Tag Archives: book review

Book Review of “The Pride of Chanur” (1982)

chanur

Cover art for C.J. Cherryh’s “The Pride of Chanur.”

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I finished C.J. Cherryh’s The Pride of Chanur a few days ago but am just now getting the time to write the review.

I remembered reading this back in the 1980s but didn’t recall the details (forty years is a long time). When I saw it on Bookbub, I was curious. There wasn’t a copy in my public library system so I bit the bullet and bought a digital copy from Amazon.

The story is set in a universe involving a species called the Hani. They’re cat-like, their space traveling freighters are captained and crewed by females, as the males aren’t suited to space travel, and their particular region of space is dominated by them and other races who trade with each other via a system of space stations in an alliance called “The Compact.”

The chief “baddy” in this tale are the Kif which are tall, thin, and hairless. They are also predatory, cunning, and devious.

While the ship “Pride of Chanur” is at Meetpoint station, a strange alien is seen to be skulking on the docks. It finally manages to slip by the Captain, Pyanfur Chanur, into her ship, but is wounded in the attempt.

Communication is a chore since the creature doesn’t speak a civilized language. It’s eventually discovered that this is an intelligent creature which had been a captive on a Kif ship and was trying to escape.

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Book Review of Orson Scott Card’s “Wakers” (2022)

wakers

© James Pyles

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I finished Orson Scott Card’s novel Wakers last night. Naturally it’s the first book in a trilogy because all books have to be trilogies if not expanded series these days.

Like most people, I was introduced to Card’s writing long ago through Ender’s Game and the subsequent novels in that series. I’m glad to see that Card is still writing and still successful.

In the past twenty years or so, the current gatekeepers of science fiction determined never again to heap any sort of award upon him. This was because he had committed the grievous crime of being religious and making public statements about how his beliefs are guided by such. Between 1978 and 1995, he did win numerous accolades, but the only award post 2000 he’s been granted is the ALA Best Books for Young Adults for “Shadow of the Hegemon.”

Yes, I read “Wakers,” in part, to thumb my nose (like they even know I’m alive) at the exclusionists who run “official” science fiction and fantasy. You know, the folks who claim they want to be “inclusive” and then just shuffle around the players so certain groups are favored at the expense of others, what they say has always been done and they’re still doing it. The only difference is which groups are included and which groups are not. That’s not inclusive, that’s a shell game.

I’m a sucker for an “underdog” (Card’s doing pretty well, but still…) so I checked “Wakers” out of my local public library.

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Book Review of “The Andromeda Evolution” (2019)

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© James Pyles

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I heard about Daniel H. Wilson’s novel The Andromeda Evolution almost by accident and found that my local public library had a copy.

I read Michael Crichton’s 1971 novel The Andromeda Strain way, way back in the day and I’ve seen the 1971 movie adaptation a number of times and enjoyed them both.

But fifty years later and written by another author, even with the Crichton family’s blessing, how would this turn out?

A lot better than I expected.

The book started out very slowly and I was afraid it would be a hard slog all the way through. On top of that, Wilson sometimes decided to lecture the reader on the evils of colonialism and how bad white people and civilization is for indigenous people (the main action takes place in a protected reserve in the Amazon). I thought if this was going to be the tone of the book, it would be tedious and I almost stopped reading it once or twice.

Fortunately, Wilson didn’t belabor the point too much and then things began to pick up.

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Book Review of “Cobra” (1986) by Timothy Zahn

cobra

Original cover art for “Cobra” by Timothy Zahn

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When I first read Timothy Zahn’s Cobra back in the 1980s and I liked it. Decades later, I still had that feeling but only vague memory of the book’s contents.

So I downloaded it onto my Kindle Fire and finally got around to reading it.

The novel holds up well. It’s really the “hero’s journey” of Jonny Moreau, a young boy from a backward frontier planet, who volunteers to undergo surgical procedures and specialized training to become an augmented soldier, a cyborg known as Cobra.

His idealism is stripped away when he and his fellow Cobras are sent to another world in their Dominion to fight the alien enemy known as Trofts. He sees destruction, death, and loss. He also first experiences distrust from his own allies. Cobras are highly dangerous. They were created that way. But because there was always the possibility they could turn on those they were helping, no one wanted to get too close.

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Book Review of “Star Wars: The Last Command” (1994)

last

Cover of the novel “Star Wars: The Last Command.”

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I just finished reading the third book in Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy,” The Last Command. Oh “spoiler alert,” it is Thrawn’s last command because he dies, which I didn’t see coming.

Grand Admiral Thrawn having acquired the “Katana fleet” in the previous book and with a massive army of clones to man them, proceeds to press the offensive, even to Coruscant.

Leia has her twins and cares for the infants with the help of her aide Winter, but that doesn’t keep her out of the action as the story progresses.

