Doing all of these reviews has got me thinking more about literature and reading in general. So what makes a book worth reading? There are all those obvious elements like plot, character, conflict, etc. I want to think about the little things that distinguish an average book from one that's great.
1) Immersive experience
Whether through world building, exciting plot, or character development, a book should make the real world disappear for the reader. Great books make the reader forget that she is reading a book.
2) Different from real life
The author should create a story where everything makes sense and nothing happens randomly. If I'm taking the time to read the book, I want to be reading something well thought out. Unlike real life (where things happen all the time for no reason), a book should have internal justice and a coherent plot.
Books can take advantage of symbolism, because the author adds symbolism intentionally. (If the main character is in a bad mood, and it's raining outside, that's relevant. In real life, the weather isn't a barometer for the emotions of people.) Authors can use various elements like foreshadowing, and the reader understands that these elements will work in a certain way, based on what it means to be reading a story.
Only important or useful actions need to be mentioned. An author doesn't have to tell us every time a character uses the bathroom or brushes her teeth. We can assume these things are happening, even if it's not explicitly mentions.
3) But not too different from real life
However, a book must be relatable. If I hate a main character of a book, there should be a good reason for it, so that I can still enjoy the story. Ditto if the main character is an idiot. Unless there's going to be some great character development going on, I don't want to spend a lot of time with a character I don't like.
4) Imaginative
If a book must be different from real life, it follows that the author must use her imagination when writing. I've noticed that great books are always really strange, not just the science fiction or fantasy ones, which you might expect to be unlike the real world. It's stuff you would never expect to happen in your own life. Real life is comfortable, but boring. And indeed, most good stories happen around conflict, when stressful things are happening to all of the characters. This stress and strangeness are what make books interesting.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Summary (with spoilers):
It's the 2040s, and the world has entered into a dystopian era after running out of fossil fuel. Most people spend their time in OASIS, a huge virtual reality simulator that has replaced the Internet. The OASIS was created by an extraordinary programmer named Halliday. Upon his death, Halliday issues a challenge to the world. The first person to find his 3 keys and 3 gates, solving intricate puzzles along the way involving 1980s culture (the era when Halliday grew up), will inherit Halliday's massive fortune. This contest gives rise to the "gunters," people who have devoted themselves to finding Halliday's "Easter egg" within the worlds of OASIS.
Enter Wade (avatar name Parzival), a poor orphan living with his degenerate aunt in "The Stacks," although he spends most of his time in an abandoned van. He's a gunter obsessed with figuring out the puzzle, with a specialty in old arcade games. He doesn't have the money to teleport around the OASIS, but he is able to access the planet Ludus, where he goes to school. His only friend, Aech, is also a gunter.
While reading Halliday's 80s culture lovefest journal, Wade notices that some letters are marked, and that putting the marked letters together spells out a clue about the first key, mentioning a tomb of horrors and learning. He realizes that the tomb of horrors refers to an old D&D quest module, while the reference to learning means that the tomb recreation could be on the Ludus school planet. After scanning the Ludus map, he finds a hill that matches the illustrations in the Tomb of Horrors module.
He uses a school voucher (intended to let him go to away games) to transport to the correct area of Ludus. He makes his way through the tomb, avoiding the traps, until he gets to the throne room. The arch-lich, which isn't supposed to show up until later, is sitting on the dias, and challenges Wade to a Joust tournament. Wade loses the first game, but after asking to switch sides, he's barely able to win the next two games. Wade receives the Copper Key. He's the first person to find the key, even though the contest has been going for 5 years!
As he turns to leave, he runs into another avatar, Art3mis. Wade's been reading her gunter blog for years, and has a crush on Art3mis, although he's never met her. Although suspicious of each other, they like each other right away and exchange contact information. However, Wade lies to her about getting the Copper Key. She checks the scoreboard, and see's that Parzival's name is there. He admits winning at Joust, and advises her to switch sides with the arch-lich.
The Copper Key has a clue written on it, which Wade instantly deciphers. Wade heads for the planet Middletown, a recreation of Halliday's hometown, knowing that he must beat a specific video game to find the gate. Upon beating the game, a gate is revealed. Wade inserts the key and enters into star-studded space, landing in a recreation of the movie WarGames as Matthew Broderick's character David Lightman.
Art3mis soon clears the First Gate as well, followed a day later by Aech and two guys from Japan, Daito and Shoto. I-rok, an annoying friend of Aech's, reveals that both Aech and Wade are students on Ludus, because the two refuse to show him where the Copper Key is hidden.
As Parzival becomes famous, Wade gets all sorts of endorsement offers. He also gets an email from the IOI corporation, home of the "Sixers." This corporation wants to win the contest so that they can take over the OASIS and start charging an entry fee.
