Big reading roundup
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
This is my new favorite author! I've never read a time-travel book with such a keen sense of the actual study of history, with such a piercing satire of academia, with such an understated yet spot-on sense of humor. The technobabble mechanics of the time travel are done well, and the mechanism of one resilient but subtly changeable time-frame makes for good stories without descending too far into metaphysics. The characters, especially in 21st century Oxford, but less so also in 14th century England, are just delightful.
Of course, no novel set in England during the Plague can be actually light-hearted or funny, and the few ending chapters deteriorate into horror and nightmare. But until the very end, the charm and humor remain. The parallels between the modern and mediaeval storylines works nicely without being awfully obvious. It's not a massive feat of historical writing, but it's a charming book with a wonderful comic sensibility and I want more!
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
And here's the more. Definitely one of my new favorites. This has drastically more of the wit and charm and humor than the last one did (not being set during the Black Death). It is essentially a Victorian comedy of manners combined with a science fiction farce of time travel paradoxes, and the two genres work beautifully together. The basic farce is established with the condition of Time Lag (Symptoms: Maudlin sentimentality and Difficulty Distinguishing Sounds- all kinds of fun there). Our recurring characters, Fitch and Mr. Dunworthy, have become old friends (Fitch's realization that he has found his life's calling as a Victorian butler is particularly delightful). The animal characters are cute, the love story is sweet, and the the paradox is satisfyingly resolved in a complex and unpredictable way. What more could one want?
Songs of Distant Earth, Arthur C. Clark
I think this is one of Clark's better. It combines a lot of science fiction themes that I enjoy greatly- seedship, realistic sub-light timeframes and all their ramifications for planetary travel, and the last days of earth.
Clark's conception of far-future earth follows a theme I've seen a great deal recently. It's in Songs of Distant Earth, it was in Hyperion and Ilium, it comes from Dying Earth... the idea that far future humans on earth, possessed of unimaginable resources and levels of technology, far from become god-like, will actually end up as complete children. "Lord of the last days," moral children utterly without trials, responsibility, or (in more extreme cases) basic human emotions, with a whole planet as their playgrounds and the power of God, while the real adult remnants of humanity struggle and live and learn on other planets. It is a highly exaggerated extrapolation of our current trend toward showy luxury, elaborate entertainment, and extended adolescence, and it almost seems like a more logical result of such advanced technology than the extreme Utopias often presented.
I've always liked the conception of a seedship too, the utterly alien nature of an entire world carried to the stars on a ship, the vast gulfs of time implied by centuries-long journeys- entire generations living and dying in the void between the stars, or people going to sleep and awakening after 600 years to start an entire civilization utterly from scratch. I enjoy science fiction authors who attempt to come to grips with the vast gaps of time and space that seem like they will be the reality of any space-travel- no magic hyperspace drives or warp speed here. The writing is not brilliant, the plot isn't much, but that basic willingness to grapple with the ideas makes me more than pleased.
The Hedge Knight and the Sworn Sword (novellas), George R. R. Martin
Martin continues to flesh out the dense fabric he's created. This is the height of the Targaryens, 50-100 years before Game of Thrones. I'm pretty sure the entire Targaryen family tree can be drawn now, though I wasn't paying close enough attention. Anyway, it says some interesting thematic things about loyalty and nobility and drew a few good characters, including a heartbreakingly tragic figure of an old knight of a deposed house and his desperate yearnings. It says a lot about treason and what treason is and why- Eustace's defense is simply that if he had won, he would not have been a traitor. Nothing ground-breaking here, but it proves that Martin's world has become one of those worlds that are familiar and comfortable to return to, a canvas that can support other stories and other themes.
This is my new favorite author! I've never read a time-travel book with such a keen sense of the actual study of history, with such a piercing satire of academia, with such an understated yet spot-on sense of humor. The technobabble mechanics of the time travel are done well, and the mechanism of one resilient but subtly changeable time-frame makes for good stories without descending too far into metaphysics. The characters, especially in 21st century Oxford, but less so also in 14th century England, are just delightful.
Of course, no novel set in England during the Plague can be actually light-hearted or funny, and the few ending chapters deteriorate into horror and nightmare. But until the very end, the charm and humor remain. The parallels between the modern and mediaeval storylines works nicely without being awfully obvious. It's not a massive feat of historical writing, but it's a charming book with a wonderful comic sensibility and I want more!
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
And here's the more. Definitely one of my new favorites. This has drastically more of the wit and charm and humor than the last one did (not being set during the Black Death). It is essentially a Victorian comedy of manners combined with a science fiction farce of time travel paradoxes, and the two genres work beautifully together. The basic farce is established with the condition of Time Lag (Symptoms: Maudlin sentimentality and Difficulty Distinguishing Sounds- all kinds of fun there). Our recurring characters, Fitch and Mr. Dunworthy, have become old friends (Fitch's realization that he has found his life's calling as a Victorian butler is particularly delightful). The animal characters are cute, the love story is sweet, and the the paradox is satisfyingly resolved in a complex and unpredictable way. What more could one want?
Songs of Distant Earth, Arthur C. Clark
I think this is one of Clark's better. It combines a lot of science fiction themes that I enjoy greatly- seedship, realistic sub-light timeframes and all their ramifications for planetary travel, and the last days of earth.
Clark's conception of far-future earth follows a theme I've seen a great deal recently. It's in Songs of Distant Earth, it was in Hyperion and Ilium, it comes from Dying Earth... the idea that far future humans on earth, possessed of unimaginable resources and levels of technology, far from become god-like, will actually end up as complete children. "Lord of the last days," moral children utterly without trials, responsibility, or (in more extreme cases) basic human emotions, with a whole planet as their playgrounds and the power of God, while the real adult remnants of humanity struggle and live and learn on other planets. It is a highly exaggerated extrapolation of our current trend toward showy luxury, elaborate entertainment, and extended adolescence, and it almost seems like a more logical result of such advanced technology than the extreme Utopias often presented.
I've always liked the conception of a seedship too, the utterly alien nature of an entire world carried to the stars on a ship, the vast gulfs of time implied by centuries-long journeys- entire generations living and dying in the void between the stars, or people going to sleep and awakening after 600 years to start an entire civilization utterly from scratch. I enjoy science fiction authors who attempt to come to grips with the vast gaps of time and space that seem like they will be the reality of any space-travel- no magic hyperspace drives or warp speed here. The writing is not brilliant, the plot isn't much, but that basic willingness to grapple with the ideas makes me more than pleased.
The Hedge Knight and the Sworn Sword (novellas), George R. R. Martin
Martin continues to flesh out the dense fabric he's created. This is the height of the Targaryens, 50-100 years before Game of Thrones. I'm pretty sure the entire Targaryen family tree can be drawn now, though I wasn't paying close enough attention. Anyway, it says some interesting thematic things about loyalty and nobility and drew a few good characters, including a heartbreakingly tragic figure of an old knight of a deposed house and his desperate yearnings. It says a lot about treason and what treason is and why- Eustace's defense is simply that if he had won, he would not have been a traitor. Nothing ground-breaking here, but it proves that Martin's world has become one of those worlds that are familiar and comfortable to return to, a canvas that can support other stories and other themes.