This is the final book in the Cyteen trilogy (proceeded by Cyteen: The Betrayal and Cyteen: The Rebirth). This book is good in that it avoids much of the politics that mired the first book. Additionally, its nice to see Ari2 and Justin resolve some of their differences, even if its from a position of…
Books read in June 2010
All the Weyrs of Pern Quicksilver Cyteen: The Rebirth King of the Vagabonds
King of the Vagabonds
I thought I was reading this book slowly, until I remembered that I am reading the large page three books all in one volume version. If I had bought this book as a single paperback in a standard paper size it would have been 400 pages. This book is better than Quicksilver, with a more…
The Exterminator’s Want Ad
What happens when our wasteful ways finally leads to the collapse of our consumption oriented society? Well, Bruce Sterling has some suggestions in this online short story…
Cyteen: The Rebirth
This book is a follow up to Cyteen: The Betrayal, and was originally published in the same volume as it. The book would make little sense without having read Cyteen: The Betrayal first. Apart from that its a good book, and much more readable than the first. I think that’s mostly because all the important…
Quicksilver
This book is well written, and a delight to read. I love meeting the forefathers of characters from Cryptonomicon, and this book is an excellent piece of historical fiction. It does however drag on a little in the middle when Daniel is tied up in London intrigue. I think this section would have worked a…
All The Weyrs of Pern
This is the science fiction that I thought the Pern stories should have been all along. Its fair enough that there is a build up to this point, although it took a long time and involved a lot more light weight fiction than I would have liked. This was a good book, and I enjoyed…
Books read in May 2010
Another bad reading month, with too many chores around the house. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Cyteen: The Betrayal Neuromancer
Neuromancer
This book is a classic, and I first read it a long time ago. Its pretty clear in retrospect why it kicked off the cyberpunk movement, and I’m glad that the future it proposed hasn’t come to pass (yet). Despite being written in the 1980s the book isn’t dated, although it does make more sense…
Cyteen: The Betrayal
I read this book at the recommendation of my father. Its an interesting concept — artificially produced humans have been created to fill gaps in a society far out on the edges of occupied space. However, how are these artificial humans different from “real” humans? How are they different from slaves given they are programmed…