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Title: Kethani
Author: Eric Brown
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 6 May 2008
Review Copy

Synopsis

It takes an alien race to show us what humanitiy truly is. This is the irony faced by a group of friends whose lives are changed forever when the mysterious alien race known as the Kethani come to Earth bearing a dubious but amazing gift: immortality.

Analyse/Comments/Thoughts

Kethani is a reality based what if? Quite different for a sci-fi story.  Brown meditates, through a series of linked tales, on the affect on immortality on the human race, but its not just immortality we’re offered, it’s the chance to escape Earth and see the stars.

And what does humanity do with this gift? Sit in the pub. A lot.  And this is the conflict I’m having with this novel.  It’s a small-scale drama with a backdrop of something larger and life changing.  I can’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Here’s why. Brown presents a series of interesting voices and takes on the how, even with promise of resurrection on death, we still need routine and we make connections that we hold on to.  He examines our feelings around death. And all round does a good job.

But he leaves the aliens, well, alien. They’re almost as mysterious at the start as they are at the end. They have enemies but there is not explanation of who they might be or what the conflict is. They have amazing technology but we only get to see it from the surface.

Though the aliens aren’t the focus of this tale. We are. And Brown chooses a narrow focus with a reason so he can explore the wider implications for a group of friends of the aliens arrival. There is a doctor, a teacher, a priest, dry-stone-waller, in other words a mix of intelligent and insightful views to draw from. And there are some impressive insights about how we grow apart when we don’t try and how death can be a freedom as well as a devastation as well as how religion can or can’t transform to encompass new ideas.

On a technical level there is a couple of annoying traits. Everything seems to take place after a heavy snowfall and descriptions are sometimes repeated and some characters are more fleshed out than others. Some of these problems are routed in the fact that some of the sections have previously been short stories and could have been fixed I think with a little more polishing. This might seem picky but I did get drawn out of the story at a few times because of them.

Summary

I’m left with feeling that there was the potential to do a lot more with the alien material especially as it’s unlikely to have a sequel. But if it did it would have to be a different beast.

Putting aside my want to have more alien insight.  Brown shows a skill for examining the human condition and how we look at death in an unconventional sci-fi story. It’s an insightful take that’s well worth reading but it might leave you wanting more, which isn’t really a bad thing, is it?

7.5/10

Don’t just take my word for it

Fantasy Book Critic review
SCI FI Weekly review

Tags: 7.5/10, eric brown, review, Solaris

Title: Astropolis Book One: Saturn Returns
Author: Sean Williams
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 05 June 2008
Review Copy

If you’re a frequent or perhaps an infrequent visitor to this blog you’ll have probably noticed the lack of sci-fi. It’s not that I dislike sci-fi as such. It’s more that I don’t go out of my way to read it. I do however watch quite a bit of it and have done for quite a few years. I’ve never left school so fast as when Star Trek: Generations opened. The reason for enjoying watching rather than reading could be that showing something technological might be easier visually than descriptively or it could be that fantasy in fiction is just my thing.

How does this relate to Saturn Returns? I must admit I found it hard going at the start. Where a dead Imre Bergamasc is brought back to life by the Jinc who are hoovering space looking for proof of the existence of god. Imre then makes it his mission to solve the mystery of the Slow Wave and its devastating effect on the galaxy. A disaster he seems to play a very important part in.

But the plot wasn’t the part I was struggling with. It was the world building as Williams uses Imre’s memory loss and flash-backs and revelations to inform the reader as well as move the plot along. I guess I’m on the show not tell side of the fence and there is a little too much tell.

But then about half-way through all the plot/world-building falls away and the story gets going. And at that point I started getting into the mystery and the story that Williams was telling. I’d have preferred this state to have come a few pages earlier but at least it came.

The strange this is that as we’re with a main character who has a Swiss cheese memory we, and neither can he, be sure that what he remembers is 100% how it occurred. And Williams uses this to change the perspective on a key event when he reveals what actually happened. I enjoyed the reinterpretation and it added something to each of the characters. As the story progresses we Imre puts back together and the story is really a quest to find them and put his team back together.

In William’s galaxy humans have diversified both space and the mind. There are now Primes, Forts, Singletons amongst others. And they have more control of their bodies and how time is perceived. All this adds to an interesting and unique mix.

Overall I enjoyed the ideas and world that is presented, what makes it worth reading at the moment is the mystery element and how each of the character is more than they appear.

This is definitely an opening chapter to something deeper and more intriguing from what I can tell of the ending and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to Imre and his little band next.

7.5/10

Extras

Reviews from other places:

Chris, The Book Swede

The SF Diplomat

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review

Big Dumb Object

Tags: 7.5/10, Orbit, review