A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (audiobook)

 genre: science fiction

Dex knows the world they lives in is good.  Even though the robots have left to go to their own wild places, the humans left behind have become better stewards of the planet. Dex has no reason to be so unmoored. But they are.  And the decision to become a Tea Monk will lead Dex to meet one of these robots from the wild and the questions this robot asks will dig to the heart of what make us human.

Um, cozy science fiction?  There is no other word to use.  Cozy.  The images this book conjured in my imagination make me happy to think of even now.  I love how the robot made my brain spin a little with their questions that are just different enough from anything I've ever considered that those questions felt fresh and interesting.  It's a super short book and yet it still felt like a meander - we take our time in this story, we observe and we contemplate and we let ourselves be amazing by the world we've been given.  I'm only give it four instead of five stars because it was on the verge of too slow for me to get invested at first - but I'm really glad I stuck with it.  It's a lovely piece of work.

CW: lots of swears at a couple different parts

Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories From Social Justice Movements edited by by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha

genre: science fiction anthology

WOW is this an amazing collection of stories!  All told by authors of color, all with elements of both science fiction AND social justice, in one way or another.  There are super hero stories and revolutionary stories and stories that are completely out of this world at all.  They make you think of what's possible and what might be coming if we aren't careful.  There are stories about the climate and about race and religion.  There are characters your root for and characters that leave you wanting.  There are activists and victims - governments and tiny enclaves of survivors.  

I am such a huge fan of speculative fiction anyway, I loved the slant of these stories, the possibilities they offered up to me, the way that race and social justice were a piece but a different kind of piece every time.  Of course they are some I liked more than others but the writing was super solid across the board and I particularly liked the essay about Octavia Butler and her influence at the end, how it wrapped up so many of the different themes and ideas.  This is a great anthology.

 

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (audiobook)

 genre: science fiction

Binti is leaving her earthly home to travel to an intergalactic university. With her unique background and gifts, Binti knows it will be challenging but she is willing to say goodbye to her desert home and family to take this incredible opportunity.  On the journey, though, tragedy strikes and only Binti is able to sort through the madness and save herself - but at what cost?

This is a novella, so super short.  I LOVED the Afro-tech-speculativeness of it.  So lovely.  Her customs, her intelligence, the aliens she encounters - I just thought it was a fast moving and really interesting story. It's not perfect and the resolution is very tidy considering all that happens before but for me, I was all in with this fantastical science fiction world where one girl can make such a difference.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (audiobook)

 genre: science fiction

Two warring armies have been battling across time and both will only accept victory.  Among these two completely different civilizations are two individuals - Red and Blue.  Red and Blue have fought - they have fought and fought across centuries and threads of time but then, in the way that only love can, they have found something between them that doesn't want fighting.  What they find is so precious that Red and Blue are willing to give up everything - except each other - if only the rest of time and space would let it be so.  But time wars are too complicated for that sort of simplistic thinking.

THIS BOOK.  I finished with my heart racing and tears in my eyes, it touched me that much.  The truth is that it took me too long to keep Red and Blue straight in my head - I wish I'd tried harder at first, to learn how to distinguish them and the different cultures they've grown in.  But the epistolary nature of this incredible work definitely helped and, for me, really opened up their worlds as they explain, in their own terms, who they are and how they came to be that way.  Their relationship is intricate and serpentine, it slithers through time and geography, through battlefields and engagements with the enemy (each other) - it's wary and hopeful and hopeless, all at the same time.  The LANGUAGE of this book is exquisite, almost painfully so, and the world building and the complexities of the conclusion, it just all was exactly right and almost on the edge of what my brain could keep track of.  Like, the sort of book I really should read again.  And I'd want to.  It's not for everyone but it was definitely for me.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (audiobook)

genre: dystopian sci-fi

When you are a Red, you are at the bottom of the totem pole.  You are dirty.  You are digger.  You are working to prepare the surface of Mars for those who will come and find its home a refuge.  In this future society, Darrow knows that being a Red is ridiculous work, but it is at least for a cause.

At least, he was told it is.

And when what he loves more than anything is stolen from him and he learns the truth of his own slavery, Darrow is more than angry.  He is willing to do anything to change the society that puts Reds like him down in the dirt.

