BOOK REVIEW [Reblog]: Salvage by Eric Brown

A couple of days ago I was asked by a friend for some advice on what sci-fi book they should pick up next. I asked them what they'd like to read and the answer was "something entertaining and interesting yet not too long or involved." Salvage was one of the first books to pop into my head, and the more we discussed what it is that they like, became more and more a match. I'm happy to report that they are loving it so far, just as I thought they would.

Anyway, this prompted me to reblog a short review which I did a few years back:

***** *** *******

Salvage by Eric Brown

My rating: 4.7 out of 5

Synopsis:

When Salvageman Ed saves Ella Rodriguez from spider-drones on the pleasure planet of Sinclair’s Landfall, he has no idea what he’s letting himself in for. Ella is not at all what she seems, as he’s soon about to find out.

What follows, as the spider-drones and the Hayakawa Organisation chase Ed, Ella and engineer Karrie light-years across space, is a fast-paced adventure with Ed learning more about Ella – and about himself – than he ever expected.

The Salvageman Ed series of linked stories – four of which appear here for the first time – combine action, humour and pathos, from the master of character-based adventure science fiction.

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This is the first short story collection of Brown's that I've read. It's a group of stories that are all linked together by the characters and the general 'journey' of the stories, similar to Kethani which is another collection of his stories that blend together into a fine novel length book.

Salvage reads great and has a really fun 'pulp sci-fi' feel going on that I totally loved. At times I was reminded almost of some old Perry Rhodan stories that I've read in years gone by but with a little more finesse. There are all the elements there for great stories - FTL starships, robots, AI, aliens, weird and wonderful planets and species. The lot.

The use of words to describe people, places and things is absolutely fantastic and made me chuckle at times. I used the dictionary feature on my ebook reader a number of times for some of the more impressive words. Check out a couple of examples:

“They left the prison of the flesh, which by any definition is finite, and became immortal. They reside now in a realm of their own devising, free of the corruption of the physical, a hundred million of them in a virtual universe tied in a way I can barely comprehend to the nano-strings that bind the quantum universe. Their new home might very well last forever.”

and just for a giggle:

The creature said, raising itself on its multiple limbs, “I thank you for your hospitality, my friends, and now I must repair to my berth and void the excess of foodstuffs partaken. Good night to you.”

I love this stuff, right good yarns with heaps of well-proven sci-fi tropes and ideas all done in a fun and hugely entertaining way. Overall a great little book that, once again, confirms Eric Brown as one of my all-time favourite authors. I'd like him to do more work like this. Highly recommended.

4/5 for concept
5/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4.7 out of 5

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon) 
Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)

BOOK REVIEW: The Ion Raider by Ian Whates

The Ion Raider (The Dark Angels #2) by Ian Whates

My rating: 4.3 out of 5

Following up the very entertaining Pelquin's Comet [my review HERE], this second book of an obviously ongoing series strikes pretty much the same chord, being a fast-moving short novel with many of the hallmarks of solid space opera. The story follows on chronologically from Comet and I'd say that you really need to have read that first to get the full grasp of the plot here. It continues to build the story, introducing more key players while also revealing more tantalizing facts and hints about the Dark Angels as well as the ancient and mysterious Elder aliens and their caches of artefacts scattered across the galaxy.

We have some of the same central characters who we met in Comet, including Corbin Drake who is a respected representative and field operative for a large bank, an identity he has established over the course many years. As we learned in Comet, there is far more to Drake's past that even he initially realises. He is again tasked by his boss to assess an Elder artefact cache, but this time his presence has been specifically requested by someone from his dark past, a fact which makes him and his employers just a little suspicious. Alongside this, a number of ex-Dark Angel members are being assassinated and a couple of former Angels attempt to make contact with their ex-colleagues in an attempt to prevent their deaths and to discover the reason why they're being hunted. One of these we met in Comet, Leesa, who is also trying to distance herself from her past and we learn and see more of Leesa's special "talents" as she and her friends regroup, along with reuniting with their ship the Ion Raider. The team of former Dark Angels struggles because not all are keen to revisit their old way of life, but it is still clear that somebody wants the Angels dealt with once and for all. The book ends rather suddenly, not quite a cliff-hanger but still very abrupt and is obviously going to be continued in book three [of which there's no news of yet...]. I hope it comes quickly because the plot is really starting to thicken up and there is still so many intriguing things to be revealed. All very tantalizing stuff.

The more I read of Whates' work the more I like it, and his style is similar to some others I could mention, infused with a cool "pulp" style which makes it so entertaining. Reading this really is a whole lot of fun and it's a good flowing story with stacks of action, cool ideas and interesting characters along with a plot that keeps you thinking right up to the [sudden] end. It really is exactly like reading the first book, so if you liked that then you're going to get just as much out of this one.

