Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Who is the real Margo? Well, that would be Alaska!

I decided to pick up and read this book before the soon-to-be-released movie version is out in the theaters. With all the attention John Green books have been receiving lately, I figured now might be a good time to get caught-up with his books; not to mention being able to talk about Paper Towns to others without having to sit through the movie.

It's yet another story about an unbelievable teenager secretly loving another unbelievable teenager.  I found a lot of things absurd that I simply had to consider amusing otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get through the book.

In a nutshell, Quentin falls in love with Margo. She disappears. He takes a road trip, guided by "clues", to find her . He finds her in a "paper town". He goes home.

Personally, this book might as well be Looking for Alaska, John Green's earlier prize winning book.  Paper Towns just isn't as interesting as Looking for Alaska.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

Steel World (Undying Mercenaries #1), by B.V. Larson, 2013

Steel World (Undying Mercenaries #1), by B.V. Larson, 2013

Steel World is a military Sci-Fi book with even pacing with the action scenes and enough intrigue in the story that made the read quite fast and over before I knew it.

Recruit McGill, our hero, enlists in humanity's mercenary legion. His first campaign involved defending the mineral-rich planet called Cancri-9, better known as Steel World.  He dies, he gets revived, he dies again, gets revived again, and so on. But along the way he improves his skills and knowledge of the universe ruled by the Galactics.

The book was enjoyable for what it is; a straight-forward military sci-fi action story. There were no plot-twists.  The characters are fairly flat, and our hero doesn't go through any major character development.

Exploring the alien technologies and alien cultures, which were present throughout the book, would have made this a more interesting book. We only get hints of culture of the seal-like aliens and small nuggets information on the inner workings of the Galactics.

All in all, it felt like a mish-mosh of Scalzi's Old Man's War, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, the Emily Blunt/Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, and Card's Ender's Game. Steel World held my attention all the way through, but I didn't find it to be particularly outstanding.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars) - I liked it.

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, 2004

Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi, 2004

In a nutshell, smelly slimy aliens want to make first contact with Earth but decides they need an image (and smell) makeover first. Tom Stein, a
Hollywood agent, is charged with the impossible task and craftily devises the means to, not only humanize the aliens, but to have them well received.

Humor and some snark made the read quite enjoyable. I must admit, there were more than a few times I had to ask myself where the current subplot is going or what it had to do with everything else that preceded it.

Though the story meandered a bit much to my liking, in the end, everything tied together and with no leftover questions. Everyone got their happy ending; even the Aliens.

You can read the entire novel on John Scalzi's website.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

More Pets with Tourette's (Pets with Tourette's, #2) by Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh, 2008

More Pets with Tourette's (Pets with Tourette's, #2) 

by Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh, 2008

The idea of foul-mouthed cute pets spewing profanity is quite absurd. But one can't help give a naughty chuckle after perusing the pages full of potty-mouthed pets, well me at least.

On the surface, there's something inherently wrong with pictures of cute pets with cartoon-ish thought bubbles containing filthy language yet brilliant. After closer inspection, the same concept that got a naughty chuckle from me in the first few pages lost its novelty before I  reached halfway through the book. And the book is less 90 pages of pictures. 

Towards the end, I quickly found myself quickly glancing at the pictures and reading the "thought bubbles" just in case I stumble on insults I am yet to discover and slur at someone.  

For the $9.95 price I paid for this book, I got two small chuckles, learned no new insults, and one coffee table book to gift someone.  Let's just say I'm glad I did not pay for shipping charges.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

Beyond Lies the Wub, by Philip K Dick, 1952

Beyond Lies the Wub, by Philip K Dick, 1952

Beyond Lies the Wub is about an alien that gets aboard a human starship while resupplying at Mars.

The alien called a Wub, resembles a 400 pound pig and is clearly intelligent with unique abilities such as telepathy and mind control.

As the crew of the human starship grow a sort of report with the intelligent pig-like alien, the captain becomes intent in cooking it as there is a shortage of food despite the resupply at Mars.

Although, in the end the alien is cooked, the story's plot twist allows the Wub to continue beyond.

Running through the story are themes of immortality and intolerance. The author, Dick, presents humanity as intractable while the slovenly pig-like alien exhibits a deeper humanity.

Notwithstanding the short length, the story is packed with detail and information. Enjoyable all around.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

Link to the free eBook

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax #3) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax #3)

by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Hybrids is the third book in The Neanderthal Parallax series and  returns to science fiction theme of two cultures from Parallel universes.

In Hybrids, Ponter Boddit and his Homo sapiens lover, Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their relationship work. Aided by banned Neanderthal technology, they plan to conceive the first hybrid child, a symbol of hope for the joining of their two versions of reality. Meanwhile, the books single antagonist, a racist bigot wants to take the unexploited and unpolluted Neanderthal world for Homo sapiens.

Not quite what I expected. The novel was fraught with plots that it wasn't very clear to me what was important and was minutia. If there was an overall message intended to be delivered, it was lost on me. At best, the combination of love story, social commentary, and ecothriller felt like multiple stories weaved with naive preaching to me.

If the sub-plots were to be thought of as episodes in a series, then I think it would more enjoyable as the plotlines can be compartmentalized yet run through.  The entirety of the book was marred with uneven pacing between action and exposition towards the end.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Similar to its preceding book, Humans is a technically smooth novel with a pleasing style. Unlike its preceding book, Hominids, this installment mixes it up a bit. The running plot is framed by Ponter's session with a personality sculpture (what we would call a shrink in our universe)

At first the story focuses primarily on Ponter Bonditt and Tukana Pratt, who are Neanderthals from Earth from a parallel universe visiting Earth from the universe we know. With the portal between the Neanderthal world and ours is permanently reopened, Tukana works to build trade and information exchange between our two societies.

Running midway through the story, about a hundred pages in, the pacing changes and focus shifts to Ponter Bonditt and Mary Vaughn.  Accompanied by Ponter, Mary travels to the Neanderthal universe and navigates the cultural and ideological differences between the peoples of the two universes.

things I especially liked:
- The various technologies from the parallel world; alibi archive, companion implant, transportation cube, and personal shield.
- The Neanderthals lack of sexual discrimination.
- The world-building of the Neanderthal universe; identical to Earth yet different.
- The concept, explanation, and examples of man-mate and woman-mate.
- The idea of sterilization as the form of punishment for serious crimes, not just for the aggressor, but any family member who share more than fifty percent of their genes with the aggressor.
- Tukana the Neanderthal ambassador to Earth.


things I didn't mind:
- The religion aspect. Not that it was preachy or uninteresting.
- The personality sculpture was, at first, intrusive. Eventually, as we move past the second half of the book, he was less interruptive.
- Rape as drama.
- The Vietnam Memorial scene.

things I could have done without:
- The length at which religion was discussed and debated, particularly midway through the story.

things I didn't expect or made me shake my head:
- Although I expected the (male-to-female) rape was to be covered, the (male-to-male) rape caught me with, umm, with my pants down.
- All the steamy sex about halfway through the story. For a bit there, I thought I was reading a Harlequin romance novel. The scene was quite descriptive.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)