BOOK REVIEW: Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

I read a review of Jasper Fforde’s novel Early Riser in the New York Times and, although it isn’t my usual fare, it sounded like a fun read. I’d never read anything by Fforde before, so I thought I’d start here.

Set in Wales, in a mash-up of future and present day, the novel depicts a world undergoing a post-climate-change Ice Age, or something like that. For sixteen weeks each year, temperatures plummet into the lethal below-zero degrees range. Fortunately, people have evolved to be hibernating creatures. They bulk up beforehand, sleep away the winter months, and, hopefully, emerge in the spring. But surviving hibernation is risky. Deaths in sleep were significantly reduced by the invention of a wonder drug, Morphenox, which prevents dreams. Dreaming apparently sucks away calories.

The Morphenox supply is limited, so access to it has to be purchased or earned. Access is highly coveted despite the well-known side effect of the drug. About 1 in 3000 users wakes up "dead." The body still moves about, but the people are zombie-like. If well-fed, these "Nightwalkers" are not dangerous but, when hungry, they become cannibals, a significant threat to a sleeping population.

Not everyone sleeps. In addition to Nightwalkers, there are Villains, RealSleep activists, Wintervolk, and Sleep Researchers, all dangerous to varying degrees. And there are the providers of Winter law and order, the Consuls.

Fforde does an extraordinary job building the world for the reader, letting it all unfold through the eyes of Novice Winter Consul Charlie Worthing. Chosen for his outstanding memory, Charlie is not the usual Consul material, not winter-hardened or tough. He’s far too honest, empathetic, and nice.

When Charlie’s mentor is summoned to Sector Twelve to investigate an outbreak of viral dreams, Charlie reluctantly follows. He finds himself stranded in a situation too bizarre to be summarized. The reader watches him blunder along, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, guided only by an innate need to do the right thing, even if it’s the wrong thing.

The story is original, cleverly plotted, and very, very funny. The characters are quirky with wordplay that sometimes made me laugh out loud. Pop culture references pop up in unexpected places in delightfully absurd ways.

Part of the fun of the book is the way the plot zigs and zags, so I won’t give anything else away. But if you’re looking for something entertaining and different, this novel is highly recommended.

BOOK REVIEW: The Martian by Andy Weir

This month’s book group selection is The Martian by Andy Weir. Despite all the hype, I wasn’t intending to read this one. I watched the movie on a long plane flight last summer and really enjoyed it, but figured the book would be somewhat spoiled since I knew how it would all end.

Still, I hope to make it to book group this month and didn’t want to be the one who just watched the movie.

It is a wonderful book!

Set in the not-too-distant future, NASA is sending manned space explorations to Mars. A crew is on the surface of the planet doing what astronauts do, when a sudden windstorm blows in, threatening the mission and the lives of the astronauts. Those outside have to hurry back to the safety of the MAV (the ship that will lift them from Mars and take them home.) Those inside are agonizing over the tilt of the ship and the possibility that it will fall over and never be able to lift off. The heavy winds rip an antenna loose, and it hits and impales one of the crewman, Mark Watney, sending him flying. His crewmates search but can’t locate him. Signals they receive from his biosuit indicate that he’s dead. The only thing that they can do is evacuate, leaving him behind.

Turns out, he’s not dead.

Much of the book consists of Watney’s logs as he struggles with harsh conditions, loneliness, and the near certainty of death. Being the mission’s botanist and engineer, he has a lot going for him. He records in detail how he approaches each of the challenges that face him. Eventually, an astute satellite analyst discovers that he’s still alive. NASA, then the world at-large, and finally his crewmates become involved in a massive rescue operation.

At first, I did find it a bit slow, partly because the movie covers the same material in a much more condensed and visually interesting way. Watney’s logs showcase his wonderful voice, but they are very detail oriented and get a bit bogged down in the weeds. Still, the amount of detail gives the story great credibility. Things get more interesting when the people back on earth get involved. All that dedication and ingenuity both on Earth and on Mars create a very compelling story–even when the ending is known.

BOOK REVIEW: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Last year, I failed to complete the Back-to-the-Classics challenge and I’m still beating myself up over it. I was determined to do better this year. Twelve books. . .one a month, that should be easy. Then February got away from me.

But I jumped in to get a book read and maybe I’ll even get two done in March.

My science fiction classic is Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. In this well-known and well-loved novel, Charlie Gordon, a gentle man with a low I.Q. but a strong determination to get smarter so that people will like him more, is offered an opportunity to do just that. Neuroscientists at a nearby New York research hospital have been testing mice, using an experimental brain surgery to increase intelligence. The most recent mouse, Algernon, has shown remarkable lasting gains in ability (running mazes to find a food reward) and the researchers believe the time has come to test the procedure on a human subject.

Charlie has been attending "the Beekman School for retarded adults," where he is taught by a compassionate young woman named Harriet Kinnians. She recommended Charlie for the experiment because of his unique motivation. And Charlie is chosen.

