Parables of Sower is an post-apocalyptic novel, from a perspective of a young Afro-American girl, reflecting her current situation after the collapse Parables of Sower is an post-apocalyptic novel, from a perspective of a young Afro-American girl, reflecting her current situation after the collapse of United States of America, following the climate change disaster.
What I like most from this novel is the character building. It is what you can expect from a post-apocalyptic world. They are dogs-eat-dogs, men-eat-men, men-eat-dogs, and occasionally dogs-eat-men world, and I mean it literally. There are no room for wish wash. Life is nasty, brutish, and short, to quote Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. This is absolutely no twilight-uber-romancing type novel. It is dark, grim, and REAL.
But it is not without flaw. The flaw is the world building. For a sci-fi novel, it is quite a big one. The following is a detail discussion of the world building, it might have a minor spoiler. (view spoiler)[ 1. Numero uno, about money. People are still using money! In the depiction of current situation of the USA, it is more than just a failed state. It is closed to a total governmental collapse. People live in gated (and fully armed) community. Public services cease to exist. It is impossible that people still use money, not to mention PAPER money. At the first sign of government collapse, hyper-inflation will follow. Paper money will be useless, people will barter to trade. Gold and other valuables can still be used as money, though.
2. It is still possible for the government to launch a space program. Space program requires a huge resource management that is only possible in strong government. If you want to create a dystopian state with space program, maybe it will be something like North Korea. Fully totalitarian, strong government, with destitute population. But totally not possible in a collapsed state.
3. The (quasi)-supermarket are still open with goods to sell. Yes, market is possible in a post-apocalyptic world. But it will be limited to just basic necessities. Towns and countries still can barter basic resources: energy, water, weapon, salt, food, etc. The first problem is the production. Production requires material and labor. With people dying, and resource difficult to get, steady production is difficult to achieve. With no production, there will be no goods to sell. (hide spoiler)]
Despite the flaws, I still love the story building. The plot is interesting. It feels real and you can relate with the character. I also like the philosophy behind the story, which is the Earthseed. The philosophy-religion debate in this book is interesting. No, it is not a heavy debate, it is just something that happened inside the head of a teenage girl, trying to comprehend the collapse world in front of her with the religion of her father. And the story follows that basic premises.
Octavia Butler ended this novel with the passage from Luke 8:5-8, a.k.a the Parable of Sower. By the day I finished the reading, I just realize that it coincides by the gospel reading of the day. Is it a coincidence? Maybe I should convert to Earthseed religion....more
The story is simple. An eccentric genius left his entire fortune to the first person who can find an Easter Egg in the biggest game that he created. SThe story is simple. An eccentric genius left his entire fortune to the first person who can find an Easter Egg in the biggest game that he created. Since that announcement, all gamers around the world (if not all the people in the world) try to solve the puzzle. Our protagonist is one of them. And the story follows his journey.
After reading several paragraph in the beginning, I have quite a high anticipation with this book. This book is definitely a tribute to the golden age of electronic games and the 80's era, which I might say I am also a big fan. But after several more pages, it becomes quite boring. Let me tell you why.
First, the world building is terrible. The idea behind the book is awesome, but you still need a solid background. I cannot find the dystopian world in this novel believable. How come you have a high speed Internet connection for EVERYONE around the world while the world is having energy crisis! It should be only privilege to a few. The world building for the cyberspace is good, but still not nearly as good as Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash . That novel is ground breaking, not to mention that it is published in 1992. READY PLAYER ONE is written where SecondLife is already online; except adding immersive experience with Oculus-Rift like VR, haptic gloves, omni-directional treadmill, which are all available now. The author just make it bigger and faster, without any groundbreaking idea. And groundbreaking idea is a sign of a good scifi.
Second, the story. While it is quite engaging, it is without any big surprises or plot twist. The ending is as expected. Simple without flare. Given the story premises that the cyberspace is worldwide, being a god-like controller of such a world will indeed create some consequences, deliberately or not. Power will change people, and this is not explored in this novel.
The last but not least, the characters. While I can understand that the author write this novel for juvenile audiences, I cannot help but to compare it to Little Brother (it is free to download, you can google it yourself). Little Brother gives you a much more complex character, while in this novel you have a boring 2-dimensional character. Where Cory Doctorow succeeds in creating a rebellious teenage character, Ernest Cline fails. I also find that the single first person view used entirely in this novel cut a lot of the potential. If the author do it in multiple point of view, the story would become more interesting.
With all of those flaws, fortunately the plot is bearable, especially the puzzle. It keeps the story flowing and interesting. Without it, I would have throw this novel away.
For anyone who wants to read Vorkosigan Saga, I would recommend this book as the first read. It is the introduction proper to our main character, MileFor anyone who wants to read Vorkosigan Saga, I would recommend this book as the first read. It is the introduction proper to our main character, Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of the saga. The first book in the series, Shards of Honour, is merely the background story of our hero, which make it more like a prequel than the first novel.
