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BOFH Sci-Fi Reviews

Dragons, and ray guns, and demons, oh my!

Last Updated: 2/11/03
Sci-Fi
This is by far my favorite genre. What aspiring young geek hasn't wanted a pet flying lizard on his shoulder, or a neural interface so we don't have to type, or our very own homegrown AI?

Oh, you haven't? Then you're probably not going to get this whole site.

I have recently decided that I was running out of authors to read. This is probably because, like most people, I tend to gravitate to certain styles (more SF than Fantasy in my case). As a result, I decided I would read at least one book by every SF/Fantasy author at my local public library and write a review. This is the result.

Rating System

Note: I write some of these reviews on my Palm Pilot, so some of them are more terse than others.
Lynn Abbey (Jeralyn)- Good ideas, poor character development.

Rating: Library

Dan Abnett (First & Only) - This is a SF war novel, not a genre I particularly care for. It was pretty good though, although character development isn't it's strong point. Also, I think the author is a gamer, so you get some of that, 'oooh...he rolled a 20' feel to it.

Rating: Library

Douglas Adams - An icon. Must read.

Rating: Trade

Jerry & Sharon Ahern (Golden Shield of the IBF)- Pretty well written, but not spectacular & storyline a bit repetitive.

Rating: Library

Jim Aikin (The Wall at the Edge of the World) - A decent book, but never really engaged me.

Rating: Library

Buzz Aldrin (with John Barnes) (Encounter with Tiber, 10/02) - I was hesitant to read this, as an astronaut with another author sounds like the makings of a bad book. It was better than I expected. You could see the astronaut stuff sticking through, and you could tell where the writer took over, but all in all it wan't a bad book.

Rating: Library

Brian Aldriss (Dracula Unbound) - Aldriss has one the Hugo and Nebula awards, but it wasn't for this. This book begs the question, what is the difference between trite and tripe. In this case, not much.

Rating: Dump

Pauline J. Alma (The Eye of Night [9/2002]) - I've found that there tend to be two main kinds of story telling. One is what I call Darwinian, and the other Punctuated Equilibrium. A Darwinian story flows with everything leading to the next and they tend to be the novels I enjoy the most. The Punctuated Quilibrium novels seem to have a series of story ideas that the author puts a lot of detail in, but then glues together with spaces of unremarkable prose. This novel is one of the latter. As they go, it's not too bad, but it's also not very engaging. It also has one of the most horrific set of opening paragraphs I've ever read. I read this and thought I was in real trouble, fortunately, it got better. 

It happened the night of St. Bridwen's Day, in the year of my pilgrimage.
I had left the Tarvon Order and taken my troubles to the Lake-Shrine of St. 
Fiern, as so many god-haunted wanderers do.  I was traveling back toward
what I could no longer call my home when I came, a disappointed pilgrim, to
Kelgarran Hall.

It was a generous hearth in those days, the grand days of Lord Dannoth
Kelgarran: Dannoth the Mighty, Dannoth the Bountiful.  Some lords honor St.
Bridwen's day by...

Anyway, my rating is:

Rating: Library

Piers Anthony (Xanth,Adept,Bio...) - A SF/Fantasy icon that tends to have a good idea, and the write it into the ground in a series. First couple of every series decent, after that, not worth reading.

Rating: Library

Isaac Asimov - SF icon. Excellent early works, later works that expanded on those tend be worse.

Early Stuff: Rating: Trade

Later Stuff: Rating: Library

John Barnes (A Millon Open Doors) - Good Sf. A bit predictable (in particular that the hero would end up with the homely girl).

Rating: Library

Steven Barnes (Aubry Knight books) - Pleasant read, some good ideas but some are a stretch in the framework.

Rating: Mass

Curt Benjamin (Prince of Shadow) - This book says it is the first of the '7 Brothers Series' (or something similar). My initial fear was that meant that there were going to be 7 of them, but it doesn't look like it. The book is a good diversion, but seems a bit disjointed.

Rating: Library

David Brin - A good SF author that a lot of people really like. I like his stuff but not that much.

Rating: Library

Steven Brust

I like almost everything I've read by him. The entire Taltos series and the books that take place in that realm. Everything is amusing. With one exception.

I thought Freedom and Neccessity was a pile. If I hadn't been stuck on a plane with this monstrosity, I would have thrown it out the window, and maybe jumped afterwards. It could just be that I don't particulary like Victorian age novels to begin with, and that is what this is. However, having a bunch of incoherent, simpering fools as the main characters was annoying.

Now, before you brand me an assasin-loving-zealot, I just read The Sun, the Moon, & the Stars and found it to be interesting.

Rating: Hardcover

Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Alvin the Maker, etc...) - An excellent author that doesn't seem to know when to let a series end. (You also have to be a bit suspicious of anyone who goes out of their way to use their middle name :). Ender's Game is considered one of the landmark geek novels for a very good reason. An adaptation of an earlier short story, it is great. He has since followed with Ender's Shadow which was also good, but I suspect may lead to a series that should have ended after two books.

First two novels in a series: Rating: Trade

After that: Rating: Library

Pamela Dean (Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary) - This is novel really bothers me. It's about 3 or 5 modern day pre-pubescent (in one case, pubescent) girls living in Minnesota and a small bit of magic. Given that setup, it had no chance of being appealing to me, but it was. It was very well written and I found it very engaging. This speaks extremely well of the author. Of course she has also clearly read more classical literature than I ever care to, but I won't hold that against her.

