Review: If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

Before the start of this review, I should state that I know Matthew R. Davis. We have met at  local writing events, and we do follow each other on social media.

The thirteen stories in his first anthology “If only tonight we could sleep”, showcases the broad range of Matthew’s imagination. In this book, there is a nightclub gone wild, sentient roses, weird sisters, a lovers play list, and strange goings on in the rail yards to name a few .  Whilst each story does contain original ideas, Matthew’s clear voice does come through – especially his feel of reality. This is what makes the stories even better, in that they all start in the same place. Reality. As the events transpire and get into the fantastic, they maintain their hold on reality. In the horror genre, spiralling out of control is something that is easy to do, but Matthew does not. He maintains the control on the words and the events. 

There are a few places where a cliché does sneak in, and in one story, there is a small case of author intrusion. But, overall, an enjoyable anthology, and a talent to keep an eye on. Given the nature of Matthew’s stories, two attentive eyes might be safer.

Review: Kill Code by Clive Fleury

The world that Clive builds here is one that is presented clearly and tersely – this is evident given the novel comes in at 148 pages. The other reason that he is able to do this is due to there being very little in the way of new ideas. The images presented are standard post climate change / economic collapse / dystopian future.

The story follows Hogan Duran, a former police officer, eking out a life in this world, trying to feed himself and a former colleague. When the opportunity presents itself for him to improve his lot, he takes it. As is expected in this genre, he discovers the darker side of the world he inhabits. As the heroic type, he does something about it.

The voice of the main character remains constant through out the novel. There are no areas where he suddenly changes word usage.  The use of the first person creates the doubt of what truth is, which reinforces what appears to be the main theme of the novel. What is truth ? And whose truth is true ? 

On the downside, the use of the first person takes some of the tension from the action sequences. There are a few, and they are fast and to the point.

Reading this novel, there are a few places that are disjointed, as characters that have made an exit aren’t identified. However, this could have been forgiven if it had been part of the final explanation of the experience – which it wasn’t – so what could have been a plot point, looks  like a plot error.

At the end, it does feel like a volume one of a larger saga, and it will be interesting to see how that progresses.

Overall, is you are looking for a quick dystopian novel that is fairly well written, this will fill in some time and go for it. 

Review: Provenance by Ann Leckie

When your first book wins three major awards in the genre, you tend to set yourself a very high bar. Anne Leckie follows her Ancillary Trilogy with Provenance, a new novel that takes place in the same universe as her previous work.

This time, the story is more of children wanting parental acknowledgment, and what that can lead to. In this case, it results in a criminal busted out of a broken prison, a murder, and a political crisis. Taken at face value, Provenance looks like nothing new, but Leckie’s main character Ingray is a sympathetic one who must make their way through the events they set off.  Along the way, Leckie also looks at the importance of historical artefacts, and if the truth of them is more important that what they represent. 

The story moves with the slow burn that Leckie used in the past, and this is appears to the first of a multi volume story. It is one that I will certainly look to follow with interest. 

Review: New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

In the near future, the ice caps are going to melt, sea levels will rise, and disaster will hit the planet. Unlike other apocalypses in fiction, Kim Stanley Robinson seems to suggest that we’ll do alright after all this. New York 2140 looks at the city of New York after the disaster. The world has adjusted, with New York becoming a city of canals, where keeping the water out is as important as getting around. Into this world, Robinson places the importance of the finance trader.

The story itself starts with the disappearance of two programmers and then becomes a history of the world, a travelogue of New York, and a treasure hunt. Once the necessary enviromental issues are taken care of, Robinson starts with what appears to be his real agenda. In order to make sure his readers understand everything, Robinson has information dumps along the way. We are presented with an author who is annoyed at how the GFC of 2008 was handled, and he puts forward a solution to it.

This is not a fast moving story, but it is not boring. The characters all get thier own chapters. They are what Robinson does well – regular people just trying to get through. The fact that his future seems possible, and is logically extrapolated from current events, make this novel seem like a warning for the future. Both enviromentally, and economically – ignore his ideas at your own peril. 

Overall, a good book, and one that should be a jump-off point for discussion

Review: Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

When a family of psychics gets discredited in the 1970s, you would think that their story would end right there. 

Nope.

It is just the start.

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory picks up the story of the Telemachus family in 1995. At first glance, this could easy be a piece of nostalgia. But it goes beyond that. It tells the story of a family that is dysfunctional, committed, and more than the 1970s produced.

The story is told with a series of flashbacks that advance the story and add to the sense of loss the weaves through the story. That’s not to say that this is a depressing story. Far from it. With mob bosses and government agents, the family pulls together with the fighting, bitching, and humor that a family will do.

And when the chips are down, they all come together. The climax of the novel is one of the best endings of a story I’ve read. 

Overall, an enjoyable and gentle book.

Review: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

In the future, corporations will rule everything and crafted drugs will help people achieve many things. Those on the fringe will fight against this same world. From this description, Autonomous by Annalee Newitz would seem like another rip off William Gibson’s Neuromancer, but it’s more than that.