It begins with our hero, Miles, in the middle of recruitment test for the Barrayar military academy. Being born with congenital disability, he is really having a tough time for all the physical test, which he happily supplemented by his genius aptitude test. But accident cannot be avoided, and he failed to pass the test. As the result, he was sent to his mother's system to visit his grandma, more or less a vacation. Being a loose gun, he cannot let an opportunity gets away. And therefore he embarked a dangerous adventure, accompanied by his longtime guard Sergeant Bothari and his daughter, Elena Bothari. Their adventure is caught by an impossible situation that nearly caused their life. Miles has to think and act quickly, not just to save their life, but to get some profit, if possible.
Before our beloved Tyrion Lannister, Miles would have been a remarkable dwarf character in the fictional world. To be exact, maybe he is not a dwarf, just someone that is a bit too short, being born with brittle bone that cannot support a taller body. He is intelligent, good-natured, disobedient, insubordinate, and having to much initiative, all in all, a nightmare for any commander. He is young, inexperience, physically challenged, but very bright. All of that combinations makes us fall in love with him, with all of his shortcoming. He is indeed a remarkable character.
The adventure is also very interesting with many plot twists that makes it impossible to guess. Miles always tried to outsmart the situation, but the situation also outsmart him most of the time. Well, he just has to make the best of it, from the resource that he had. A bit of lying, coercing, baiting, and bluffing, here and there, and lots of luck.
The other remarkable character is his personal guard, Sergeant Bothari. There is a little hint of the background of Bothari. But if you want the full detail, you will have to read the two previous novel in chronological order, Shards of Honour and Barrayar.
All combined, I think that this book should be the first book in Vorkosigan Saga series, given it gives a better start that the actual first novel in the series. A solid 4 stars. ...more
At last, a new space opera to end my reading hiatus, after the disastrous Lost Fleet, and a not-so-exiting-in-the-beginning Vorkosigan Saga.
This serieAt last, a new space opera to end my reading hiatus, after the disastrous Lost Fleet, and a not-so-exiting-in-the-beginning Vorkosigan Saga.
This series started decently, without delving too much on the unnecessary information for the readers. A cadet, Kylara Vatta, recently disgraced by an act that is not her fault. If it is indeed her fault, it is a totally acceptable mistake of a green cadet. That mistake propelled her out of the military college. Having lost her military career, she started a new one as the captain of her family's ship, of Vatta Transport Ltd.. It is going to be an easy run, until she accidentally (again) get into some body's way. Being a good ex-cadet, she used her entire knowledge and experience to save her crew and her ship. That act exactly bring her deeper into the eye of the storm.
As the first novel of the series, it is an introduction to the main characters. The world building is not fully expanded yet, it is unraveled bit by bit as the story progresses.
What I love most is the main character design. She is intelligent, but inexperienced, and she has to pay for the mistakes she made. A hefty pay! She is almost too young in the middle of the chaos, which makes the story interesting. She does not always make the right decision, but she tries do her best all the time.
The relation between organizations within the world is interesting. You have a weak government, mercenaries, and lots of private companies. It looks like a post capitalist world with weakened national state. What happen next will have to wait, but I have a hunch that it is going to be REALLY BIG!
The plot is also carefully designed. What seems to an unimportant clue is actually a key. I only succeeded to guess one of them, and it is really joyful to see something to change into something else that you will never have guessed. (view spoiler)[Yes, beware of the fruit cake! (hide spoiler)].
Overall, a decent 4 star novel. I hesitated to give it a 5 star only because that I believe it still has something up the sleeve....more
Well. I read two Ernest Cline novels in a row. RPO and this one. I barely can recognized the differences. If Ernest Cline indeed write his 3rd sci-fi,Well. I read two Ernest Cline novels in a row. RPO and this one. I barely can recognized the differences. If Ernest Cline indeed write his 3rd sci-fi, I can guarantee you it would be the same. You are going to see another repetition of either robots or spacecraft, controlled remotely by elite gamers, using an immersive VR controller. It becomes dull quickly.
So for this one, the mission is human against aliens. Gamers around the world, recruited to fight aliens. Maybe at first it sounds like Ender's Game, geniuses around the world selected to lead an armada to beat aliens. No, not even close. Enders's Game gives us a lot of insight about human psyche, while Armada does not even give us a lot of insight about gamers.
And then Ernest Cline threw in all troupe of sci-fi movies, games, novels, you name it. You have Independence Day, Enders Game, Mech War, Wing Commander, etc. It is like an overcooked, over-ingredient dish, that you cannot see what is inside anymore. Maybe it is supposed to be a tribute to the geek culture (just like what he has done with Ready Player One (at least this novel has great puzzle). But in the end, I wonder which geek who is going to be entertained by this heap of rubbish.
Just to summarize, let me do an unrecommendation list for you:
1. If you like Ender's Game, do not read this book. It takes the elements of Ender's Game, and boiled it down to several degrees. 2. If you like alien first contact such as Contact, The Story of Your Life (made into the movie "Arrival", Yesterday's Kin, do not read this book. This one doesn't explores the complexity that we are going to face when we indeed have a first contact with intelligence life. 3, If you like humans beating aliens theme, such as Old Man's War, The Forever War, do not read this book. The alien is not interesting, the war is boring. Even the protagonists are boring.
