The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler

This book drives some folks nuts, but I understood that it was a first novel and read it as such. Ray Nayler has digested quite a lot of material on his subject (the octopus, of course) and a lot about everything else. His choice to have the quotes at the beginning of chapters be from books he made up is a tip for the experienced reader--you're going to get a novel that is pretty up front about being an exposition of the author's philosophy on whatever is covered. Nothing wrong with that, some really good authors (Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov) have done it. I think it's even better when an author can make other non-fiction authors speak for them (I should have examples but I don't), but the quotes worked so I have no objections.

The characters in the story are not meant to be either sympathetic or not--they just are who they are. A recurring theme is that of people who are trapped by the larger forces at work on their issues. Eiko, a trafficked slave on an automated fishing boat, is the most obvious one. Some think this subplot is a digression, but I disagree--his story is meant to illustrate the depraved cruelty of the times and get you to anticipate the captivity of all of the other major characters. It's pretty easy to imagine instantiating something like this now. If we're lucky we'll read about it in a few years. If we're not lucky the story will be suppressed and we'll never know.

So the evolution of octopus intelligence is the macguffin in the story, but it really reads more like a backdrop for the author's philosophical vision of the future. Pretty dark but that's where we are now. I think it is worth the read if you go in understanding the limitations.

My Goodreads Review

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky Chambers

The Monk & Robot series is set in the world we would like to live in after the world we live in now collapses and recovers. We have gotten a few references to the dystopian past but the focus is on the Here and Now, with Dex on his journey to find himself and Mosscap trying to find out what humans need.

Funny question to ask, since it appears that robots took themselves out of the picture when things got very bad and they decided they were part of the problem. Humans winnowed themselves and muddled through, and have now achieved the Beloved Community (it is not referenced as such, but see Josiah Royce or Martin Luther King and substitute a future kind-of-pagan religion and we're there). So what Mosscap encounters when he asks this question is that no one is in particular need.

The writing and characters are engaging, but these get harder to read as the distance between where we are and where these books are set gets wider. I think it's just plain hard to please people in a time when anything pleasing is a reminder of what can be taken away. Cheers to Becky Chambers for bringing the warmth and light--sad for us if we can't appreciate it.

My Goodreads Review

Homeland, by Cory Doctorow

I recently picked this up in order to complete the series. It is a bit behind the curve now, just because of how Doctorow writes--his books are ripped from the latest blogs, the cutting edge of now that sounds like SF. Knowing this, the books are also pretty depressing. We now know that exposing Carrie Johnstone will not bring her to justice--it will only make her and her handlers mad. There are a lot of good descriptions of handling protests that ring true according to friends in Portland that have participated. Afterwords by some solid and well known activists. But it's a tough read, I have to say.

My Goodreads Review

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

 I know I have read this book, but somehow never wrote a review of it.  It is something of a period piece now, just because of how Cory Doctorow writes--his stories are on the cutting edge of the present.  As I recall it was good, you really got into the main character Marcus Yallow, but also depressing.

The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi

The author intended this as a fun romp, and like everyone else I agree that it is. For several days straight I have had something to read that I actually looked forward to. I have now picked up Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and am back to being depressed.

The best part about the book for me is the world building. Scalzi does a pretty good job of creating a plausible world where nuclear-powered Japanese monster movie horrors are viable. How kaiju get to be kaiju is interesting stuff, and I'd read more about it.

The characters are meant to be central to the plot, but there's just not enough distinction between them to make them individualized and likeable. The protagonist (Jamie Gray, ex startup exec/food deliverator) and main support character Tom Stevens (recruits Jamie to the title society, and is assistant to the director) possibly excepted. But the dialog is a lot of Aaron Sorkin back-and-forth that consistently goes two or three exchanges too long.

The sheer entrancing ridiculousness of the world saves all. Kaiju, and the people trying to preserve them, are just too much fun. They even overcome the downer of the villainous plot. I picked this one up kind of randomly from a list of "best of 2022" items and am quite glad I did.

There's room for a sequel here, but if Scalzi goes for that he will have to work harder. All signs point toward it going pretty dark.

My Goodreads Review

Goliath, by Tochi Onyebuchi

Wow what a tough book to read. In the end I am glad I persevered, but I think the book would have had more impact if there was more of a narrative. Some refer to it as nonlinear, and that it is, but also the various threads don't really converge. Along the way are some amazing expositions of the continued devolution of how race works in America. The summary I find misleading. Yes the main characters in the book are stackers, collecting bricks for souvenirs for whites who have fled earth, but most of the focus is on what the work does to their bodies, combined with the enforced toxicity of the environment. The extended diversion in the third book gives another view of America in this time, but if it actually connects back to the main line I don't know where.

A narrative did start to come out for me as I worked through the book and thought about it. There is a path that is sequenced in time, and on it the space colonists seem to get tired of being away, particularly after some progress is made in how to live on a toxic Earth. They begin to return and commit the same crimes they did in order to leave. There are pieces of the book that really bring the message home, but they aren't separable from the whole thing, which challenges the reader and sometimes does not reward perseverance. Recognizing the authors and events described as history will make you feel good about other work you have read. Did I like it? No, not really. Did I appreciate it? In the end, yes.

My Yelp Review 

Leviathan Falls, by James S. A. Corey

I've read several fantasy and science fiction series in my time, though only a few are as ambitious as this one. The absolute hardest thing to do is end them well. Many don't even try, they just let them tail off (looking at you, George R. R. Martin and Song of Ice and Fire. Tolkien too) or rush the ending. Leviathan Falls brought this incredible series to a satisfying conclusion, exactly when it was done. The crew of the Rocinante had gone from a tight group of people who worked really well together to a team that was infatuated with each other--and the authors manage to convey that the characters KNEW it. Brilliant. All the elements were brought together to get across that sense of impending doom. No soap opera here, it was very clear that things were coming to a head and that everyone was sacrificing themselves, all they had, and all their loved ones and followers to make it work.

The Expanse was a great series for making the reader feel like a very small part of a sweeping history, and Leviathan Falls managed to scale that up an order of magnitude. A Jupiter-sized diamond containing all the knowledge of the Ring Gate builders? Really works to convey the scope of their accomplishments.

In the end it all comes down to James Holden, and individual decisions that he makes. That sacrifice trope has been done a lot, but it still works here. He grew the most out of all the characters, and that was set up from the beginning--it was foreordained that the man with "no inner life" would acquire one. I feel like I know them all.

In my view this is the defining work in Space Opera. The speculation is amazing and the storytelling is perfect. For me it does not break new ground, but it is the very best example of all that has gone before in that genre.

My Goodreads Review