Book review: Chains of Command (Frontlines 4) by Marko Kloos

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Bruncvik

The fourth book in the most endearing military science fiction series, Frontlines, is a little less endearing.  It is still action-packed, returning to some more grounded and gritty combat that I’ve been missing so much since the first book, but the action is overshadowed a little by poor pacing and less character development I grew accustomed to.  The short book is still a fun ride while it lasts, but I felt it was more of a contractually required series filler than a work of passion.

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Modern Classic: Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota 4) by Ada Palmer

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Bruncvik

And so, the Terra Ignota series is drawing to an end.  It goes out with a bang, both literal and figurative.  And true to the author’s previous books, it offers a brand-new theme and different style, which are just as gripping as before.  Those readers who slogged through the series up to this point will welcome the change to a faster-flowing pace, which makes the book more accessible.  That doesn’t mean, however, that Palmer let go of her moral philosophy.  Here, however, she seems to be letting the reader decide what is right and wrong, and I’m not sure I liked the result.

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Flash review: The Tale of Ak and Humanity by Yefim Zozulya

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Bruncvik

Touted as the inspiration for the dystopian genre, and in particular for Zamyatin’s We, this short story had my expectations running high.  It turned out to be very simplistic, with little to think about.  But perhaps because of this we can consider this short story to be one of the earliest precursors of the genre: the barebones structure upon which other authors improved the bleak urbanist hell dystopia that many of us so love to hate.

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Book review: EarthCore by Scott Sigler

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Bruncvik

This book cannot decide whether it wants to be a near-future thriller, an action romp or science-fiction with a sprinkle of body horror.  At the end, it tries to be everything, but only half-heartedly, leaving much to be desired.  I found the book to be bland, formulaic, and forgettable.

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Modern classic: The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota 3) by Ada Palmer

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Bruncvik

This review has been several weeks in making.  Usually, I write reviews in a week, with multiple rereads and revisions.  In this case, I never felt that my efforts were adequate to the quality of the book, and I ended up completely scrapping several drafts.  Even this review is not up to the task, but there came a point when I needed to move on.  Terra Ignota has become my most favorite science fiction series of this century, and The Will to Battle was yet another improvement of the narrative.  It is extremely well thought out, with compelling albeit imperfect characters, plausible story and daring literary elements that left me in awe of the author.  The series, and in particular this book, is not for everyone, as it is extremely short in action and heavy in introspection.  This is not a comfort read.  It’s difficult, slow to digest, and may require an encyclopedia close at hand.  However, this also makes the title extremely memorable and rewarding.

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Classic review: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (Heechee saga 2) by Frederik Pohl

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Bruncvik

Sequels to highly regarded books are a risky venture. The expectations are high, and even if the book meets them, the mood tends to be dampened by the more prominent hero’s journey curve, at the expense of worldbuilding. Where the first books in the series can hide some of their flaws behind the wonders of the new world or universe and an upward trajectory of the hero’s path to greatness, the sequel usually leads to the reader awakening to a bleaker world, where the wonders are not as appealing anymore, and the hero begins his downward spiral. When done right, the second volumes gain something of a cult following, and eventually can be considered the best of the series. Most often, however, they are seen as less entertaining and merely necessary for further exposition. The second Heechee novel does not follow the same rules, and this is why it’s just as appealing as the first book.

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Book review: The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Bruncvik

Welcome back to the good old days of science fiction when stories were fun, authors didn’t need to comment on social issues or historical events, and readers didn’t have to be bogged down by hidden messages. Where the protagonists were unambiguously good, the antagonists bad, and the story entertaining and straight-forward. Unless the author threw in a curve in the narrative that everyone should have seen coming and yet nobody did. Welcome to the fun side of the Star Wars universe in anything but its name.

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Book review: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Bruncvik

If it wasn’t for the recent Netflix series, this book would have been largely forgotten, except in more niche communities like biopunk aficionados. It presents a fascinating idea and milks it for what it’s worth. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it does a really good job exploring the consequences of the technology. It also does so in a vibrant and interesting world, full of characters and environments. However, the writing is disjointed, the pacing very poor and the author’s obsession with sex greatly detracted from my immersion into the novel’s world. Very few will reread the book or pick up the sequel.

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Classic review: The Doomed City by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, translated by Andrew Bromfield

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Bruncvik

The Doomed City is a multi-layered book, which will become ever more appealing as the reader digs deeper into its meaning. On the surface, it is a dystopian novel taking place in a city that is slowly falling apart, along with its society. Deeper in, the reader may identify additional levels, from a speculative fiction work in the vein of Dark City or The Matrix, through a character study of a very imperfect protagonist, a philosophical treatise on the dangers of idolatry or communism, to several layers of highly subversive anti-communist thoughts. The novel is incredibly complex, but also making additional re-reads incredibly rewarding.

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Flash review: The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch by Garth Nix

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Bruncvik

Highly energetic, outrageously ridiculous, and compellingly weird. This novelette, whose full name I will not repeat lest be accused of padding the word count of this review, hit me in all the right spots. It is easy flowing, features very fascinating worldbuilding, has set pieces that are exciting and funny at once, and leaves me longing for more. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had such a fun-filled half an hour of reading.

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