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Soft Sci Fi New Release: Infinity

Posted on November 3, 2016 by gavyn

Infinity, Jus Accardo
So this came out this week. The beginning of a new series. Infinity employs some basic science fiction principles primarily to explore the “what if’s” of relationships. I don’t think you’d have to be a sci fi fan to enjoy Infinity. I do think you need to be a fan of colloquial, entertainment-value writing. Allow me to elaborate;

This was easy to read, and so long as I didn’t think too much, it stayed that way. Easy entertainment; fairly amusing, fairly interesting. More than that, I wanted to read it, and fast. But….
It has content and attitudes I wouldn’t want anyone impressionable I know to be reading (the rebellion is strong, with this one).
There’s also some minor sensuality (wanting to have sex and coming close a number of times), quite a bit of light and heavy cursing (some blasphemy), and some crass humour. There is less of these than Green, but more than Craw, either of the Meyers or Briggs.
There’s some really knee-jerk awful objectification writing. In time it is minimised as new information comes to light, but it doesn’t change that the description of the male and frozen gaze are so. so. different. There’s also insta-love (later minimised also), but still, it’s there.
It feeds some stereotypes. Example? Here’s the female narrator reacting to a male character giving her a caution: “Because apparently he’d never got the memo on teenage girls. Telling us not to do something was the fastest way to nudge us towards doing it.” Oh, is that how all teenage girls are meant to be? Oh. What a revelation! Simply changing this to say, “Because apparently he’d never got the memo on my MO. Telling me not to do something was the fastest way to nudge me towards doing it.” Solid. AND I get to learn about the character, not be given negative platitudes about all teenage girls everywhere. Wasted words. Also: branding teenage girls in this way is so demeaning. Aaaaand…
Within that same quote, the expression “Apparently he’d never got the memo…” is overused and perfunctory. More wasted words. I’ve heard this expression so much, and adding “apparently” added nothing. Most of the sentences are like this. I don’t prefer it. The recipe for a sentence appears to be: Choose a colloquialism, choose an idiom or hyperbole, and splice splice splice! I imagine it would all sound better aloud than it reads; speaking this way — without the opportunity to edit — makes more sense. I think Accardo is probably a great in-person storyteller. In writing, the constant condensation of lots of casual-speak reads as trying too hard to be youthful. If a sentence’s recipe isn’t casual-speak plus an idiom, it’s a commonly-use phrase, slightly changed, I think in an effort to be funny. One example of this twist-from-the usual format: “I deserved a cookie for keeping it all together.” Medal is the obvious go-to in this context, not cookie. Changing it to cookie didn’t make it a great sentence for me, it made it slightly better, but it’s still ultimately a throwaway sentence; a twist on a cliché spliced together with an urban language expression. Don’t get me wrong, YA should have some urban language…but this sentence didn’t give me more story, and I had already been shown via dialogue the protag was being given a lot of information to process…telling me as much in these terms doesn’t do it for me. When I read that sentence now, not within the paragraphs of the book, it doesn’t seem so bad. It isn’t bad. This sentence appearing in a book I was reading wouldn’t bother me. It’s that every sentence in this book seemed to be like this, that bothered me. I am not exaggerating when I say a single paragraph could have twenty idioms or colloquialisms/slang terms in it. I would love to hear what an ESOL reader thinks about this. This is not a paragraph from Infinity, but this is a sample to illustrate what I mean. It might go something like this. “He needed to keep his socks on. I was splitting nowhere but I needed a sec to get my thinker on straight before we could bust a move.” Any single element (or even two) of this could work for me. Altogether? Too much.
I’ve seen a couple reviews that said that the science or story was confusing with so much information-dumping. I disagree completely. I found it very straight-forward. The only confusion comes from the science not working and not being explained convincingly, not from it being too complex. I can’t go into this without spoiling it.
This book isn’t really about the science. The science is superfluous. It’s really about romance and the implications for romance a barely-fleshed-out theory could have on that. The science in this is riddled with flaws that I could mostly overlook. That’s okay. I like science fiction. I like romance. I’ll take either or both, but SF fans should be warned: this is pretty weak on the science.
The flaws in the narrative were harder to look past. There are so many things that seem implausible, unlikely or just plain nonsensical. A whole army base can’t find a single girl in a small town (when she’s not trying that hard to hide and they’re all carrying cellphones)? Three people (two of which are trained soldiers) can’t take down one soldier in the many, MANY times they attempt to do so? Not only can they not beat him at his game when it is extremely predictable and there are more minds allied against him, they can’t physically overpower him when there are three of them. Also: they’re in the U.S., they’re from the army, and they aren’t armed. Okaaaaay. A reality with less guns would be nice…but it seems so…unlikely that people tracking and attempting to stop a killer would go in unarmed (=zero arms) as a rule (and that the killer would as well). But I get it, put a gun in their hands and this whole three cats never catching one mouse gig wouldn’t make sense. Oh wait, it still doesn’t. I also couldn’t buy into the villain’s logic. And normally I can (sometimes too well, an author like Briggs can make me nauseous with empathy). I think because I could understand a single choice the villain had made, I was invited to suspend disbelief and find all the villain’s choices made sense. But they didn’t. Only one choice did. Every other choice seemed far-fetched and driven by a need to advance the story, create tension and have a bad guy.
The best character in the book resembles Rowan a little, for Stiefvater fans.
The greatest disappointment of this book for me was that the relationships that felt most tender, authentic and worth exploring, didn’t get any of that. They didn’t get anywhere near as much time as the teen romance. Kori’s relationship with her parents is where it’s at. This story read romance-romance when I would like to have read about the management of grief and celebration of life more. The cancer story is the real story, for me.

