What I've Been Reading: November 2012 to March 2013

Over the past few months I haven't gotten quite as much reading done as I might normally like, in part because I haven't been able to devote all my commuting time to reading like I did in the past. However, I have still managed to read quite a few books in the five months since I last did a post on the subject. Several of these books I thought were excellent and even the ones I had somewhat more mixed opinions about had their share of good points. But though some of these books deserve an in-depth analysis, I have a lot of other things to work on at the moment, so I have limited myself to brief comments on each.

Acacia: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham
This was a decent fantasy epic, but not really exceptional. I thought it was much better than the Dark Elf trilogy and it had fairly good characterization (also one of the strong points of Durham’s historical novel on Hannibal of Carthage, which I read a few years ago), but it somehow didn’t feel real much of the time, whereas the best novels, regardless of genre, always do. The story was sufficiently gripping, with at least one surprising plot twist, and I liked how he made use of his knowledge of the conflict between Rome and Carthage to introduce a version of the Roman corvus into the story at one point. But while I enjoyed the book well enough, I probably won’t go out of my way to get the sequel, though I might pick it up if I see it at a bargain price.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
While Jules Verne is often seen as one of the first science fiction authors, and some of his books certainly do belong in the genre, Around the World in Eighty Days is a travel story rather than science fiction. It has the same sort of distinct 19th century feel that a Sherlock Holmes story has, and it moves along at a good pace, keeping the reader’s interest as protagonist Phileas Fogg races around the world on a bet. The descriptions of the various locations Fogg and his servant Passepartout travel through are quite interesting in that some places seem to have changed little since Verne’s day, whereas others are very different (unfortunately, the jungles of India have far less in the way of wildlife than they did even a century ago). As for colonial attitudes, while there are occasional stereotypes, Verne on the whole seems to display a fairly liberal attitude for his time, making a number of critical remarks about the actions of the British in places such as China (of course, criticizing the British may have come somewhat easier for Verne, as he was French himself). Fans of Farrokh Bulsara may note that the Parsis (or Parsees as the name is spelled here) of India are mentioned favorably and one is a major character.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
This is a classic novel dealing with the difficulties faced by African-Americans in a very racist America in the period following World War II. Ellison’s prose is highly literary without being unreadable. The protagonist, who is never named, is a highly intelligent, well-read young man (unlike the protagonist of his friend Richard Wright's novel Native Son), but despite his great potential, he finds obstacles wherever he turns. It seems that Ellison deliberately put his protagonist into as many different kinds of situations and environments as possible, ranging from the rural South to New York City and from school to factory work to activism, but the only episode that seems slightly incongruous is the electroshock treatment he undergoes in the factory hospital. Overall, the reader comes away with a much greater appreciation of how terrible the problems black Americans had to deal with in those days were.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
This is an excellent post-apocalyptic novel that is told through the eyes of a character who calls himself Snowman. Parts of it take place in the “present”, that is to say after the disaster – the nature of which is revealed in bits and pieces – and parts of it are Snowman’s reminiscences about the time leading up to the apocalypse, beginning with his childhood, when he was known as Jimmy (it is in these parts that we are introduced to Crake and Oryx). The post-apocalypse parts brought to mind novels like Earth Abides and The Road, while the parts about the pre-disaster society reminded me in some ways of Olivia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. The picture Atwood paints is not very pretty (and it is made even less so when the reader realizes that many of the things she describes actually exist in the real world), but the story is compelling and thought-provoking. Immediately after reading it I bought a used copy of a more recent Atwood novel that apparently shares the same background setting. It will probably be some time before I get around to reading it, but based on this one, I’ll be looking forward to it.

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
At first glance this looked it might be a generic fantasy novel, but actually it was very good. Two things in particular set it apart: good characterization and an interesting, very realistic setting (apparently Wells studied anthropology, which may have helped her when it came to world design). The world is not a typical fantasy world; the city is lit by gas lamps and weapons include not only swords but pistols as well. It bears some resemblance to the London of Charles Dickens (though for some reason it also brought to mind Italian cities like Venice), except for the existence of sorcery and fairy beings known as fay (the former plays a very large role in the story, while the latter are mostly background). There are even a pair of characters who bear a little resemblance to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The plot is complicated but interesting, keeping the reader’s attention through all the twists and turns. While a few elements of the story could be guessed at (for example, it was not hard to predict that Valiarde and Ronsarde would get thrown together in some way), there were also quite a few surprises. The combination of the well-drawn characters and the detailed setting make this one of the most realistic fantasies I’ve read, on par with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Gideon’s Wall, and China Miéville’s novels.

A Case of Conscience by James Blish
An interesting novel about a Jesuit priest who, in his capacity as a biologist, is a member of a team of scientists sent to investigate a world inhabited by intelligent, reptilian aliens. Their society seems perfect, but the protagonist starts to wonder if it’s all a set-up. I had some difficulty with some aspects of the story; for example, two of the other scientists strike me as rather unscientific, not so much in their biases and prejudices, but in their anti-intellectual attitudes. Also, the protagonist seems not to believe in evolution, which seems rather improbable for a biologist (and for all its faults, I don’t think even the Catholic Church denies the reality of evolution). Nevertheless, the philosophical questions the novel poses are interesting, and there is considerable ambiguity about whether the protagonist’s ideas about the aliens are actually correct. As a side note, it was an interesting coincidence that just after I finished this novel, the Catholic Church chose a Jesuit to be Pope, the first ever to hold the position.

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
In this book, physicist and futurist Michio Kaku makes predictions about developments that will take place in the 21st century in fields such as computers, medicine, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy, and space travel, as well as changes that will take place in our concepts of wealth and in our society in general. Not surprisingly, many of the possible future inventions and advances he discusses are amazing, and it will be interesting to find out how many of them we will live to see. My initial impression was that Kaku was perhaps a little too positive, as he seemed to neglect the possible negative consequence of some of the developments he talks about; for instance he doesn’t talk much about the privacy issues that might arise from further advances in computers, and he seems at times to assume that people will make the best possible use of some of the new technologies. However, he does mention a number of negatives, such as why climate change is a serious issue and the major difficulties that we face in the fields of artificial intelligence and space travel, and he does at times point out how negative aspects of human nature may result in misuse of technology (for example in the case of nuclear power). Of course some of his predictions will no doubt turn out to be either too optimistic or too pessimistic. How close to reality his picture of life in 2100 will turn out to be is something that at least some of the children alive today will have a chance to discover.