First off, I haven’t completely abandoned my presidential reading list. Sometimes, you just need a break. Mine started with Armada and has continued for four books (counting these two). Secondly, there are minor spoilers ahead. The universe of Old Man’s War and Ghost Brigades is familiar to science fiction fans. Humans have technology advanced enough to allow for interstellar travel and the colonization of other worlds. The races they’ve encountered are largely bent on humanity’s destruction, and a team of plucky individuals are probably going […]
I need recommendations for more by John Scalzi!
While I was initially confused about the genre of this book — I went into thinking it was horror because I confused John Scalzi with Jon Lindqvist (in my defense the cover of Let the Right One In looks a LOT like Lock In’s — and they’re both named John/Jon) — once I realized it was sci-fi, not horror, I really enjoyed it. In fact, I feel like I need to read some more of this guy’s work because I rarely read sci-fi anymore, despite the fact that I […]
My Kind of Mashup
This was my first Scalzi, but not my last. I’ll definitely be checking out more of his work after this. Lock In was an unbelievably fun and inventive read with some fascinating themes. The novel takes place in a future United States where 1.7 million people suffering from Haden’s Syndrome are “locked in.” They are mentally spry and fully aware, but their bodies can’t move or respond. The scientific community responded to this issue by creating new technologies to help locked in people. The first […]
Sharp, meta, and entertaining
I have to apologize in advance to Redshirts because I have major review fatigue. I was really hoping to do a double cannonball this year, and I can based on my pace, but lawd almighty am I ever running out of different ways to talk about books. And as such, this is going to be such a crappy review. Anyway, Redshirts was great. It hooked me immediately and kept me laughing throughout; I sympathized with the characters and was utterly delighted at each of Scalzi’s uber-winky PLOT […]
Not my favorite Scalzi, but fun all the same.
If I was rating this book by the world-building alone, it probably would have gotten five stars. The idea of exploring Locked In Syndrome as a world-wide epidemic within a sci-fi framework is sooooo interesting to me. Lots of o’s to exhibit enthusiasm, there. I’m particularly interested in the ways that Scalzi, instead of focusing on the immediate effect of the disease itself, more uses it was a way to create a new social dynamic and class of people. See, due to the high profile […]
Serialized novels are like, so retro, you guys.
Consider this experiment a success, I think. The Human Division is the fifth novel set in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe, but it can be read on its own if you are so inclined (although I highly recommend reading the first three books–they are wonderful). The experiment I’m referring to is that The Human Division was initially released as thirteen separate ‘episodes’ at set intervals, and then collected together in ‘novel’ form and released as a hardcover. I say this was an experiment because it […]