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Finished: _Rissa Kerguelen_, F.M. Busby. _Glory Road_, RAH. _The Ghost Brigade_, John Scalzi.
As long as I was reading books from the I Can't Believe It's Not Heinlein thread, I figured I would refresh myself with an actual Heinlein. _Glory Road_ is part deconstruction of High Fantasy; part Heinlein lecture on heroism, nobility, war and government; part ranting about Those Damn Hippies. Might be a good intro to SF for someone who's only exposure has been through EFP.
Busby's book (a complete story, but apparently volume 1 of n where n is not too large) has the interesting feel of an early Poul Anderson, but with a double dose of nontitillating sex. Parts read like a precis of another, possibly more interesting novel: Rissa's year-long adult education series would get at least a chapter in any other author's hands. By avoiding description of technology at almost all costs, Busby cleverly avoids having it all feel impossibly dated... except that there's hardly any tech being described, which really dates it, eh?
Scalzi's first printed novel, _Old Man's War_, was widely compared to _Starship Troopers_, not least by the author. If OMW was a recasting of ST, then _The Ghost Brigade_ is a commentary on ST. One of Heinlein's major themes is that morality is, for practical purposes, rooted in species-specific behavior. ST and OMW presented universes full of alien intelligences, approximately all of whom were Out To Get Us. Flip that around a little, and consider humanity from everyone else's perspectives: nasty, conquering, dishonest, violent, predatory monsters. Scalzi does a great job of slapping the humanocentric reader's head with a big wet fish. Recommended.
As long as I was reading books from the I Can't Believe It's Not Heinlein thread, I figured I would refresh myself with an actual Heinlein. _Glory Road_ is part deconstruction of High Fantasy; part Heinlein lecture on heroism, nobility, war and government; part ranting about Those Damn Hippies. Might be a good intro to SF for someone who's only exposure has been through EFP.
Busby's book (a complete story, but apparently volume 1 of n where n is not too large) has the interesting feel of an early Poul Anderson, but with a double dose of nontitillating sex. Parts read like a precis of another, possibly more interesting novel: Rissa's year-long adult education series would get at least a chapter in any other author's hands. By avoiding description of technology at almost all costs, Busby cleverly avoids having it all feel impossibly dated... except that there's hardly any tech being described, which really dates it, eh?
Scalzi's first printed novel, _Old Man's War_, was widely compared to _Starship Troopers_, not least by the author. If OMW was a recasting of ST, then _The Ghost Brigade_ is a commentary on ST. One of Heinlein's major themes is that morality is, for practical purposes, rooted in species-specific behavior. ST and OMW presented universes full of alien intelligences, approximately all of whom were Out To Get Us. Flip that around a little, and consider humanity from everyone else's perspectives: nasty, conquering, dishonest, violent, predatory monsters. Scalzi does a great job of slapping the humanocentric reader's head with a big wet fish. Recommended.
