I like a good time travel novel. Outlander and Time Traveler's Wife are two of my favorites. So for Black History Month, what better than Octavia Butler's famous time travel entry, Kindred. I listened to this one on audio and the narration was... not great. The narration made weakness in some of the dialogue obvious. And the narrator used the same voice for Rufus from when he was a inquisitive six year old through when he was a ruthless 25 year old man.Had the narration not been off, I may have lent my own imaginative gravitas to some of the dialogue where it was lacking. The premise of the book is that Dana, an black women living in 1970s Los Angeles gets sucked back in time to 1810 to help her generations ago relative and white Maryland plantation owner who keeps almost dying, requiring her help.Dana is married to a white man, Kevin, and when she pops back into her own time after being confronted with the barrel of a gun by Rufus' father, they both seem alarmed but also very casual about the fact that Dana just traveled back in time. It's a moment that is shockingly devoid of feeling. Perhaps we just don't know Dana well enough yet. She proves over the course of the book to be alarmingly practical even in the face of startling cruelty.I understand the premise of the book is how easy it is to slip into they rhythms and requirements of slavery, even for someone who is so outside the experience, but Dana's tone and approach to the whole thing came off a little mechanical and more geared toward furthering the point rather than developing her own character.As the relationship between Dana and Rufus changes over time as Rufus grows into his expected role and Dana continues to insist on her own independence, things become increasingly tense and the stakes for Dana become increasingly high.Overall, I enjoyed this book and premise but it wasn't quite as good as it could have been.
3/5 Stars.
Wow! What a crazy ride this book is. The fact that William Gibson wrote Neuromancer in 1984 cannot be underscored enough. So Case is a hacker, a "cowboy." At some point he tries to steal from his own employer who then chemically castrates him, preventing him from entering "The Matrix", a virtual reality cyberspace where networks appear as objects, as does the "ice" which protects it from hackers. Barred from the only job he loves, Case becomes a low level drug dealer in Chiba City, Japan. He encounters Molly, a leather clad ninja bad ass who recruits him to work with her boss Armitage. They offer to fix his condition in return for his work hacking the Tessier-Ashpool family mainframe.In their pursuits, Case and Molly must break into Sense/Net and steal the stored memory of Case's mentor, Dixie Flatline, so named because he flatlined while in the Matrix and died, thus allowing his memory to be stored. Along the way, Case and Molly discover Armitage is an alter-ego for Colonel Corto, who was the sole survivor of an attempted attack on Russia's network. If this all sounds like the movie, The Matrix, and it sounds like it could have been written today, you are completely right. There's no doubt this book serves as the foundation for so many concepts, images, and terms we are familiar with today. This is a book that should be re-read because I'm sure it's so much easier to understand the second time around. I lost track of minor characters from the beginning who later became important and I think this would be cleared up reading it a second time. Also, there is no grounding character in the book to introduce you to Case's world, so the reader has to figure it out as the book goes along and that can take a lot of energy.
4/5 Stars (If I ever re-read this book I'll revisit this rating because I have a feeling it will improve).
Philip K. Dick was ahead of his time when he penned A Scanner Darkly. Published in 1977, it is a gritty dystopian story of undercover narcotics informant Bob Arctor who lives in a house with other substance abusers. The world is divided between dopers and straights and never the two intermix. The straights have been taught that the dopers are mindless fiends for the drugs - substance D.When Arctor puts on a "scramble suit" causing him to appear as a faceless nameless blur, he takes on the persona of Fred, a narcotics agent charged, ironically with the surveillance of Bob Arctor, who seems to be making a play to become a heavy drug dealer. Because Arctor must consumer substance D in order to maintain his cover, the damage done to his brain causes him to suffer a rift in his reality, where eventually he no longer recognizes that Fred and Bob Arctor are one in the same. It's brilliantly painful, and slowly wrought as Dick's writing makes smaller and smaller moves to make us aware of the breakdown. At once a condemnation of the damage done by drugs, without condemnation of the users, Dick's story came from a deeply personal place, evident by the epilogue in which he lists the names of several people who died or became disabled due to their drug use. The novel also serves as an early condemnation of the war on drugs, which criminalized small dealers, but created an industry that required the addicts in order to operate. I can only imagine this was difficult to write. There were times when the story moved frustratingly slow, but mostly it was a pleasure to read.
4/5 Stars.
Despite all my rage I am still just a worm in a cave....
Well, 3500 years after the end of Children of Dune (read that review here), God Emperor of Dune checks in on Leto Atreides II who we last saw donning a suit of sand trout and becoming one with Dune. Over the millennia, Leto has grown in size and become more worm like. His prescience stretches out into the future as he attempts to follow his "Golden Path".