He is willing to put himself amongst the Golds.

SO.  I had two readers I trust recommend this to me,  The first time, I tried the first maybe five chapters and got so bored I stopped.  It was just like all the other Hunger Games/Divergent trilogy books.  It felt too formulaic. Then reader friend number two had finished the whole series and told me that really, you just have to get halfway into the first book and things pick up.  Oh, and do the audiobook.

I took her advice and she was totally right about the audiobook.  The reader here is incredible and I actually cared about Darrow more when I was listening to him.  He's not a very lovable character and this book is really violent.  Sometimes, surprisingly so.  LOTS of violence.  It is the first chapter in a revolution story and we know how those go.  But it is very intriguing and once I got maybe a third in, I started caring about the world and about what Darrow was trying to do.  Certain plot elements surprised me and I liked what I heard.  Is it too long winded?  Oh my word yes.  Sometimes I needed things to MOVE FASTER but by the end, I felt like I could stick with this story.  I would like to know how Darrow is going to change the universe.  Based on what I know of him so far, I think he can.

The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

genre: ya science fiction

Katy's home, a tiny freezing-cold speck in the wilds of outer space, has just been attacked by a ship from a raiding corporation. When she and her newly-ex boyfriend Ezra manage to evacuate on shuttle to a waiting fleet, it feels like the world has come to an end.

But it's not over yet.

Because their fleet is being chased and something strange seems to be happening to one of the ships.  Not only that, there is talk of a strange plague and Katy will not put up with being kept from the facts.  With her wicked hacker skills, she is going to find out what in the world is going on - and if there is any way to solve it.

There is SO so much to like about this book.  What I liked most of all is the very unique format - it's like a giant file of documentation regarding the entire kerfluffle, beginning on Katy's home planet and into the far reaches of space as she and a few other key players move through the universe, trying to escape from the pursuing enemy warship.  We read e-mails, medical files, transcriptions, court documents, schematics, instant messaging scripts and interviews - there is no overarching narrative, we truly are piecing things together as we read along.  I don't want to spoil anything but I had no idea the direction this was going and I found it fascinating, violent and thought-provoking.  It moved a little slow at first and I had a hard time keeping names straight but soon I was itching to know what was going to happen to Katy and Ezra and the rest of the refugees from their destroyed planet.

This was both visually and intellectually a pleasure to read.  I look forward to more from this highly creative and fast-paced series.

Iceling by Sasha Stephensen

genre: young adult science fiction

Lorna's sister Callie didn't come into her family in the "normal" way.  While Lorna's father was on an Arctic expedition, Callie was just FOUND, on a boat, with hundreds of other babies and although she was adopted into Lorna's family and treated with great care, she is still so different.  She doesn't speak.  At all, or even attempt it.  This means that Lorna has no way of knowing how Callie processes the world and despite how frustrating it can be, she is fiercely loyal to Callie.

And that loyalty is why, one day, Lorna makes a crazy rash decision. And that decision leads to a journey to a frightening and unknown place - and Callie can't even help explain it.

This totally gripped me from the start.  The build up is good, it's a totally intriguing premise and the writing is strong and lyrical.  My biggest gripe: it's super repetitive.  I mean, saying the same thing in different ways A LOT of times.  Yes, it would be hard not to understand the world around you.  YES it would be frustrating to have a person who can't understand the world around her as your sister.  That is driven into the ground a bit too much.  However, I was surprised by how things went down and it was more violent and dark than I'd originally imagined it would be.  The ending was super sudden and I wish I somehow knew ahead of time that this was going to be a series because I would've prepared myself to just be left dangling there.  There were also a few times where I read something that didn't make logistical sense and while it was made clear later, a little better editing would've made for a smoother reading experience.

I would read more, though, after all that.  It's a really intriguing idea, these teenagers with no language of their own and their siblings who won't give up.  I appreciate that bond and how it can make you strong enough to do things you might not have thought you were capable of.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

genre: science fiction

Andy is a linguist and ready to begin his first experience on the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid.  Not only will he hopefully be able to use his skills translating, he's been assigned to the Xenobiology laboratory where he can serve help the crew with whatever problems arise.

