K55 Lögnernas Valv [English:K55 Vault of Lies] by Erika Johansson [Book review]

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Dec 082011
 

The perfect setting for Paranoia

K55 is a Swedish science fiction novel, the start of a new series. A mining colony has lost contact with the main site and earth due to an unknown plague. The former management still runs the show while most of the inhabitants live in poverty.

The scene reminds me a bit of the roleplaying game Paranoia. Where it is forbidden to belong to a secret society but everyone does. Where it is forbidden to be a mutant but everyone is. And everyone is out to get you more or less.

The story starts with team Alpha taking a break beside their vehicle in the greenery and sunshine on their way to reestablish contact. However they meet with misfortune and team Bravo is called to take their place to venture outside and try again.

That however is something for part two. This is all about their training and how they survive it and the many plots and subplots around them. Eddie Lorenz is team leader and the one we get to follow. It is here the lies come in; more or less all he thinks he knows is false.

The characters are colorful if a bit archetypical. Someone is out to get the group while others try to subvert them on by one. There is a crime boss with a fetish for the British, sinister managers with otherworldly contacts, religious nutcases, seers, assassins and more.

K55 is a decent start and I want to read the sequel mostly reminiscent of playing Paranoia.

Book information

K55 Lögnernas Valv [English:K55 Vault of Lies] by Erika Johansson Oscarius (Foldspace 2011) – review copy – sfbok

På den lilla sterila planeten K55, isolerade av en okänd pest och avskurna från omvärlden, kämpar en grupp människor för sin överlevnad, instängda i en nedlagd gruvbas. Denna värld leds av Styrelsen, som med järnhand kontrollerar invånarnas vardag, liv och tankar, samtidigt som de febrilt försöker att bryta valvets isolering.

Paranoia, rykten, missnöje och oro kokar under ytan hos invånarna. Anarki och våldsamheter börjar bli en naturlig del av vardagen. En fullständig kollaps står för dörren. Styrelsens svar är Grupp Bravo, som oförklarligt utvecklat en immunitet mot den pest som härjar på K55′s yta. En storstilad kampanj sätts igång runt denna samling av udda och missanpassade individer som valts ut för uppdraget – att bryta isoleringen och skapa en möjlighet för alla att kunna leva uppe på ytan. Eddi Lorenz utses till gruppens ledare, men snart sker våldsamma och oförklarliga händelser i Grupp Bravos spår. Någon saboterar för dem och den värld Eddi känner börjar spricka. Bit för bit avtecknar sig ett nät av lögner. För att kunna hitta svaret på vad som sker under ytan i valvet måste Eddi gå sin egen väg. Samtidigt kämpar han med sina och gruppens inre demoner. De sanningar som tränger upp hotar att omkullkasta allt han värderat och litat till.

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Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse 1) by James S. A. Corey [Book Review]

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Jul 052011
 

The Shield meets Firefly

This is a shiny new space opera trilogy called The Expanse. It explores the idea of humanity spreading out in a universe that is stranger and more hostile than they ever expected while keeping it about the characters.

Most of the solar system is colonized with the Belt, Mars and Earth as the major political blocks. Venus was never colonized due to technical and economic difficulties. Tension is high with a looming war of Belter independence the inner planets are not too happy about when they are not plotting against each other.

The two point of view characters are Ice Miner captain Jim Holden and Ceres Detective Josephus Aloisus Miller.

Detective Miller is on a downward spiral as we meet him. He used to be someone in the force. Suspicious thing are happening with the police, but someone don’t want Miller to investigate that. Instead he gets assigned a lost girl case, Julie Mao. Her powerful earth family wants her kidnapped and brought back to earth.

Captain Holden and his crew stumble on a derelict ship and a secret someone is willing to kill for. Now Holden has to find out what is really going on and stay alive. Eventually his search converges with Miller’s.

Miller’s partner Dimitri Havelock from Earth serves as an example of the mistrust the Belter feels. His story is interwoven with Miller’s even if it takes a different path.

This weave of plots eventually becoming one is on par with the best detective novels I have read. Some of the parts are pure horror but most is divided between Miller’s noir reminding of old Hammer novels and Holden’s optimism and camaraderie reminding of Serenity and Firefly. I would compare it to The Shield meets Firefly.

Levithian Wakes is an easy to read cop procedural slash space opera with great ideas. It has what it looks like its own take on the Fermi paradox. The human interest parts are great and Miller’s obsession slash love story is epic if it continues in the next book. I liked it quite a lot.

James S. A. Corey is a pen name for fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They are both new to me and this is Ty Franck’s first full length novel. The novel started out as a MMORPG pitch, went through paper and dice rpg before Daniel offered to co write the novel with Ty.

