Barrayar

Lois McMaster Bujold

Book 2 of The Vorkosigan Saga

Vorkosigan is named the Regent for the new Emperor (4 years old) and Naismith is his new bride. As near as I can tell, Barrayar is some version of a Tsar led Russia, with the Emperor holding together a tenuous cease of violence by the local oligarch/counts. Of course everyone assumes that Vorkosigan will seek to hold the throne when the Emperor comes of age, and therefore the next 16 years will be one assassination attempt after the other. When everything kicks off, it is Naismith who discovers and quells the rebellion with daring commando excursions behind enemy lines. For a space opera, this episode takes place entirely on planet...

What is strange about the Saga is the availability. I actually had to buy a paper version of this book since it was not available in my library. Strange, and likely to mean I won't be reading the entire series. 

3 stars (out of 4)

Shards of Honor

Lois McMaster Bujold

Book 1 of The Vorkosigan Saga

Commander Cordelia Naismith is a survey leader on a planet that is at the terminus of a "new" wormhole. She and her team are surveying the flora and fauna, the geology and preparing a report to the Beta Colony administrators so the planet is registered. They are attacked, and while most of her team gets away in the shuttle, she and one team member are injured and then rescued? by a Commander Vorkosigan, who seems to have also been left on the planet for dead by his Barrayaran buddies. Vorkosigan and Naismith turn out to be birds of a feather in terms of how they view the human condition, meaning they are fighting the same war, even though their political affiliations have put them on opposite sides. Maybe this is soft sci-fi, with the plasma reflectors and wormholes and arc guns and nerve disruptors just showing up where convenient.  But it is a fast read and sets the stage for an epic space opera series.

3 stars (out of 4)

Falling Free

Lois McMaster Bujold

The start of a space opera known as The Vorkosigan Saga, this book is the first chronologically, but stands alone from the series as having taken place 200 years before anything else. The world allows for wormhole travel, so the setting is a remote system with a planet that is purely a resource mine for, in this case, Galactech Corporation. Engineer Leo Graf arrives to a new job posting on an orbiting habitat in this system, and finds that the habitat is a genetic engineering home for "Quaddies", people who have been "manufactured" with four arms for appendages (instead of 2 arms, 2 legs). They are Galactech's foward thinking solution to space construction and there are now 1000 quaddies on the habitat (all 15 years or younger). Just before they are about to take on their first paying job, political and economic winds shift turning this into a story of independence and revolution. Bujold does a pretty good job with the hard science part of the sci-fi, and keeps the engagement high with the storyline. I'll be giving the rest of the series a try. 

3 stars (out of 4)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Seth Dickinson

The Masquerade Book 1

Baru Cormorant is a mathematical savant who happens to be discovering her talents as one of the conquered teens of the reigning empire known as The Masquerade. With her island country crushed by war and disease, with one of her fathers disappeared for "unhygenic practice", with a boundless drive for justice and revenge, Baru goes all in with the Empire -- to break it from the inside. The only question is whether she will lose herself in the process. Can you actually defeat empire? This is the question that keeps surfacing is a variety of contexts. The world that Dickinson creates is astounding. The character Baru is such a dominant force in this world that all the other characters simultaneously pale in comparison and do their job filling in the colors around her to make a vibrant full story. In the end, this is a straight up political thriller that happens to be set in a non-magical, fantasy world. Love it. 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Goblin Emperor

Katherine Addison

A nice fantasy world full of hints of magic, a cyberpunk feel (castles, moats, hydrogen airships), and basically two races (elves and goblins). Maia is the 4th son of the current elven emperor. Since his mother was a goblin, he has been banished to exile, his father not wanting any memory of his "poor decision". But when the emperor's airship blows up killing all aboard (including son's 1-3) Maia is suddenly the Emperor. In this world, we follow Maia as he navigates treacherous politics of court, religious and racial discrimination, royal expectations and a murder mystery. It is a fun evolution of a young man (goblin/elf) and maybe one of the most satisfying royal court intrigue stories I've read. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Babel: An Arcane History

R.F. Kuang

Apparently I am in a phase of exploring colonization (Civilizations and Sam Adams). Babel is a fantasy novel set in Oxford in the mid 1800's. England is the dominant colonizer in the world and extending the reach of her Empire. The power for this domination comes primarily from the Institute of Translation at Oxford, where magical silver-working is centered. The magic in this world manifests in differences in translated meanings. For example, if the word 'sleep' in English is matched with sleep from another language, but the new 2nd language sleep really has meaning of 'sleep comfortably', when both of these words are engraved on silver, the difference in the translation manifests. In this example, comfort. So applying this magic to a stagecoach ride would make the ride comfortable. Magical shocks. The Institute for Translation spends its time looking for useful translation pairs to do anything from holding up buildings to making war ships travel faster to making guns more powerful. Enter into this world the need for translators in new languages and our protagonist (Robin Swift) is a new student, immigrated from China (or rather, brought from China as the bastard son of a Translation professor). Robin meets his fellow first year students (an Indian boy from Calcutta, a Haitian girl, and an English noble-girl). They each must encounter and struggle with race, gender and cultural oppression while making decisions about their participation in the oppression engine of the translation institute. Really fun, while making you think about all the small ways we participate in the colonization/empire engine everyday. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Civilizations

Laurent Binet

I had heard about this awhile back and had been looking forward to it. The basic premise -- if the "new world" civilizations had come across the Atlantic to colonize the "old world". And I love alternate histories, so it is right up my alley. The specifics: Two Inca brothers are ruling the empire and a civil war results from their disagreements. When one brother is on the brink of decimation, he utilizes some of the ships from the Columbus expedition to escape and seek out new land to rule. He and his 200 or so followers end up in Portugal, where a land devastated by plague and internal conflict is easily conquered. We then see play out the development of how a new power integrates to the French/English/Spanish/Rome/etc. machinations. 

Observations that I enjoyed: Machiavelli becomes a sort of strategist for this new ruler, the Inca are ultimately interested in egalitarian society (farming, freedom of religion, shared resources) and not a power acquisition society, Luther/Rome don't come of looking so good (which is probably true to history), the colonial desires of European countries is not erased.

Unfortunately, the novel didn't end strong. I could have done with a more detailed vision about how things worked well, or went of the rails, or ended up the same anyway. But instead, Binet ended without a real vision, opting instead for a vignette of life for one particular character involved in all the plot lines from the periphery. But overall, fun to imagine...

3 stars (out of 4)

Kris Longknife: Audacious

Mike Shepard

Now a semi-fixture on the rim, it seems that one of the planets in her orbit is the site of a power struggle. When Kris and her crew intervene, not everything is as it seems. While helping out the locals, she continues to encounter galactic political opposition to her being alive, in the form of assassination attempts. Don't worry, she survives...

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Mutineer

Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife is a freshly minted officer in the Navy. But her family is wealthy beyond compare (great grandpa an industrial titan), politically connected (dad is the PM of a planet), and militarily connected (two grandpa generals). The family is universally known as "those damn longknifes". Kris is put through the ringer in this first book in the series as she leads a naval drop team on a hostage rescue mission (where she is almost killed), gets assigned to a humanitarian mission on a flooded planet (where she is almost killed), and then is tasked as offensive weapons officer on her naval warship (where she is almost killed). See the pattern. I will be curious to see where this series goes. It is typically slotted in the space opera / military sci-fi genre, but it seems more like galactic political theater. Stay tuned...

3 stars (out of 4) 

Infomacracy

Malka Older

Book One of the Centenal Cycle

Set in a near future world where global politics has dramatically changed. Political organization is based on 100,000 person Centenals who vote each decade for a government. No longer are governments based on geography, so a city like Tokyo with millions of people will be represented by 20 different sovereign governments. There are over 3,000 registered governments globally, and the government that wins the most Centenals is considered the "super-majority" government that comes with some additional legislating power. To make all of this work, Information is a global organization that makes all data available to all people. It is a non-partisan, transparent NGO (probably akin to the GAO in the US). The plot of the book takes place during the 3rd election, and follows our protagonists Ken (a campaign worker for Policy1st) and Marissa (an 'operative' for Information). Suffice it to say the election does not go as smoothly as everyone hopes, and there are still rogue individuals and governments who have a hunger for power. This is the kind of book that an only be recommended based on the strength of the series, but a good start.

