Zero point

Zero point by Neal Asher is the second book in The Owner series, see http://scott-turner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/depature.html for a review of the first book.

The new villain Serene Galahad behaviour does reflected her name; this cross between Hilter, Stalin and Vlad the Impaler, who slaughters billions of people and than blames someone else for it. She see humans (if they are not useful to her) as a plague on the planet and aims to cure that particular problem.

The story really centres on Serene taking over the world, and her attempts to quash rebellion on a space station by Saul and on Mars by his sister Var. Saul is attacked, in effect dies but in some ways comes back stronger than before. Earth forces attack the space station and threaten Mars.

I was not disappointed in this sequel. A good book with themes such as committees holding up technological progress so they can maintain power; does technology dehumanise; environmental impact on humanity and the warped ideas that may occur if fixing these is taken to far.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared

The Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson; a strange title but  agreat book. 

A 100 year climbs out of his retirement home bedroom window in part to avoid his party and things just seem to happen to him. Forrest Gump (with a lot more intelligence) meets Douglas Adams, the main character does not have to do anything to find excitement it just seems to find him.

This book has a great twist in that the character you think is going to be this harmless very old man who is going to need to be protection is anything but. The way the book switches from the past to the present really works well and reveals the main character Allan Karlsson has been behind the scenes of many of the great events of the twentieth century (without really trying - Forrest Gump bit), as well as being probably one of the brightest people ever (speaks several languages, nuclear physics is not a problem, international diplomacy, etc) not bad for someone with only three years of formal education - this guy makes James Bond look incompetent. The switching between the past and present also does help develop the story.

The 'supporting' cast are also great in the present day story, including another character who is a polymath just because in the past he was getting money to be a student (but he did have to complete); but starts the story as a Hot-Dog seller. Who falls in love with a red-haired woman who is hiding an elephant on a Swedish farm. A crime boss whose lieutenants are in fact wiped out the others and has links I didn't expect. A quite lonely police officer. An ambitious prosecutor, who is looking for fame. A businessman who knows how to produce the best 'Swedish' chickens and 'Spanish' Watermelons.

This story is funny, good read that doesn't insult the reader, whilst still having a great feel-good factor.

Control Point

Control Point by Myke Cole is an interesting fantasy spin of a military adventure story. Oscar Britton, the main character is a lieutenant in the US Army who develops a prohibited magical ability - to open gates between any two points and goes on the run. He gets captured and is sent to a 'black ops' place where he is forced to join the army as a civilian contractor and learn to control his ability to become a weapon.

Some interesting questions are raised. Is it right to force people to join the military is they have a special ability? Is it right to persecute people because they have an ability that is not on an list of acceptable abilities? Should society have some controls built into to protect society from those with powerful abilities? In these contexts it reminds me a bit of Amped (expect the military bit).

The book is a fast paced adventure story with a fantasy twist. I think the book has a wide appeal. If you like fantasy stories set in the modern world; or military adventures of government agencies fighting secret/illegal wars; or stories about 'mutant' abilities appearing in a modern context this book might be for you.

Shine

Shine is an anthology of optimistic sci-fi edited by Jetse De Vries.

I admit I enjoyed the positive or hopeful endings of the stories. Don't be misled by the phrase optimistic sci-fi here the stories are optimistic (in some cases less clear than other) but not "saccharine sweet" there are some good thought-provoking sci-fi short stories here.

Confession, I hadn't come across all the writers in this book before, but I enjoyed all the stories. The range of stories was interesting, including:

• possibility of benign AI in "The Church of Accelerated Redemption" by Gareth L Powell and Aliette de Bodard;
• rise of a developing country "Solnet Ascendency" Lavie Tidhar;
• understanding humanity "Sarging Rasmussen: A Report (by Organic)" by Gord Stellar;

If you like sci-fi short stories, this book is worth a read.

Amped by Daniel H Wilson

Daniel H Wilson has done it again, following his previous book Robopocalyse,  Amped is another fast paced, sci-fi tale, that is both enjoyable and though-provoking.

Essentially, the story revolves around people have neural-implants for medical or just to make them smarter. It starts with the children with these implants being denied access to free education because they are smarter than non-implanted children, and therefore this not fair on the non-implanted children. Very quickly this moves to discrimination of the 'Amps' (implanted people), ghettos of Amps, and resistance movement. Political manipulation of the situation plays a central role in this, but there are other themes running through this. First, what is a definition of a person and what does it mean to be human? Is this form of technology 'right' or does it dehumanise people or does just enhance what is already there?

This book is a good, enjoyable read, with some though-provoking ideas.

Another recent book Departure by Neal Asher has elements of this story; in particular the effect of implanting technology within someone, though in that story there were only a small number of implanted people.

Program or Be Programmed

Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff is a thought provoking book, arguing we should understand the tools (computers) we are using. Raising the point about only a minority can actually program a computer. The book essentially (or my take on it) talks about the need to understand the technology we are using and the internet is a social media.

Chapter X Purpose has a great line "If we don't learn to program, we risk being programmed ourselves", we need to understand the underlying technology to understand the in-built bias of the system. I agree with programming should be taught in school, and the point that basic programming is not that hard to learn; all of these ideas fits with the ideas such as Computational Thinking of Jeannette  Wing. It is not about people necessarily becoming professional programmers, but about the skills (e.g. problem-solving, logic) and knowledge (how the device is actually operates).

This book is an enjoyable and thought-provoking book, that raises questions about the technology in the 'West'.




Another that might be worth reading alongside this one is the Filter  Bubble by Eli Pariser which raises Again, we need to understand the technology we use.

The Left Hand of God

This book by Paul Hoffman is interesting and very dark book, Thomas Cale is the central character, a teenager raised by a violent and harsh religious sect the Redeemers, it appears to be a skilled killer. The story revolves around him and two other boys, plus a girl escaping their 'home' the Sanctuary, being chased, ending up in another city with Cale (no one calls him Thomas) falling in-love, killing quite a few people and... well I won't spoil the ending. What the Redeemers' plans for Cale are is not clear, but intriguing.

It is a good book that is a bit hard to categorise is it fantasy or alternative history? Some names of places are borrowed from real places and there is an Agincourt-style battle. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book, but by the end I did and wanted to know what happens to Cale.