Wade agrees to meet with a high ranking IOI employee, who offers him a job and money to give them a walk-through of the First Gate. When Wade refuses, IOI reveals that they know his real identity, and that if he doesn't help them, they'll blow up his home in The Stacks, where they believe he currently is. Wade realizes that either they are bluffing, or that if they intend to kill him, they'll do it whether he helps them or not. He decides not to help them and leaves the virtual chat. Minutes later, an explosion destroys his home. (Luckily, he's in his hide-out in the van.)
Shaken, Wade and Aech call all of the others who have managed to gain a place on the scoreboard (a group known as the High Five.) Despite the danger, they decide to remain solo gunters. The Sixers converge on Ludus and put a force field around the entrance to the Copper Key.
With his endorsement money, Wade moves to Columbus, changes his identity, and gets his own apartment. He develops a relationship with Art3mis (although they've never met in person), but when he declares his love for her, she tells him they shouldn't see each other until the contest is over. She then becomes the first to find the Jade Key.
The Sixers have acquired a powerful artifact that allows them to locate any avatar once per day. When Art3mis finds the Jade Key, they use the power to discover she is on Sector 7. When swarms of Sixers flock to the sector, everyone else knows the Jade Key is there too.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
The Crystal Key contains an "A," just like the one on Halliday's character Anorack. Wade realizes that he must go to Anorack's castle, which no one but Halliday has ever been able to enter. Unfortunately, right after Wade gains the key, the Sixers put a barrier around the castle so that no one can enter.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
They all meet virtually in Aech's private chat room to talk. Wade reveals all of the information he downloaded. He tells them a plan to send a mass email asking for everyone's help taking down the Sixers, who are guarding the Crystal Gate. when Shoto and Art3mis reveal that they are not in very safe locations, Ogden Morrow (Halliday's business partner) appears within the chat room. He offers to fly everyone to his mansion in Oregon (in real life.) The 4 gunters accept his offer, realizing that they will meet for the first time.
Aech comes to pick up Wade to drive him to the airport. When Wade enters her RV, he sees that a plump, African American woman about his age is driving. At first, he is shocked that Aech's true identity is so different from her online persona, but then he realizes that it doesn't make any difference; she's still his best friend.
Everyone arrives at Ogden's house, although Art3mis and Shoto decide not to meet the other two until after the contest is finished. Wade arrives to the castle in his robot, which is flooded with friendly avatars ready to fight for the four friends. The orb is disabled, and the main Sixer guy activates his huge robot, Mechagodzilla. Shoto distracts the Sixer, getting eliminated in the process. Wade activates the Beta Capsule to become huge and take the Sixer down. Then Art3mis, Aech, and Wade all get to the Crystal Gate and activate it. Before they can step inside, everyone dies in a huge explosion. (The Catalyst was activated.)
However, Wade gets an extra life because he has the quarter in his inventory. As he's searching for a way to reach the gate (which is now high above him since everything has been destroyed), he promises to split the money with his friends if he gets to the egg.
He enters the gate, and must get a high score on the game Tempest. Then he's put into a movie recreation of The Holy Grail. After completing that game, he enters a room with all of Halliday's computers/video game consoles. Wade figures out that the log on password is the name of the D&D character of the woman that Halliday loved. He then plays Adventure, getting to the room with the first video game Easter egg. Instead of the name of the creator of Adventure (as in the original game), there is Halliday's egg! Wade picks up the egg, gets transported into the castle, and meets up with Halliday's avatar. Halliday tells Wade that there is a secret button that will destroy the OASIS, but only Wade will have access to it. He also warns Wade that true happiness can only be found in reality.
Wade and friends are rich, everyone is happy, and the Sixer guy gets arrested in real life. Art3mis is waiting for Wade outside. He finally gets to meet her in person, where they kiss.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book. The premise is so much fun, the action is exciting, and there are tons of nerdy cultural references. (On the day when I read about Wade getting the Copper Key, I had just gotten back from a D&D game.)
Massive points to Cline for his vision of the OASIS, which is completely different from our the Internet today and also a plausible evolution of current technology. Creating believable future technology is one of the hardest things to do in science fiction.
I enjoyed all of the reference to 80s culture. (I still have to check out Zork.) The fast pace of the book made it hard to stop reading, and I was rooting for the characters the entire time.
Now for a few issues. I did feel that Wade's extensive knowledge of 80s culture was unrealistic. (He says he's watched The Holy Grail 157 times, that he's read every book on Halliday's overflowing shelf, and on top of that, he's a video game master, able to get a perfect score playing Pac-Man.) I know he devotes all of his free time to the pursuit of Halliday's egg, but I just think he wouldn't have the time to do all of these things.
I was also bothered when the "Chekhov's Gun" rule was broken. Wade buys a gun shortly after escaping from the Sixer compound. It's mentioned once or twice after, but there's never a situation where he even remotely needs to use it. I kept worrying that some bad guy was going to attack him at the end. I wish the author had just left out the bit about Wade buying a gun.
Overall, this book was excellent. I would recommend it to all of my friends.