In spite of all of this: it was a page-turner! It amazes me. I really wanted to read it all and I wanted to know what happened. The subject matter has been tackled (Canavan, Pullman, Lewis, Gaiman and more). This treatment reminded me a little like Spark (including its relationship tree)…but it isn’t as good as Craw (or even close, sorry). I think fans of Shusterman might like this one.

Advance review copy received via NetGalley.

Continue reading →

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A Super-complex Space Epic

Posted on November 2, 2016 by gavyn

The Promise of the Child, Tom Toner

Tom, Tom, Tom *shaking head.* You’ve out-smarted me, Mister. There is no doubt you have an exceptional imagination and a crazy arsenal of power-words at your disposal. I am also certain there are readers out there looking for writers like you — authors producing work they can lose themselves in and unpack for years. I’m not one of those. The power-words assault my brain and demand more of me than I can give a book right now. This book is for people who are less lazy / more mentally available than me. I read for the E’s; escapism, entertainment, enrichment and/or enlightenment. I’m prepared to work a little, but ideally it should be a pleasure to read after a day that will have had a fair dose of work in it already. I feel like I am used to riding retro mopeds of various models, occasionally a hipster push-bike, and then along comes this Penny Farthing of a book; a thing that’ll take you places, but there is serious work involved. I had to stretch considerably to make reading this happen and I failed to grasp and hold onto even half of what Toner has imagined. Penny-Farthing-of-books-lovers everywhere, I’m pleased to announce: you can unpack the crap out of this one! You can pedal in old-timey style into a very elaborate world that is so far in the future it feels like the past. Further notes:

The writing is very thick with descriptors. Sentences are often long. A high level of attention is required.
I really like that the title is explained so quickly. Then I was disappointed that it was so hard for me to connect the subsequent multiple narratives to the aforementioned promised child. I was jarred rather than delighted by the complex interwoven threads of the story.
There is so. much. world- and character-building and it is thick and fast for always. The prose is so dense with place and people names I couldn’t cope without notes. If this news makes you drum your fingers together with glee, I am so happy for you. Me? Reading a book that feels like homework? Mama don’t play that.
But hand in hand with this ambitious imaginative scope, Toner has included some intriguing concepts I wish I had opportunity to further explore; chameleon-like humanoids, flesh trees? These had my interest but no single thing truly sustained focus long enough for me to really get stuck into it.
Similarly, because there are so many characters (so many), I struggled to develop a deeper understanding of any of them. I felt some promise of caring about a brutal beast-villain and an (in-some-ways) underdog suitor, but interest once-pricked was then left unattended by the onslaught of more more more.
There is so much colour.
There is an early moment of brutality that shocked me. I’ve thought about it quite a bit since. If you’re not a fan of violence, beware, there’s some here.
As previously mentioned, this SF is so far in the future that some settings feel pastoral (although there are indications some of advanced technology). As a result of the throw-back and style, I found it to read further down the Fantasy spectrum than I expected.
I know everyone’s calling it a Space Opera, but I would brand it Space Epic, as there was less melodrama and chivalry and more grand-scale storytelling.

Tom Toner surely has a niche within the SF community shuddering in anticipation of what he’ll do next; fans of Kim Stanley Robinson and Tolkien (because Toner’s work is kind of like the creative-baby they would have made, had the pair collaborated) should be thrilled. If you love rich, intricate sci fi and a complex character milieu, then tuck the napkin in your collar already, your course is being served. In short: this one’s not my favourite fare, but I’m delighted to announce it could very much be yours. Bon appétit. I’ll be the one who no longer requires the side of aspirin.

Review copy received from Hachette. Continue reading →

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Bilingual Bixley Board Books

Posted on October 25, 2016 by gavyn

My First Board Book: Colours & Animals Donovan Bixley (two new titles)

We’ve raised our hands for each Donovan Bixley book that’s appeared on the press release list and so have built up quite a collection of his iconic work. My girls immediately recognise his illustration style and appreciate his interest in including kiwiana in his work. Esky just came up behind me and said, “Hey, it’s Donovan Bixley,” seeing this post.

The latest two board books are my favourites in the collection so far. Taking known songs and adding NZ-style illustrations was pretty cool (there’s no doubt he’s incredibly talented), but these latest books are something I really value having on our shelves.

They’re bilingual! Wahoo! Māori and English words are in clear print beneath each Bixley-esque illustration (many are stars from his books, for existing fans). The board book format is not only durable, I find it nice to hold and aesthetically appealling. The bright colours and simple backgrounds are also great for me.

My favourite thing about the colours book is that *the* Māori colours song has been used! AH! It is so great! Because the words comes in the order of a well-loved childhood tune, it is more fun to read and easier to teach / promote retention. Plus there’s some colours additional to the song to expand existing vocabulary.

With the animal book, I love that there’s a kiwi focus on the fauna! Bats?! YUS!

And like his other books, the soprano melody is provided in musical notation. It’s a nice touch.

Out in bookstores today and available on Book Depository from tomorrow. Even though all of our girls take a lot of care with paper pages, I’m thrilled to add these bright and strong books to our home library and think they’d make excellent gifts.

http://www.bookdepository.com/My-First-Board-Book-Animals-Donovan-Bixley/9781869713430

Review copies via Hachette. Continue reading →

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Richard Hammond – A Short History Of The Motorcycle Review And Lunch At Grill Meats Beer.

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