Based in the year 2144, this story tells of a pirate drug maker,  who reverse engineers patented drugs and then sells on the cheap. When an issue is found with the drug, the race is on. With the help of other pharmaceutical patent pirates, an escaped indentured human, and a robot, she will try to find a cure. Hot on her heels is an Intellectual Property Police office, partnered by a brain encased in a robot’s carapace.

What I found interesting was the interaction between technologies. For those into computers, the concept that all machines identify both parties and start and end data is one that rings true. That’s where Autonomous is done very well. All the ideas put forward in this story appear to be extrapolated from current ideas. Given Newitz’s background in technology and science journalism, this is hardly surprising.

The only problem that I really felt was the development of the world itself. Granted the scenes are well written, but some locations felt that they were just names, without much difference to other locations. The locations in Africa felt much the same as those in Canada. But this is a minor qualm. 

This is a good book, from a writer whose fiction will certainly be worth watching in the future.

Review: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

In the lead up to the 2018 Nebula Awards, our sci-fi and fantasy guru Shaun Taylor reviews the nominees.

When read a story, we assume that what the author is telling us, is the truth. But what would happen if a number of classic stories were wrong ?

Theodora Goss plays with this premise really well in The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. The adult daughter of Dr Henry Jekyll begins to investigate her father’s strange associate. Along the way, she teams us with a number of females who are the results of various experiments. Along the way, Goss brings into the question the narrative of four classic horror stories. She applies the approach to her own narrative as well, as the main characters interrupt the flow to bicker about what is being written about them and the events they experience.

The 1890s London in this novel is filled with the cabs, poverty and opulance that the modern reader has come to expect of stories from this time. Goss manages to bring this setting to life, both in terms of the physical descriptions, as well as the social and political aspects, with characters bickering about the issues of the day.

This is a pleasant romp of a story that covers familiar ground, with a wink and nod, and its intrusions add to the fun of the novel. For those interested in the genre, this will be an enjoyable novel. For those are are not familiar with the stories referenced, it maybe a little confusing. I did have to Google one of the stories myself, so don’t feel bad and stick with it – it’s a fun read.

Review: The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

In the lead up to the 2018 Nebula Awards, our sci-fi and fantasy guru Shaun Taylor reviews the nominees.

In the final installment of Broken Earth, N.K. Jemisin presents an incredible vision of the end or rebirth of the planet.
With Essun and Nassun – Mother and Daughter – against each other, the clock is ticking for each race across this apocalyptic landscape. The narration jumps between the two, with each character’s chapter being told in different tenses. Essun’s is told first person, present tense, while Nassun is third person, past tense.

While this does help differentiate the characters, and makes Essun’s story a little more personal, I found it a little unsettling until I got into the swing of things. The story of the two women is also broken up by a third story in the voice of the novel. Without giving too much away, the novel does reveal that the two strands of the novel are actually being told by the same person.  I found the interjections from this voice to tie the stories together a little intrusive, knocking me briefly out of the world of the novel. That didn’t last for long though – the rest of the world created here is so well described and inhabited, that I was soon back in the swing of things.

Overall, this is a good closing to a trilogy. The world, and the use of geology for magic are both interesting and well handled by Jemisin.

Review: Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

In the lead up to the 2018 Nebula Awards, our sci-fi and fantasy guru Shaun Taylor reviews the nominees.

In 1920s Europe, the atmosphere was filled with the possibilites of revolution, and the sounds of the Cabaret. This time of intrigue and music have been captured by Lara Elena Donnelly’s Amberlough.

Starting with a spy leaving his show business / smuggler lover, the intrigue and the tension of the period is slowly ratcheted in Donnelly’s alternate Weimar Republic.

Most of this action is based around Cyril DePaul, a spy reluctant to get back into the field, and his lover Aristide Makricosta, a theatre preformer of many skills.

Donnelly’s world is well realised, with its own slang and inner consistency. It is the factions and their names that I had trouble keeping track of. All seem to be lacking a basic motivation as well. However, given that this is being advertised as part 1 of a series, hopefully this will be realised in later volumes.

I do look forward to reading more of this series, and from the author more broadly. 

Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee

In the lead up to the 2018 Nebula Awards, our sci-fi and fantasy guru Shaun Taylor reviews the nominees.

In Jade City, Fonda Lee has created a wonder of a gangster action novel. Taking place in the city of Janloon – which feels like a Hong Kong of action movies – it tells of a war between two gangster factions, and of the control of Jade, which grants its user’s powers. 

Lee’s style is very visual, and I often found myself seeing this is in anime rather than motion. Action sequences are frenetic, with green magic being thrown and blocked by combatants. But this is not a world of super anti-heroes. What we have is a glimpse into a city that gets caught up in the war. There are business owners, government officals and small time hoods trying to survive or end the carnage that erupts in the city.

The main focus of the action is the Kaul family, rulers of one of the clans. This helps keeps the cast of characters down to the ‘must have a list of players’ that is often found in fantasy novels. Having said that, some of the minors characters seem a little underwhelming.

For readers not familiar with the tradition in some asian countries of placing the family name first, there could be confusion as you think all the family are called Kaul. However, the depth of Lee’s creation ensures this is soon forgotten.

As a person who spent their younger days watching Hong Kong films and anime, this novel is one of the best at grabbing the feel of these two genres. 

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