Summary (with spoilers):
It's the 2040s, and the world has entered into a dystopian era after running out of fossil fuel. Most people spend their time in OASIS, a huge virtual reality simulator that has replaced the Internet. The OASIS was created by an extraordinary programmer named Halliday. Upon his death, Halliday issues a challenge to the world. The first person to find his 3 keys and 3 gates, solving intricate puzzles along the way involving 1980s culture (the era when Halliday grew up), will inherit Halliday's massive fortune. This contest gives rise to the "gunters," people who have devoted themselves to finding Halliday's "Easter egg" within the worlds of OASIS.
Enter Wade (avatar name Parzival), a poor orphan living with his degenerate aunt in "The Stacks," although he spends most of his time in an abandoned van. He's a gunter obsessed with figuring out the puzzle, with a specialty in old arcade games. He doesn't have the money to teleport around the OASIS, but he is able to access the planet Ludus, where he goes to school. His only friend, Aech, is also a gunter.
While reading Halliday's 80s culture lovefest journal, Wade notices that some letters are marked, and that putting the marked letters together spells out a clue about the first key, mentioning a tomb of horrors and learning. He realizes that the tomb of horrors refers to an old D&D quest module, while the reference to learning means that the tomb recreation could be on the Ludus school planet. After scanning the Ludus map, he finds a hill that matches the illustrations in the Tomb of Horrors module.
He uses a school voucher (intended to let him go to away games) to transport to the correct area of Ludus. He makes his way through the tomb, avoiding the traps, until he gets to the throne room. The arch-lich, which isn't supposed to show up until later, is sitting on the dias, and challenges Wade to a Joust tournament. Wade loses the first game, but after asking to switch sides, he's barely able to win the next two games. Wade receives the Copper Key. He's the first person to find the key, even though the contest has been going for 5 years!
As he turns to leave, he runs into another avatar, Art3mis. Wade's been reading her gunter blog for years, and has a crush on Art3mis, although he's never met her. Although suspicious of each other, they like each other right away and exchange contact information. However, Wade lies to her about getting the Copper Key. She checks the scoreboard, and see's that Parzival's name is there. He admits winning at Joust, and advises her to switch sides with the arch-lich.
The Copper Key has a clue written on it, which Wade instantly deciphers. Wade heads for the planet Middletown, a recreation of Halliday's hometown, knowing that he must beat a specific video game to find the gate. Upon beating the game, a gate is revealed. Wade inserts the key and enters into star-studded space, landing in a recreation of the movie WarGames as Matthew Broderick's character David Lightman.
Art3mis soon clears the First Gate as well, followed a day later by Aech and two guys from Japan, Daito and Shoto. I-rok, an annoying friend of Aech's, reveals that both Aech and Wade are students on Ludus, because the two refuse to show him where the Copper Key is hidden.
As Parzival becomes famous, Wade gets all sorts of endorsement offers. He also gets an email from the IOI corporation, home of the "Sixers." This corporation wants to win the contest so that they can take over the OASIS and start charging an entry fee.
Wade agrees to meet with a high ranking IOI employee, who offers him a job and money to give them a walk-through of the First Gate. When Wade refuses, IOI reveals that they know his real identity, and that if he doesn't help them, they'll blow up his home in The Stacks, where they believe he currently is. Wade realizes that either they are bluffing, or that if they intend to kill him, they'll do it whether he helps them or not. He decides not to help them and leaves the virtual chat. Minutes later, an explosion destroys his home. (Luckily, he's in his hide-out in the van.)
Shaken, Wade and Aech call all of the others who have managed to gain a place on the scoreboard (a group known as the High Five.) Despite the danger, they decide to remain solo gunters. The Sixers converge on Ludus and put a force field around the entrance to the Copper Key.
With his endorsement money, Wade moves to Columbus, changes his identity, and gets his own apartment. He develops a relationship with Art3mis (although they've never met in person), but when he declares his love for her, she tells him they shouldn't see each other until the contest is over. She then becomes the first to find the Jade Key.
The Sixers have acquired a powerful artifact that allows them to locate any avatar once per day. When Art3mis finds the Jade Key, they use the power to discover she is on Sector 7. When swarms of Sixers flock to the sector, everyone else knows the Jade Key is there too.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
The Crystal Key contains an "A," just like the one on Halliday's character Anorack. Wade realizes that he must go to Anorack's castle, which no one but Halliday has ever been able to enter. Unfortunately, right after Wade gains the key, the Sixers put a barrier around the castle so that no one can enter.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
They all meet virtually in Aech's private chat room to talk. Wade reveals all of the information he downloaded. He tells them a plan to send a mass email asking for everyone's help taking down the Sixers, who are guarding the Crystal Gate. when Shoto and Art3mis reveal that they are not in very safe locations, Ogden Morrow (Halliday's business partner) appears within the chat room. He offers to fly everyone to his mansion in Oregon (in real life.) The 4 gunters accept his offer, realizing that they will meet for the first time.