He's not long on board, however, where he becomes suspicious of The Intrepid.  Curiouser and curiouser, he notices that certain people always manage to survive "away" missions and yet someone nearly always dies in a most horrific way.   With the help of a hidden friend and a lot of mind-bending conversations, Andy soon learns that he's in a race to save his own life.

I would have never picked this up, had not a friend of mine mentioned she enjoyed it.  I have never watched an episode of Star Trek, although I know enough to get the majority of the humor, I think.  And there is definitely humor.  I didn't love how crude it was sometimes but other times I had to chuckle out loud.  The dialogue is smart and the overall plot had my brain straining to piece it all together (I'm not sure it TOTALLY did in the end, but I got it enough to appreciate it).  It was all kinds of meta and that worked well enough to be satisfying, I like this plot device in general.    Surprisingly, some parts were even a bit tender.  I liked the ending a lot and I'm glad I stretched myself and gave this a try.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

genre: young adult science fiction

Cassie's life is unrecognizable.  After aliens from outer space have sent four different waves of destruction to the planet, all she has left to believe in is that no one can be trusted - and that her little brother Sammy is still out there.  He has to be.  And she is going to find him.

I am of two minds about this book.  It totally caught my interest and although the writing was sometimes a bit repetitive, I was totally along for the ride.  My time on the treadmill flew by while I was reading.  Sometimes Cassie's skill set seemed a bit impractical, but whatever.  For the most part I could just let all the little annoying things go.  But the bigger annoying questions like, WHO the heck are these aliens?  HOW THE HECK did this all really work?  WHAT IN THE WORLD?  That part was harder to get over.  Maybe I just need to read the next book to have the backstory more fleshed out but it there were whole paragraphs that I would read and think, "HUH?"  But again, I liked reading it even if it did feel like there were a lot of familiar things happening (especially reminding me of The Host with some Hunger Games).  I think I just like this KIND of book and so I liked it because of its parts, not the book as a whole, if that makes sense.

I think I care enough to see what happens next.

The Martian by Andy Weir

genre: science fiction

Mark Watley is an astronaut and he's just been left behind on Mars.

And not on purpose.

The Martian is the story of his efforts to survive - his ingenuity and resourcefulness, his mistakes and the disasters that strike that he can't control.  It's the story of the world that he's left behind and his crew that is still in space.  It's about a desolate planet and what it takes for one human to survive and create a semblance of a life there.

It's pretty dang amazing.

Mark is like a wicked smart McGyver - and most of the book is his log entries told in first person so you really get good doses of his humor.  There's also the politics of the space program and the ethics of what we as a nation are willing to give up to save the life of one person.  The pacing is very good as is the switching between ground control and the spaceship and Mars - sometimes when we know things before Mark does it's super intense.  It is science fiction at its finest, in my opinion - I BELIEVED it.  There is a LOT of science talk here - and as much as I'm sure it could all be completely made up, it certainly didn't feel like it.  And because of Mark's humor, the science wasn't overwhelming or off-putting either.  His language - now, that was something else.  He had a particularly foul mouth and although I'd started this as an audiobook I ended up reading it.  The narrator is actually very good and the story itself is an awesome read aloud, I just prefer my swears to be on paper instead of in my ears and this one was a doosy on the swears.

I actually want to give this book five stars.  I think it deserves it because it is an incredible survival story - like Tom Hanks in Castaway only you're stranded in a land that humans can't even breathe in. And every single thing that could ever be helpful to you has to arrive on a spaceship from actual YEARS away.  The science is just completely entertaining and enthralling - where my brain gets stretched and then slowly understands (some of it :)  It's got heart and humor and a story I was dying to finish.   If you can handle lots of swears, I totally recommend it. 

William Shakespear's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher (audio)

genre: um, I have no idea

This is exactly what you'd imagine it might be.  It is the story of the movie Star Wars, A New Hope (the classic of my childhood) only told in the style of William Shakespeare.

OH MY WORD.

First off, I listened to this and it is done as a full cast recording with sound effects and everything and it is incredibly well done.  I was completely transported to Outer Space.  The dialogue is practically word for word, such as it is, so you really get the nuance of Shakespeare's language.  Parts had me laughing out loud, rewinding, and laughing out loud again.  I had to share with my father, especially the scene when Luke and Leia and Han lock themselves in the garbage pile.  It is actually hilarious.

