Cybermage » Books

The Noise Within by Ian Whates (Book 1)

Cybermage.se — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:00:01 +0000

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)

Cybermage.se — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:00:48 +0000

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)

Cybermage.se — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:00:55 +0000

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)

Cybermage.se — Mon, 17 May 2010 10:00:54 +0000

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)

Cybermage.se — Tue, 04 May 2010 23:54:31 +0000

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

Cybermage.se — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:32:55 +0000

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.

The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentworth (Jao Empire 2)
Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele (Coyote Chronicles 2)
Trade of Queens by Charles Stross (Merchant Princes 6)
Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley (The Quiet War 2) review on Temple Library Review
The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 1)
Wolf Star by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 2)
Pleasure Model by Chrisopher Rowley (Netherworld 1) review on Temple Library Review
Dust by Elizabeth Bear (Jacob’s Ladder 1)
Chill by Elizabeth Bear (Jacob’s Ladder 2)
Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 1) – audio book
Half Share by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 2) – audio book
Full Share by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 3) – audio book
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

[poll id="2"]

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Full Share by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 3)

Cybermage.se — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:00:53 +0000

After Ishmael’s mother died leaving him without means he took a contract with the mercantile fleet and joined the Lois McKendrick crew first as a Quarter Share mess deck attendant and later as a Half Share environmental tech learning all the time. On a routine jump to Betrus, the Lois McKendrick runs into trouble and the lives of the crew hangs on a thread. Not a common occurrence in the Share series. The narration by Nathan Lowell is as mesmerizing as ever, it is hard to stop listening.

Title: Full Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Voices: Nathan Lowell
Series: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 3
Genre: Mercantile Science Fiction
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Audiobook: Free Online | iTunes
Homepage: Trader’s Diary
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 3.0 United States License

The Lois McKendrick runs headlong into trouble when a routine in-system transit goes bad. Ishmael and the rest of the crew must scramble to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it in order to keep the ship alive. Learn more about the officers and crew as they struggle to keep their ship and discover how Ishmael finds out how wrong he’s been about what it means to be a spacer in this latest Trader’s Tale.

As you might remember Ishmael loves the Deep Dark and he decided to learn all four spacer specialties so that he always would be able to take a new job offer in case he got stranded. That never happened so far as the Mack crew have become more like his extended family, and you don’t fire family. In this installment he continues to learn, taking more exams.

When the ship run into a energy field on a routine jump to Betrus something unexpected happens with the ships system and most of the book is about finding out why it happened and prevent it from ever happing again. Ish saves the ship in a rather spectacular way but it is downplayed so he doesn’t notice it himself until much later in the novel. Charmingly done by Nathan.

Corporate assigns an environment tech with seniority to environmental leaving Ish without a job, but don’t worry the Mack takes care of its own. The new tech is sloppy and act as if he is entitled, this is dealt with as a workplace problem in a rather mature way. But when CC the new guy doesn’t listen to reason Ish finds another way. That is one amusing story.

From the first chapters people tell Ishmael that he should apply to the Academy to become an officer, because he obviously have a knack for it. It is all a bit bitter sweet, because Ishmael would have to leave the Mack to go and probably never come back.

As with any young man, a fair bit of the book is about his relations with girls. Full Share is PG-13 at least towards the end.

The world outside trade never felt important and are not explained much. We get to know more about the independent traders though. Life in a Free Trader Family opens Ishmael’s eyes. One thing I like about the share books is how natural the narration feels, its like the characters live in the world and they don’t think so much about everyday knowledge that doesn’t concern them, the focus lies on their everyday problems and how they deal with them.

Full Share ends the Lois McKendrick Trilogy part of the story, it is bittersweet and empowering. Young man finds a new family, grows up and leaves family, family is proud to see him grow. It is the natural order of things. All the Share books have a message about non-violent solutions that is a fresh contrast to most science fiction. Everyone interested in science fiction should listen to the Share books because it’s a different perspective, the working stiff’s SF.

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Half Share an audiobook by Nathan Lowell (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 2)

Cybermage.se — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:11:46 +0000

Nathan Lowell’s audio books are really addictive. I almost had to fore go sleep to finish them. As someone said this is the working stiffs science fiction and it is great SF.