Aech comes to pick up Wade to drive him to the airport. When Wade enters her RV, he sees that a plump, African American woman about his age is driving. At first, he is shocked that Aech's true identity is so different from her online persona, but then he realizes that it doesn't make any difference; she's still his best friend.
Everyone arrives at Ogden's house, although Art3mis and Shoto decide not to meet the other two until after the contest is finished. Wade arrives to the castle in his robot, which is flooded with friendly avatars ready to fight for the four friends. The orb is disabled, and the main Sixer guy activates his huge robot, Mechagodzilla. Shoto distracts the Sixer, getting eliminated in the process. Wade activates the Beta Capsule to become huge and take the Sixer down. Then Art3mis, Aech, and Wade all get to the Crystal Gate and activate it. Before they can step inside, everyone dies in a huge explosion. (The Catalyst was activated.)
However, Wade gets an extra life because he has the quarter in his inventory. As he's searching for a way to reach the gate (which is now high above him since everything has been destroyed), he promises to split the money with his friends if he gets to the egg.
He enters the gate, and must get a high score on the game Tempest. Then he's put into a movie recreation of The Holy Grail. After completing that game, he enters a room with all of Halliday's computers/video game consoles. Wade figures out that the log on password is the name of the D&D character of the woman that Halliday loved. He then plays Adventure, getting to the room with the first video game Easter egg. Instead of the name of the creator of Adventure (as in the original game), there is Halliday's egg! Wade picks up the egg, gets transported into the castle, and meets up with Halliday's avatar. Halliday tells Wade that there is a secret button that will destroy the OASIS, but only Wade will have access to it. He also warns Wade that true happiness can only be found in reality.
Wade and friends are rich, everyone is happy, and the Sixer guy gets arrested in real life. Art3mis is waiting for Wade outside. He finally gets to meet her in person, where they kiss.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book. The premise is so much fun, the action is exciting, and there are tons of nerdy cultural references. (On the day when I read about Wade getting the Copper Key, I had just gotten back from a D&D game.)
Massive points to Cline for his vision of the OASIS, which is completely different from our the Internet today and also a plausible evolution of current technology. Creating believable future technology is one of the hardest things to do in science fiction.
I enjoyed all of the reference to 80s culture. (I still have to check out Zork.) The fast pace of the book made it hard to stop reading, and I was rooting for the characters the entire time.
Now for a few issues. I did feel that Wade's extensive knowledge of 80s culture was unrealistic. (He says he's watched The Holy Grail 157 times, that he's read every book on Halliday's overflowing shelf, and on top of that, he's a video game master, able to get a perfect score playing Pac-Man.) I know he devotes all of his free time to the pursuit of Halliday's egg, but I just think he wouldn't have the time to do all of these things.
I was also bothered when the "Chekhov's Gun" rule was broken. Wade buys a gun shortly after escaping from the Sixer compound. It's mentioned once or twice after, but there's never a situation where he even remotely needs to use it. I kept worrying that some bad guy was going to attack him at the end. I wish the author had just left out the bit about Wade buying a gun.
Overall, this book was excellent. I would recommend it to all of my friends.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Ethan of Athos
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold
Summary (with spoilers):
This is a book of the Vorkosigan series, although where it falls in the series depends on whether you're reading them in chronological order (like me) or in publication order. This book doesn't include the star of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, although he's mentioned a few times.
The book begins on the planet of Athos, an all-male society which reproduces with the help of uterine replicators. Ethan is an obstetrician who is tasked with going off planet to obtain new cultures for the uterine replicators, as their original cultures are becoming non-viable. Although Athos ordered a shipment of new cultures, the shipment that arrived was full of unusable samples.
Ethan is worried about what he will find off-planet. (After all, there are women out there!) Before he leaves, his life partner crashes Ethan's hover car, causing damages that the partner has to pay off with his social credits, which the couple will need if they want to have children. (Ethan desperately wants to be a parent.)
Ethan arrives at Kline Station, where he abruptly gets lost. He asks for directions from a young man, too late realizing that "he" is actually a woman, Elli Quinn. Quinn is a member of the Dendarii mercenaries (who we're first introduced to in the book The Warrior's Apprentice), led by Commander Naismith (aka Miles Vorkosigan).
Ethan plans to find the best planet for ovarian samples and travel there. He leaves his hotel to search for some food, ends up in a shady bar (which he entered because it was the only woman-free place he could find), and gets into a fight. Quinn saves him from this predicament, but he's still too nervous around women to accept an invitation to dinner. While walking back to his hotel, Ethan is kidnapped and interrogated by Millisor and Rau. Seeing that his station map has traces of a bug, they believe Ethan is a spy, and keep questioning him about Terence Cee. The captors reveal a plan to destroy the reproduction centers on Athos and generally blow some stuff up. They send Ethan off with Okita, who has instructions to kill Ethan, but Quinn saves him once again (although she accidentally kills Okita in the process.) Ethan realizes that Quinn was the one who planted the bug on his station map. Also, she's got a contract out on Millisor and his conspirators from the Jackson's Hole house that Athos purchased the ovarian cultures from.
