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The Peshawar Lancers — S. M. Stirling

Published on September 28, 2007Leave a comment

Cover of The Peshawar Lancers

The Peshawar Lancers
S. M. Stirling
420 pages
published in 2002

S. M. Stirling is not one of my favourite science fiction writers; I can’t abide his politics and he made a less than favourable impression when he was posting at rec.arts.sf.written. And in his case you can’t really divorce the writer from his work, as his politics and personality does permeate his work. There’s the Draka series for example, where a race of Super South Africans take over a degenerate free world only for their daughters to lez up. It’s not so much that the Draka are evil and sadistic, but that you get the distinct impression Stirling is on their side.

Nevertheless there’s no denying that Stirling can tell a roaring good story, if he can keep the reactionary elements in the background and you don’t think too much about the politics of it all. Such is the case with The Peshawar Lancers, a standalone alternate history novel, set in an alternate British India.

The Peshawar Lancers.

Sewer, Gas & Electric — Matt Ruff

Published on September 16, 2007Leave a comment

Cover of Sewer, Gas & Electric

Sewer, Gas & Electric
Matt Ruff
560 pages
published in 1997

Imagine if you will, a mid-nineties update of the Illuminantus Trilogy in which the hippie-free-sex-and-drugs crap is taken out and replaced with cyberpunk-sex-drugs-and-ayn-rand, add in a mix of Clinto-era political obsessions (p.cness and all that) and you begin to get a little hint of what Sewer, Gas & Electric is about. It’s a gonzo science fiction novel written by someone you suspect isn’t in the least bit gonzo. It’s partially a parody, partially serious, but not hitting you over the head with how funny, serious or absurd it is supposed to be. It’s a big novel, as it should be, but you can read it in an afternoon or two.

If I’m not mistaken Sewer, Gas & Electric was one of the first ever books I ordered from Amazon, after Matt Ruff had turned up in rec.arts.sf.written and shown himself to be a decent bloke and interesting poster, with several others recommending his books. I read it for the first time sometine in 1998, liked it quite a lot, then forgot about it until I was once again in the mood to read something gonzo-ish and the Illuminantus Trilogy didn’t appeal.

Learning the World — Ken MacLeod

Published on September 3, 2007Leave a comment

Cover of Learning the World

Learning the World
Ken MacLeod
398 pages
published in 2005

It only occurred to me after I finished this novel, that this was in fact Ken MacLeod’s version of Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky. Like that, Learning the World is a novel of first contact between a planetbound alien civilisation and a human interstellar trading expedition. That realisation only dawned so late because despite the simular premise, the novels do not resemble each other all that much. MacLeod’s version is much more straightforward than Vinge’s book was.

Nevertheless, if you read these novels back to back MacLeod’s novel does start to look like a cheap knockoff, especially in synopsis. Both have a species of planetbound aliens, operating at a more or less early twentieth century level of technology, divided into several nations in a political situation that resembles that of pre-World War I Europe. For both the arrival of the humans represent both an opportunity and a threat, with their presence accelerating the political tension already present. In both the humans are also divided amongst themselves about how to handle first contact.

Engine City — Ken MacLeod

Published on July 22, 2007Leave a comment

Cover of Engine City

Engine City
Ken MacLeod
271 pages
published in 2002

This is the third and last book in the Engines of Light series, the previous two being Cosmonaut Keep and Dark Light. As the capstone of the series, Engine City was a disappointment.

From the start this series was supposed to be a traditional science fiction trilogy, unlike MacLeod’s previous Fall Revolution series in which the individual novels were only thematically related. This worked well in the first two books, with Cosmonaut Keep setting up the plot and Dark Light continuing the plotlines while setting up some new ones of its own, all of which should then be resolved in Engine City, which they were, but in a far too abrupt manner. On the whole it seemed as if MacLeod had grown bored with the series and crammed everything that needed to be resolved in one slim book, instead of taking it at the same pace as the first two.

Something Rotten — Jasper Fforde

Published on July 16, 2007Leave a comment

Cover of Something Rotten

Something Rotten
Jasper Fforde
393 pages
published in 2004

Something Rotten is the fourth novel in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, which concludes the story and ties up all the remaining plot points from the previous three books. There may be some spoilers here if you haven’t read the previous novels, The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots. Like the previous books this was entertaining, funny in places but slight. Nevertheless, this was an improvement on the previous book, which I thought to be the weakest in the series.

In Something Rotten Thursday Next comes out from her hiding place in the realm of unfinished stories back into the real world, to take on her old enemy the Goliath Corporation and force them to uneradicate her husband, Landen Park-Laine. This may turn out to be more easier than she hough, as the corporation has seemingly turned over a new leaf and is in the process of setting right all of their previous misdeeds in return for their victims forgiveness. Landen may therefore be much more easily restored to her than Thursday thought possible.