reviews

A.I. Apocalypse by William Hertling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A.I. Apocalypse is Mr. Hertling’s second book and a direct sequel to “Avogadro Corp”.

The plot starts when a Leon, a gifted teenager, inadvertently unleashes a virus that spawns an entire civilisation of A.I.s. We are re-acquainted with Mike Williams and the (now rather cute, loveable and just a little creepy) ELOPe from “Avogadro Corp”.

I quite enjoyed the first half of the book where the author describes how the A.I.s evolve, how their civilisation was organised and the fallout of all this happening. The second half describes the interaction between the human and A.I. civilisations with ELOPe acting as an intermediary.

The story has some interesting ideas – the military using massively multiplayer games to recruit soldiers, the idea of trade replacing competition as the central organising principle of the A.I. civlisation, and the use of evolutionary algorithms.

As in Avogadro Corp, the writing in A.I. Apocalypse is uneven. Instead of conversing, the characters seem to be quoting from wikipedia. I also found it hard to empathise with most of the main characters.

I am interested in A.I., neural networks and machine learning, so this did not bother me, but avoid this book if you are looking for sparkling dialogue. Mr. Hertling does throw in some bits which made me laugh out loud. In one scene, an A.I. states “All your bases belong to us”. I guess Mr. Hertling knows his target audience.

I would give the book 3.5 stars.

Related review: Avogadro Corp By William Hertling.

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The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hannu Rajaniemi’s Quantum Thief is delightful yet difficult science fiction. It is Mr. Rajaniemi’s debut novel and it is set in a world that is quite unlike most of what we find in contemporary science fiction.

The plot centers around Jean Le Flambeur, the titular “Quantum Thief”. The plot begins with Le Flambeur being broken out of a (delightfully conceived) prison by a mysterious warrior and embarking on a quest that centers around Le Flambeur’s past. The action moves on to a fascinating moving city on Mars and the civilization of the Oubliette where most of the plot unfolds.

I enjoyed the book but found some of the writing a little difficult. The author enjoys using neologisms to describe key parts of the world of The Quantum Thief. I found it a struggle to follow what was going on.

The book could have done with a bit more exploration of the background and history of the world. The book touches on themes of freedom, memory and what it means to be alive – but these seem incidental to the somewhat pedestrian plot. Having said that, The Quantum Thief already has a sequel out and I look forward to revisiting the world of Le Flambeur.

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Avogadro Corp by William Hertling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read William Hertling’s Avogadro Corp in a single sitting. It is a short, enjoyable but flawed book. It has much to offer for those who are interested in AI, the Singularity and in technology in general.

The book is set in Portland in the present day and describes the incidental creation of an Artificial Intelligence and it’s subsequent fallout. Avogadro Corp in this book is clearly based on Google. A team lead by the two main protagonists David and Mike create an email analysis tool to help users craft emails to maximise the probability of success of their intended communication.

The concept in itself is interesting and plausible. In the first quarter of the book the author describes fairly accurately how a large software company like Avogadro Corp may function. David and Mike lead the development team of the tool, called ELOPe. The description of office politics and the tussle over resource allocation is amusing and fairly accurate. Mr. Hertling works for a large software corporation and his experience shines through here.

The plot moves along at a good pace, but there are some problems with the premise. The AI in question deals with email, yet it somehow manages to influence world politics, launch anti aircraft missiles and buy and equip oil tankers within a matter of weeks. I find it difficult to believe that a large company like Avogadro corp would be managed in such a way that people just shrug and carry on when millions of dollars worth of purchases are made, or big contracts are signed. Email is all pervasive and powerful, but this was a leap too far. These things could make sense if the timeline of the book was set over a couple of years. However the main events in the book happen over a period of two months or so making it difficult to suspend disbelief. All of the above issues are forgivable since they do advance the plot and did not detract me from enjoying the book.

As the plot progresses, more characters are added, and things become a little problematic. The character of Gene who helps David and Mike trying to deal with the fallout of their software going “live” is a poor composition of the most hackneyed character types: the grizzled and grumpy old man muttering about “kids these days”, the hardboiled detective who heroically pulls together diverse plot strands with a legal pad and a highlighter, and of course he keeps a bottle of bourbon in his bottom drawer. Gene appears whenever the plot needs a little push. I found a lot sections featuring him quite irritating and I ended up skimming them wanting to get back to the matter at hand.

The things that bothered me the most were small and incidental plot details. Near the start of the book, David decides to change the code of the ELOPe overnight and releases it to production. Mike, then spends a couple of days trying to figure out why the ELOPe behaves differently. In most software houses, every change would be committed to a source control system before being released out into the wild. This system is often the first port of call when trying to figure out what went wrong and what was changed. Mike, who is supposed to be the technical lead, does not do this and spends a couple of days agonising over log files that do not show him anything. There are similar small details that are jarring when reading the book.

