Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky has a knack for making humans supporting actors in his space-faring opera about intelligent animal life. After reading Children of Time, which I enjoyed, I wasn't sure how he would do a second book about a different species in a fresh way. But this second book is just as good as the first.

Told in a similar way to Children of Time, Children of Ruin switches between the past and present. The past being a time when human civilization has basically self-destructed and sent ships into the universe to terraform planets for future civilization. The present being thousands of years after this - as well as several thousands of years after Children of Time. It's amazing how space time really stretches things out and how quickly you get used to the vast stretches between years.

What we get from this second book that wasn't as fleshed out in the first is more about the terraforming project and how it works on a practical level. What we don't get is a lot of detail about our alien friends and how they develop their civilization. But that is forgiven when you learn their own civilization is basically destroyed, hence the ruin. What's intriguing, and what really steals the show is why this ruin occurred. Tchaikovsky has created an existential enemy that is both exciting and terrifying. I loved any scene that involved them. 

Children of Ruin explores themes of AI, immortality, the self, and invasion - both on a planetary as well as individual level. And while I felt he ended things a little too easily, I'll forgive him that because overall it was another great story in the Children of Time series. I can only hope his super villains will come back in subsequent novels, because they really were horribly fun.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

*some spoilers ahead*

If you, like me, had never heard of this book until Netflix aired the eponymous series, it's ok. Sometimes we watch the movie/tv show/whatever and then read the book, even though it feels weird. 

Three-Body Problem is a concept in classical mechanics that describes the motion of three masses that orbit each other in space. The problem is that there is no solution to always accurately describe their motion (thanks wikipedia). 

So now imagine there is a planet, called Trisolaris, with three suns. The positions of the suns are unpredicable and can result in times of stability or chaos, depending on how close each of the suns gets to the planet. In fact, multiple civilizations have evolved and died out on Trisolaris. Some exist for relatively short periods of time, some long enough to get to the stone age, or the industrial age, before a chaotic period begins and destroys all of civilization.

But this book is less about Trisolaris and its inhabitants and more about earth and its inhabitants. What if there was a group of people who knew about Trisolaris? What if they wanted to help the Trisolarins find a new planet to inhabit? Much like the political climate today, there are some who would say, "bring 'em here! I don't care if humanity is destroyed in the process!" and others who would try to solve the three-body problem so they could stay where they are.

But part of the problem is that someone has already invited them to earth. And even though the journey is 450 years out, the toothpaste is out of the tube, as they say. But 450 years is a lot of time for Earth's civilization to evolve and improve while the Trisolarins remain static in their journey. So the Trisolarins invent a unique solution to stall scientific progress on earth. And this is where the story begins, with the suicide of several notable scientists, and a task force created to understand why.

This book blends a lot of scientific principles in a fairly easy to read story. It also deals with issues related to China's cultural revolution, environmental preservation, and scientific progress. While it's not my favorite sci-fi book I've read this year, I'll be picking up the second part of this trilogy to see what happens next.

Children of Time by Adirian Tchaikosky

I read this book to get my brother to stop talking about alien *insert creepy animal here (I don't want to spoil it)*. Every time I'd see him, he would ask if I read Children of Time and then proceed to explain the premise as if he hadn't explained it to me the last time I saw him. After maybe the fourth or fifth time I decided to read the book to shut him up.

Look, I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but this one did actually sound interesting to me. It's about how Earth begins terraforming planets to prepare them as possible future homesteads for humans. Part of this plan involved developing a nanovirus to speed evolution in a selected species, allowing it to quickly evolve on one of these planets. This was a hail Mary in case the human species didn't survive.

Most of the book occurs thousands of years after these efforts, when humans only have faint memories of the "old empire" that carried out the terraforming and nanovirus projects. A spaceship of hundreds of cryogenically sleeping people has set out to find one of these planets and inhabit it, as Earth is increasingly becoming uninhabitable. After finding a potential planet, they are stopped from landing by what seems to be a keeper of the planet. It's unclear if they are communicating with a human, AI, or a combination of the two. But what is clear, is the entity will do everything in its power to protect the planet and its children.

A great aspect of this book is that we get the perspective of the inhabitants on the spaceship but also the inhabitants of the terraformed planet. While I was less interested in their day to day life and politics (which was still interesting), I was fascinated by their idea of religion, which involved the mysterious keeper of their race. The premise provided a great way to explore the idea of a species origins and the development of religion. While it seems plausible to understand how this civilization came to its beliefs, it really makes you wonder about your own.