He's created three millennia of lasting peace (through brutal means when necessary) - an apparent irony which is lost, but also not lost on him. He's stamped out rebellion through his loyal legion, the Fish Speakers, militarized woman who use their feminine ways when they can, or the typical chop chop, shoot shoot method of militaries everywhere.
Leto has also undertaken an ambitious breeding program, none with more attention that that paid to the offspring of his sister Ghani and all the Atreides through the ages. People have gotten faster and stronger. But through it all, he keeps resurrecting poor Duncan Idaho - a man condemned to live the later years of his life over and over. The trauma of being dropped into a time and space not his own causes Duncan to rebel against the God Emperor over and over again. So he is accordingly killed over and over again in showdowns with Leto.
It appears finally that Leto has achieved his aim in breeding an Atreides worthy of carrying on the Golden Path in Siona. Taken out into what little desert remains on Dune, Siona is given the spice essence and passes the test of not being filled with the personalities of all her ancestors. Once this breakthrough occurs, Leto knows his time is short. Despite repeatedly stating that his blindspot is his own demise, he sure seems to push the narrative forward to that end. And despite stating that the years following his death will be full of terror and bloodshed, this is somehow the best outcome possible for Dune, wherein Leto is supposed to ditch his outer sand trout skin and return to the dessert as the first worm of the empire. Well, things don't seem to exactly go his way as he spent three millennia casually ignoring all the possible work-arounds the citizens of his empire would concoct to overcome the dependence on spice that crippled the empire and focused too much power in the hands of one planet and person.
3/5 Stars
This book was very uneven for me. I like Herbert's exploration of power and possession. In this installment, 9 years have passed since twins were born to Paul Atreides, Muad Dib, emperor, and his wife, Chani. Nine years since Paul walked off into the desert, blind and ready for death. Overwhelmed by all the possible futures he had seen and choosing instead to pass the burden on to his infant children (coward).
His children, Leto II and Ghanima, are not like children at all. They too are filled with all the past lives of their ancestors. They can remember things that have fallen out of knowledge for centuries. And they have a plan for the empire. But, looking like children, they are also surrounded by powerful adults who also have plans for the empire.
The grandson of former Emperor Shaddam plots with his mother to murder the twins and take back the throne. Alia, overcome by a lifetime of attempting to repress the past lives inside her, becomes overtaken by the memory of Vladmir Harkonnen. Under his sway, she plots also to kill the twins and remain in power. And Lady Jessica, Paul's mother, returns to Dune to complete the Bene Gesserit breeding program by mating the twins together (ewwwww).
Thinking they are facing mere 9 years olds, these adults plot and scheme, all the while the twins carry out their own plan. Looks like Leto has also looked into the future and decided to make the necessary changes Paul was unwilling to make, why? Oh because it involves the death and destruction of millions, possibly billions, all in an effort to wipe the slate clean on religion and power in the empire. I didn't really buy all that Leto was selling on this and it left a bitter taste in my mouth about all the interesting facets of the power struggle going on otherwise.
Lastly, Herbert is so damn vague about so many details of the Butlerian Jihad or what is coming under Leto's "Golden Path" that it's difficult to grasp just how dangerous a position in which the players have put themselves.
3.5/5 Stars.
I liked this book more than the first in the series (you can read that review here). It helps that we already have a background in the story so the names and the places aren't as unfamiliar this time around. There also just seemed to be a better flow and the characters seemed more human this time around.
Dune Messiah takes place 12 years after the events ending the first book, namely the ascension of Paul Atreides as emperor and his political union with Princess Irulan. But things in the realm are not going so well. Paul's global jihad, the one in his name, but for which he constantly wishes would not endure, has killed up to 60 million people across the universe. His Fremen armies have spread out and vanquished foes on hold out planets far and wide.
Having the give of foresight, Paul sees no other path before him and knows each path provides only ever greater death and destruction than the one he has set himself on. He feels trapped in his present, having already seen how it all plays out. His attempts to delay the inevitable cause him more heartbreak.
Enter the picture a plot to overthrow Paul. A group of schemers, to include his princess-consort Irulan, Reverend Mother, a Guild Steersman and a new face dancer of the Bene Tleilaxu all meet in secret to come up with a way to take back the empire. The Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit insists that Irulan must bear the heir to the throne. She's trying, but Paul still loves Chani, the Fremen girl he met when he was cast out in the desert at 15. Chani has been unable to bear him any more children since the death of their son in the final battle which placed Paul on the throne. The plotters plan involves gifting Paul a remade Duncan Idaho, reclaimed of his original flesh, this part man, part robot thing called a "ghola" looks like Duncan Idaho but has new memories and abilities. He is to be the secret weapon to kill Paul when the time comes.
