Books » Cybermage

The Noise Within by Ian Whates (Book 1)

Jun 072010

A mystic pirate ship that calls itself The Noise Within is the central mystery in this fast paced space opera. It is always interesting to read a new author. Here is my view.

Titel: The Noise Within
Series: Book 1 in an unnamed series
Author: Ian Whates
Cover art: Dominic Harman
Genre: Space Opera
Paperback: 334 pages
Publisher: Solaris 2010
Order by: Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

On the brink of perfecting the long sought-after human/AI interface, Philip Kaufman finds his world thrown into turmoil as a scandal from the past returns to haunt him and dangerous information falls into his hands. Pursued by assassins and attacked in his own home, he flees. Leyton, a government black-ops specialist, is diverted from his usual duties to hunt down the elusive pirate vessel The Noise Within, wondering all the while why this particular freebooter is considered so important. Two lives collide in this stunning space-opera.

Information

The book is dedicated to Bill Whates, Ian’s father.

One thing irritating with this otherwise excellent book is that there is no indication the book is the first book in a series. Not on the cover, not in any of the online stores (edit: amazon.co.uk has added he is writing the sequel to about the author since I wrote this) and not on the publishers site. The only hint is if you visit the author’s homepage and read the last sentences at the bottom of his about page where it says he is working on the sequels, honestly. Anyway it is all made clear to you in the last chapter of the book that there is a sequel.

This was a fast read and I didn’t want to put the book down. In general I am not so fond of multiple protagonists but it works well here. There is Leyton a special secret agent with his own intelligent gun as sidekick, Philip Kaufman is CEO of the company that built the ship and ai-interface researcher, Kyle is a bored starship engineer who is the first to defect to The Noise Within and Kethi is a member of a mystic group that has prepared for an undefined threat they now believe is upon us.

The Author

This is the first book by Ian Whates I have ever read. He is a British author and editor of speculative fiction with many short stories and anthologies under his belt. The Noise Within is his second published novel according to isfdb and his first according to some. Ian lives in an idyllic Cambridgeshire village with his partner Helen and their pets.

World building

The world building is okay, there is some spiffy technology like the intelligent gun and the ai-interface. It worked with the story anyway; I got what I needed but not much more. The various setting was well realized and developed. I especially liked the tourist world with its slum.

One thing was never quite clear to me about the world, it was the noise within the mind that somehow defined or enhanced intelligence?

Plot

The Pirate Ship The Noise Within has become a menace to commerce and something has to be done. Philip discover the true identity of the ship and then has to go on an extended vacation due to his attempts at hacking, after getting bored with playing tourist he heads for the sector he believe the Noise Within to work in.

Leyton starts out infiltrating a drug lords well protected estate in an explosion of high tech and violence before being pulled away to raid a rebel base for information on the Noise Within before he heads for one of the tourist worlds closest to the ships operational area to set a trap for its crew.

Kyle is bored with his shipboard life aboard a fully automated luxury liner where he is a redundant backup system so when the Noise Within attacks he defects.

Kethi is a member of a mystic group that made themselves scarce after the war, their leader was convinced humanity should not fight that war, instead we should prepare for the threat to come. What this threat is unclear in the novel. This is a bit unfair of the author since Kethi must know. It could be aliens or it could be artificial intelligences.

Characterization

The characters are well defined and easy to relate to. I am not totally convinced with Kyle’s reasons to defect but it is not a game breaker. Leyton’s love interest Mya, a fellow operative is the reason for the cliffhanger at the end of the book.

My view

The Noise Within is a well cooked space opera with black ops, intelligent ships, ai-interfaces, alien mysteries and intelligent guns. It could have a bit more general world building and the assassination attempts on Philip’s is never fully explained and the mystery with The Noise Within and Mya left us hanging in the end but I guess that leaves something for book two. It works as a standalone novel up until the last pages.

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Brass Man by Neal asher (Agent Cormac 3)

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Jun 032010

Interstellar agent Cormac is back with another intrepid adventure featuring ancient alien technology, a dragon hunting knight and a presumed dead enemy returning with a familiar man of brass. Here is my review.

From the Philip K. Dick Award nominee author of Cowl, an adrenaline-powered new SF adventure: Brass Man. Neal Asher returns to his trademark Polity future setting, in a sequel to Gridlinked, which SFRevu.com called “brilliant and audacious work, chock-full of cutting-edge ideas.”

