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Is anyone else watching the gloriousness that is SyFy’s Helix? It’s like they have a jar of soap opera tropes and a jar of sf tropes and they just stick a hand in each one for each episode. Javier Grillo-Marxuach is an executive producer, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I love it, despite the grossness and also a reasonable amount of gender-based fail.
Octavia Butler, Unexpected Stories: Free review copy. Two previously unpublished Butler stories, one set in a familiar universe (biological castes in a not-very-technologically-advanced species expressed in skin color, blue/green/yellow) and one that might or might not have been (telepaths emerging from a largely nontelepathic population and setting about to control/change the world). They both evidenced Butler’s consistent themes of exploring the interaction of difference and dominance, and the biological foundations of power. I don’t have anything critically interesting to say about them, but getting even a fragment of previously unread material from Butler is welcome.
Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five: This novel introduces a whole new set of protagonists, focusing on a priest who works at what is essentially a bank for psychic power produced by worship—allowing depositors to use icons rather than less-controllable gods to store their power—and a street kid trying to keep out of the clutches of the enforcers who stuff criminals into painful, mind-altering stone suits. A few characters we know already show up, and have important roles in resolving the plot, but mostly it’s a romp through yet another system of magic, with the characters once again having to choose which kinds of suffering they’re willing to inflict to survive. I’m very interested to see where Gladstone goes next with this series.
Naomi Novik, Uprooted: Fantastic! Good old-fashioned fantasy hero’s journey, where the hero is a young woman taken from her home to live with the Dragon (actually a powerful sorcerer), who protects the area from the deadly encroachments of the Wood nearby. Agniezka discovers that she too has magic, though not like the Dragon’s, and they fight crime! Um, they fight the evil things that come out of the Wood, and also court politics. There’s female friendship, and just enough romance, and it is basically a delightful read that I highly recommend. (Warning for a rape attempt; the would-be rapist is not punished.)
Octavia Butler, Unexpected Stories: Free review copy. Two previously unpublished Butler stories, one set in a familiar universe (biological castes in a not-very-technologically-advanced species expressed in skin color, blue/green/yellow) and one that might or might not have been (telepaths emerging from a largely nontelepathic population and setting about to control/change the world). They both evidenced Butler’s consistent themes of exploring the interaction of difference and dominance, and the biological foundations of power. I don’t have anything critically interesting to say about them, but getting even a fragment of previously unread material from Butler is welcome.
Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five: This novel introduces a whole new set of protagonists, focusing on a priest who works at what is essentially a bank for psychic power produced by worship—allowing depositors to use icons rather than less-controllable gods to store their power—and a street kid trying to keep out of the clutches of the enforcers who stuff criminals into painful, mind-altering stone suits. A few characters we know already show up, and have important roles in resolving the plot, but mostly it’s a romp through yet another system of magic, with the characters once again having to choose which kinds of suffering they’re willing to inflict to survive. I’m very interested to see where Gladstone goes next with this series.
Naomi Novik, Uprooted: Fantastic! Good old-fashioned fantasy hero’s journey, where the hero is a young woman taken from her home to live with the Dragon (actually a powerful sorcerer), who protects the area from the deadly encroachments of the Wood nearby. Agniezka discovers that she too has magic, though not like the Dragon’s, and they fight crime! Um, they fight the evil things that come out of the Wood, and also court politics. There’s female friendship, and just enough romance, and it is basically a delightful read that I highly recommend. (Warning for a rape attempt; the would-be rapist is not punished.)
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From: (Anonymous)
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Your stories and reviews I do appreciate very much.
froganon from lj