Earth Abides by George R Stewart

Earth Abides by George R Stewart

Ish finds himself one of just a few survivors after a mysterious virus pretty much wipes out humanity. He travels across America looking for survivors but ends up back at his family home on his own. Over time he does find a few survivors and a small community is founded.

They have to deal with the slow loss of utilities as they fall down but more survivors arrive and the community grows.

Children are born as they face more hardships but generally the community thrives under these new conditions.

This book has dated badly in places, a lot of things are very much stuck in the late forties but the main thrust of the story, the survival and the building of a new lifestyle shine through strongly. Although this book starts of as a disaster novel, it ends up with a surprising amount of hope for the future

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer

It is discovered that a couple of rogue planets are coming into our sloar system and after further research, one will collide and destroy our planet. After the initial hysteria, most lives go back to some sort of temporary normality whilst a select group of scientists attempt to build rockets that will hopefully take a handful of people to the second planet. It is hoped that by the time this second planet

is in orbit around our sun, life will be possible.

We get to read about what natural disasters afflict the planet as the rogue planets get closer, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity across the planet. The personal story concerns a sort of anti-hero who has no special skills to offer but gets onto the scientific team anyway. Of course (being the 30’s) there is a romantic involvment with the lead scientists daughter and our hero but it’s more hero worship on our heros part. He simply worships her for her imense knowledge and understanding. He sort of gets the girl in the end but this is the first of three, so no guarantees (unless you’ve read After Worlds Collide).

There are some themes in this book which are very much of their time, the world political view being very dated but a reflection of how they were.
I recommend this especially if you enjoy SF from very close to it’s earliest days.

Violent Skies by T.J. Lockwood

Violent Skies by T.J. Lockwood

Teresa is a courier and she delivers packages throughout North America. Thing is North America is pretty much a wasteland with most dwelling in ground based cities or small, renegade settlements.

There are also the 12 floating cities that seem to have most of the wealth and latest technology. City Eleven was attacked and crashed to the ground. It has become a no-go area for everyone apart from those born in the city and have been allowed to leave the city to go wandering.

Teresa’s latest job is to deliver a package, a man, to City Eleven.

There is a lot of good writing and imagination in this debut novel. Sadly the author seems to get lost in her writing sometimes to the detriment of the story. Overall this was a quick, light read where it could have been so much more. As Debut’s go it was satisfactory but I will look out for more by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley& Mecha Panda Publishing for this review copy.

Galahad At Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse

Galahad At Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse.

Recently republished as Blandings: Problems With Drink

Original title: The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood

Clarence, Lord Emsworth, attempts to stay out of harms way and only wishes to enjoy his prize pig, The Empress, and read books on pig husbandry. He also spends a great deal of time attempting to stay

out of reach from his sister Hermione who has taken it upon herself to try and bring Clarence and Blandings Castle into the sort of house she thinks it should be. Even hiring a secretary for Clarence!

Galahad, Clarences brother, has also moved into the castle for a short stay. His main aims are also to stay beyond his sisters reach and enjoy as much alcohol as possible whilst interfearing in everyone elses lives, to bring what he considers to be harmony to the household.

Poor Beech the butler has had his watch stolen!

If you know Wodehouse's writing from either the Blandings books or his Jeeves And Wooster then you will know that the above scenarios all end up in a bit of an hilarious mess. Lots of misunderstandings, word play at it’s very best but most of all, a heartwarming and witty story. The only thing missing from this one is did Beech get his watch back?

Great fun

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas.

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas.

What a really good read this could have been. It is catagorised as a dystopian novel but it feels very current in todays political climate. Are we already living in a dystopian society?

Anti-abortion legislation is in effect. Invitro-fertilisation is banned. Adoption by two parent families only. Women are having their civil liberties taken away from them faster than can be thought

possible.

Red Clocks is the story of four women coming to terms with their lives in this new society, told in short chapters, their stories unfold. The fifth is the story of an historical woman doing what is considered mans work a couple of centuries earlier and never being recognised for the life saving work she did.

The story itself is captivating, the way it is told is something else that I just could not come to terms with, maybe it’s because I am a male. Short, blunt sentances, it provides no emtion when perhaps emotion should have been very important. All the women seem to be emotionless, just telling their stories in a matter of fact way, not enticing the reader to get to know them as characters.

All in all, a good story that I found hard to discover yet I am happy that I did persist.

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz (Millennium #5)

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercrantz (Millennium #5)

Lisbeth finds herself in prison but for doing something right! She then starts to stand up to the prison bullies and ends up defending a young woman from being murdered in prison. She is also desperate to get internet access as she is not allowed any in prison as she has uncovered something about herself and her twin sister. Why and how they were separated at an early age but the story actually follows two brothers who were separated at birth.

I think this is probably the poorest of the Millennium books and although I would certainly read another if it were to be written, I think Lagercrantz has taken the story of Lisbeth as far as he can. This is at times very slow and laboured with a meandering storyline that felt far too forced. I can understand why the author and publishers want to keep this going, the original books were a sensation! It now feels like they are cashing in and not really taking the reader too seriously.

It is a must read for completists (like me) but you would have to have read all the others before you open this one.

Secret Harmonies by Paul McAuley (400 Billion Stars #2)

Secret Harmonies by Paul McAuley (400 Billion Stars #2)

This can be read independently of the first book in the series but they do share a similar background theme.

Elysium has been colonised by humans, most of the first colonists where from Australia so the wilderness beyond the human inhabited areas is the Outback. The indigenous population of near human looking creatures are called Aborigines and going out on your own into the Outback is called ‘going dingo’.

Port of Plenty, the first city to be built by the colonists has strict laws about where new colonists can go, build and even what they can and cannot do. All the towns around Port of Plenty are mainly there to supply food, labour and anything else the citizens of Port of Plenty might need. Of course there has been rumblings among these outer communities about the way the authorities run everything. Underpinning the authorities is an AI called Constat that monitors every detail of human life on the planet.

Every few years a colony ship arrives from earth with new colonists. Everyone is gathering to celebrate the expect arrival of the latest colony ship but it does not arrive as expected. A civil war breaks out after no news is heard from Earth about the lost colony ship.

The story follows Miguel who has ‘gone dingo’ who survives in the Outback by scavenging food where he can and Richard who is a university DR. Their lives seem very separate. Miguel has been taken over and controlled by something he calls the blue brother. It guides him to do his bidding. Richard finds himself enrolled in the city volunteer defence force, a position he really does not like.

Secret Harmonies is another cracking read by McAuley. All the SF you could want without being overwhelming. A strong storyline with well rounded characters. A civil war that seems unfathomable to comprehend until the final 50 or so pages when a lot becomes clearer yet you do not feel as if you missed out by not knowing earlier.

A very good read.

My review of 400 Billion Stars (400 Billion Stars #1)