3 stars (out of 4)

Rebel Seoul

Axie Oh

Dystopian future + a bit of cyberpunk + anime feel. Set in Korea where the political world has realigned from nation-states into regional Neostates (nominally as a political attempt to end war). However, Neo State of Korea has been fighting in a war for decades, currently in the phase of battling internal resistance to the entire neo-concept. Jaewon is a soldier from Old Seoul looking to find his way in Neo-Seoul. He is top of his class at the military academy a fantastic pilot of the god-machines (giant mechanical weapons that have been keystones of modern warfare). He gets assigned to a top-secret new weapons project, where is job is to partner with Tera, a new breed of enhanced, god-machine pilot. But all is not as it seems (of course) with Jaewon's own background, or the players involved in the creation, planning, use of war as a political mechanism. Pretty fun imagining of the future and a pretty good portrayal of the ethical conundrum that comes between history, relationship, and personal morality. 

3 stars (out of 4)

Gunslinger Girl

Lyndsay Ely

Set in post 2nd Civil War North America, Serendipity Jones is a 17 year old girl, living in a commune with her father and two brothers. Her mother was a renown sniper for the resistance during the war, but has since died as a disgraced drunk. Serendipity, seeking her freedom, runs away from the commune and into her future as a sharpshooter in her own right. She ends up in Cessation, the lawless Las Vegas of the west that is beyond the control of North American government. In many ways, this is the coming of age story of a young woman who is seeking to know her history and to be someone important. It is classic western, seeking out new opportunities and the raw battle between good and evil. But it isn't hard. Ely presents the human, 17 year old girl version, where Serendipity is alternately experiencing self-doubt and conquering obstacles beyond her means. The hard western ignores the entire self-doubt section. It is fascinating how this portrayal of emotion in a hero is so rare that it seems out of place, makes the book seem targeted to the 'teen audience'. Probably the only way to make character portrayal seem normal is to have lots more books written with emotion as an integral plot element. I liked this book and hope Serendipity Jones becomes a serial character I can follow.
4 stars (out of 4)

The Lord of Opium

Nancy Farmer

A sequel to The House of the Scorpion, we pick up immediately. Mateo is now the sole heir to El Patrón, who committed suicide and murdered his entire retinue with a massive dose of the proverbial kool-aid. And the border is locked down, so no supplied in, and no drugs out. The remainder of the story does a few of things: 1) documents the growing into power and solidifying of power by Mateo, 2) explores trust and friendship amidst explicit and massive power differentials, 3) explores human rights and 'the greater good', and 4) imagines a world of environmental care (be it accidental) and paints a picture of environmental value. In all, a fabulous book in its own right. I would say tells a better story and forces the reader into a more essential thinking process than the first. Highly recommend this series.

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Little Brother

Cory Doctorow

Set is modern day San Francisco, a terrorist attack has bombed and destroyed the Bay Bridge and the cross bay BART tunnel. Somehow mixed up in this, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a group of high school friends get picked up by the Department of Homeland Security and taken to a secret prision for interrogation. To be released, they are forced to sign non-disclosure documents under threat of further imprisonment. Unfortunately for the DHS, these high school kids are technologically literate hackers. And they take offense at illegal arrest and interrogation. So they start a guerrilla war against DHS, who fights back with all the power of the US Government and the newly expanded Patriot Act (refered to here as Patriot II), all under the guise of preventing terrorism. The bigger issues here remind me of the privacy issues raised in The Circle. In that case, it was a private company overstepping, here is is government. In both cases, I see how the fictional stories are not too far removed from reality, and there are not too many steps to get from here to there. What I wonder, who will be m1k3y in the real world? How do I (not a hacker) fight the small encroachments on privacy and civil liberty that either governments or corporations incrementally take "without notice".