Ian Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named “Mr. Crane” to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr. Crane, the insane indestructible artificial man now in a new metal body, seeks to escape a bloody past he can neither forget nor truly remember. And he is on a collision course with Ian Cormac.

Information

The story takes off where Line of the Polity ended. Agent Cormac momentary believe he has vanquished Skellor and his alien infestation when he destroyed his ship.

The story is told on two time lines, one is retroacts of Golem Twenty-five who later becomes Mr Crane’s origin and the other is the now.

Cormac is the protagonist with his own point of view, Skellor our antagonist is another and a third and new character is the knight and dragon killer Anderson Endrik on the primitive world of Cull. A world that just happens to host the Dragon.

The storyline is as usual intelligent and complex, maybe a little too much divided into subplots as it made it easier to put it down than the previous books.

World building

The Polity continues to chisel out and the world of Cull intrigues me. There is more of the inner workings of the Polity and the AI’s version of politics in this novel. The technologies and ideas in Neal’s universe start to feel familiar here in the third book, I have included them in my mindset but there are more surprises around the corner.

Plot

Skellor isn’t dead, instead he hides and search for new allies. Cormac partner up with a rather amusing warship AI named Jack Ketch and Aphran, the spirit of a Separatist rebel ghost tortured to death by Skellor.

Skellor is like an addict with the alien Jain nano technology and he resurrect Mr Crane thinking of using him against Cormac but there might be more motivating him that he is not conscious of. Then he goes off to see the Dragon on Cull subverting the minds of the local community at the same time really friendly like. But he doesn’t have as much control over the Jain as he thinks.

Meanwhile the Polity is trying to figure the Jain technology out. Mika and the quirky AI slash science vessel Jerusalem first have to deal with the infected and then continue with some rather risky experiments before joining the action on Cull.

The Golem twenty-five back story and the eventual desert march of Mr Crane is the theme of the book. He was made crazy and he now tries to find sanity again in his divided minds. Bloody and gory at times it is still a thought-worthy tale about the mechanics of the mind.

Characterization

The characters are rational and make sense inside their perceived reality and I as a reader understands where they are at. Cormac is still suffering from being hooked up to the AIs for thirty years but he is getting more and more human. I like that with the characters; they have more than the usual space opera or secret agent persona while still being fun and attractive to read.

Beside Anderson I think I liked Vulture best of the new characters. Vulture is the surviving AI from Occam Razor given a vulture body by the Dragon.

My View

I must admit I stumbled a bit at times with the multi faceted split vision story telling the first time I read it, give it time, it is worth it. Every Cormac novel adds a level to the mystery of the Dragon and the ancient Jain technology and in Brass Man you start to glimpse the bigger picture. It also gives a good closure to an important but now minor part of the sinister mysteries ahead. You should read at least Gridlinked and The Line of the Polity before this one; I would not recommend it as a standalone novel. Great homage to the man of Brass Mr Crane himself and another fast paced Nano thriller about Polity trouble shooter Cormac.

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Line of Polity by Neal Asher (Agent Cormac 2)

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Jun 022010

When a station at The Line of the Polity controlled space fails to nanite mycelium infestation similar to the one in Samarknad instituted by the mysterious Dragon, they call in Agent Cormac to sort it out. The nearby repressive theocracy planet of Masada is also involved.

Cormac is taken from a case with a rogue scientist Skellor who use alien tech to merge with an AI. It is not unexpected that the scientist will play a part in the following story.

Masada has a thin atmosphere so the denizens have to use old fashioned biological symbiotes to survive. The religious leadership uses their monopoly on them and their orbital laser arrays to control the people down on the planet while they live as kings in their orbital habitats. But things are about to change, there is a literal underground brewing an insurrection supported by elements of the Polity. And we see it all from the point of view of one of the oppressed workers Eldene. Her journey from oppression is a delight to read

On an other arc of the story is young Outlinker Apis Coolant that first discovered the nano infestation and then we get to follow his and his mothers struggle to survive the aftermath of the destruction of the station.

We also in an unlikely but welcome chain of event hook up with old friends from the first book former henchman Stanton and his lovely starship captain Jarvellis on a personal quest that soon converge with the main story.

Blegg is an interesting character. He is rumored to be an immortal survivor of Hiroshima and he has up until now been Ian Cormac’s boss and teacher. Here it is hinted about something more, of powerful races in the galaxy starting to notice humanity with more to come. Look at the Makers, in Gridlinked Cormac saved one of them, and he has been returned to his people. But their rogue biological machine the Dragon still causes trouble for humanity.