This is the first of three books in the Children of Time series, which was awarded the Hugo award for best series in 2023. I liked this one so much, I'll pick up the next, Children of Ruin, which is about a different terraformed planet. I haven't heard anything more about the plot, which probably means my brother hasn't read it yet. I'll have to read it first and tell him all about it! 

Version Control by Dexter Palmer

ver·sion con·trol

noun

COMPUTING

1. the task of keeping a software system consisting of many versions and configurations well organized. - google

When I'm feeling particularly sorry for myself over something, I like to think that in some other, parallel universe, I was in a similar situation, only things were worse. And now here I am, living in the version of my life that follows the lesser of two evils. 

How many versions of your life have you imagined? Is there any way to know that we are living in the best possible outcome? And if so, at whose expense might that be? Is there a way to somehow keep track of all the possibilities, or do they exist outside of time as we know it?

These are questions that Rebecca doesn't have time to think about. She lives in the not too distant future, where Facebook is still a thing, but self-driving cars are the norm. It's a now where no one blinks an eye when the President comments on your daily life via your restaurant's table screen over hamburgers and fries. Rebecca, a part-time customer service rep for the online-dating service, Lovability, occupies her thoughts and time with her son, a drinking problem, and a physicist husband whose life work is a device that doesn't seem to work. It is more appropriate to say that the existential questions of time are left to Phillip, whose stress of constant negative results is second only to his worry that people call his device a time-machine.

Palmer peppers his story with a supporting cast of characters, as well as online dating anecdotes, some big brother paranoia, salacious affairs, secret government projects, and tragedy. He also explores issues of grief and race, which seemed more as asides, but there were a few interesting moments with both that I felt were eye-opening to say the least. This is a story about cause and effect and the things we do to disrupt the delicate fabric that keeps our relationships and everything we hold dear in place. It's about the possibilities that could be, those we've left behind, and the realities of the moments we have left.

Palmer's writing style is dry - I didn't find myself laughing at much, or even liking a lot of his characters - but as the story unfolded, I became more engrossed in it.  While, at first, I wasn't certain how I felt about the book, I couldn't imagine a better outcome for the ending.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Here's a bit of 80's pop culture/classic gamer porn for those of you who are into that kind of thing. It's a bit over the top complicated but fun nonetheless.

The year is 2044 and the internet has evolved into the OASIS. This is basically where everyone goes when they go online, and depending on your gear, you'll wear wear haptic gloves, a head visor, and maybe even a haptic suit. While the OASIS was originally created as a gaming environment, it evolved into meeting places (or planets) for any interest you may have. Kids can even attend school on the OASIS from the comfort (or discomfort as it may be) of their homes (for reasons not really explored, the world sucks and people live in mobile homes stacked dozens high in basically lawless societies). 

The story is told from the perspective of Wade Watts, a high schooler who pretty much lives in the OASIS and goes by the name Parzival. When the creator of the OASIS, (who was born in the 1970's) dies, he leaves his vast fortune to whoever can discover an easter egg he has left behind. Egg hunters, or gunters as they became known, begin their quest, but after years of searching, no one is able to unlock the first of three gates that lead to the egg. Until Parzival makes a breakthrough. 

The creator of the OASIS, James Halliday, was a big 80's fan and so his clues reference pop culture from the 80's. Gunters research Halliday and the 80's, creating grail diaries and training to find the egg, which includes watching movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail enough times to quote every line from memory, or playing classic games like Adventure so many times it can be beat on one life. The actual tasks that must be performed to obtain keys to gates and clear the gates is a bit convoluted, but the story is entertaining. 

Interestingly, the basic premise of this book is similar to the book I read just before it, Lock In, by John Scalzi, an author who is referenced in Ready Player One. And like Lock In, I found the premise intriguing. Whether you care about videogames or the 80's as much as Wade doesn't matter. You'll become entrentched in the story and world Cline has created.

Also interestingly, according to Wikipedia, the 2016 version of the book is published with fan fiction written by Andy Weir (of The Martian fame). The short story is a prequel and now considered a legitimate part of Ready Player One. You can read it here.

Also also interestingly, (and again according to Wikipedia), Cline himself included an easter egg in the book, the winner being awarded a Deloreon in 2012. That's pretty cool and I think my rating for this book just jumped a bit higher.

Lock In by John Scalzi

What's the best thing that can come from a debilitating illness that renders your body useless? The internet, of course, and a bit of sci-fi neural networking voo-dooery.