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Saturn's Run

John Sandford and Ctein

The ultimate space race. An overlooked grad student in a Caltech astronomy program inadvertently discovers some strange data around Saturn. Something has just entered the solar system, slowed down and stopped. Fire up the planetary race to Saturn. What is it (clearly alien) and how can it be used to solidify my political power on earth. This is a fascinating story of pure science fiction, layered on top of the political ministrations of governments seeking a competitive edge, balanced by the scientists who are actually in the field (i.e. at Saturn) making decisions based on science and not on political goals. One of the best books I have read this summer.

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Amped

Daniel H Wilson

Owen is a school teacher with a famous neuro-scientist dad. We are in a world where neural implants are becoming more common, used to treat everything from epilepsy to ADD. Originally developed by the military for enhanced sensory features, the public has become more and more wary. This novel opens with the US Supreme Court classifying those with neural implants as no longer a protected class. This means that you can legally discriminate against anyone with an implant, and that those with implants are not allowed to enter into contracts (they are too smart and can take advantage of normals). This sets up an inevitable battle of us vs them, loosely around civil rights, but more so about power and entitlement to control. Owen was an early recipient of an implant to control his severe epilepsy and is thrust into the center of the conflict. This scenario turns on its head the thinking about civil rights and any potential limits. Should civil rights be afforded to a minority (but dominant) class? Push this idea to the current day, what would happen if the 1% had their civil rights revoked?

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The Enemy

A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child

In 1989, an Army general is found dead in a seedy hotel, and Reacher is the MP investigating his death. When the general's briefcase is discovered to be missing, his wife discovered to be dead, and Reacher finds an unnecessary force complaint filed against him, something is up. As the investigation proceeds, there are special forces generals and navy admirals, and politicians all jockeying to protect their budgets and influence in the new post-cold-war world. Reacher (of course) gets to the bottom of things.

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Golden Son

Pierce Brown
Book 2 of the Red Rising Trilogy

Starting a couple years after Red Rising, Darrow is now leading House Augustus in final exam for The Academy, effectively a massive war games set in the asteroid belt. Right on the verge of winning the games, he is blindsided by House Ballona and loses not only the games, but his entire ship and crew. The result is that he is disowned by Augustus and put on the auction block. The remainder of the book is effectively a political thriller in how to run a revolution. Very well done with keeping the intrigue and suspense alive while offering the reader opportunities for thoughtful consideration of truly sticky moral issues. An excellent second book that is way more than the placeholder of most book two's in trilogies. Looking forward to the final installment.

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Gone Tomorrow

A Jack Reacher Novel
Lee Child

Reacher is on a NY subway in the middle of the night when he notices something strange. A woman riding in his car hits all 11 markers on the Israeli suicide bomber checklist. When Reacher goes to confront her, she kills herself. So not a suicide bomber. But true to form, Reacher is intrigued, and then drawn into a political corruption/national security drama that pits him against the local NYPD, the FBI, DIA, a US Senator and a local Al Qaeda cell. Another day at the office.

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The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu

Bestselling Chinese Sci-Fi novel that was translated to English. Although it is sci-fi, I would probably say its primary genre is Mystery-Thriller based on how it reads. It just so happens that the mystery is sci-fi based. Beginning at the cultural revolution, we are introduced to a scientist and his family and a set of ethics/values that sets the stage for a conflict between a scientific worldview and a cultural/religious worldview. This feels like a common conflict and recalls the feeling of other Chinese cultural revolution or Soviet Marxist revolution story-lines. This setting provides the basis for decisions, planning and scheming around a first contact event with an alien (extra-solar) civilization. Liu does an excellent job of playing with both the psychology of humans knowing about alien civilization and the reality of physical interaction with that civilization. Overall, this is a fun exploration of competing worldview's and the implications of worldview on actions.

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