I am a bit reminded of those sleek pulp books of my youth about interstellar agent Cap Kennedy of F.A.T.E written by Edwin Charles Tubb under the pseudonym Gregory Kerr, Neal Asher’s stories have more dept to them but the flavor is similar. Not relevant to this review is that Edwin was born 1919 and he is still writing, expecting to release the 34th Dumarest book soon, impressive.

Neal also uses delightful subverted childhood tales to illustrate each chapter.

The Line of the Polity takes us further into the Polity Universe and deeper into the mysteries with ancient alien civilizations, dragons and the inner workings of the Polity. This is more fast paced space opera with more than average depth. I recommend you start with Shadow of the Scorpion or Gridlinked before you read Line of the Polity

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The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan (Traitor Spy Trilogy 1)

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May 172010

This is a straightforward enjoyable new fantasy series from Trudi Canavan. We are back in The Black Magician Universe only now Black Magician Sonea’s son Lorkin is grown up and ready to spread his wings and forces of evil are once again afoot in the city of Imardin.

Title: The Ambassador’s Mission
Series: Traitor Spy Trilogy 1
Author: Trudi Canavan
Jacket art: Steve Stone [portfolio]
Hardback: 528 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Review copy from the publisher
Order:Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

As the son of late High Lord Akkarin, savior of the city, and Sonea, the former street urchin turned Black Magician, Lorkin has a legacy of heroism and adventure to live up to. So when Lord Dannyl takes the position of Guild Ambassador to Sachaka, Lorkin volunteers to be his assistant in the hopes of making his mark on the world.

When news come that Lorkin is in danger, the law forbids Black Magicians leaving the city forces Sonea to trust that Dannyl will save him, and now Cery needs her as never before. Someone has been assassinating Thieves, and when his family is targeted he finds evidence that this Thief Hunter uses Magic.

Either a member of the Guild is hunting down the Thieves one by one, or there is – once again – a rogue on the streets of Imardin. But this one has full control of their powers – and is willing to kill with them.

The Author

Trudi Canavan is relatively new for me. I started reading The Black Magician Trilogy (The Magicians’ Guild, Novice, High Lord) after a slightly tippsy literary discussion on a company outing in November 2009. A colleague borrowed me the trilogy and I was hooked, thank you M. I also read Age of Five trilogy (Priestess of the White, Last of the Five, Voice of the Gods) and I liked it too.

Information

The jacket has a fine staff wielding figure in some kind of fighting stance overlaid with a tower/cityscape and some signs on it.

There is three good maps at the beginning of the book over The Magicans’ Guild of Kyralia, The City of Imardin and The Land of Kyralia. There is no maps of Sachaka where most of the ambassador’s adventures take place.

At the back of the book there is a Glossary of animals, plants/food, clothing and weaponry, countries/peoples in the region, titles/positions and other terms that you will find useful.

There is also Lord Dannyl’s Guide to Slum Slang and Acknowledgements at the end.

Background

Sonea was a street urchin, a rogue mage and then she became a black magician in the first series The Black Magician Trilogy. Her boyfriend gave his last power so she could defeat the Sachaka invaders and save the city. They fought the invaders with the help of her childhood friend Cery and the thieves guild. Some time later she gave birth to Lorkin. Now Lorkin is a young man living in the shadow of his legendary mother. This is explained well in the book

Worldbuilding

Half of the action takes place in the City of Imardin in Kyralia and the Magicians’ Guild so that is fleshed out quite well in glimpses and short backgrounds. For example every year they used to Purge poor people from the inner city before winter, that has stopped now leading to all kinds of interesting changes in the city. It was at one of those Purges Sonea discovered her magic ability. The author fills in the background and social settings into the action and suspense in a way that works well for me.

The land of Sachaka where Lorkin goes as the Ambassador’s assistant is not as well described but then its not there Lorkin end up.The Ambassadors long term job is to get Sachaka to free it’s slaves and to join the Alliance. The travel there gives a good general orientation. By the time the book ends we have a glimpse of the underground Traitor society and their hidden city. I will not ruin the surprises for you by telling you details.

Plot

There are two plot lines in this story Lorkin’s in Sachaka and Sonea’s in Imardin.

