The Foundation by Isaac Asimov

My husband and I recently started a small book club with some friends focusing on sci-fi and fantasy. We decided a great beginning book would be one of the classics, The Foundation by Isaac Asimov. We were wrong. This was a book that dragged on and on, seemingly without a point, and then just ended.

This book was set in space but so little of it actually focused on that aspect. It was just a bunch of politics with cheesy lines like "Oh great galaxies!" thrown in every now and then. None of the science fiction was explained. The planets that were traveled to were not described. The book is split up into five parts but each part jumps into the future with a new character and does not explain what happened in the time between. Thus there is no character development whatsoever and no point in getting attached to any characters because they are cardboard pieces thrown away as soon as their respective part has ended.

I know all of this seems harsh, but I am someone who has always tried to read classic literature. Even if I do not enjoy a novel I can usually discern what it is about the book that made it classic (with the exception of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but that is another story). So I did try to look at The Foundation from all angles to see what it was that made this a cornerstone of modern science fiction, and I just could not find anything. There was no real plot, no rising action or climax or resolution, no character development, and not very much science fiction at all.

The comment was made that perhaps this book is so important because of the series it is a part of, or at least the original trilogy. This may be true, but I think that books need to be able to stand on their own to be considered "good" or "classic". So maybe Asimov's Foundation series is what most look at as a "foundation" for science fiction, but I do not intend to continue reading to find out.

In conclusion, there are much better science fiction books out there. If you are looking for a classic I hear that Dune is really good. I always love Alastair Reynolds. Even the Star Wars books I have read are better than The Foundation. Does this mean I will never read a book by Asimov again? Not necessarily. I have heard great things about I, Robot. I also know that Asimov began this series when he was twenty-one, so perhaps this book is just an example of immature writing and Asimov gets better. For now, I will be exploring other books, but maybe one day I will return to Asimov's world.  

Armada by Ernest Cline

Armada is a fast paced ride through sci-fi references and pop culture nods. Ernest Cline did a good job of mixing not only 80's references but modern references. I enjoyed that because I understood the current "Leeroy Jenkins" reference and the Patrick Rothfuss nod; in comparison to Ready Player One which mostly focused on the 80s.

What I have learned about Ernest Cline as a writer is that his stories can be a bit predictable. This did not bother me in Ready Player One because of all the action and moments that happened between the beginning and the end. In fact there is a point in that book where I wondered if what I had predicted all along was utterly wrong. But in Armada I found myself predicting what would happen and then turning the page to see it happen, over and over again. The only thing interspersed between these moments were fight scenes, whether real or in the video game, that were described in such painful detail that after the third one it just felt like they were there to take up space.

Armada did have some interesting theories, especially the idea that video games were created and funded by the government to train civilians how to fight aliens, but the theories were not overly original. It felt like Ernest Cline had taken a lot of scenes from his favorite movies and books and then smashed them all together into a novel. Now let me say that this is not a bad thing, it was really nerdy and cool and I loved it, but it just did not make me go "wow" at the end.

The only other complaint I have is the lack of deep underlying narrative. Armada seemed to be just a book about video games and alien invasions and then it turned out to be just that. There is a moment at the end that seems to try to make up for this by implying that humans need to be more compassionate and less war-driven, and I agree, but it did not feel like this was a point being reinforced over and over again throughout the novel.

I did enjoy that there was less of a love story in this novel. And I love that Ernest Cline wrote about a female president and a single mom who is kick ass and other women who can shine in their own right. I love that he writes nerdy books that feel accessible to me, not only as a nerd, but as a woman. Like I stated above, I also loved the many nods to current pop culture. This book was a fast read and full of action, which was a nice change of pace from the last book I read. I enjoyed Armada immensely, I just did not finish it and immediately want to start reading it again like I felt with Ready Player One.

Now perhaps it is not fair for me to compare Armada to Ready Player One. And maybe I would feel differently had I read them in reverse order. But Ernest Cline has only written two books and so it is inevitable that they will be compared. The thing is that I don't know if I would have even read Armada had I not loved its predecessor so much. This book just felt lackluster, I guess.