I actually also loved that the asides and monologues (really the whole thing is done in Shakespeare style including some stage direction) - these speeches give us some insight into characters that we normally only get a glimpse of - Obi Wan, for example, and even R2D2 gets to share his mind with us.  Beyond that, our main characters, too, have moments of thoughtfulness and reflection that go deeper than the movie but fit right into the action.

If you are a fan of either Shakespeare of Star Wars, I highly recommend this as a fun time.  There is depth in this story, if you care to find it - that fight between good and evil within ourselves, the drive to do what's right for rightness sake versus the love of power.  For the comic banter and clever execution, take a listen.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

genre: young adult science fiction

Em is alone, imprisoned in a cell. With the exception of the boy next door and painful visits from The Doctor, her life is just waiting for more horror - until she finds the note.  The note that she wrote to herself - telling her she must do something unthinkable.  And while in a different time a girl named Marina is worrying about fancy dinners and the beautiful boy across the street, Em knows that if she doesn't do what is written on that note, the world that she and Marina know will end in a raging war with The Doctor at the forefront.

Yes, it is MIND BENDING!  A story of time travel and first love.  A story of the lengths we can go to to right a wrong.  A story of how a person can become so broken that they are unrecognizable.   A story of the willingness to give up anything in order to make a different future.  There are twists and turns and I liked not knowing where things were going.  I appreciate that it's a stand alone novel - with a proper arc and climax, with a believable ending that wraps things up without getting sappy. Intense and thrilling, I didn't want to put it down.  I liked that it made me think a little harder than usual for this type of book and suspending my disbelief wasn't half as challenging as it could have been with a less proficient author.

Quite enjoyable and worthy of the praise its been given.



note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Scan by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine

genre: science fiction

Tate's father is hard core.  Demanding and exacting, he's raised Tate to be strong and intelligent and not a little resourceful. McGyver-type resourceful.  And it's going to come in handy because one unfortunate choice brings to a crashing halt not just Tate's safety but also everything he's ever believed about his life.

This was an unsolicited arc sent to my house.  I almost didn't read it because it sounded a bit cheesy, but it was described as a cross between McGyver and War of the Worlds, both of which I like in a strange way. So I tried.  And I liked!  I totally want some more! There are aliens!  Bad guys!  Maybe-I-can't-trust-you good guys! Strange technologies and explosives made from Walmart junk!  I'm not kidding.  The plot grabbed me.  There are too many swears at the beginning but for a male protagonist, he felt his emotions deep enough that I believed them (ok, sometimes being in a teenage male head got annoying but I still wanted to keep reading). I just took my disbelief and suspended it, baby, and had a nice fluffy ride.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Fever Crumb by Phillip Reeve

genre: young adult science fiction/steampunk

Fever knows a lot of things - she knows the laws of physics, can recite the prime numbers and can tinker with engines.  Found orphaned as a baby, Fever was raised by the members of the very logical Order of Engineers and, as the only girl, learned early that feelings are irrational and that everything one does should have a reasonable purpose. Of course, living in a very disorderly and illogical future London makes this very difficult.  When a local archeologist comes to the Order requesting Fever's assistance with unearthing some ancient technology, her first real assignment turns into the kind of adventure that can change everything.  And before her story is over, she'll know more about herself than she'd ever imagined there was to know.

I can't decide how I feel about this book. On the one hand, it is pretty crazy brilliant.  This riotous and violent steampunk London is rich with tidbits of our modern day that are very entertaining.  Their pseudo-technology and keen interest in our own day just make for interesting reading. I think my problem was that I never felt truly invested in Fever or even, really, the plot.  Near the end of the book I started caring about her but it just took a long time for me to be really engaged in the story.  Things moved slowly.  I guess though, that it was interesting enough that I couldn't bring myself to return it to the library until I knew how it ended.

The last fifth of the book is what's making me give it three stars instead of two.  There was a lot more action in the end and the characters started opening up, but there isn't any sort of romantic storyline, if you're a reader that really needs that.  If you really like steampunk, though, I think I would say that this is a worthy work in the genre.

