



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The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, let me say this...I liked the book. I did not love the book. The only other novel-length Scalzi title I have read is Redshirts, which I absolutely loved. This one is witty, as all Scalzi stories are, but it's a setup for a longer series and it started to feel forced. It definitely was forced, at the end. The acknowledgements explain this--he was late with the book, totally distracted by election politics. If he wants to write any more he's going to have to seal himself in a media-proof room. This is an OK novel that can be forgiven, and it's even making some long lists for awards, but I don't think his fans will let him get by with this again.



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The Old Dispensation, by Lavie Tidhar

The Old Dispensation by Lavie Tidhar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In this story Tidhar posits a universe that becomes a new home for Jews. It is, however, also populated by beings, including monstrous ones, that threaten them. To counter these threats they have created their own modified beings, even though this appears to go against some tenants of the faith. Thus the dispensation.

I didn't think much of this story at all until, like others here, I read the comments at the end. They are a fascinating discussion of the Jewish nature of the story. Unless you're familiar with Jewish culture you will need a lot of reference material, and then your impression will depend very much on your sources. As a story it's just OK, but set in context it's very thought provoking and interesting.



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New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book has a solid near-future premise. Robinson is ultimately an optimist (more on that later) and comes to this book to portray New York City as the very special place that it (believes it) is, having made a very difficult adjustment to a 50-foot sea level rise. This is happening all around the world but the story consciously sticks to NYC.

Some reviewers have problems with the characterizations but I really didn't. They are not as strong as some KSR books but I found their voices recognizable and reasonable (except maybe for Amelia Black, the ditzy animal activist cloud star. KSR does not have a way to get into the head of this kind of person).

Mostly this book seems to do what so many other SF novels do--set their time at some relatively far future, but project technology and social ideas only a short way ahead. Example: Franklin Garr, one of the main characters, is a high-finance trader. As we speak this job is being automated out of existence. The future already belongs more to the quants than this book says it will 120 years from now.

This really should be New York 2040. Sea level rise might not be 50 feet, but it doesn't need to be to create the disruption described in the book, and the rest of it is not really a stretch for the present day. It never develops real strength in speculation beyond climate, and sort of breaks down into utopianism as it goes along. It starts to ask for people not to behave like people. We like to think this has happened before (say, with the US "founding fathers") but they were much more complex and flawed characters than our heroes here.

In 2312 Robinson avoided that short-range thinking I mention above. His society had truly progressed. This novel is pretty much today, only warmer. His predictions about our future may come true (one can hope), but if they do it's going to be a lot sooner than depicted here.



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