Science Fiction

Moving over from Reddit, I don't want to just lurk here, so I thought I'd introduce myself by mentioning the last science fiction novels I read along with how I enjoyed them. I just reread what I wrote and I believe they are spoiler-free, though I may be corrected on that point.

I just finished Translation State by Ann Leckie, and overall I'd say that I enjoyed it. Interesting characters and alien species (particularly the Presger) told at an interesting pace that eschewed typical action-centric plotting. My one real complaint was that the last quarter of the book felt like it ran into a wall for me, forcing the characters suddenly into a restricted space that felt like it was all about placing the various characters into different combinations to force the dialogues that the author wanted to happen before the end of the book. That felt clumsy to me and I found myself tempted to skip pages.

A few books before that I had read Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway. I have a long history with hardboiled/noir fiction and the sci-fi variants, but I have tended to avoid it for a long time just because I grew tired of it through overexposure. But between how much I enjoyed Harkway's Gnomon and the rave reviews for Titanium Noir this was an easy pick-up and I'm glad I did pick it up, because I loved it and was driven to finish it in a few reads. Harkaway does an exceptional job of creating his own hardboiled atmosphere and characters, coming up with his own spin on the trope-y patois made relevant to its particular setting and wrapping it all around an excellent investigation into where our haves vs have-nots society is heading with his concept of Titans. Not a long read, but a particularly enjoyable one. I see how it could easily turn into sequels, but personally I'm really happy for this to be a terrific one-and-done.

A few books before that was Adrian Tchaikovsky's Infinity Gates. I think I'm not alone in saying that his Children of series is among my favorite science fiction of all time. I haven't read anything else by him that I was into until this. It's not conceptually as amazing as the Children of books (for me at least), but I found it a good actiony yarn that has a fresh and very neat spin on the now-tired multiverse concept, something which also allows it to avoid needing to come up with some broken explanation for ftl travel so it could have radically different settings and species.

A handful of books before that one, my next-previous sci fi read was the remarkable A Half-built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys, which is really stellar science fiction by my tastes. Great and big ideas in regards to aliens, gender and climate response, bringing both Butler's Xenogenesis and Robinson's Ministry for the Future strongly to mind though not in any way aping them. In fact I think Emrys one-upped Robinson in respect to her incorporation of how the tech of social networks and communications might evolve (including using AI/algorithms responsibly to support the mechanisms rather than guide them) and be used to form non-state governance, mutualism and corporate resistance centered around dealing with climate change and environmental restoration. I REALLY want there to be watershed networks and given my geography I look forward to being a part of the Chesapeake Watershed.

This is a book that made me think a lot, and beyond that it worked on me with its use of personal pronouns. It's far from the first stuff I've read that makes a point of upending traditional gender pronouns (I think Xenogenesis may be my first significant encounter with that long ago), but the degree and the rapid fluidity of the usage here (all required by the story I should note) definitely challenged my reading flow due to my old man conditioning. At some point during my read, though, that friction receded. I'm not saying I had no issues at all with the writing (some of which I recall was in regards to character motivations I found bit sudden and/or baffling and unsupported to me), but this was Emrys' book, not mine, and for something this inspired and beautifully-executed I'd feel pretty petty for nit-picking over what are ultimately personal choices. This is exceptional science fiction that I highly recommend.