Bartek

A tribute to Rendez-vous with Rama

Revisado: 11-13-24

I did not particularly like House of Suns by A. Reynolds, but Pushing Ice is a really good piece of sci-fi. Reminds me somewhat Rendez-vous with Rama, a true classic of the genre, leaning towards The Way by Greg Bear. Great book until the musk dogs appear, then it gets weird and mildly infantile, but the overall rating is still very good.

Most of all - and that's quite rare among sci-fi writers - Reynolds ensures real character development. Protagonists are humane, they err, they improve, they learn, but they are full-blooded people, not one-dimensional templates of characters.

Last but not least, as always, John Lee delivers great quality performance.

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Space opera for the Hyperion fans

Revisado: 11-09-24

First of all, there's not much of science in that fiction. It's a space opera, more like Hyperion or Dune than anything resembling Arthur Clarke or Andy Weir. The author dropped any appearances of complying with the believable scientific principles, as any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Otherwise, the story is interesting - even if featuring Star Wars type bipedal robots, performance is fine, characters are quite well developed (that is a particularly challenging issue for many authors). If you enjoyed Hyperion, give it a try.

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What a pleasant surprise

Revisado: 10-10-24

I didn't know the author before and it's really rare to find a decent sci-fi book based on s robust science. I'm pleased to say that the Quantum series is just that: a good foundation in particle physics and a plausible description of a hypothetical technology. of course, there are some plot holes. The characters can at one moment explain competently the particle physics and soon afterwards whine about on and off romantic relationships. The alien characters seem somewhat silly. The idea of the Goldilocks Zone, in my opinion obsolete, holds strong here. Still, overall the books are really a good quality science fiction.

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Science becoming softer. Becoming young adults series?

Revisado: 09-14-24

I am a big fan of the Bobiverse. Science was a major strength of these books in the past. It became softer in the 4th book, with characters chasing each other throughout the story like in a slapstick comedy. Here, members of the Bobiverse family are following their unrelated motives, from flying with dragons, to trying to isolate rogue AI, to hitchhiking the wormhole highway through the galaxy. The plot becomes a bit disconnected, the Bobs become more adolescent and reckless than ever, the jokes become shallow, the science - less important. I hope that it's only a temporary slip.

I still liked it, but it was markedly more mediocre.

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We were so lucky

Revisado: 08-26-24

Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 was a turning point in the history of the world. It could all go a different way - as Zubok writes, Gorbachev might have become another strong Andropov character, introducing only market reforms, not unlike Deng did in China. What really happened is history. Criminal Putin says it was the worst disaster of the 20th century, and it is shared by many Russians - hence current support for jingoistic authoritarianism aiming to rebuild an empire.
Acknowledging Gorbachev's political mistakes leading to the fall of the Soviet Union, let's remember that this event was also the best thing that happened to the Eastern Europe countries in the 20th century, alongside of the defeat of the Prussian and Austro-Hungarian empires in 1918. Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic States - they all own current prosperity and freedom to the same event, the fall of communist Soviet Union. What to many Russians were disaster, to us, Central Europeans, was historical justice, triumph of freedom, decolonization and return to Europe.
Yet another aspect is Ukraine. The chaotic divorce of Soviet republics left hanging the fate of Crimea or Donbas region - another result of Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's policies. Russian 2022 invasion is a thuggish way to restore to Moscow what the people raised in belief of Western conspiracy against the Soviet Union feel was their property unfairly took from them during the dissolution. In a way, like the Russian war against Georgia, it is a delayed effect of the Soviet Union collapse. But 30 years on, place of Ukraine is now in Europe, and Russian strongmen still live in the 20th century, not seeing that they are fatally undermining the very country they wanted to restore to power. The sequel to Collapse is likely to depict how the next generation of incompetent Russian leaders dealt a further blow to the former superpower and made it a Chinese satellite.

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Excellent and up to date

Revisado: 08-05-24

A really interesting assessment of application of strategic principles in wars waged after WWII. Most impressively, Gen. Petraeus provides an early evaluation of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the first international war in Europe since 1945. Clearly, it's going to have lasting repercussions - taking into account deliberate targeting of civil population, innovative massive application of drones or weaponization of energy resources by Putin. New doctrines are being hammered out before our eyes and the Western World is relearning that saving on costs of deterrence may prove ultimately very expensive after all.

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A bit superficial

Revisado: 07-04-24

I found the book a little underwhelming. My impression is that the author wanted to go through multiple hypotheses of alien life and then found researchers willing to support every of these concepts. Maybe interesting for readers without any previous experiences with concepts of alien life, but for more advanced ones I'd rather recommend Ocean Worlds by Kevin Hand - way better researched and still very engaging for laymen.

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Not what I was looking for

Revisado: 05-17-24

The book was recommended by the Planetary Society. I expected it to be an up to date account of the Mars exploration science.

What I found was a deeply personal memoir of a young female scientist, explaining why she got involved in the Martian exploration. Lots of personal details regarding childhood and family, important for understanding her path, but with no relevance whatsoever for Mars science.

You'll find in the book a big chunk of astronomical history beginning from Galileo, as it is something that ultimately influenced the author to take up the challenge. On the other hand, the book is a bit underwhelming on recent Mars research including rovers. Indeed, I was particularly disappointed with that part.

To sum up, a good book for somebody considering a planetary science career. Not great if you just want science.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Distinctly Clarkian, but a bit worrying

Revisado: 03-29-24

I like the book. There are two major sources of inspirations for the plot: Arthur Clarke's novels and Chinese fiction on breathtaking discoveries. Clarke is a genre master for me, so I could not enjoy the novel. Highly recommended.

Now what worries me: if the book is in any way reflection of the sentiments of the Chinese society, the Western world should really start rearming. While it's not a main theme of the novel, militaristic and nationalist attitudes aimed against the sinister America are clearly accented. The Chinese army is a positive protagonist, the West is obsessed with arms development and when the war erupts (it just erupts somehow, no casus belli explained) the Chinese are worried about the invasion against the mainland China (what is absurd given the available manpower). It's as an alien attitude for the West, as any extraterrestrial.

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White Mars

Revisado: 01-05-24

Could easily be a prequel to the Martian Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. There are many similarities:
- long descriptions of desolate landscapes,
- call for harmony between settling the alien land and adjustment to its alien original form to keep it as unchanged as possible,
- long deliberations about utopian social orders necessary for settling an alien land.

Only here Mars is Antarctica. Blue sky, white ice. The plot moves forward like a tectonic plate. Gray sky, white ice. Ten hours of descriptions of the Antarctic landscape, captivating like looking through the window on a monotonous terrain for an entire day. White ice, black water. I'm not kidding, that's the rhythm of this book. Crevasse here, crevasse there. And black mountains on the horizon. Blue sky, black peaks. Probably a gem for aspiring polar explorers, keen to read bits and pieces of stories about Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton.

Positives: the characters are less irritating and immature than in the Martian Trilogy. Or maybe one does not expect temporary Antarctic residents to be up to the same psychological standard as astronauts.

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