They dispose of Okita in a unit that breaks down organic matter to feed back into the food growing system. Here they meet Helda, a no-nonsense member of the bio-control unit responsible for making sure the space station is free of disease and other contamination.
Fearing for his life, Ethan occupies a new hotel room purchased by Quinn. However, when they get into an argument, he decides to leave. Ethan promptly runs into Rau, who shoots a neural disruptor at him. Ethan flees into a worker closet and dresses himself in a red Docks and Locks jumpsuit. After some more adventures (including a trip to the decontamination ward and a security officer who tries to flirt with him), he's approached by a man who turns out to be Terence Cee.
Cee reveals that he is a telepath, although his powers only work when he ingests a certain chemical. He was part of an experimental project on Cetaganda, along with Janine (his romantic partner and fellow telepath), who was killed after they escaped. He had an ovarian culture made from Janine and put in the Athos shipment, with the hope of immigrating to Athos.
Ethan and Cee meet up with Quinn. They decide to team up, since they all want to find the shipment and/or defeat Millisor and co. When Millisor kidnaps Quinn's cousin Teki (who they involved in a scheme earlier in the book), Quinn calls the bio-control unit, claiming that Millisor has given her an STD. Helda arrives at Millisor's room, along with another tech and a security guard. When Millisor won't open the door, she sucks all the air out of his room, forcing him to come out. Ethan realizes that Helda had to be the one to destroy the cultures, and she admits to the crime, stating that she's hated Athos ever since her son immigrated there.
Everyone gets carted off to decontamination/security, but Quinn disappears. Ethan talks to the captured Millisor, who tells him that Cee wanted to send the cultures to Athos because they contained the recessive gene for telepathy. Because of the unusual means of reproduction on Athos, the gene would have eventually invaded the entire planet.
Ethan gets a call from Cee, asking to meet at a docking area. On the way there, a man in a pink suit gives him a message device for Millisor. Once Ethan gets there, he realizes that Cee was forced to lure him into a trap. The escapee Millisor appears, pointing a neural disruptor at Quinn. Ethan mentions the message thing, which turns out to be a bomb. Quinn activates it. Then some dudes from the Jackson's Hole house show up and shoot Millisor/Rau. They also pop out Quinn's elbow for not completing her contract.
Ethan visits Quinn in the hospital. He asks her to donate an ovary to Athos, and she agrees. They all go to pick up some newts that Quinn stored in cold storage. She plans to use the shipment as a cover for the biological material Cee gave her (so that the Dendarii mercenaries can study telepathy). Ethan looks out into space and sees that the boxes housing the original ovarian cultures are floating there. (It turns out when you "throw things out" on a space station, they might just get chucked into space.) Cee and Ethan recover the cultures, without telling Quinn. Ethan tells Cee that they can bring the cultures back to Athos, therefore setting up a world of telepaths, because Ethan fears that Athos will not survive in the future without some edge.
Ethan and Cee arrive on Athos, where it's revealed that Ethan's life partner has run off. It's implied that Ethan and Cee may become a couple.
My Thoughts:
As always, McMaster Bujold delivers an exciting novel with a rip-roaring plot.
Pros:
*Fun and easy to read
*Funny in parts (especially Quinn's antics and Ethan's view of women)
*I like the idea of a world without women. (Usually the stories of single-gender planets and reproduction involve no men. This was a good twist on that idea.)
*Good depiction of life on a space station (including their obsession with contamination)
Cons:
*Strange to have a book without Miles as a character
*Some of the plot seems slapped together. Parts of it move so quickly that it's hard to keep up or really see if it makes sense.
*Having the Jackson's Hole people come in at the last minute seems too deus ex machina
Overall, this book was another great addition to the series. I feel it didn't move the series along much, except to introduce Quinn as a character. So far, Ethan hasn't come back in later books, so it's strange to know I've spent a whole book with a POV character that won't appear again.
Summary (with spoilers):
This is a book of the Vorkosigan series, although where it falls in the series depends on whether you're reading them in chronological order (like me) or in publication order. This book doesn't include the star of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, although he's mentioned a few times.
The book begins on the planet of Athos, an all-male society which reproduces with the help of uterine replicators. Ethan is an obstetrician who is tasked with going off planet to obtain new cultures for the uterine replicators, as their original cultures are becoming non-viable. Although Athos ordered a shipment of new cultures, the shipment that arrived was full of unusable samples.
Ethan is worried about what he will find off-planet. (After all, there are women out there!) Before he leaves, his life partner crashes Ethan's hover car, causing damages that the partner has to pay off with his social credits, which the couple will need if they want to have children. (Ethan desperately wants to be a parent.)
