Review: Treason

Treason by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An odd and interesting story that delves into gender identity, nature, and superhuman abilities.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Re-release of Orson Scott Card’s 1979 “classic”: a tale of a radical regenerative running amok on an imprisoned planet, collecting super powers along the way and searching for redemption and significance.

Several generations and several hundreds of years ago, a group of the intellectual elite attempted to mutiny and take over the galactic government. Upon the failure of the coup the group were exiled to planet Treason. Now the exiles have grown into cities with with skills refined to the point of superhuman abilities. They trade the refined products of their skills through Ambassadors—teleport machines—for iron (Treason pretty has little to no iron) with which each elite group (now cities) race to build a spaceship to get off-planet.

Lanik Mueller, descendant of the genetic-experts who discovered the secret of regeneration, turns out to be a "rad"—one in whom the regeneration runs wild; thus horribly disfigured, he must seek salvation in the world at large. The tree-dwelling, conquering Nkumai have recently acquired much iron, he learns. How? Well, their ancestor was a physicist, so they've traded the secret of faster-than-light travel. The Schwartzes have learned how to commune with the rocks (geology ancestors) and can perform all kinds of lithopathic miracles. The Ku Kuei (philosophy) have acquired the ability to slow or speed time. But the real enemies of everyone on Treason, Lanik learns after many trials and adventures, are the Andersons (politics), who've perfected a method of projecting illusions so convincing that all are fooled into submission without realizing it. 

The review link below is a good story summary as the book tells it.

https://dreamingaboutotherworlds.blogspot.com/2012/08/review-treason-by-orson-scott-card.html

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Review: The Visit

The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

short but thought provoking

A speculative fiction short story set in a matriarchal world where men are constantly under surveillance by powerful women. Men can be fined and jailed for up to five (5) years for masturbating. In this world, male masturbation is considered the abortion of a potential child.

The story takes place in Lagos, Or two friends reunite and go out to a nightclub and have an encounter with policewoman.

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Review: You Have Arrived at Your Destination

You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For a short story, it manages to give the fullness of a book by giving you contours that your mind can fill. Though the ending seems inconclusive, it may be the point, being that it parallels the plots. A couple of times, the story seems to shift without a linear, logical transition into how the new scene came to be.

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“Brides of Hanover Blocks” by Gregory Xane

 “Brides of Hanover Blocks” by Gregory Xane

Two words.. tentacle porn..

not as interesting as the first installment of this series..  also not as bizarre as some of existing tentacle porn out there..  

However, there are enough interesting bits to entice to me to read the the next installment to learn what the mystery mounds of flesh are all about.

I will admit I felt tricked into reading one. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

I rate it 2 out of 5 stars.

#BizarroFiction

"Six Wakes" by Mur Lafferty, 2017

 "Six Wakes" by Mur Lafferty, 2017

A bunch of clones of criminals is put in a generational starship headed to a new world to colonize. They find their memories wipe as they wake amidst a murder mystery- their own.

The book was prefaced with the seven laws governing the existence of clones, reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics. And the novel starts interestingly enough; a bloody, gory murder scene in a starship. That got me on the hook fast.  As the story progresses and characters' backgrounds build, and the plot thickens, I found myself wanting to get off this "mystery train."

For me, there were plenty of areas where the novel stalled; some jarring transitions from scene to scene. But the fact that I put the story down and had to force myself to finish it by speeding through speaks how little I liked the novel.  Some attempted humor is sprinkled throughout to balance the artificial tension produced from the combination of the murderer's identity not being known while buried secrets rise to the surface.

In the end, I can understand why Six Wakes is seen as an impressive novel by others, probably young adult readers. I found myself uncaring for any of the characters and trudging along by the "interesting-enough" pull of the plot as the tension ratcheted up towards the climax.