Pink Noise by Leonid Korogodski [Book Review]

Nov 252010

This is a real different novel, it is a posthuman tale about Nathi one of the best brain doctors in the solar system and how he saves a comatose girl and change the balance of power at the same time. It has a very unique tone and a lot of research has gone into it obvious by the 60 pages reference material at the end. This leaves only 130 pages of story which might sound little, but it is intense and packed with ideas which reminds me a bit of Hannu Rajaniemi’s work even if this is a completely different story. Nathi and his ‘patient’ are well developed characters even within the framework of this story of deception and perception though I would have preferred to get a bit more meat on their bones. That is probably me being lazy because Leonid’s story gets you thinking and speculating. It is not always clear to the reader or the character what is real and what is not and the silver platter with answers is often missing. You understand more of it after reading the reference material.

The Pink Noise of the title reference the part of a mind that doesn’t lend itself to digitalization.

Most of the action takes place around Mars. Posthumanity has been lead astray and a cure has to be delivered. Much is not what it seems. The world building is more implied than dumped but it is well executed.

It is worth reading just for the many ideas but the story has good characters and an interesting universe I wouldn’t mind learning more about. It is on the short side, I prefer books in the 400 plus pages range. It has some good action but it is quite a bit more cerebral than most action novels.

Leonid tells me he is working on a prequel to Pink Noise and it is turning out rather long.

Information

Title: Pink Noise
Author: Leonid Korogodski
Genre: Posthuman Space Opera
Hardback: 190 pages
Publisher: Silverberry Press (2010)
Copy: Review copy from the author

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N

One of the best brain doctors of his time, Nathi lost his own brain five centuries ago when he became a posthuman. He is now called upon to save a comatose girl. The damage is extensive, so he decides to map his own mind into her brain in order to replace the damaged part. But something unexpected awaits him within the girl’s brain. She is a carrier of a Wish Fairy, an enigmatic sentient cyberbeing whose only purpose is to kill the Wish, a virus used to enslave all posthuman minds, including Nathi’s. Liberated, Nathi forms a symbiotic union with the girl, discovers the true cause of her brain injury, and finds a way to break out of the Castle, their high-tech prison, and into the Martian polar night. But once outside, the real chase begins. It is a battle that must be fought both in the physical world and that of the mind.

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The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi [Book Review]

Books 2 Responses »

Oct 112010

This is a book that doesn’t serve all the answers on a silver platter; it is also brilliant and fun. I had high expectations on this one since I first heard the short story His Masters Voice on StarshipSofa.

The Quantum Thief is the first volume in a trilogy about legendary and flamboyant master thief Jean le Flambeur. It starts with a prison break and ends with a cataclysm as Jean sets out to find himself. It’s a world way past singularity where identity, time, memories and even reality are floating things that can be traded. Mieli and her ship Perhonen have a mission for Jean, but they need his full capacity. Jean was stripped of many of his talents and memories in the Dilemma Prison so first they have to get them back. The search takes them to Mars where we meet many interesting characters and concepts before the cataclysmic finale of this first book.

I like books that make me think and this is one of them. It was fun to read, I could not put it down but I had to stop and think at times. The story telling felt very visual. I had very vivid pictures of the moving Martian cities and many of the concepts. It was also fun and fast paced but not in any way cramped.

The many concepts and ideas in this book is mind blowing. I like wow moments and journeys of exploration where you learn the world around the characters and the story. There were plenty of moments like that in the book for me. I am afraid I can’t really tell you about them without spoiling it for you.

The flamboyant master thief Jean le Flambeur lends himself easily to a comparison with Harry Harryson’s Stainless Steel Rat there is even an Angelina of sorts or maybe two in Mika and his former girlfriend.

I got a feeling game-theory will play a central role in the rest of the novels too.