Ethan arrives at Kline Station, where he abruptly gets lost. He asks for directions from a young man, too late realizing that "he" is actually a woman, Elli Quinn. Quinn is a member of the Dendarii mercenaries (who we're first introduced to in the book The Warrior's Apprentice), led by Commander Naismith (aka Miles Vorkosigan).
Ethan plans to find the best planet for ovarian samples and travel there. He leaves his hotel to search for some food, ends up in a shady bar (which he entered because it was the only woman-free place he could find), and gets into a fight. Quinn saves him from this predicament, but he's still too nervous around women to accept an invitation to dinner. While walking back to his hotel, Ethan is kidnapped and interrogated by Millisor and Rau. Seeing that his station map has traces of a bug, they believe Ethan is a spy, and keep questioning him about Terence Cee. The captors reveal a plan to destroy the reproduction centers on Athos and generally blow some stuff up. They send Ethan off with Okita, who has instructions to kill Ethan, but Quinn saves him once again (although she accidentally kills Okita in the process.) Ethan realizes that Quinn was the one who planted the bug on his station map. Also, she's got a contract out on Millisor and his conspirators from the Jackson's Hole house that Athos purchased the ovarian cultures from.
They dispose of Okita in a unit that breaks down organic matter to feed back into the food growing system. Here they meet Helda, a no-nonsense member of the bio-control unit responsible for making sure the space station is free of disease and other contamination.
Fearing for his life, Ethan occupies a new hotel room purchased by Quinn. However, when they get into an argument, he decides to leave. Ethan promptly runs into Rau, who shoots a neural disruptor at him. Ethan flees into a worker closet and dresses himself in a red Docks and Locks jumpsuit. After some more adventures (including a trip to the decontamination ward and a security officer who tries to flirt with him), he's approached by a man who turns out to be Terence Cee.
Cee reveals that he is a telepath, although his powers only work when he ingests a certain chemical. He was part of an experimental project on Cetaganda, along with Janine (his romantic partner and fellow telepath), who was killed after they escaped. He had an ovarian culture made from Janine and put in the Athos shipment, with the hope of immigrating to Athos.
Ethan and Cee meet up with Quinn. They decide to team up, since they all want to find the shipment and/or defeat Millisor and co. When Millisor kidnaps Quinn's cousin Teki (who they involved in a scheme earlier in the book), Quinn calls the bio-control unit, claiming that Millisor has given her an STD. Helda arrives at Millisor's room, along with another tech and a security guard. When Millisor won't open the door, she sucks all the air out of his room, forcing him to come out. Ethan realizes that Helda had to be the one to destroy the cultures, and she admits to the crime, stating that she's hated Athos ever since her son immigrated there.
Everyone gets carted off to decontamination/security, but Quinn disappears. Ethan talks to the captured Millisor, who tells him that Cee wanted to send the cultures to Athos because they contained the recessive gene for telepathy. Because of the unusual means of reproduction on Athos, the gene would have eventually invaded the entire planet.
Ethan gets a call from Cee, asking to meet at a docking area. On the way there, a man in a pink suit gives him a message device for Millisor. Once Ethan gets there, he realizes that Cee was forced to lure him into a trap. The escapee Millisor appears, pointing a neural disruptor at Quinn. Ethan mentions the message thing, which turns out to be a bomb. Quinn activates it. Then some dudes from the Jackson's Hole house show up and shoot Millisor/Rau. They also pop out Quinn's elbow for not completing her contract.
Ethan visits Quinn in the hospital. He asks her to donate an ovary to Athos, and she agrees. They all go to pick up some newts that Quinn stored in cold storage. She plans to use the shipment as a cover for the biological material Cee gave her (so that the Dendarii mercenaries can study telepathy). Ethan looks out into space and sees that the boxes housing the original ovarian cultures are floating there. (It turns out when you "throw things out" on a space station, they might just get chucked into space.) Cee and Ethan recover the cultures, without telling Quinn. Ethan tells Cee that they can bring the cultures back to Athos, therefore setting up a world of telepaths, because Ethan fears that Athos will not survive in the future without some edge.
Ethan and Cee arrive on Athos, where it's revealed that Ethan's life partner has run off. It's implied that Ethan and Cee may become a couple.
My Thoughts:
As always, McMaster Bujold delivers an exciting novel with a rip-roaring plot.
Pros:
*Fun and easy to read
*Funny in parts (especially Quinn's antics and Ethan's view of women)
*I like the idea of a world without women. (Usually the stories of single-gender planets and reproduction involve no men. This was a good twist on that idea.)
*Good depiction of life on a space station (including their obsession with contamination)
Cons:
*Strange to have a book without Miles as a character
*Some of the plot seems slapped together. Parts of it move so quickly that it's hard to keep up or really see if it makes sense.
