Book Reviews

Book Review: Adam Roberts’ Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea

This book is insane, and I mean that in the absolute best possible way. The only way I can describe it is as the lovechild of Jules Verne (to whom the book is very much a tribute), Edwin Abbot, and Albert Camus. The book follows the French nuclear submarine Plongeur on its shakedown voyage in 1958. When catastrophe strikes, the skeleton crew prepares for death as the ship plummets downwards towards the seafloor. And keeps plummeting, and plummeting, and plummeting, until they realize that they’ve traveled far beyond the depth of the Earth’s core, then past the other side of the Earth, then even farther, and yet pressure stays manageable, even survivable to a naked human. The crew confronts leviathans, underwater suns, terrifying piranha children (childranha), and each other, as they descend into madness, religious madness, and violence.

The characters in this one aren’t especially likeable, with one or two exceptions, but they are nonetheless compelling- there is a reason I compared this book to Albert Camus. As the end draws closer and closer, the book grows steadily madder and more bizarre, with more and more unanswered questions rearing their heads. When you finally start to get more answers, well… it just brings up even more questions. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but there is definitely a very, very good reason I brought up Edwin Abbot.

The internal illustrations by Mehendra Singh are absolutely perfect for this book- the faux-woodcut appearance is immediately evocative of Jules Verne, Sherlock Holmes, H.G. Wells- it immediately screams 1800’s adventure novel. They’re absolutely perfect for the book.

Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea is a slim volume, but definitely one worth the read. It’s the kind of bizarre, trippy weirdness that has been so long absent from science fiction. I just wish I’d noticed this one when it came out last year, instead of just now discovering it.

Book Review: Firefight, by Brandon Sanderson

I should presage this review by stating that I’m a Sanderson fanboy. Seriously, the dude produces consistently amazing books at a rate you’d expect from one of those ghostwriter hiring hacks you see in airport bookstores. It’s nuts, we’re getting multiple books every year from him- though it still isn’t nearly enough for my taste.

Firefight, the sequel to Steelheart, is set in a world where super-humans (called Epics) started appearing, but universally turned out evil. America and the other world governments have collapsed, and the few bastions of civilization left exist solely at the whim of the mighty Epics that choose to allow their existence. The story follow David Charleston and the other Reckoners, an organization dedicated to hunting down and killing the worst of the Epics.

The Reckoners trilogy is actually Brandon Sanderson’s third foray into young adult fiction- there was the decent but not super memorable Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians series and the excellent Rithmatist (to which I am eagerly awaiting a sequel). It’s one of those rare superhero novels- though they are popping up much more often these days (V.E. Schwab’s Vicious and Lavie Tidhar’s The Violent Century spring to mind). I literally downloaded Firefight off Amazon at midnight, and immediately read the whole thing. I was not disappointed. Sanderson’s action scenes remain as kinetic as ever, and his settings are absolutely top notch. Firefight keeps up with many of the quirky, interesting characters from the first book, though a few are only seen near the beginning of the novel, then are left behind. The new characters are just as quirky as the old, though it would be nice to see a few more… not normal people, certainly- the Reckoners, the titular organization, are extremely dangerous Epic hunters- but people not defined by quirks in this series. In addition, the love interest in this book (can’t tell you any more, spoilers) could have really used a bit more screen time. Also, not a huge fan of the American cover, though the British cover looks amazing. Still, though, this is one of the best YA novels I’ve read in some time, and an excellent book to start the year out with. (I’ve read other books this year so far, I just haven’t finished any yet. Stop judging me.) Steelheart, the first book, is super cheap right now as an ebook- pick it up. Right now. Then pick up Firefight. Also, read both.

The Heinlein Juvenile novels ranked- because the Internet is suffering a desperate shortage of lists.

The Heinlein juvenile novels (they’d be called YA today) were my introduction into science fiction, much as the Hobbit was my introduction into fantasy. I have an enduring love of the books to this day. There are twelve main Heinlein juvenile novels, and Starship Troopers and Podkayne of Mars are frequently included in the list as well. Heinlein disagreed about Podkayne being on the list, though. I personally think Starship Troopers should be the one excluded, but I’m including all 14. Please note, this is entirely my own personal preference, others will have entirely different lists, I’m sure. I also tend to somewhat brush off the political subtexts in each book- they have very little to do with why I love the books, though I’m aware of them. Let me know how you order them, too. And from the bottom, with cover illustrations from the first editions…

#14: Rocket Ship Galileo- 1947

I don’t care if it features Space Nazis, it’s still the weakest entry among the juveniles. That can largely be explained away by it being the first of them, though, so I suppose that is forgivable. Also, Space Nazis are a thing in it. The characters are extremely thin, it has Space Nazis, it uses that damn rich/genius/magical/whatever uncle trope to kick off the adventure, there are Space Nazis, and did I mention Space Nazis?

Okay, so I actually still like it a lot, even if it is the weakest entry in my opinion. They kill Space Nazis! Woo!

#13: Starship Troopers- 1959

Seriously, were you expecting it higher? It’s good, but there are way, way too many moralistic speeches in it. It’s as John Galtian as a book can be without me hating it. It’s certainly not bad at all, it deserved its Hugo, but… Too many speeches, too little action. Also, remember that I’m judging it on YA criteria. It would be higher up normally, it’s just not great as YA in my opinion. I like it more reading it as a non-YA novel.

#12: Between Planets- 1951

So forgettable. So very forgettable. Also, least proactive Heinlein juvenile protagonist. I mean, seriously, he does nothing, even during the climax. Everyone else does shit for him. URRGH. Okay, he’s not completely passive, he does do a few daring escapes on his own, fights in the swamps of Venus, etc… but still, he’s just not quite up to par. As should be noted with all of the books lower down on the list, though, it’s still really good, because Heinlein. (Except for late Heinlein. Beware Late Heinlein. Therein lies madness; also Stranger in a Strange Land.)

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Book Review: Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem, translated by Ken Liu, and published by Tor, is the first Chinese science fiction novel translated into English. It is wildly popular in China, and with good reason.

The Three Body Problem bears strong resemblance to American Golden Age science fiction, especially Arthur C. Clarke, but it is a refinement of it in a completely different direction than those taken by English speaking authors. It isn’t just because it’s the product of a wholly different culture and history (though that helps), it’s that it possesses a profound sense of cynicism and pessimism regarding the universe that is wholly alien to the mentality of Golden Age science fiction, and yet somehow makes the book refreshing and new, and massively magnifies the importance of hope and optimism.

Minor spoilers ahead: