frozen characters

Archangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel

Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: science fiction

Review: How do you take the remnants of a generation ship and keep humanity alive on a frozen, inhospitable planet?  It turns out to involve not just a fair amount of technological ingenuity, but also a healthy dose of myth-making and autocratic government (think, iron fist in velvet glove).  And then, how do you hold the society you've made together 200 years later, when your far-distant cousins from Earth show up and basically say "hey, we didn't actually destroy ourselves like you thought!"?  For the governor of Novayarkha, it turns out the answer is, not very well.

Which is all all well and good for plot purposes.  Every book has to have dramatic conflict and all that.  However, every good book also needs well-rounded characters who have realistic reactions to the conflict.  Both of those were lacking here.  Across the board, characters behaved in ways that weren't understandable based on the information given to the reader.  It's hard to relate to characters when you don't understand why they're acting the way they are.  It's a shame that this book was sunk by poor character development, because the premise was quite interesting.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

just a little unbalanced

Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: science fiction

Review: Good science fiction is more about the characters than the science. And this is good science fiction. Unfortunately, Kress goes a little overboard in weighting the book toward the characters (sometimes less human drama is more), but this is still a very interesting story. Kress presents a familiar question (what comes after death) and answers it in a unique way, without taking any of the various moralistic routes a less skilled author might have.

just a vehicle

The Eugenics Wars, Vol. I: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh
Rating: 1.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Challenge: A-Z (author)
Review: This book is little more than a vehicle for Greg Cox to demonstrate his knowledge of political and cultural history of the late 20th century, as well as his knowledge of the Star Trek universe. Khan and Gary Seven (with faithful sidekicks Roberta and Isis) tromp through world history a la Forrest Gump except with an agenda. Allegedly, their agenda is the same, to help humanity survive into the 21st century, although Khan already shows signs of being the anti-hero we know from episode and movie. How he goes from being so idealistic, if ruthless, to being exiled on the Botany Bay is a question left to Volume II, which I may find the patience to read one day.