All of that being said, I think Armada will make a great movie. It has all the elements to help it translate beautifully to film and I will be one of the first in line to watch. I really enjoy Ernest Cline's writing and intend to read the next book he releases. Overall, I just feel that if I had to choose between Armada and Ready Player One to recommend to a reader, it would be Ready Player One every time. But if you like spaceships and video games and have an afternoon to kill, this is a great book for you.

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds **spoiler warning**

Until four years ago, the closest I had come to reading science fiction was when I was ten years old or younger and reading Star Wars books. The older I got I seemed to think that science fiction was boring and uninteresting, not true literature, etc. I thought this about quite a few genres. When I stumbled across Neil Gaiman, and fell so in love, I suddenly was thrust into a world of new possibilities. The man had written in almost every genre and medium possible. So, with time, I began to let go of old prejudices but I had still not ventured into sci-fi. Then last year a good friend suggested a book called House of Suns by an Alastair Reynolds. From what he told me, I was interested. And he promised it was not cheesy or boring. I bit the bullet and bought the book.

The thing about Alastair Reynolds is that his writing is smart. I mean really smart. This guy is an astrophysicist turned author. So when he writes about space and science, it is almost on a textbook level. I am slightly ashamed to admit that he is the only author who has ever made me feel stupid. I have always had a high reading level. I read Pride and Prejudice at 11 (I wish I was kidding). So I do not tend to feel inferior to any level of writing or type of novel. And yet when I read Reynolds, he makes me feel, for the first time, like his writing is above my comprehension level. But that is part of why I love him. Thus when I first begin any of his novels, and  Redemption Ark is my third, I have to shut off the part of my brain that wants to fully and truly understand all that is happening. Unless I have a super high-tech space dictionary next to me, which I don't, I have to accept I will not understand every word used. It takes a bit of time and effort to get into a Reynolds novel, but it is so worth it.

So I loved House of Suns, but it was a stand alone novel. Eventually I went back to the book store and decided to dive into Reynolds first novel, which was the beginning of a series, called Revelation Space. That novel was the first book I read this year and I loved it even more than House of Suns. Redemption Ark is the second book in the Revelation Space world and I loved it. Both of these novels are full of rich storytelling and immersive space opera-ness. What I love is that even if Reynolds follows many characters for the first half of the novel, he will always end up throwing them together for the second half, and that is where the fun begins.

Redemption Ark brought back my favorite character of Ana Khouri, whose history is easier to explain if you just go find the books. She is a badass woman (as all of Reynolds' women are in their own right, another reason to admire him) and I enjoyed being able to follow her continued story as she tries to save the planet of Resurgam from certain destruction. The Inhibitors, a race of machines whose sole purpose is to squash out star-faring life so as to preserve not star-faring life, have awoken and are in the midst of building a frightening weapon to kill the planet. The story is more complex and rich than that, but I would fail miserably if I tried to explain it.

This series deals overall with the existence of the Inhibitors and what that means for mankind. There is mystery combined with fear, and sometimes horror, in all of Reynolds' novels and it keeps me engaged. But at the same time Reynolds' finishes each of his novels in a satisfying enough way that it could stand on its own. This man is truly brilliant and I have nothing but respect and awe for his writing. Especially because he has said that he never writes about something he does not think could actually happen or exist someday, (which is a bit frightening when I think of the idea of the Inhibitors).

The character of Nevil Clavain, who is introduced in this book, is one of the most fascinating and complicated of any of Reynolds' other characters. His story is long and not fully explained, but the glimpses at his past are intriguing. Part of why I loved this novel so much as because of this character. In fact I would recommend the book on Clavain alone. He is one of the few humans who used to live on Earth and his memories of it are insightful. His history alone seems to be the history of humans in space. Overall, I think Redemption Ark is my favorite Reynolds book so far and I recommend it, especially if you've already read Revelation Space.

Alastair Reynolds is, in my opinion, a poet and professor. It is hard to truly describe the beauty of some passages that, while they are talking about very foreign elements, use metaphors that seem stolen from a poem. Combine this with his astrophysicist background and grand ideas of space and time, and Alastair Reynolds may be the most brilliant author there ever was. He just hides in the science-fiction section. I am forever grateful I took my friend's suggestion. I am grateful I opened my mind and ventured into the world of unknown genres. Even if everything else I read is shit, finding Reynolds will be the one payoff for roaming into the science-fiction aisle.