Rating: Trade

Stephen Donaldson - Has written a lot of classic SF. I will never read another of his novels after being duped by a part 1 of 3 that never indicated that anywhere, and didn't even provide a clean break.

Rating: Dump

David Drake - Writes a real gamut of novels from war to SF/Fantasy. A real mix of good and bad, so choose carefully.

Rating: Mass to Library

Greg Egan (Diaspora) - A well written novel that didn't do much for me. The periodic use of 've' and 'vis' as gender neutral pronouns seemed a bit stilted, and overall it just wasn't that engaging. However, it could have been a lot worse, so it speaks well of the author.

Rating: Library

William Gibson - Father of modern cyberpunk. Well done novels, some are better than others.

I just finished Pattern Recognition and was underwhelmed. My first problem with it is that it is set too near future. This means that the little technical things that are fsck'd annoy me. When you have stuff further in the future it is far easier to suspend disbelief on the details. The second problem I had is that it seemed to take a long time to get rolling, well over a hundred pages.

That being said, I liked aspects of the book, and the characters, and thus will hold onto it.

Rating: Trade

Barbara Hambly ((with Marc Scott Zicree) Magic Time) - What is it with authors who can't tell you up front that a book is part of a series or part one of two? This novel is another one that struck me as something I wouldn't like. I thought that the initial switching between venues was overdone and annoying, but the book really picked up after the first 50-60 pages. But you start getting towards the end and you realize there is going to have to be a sequel. Why? They could have finished it but didn't, and it annoys me.

Rating: Library

Peter Hamilton - I don't particularly like his long series, but like his Mindstar novels.

Mindstar: Rating: Trade

Long series: Rating: Library

Ken MacLeod (Dark Light) - Interesting novel, but seemed to rely too heavily on prior knowledge from the novel before it. I had to really power through the first 80 pages or so before it was interesting.

Rating: Library

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Recluce Series, Spellsong series ,Ecolotarian Series) - The Stephen King of SF/Fantasy. He cranks out a lot of novels every year, but the are a bit to formulaic (relectuant hero forced to great deeds, force is the only thing people respect). Still, pleasant reading and provides good diversion. Trade for good stuff - dump for bad

Rating: Trade

Spellsong stuff: Rating: Dump

Daniel Keys Moran (Long Run, Emerald Eyes, Armageddon Blues) - Excellent SF cyberpunk, from before it was popular. A little known author, that I like a lot. He has written The Long Run and Emerald Eyes. Also a few others, but they are tough to get a hold of. The Long Run is one of my all time favorites, it's like a cross between Snowcrash and Ender's Game. However, has pissed me off by killing off a character that could have just be left alone. hardcover to dump for pissing me off.

Before I was pissed off: Rating: Hardcover

Anything new: Rating: Dump

Jerry Oltion (Getaway Special,Abandon in Place[7/2002]) - Fun, well written SF. Best "new" author I've read in a long time.

I just finished reading Abandon in Place and did not enjoy it as much as Getaway Special. I thought it's fantastic elements moved it out of the realm of credible suspension of belief too quickly. However, it was still a fun read.

Rating: Trade

R.A. Salvatore (Mortalis[7/2002]) - This book spent way too much time beating you over the head with what had clearly happened before in this world. After about the 5th time, I clearly knew that the Father Abbott had been possesed by a daemon. 40 times later, I still knew. On the positive side, you know this book is part of a series and it does provide enough closure so it can stand by itself. This is a good thing.

Rating: Borderline Library

William Shetterly (The Cats Have No Lord[12/2002]) - This book was disappointing. It seemed like it had the characters and ideas that were firmly embedded in the author's mind, but he was afraid to spend the pages getting them out. Thus, you end up with a book that has the suggestion of depth and never realizes it.

Rating: Library

Almost anything by, Neal Stephenson.

Although I didn't really like Diamond Age it was bearable. I thoroughly enjoyed Snowcrash, a Gibson-esque cyberpunk novel, and also enjoyed Zodiac, a environmental novel.

Cryptonomicon is his latest, and not Sci-Fi, but is, IMNSHO, the best novel that he has written.

Rating: Harcover

Anything by, J.R.R. Tolkein except The Simirallion.

Yes, it was good, but too damn depressing. I don't like seeing all of my heroes bite it.

Rating: Harcover

Peter Watts (Starfish, Maelstrom) - decent pseudo cyberpunk with a lot of science thrown in. The abuse angles a little disturbing, but it keeps you busy.

Rating: Library

Margaret Weis (Ghost Legion) - Margaret Weis wrote with Tracy Hickman, one of the more popular Fantasy epics since Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance Chronicles. I haven't read it in many years, but I recall it was good. Her recent stuff isn't even close to that quality. I had to power through the book and never really cared enough to want the characters to do anything. I couldn't root for the hero, the anti-hero, the villan or the computer.

Rating: Library

Tad Williams (Otherworld) - The Leo Tolstoy of SF. He writes in 4000 pages what others can write in 400. It's not generally worth the time, hope for cliff notes versions.

Rating: borderline Library

Marc Scott Zicree ((with Barbara Hambly) Magic Time) - The main review is with Barbara Hambly, but the summary:

Rating: Library