The clone of Jedi Master Joruus C’baoth goes further off the rails, claims the Empire, galaxy, and the whole universe for his own, and is still raving about having Luke, Mara, Leia, and her babies as his apprentices. He decides to leave the Grand Admiral’s ship for the planet Wayland, which is where Thrawn originally found him. Thrawn grants this, but turns the tables. He makes C’baoth his prisoner in the Emperor’s own throne room in the mountain fortress where the clone factory and all of the Emperor’s other secrets are hidden.

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Book Review of “Star Wars: Dark Force Rising” (1993)

dark force

Cover of the novel “Star Wars: Dark Force Rising”

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I finished reading Star Wars: Dark Force Rising, book 2 in the Thrawn trilogy and I have to say I’m having a blast.

It doesn’t quite nail down the original film trilogy, but it comes close. I suppose because more details can be packed in a novel than a two-hour film, those details take a little away from its “Star Wars-ness.”

The race is on to find the derelict Katana fleet, a group of Dreadnoughts dating back to the Clone Wars. Both the New Republic and the revitalized Empire are in desperate need of ships.

Supposedly Talon Karrde, head of the smuggler’s guild, knows the secret location and might be persuaded to tell the New Republic, but then there are others.

Following her promise in the last novel, Leia, Chewbacca, and Threepio meet with their Kashyyyk contact in orbit around Endor. Leia and the rest leave the Millennium Falcon and travel with their companion Khabarakh to his home world in an attempt to convince this warrior race to abandon the Empire and join the New Republic. Eventually, she finds evidence of the Empire having poisoned their planet during the clone wars, rather than the Rebellion, convincing them they have been betrayed by the Empire.

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Book Review of “Star Wars: Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn (plus a few extras)

heir

© James Pyles

Yes, this is a book review, but I need to lay a little groundwork first.

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When online strife over what “Star Wars” as a franchise has become gets to be too much, I always return to watching the original trilogy. Nothing seems to capture what “Star Wars” is to me like those films.

I haven’t watched the prequels in some time. I’d probably enjoy them. I did when I first watched them. At the same time, the thrill wasn’t the same. For one thing, Anakin’s eventual fall to the dark side didn’t have the same horrific tone as did Luke’s final battle with Vader in Return of the Jedi (1983). After all we expect Anakin to become Darth Vader. No one knew for sure what would happen to Luke until it did.

As far as the sequel trilogy, I won’t even get into it. It was too flawed from the beginning to be able to carry the legacy of Lucas’ vision. The fact that Disney in general and Kathleen Kennedy in specific were in charge didn’t help.

I haven’t watched any of the Disney+ shows although I have heard all the angst about them on social media.

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Review of “Bad Dog: Military Science Fiction Across A Holographic Multiverse” (2017)

bad dog

Cover art for Ashley Pollard’s 2017 book “Bad Dog”

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Yesterday, I finished reading Ashley R. Pollard’s book Bad Dog: Military Science Fiction Across A Holographic Multiverse. It’s book one in the Gate Walkers series.

I’m acquainted with Pollard on social media including her commenting periodically on this blog. Like so many other people I “know” on social media, I don’t remember how we connected in the first place. I was aware she was a science fiction author, so when I got the chance to buy and download this series onto my Kindle Fire, I jumped at it.

The protagonist is Sgt. Lara Tachikoma, senior NCO leading a group of Marines who go into combat wearing specialized “mech” suits called “Dogs.” The story is set in 2071 so although the Marine culture she operates in is very familiar to me (my son served in the USMC), she works for the Confederated States Marine Corps.

On board the CSN Hornet, the Marine contingent receives orders from CIA operative Anderson to rescue a group of mechanized Army soldiers who were lost in an area of Afghanistan a week ago. Also, if they just happen to encounter a strange magnetic anomaly, to investigate.

Yeah, it’s a setup.

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Review of “Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter”

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Screenshot from the internet.

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I woke up this morning to find a wonderful review of the Christian SciFi anthology Shoot the Devil 2: Dark Matter by Ginger Nuts of Horror. “Dark Matter” features my short story “The Heavens Shall Declare His Glory.”

Tales by Richard Paolinelli, Frank B. Luke, and L. Jagi Lamplighter received high honors. That said, there was one drawback the reviewer found with the book:

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Review of “The Soldier: Rise of the Jain, Book One” (2018)

soldier

The cover of Neal Asher’s 2018 novel, “The Soldier.”

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Last night I finished Neal Asher’s novel The Soldier: Rise of the Jain, Book One (2018). This one was harder for me to get into than some of the others.

I’ve read a number (but only a fraction of those published) of Asher’s novels, both series and stand alone.

One of the challenges in general is keeping track of all the different characters. It’s not just the Polity and Prator, but now we have the Species, the android Angel, the haiman Orlandine, various AIs including Earth Central (EC), not to mention the mysterious Dragon and the more mysterious Librarian.

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