Meanwhile, Paul's sister Alia grows frantic in her attempts to understand her brother's actions and the ever growing mix of religion and politics that is taking place due to her brother's status as a god. How to overcome this path and set the empire to rights again? And why is she falling in love with Duncan Idaho, the ghola?
The only weird thing missing in this story is Paul and Alia's mom. Maybe Herbert decided it was time to let the second Atreides generation take the highlights of the plot and keep the older generation out of the picture. But their mother would have provided some interesting insight and perspective as the person who set this whole crazy train in motion.
I won't say how the book ends, because it's a main driver of the plot to find out what Paul decides or gives himself up to in the end. But I will say it's satisfying as a story arc to have it end the way it did, even if it didn't feel entirely necessary.
4/5 Stars.
This book took a supremely long time for me to read. It was challenging. Herbert's cadence is unique, and certainly the universe he creates is completely foreign. Typically with this type of book, it takes me about 100 pages to get familiar with the world and accept the normative structures relied upon by the author (see my review of A Crown for Cold Silver here). This did, in fact, occur for the most part while reading this book. However, afterwards, the sheer amount of information provided in each chapter was a bit overwhelming and I was unable to read large portions of the book without stopping. With that said, the story is rather epic. House Atreides has been granted a fiefdom over Arrakis, a stark and barren planet that is the sole producer of the universe's most valuable mineral, melange (spice). House Atreides is taking over the fiefdom from House Harkonnen, which has held reign over Arrakis for 70ish years. Duke Leto, his companion Jessica, and their son Paul arrive on Arrakis with their advisors in tow. Paul has been specially trained in combat, but also in mystical learning by his mother who was brought up under a teaching called Ben Gesserit. The Ben Gesserit have been focused on breeding a specific person through various bloodlines in the empire. Paul is the accidental culmination of this attempt. Well, as can be expected, the House losing control of the universe's most profitable and valuable substance is not too ready to leave and House Harkonnen attacks the Atreides with help from a treacherous insider - leaving Paul and Jessica wandering through the desert and Leto dead. However, the Harkonnens have underestimated Paul, Jessica, and, as it turns out, the entire population of native people living on Arrakis, the Fremen, who take in Paul and Jessica from the desert. Paul proves himself in combat and becomes a prophet as well as leader of the Fremen. His training have prepared him to create a master army out of the Fremen, who have been subjugated and harassed by the Harkonnens and are prime for revolution. Ultimately, I think there's a certain narrative distance with which the story is told that made it extremely enjoyable but also made it lacking in a certain development which would have improved upon the entire experience of reading this book. I'll be continuing the story at least through the fourth book, which I'm told is the last episode in the series that is worth reading. I'm interested to see what happens after this first book lets off because it certainly ends abruptly.
4/5 Stars.
I
loved, loved, loved this book! I'm recommending it to everyone I know. I
think it's the best book I've read in 2015. It's smart. It made me WANT
to read about growing potatoes for 30 pages. It made me WANT to hear
about velocity, atmospheric pressure, etc.
I can see why the
actual NASA astronauts have all read it. It's funny and well researched.
I can't think of anything Weir did not include in his piece by piece
structure of the novel.
If you've never heard of the book, that
is probably about to end, as it is being released on October 2, 2015 in
the theaters in movie form starring Matt Damon and directed by Ridley
Scott (Gladiator) (you can watch the trailer here). And oh, I'm so deliriously excited to see this movie.
The story follows Mark Watney, an astronaut on a mission to
Mars. Watney is lost during a massive storm on Mars and believed dead.
But, he's not. Because, as you'll see when you read it (seriously go
read it), Watney is AWESOME! This is a guy you can go have a beer with,
watch a ball game with, talk about plants with. He's a mechanical
engineer/botanist and he's hilarious. Following him around Mars is some
of the best moments I've spent in a fictional world.
Most
importantly, the book captures some of the magic of space exploration
that I felt as a kid watching shuttle launches on TV. I'm not sure how
Weir does it, but he does. And I followed along like a person reading
news accounts of the effort to bring Watney home. I so hope the movie
lives up to the book, because I want to like it and I want to spend more
time with Watney, even if it is on screen as Matt Damon (don't screw this up for me Matt!).
Love, love, love this book.
5/5 Stars.