Sonea is restricted to temple grounds and the hospital as one of two Black Magicians in the Guild. If she ever leaves them she will be exiled outside the alliance never to return. Black Magic is powerful and the Guild doesn’t trust anyone wielding it. Cery, her childhood friend is a prominent thief. But someone is killing thieves in the city. They call the murderer the Thief Hunter. When Cery is at a meeting with another crime boss named Skellin his family is killed. Evidence shows that magic was involved. He turns to Sonea for help, either there is someone in the Guild doing the killings or they have a rogue mage in the city. They find some unlikely allies in the hunt that goes through a for me a changed city. Much have changed since we saw them last.

Sonea’s son Lorkin goes as an ambassador’s assistant to Sachaka. Sonea fear for his life as Sachaka is known for family blood feuds even for outcasts like the black magicians that invaded Kyralia she killed. He leaves anyway together with Ambassador Dannyl. Both he and Dannyl are really there to study the history of magic. Dannyl because he is writing a history of magic and Lorkin because he wants to find new kinds of magic like his father did. Quit soon after their arrival there is an attempt on Lorkins life but he is rescued and have to flee with the slave underground who calls themselves the Traitors.

There is also what I believe is a trilogy plot line, someone is subverting the kingdom of Kyralia with Rot a new and habit forming drug. What is their long time goal? I think you will get some of the answers at the end of this book.

I liked the narration that switches between Sonea and Lorkin, particularly when it stayed with the one where things heated up until some resolution before switching back.

Characterization

The characters are easy to love and be interested in even if I sometimes feels that there could be more challenges for them. I am a character guy, I like to like my characters, I like when it goes well for them but they have to have challenges that presses them and here Lorkin got it but Sonea never breaks a sweat.

The Black Magician Sonea we know from previous books, she feels frustrated by all the restrictions surrounding her especially when she learns her son has disappeared. She also involve herself in Guild politics when it comes to change old unfair rules that prohibit the mages from lower classes to socialize with their kin as any poor is of ‘dubious character’. Her helping Cery hunt down the Thief Hunter is in fact a small part of her story that is mostly about changing the system.

For Sonea’s son Lorkin this is a coming of age story. He is out of his legendary mother’s shadow and has to stand on his own. He gets to experience life in Sachaka from the bottom in an illuminating and character building way. I liked the clever way he handled the Ambassador’s Mission and his father’s promise.

A love interest is also nice spice to any story and Lorkin’s is just what the doctor ordered.

My View

It is great being back in the Black Magician Universe again with Sonea and her friends. The Ambassador’s Mission is enjoyable straightforward fantasy with easy to love characters and a bit of Fantasy Opera and Romance in it.

The Ambassador’s Mission works as a stand alone novel if you want to start with Trudi Canavan but you will understand more of the background and the characters if you read The Black Magician Trilogy before.

The Ambasador’s Mission is a great start for a series, I will definitely get the rest.

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A Mighty Fortress by David Weber (Safehold 4)

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May 052010

After reading the snippets since January my most anticipated book of the year arrived. I am a long time fan of David Weber and the Safehold series. Genocidal aliens, a Humanity that hides on the planet Safehold ruled by the Corrupt Church of God Awakening and an android with the mind of a long dead starship captain with a mission to restore civilization.

Title: A Mighty Fortress
Author: David Weber
Series: Safehold 4
Hardback: 720 pages
Publisher: Tor, April 13, 2010
Maps: Ellisa Mitchell
Jacket Art: Stephen Youll
Order: Tor | Amazon US | UK | B&N | Sfbok

Background

This is the fourth book in a series that started with Off Armagedon Reef where Niume Alban wakes up, asses the situation decide to back the kingdom of Charis for their enlightened royal family and general inventiveness. After a sex changing morph she dons the identity of Merlin a Sejin warrior, save prince Cayleb from assassins, becomes his bodyguard and start to change the way they think.

The Church lead by the greedy and power blind Group of Four conspire to send a fleet to destroy Charis. They are defeated by the new and improved fleet of Charis Off Armagedon Reef.

In By Schism Rent Asunder the church retaliate and massacre Charis’ unarmed civilian traders and their families. Cayleb now king, retaliates by sending a fleet half way around the planet. He also makes peace with Chrisholm, falls in love with their queen Sharleyan and in their Marriage create the New Empire of Charis, united against the rest of the world.

In By Hersies Distressed it is Charis turn to go on the offensive, invading the island princedom of Corisade. Charis get to show up their new and improved army and artillery before they defeat prince Hektor’s army. Hektor is killed by church assassins. His son and daugther flees to exile with thoughts of revenge on Cayleb who they believe killed their father.