In short, this book [and series] epitomises the reasons why I read this sort of stuff, being great entertainment and an effective escape from the "real world". If you haven't read Pelquin's Comet yet, do so immediately and then rip into this one soon after, you'll be left satisfied [and hanging out for book three] just like I have been. I'd put money on it. Enjoy.

4/5 for concept

4/5 for delivery

5/5 for entertainment

= 4.3 out of 5

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon)
Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)

The Great Book Format Debate - Print vs. Digital

Whenever I tell people that I read a lot and review books, they will often bring up the question of paper books versus ebooks. They'll ask me which I prefer and why. Many people have written on this topic before but it still frequently comes up in conversation among readers.

What I love are words that contain good stories and meaningful information, whether it's printed on paper or made up of e-ink capsules over a white background is mostly irrelevant to me. It's the words that I'm there for. However, it's still an issue that many readers appear to battle over.

I dabble with both formats but confess that I am reading mostly ebooks these days. The reasons for this are purely pragmatic, of which portability, convenience and ease of access are top of the list. I love being able to have that new novel from a favourite author on the spot, eliminating the need to visit some annoying shopping mall (or wait for it to arrive via mail) and pay a sizable chunk of money for the print book. Some of the books that I read are quite hefty in paper form and digital obviously eliminates this problem. My ebook reader is light and easy to hold whether I'm standing, sitting or reclining [I'm an avid librocubicularist] and takes up a fraction of the space in my bag.

I use ebook management software on my computer and keep my collection backed up. Because of this, my physical bookshelf is growing very slowly as of late. Sure, there are the tangible facets of a "real" book like the weight of it, the feel of the cover and the smell of the paper, etc. I admit to being fond of these things, and I even recently re-read my old hardcover copy of The War of the Worlds in an attempt to relive the experience from many years ago. I enjoyed it too. But it was the story that I mainly focused on, I didn't really pay much attention to the medium at all.

These days my library is huge yet takes up hardly any space.

As a thumbs down for modern devices, research has shown that reading a tablet before bed can actually lead to increased symptoms of insomnia (to clarify, that's a device with a back-lit LCD screen, e-ink devices do not cause this problem). Reading a physical printed book is apparently the key. A recent study has shown that people who read on a "Kindle" were significantly worse at remembering what they read compared to those who read printed text. It was concluded that “the haptic and tactile feedback of a Kindle does not provide the same support for mental reconstruction of a story as a print pocket book does.” [It's a safe assumption that this finding applies not only to Amazon's iconic Kindle but also other proprietary e-readers as well.] I buy print books for my kids who like to read, the robustness of a chunky book being of obvious value here. But already my 9-year-old son is expressing interest in an ebook reader, so he'll soon be discovering the pros and cons for himself. [It may also teach him the benefit of picking things up of the floor...]

As far as sales go, I've found that reliable figures are a bit elusive but most sources are showing ebooks to be consistently increasing in sales and forecast to overhaul print (which has seen a corresponding reduction in sales). But it hasn't been a fast process, and I was one of those who predicted the rapid demise of print media once mobile devices became so widespread. I was a little off-target because paper has hung in there admirably. It'll be interesting to see if the lines do actually cross over and how much they might diverge the other way.

This graph is for US sales, but from what I’ve seen (I’m in New Zealand) I’d wager that this trend is generally consistent worldwide.

Returning to the personal preferences of readers, the following points seem to sum up the feelings of most people:

Prefer ebooks:

Storage – hundreds, even thousands, of books within one device

Ease of purchase – buying an ebook is just a click away

Portability – light, on hand, easy to carry around

Price – usually less than a print book [although I've seen the gap close up alarmingly in recent years]

Purchasing options – many different online sources

Freedom - the ability to share titles with others easily and quickly [the legalities aside]

Prefer print books:

Tangibility – an actual physical item for the money

Accomplishment – the mass of the book moves from the right side to the left, visual progress

Libraries – people like the vibe of a library with books to browse and choose

Aroma – the smell of ink on paper [rather nice I admit]

Less restriction - no DRM (Digital Rights Management) and no battery issues

I can relate to some extent with every one of those points and this leads me to the obvious conclusion, that there is a solid place for both. In today's world, it's a lot more about convenience and accessibility meaning ebooks fit with modern "must have it now" attitudes. But, print books are still moving off the shelves okay, even among younger readers, so it looks as if the old-school perceptions still mean something within the same society.

To conclude, I'll say that I hope that print and digital will continue to coexist successfully and I don't see any reasons why they shouldn't. I can see many reasons why the demise of print would be undesirable, the possible disappearance of community libraries not least of these. But nor is the rise of electronic media unwelcome with less paper used, ie. a smaller carbon footprint and that sort of thing. In my mind the format is largely a moot point, what matters most to me is that there are books being written, published and read. After all, it's about the words, the wonderful words with which we feed our minds [for better or worse].

"In union there is strength." -- Aesop