Title: Half Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Series: Golden Age of the Solar Clipper 2
Audiobook: iTunes | podiobooks.com
Order: Free Online Audio Book
Homepage: Trader’s Diary

In this podiobook: A Trader’s Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper : Book 2 After Ishmael Wang is promoted to the environmental section, he’s caught in a swirl of mystery, doubt, belief, lust and a really nice fitting pair of jeans. He has to come to grips with what it means to be a spacer while he’s still trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Join Ishmael, Brillo, Pip, and the rest of the crew of the Lois McKendrick as they help the newest member of the crew adjust to life in the Deep Dark. Half Share is the sequel to Quarter Share, also available at Podiobooks.com.Note: Some scenes in Half Share involve adult themes, nudity, sex and references to religions not based on Judeo-Christian traditions. Read at your own risk.

Ishmael Wong is orphaned when his mother, an Ancient Literature Professor is killed in an accident. Without any fortune or income he enlists in the Mercantile Marine as a quarter share mess boy. The SC McKendrick becomes his new home and the crew his new family. He is still learning the ropes but he is a very talented young man, open and he has easy to learn.

His ability to plan ahead and quickly integrate in any new group helps when he starts working in environment. Most of this book is about work place problems and how to solve them. I suspect Nathan Lowell worked with human resources at some stage. There is Ishmael’s replacement Sarah Kroog that hides a mystery, his friend Pip with his hidden talents but over all Ish ability to integrate people into his new extended family.

Ishmael is still a naive young man but the females of the crew adopt him and even bring him shopping, it helps that he gets an introduction to the top designer of the station. At times this comes very close to an adolescent boy’s dream world even if there is no sex involved.

The power of Nathan Lowell’s narration is that even if there isn’t much happening in this novel you are still mesmerized by it, it is brilliant. I enjoyed the change from my beloved space operas, count this book also as a strong recommendation and know that the next book Full Share is even better.

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Snippet 30 for Mission of Honor by David Weber (Honor Harrington 12)

Cybermage.se — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:51:57 +0000

MoH-snippet 30: Chapter 8: The Haven leadership discuss Honor.

Mission of Honor is a long awaited Honor Harrington novel the 12th in an extremely popular series. This is one of my absolute favorite series, I love everything by David Weber [profile], he is the master of military science fiction in my humble opinion.

MoH-snippet One Chapter 1:

December, 1921, Post Diaspora

“To understand Solly foreign policy, we’d have to be Sollies
. . . and nothing would be worth that!”
– Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore

Arsenovich Kolokoltsov, the Solarian League’s Permanent Senior Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs is struck speechless by disbelief and shock by the report from New Tuscany. Then he calls a conference with Permanent Senior Undersecretary of the Treasury Wodoslawski, Abruzzi, MacArtney, , Permanent Senior Undersecretary of Commerce Quartermain and Fleet Admiral Rajampet Kaushal Rajan and start to raise hell.

MoH-snippet Two: The Solies start to realize how far behind they are on the technology curb.

MoH-snippet three- The byrocrates are shocked by the Solarian League Navy utter defeat and the following surrender. They worry about the consecuences.

MoH-snippet four – they continue to talk about the battle at New Tuscany. Hot heads want to retaliate at any cost, cooler heads try to reason that it would be suicide to go up against the Manticorian navy at this time.

MoH-snippet five - they discuss declaring war on the Star Empire

MoH-snippet six: – they continue to discuss a war with the Manties and comes to a conclusion.

MoH-snippet Seven Chapter 2: Fleet Admiral Winston Kingsford, CO, Battle Fleet and Fleet Admiral Rajampet continue discussing the Mantis in private. Especially putting some analysts on the data right away, then they continue talking about fleet deployment, mantis missiles and when they will go after the Mantis home system. Winston is having an intresting inner dialogue about Sandra Cranell and her task force being deployed in the Madras sector.

MoH-snippet Eight: – Rajampet finish his meeting before we switch over to Queen Elizabeth III for a chat with Admira l Lady Dame Honor Alexander-Harrington. They start out talking about Stacy Hauptman and her father before they switch over to Manpower and the Talbot Cluster.

MoH-snippet Nine Honor and Elizabeth continue to speculate on the Solarian response. It’s four days to Christmas. Honor will be leaving on an unspecified mission (Haven?) after celebrating Christmas with her family.
Honor meets with Admiral Tourville afterwards

MoH-snippet ten Honor, Nimitz and Tourville remembers previous meetings and do social niceties before coming to the point in the next snippet.