Hannu has really given both the characters and the world a lot of thought beforehand. This is not a run of the mill SF milieu. It feels solid, as solid as quantum physics and virtual reality can make it, and gives me the same feeling I get when I read Tolkien. This is not only a background to a story it has Lore at its core.

I like the way Jean is learning about himself at the same time we do, there is no need for info dumps or background story when the main character doesn’t know himself. Jean is not the only interesting character. There is Isidore, a brilliant detective with a passion for solving mysteries and his post human girlfriend Pixil. Jean’s liberator Mika and the ship she sang Perhonen (I wonder if that is homage to Helva – The Ship Who Sang?) are another two. You will understand why I think a comparison with Angelina is fitting for Mika when you read the book. Anyway, I have this thing for slightly bitchy or bantering ships and Perhonen is adorable.

The Quantum Thief is like a Finnish Tango, it got a strange rhythm to it and it takes you places you never imagined before. It is a great debut novel by Hannu Rajaniemi and probably a future classic.

Information

Title: The Quantum Thief
Series: The Quantum Thief Trilogy 1
Author: Hannu Rajaniemi
Genre: Space Opera
Hardback: 336 pages
Publisher: Gollancz 2010

Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy – from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars. Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons – the Dilemma Prison – against countless copies of himself. Jean’s routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self – in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed . . .

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His Master’s Voice By Hannu Rajaniemi on Escape Pod 227 a Review

Books 2 Responses »

Apr 052010

This is a story about a cat and a dog and their undying devotion to their human master. It doesn’t have anything in common with the family films you have seen. It is a masterpiece you have to listen to.

Cat with armor in the city of the dead. Dog chase after the Cat and a story told with epic esoteric language. The master was a god. The dog and the cat learn the master’s words from the small animal in their dreams and set out on a mission to rescue their master.

The story is fantastic and make you interested in more, the world is a singularity one where humans have evolved and can make copies of their own minds. Unrestricted copy led to the creation of Plurals some of which evolved to transhuman civilizations out among the stars. Now human law limit every human to one copy at a time. The master breaks the law and is sentenced to a virtual prison. It’s from there the animals have to rescue him.

The language in the story is poetic and it sounds fantastic coming from someone not born to the language.

The story hints on things that might be in Hannu’s upcoming novel. There is a war going on among the stars and its there the small animal are going, to the Big Dogs.

The story is also amusing and fun imagine the dog become a musician to earn money and the cat had a gladiator career that lasted a while.

I have only one word for this story: Epic

Read by Peter Piazza; courtesy of Starship Sofa.
Guest introduction by Paul Graham Raven of Futurismic.

First appeared in Interzone, October 2008.

Before the concert, we steal the Master’s head. The Necropolis is a dark forest of concrete mushrooms in the blue Antarctic night. We huddle inside the utility fog level attached to the steep southern wall of the ice valley. The cat washes itself with a pink tongue. It reeks of infinite confidence.

“Get ready,” I tell it. “We don’t have all night.”

It gives me a moderately offended look, and dons its armor…

Read about his upcoming novel The Quantum Thief. It will be published in September by Gollancz.

Listen to Escape Pod 227: His Master’s Voice

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Ove’s Monthly Journal March 2010

Books No Responses »

Apr 022010

March started low on the reading and watching but picked up in later weeks. I also started writing a new series of articles about Trends in Current Science Fiction that seems to have gone down well.

Most popular posts have been First look at Felicia Day in RED that got some 3000 hits, followed in popularity by Major Casting Change in HBO’s Game of Thrones, Interesting TV Pilots Round Up, New Science Fiction Books in April 2010 and 18 Science Fiction Podcasts.

Reading has been good, though I am a bit behind in my review writing as you can see. Of the books I enjoyed Oath of Fealty, Shadow Prowler, The Crucible of Empire and Gardens of the Sun best, in that order. None of the books where really bad, though I was a bit disappointed with Trade of Queens it didn’t give as much closure as I wished for.

