Four Quick Book Reviews

 

So my plan this year was to start off with “anti-epics,” i.e., SF paperbacks under 200 pages. I’ve more or less stuck to that rule, and have put away five so far. I also wanted to pen reviews for each, but, alas, life has intervened (more on that in a follow-up post). The only one I reviewed was the first novel, Between Planets, by Robert Heinlein. Since I want to get at least something of my humble opinions on each here on the blog before I forget, I decided to simply spew a few sentences on the four other tales I’ve read.

Ready?

OK!

 

The Grayspace Beast © 1976 by Gordon Eklund

I first read this book in the summer of 2010, recuperating from all my lung surgeries, when I realized that I really first read this book as a child in the late 70s. Everything came back – the characters, the plot, the beast itself. I vaguely recalled enjoying it thoroughly as a lad, though I was easily pleased, and not really enjoying it as a middle-aged dude. A group of carny-like aliens come together to find lasting and last-ditch glory in hunting down the mythical grayspace beast, a monster inhabiting the “subspace” that’s hardly used anymore since teleportation has become commonplace. Flash Gordon combined with Baron Munchhausen with some very cool SF ideas. It’s also a story-within-a-story, where you have to guess which character in the grayspace beast story is narrating the story as told to a group of children. As it turns out, you can’t, but the double reveals at the end make it a worthy read. Find and devour it if you can.

5-day read

Grade: A-

 

The Deep Range © 1957 by Arthur C. Clarke

A somewhat ponderous but intriguing Clarke novel from his early days. The focus is on oceanography, specifically the herding of whales and gardens on the ocean floor to feed mankind. Strength in ideas as opposed to characterization, though the main protagonist is more fleshed out than the average Clarkian character. A second character’s sacrificial death is basically meaningless. Clarke’s pro animal rights comes out, as well as his Buddhist slant, but I was okay with both. Got me interested in the physics, chemistry, and biology of the seas, if only for a week.

7-day read

Grade: B+

 

Who Goes Here? © 1977 by Bob Shaw

Nifty tale of a man who has his memory completely wiped and joins the equivalent of the space foreign legion. A statuette of a purple frog is the only clue to his prior life. Tries to be an SF comedy, and succeeds more often than not. Kind of like the equivalent of Ron Goulart novel meets that Christopher Nolan movie Memento. There are some real mean baddies called “Oscars”, crazed single-minded bodybuilders with glowing red eyes that will hunt you down and feed you to “throwrugs” – blobby like things that fall on you from trees and eat you alive. Some slapstick stuff, some horror stuff, all mixed into a fast read that went from a B to an A- due to the really awesome reveals at the end, from the Oscars and throwrugs to how the hero got his post-memory wipe name, “Warren Peace.”

2-day read

Grade: A-

 

West of Honor © 1976 by Jerry Pournelle

Straight up military with a dash of SF thrown in. A map on page 1 was a good sign. Seems that Arrarat, an agricultural world settled by Amish-types, is having trouble dealing with convicts Earth is dumping on them. Send in the colonial marines. Heavy on military theory and machismo, but no so much on science fiction. Paradoxically interesting and dull at the same time. Had a hard time visualizing the story as it was unfolding. Learned some good military axioms that most likely young Napoleon heard, maybe even young Alexander. Had a textbook feel to it, and I’d like to have more focus on the commanding officer, Captain Falkenberg, rather than the newbie lieutenants.

5-day read

Grade: B-

 

I’m looking to read two more quickie science fictions paperbacks followed by a return to Richard Sharpe and the Napoleonic wars next, and get all that done by Ash Wednesday. Because I have something interesting I want to do for Lent…