Snippet 11 Honor want to know about the political leadership in Haven but they end up talking about the surrender demands.

MoH-snippet 12 Chapter 3: Benjamin IX, Protector of Grayson talk with the commander in chief of the Grayson Space Navy Wesley Matthews about their security situation.

MoH-snippet 13 Mathew and Benjamin continue to discuss the political and military situation especially considering the Mantis, the Sollis and the Havenite.

MoH-snippet 14 They confirm Lady Harringtons mission.
The Royal Manticoran Navy’s Destroyer Division 265.2, known as “the Silver Cepheids,” prepare to go home from their position a light-month from Manticore-A

MoH-snippet 15 The Silver Cepheids prepare to leave while the officers involve them selfs in cheerful banter about SCA. Then we switch over to Commodore Karol Østby of the Mesa Alignment Navy and his task force that quietly have been scouting the Mantis system in preparation for Oyster Bay.

MoH-snippet 16: Chapter 4 Some officers of the Solarian Office of Operational Analysis discuss a memo before switching over to Mesa and Aldona Anisimovna on her way to meet with Albrecht Detweiler.

MoH-snippet 17 Detweiler and his two sons meets with Aldona and the Streak drive is clarified in her internal dialog before they continue to discuss the recent ballroom activities

MoH-snippet 18 the Mesans continue to talk about Manticore.

MoH-snippet 19 The Mesans continue to talk about how to spin the Talbot story and it ends with them going to talk about Oyster Bay.

MoH-snippet 21: With such bad results from the evacuation exercise the new commander of the station sets out to make it better.

MoH-snippet 20: January, 1922, Post Diaspora
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this . . . .”
– Admiral Patricia Givens, RMN, CO, Office of Naval, Intelligence.
Chapter Five
An officer we know from previous books report for duty and there is a ominous discussion about evacuation drills not being up to par.

MoH-snippet 22: Captain Ansten FitzGerald and Commander Amal Nagchaudhuri have a friendly talk about Hexpuma’s repairs being almost finished and the crews upcoming R&R on the station.

MoH-snippet 23 President Eloise Pritchart and the leadership around her isn’t very surprised when eight fleet shows up at the edge of the Haven system, they have dreaded this moment for six months. They however are surprised!

MoH-snippet 24: President Eloise Pritchart and the Salamander is about to meet …

MoH-snippet 25: President Pritchart and Admiral Thomas Theisman chat while they wait on Honor to leave the shuttle. When Honor steps out they have a little chat before moving to the President’s office.

MoH-snippet 26: Chapter 7: Admiral Alexander-Harrington and the President measure each other up before sitting down.

MoH-snippet 27: The negotiations begin in earnest.

MoH-snippet 28: The Salamander’s opening statement is frank to say the least.

MoH-snippet 29: Honor finalizes her offer.

Source: www.ericflint.net

Mission of Honor will be available in June 29 2010

Description: The Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven have been enemies for Honor Harrington’s entire life, and she has paid a price for the victories she’s achieved in that conflict. And now the unstoppable juggernaut of the mighty Solarian League is on a collision course with Manticore. The millions who have already died may have been only a foretaste of the billions of casualties just over the horizon, and Honor sees it coming.

She’s prepared to do anything, risk anything, to stop it, and she has a plan that may finally bring an end to the Havenite Wars and give even the Solarian League pause. But there are things not even Honor knows about. There are forces in play, hidden enemies in motion, all converging on the Star Kingdom of Manticore to crush the very life out of it, and Honor’s worst nightmares fall short of the oncoming reality.

But Manticore’s enemies may not have thought of everything after all. Because if everything Honor Harrington loves is going down to destruction, it won’t be going alone.

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This Years Most Expected Book Has Arrived

Cybermage.se — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:15:36 +0000

It was supposed to take 25 days for it to arrive, but it took 8 days. Somebody at Amazon need to learn to count, not that I am unhappy with it coming early. Tata folks, need to read now.

