Book Reviews

[kmusser]

"Rainbow's End" by Vernor Vinge - yay, a new Vernor Vinge novel, definitely something to be savored. A bit of a departure from his last books, this one is basically a thriller sent in the relatively near future (2025). Not many writers can do the near future well, but as portrayed here it is pretty believable. Anyway, plenty of action, not nearly as "techy" as his other sci-fi, plenty of in-jokes for geeks, well worth the read.

"A Princess of Roumania" by Paul Park - they were giving it away free at Balticon so I read it, better than I was expecting, but certainly not a must-read. Does some playing around with what is real and what isn't, but doesn't really follow through with that which would be interesting. Touches on interesting alternate history, overall seems like ideas had potential but didn't live up to it. Also has a young adult writing style, but the content doesn't really match, which is sort of weird (it's like you start reading Rowling and end up with Hamilton). Ends somewhat abruptly, but I'm not going to rush out to find the sequel.

Comments

[kinksville]

I'll have to keep an eye out for Rainbow's End, I've really liked his other stuff. Particularly the "Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky".

[kmusser]

Yeah, those two are amazing, Rainbow's End isn't that good, but it's a very different kind of book so it's hard to compare. I have reading the rest of his older stuff on my to do list.

[kinksville]

Some of his short fiction is really great.