Which brings us to our story and a future where people are "locked" in by Haden's syndrome. While most people affected by this illness just experience flu-like symptoms, a small percentage of those afflicted suffer complete physical, but not mental, paralysis. Technology has allowed these individuals, known as "Hadens", to live productive lives via brain downloads (or something like that). But not only can Hadens access the internet, they can download into mechanical avatars, known as "threeps" that allow them to operate in the real world, interacting with people and even holding jobs. Some Hadens don't choose to live in mechanical bodies, but rather live virtual lives only (my brain kind of exploded trying to imagine that).

This is the reality and backdrop of Scalzi's murder mystery. I can't really recall the details of the mystery part of the novel, but that's not what I found intriguing.  The logistics of downloading into threep, then deciding you need to interview someone in another state and downloading into a different threep within minutes, all while your body lay motionless in a room somewhere was fascinating. Life in a threep also gives rise to certain possibilities, like not feeling pain if you so choose, or being virtually indestructible (depending on your threep's capabilities). And this is the just tip of the iceberg.

Scalzi's writing made it easy for me to buy into his premise and, while I wasn't really interested in the murder mystery part of the story, the reality in which everyone operated was fascinating to experience.

I could go on, but I'll just say I enjoyed this book and found the premise new (I'll admit, I don't read a lot of sci-fi). It was entertaining and just realistic enough that I could envision a world in the not-so-far future similar to Scalzi's.

The Martian by Andy Weir

This is an old review, and it will probably show. What I remember about this book is really more of what I remember from the move, tbh. One thing I CAN tell you is that I was turned on to this book by my husband who recently got his Kindle and was only reading free or 99 cent books, 'cause he's cheap. Anyway, The Martian was one of them. That's OG, y'all. 'Cause I can tell you right now this book 'aint free no mo.

That also tells you how overdue this review is.

Basically, if you haven't heard, The Martian is about an astronaut who is stranded on Mars and has to science his own survival. We're talking shelter, food, and water, for over a year. So a single guy on a desolate planet for over a year....seems like a snooze fest, I know. But think about this, Weir's book was initially published a chapter at a time for free on his website, then published for kindle due to popular demand for 99 cents, then things...then a movie starring Matt Damon. As my boss likes to say in otherwise routine emails, boom!

So what's the deal? Weir's writing is witty and humorous. Not to mention meticulously researched. Although there is a lot of science and technology involved in the story, Weir, through his character Mark Whatney, brings it down to human level in a funny and understandable way. It's one of those books with a lot of read-out-loud and quotable lines, none of which I can either read out loud or quote right now. But just another reason why you should read this book (now on Kindle for $8.99, suckers).

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (CBR III book #6)

How can a book about ant-aliens and ten year old space commanders make its way onto my bookshelf? I had been on a young adult kick for awhile but most of the books I had read were about young women, with angsty love stories worked in their plots.

Ender's Game was recommended by a friend who bought it for me for Christmas. Unlike my previous YA books, this one is more geared toward the young boy demographic. And now that I think about it, there's probably only one big female character of note in the book. No sir, there are no girls allowed here! This book is full of war games, soldier school, aliens, fights, and definitely no heart to heart talks. Very boy-like indeed.

Basically, Ender is a young boy living in a futuristic society. Life on other planets has been discovered, inter-stellar travel is somewhat normal, and boys (and some girls) can go to school in space to train to be soldiers. This final point is necessitated by the fact that Earth faces the threat of annihilation by an alien ant-like species lovingly termed "buggers." Okay, stay with me on this one, it gets better, really.

Ender has been chosen to attend this school and is being groomed to command an army. Most of the book covers Ender's time at the battle school, particularly the war games the boys play as a part of their training. Even though this is a book for boys, there is no lack of drama at the war school. But instead of he said/he said gossip and bitch slapping, there is more snubbing at lunch tables and trash talking and even a naked shower fight. Hmmm, maybe boys and girls aren't that different after all?

Anywho, I was about two thirds of the way through the book and over the battle school when things really picked up. I'm not just talking about the action getting better, or the setting changing sort of thing. I'm talking about the author throws you for a loop and the book takes on a whole new meaning and I'm suddenly engrossed in a really philosophical, thought-provoking story. In fact, I went from "I'm just trying to finish this damn book" to "holy moly I can't put it down!"

Unfortunately I can't really elaborate without spoiling anything so you'll just have to take my word for it. Overall, it's a mixed review. I think there's a real treat in this book for whoever picks it up. But if you're not into sci-fi/wargames type of stuff, you might have to tolerate two hundred pages before getting there.