And All the Stars by Andrea K Host

genre: young adult science fiction

Maddie's life in Sydney had orbited around one thing: her art.  On her way to paint a portrait of her cousin, however, the world as she knows it comes to an end.  In one blinding moment, Sydney is blanketed in a shower of...dust.  The dust is only the beginning in this end-of-the-world story that will require Maddie to learn the meaning of true friendship and face the kind of challenge that you only ever see in late-night movies.

Welcome to one of the most bizarre and enjoyable books I have read in a long time. Part War of the Worlds, part Red Dawn, I don't want to tell you any more about it so I don't spoil it, but dang are there some crazy and creative pieces to this book.  Just know it is an alien invasion story, a love story, a wow-that-is-a-serious-plot-twist story.  With a quirky cast of characters, And All the Stars moves right along as Maddie and those she meets figure out what on earth is happening and what a bunch of teenagers can possibly do about it.

Plus, look at that cover?  Amazing, right?   


I was so surprisingly entertained by this one.



note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

genre: adult dystopian

Hannah did a bad thing.  A thing so bad that she is now consigned to life as a Chrome: a person who has committed a crime and the color of their skin is changed to alert the public to their crime.

Hannah is red.

If you have read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter, the gist of this novel will feel familiar to you, although there is, of course, many liberties taken.  Hannah's society feeds off of a religious fervor that has little mercy and no tolerance for those who do not live up to the moral standards the government has imposed.  With virtually no one to turn to and only the memory of the man she loved to hold on to, Hannah has to grow up quickly in a harsh world that her insulating and God-fearing parents did not prepare her for. 

I liked this and I sort of didn't.  Because I am a huge fan of the Scarlett Letter, some of the plot annoyed me, only because I wanted something else to happen.  Somehow I got the impression that this was a young adult novel, but I would say that it is not.  Hannah's affair and her coming to terms with herself as a sexual person is definitely a part of her late coming of age and truthfully, I got annoyed with the book when turned in that direction, right near the end. 

I was intrigued by the fanaticism and Hannah's internal struggle to sort through what kind of God she believed in.  It's certainly a credible-enough possible future with a plot that that did keep my interest, for the most part.  3.5 stars.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

Partials by Dan Wells

genre: young adult science fiction

The world is in serious trouble. After multiple wars, the human race is nearly extinct and everyone knows exactly why: the virus that nearly killed everyone is killing every new baby that is born. A new baby hasn’t survived in 11 years. 16 year old Kira, a medic-in-training who is a genius with virology thinks, HOPES, she can figure out how to stop it but her ideas are radical and extremely unpopular. Her research needs to involve the Partials, the genetically modified beings that look exactly like humans but are crazy-hard to kill and responsible for the virus in the first place. With the clock ticking and tensions running high, Kira’s choices are going to affect everyone in a political climate that values stability and longevity over human rights.

I’m a bit torn over this one. I did enjoy reading it – it has a far more science-fictiony plot than a lot of dystopia I’ve read lately and I liked that. A love triangle wasn’t at the heart of the story, which sometimes I really appreciated but other times, I wished there was a bit more of a romantic angle. The political pieces sometimes felt a bit scripted but it was a believable premise, to some degree. What I did NOT believe, unfortunately, was that somehow a 16 year old girl was such a virological genius. I needed some kind of reason to believe that she, of all the researchers in all the world, might be the one to solve this most important problem.

There were a couple good twists layered in the vaguely predictable plot, enough that I think I would like to read more, just to see how it resolves. I’d give it 3.5 stars.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

genre: science fiction

In a future earth, human beings have managed to create that amazing and incredible being: a robot. And not just a clunky metal device that can put toys together or tell you which way to drive.  These robots are capable of far more subtle judgments, able to handle far more complex problems, able really, to solve all of the earth's problems.  Except, frankly, the robots have to share the planet with the humans who made them and as advanced as the technology is, we humans are still imperfect.

And this is the story of these imperfect humans and the beings they've created.  In a series of vignettes we meet several different kinds of robots and those who have needed to interact with them.  Most especially, we become familiar with a psychologist whose job it is to understand WHY these robots do what they do and how we can fix them to make them do what we WANT.