The trilogy continues with Caliban’s War next year before the concluding volume Dandelion Sky 2013.

Bottom-line it is a perfect summer read for you to enjoy.

Book Information

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse 1) by James S. A. Corey (Orbit 2011) – Amazon US | UK

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

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The Inferior (Bone World 1) by Peadar Ó Guilín [Book Review]

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Apr 222011
 

Coming-of-age & learning-the-world

I became interested in this book when I researched new science fiction and fantasy releases for May and came across The Deserter book two of The Bone World Trilogy by Peadar Ó Guilín. The blurb sounded good and I like this kind of stories about segregated societies kept in the dark by technologically superior conspirators and how one of the deceived finally starts to learn the truth.

The Inferior is about Stopmouth and his coming-of-age and learning the world. He is considered slow and most likely soon to be volunteered for flesh-trade by the tribe. So far his family has protected him. His brother Wallbreaker is everything he isn’t, social, witty and a successful hunter. Then one day he saves his brother’s life by freeing him from capture killing some of the capturers but he gets captured and injured himself instead while his brother flees never looking back. Fortunately for him strange globes in the sky appear and starts to fight each other allowing him to flee while his capturers are occupied watching the fireworks. Injured he returns to the village only to find his brother taking the fame for the killed capturers. His brother seems very self-centered and running his own agenda. He married Stopmouths first love and when a woman like nobody has seen before crashes a globe in their village he wants to marry her too. She has perfect skin and a brilliant smile. But she is also not as subservient as the clan’s women. She takes care of Stopmouth’s recovery. Her name is Indrani and she is from the Roof and clearly unprepared for the savage lives of the tribe. But she seems to take a liking for Stopmouth and he for her. I like love in my stories when there are obstacles to overcome and here there are plenty, she is married to his brother, she is from a different culture and don’t even speak his language for starters.

The human tribe is also threatened by extinction as neighboring tribes band together in an unprecedented way and attack the remaining tribes one by one.  Tension builds up nicely about survival, jealousy and truth until a great betrayal forces him and Indrani to run. They set out for the Roof but the journey is long. That is when we learn about the world. Another endeavor I enjoyed.

Inferior is the kind of story I like. It is a world built on some kind of lie or hidden truth. There are still secrets about the world I want to learn after reading this novel but I guess that is what you have book two and three for. There are quite a few mysteries our hero figures out along the way though. The mix of primitive and technology is another thing that I like in general and here the gadgets are plausible and adds to the story.

Stopmouth is a likable character you will like to read about and he grows from an insecure youth to a solid leader of men. I liked all the characters even the ones I didn’t like.

The Inferior is captivating, intense and slightly disturbing. Savage tribes of creatures fight for survival while the Roof people watch from their high technology haven. It is a great love story but it is also about the have and the have nots. I wonder what is going on down there. Is it a punishment or is it some kind of breeding experiment? I love to find out in the next one out in May.

This is Peadar Ó Guilín’s promising debut novel. I hope to read many more. This one is supposed to be a young adult book but is quite enjoyable for older kids too. It gets my whole-hearted recommendation.

Book Information

The Inferior (Bone World book 1) by Peadar Ó Guilín – Corgi (2008, first 2007)
I bought my copy from Amazon UK (US)

STOPMOUTH AND HIS family know of no other life than the daily battle to survive. To live, they must hunt rival species, or negotiate flesh-trade with those who crave meat of the freshest human kind. It is a savage, desperate existence. And for Stopmouth, considered slowwitted hunt-fodder by his tribe, the future looks especially bleak. But then, on the day he is callously betrayed by his brother, a strange and beautiful woman falls from the sky. It is a moment that will change his destiny, and that of all humanity, forever. With echoes of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, and The Truman Show, Peadar Ó Guilín’s debut is an action—and idea-packed—blockbuster that will challenge your perceptions of humanity and leave you hungry for more

 

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Necropath (Bengali Station 1) by Eric Brown (Solaris 2008)

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Mar 232011
 

Down to earth science fiction
on a multi cultural space station

The Bengali Station series is what got me really into Eric Brown’s writing and it still is the best of what I have read of him a year later. I started with Xenopath and Cosmopath because this one took forever to get to me, I think there was snow in the UK and everything stopped including the Royal Mail (that is really exotic for us who are used to a meter of snow in the winter. No we don’t have polar bears on the streets that are in Norway).

The setting is Bengali station and just the name tickles your imagination. Jeff Vaughan, the main character is a bitter and jaded telepath earning his living scanning arriving starships for unwanted elements. He hates being a telepath seeing the severs in the minds of the humans he meets at work, but he hates himself most of all so he hangs at a bar where he befriends a young girl Tiger who becomes his only friend but she is even lower than he and before long she overdoses on a new drug called Rhapsody. This set of a chain of events that tie into another discovery he makes concerning his boss at the spaceport and an off-world religious cult with ambitious plans. What is going on is much bigger and grander than you suspect at first but it is released step by step and it keeps you guessing up until the very conclusion.