Why that I give this book a 2 stars instead of 1 star. Maybe because I still manage to finish it. Otherwise I would have give it a 1 star, which in my classification means avoid it like a plague.
PS: Some reviewers compare Ernest Cline with Stephenie Meyer, dubbed as the Stephenie Meyer of science fiction. I cannot agree more. Given his popularity as a sci-fi writer, I can only mourn for the sci-fi readers....more
This is my first novel on Vorkosigan Saga (after being bored by Lost Fleet series). I was hoping for a military sci-fi, but instead I get a romantic sThis is my first novel on Vorkosigan Saga (after being bored by Lost Fleet series). I was hoping for a military sci-fi, but instead I get a romantic sci-fi. I felt disappointed initially, but the ending did redeem the entire novel.
It begins with a scientific survey that went awry. During that event, our protagonist Commander (later Captain) Cornelia Naismith met the other protagonist (duhhh) Captain Vorkosigan, as an enemy. Cornelia was from a more "civilized" system, Beta, while, Vorkosigan is pictured as a brute from a outdated militaristic empire, Barrayar. And then, you know, things happen. And that is the part from this novel that I hate.
And later, a full conflict came, entangled our heroes into an inescapable situation, and the story developed. I am still not impressed, and felt quite bored. Until about the end of the novel, the real story unraveled. (view spoiler)[Barrayar is undergoing a reformation, spear headed by its dying emperor. It is far from complete, but time is not on the emperor's side. His heir is still too young, so he must choose a regent. It is not too difficult to guess who is going to be chosen. But still the story unravel it quite beautifully. And so, our heroes are in a Game of Throne situation, as the Hand of the King! Interesting. (hide spoiler)]And then I cannot stop but have to read the next novel in the series.
This entire novel is actually just an intro to the characters of this new series. Nothing actually happened before the near end of the novel. Maybe if the author cut short the intro, it will become a more interesting novel. Maybe it is the job of the editor also to trim the novel to make it a more interesting one. There also not much world building given in this novel. Thankfully the ending hints some great story ahead, otherwise I will definitely quit this series entirely.
So, some good, some bad, 3 stars. But ending really worth 4 star....more
That's it, I call it a quit for this series. It is not going worse but not going better either.
This series really reminds me what I love about militarThat's it, I call it a quit for this series. It is not going worse but not going better either.
This series really reminds me what I love about military sci-fi, which is clearly missing in this series: 1. Military culture. It is obviously the main premise of this series! That the military has lost many of its culture because of the rapid replacement in the ranks. In that case it would not cause the military to loose its culture, but the military itself will cease to exist! Can you imagine a military command that is based on a vote (like those damned civilian)? 2. The technical detail of the war machine. In this series, the author does not bother to explain the difference between battleship, battle cruiser, heavy cruiser, light cruiser and destroyer. Just roughly that one is comparatively bigger than another. The readers then loose the opportunity to imagine what a light cruiser is capable of, or how slow is a battleship compared to light cruiser. The detail on the weaponry is missing also. 3. The battle itself. It seems that the protagonist has a super keen intuition to know all the enemy's plan, which I doubt happened in real military conflict. No battle plan survives the contact with the enemy. The fleet commander is also not that brilliant, he is quite obvious in his action. The only thing that made him win is that the enemy is much more stupid than him. 4. The relation between the military personnel. It is almost non existent in this novel. We have no idea who is his chief of engineer, his tactical officer, his navigational officer, his steward, etc. We only know his flagship commander, and not even her XO! It looks like that the entire fleet is run by just a hand of individuals.
It has some redeeming quality though. The mutiny is quite interesting, but not unpredicted. The heroism is quite OK, but not to detail. Overall, it is not enough to save the entire series. Bye bye Lost Fleet, you are indeed the lost series in my journey....more
Reading this book is like watching a bad B-movie. It is filled with all stereotypes of sci-fi without any connecting dot. The plot is formulaic and thReading this book is like watching a bad B-movie. It is filled with all stereotypes of sci-fi without any connecting dot. The plot is formulaic and the character is paper thin. If the action sequence is orchestrated well, it might still be a watchable B-movie. Otherwise, it is just a total waste of your reading time. Thank God I get this book for free from netgalley, so at least no money is wasted.
The author seems just pool everything that he knows about sci-fi (which are not very much) into this novel. You have human colony, saurian and bug aliens, cyborgs, mind control, teleport, lasers. All in all, nothing new. The story line is also nothing new, a rebellion of an oppressed race. In the end you have a deus ex machina plot with super human, logical saurians with only its reptile brain functioning, omniscience cyborg with flawed and not-funny-at-all AI, and the worst of all the inner psyche battle that took place inside the brain but using physical world law. And gratuitous scene, just like any good B-movie.
The only reason I give it a 2 stars instead of 1 is the final battle. Even though it is far from perfect, I still can enjoy is as a good fighting sequence, while turning off some part of my critical brain.
Final verdict, avoid it like a plaque (this book and its series, and possibly all books from this author). Unless you are a big fan of pulp fiction and action oriented sci-fi B-movie, and willing to turn off some parts of your brain....more
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