*Having the Jackson's Hole people come in at the last minute seems too deus ex machina
Overall, this book was another great addition to the series. I feel it didn't move the series along much, except to introduce Quinn as a character. So far, Ethan hasn't come back in later books, so it's strange to know I've spent a whole book with a POV character that won't appear again.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Gateway
Gateway
Frederick Pohl
Summary (with spoilers):
When Robinette (Bob) Broadhead wins the lottery, he spends the money to get out of his job at the food mines and travel to Gateway, a space station built by long-gone alien civilization called the Heechee. The story is told by shifting between two time periods: flashbacks of Bob's experiences at Gateway and his sessions with his robot physiologist, whom he calls Sigfrid, in the present.
Gateway was abandoned by the Heechee, but it still has working space ships. Prospectors travel in the ships to unknown locations, where they hope to strike it rich by finding a cache of Heechee artifacts or by getting a large science or danger bonus from the Gateway corporation. There are 3 types of ships (Ones, Threes, and Fives), named based on the number of personnel they can hold. The humans haven't figured out what most of the stuff in the ship does or how to tell where the ships are going.
Bob starts dating Sheri, a woman in his class on Gateway, but they break up when he decides not to go on a mission with her. The truth is, Bob is scared to go on any missions. The majority of them don't return.
He starts dating Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman who has been out on two missions, but who is also scared to go out on any. Eventually, they go out in a Five with three gay men. They aren't able to land on the planet they pop out next to, so their mission is not very profitable. One of the men goes insane.
When Klara and Bob get back, they grow apart. Bob sleeps with Louise Forehand (who is waiting for her family to get back before going on a mission, although her daughter has been out long enough that she is probably dead.) Klara sleeps with Dane Metchnikov, who was Bob's assigned mentor when he first arrived at Gateway. Bob and Klara get in an argument, and when Klara punches Bob in the shoulder, Bob beats her up really badly.
Klara leaves on a ship for Venus, and Bob signs up for a One mission. At the end of several months, he arrives at Gateway II, a known location. In anger that his trip has been useless, he changes the settings in his Heechee ship, and becomes the first person to break a ship without having it explode.
Back on Gateway, the scientists have some new ideas about what the colored bars in the ship panels mean in relation to coordinates. They plan to send two Fives out to the same destination, posting a hefty danger bonus. Bob and Dane Metchnikov end up in one ship. Bob's legless friend Shikitei Bahkin wants to go, but Bob doesn't put in a good word for him. (As you may have realized by this point, Bob is a selfish jerk.) Klara shows up and signs up with the other Five. The two ships pop out at the destination. It is a black hole! They all try to pile into one ship so that they can use the momentum of the other ship to push them out of the black hole. They only have a few minutes to transfer everything in and out between the ships, and in the hustle, Bob is the only one who is not able to get back to the correct ship in time. Instead, he punts the other 9 people into the black hole to save himself by using the momentum of their ship.
Throughout the book, Bob is going to the robot psychologist, and at the end, finally reveals this secret. Also, due to issues of time and black holes, although years have passed for Bob, only a few seconds have passed for Klara and the crew. Knowing that Klara is out there somewhere probably at that second (in her time) thinking Bob is an awful guy makes Bob feel even guiltier.
****EDIT*****
Okay, so wiki says that actually Bob was trying to close the hatch and then push the other ship away to safety, but that somehow his ship was the one that got pushed out of the black hole. I read that part again, and it's ambiguous what actually happened. Bob also seems not to know what his intentions where, or if someone on the other ship pushed a button first. He's convinced himself that he was trying to save himself. Unclear what actually happened.
My Thoughts:
I liked the first part of the book better than the ending, mostly because the main character becomes less likable throughout. Learning about the Heechee was interesting. I especially liked that the book had these little asides (snippets of lectures on the Heechee, classified ads on Gateway, etc.) However, the asides took up a full page each time and were placed somewhat randomly throughout the book, often cutting a sentence in half or detracting from the action. I would have preferred if they were placed more strategically for minimal disruption of reading flow.
Bob is revealed to be a fairly terrible guy. I can understand that in a fit of fear he punted the 9 other people into the black hole. That's a rotten thing to do, but it's a move I think a lot of people would make to survive. However, Bob becomes an unsympathetic character when he beats up his girlfriend. (It's so bad that she looses a tooth.) He feels remorse for beating her up, but not enough to satisfy me. Also, she shows up randomly and forgives him, which I didn't like.
There are problems with how the missions are set up. Throughout the book, many prospectors die because they run out of food, and all prospectors are worried about resources until they reach turnaround (the half way point of the trip out). If this is such a big problem, why don't they send out less people in the bigger ships? They could send out two people in a Five with a lot more food. In the story, when one of the longer missions fails, it's even noted that perhaps one person in the Five could have survived. Also, when a prospector dies during the trip, the other prospectors split the money she would have earned. When Bob dooms his nine shipmates to drawn out death by black hole, he actually makes 9 million dollars. If I were a prospector, that would make me nervous.
An interesting theme is the emotions/humanity of robots, as shown by Sigfrid, who reveals at the end of the book that he hypothetically envies Bob's ability to feel emotions, even though Bob feels negative emotions like guilt.