The novel is written in journal style, with Charlie recording his thoughts and actions, later his dreams and recollections, in a series of Progress Reports for the researchers. At first, the surgery seems to have little effect. But slowly, and then with remarkable rapidity, Charlie’s intelligence grows. Exponentially. He rapidly surpasses the brain researchers and the professors at the university. As a result, he grows cynical and arrogant. At the same time, his intelligence vastly exceeds his emotional maturity. He struggles to understand his feelings towards people, particularly Harriet. Moreover, he recognizes that the people he once considered his friends were not. They kept him around as a buffoon, and laughed at him not with him. As he recalls and understands more about his childhood, he realizes just how horribly his parents (particularly his mother) and his sister treated him.

As confused and isolated as Charlie is, he does cherish his new brilliance. So he is horrified, as is the reader, when he begins to witness Algernon’s decline. It seems the effects of the surgery were not permanent. What does Charlie’s future hold?

This is a sad, insightful, beautiful book. It explores the way society treats those who are mentally challenged. There are parallels to the fear and anger of those who are experiencing dementia. And it challenges ideas of intelligence and genius. Although initially published in 1966 (satisfying the 50 year mark for the classics challenge) the book does not seem dated as some older science fiction does. This book had been on my should-read list for a long time, and it was as rewarding a read as I’d hoped.

BOOK REVIEW: Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan

I am a tremendous fan of Michael J. Sullivan’s writing. I devoured the Riyria Revelations trilogy and then read the first prequel, The Crown Tower, because I just couldn’t get enough of his fantasy world. The final book available so far is sitting on my shelf. I haven’t read it yet because, once I do, there won’t be any more, so I’ve been holding off. Which brings me to Hollow World.

Sullivan has written a science fiction thriller (I guess that is the right genre) and although this is even more out of my normal sphere, I decided to give it a whirl.

Ellis Rogers is our hero, a mild mannered engineer with nothing to live for (a failed marriage, childless since the death of his son, and one friend with whom he shares a history but has little in common–the guy is a doofus and a slob) who discovers he has a terminal illness. This news elates him because he is now free to experiment with the time machine he has built in his garage.

The time machine will only go forward, which is fine with Ellis who wants to see what will happen to the world. He sets it for 200 years in the future, and off he goes. Unfortunately, his calculations are off by a decimal point. The world he lands in is nothing like what he left.

Sullivan displays his usual skill at world building. The global climatic catastrophe has occurred, so the human race has moved underground, or into Hollow World. The political system has changed. And so has the human race.

It can be debated (and is debated) whether this new world is a utopia or a dystopia, but before Ellis can sort out how he feels about where he must live out the rest of his days, he has a murder and a conspiracy to solve. These things are unheard of in the far distant future, so his new friends need someone with experience to help, and a twenty-first century engineer is the closest thing they’ve got.

This is a thought-provoking novel and an interesting read with straightforward characterizations and a fast-moving plot. Still, it didn’t really absorb me the way The Riyria Revelations did. It could be that time travel and science fiction are just not my thing, no matter who is the author. I will say I’m glad I read the fantasy first. If I’d started with this, I don’t think I would have been so impressed that I would have raced out and bought the fantasy trilogy.

YA BOOK REVIEW: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I should read more science fiction. In a lot of ways, it resembles historical fiction. At the most basic level, the reader is transported beyond this world to someplace exotic, more exciting than the one we inhabit. For the story to work, the author has to create a credible universe for the characters to inhabit. The sci-fi characters will use unfamiliar technology, wear odd clothes, eat strange foods, and live under socio-political conditions that differ from the here and now just as historical figures do. The only difference is whether we are re-imagining what did happen or envisioning what will happen. The reader gets to experience all this alongside the characters. But whether the story is set in the past or the future, the characters are often dealing with similar issues—big issues: good vs. evil, ambition, empire building, and love.

Across the Universe, Beth Revis’s debut novel, caught my attention from blurbs on several blogs. The premise intrigued me. Amy is a sixteen-year-old girl who agreed to be cryopreserved and sent on a 300-year journey to colonize a distant planet along with her parents. Unfortunately, she is prematurely awakened fifty years before the ship is supposed to land. Not only is she completely alone on this strange ship-world (everyone she knows is dead and she will be older than her parents when they finally do reach their destination) but she soon learns her awakening was no accident. Someone tried to kill her.

The ship is run by a tyrant called Eldest. Eldest believes tight control is necessary, and Amy threatens the stability he has worked hard to achieve. However, Amy is befriended by a sensitive boy named Elder who is heir to the commander’s role. As Elder learns more of the ship’s terrifying secrets, he has to decide if he will continue the course Eldest has chosen. Defying Eldest is, to put it mildly, not a safe choice. When more of the frozen passengers are thawed, with deadly results, Amy and Elder must work together to discover the murderer and prevent him from striking again.

Revis does a wonderful job of creating the ship-world. The reader will feel as trapped as Amy, first in her frozen, half-dream state and then on the artificial world. Her despair as she comes to grips with her situation is understandable. The book alternates point of view between Amy and Elder. Both characters mature as the plot progresses. Elder is the stronger and in some ways the more interesting of the two. He has a greater understanding of the complexities of the ship’s problems and as he realizes how much responsibility he will bear, he has to make difficult moral choices. Amy seemed less naive at the outset and her growth came more in the form of adaptation and acceptance. The book is not as much of a romance as I anticipated, but since I see that it has been numbered 1, I expect the love story to blossom in a book #2.