Title: A Feast for Crows
Author: George R.R. Martin
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
This is the fourth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As usual, each chapter follows the viewpoint of a specific character.
Cersei Lannister: Power hungry Cersei is queen regent now that Tommen is on the throne, but too young to rule. She puts her evil schemes into play, but makes the mistake of giving the Faith permission to build an army. In the middle of a plot to discredit Margaery, Tommen's wife, Cersei is locked up by the high septon and accused of various sins. She writes to Jamie to save her, but he does not come back to King's Landing to rescue her.
Jamie Lannister: He manages to get Riverrun to surrender without a battle. Spends the entire book freaking out about how Cersei is sleeping with other people.
Brienne: The Maid of Tarth is on a quest to find Sansa Stark (and also hopes to find Arya, once she learns Arya is alive.) Brienne picks up some companions on her quest, including Poddrick (previously squire to Tyrion), and Ser Hyle, who proposes marriage. She slays some outlaws from previous books (Shagga, etc.), runs into Gendry at an inn, and saves a bunch of children by fighting Biter, even though she is grievously injured. Brienne is delivered to Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark), but Stoneheart believes Brienne has betrayed her, since she's carrying a Lannister sword. Brienne and friends are hanged, although it's ambiguous whether they die or whether they will be saved at the last second.
Sansa Stark: She's up in the Eyrie with Petyr (Littlefinger) being all creepy while she pretends to be his daughter. Petyr succeeds in keeping control of the Eyrie, at least for now.
Ayra Stark: Arya ends up as an apprentice at the temple of the Many-Faced God in Braavos. She runs into Sam, although they don't know each other, and she kills a brother of the Knight's Watch who has strayed from his path. When she tells her mentor at the temple what she's done, he gives her a drink. The next day, she wakes up blind.
Samwell Tarly: Sam journeys to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester. On the journey, Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly. In Oldtown, he meets up with apprentice Pate in the last chapter. If the reader can remember several hundred pages back to the prologue, we know that Pate has been killed, so this guy must be an impostor.
Meanwhile, we get the viewpoints of a bunch of random characters in Dorne and the Iron Islands. Arianne in Dorne tries to form a rebellion to have Marcella crowned queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, that backfires and her lover, Ser Oakheart, dies in the skirmish that follows their discovery. On the Iron Islands, a kingsmoot decides for Euron Crow's Eye over his brother Victarion and Asha Greyjoy. The islanders start raiding territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
My Thoughts:
For such a huge book, not much happened. Cersei does her weird plots (and her chapters take up the most out of any character in the book), but it's so clear that she's power mad that it's not much fun to read. Also, she sits through some boring council meetings, which means we have to sit through them too. And that bit with Lady Merryweather... It seemed like George R.R. Martin just got bored and wanted to throw in some sexy times. Didn't seem necessary.
Brienne wanders around doing nothing for most of the book. I like this character; she's one of the only unequivocally good people in the book. I wish her story had been better. We know where Sansa is, so it's not exciting for us to watch Brienne searching. We know Brienne is looking in the wrong places. Also, her ending was so unfair and sudden (although I don't believe she's dead).
What's with Ayra randomly killing some dude?! So unnecessary. Is George R.R. Martin trying to show that Ayra (whose been painted as a likable character up until this point) is actually evil? Because most good people don't go around murdering people who annoy them. I know his characters are all supposed to be a little rotten, but I don't know if I can go on liking Ayra if she's going to behave this way.
Those are my main problems with this book. I liked Sam's story and was happy to see more of him. I'm also interested to see how Petyr's plans play out, as he seems smarter than the other power hungry characters.
Of course, many of the main POV characters were left out of this book, since it was split into two novels. Here's hoping that the next book will be better.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
2312
Title: 2312
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project by Mindy Kaling
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Quiet
Quiet by Susan Cain
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
What Makes a Good Book?
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.
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.
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.
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