We have also learned that there is an Order inside the church that knows the truth about Safehold, that their religion is a fake and that suppression of scientific methods and innovation have been built into their society by the former colony founders. Now Cayleb, his wife and a few others know the truth. The brothers have an elaborate procedure before approving any new member and they are frankly scared of the rapid changes.

There is yet another group, the Circle, inside the Church that doesn’t know the truth, but they oppose greed and corruption inside the church. But they have been betrayed by one of their own when A Mighty Fortress starts. The only question is when the Inquisition will strike

World building

This is the kind of story David Weber does well, take a backward planet and introduce modern science and technology. You notice his extensive knowledge in the details. You get the world by short narratives with local points of views that makes the world come alive with people you care for and understand.

The Church of God Awakening didn’t exist at first on Safehold, it came after a schism where part of the crew of the colony ships decided to create a technological enclave only to be exterminated by orbital strikes, in retaliation they set off a nuke at a meeting of the colony leadership, that had set up themselves as God’s Angles. The Church was created in the following years and it took it’s seat in the city of Zion and it’s mysterious Church complex made out of battle steel. It gives off mysterious energy readings so Merlin keeps his spying remotes out of it. Thats about the only place of power on the planet he keeps them out of.

Plot

The church is building an armada using the lessons learned from previous failures. This time they have almost the same technological level as Charis, at least until Charis new explosive projectiles enter production. The Charisian’s are hard pressed but their experience and training still gives them a significant advantage, that might not help if they are outnumbered three to one.

Charis also have to deal with attempted insurrection in Corisade, the princedom they defeated in book three. One of the leaders of the underground is the silversmith Paitryk Hainree (Patrick Henry, Give me Liberty, or give me Death).

There are also people inside Chrisholm that are not happy about the New Church of Charis some of them might even betray them.

The group of four tightens their grip on the church and a wave of arrest sweeps through Zion, while Merlin attempts to save as many family members and sympathizers as he can.

In an attempt to avoid fighting the combined fleet of the church, Cayleb sends off one of his best commanders on a mission to intercept one of the fleets before it can unite with the others.

The Navy really have to show their color here, they are the wooden walls of the fortress defending Charis, and A Mighty Fortress it is. But the big clash still lays ahead.

Characters

This is very much a character driven story. At the back of the book there is a 22 pages list of characters you might find useful if you are new to Safehold or need to catch up, My first thoughts at that was wow, this is like one of those old Russian classics, but don’t worry the main characters are not that hard to keep track on.

This is a space opera, so the characters are competent, they are not invincible and they are all easy to love. For example Queen Sharleyan is pregnant so Merlin brings her up in space on their way to a medical exam in his base in The Mountains of Light. She is the first human in space for centuries and her marvel is a delight to read. Another highlight is when they tell their Spy master and his wife the truth.

Weber has a thing for good persons doing evils bidding out of duty like Thirsk, the enemy fleet commander or Hektor’s daughter who believe she has to revenge her father.

Merlin gets to shift around a bit more in this book, he takes on the identity of other ‘friends’ of his to help with the evacuation in Zion and to visit other rulers in their bedrooms and chat a bit. It is all done with a great deal of humor. I also like that Merlin doesn’t solve all the problems himself, he can’t. In fact it can kill.

Extras

One big map and four one page maps
22 pages of Characters
A Glossary with 5 pages
A Note on Safeholdian Timekeeping

My View

A Mighty Fortress is a magnificent military science fiction saga and I like it a lot. But there is much back story, meetings and character development is this book, that might not be for anyone, I like it quite well though. If you are looking for an action packed military action kind of novel this is not it. We are still waiting for the big fight here, that will probably be in the next book, expected 2011.

If you are new to Safehold you should start with the other books, the back story is quite extensive so you should read it first. Otherwise I would recommend it to any lover of Weber or Space Opera, as long as you don’t expect fast and action packed.

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Poll Best Book Review in April

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May 012010

I want to improve my site and make it better. Pick one, two or three reviews from April you liked best. I would be forever grateful if you also commented on what you think was good, the same goes if you can point out improvement I can make. I am still learning the ropes here, the flaws are many as I strive to improve.

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The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 1)
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Pleasure Model by Chrisopher Rowley (Netherworld 1) review on Temple Library Review
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Chill by Elizabeth Bear (Jacob’s Ladder 2)
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The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 3)
Double Share by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 4) – audio book