And I think that this is really at the crux of this book.  What happens when we make something that is smarter than us?  It is a truly primal and innately fearful concept - that there are beings on this planet that can outsmart us at our own game.  And if that robot happens to have actual, real emotions, and he can interact with humans on the same terms, what makes him NOT human?  Is it flesh and blood that sets us apart or is there something more to it?  From a robot nanny to space-mining robots and a robot that might just be able to figure out the problem of space travel, it is all that humans can do to assert their WILL against these robots that they made and yet still have them be powerful enough to do what we want.

Not only is it very readable with a fast moving plot, there are so many questions that this book leaves you with.  I especially liked our psychologist who dissects things for us and lays everything on the line in a no-nonsense fashion. I am not surprised that this book is a classic. 

Review: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

book 3 of 4 for the It's the End of the World Challenge II
genre: post-apocalyptic/science fiction
rating: 3/5

The premise of this book is so promising: a great "Tribulation" has swept the earth and genetic mutations are rampant. Many small communities have vague legends of the "Old People" who once lived and their highly religious societies have defined a "human" in very specific terms. Five fingers. Five toes. Two eyes. And if a person deviates from this strict definition of a pure human, they are a menace to society and not tolerated.

Our main character, David, is raised in this fundamentalist society and as he grows up he begins to see that not all deviations are as visible as others. And as he learns more about the place that the world has become, he begins to question the truths that he'd always been taught.

There are deep thoughts in this book: what makes a person human? What kinds of secrets are okay to keep and what are the consequences when trust is broken? What are the results of intolerance in society? I can see why it is a book that would be discussed in English classes, there is much to discuss. What did not thrill me was the writing itself. The characters felt like they were painted with vague brushstrokes instead of with interesting details, only at the very end did I feel like I started to care about them. The writing was just not...literary. It was like listening to a Joe Schmoe tell me a story at the dinner table, it didn't ever really grab my interest.

I am aware that a lot of hard-core science fiction fans would like to skewer me, and that's fine. It's a classic, I keep reading in every review, and I don't know why I just missed it with this one. A bit disappointing, but, not horrible. It really is an interesting idea and I liked where the plot took the story, I just was a bit bored on the way there. If you are a true devotee of the science fiction genre, this early classic is probably still worth reading.

Dune by Frank Herbert

rating: 4/5
genre: science fiction

book 3 of 5 for the Classics Challenge 2009
book 10 of 10 for the Book Awards Reading Challenge II

Despite my limited knowledge of the science fiction genre, even I can tell that Dune is a masterpiece, just like the cover of my book says.

The planet of Arrakis is a massive desert and the only reason humans have found a way to make it hospitable is because of the great wealth it contains. Enter Paul Atreides - the boy with powers so deep and defined that they become legendary. His arrival on Arrakis sets in motion a series of events that will change the course of the universe. Treachery and duels, battles and mysterious sand creatures - Dune takes the imagination and pushes fast forward, daring us to keep up with the history and community the Herbert has created.

Dune has a spiritual element, a religious and mystical undercurrent that I found fascinating. The powers of certain characters, their abilities and knowledge, made the story so much more interesting. Not only that, but the history of this planet and the people on it was so rich and immense, I felt as though I truly had dropped into a parallel existence. I really liked the focus on ecology and the relationship between people and the land they live on and try to tame. I almost felt, sometimes, like I was reading a mystery because so many intriguing facts were revealed throughout the book that we didn't understand at the beginning.

And while I am sure in many ways this book deserves five stars, here is why I cannot, for my own self, give it that last star: it made my brain work far too hard. Call me a wimp, call me a dolt, it's okay. I am not a science fiction junkie, I'll admit it. It took me the first 1/3 of the book to confidently tell the difference between the names of a planet, a city and a Duke's last name because they were so similarly spelled. I had to keep flipping to the appendix in the back to remind myself of what words mean. This may not bother some people, and that's fine. For me, it distracted me from the flow of the story to have so much unfamiliar introduced so quickly. I will admit, though, that by the middle of the book I knew where I was and who people were and I was anxious to find out how Paul's story would resolve. Even though I was sometimes bogged down by the more theoretical parts (which I learned to skim, sorry), I was not disappointed by this book.

To conclude, this book may not be for everyone - if you hate science fiction on principle, do not even pick it up. But for those who love adventure, complex plots and deep thinking, and are willing to give it some effort, I would be very surprised if you didn't like this one.