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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I didn't like this one as much as I liked the previous installment. That had more to do with the fact that I liked Manny much better as a narrator than Ray. Manny was a lot more relatable as a character than Ray. But, still an interesting novel, having a lot to do with events set up in the first.
I love John Varley. He is one of the most readable SF authors, he's got a great sense of humor, and there is usually some kinky and/or steamy inter-special sex in his books. His Wizard/Titan/Demon series is one of my all-time faves, and I haven't read a book or short story of his that I haven't enjoyed. "Red Lightning" is a sequel of sorts to "Red Thunder" (which was better). Humans have been living on Mars for a generation. An alternative source of energy has been discovered that allows for unlimited interplanetary travel. Then disaster strikes - something lands in the middle of the Atlantic causing a tsunami that wipes out the East Coast. Half of the the book deals with the rescue of folks affected by the wave; the rest is an action story about a crazy inventor, an attack on Mars, teenagers in love, and more. The books is somewhat disjointed - not Varley's best by a long shot - but still enjoyable for what it is.
I raced through this book but found it decreasingly interesting. This is, in fact, my least favorite Varley yet. Although it was published this year, it also reads as the most "old school" scifi of all his books. As in many Heinlein or other Grand Master books, his characters spend most of their time either explaining physics to each other or excitedly discussing what's wrong with the political landscape. In either case, the characters themselves are mere mouthpieces for the author. The main character, like many other Grand Master main characters, is smart and self-deprecating, but his relationship with a beautiful, flexible blonde with few inhibitions isn't written believably. Believability is a big problem for this book--I just didn't buy the societies or characters Varley created. Superficially interesting, they were all alike and all very artificial.
At the beginning of the book, I was hooked. I wanted to know more about Ray's adventures as a hotelier on Mars (check out Kage Baker's "Empress of Mars" (http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0406/empressofmars.shtml) for a better read) and I was invested in the disaster relief efforts on Earth. After they returned to Mars, however, the book's weaknesses (and the fact that Varley clearly didn't have much else to say) came to the fore.
At the beginning of the book, I was hooked. I wanted to know more about Ray's adventures as a hotelier on Mars (check out Kage Baker's "Empress of Mars" (http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0406/empressofmars.shtml) for a better read) and I was invested in the disaster relief efforts on Earth. After they returned to Mars, however, the book's weaknesses (and the fact that Varley clearly didn't have much else to say) came to the fore.
This was a solid, well written story (in two parts), but ultimately failed to recapture the magic of Red Thunder (the book one prior in this trilogy).
Part of that is due to the switch from the narrow focus of the first book (misfits fly to mars), with themes and story lines that involve two entire planets.
Our hero is also a lot whinier than the protagonists in the earlier book as well, so he's harder to like. (He's also probably much more like a *real* teenager for exactly the same reason.)
So. Good read, but lacked the earlier punch.
4 of 5 stars.
Part of that is due to the switch from the narrow focus of the first book (misfits fly to mars), with themes and story lines that involve two entire planets.
Our hero is also a lot whinier than the protagonists in the earlier book as well, so he's harder to like. (He's also probably much more like a *real* teenager for exactly the same reason.)
So. Good read, but lacked the earlier punch.
4 of 5 stars.
Just see my review of Red Thunder...I liked this one as much, read them back-to-back, enjoyed both. If you like Heinlein's teen work, or Cory Doctorow, you'll like this.