Book Blog – Page 50 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

October 17, 2021

Klara and the Sun (Guest Review)

lara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a charming yet nihilistic fable of man’s isolated future. In this not too distant or improbable alternate future, parents arrange mandatory play dates for their children’s social advance, and buy friendship for their children through artificial intelligence robots. Klara, our story’s protagonist, is one such AF. We follow her from her storefront beginnings through her burgeoning understanding of her new charges human interactions through to her planned obsolescence. In a world of robots who possess more humanity than the humans they serve, Kazuo Ishiguro takes us on a beautifully crafted heroes journey […]

October 24, 2021

Battle for the Stars (Review)

here is something to be said about old Space Opera novels from the golden era of sci-fi. The plots aren’t dogged down in technical details (you simply point a ship in the direction you want to go and go) and one man can pretty much change the course of the narrative. Realism doesn’t get in the way too much. And that’s pretty much Battle for the Stars, a 1961 novel by one of the classical masters, Edmond Hamilton. I found myself really enjoying this book. So the human empire has largely fragmented. In the center is Earth, royal yet impotent. […]

October 31, 2021

The Electric State (Review)

veryone feels that culture and society is falling apart around them. And never has that been more so than this book by Simon Stallenhag, showcasing his dystopian art in loose storyform, The Electric State. Set in a world where VR addiction and a massive drone war fragmented America in the ’90s, the book follows a young women who is traveling from somewhere in the dust-clouded Imperial Valley up to a small sea-side town just north of San Fransisco (labeled as a “Memorial City”). In her inventory, she has an old clunker car, a sawed-off shotgun, a kayak (tied to the […]

November 7, 2021

The Consuming Fire (Review)

kay, i’m way behind on my reviews. However, I can still remember that the second book of John Scalzi’s Interdependency series was as sharp as the first, The Collapsing Empire. So, yes, let’s give this a shot. To avoid spoilers, I’m just going to mention that the only danger in this book is that that Kiva Lagos, a secondary character behind the Emporox Grayland II, continues to outshine all the other characters with her foul tongue and action-figure manners. Of particular delight is when a rival house attempts to assassinate her and shoots her lover instead. In retaliation, Kiva beats the […]

November 14, 2021

The Trafalgar Gambit: Ark Royal III (Review)

o this is book three of the Ark Royal series, the final book (final, did you say? That sounds like foreshadowing. Uh oh). In a nutshell, the Ark Royal was an old Royal Navy space carrier, built along specs thought important eight decades past, put out to pasture with a goof-ball crew and suddenly pressed back into service when all those lighter, newer carriers were all turned to scrap by the Tadpoles (an alien race that seemingly attacked us out of the blue (well, black, since this is space)). If you are curious about all this, read my earlier reviews […]

November 21, 2021

The Last Emperox (Review)

or this review, I’m going to avoid spoilers. It’s the last book of the The Interdependency Trilogy. I won’t tell you who lives and who dies. However, the flow passages between the planets of the Empire are shutting down, entire habitats with billions of souls dependent on trade will die, and the only planet (End) with a natural biosphere that could keep humans alive is controlled by evil Noble House Nohamapetan, and even if they lifted their blockade the planet would be overrun by billions of displaced people. So it’s pretty grim. We see Emperox Grayland II trying to mature […]

November 28, 2021

Make Room! Make Room! (Review)

ritten in 1966 (just as overpopulation was becoming a known concern), this novel by Harry Harrison was the driving force behind the movie Soylent Green. Focusing on the book (the whole cannibalism aspect is absent), we have detective Andy Rusch sharing a small tenement flat with Sol, a retired engineer who has cobbled together a bike-generator for their small fridge and TV. Andy has been assigned a case looking into the murder of a known racketeer – it’s thought to be the work of a new mob moving into New York (it’s actually the result of a frightened burglar who […]

December 5, 2021

Redshirts (Review)

love John Scalzi’s writing – enjoyed Old Man’s War and The Collapsing Empire. And I’ll admit I was looking for a light-hearted book, a lampoon of sorts of Hollywood sci-fi franchises and the characters who are in them. Expecting nothing more than a reheating of Galaxy Quest, I dove into Redshirts. So Ensign Andrew Dahl of the Universal Union has just been assigned to the Intrepid, flagship of the fleet. Since it is a forward exploration and combat vessel, one would expect casualties. But, as the nerd joke goes, the security forces (i.e. the “redshirts”) suffer appalling losses. And they die […]

December 12, 2021

A Pirate’s Life in the Golden Age of Piracy (Review)

y friend Brian loaned me this one, a book about the history of piracy over the golden age (1600’s, mostly). I went into it with my engine room set to dubious speed – author Robert Jacob notes in his opener that he isn’t really a historian in any way. He is just into pirates (his author picture shows him in pirate cosplay garb). So, I figured, let’s see about pirates. I’ll give him this – he did a very competent and thorough job. He works his way from 1640 onward, following each captain as he plunders and blunders about, picking […]

December 19, 2021

Warspite (Review)

he fourth book from the Ark Royal series (which seemed odd at first, given the ending to the third book). But in this book, we have a recovering Earth launching a colony attempt way, way out into the black (as a fall back in case we come that close to extinction again). Here, Captain John Naiser finds himself in charge of Warspite, an experimental cruiser operating on escort duty. And he’s got his work cut out for him. It turns out that piracy has been occurring in space; a transport to a beleaguered colony has gone missing (through the wonder […]