I particularly liked the Hindu and Thai cultural parts of the story exemplified by Tigers younger sister Sukura left behind in the bar district below, dreaming of reuniting with her sister. Her life is really miserable and unfortunately it might only be the aliens that are the difference for many people that make their living there today. It is chilling if you really think of what is going on in some of those scenes.

This would make a great movie; the tension and suspense are great. Vaughan explores mysterious temples and alien worlds, are stalked by would be assassins from his past and are trapped by aliens while trying to uncover the truth with his reluctant police confidante Chandra.

This is a gritty and earthy story set on a space station that reminds of the tourist traps of the Far East. Jeff Vaughan is a flawed piece of humanity but that makes him more interesting and you know how much I like characters and there is a lot of personality in this one. It lives up to the high expectations I got from reading the two sequels. Highly recommended.

Book information

Necropath (Bengali Station 1) by Eric Brown (Solaris 2008) – Amazon US | UK – I bought my copy from Amazon

Bengal Station: an exotic spaceport that dominates the ocean between India and Burma.

Jaded telepath, Jeff Vaughan, is employed by the spaceport authorities to monitor incoming craft from the stars. There, he discovers a sinister cult that worships a mysterious alien god. The Church of the Adoration of the Chosen One uses drugs to commune with the Ultimate, and will murder to silence those who oppose their beliefs. The story follows Vaughan as his mistrust of his fellow humans is overturned by his love for the Thai street-girl Sukura, while he attempts to solve the murders and save himself from the psychopath out to kill him. Necropath is Eric Brown’s triumphant return to hard SF.

 

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Money Shot (Netherworld 3) by Christopher Rowley (Tor 2010)

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Feb 102011
 

A man and his pleasure model takes down secret conspiracy with a little help from Dominatrix Julie

Money Shot concludes Christopher Rowley’s noir action tale Netherworld about Rook Venner a cop who brought the evidence home to protect her from rape. Said evidence being Pleasure, a Pleasure Model owned by the murdered victim general Sangacha. Pleasure carries secrets in her mind that the powers behind the government will do anything to get their hands on. So Rook, Pleasure and the other witness Angie a dominatrix that goes under the name Mistress Julie has been on the run since.

Justin Norman’s beautiful illustrations boost the noir feeling of the book as we dive into an explosion of action and combat machines. The pace is breathtaking as our heroes struggle to survive and uncover the secret before they are crushed under the avalanche assault of the Tactical Robotic Regiment. Deep underground an isolated mountain ridge lays the secret base that holds the chilling answers.

As before we get a bit of social commentary about artificially created humans and not only from Rooks feelings for Pleasure but from the colonies of liberated and free mods that they comes across. Police State America comes back to haunt us again too.

The characters are still a bit sketchy but totally pulp and Gung Ho basically what you can expect from this kind of story. If you take it for what it is they are perfectly all right. They continue to grow and come to realizations about their world that deeply affects them which is something I like in any story.

The conclusion does a good job of tying together the threads from the previous books and we meet many of the characters again.

I must say that I immediately fell in love with this series when the first book, Pleasure Model came out. The second book The Bloodstained Man ended in a cliffhanger so I eagerly awaited this conclusion.

Money Shot is the explosive conclusion to the Netherworld series a fine heavy metal take on crime noir about secret government conspiracies, robotic war machines, a man and his pleasure model with pictures. It might not be for everyone but take it for what it is and you will love it.

Information

Title: Money Shot
Series: Netherworld book 3
Author: Christopher Rowley
Genre: Heavy Metal
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Tor 2010
Copy: Bought by me
Order from: Amazon US | UK

Detective Rook Venner was a successful investigating officer for the Hudson Valley Police Department—until the General Sangacha murder case came across his desk and his world exploded.

Now after being dragged through hell and back, Rook is on the run with Plesur, a Pleasure Model who is the one eyewitness to the murder. Plesur carries a secret in her brain that terrifies the powers-that-be. A secret that they will do anything to destroy—even bring in a Tactical Robotic Regiment to track Rook and Plesur down and annihilate them.

The only choice the two have is to locate the coordinates that were planted in the pleasure mod’s head to the isolated mountain ridge where it all began. Deep underground, in a warren of machine halls and ice caves, something so horrific is happening that just knowing three code words is enough to get you killed: Operation Taste Imperative.

Rook and Plesur have no way back and no way out. If they want to survive and have any kind of life together, they must uncover the terrifying secret that lies deep inside the mountain.

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 Posted by Cybermage.se at 01:00  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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