Books read in March 2010 in reading order:

The Quiet War by McAuley, Paul (The Quiet War & Gardens of the Sun Series)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Earth Strike by Ian Douglas (Star Carrier 1)
This Paper World by Jeff Lane
Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov (Chronicles of Siala 1) *1st review copy ever
Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (Paladin’s Legacy 1)
The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentwoth (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)
The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 1)
Wolf Star by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack 2)

I took on myself to write down some of the idle observations I make while I read Science Fiction and call it an article Series on Trends in Current Science Fiction. So far I have written three articles, and I plan on writing about one a week until I run out of trends.

Arrived or shopped books is always interesting. You can always check out my latest arrivals if you like. You should also know that I didn’t receive any free books for review this month (I reviewed one I received in February), I put my money where my Science Fiction is.

The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint & K. D. Wentworth
Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon
Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele
Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley
Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman
Xeelee an Omnibus by Stephen Baxter (Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring)
Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher (an agent Cormac novel)
A Thousand Words for Stranger by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #1)
Ties of Power by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #2)
To Trade the Stars by Julie E. Czerneda (The Trade Pact Universe #3)
Dust by Elizabeth Bear
Chill by Elizabeth Bear (sequel to Dust)
The Myriad by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack #1)
Wolf Star by R. M. Meluch (Tour of the Merrimack #2)
Servants of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (Obsidian & Blood 1)

It’s been a good month, I haven’t finished quite all I would have liked to do but it is a good start.

Next month will have quite a few more books, you can see what I ordered in New Science Fiction Books in April 2010. I also have some Elizabeth Bear, David Louis Edelman, Aliette de Bodard and more to look forward to.

Don’t forget Walker of Worlds upcoming Sci-Fi Appreciation Month starts April 1. I have made a contribution and will let you know when it’s there.

I will also guest blog a few reviews for Temple Library Reviews starting April 6th with my review of Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley.

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Earth Strike by Ian Douglas (Star Carrier 1)

Books 4 Responses »

Mar 242010

High octane military space opera set 300 years in the future that follows the star carrier CVS America and Lieutenant Gray, one of the pilots. Ian Douglas (a pseudonym for William H. Keith) is following a familiar pattern with his new Star Carrier series similar to his Star Marine series. This time Humanity is set against a galactic empire ruled by the elusive Sh’daar.

The first book in the epic saga of humankind’s war of transcendence

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh’daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind’s greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last

The plot is similar to the Star Marine series. Humanity is set against a vast galaxy spanning empire this time with different kinds of alien in it. The war has been going on for some thirty years by the time this story begins. The star carrier CVS America and her task group attacks and evacuate a Marine contingent under siege by the Turusch, a race subservient to the Sh’daar from a planet thirty-seven light years from earth. The Marines have captured two Turusch soldiers and they are the task forces real objective, since no live Turusch have ever been captured before. Nice believable battle and really good introduction to the characters.

After their mission they return to earth and we get more than a glimpse into life of the twenty-fourth century. World building is good even if Ian’s usual stereotypes shine trough a bit. Politicians and Civilians are stupid and don’t know what to do.

The Turusch launch a surprise attack on earth that America and her crew has to repel.

Characterization in Earth Strike is even better than in Semper Human. Lt Gray has a complex and believable background in the Manhattan swamps, beside him you also gets to follow Rear Admiral Koenig point of view. The alien Turusch are also quite interesting and they have names like Tactician emphatic blossom at dawn. Their psychology is interesting with different minds the Mind Below , the Mind Above and the Mind Here. The Sh’daar reminds behind the scene so far, but I guess we will learn more about them later in the series.

Earth Strike is a solid uncomplicated military science fiction I would recommend to all readers of military SF. It is also an excellent book to start the with if you haven’t read anything by him before. Characterization and storytelling have never been better in any of his books, the lore part is still second to the first star marine trilogy.

The next book will be out 2011 and might cover a strike at the aliens forward base.

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