Books – Rule 34

So, the sequel for which I re-read Halting State. Again, I knew the plot fairly well, from back when it had a different title. I didn’t like this as much as Halting State, though. Getting right into the head of a villain is a tricky thing to do well, as I’ve mentioned before and I don’t think Charlie managed it properly here. I think the combination of being in the head of a sociopath together with the start of that thread being a different person (member of the same gang, but it was odd to have the thread of a second person narrative named after a “person” shift viewpoint – or should that be target in second person narrative). I know why he did it, but I also felt that it was a bit stereotypical to have a second lesbian policewoman, particularly one who appears in the first but whose sexual orientation wasn’t made clear there (at least it didn’t come over to me). It just felt rather forced (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Again, the topics are right within my area of specialist knowledge and there’s nothing in here that rang untrue, particularly, about the tech or its potential social and economic consequences. I’ll even forgive him the Scottish independence this time as it’s a sequel so the fact that reality has already diverged just makes this an alternative history, now. It somewhat reminded me of his early short story Antibodies, and like Halting State it shows the same desire to really crack algorithmic science fiction. So, while I didn’t like it as much as Halting State, It7s still a pretty good book and a recommended read if you like near-future computing-oriented SF.

Current Mood:  tired

Current Music: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Soundtrack

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info

Books – Rivers of London

Trying to catch up on the backlog of books to write up, instead of writing them in strict reading order I’ll try to keep up with current reading as well as fill in the missed ones over time.

This is Ben Aaronovitch first novel in his own universe, I think. He’s had some official Dr Who novels published before. This is back to modern urban fantasy, subsets being The Veil (weird stuff happens but is not acknowledged by authority or visible to most people) and Police Procedural. My knowledge of police procedures is limited, but he doesn’t drop any howlers that I noticed, so I was OK with that. The plot is interesting and very much based on London as a genuis loci (there’s been a lot of fiction and fantasy in particular centring on London over the years and this pulls it of well). While it’s a bit of a kitchen sink subset of urban fantasy (everything you ever thought of, and more, exists, but they manage The Veil anyway) he doesn’t overload the plot with too many extraneous beasties as some tend to in this subgenre. The character is likeable and pretty believable. The first person narrative has one odd quirk which keep bringing me up short, though. While the grammar is perfect despite being first person (it’s a choice when writing first person whether to stick to proper written grammar or get more in keeping with the character’s speaking mode) he uses one idiosyncracy (me and X did this thing). He overuses it a bit and would, I think, have been better just using “we” a bit more often – “X and I sounds too much like the Queen”. When used, it would mostly have been obvious which people the hanging anaphora dereferenced to and then the occasional usage when it needed clarification wouldn’t drop me out of the internal movie as often.

Still, a good first own-world novel (if that’s what it is) and a decent start to a series. I’m on book two now with book three in the list for when it comes out later this year.

Current Mood:  tired

Current Music: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Soundtrack

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info