None of the characters have a distinct voice except the walking stereotype that is Gene. David, one of the main characters, is also problematic. He is supposed to be a brilliant programmer and project manager working for the world’s biggest web services company yet he does not know what social engineering is. There is a passage where David, Mike and David’s wife Christine are talking and Christine suddenly goes into a lecture on social engineering. There are many similar passages where the author goes from “show mode” to “tell mode”. Characters walk on, say something that moves the plot forward, and then disappear – only to pop up later.

I realize I may come across as overly critical of Avogadro Corp. Yet, I enjoyed it enough to finish it in one sitting. The story starts well and it pushed all the right buttons for me. It could have been much better if the author addressed some of the issues around character development, pacing and thought through some of the plot details. This is Mr. Hertling’s first book and at a price of under $3 on the Amazon Kindle store, a lot of the issues I mention above can be forgiven. I will read the next books in the series with interest.

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Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up Leviathan Wakes on the recommendation and reviews on Good Reads. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel Caliban’s War.

James Corey ( a pseudonym for writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank) presents a gritty, action packed thriller set in the near future. All the action is centered around the solar system. In Corey’s vision, we find humanity has Mars as well as the moons and asteroids around Saturn. The inner planets, Mars and Earth, are the cultural and economic powers, while the “Belters” make do on the moons and asteroids near Saturn. Corey presents a world that is very believable, and while not quite a dystopia – certainly is a gritty vision of the future.

The story is told through two point of view characters – Miller, a cynical, hard drinking detective working for security on Ceres and James Holden, the executive office abroad an ice hauler working the route between Saturn’s moons. Miller is the archetype hard boiled detective while Holden is the square jawed idealist. Their stories converge as they are brought together trying to investigate the disappearance of a ship and it’s crew.

The story finds the protagonists face to face with an ancient power that has the power to transform human life. They have to battle evil corporations, corrupt cops, and .. space zombies!

The story is light on science and heavy on action. Some of the action sequences are extremely well written and exciting. The chapters based on Eros are especially well written. However, I couldn’t help but think of this book as a screen play for a very good action video game. The characterization veer into caricature territory (though Miller is a most enjoyable caricature – I am a sucker for Noir!) and the romantic side plot is just not believable.

The author(s) present a future with intriguing possibilities, but they do not really spend much time in building this future. It would have been great to get to know more about the politics between the inner planets and the Belters. The story touches on racism, xenophobia and politics but only does so in the most cursory manner. I am hoping some of these themes are explored in more detail in the sequels ( Leviathan is book one of three in the “Expanse” series).

If you enjoy space opera, good action and a fun read, I would strongly recommend Leviathan Wakes. If you prefer more science in your science fiction, and enjoy world building I would recommend Paul McAuley’s excellent Quiet War series The Quiet War.

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Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Blue Remembered Earth” is the first of a new series, Poseidon’s Children, by Alastair Reynolds. Unlike his previous work in the Revelation Space series, this book is set in the Solar System. The main events of the book happen in the mid 22nd century as imagined by Mr. Reynolds. The book is also a departure in style from his previous work. It is lighter and more optimistic than any of the books in the Revelation Space series. The work is more character driven and has fewer information dense “hard science” passages.

Surprisingly, it also does not revolve around a “chase sequence” that a lot of Mr. Reynold’s work seem to have as a central plot point ( See The House of Suns, or the short story Galactic North). I think the book is better for it.

Blue Remembered Earth is more character driven and has a lot less action than previous books by Mr. Reynolds, but remains an engrossing and rewarding read. The books centres around Geoffrey and Sunday Akinya, siblings and members of the powerful Akinya clan. It starts with the funeral of Eunice Akinya, the reclusive scion of the clan and picks up space as Geoffrey and Sunday are involved in the attempt to disentangle some of the mysteries of their late grandmother. The book takes us to the Moon, to Mars and beyond.

The plot moves along at fair pace, but it is clear that the author is just setting the things for bigger things to come in subsequent books. The future as described here is believable and the science is very plausible. I particularly enjoyed the chapters following Sunday Akinya’s adventures on Mars.

If you came to this book expecting some of the Gothic feel and the dystopian futures seen in Absolution Gap or Chasm City, you may be disappointed. I enjoyed this lighter style and look forward to future installments in this series.

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A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“A Deepness in the Sky” is a Big Book. The plot unfolds via the point of view of multiple characters, both human and the “Spider” aliens. The story centers around the planet Arachna which attracts the interest of two competing human fleets due to the strange nature of the star in the system – the “On/Off” star which comes to life every 200 odd years and stays bright for a few decade before dimming again.

There are two main strands to the story. One based at the Lagrange point above the planet, and one on the planet itself as a new “On” cycle starts. The story is based over a number of years as the Arachnid civilization moves up the technological ladder. The story telling, especially in the human segments conveys a sense of claustrophobia and foreboding that contrasts nicely with the more open story arcs that play out planet side.

Mr. Vinge explores the concepts of freedom, religion and progress in this book. The science is plausible (no FTL) and the universe is believable. While the story can get bogged down in places as it explores the motivations and background of its multiple characters, it still remains extremely enjoyable read for any fan of science fiction.

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