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The Sagittarius Command by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 3)

Cybermage.se — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:00:28 +0000

This is a continuation of the Tour of the Merrimack series’ arc about how to deal with the ravenous Hive, a race of space traveling insects that devour all life they come across. In The Myriad the Mack was out looking for the Hive’s Home world when they stumbled on the time traveling aliens who eventually caused the universe to throw them into an alternative reality to avoid paradox. In Wolf Star the war between Earth and the New Roman Empire is going at full blast and Merrimack is in a deep strike mission behind enemy lines when they meet the Hive again and the Romans have to bow down and admit they need help. The Emperor choose to surrender to John Farragut the Captain of U.S.S. Merrimack.

Title: The Sagittarius Command
Author: R. M. Meluch
Series: Tour of the Merrimack 3
Genre: Military Science Fiction | Alternative Reality
Cover art: Stephan Martiniere
Publisher: DAW, October 2008
Order: DAW | Amazon US | UK | B&N

After the finest battleship-class spaceship in Earth’s fleet, the U.S.S. Merrimack, rescues a near-space Roman world besieged by a destructive alien life-form known as the Hive, the Romans’ leader, Caesar Magnus, insists on honoring the ship’s captain, John Farragut. But when Caesar is assassinated, Farragut must lead a mission into the heart of Hive territory in search of a Roman who has been presumed “dead” for decades.

The Hive is back with a vengeance and human forces are hard pressed. They thought they had a good hold on the time table but the Hive learn. When the Hive attacks a Roman world near Earth without any warning the Roman defenders have to make what they think is a last stand in a recreated old fortress only to be rescued by the arrival of the U.S.S. Merrimack. The ability of large groups of Hive to take control of advanced electronics makes it plausible to use low techs like swords to fight them. This is one of the charming aspects of the Mack series, I always have been weak for science fiction with medieval tech and here it is pre medieval. Rebeca M. Meluch show genuine expertise in the details.

The Romans are a proud folk and the Subjugation doesn’t sit well with them. There is lots of resentment around. Further fueled when Ceasar Magnus, the Emperor decide to honor Farragut. The Emperor is assassinated before the cermony can complete and his son Romulus take charge. The relations between Romans and Americans tense further.

If you read my review of the previous books you know the Roman Empire never died back in the eight hundreds, they went into hiding. Ever wondered why lawyers, scientists and doctors talk Latin? They are in secret societies biding their time to the return of the Roman Empire. At some stage they broke away the colony world Palantir and formed the New Roman Empire. Members of secret societies revealed themselves and joined, splitting families and breaking loyalties. Resentment was great at both sides. It was only a matter of time before a war between America and Palantir broke out. Rebeca crafts an interesting background, it is definitely one of the wow points in this series. I have always been suspicious of lawyers and now I know. :)

The return of Augustus, the patterner puts U.S.S. Merrimack on the trace of an even bigger mystery. The founder of Roman displacement and automation technology was believed to have been killed decades ago when he started to become a threat to the throne. Augustus deduce that he is still alive, living on a planet inside Hive controlled space. He might hold the secret to defeat the hive or might be the one responsible for it’s attack. Farragut’s task force is sent to investigate.

I am not sure but I sense that the Hive here might be a force of nature corrupted or striking back at humanity much like mother nature might do if we don’t stop polluting her. They do react to resonance signals used in faster than light communication. Maybe I am seeing environmental issues where there is none? The answer might be in the next book.

What really made book one and two is Rebeca’s fantastic characters and their interaction. That continues here but on a somewhat less intensity. For the characters there is not as much resolution in this book. There is some new ones Constantine the missing inventor and Herius Asinius a disgruntled Roman legate. Steele and Kerry impeded love affair continues to amuse. Augustus features more in this book and his relation with Captain Ferragut is going towards new places. I am not sure where the author is going with Augustus, he could be a brewing villain or Ferragut’s next best friend. I am looking forward to more resolve on that issue in the next book.

I prefer to read a book in one go and due to reasons not connected to the this book I wasn’t able to do that even if I wanted to. It is captivating to read and you feel that it brings us closer to a resolution, but I should also be honest and tell you I didn’t have that many wow moments in this book as in the previous.

The Sagittarius Command is another great swashbuckling space opera from Rebeca M. Meluch. Tour of the Merrimack is one of the best and most entertaining military science fiction series I have found in recent years. I recommend it to all secret swashbucklers and readers of military scifi, ahoy mates!

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Snippet 29 for Mission of Honor by David Weber (Honor Harrington 12)

Cybermage.se — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:54:37 +0000