Frederick Pohl
Summary (with spoilers):
When Robinette (Bob) Broadhead wins the lottery, he spends the money to get out of his job at the food mines and travel to Gateway, a space station built by long-gone alien civilization called the Heechee. The story is told by shifting between two time periods: flashbacks of Bob's experiences at Gateway and his sessions with his robot physiologist, whom he calls Sigfrid, in the present.
Gateway was abandoned by the Heechee, but it still has working space ships. Prospectors travel in the ships to unknown locations, where they hope to strike it rich by finding a cache of Heechee artifacts or by getting a large science or danger bonus from the Gateway corporation. There are 3 types of ships (Ones, Threes, and Fives), named based on the number of personnel they can hold. The humans haven't figured out what most of the stuff in the ship does or how to tell where the ships are going.
Bob starts dating Sheri, a woman in his class on Gateway, but they break up when he decides not to go on a mission with her. The truth is, Bob is scared to go on any missions. The majority of them don't return.
He starts dating Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman who has been out on two missions, but who is also scared to go out on any. Eventually, they go out in a Five with three gay men. They aren't able to land on the planet they pop out next to, so their mission is not very profitable. One of the men goes insane.
When Klara and Bob get back, they grow apart. Bob sleeps with Louise Forehand (who is waiting for her family to get back before going on a mission, although her daughter has been out long enough that she is probably dead.) Klara sleeps with Dane Metchnikov, who was Bob's assigned mentor when he first arrived at Gateway. Bob and Klara get in an argument, and when Klara punches Bob in the shoulder, Bob beats her up really badly.
Klara leaves on a ship for Venus, and Bob signs up for a One mission. At the end of several months, he arrives at Gateway II, a known location. In anger that his trip has been useless, he changes the settings in his Heechee ship, and becomes the first person to break a ship without having it explode.
Back on Gateway, the scientists have some new ideas about what the colored bars in the ship panels mean in relation to coordinates. They plan to send two Fives out to the same destination, posting a hefty danger bonus. Bob and Dane Metchnikov end up in one ship. Bob's legless friend Shikitei Bahkin wants to go, but Bob doesn't put in a good word for him. (As you may have realized by this point, Bob is a selfish jerk.) Klara shows up and signs up with the other Five. The two ships pop out at the destination. It is a black hole! They all try to pile into one ship so that they can use the momentum of the other ship to push them out of the black hole. They only have a few minutes to transfer everything in and out between the ships, and in the hustle, Bob is the only one who is not able to get back to the correct ship in time. Instead, he punts the other 9 people into the black hole to save himself by using the momentum of their ship.
Throughout the book, Bob is going to the robot psychologist, and at the end, finally reveals this secret. Also, due to issues of time and black holes, although years have passed for Bob, only a few seconds have passed for Klara and the crew. Knowing that Klara is out there somewhere probably at that second (in her time) thinking Bob is an awful guy makes Bob feel even guiltier.
****EDIT*****
Okay, so wiki says that actually Bob was trying to close the hatch and then push the other ship away to safety, but that somehow his ship was the one that got pushed out of the black hole. I read that part again, and it's ambiguous what actually happened. Bob also seems not to know what his intentions where, or if someone on the other ship pushed a button first. He's convinced himself that he was trying to save himself. Unclear what actually happened.
My Thoughts:
I liked the first part of the book better than the ending, mostly because the main character becomes less likable throughout. Learning about the Heechee was interesting. I especially liked that the book had these little asides (snippets of lectures on the Heechee, classified ads on Gateway, etc.) However, the asides took up a full page each time and were placed somewhat randomly throughout the book, often cutting a sentence in half or detracting from the action. I would have preferred if they were placed more strategically for minimal disruption of reading flow.
Bob is revealed to be a fairly terrible guy. I can understand that in a fit of fear he punted the 9 other people into the black hole. That's a rotten thing to do, but it's a move I think a lot of people would make to survive. However, Bob becomes an unsympathetic character when he beats up his girlfriend. (It's so bad that she looses a tooth.) He feels remorse for beating her up, but not enough to satisfy me. Also, she shows up randomly and forgives him, which I didn't like.
There are problems with how the missions are set up. Throughout the book, many prospectors die because they run out of food, and all prospectors are worried about resources until they reach turnaround (the half way point of the trip out). If this is such a big problem, why don't they send out less people in the bigger ships? They could send out two people in a Five with a lot more food. In the story, when one of the longer missions fails, it's even noted that perhaps one person in the Five could have survived. Also, when a prospector dies during the trip, the other prospectors split the money she would have earned. When Bob dooms his nine shipmates to drawn out death by black hole, he actually makes 9 million dollars. If I were a prospector, that would make me nervous.
An interesting theme is the emotions/humanity of robots, as shown by Sigfrid, who reveals at the end of the book that he hypothetically envies Bob's ability to feel emotions, even though Bob feels negative emotions like guilt.
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