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ianbanks's reviews
955 reviews
The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies by Damien Broderick
4.0
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
4.0
Phillip Mann is an Englishman living in New Zealand. His previous novels have been excellent, though not always entirely to my taste. He does, however, always give the reader plenty of thoughtful material to work with. His latest novel, The Disestablishment Of Paradise, is billed as an ecological thriller in the vein of Avatar and Silent Running but is really a piece that finds its own way. The comparisons are inevitable, I guess: like Avatar, it tells the story of humans on a near-sentient planet with an amazingly alien ecology; like Silent Running there are large parts of the book where the main character spends an awful lot of time on her own in a strange yet familiar place. But really, comparisons such as this are only going to give you a glimpse as to what the story is about, because this book is similar to those movies… but quite, quite different.
It is about the evacuation of a planet, Paradise, which has been decreed as being unsuitable for further human usage. It is told through the voice of a narrator, Olivia, who is retelling the story of Hera Melhuish, the last human to leave Paradise. Olivia accompanies the story with a ton of appendices which stretch out further the story of Paradise and its human history. She refers to these quite often during the novel which only adds to the verisimilitude of the story. Unfortunately, she also has a rather annoying authorial voice that – thankfully – disappears as the novel progresses.
But it is not her story: Hera and her lover Mack walk, sail and fly across Paradise, exploring its ecology, discovering in the process that the planet is exhuming rubbish, bodies, anything that is alien to its surface, as though it is cleansing itself of impurities. And the extent of this is being felt even in space where Hera and Mack’s transport offworld are waiting for them…
But it is primarily the story of Hera’s journey across Paradise. Which is where Mann really goes to town: this is a book about journeys and destinations, metaphorical and actual. While the planet returns to its natural condition, so too does Hera. Already widely knowledgeable about Paradise she discovers things that she never realised she knew amidst its astonishing variety of life.
Mann has really created a believable milieu for his story here. He has taken great pains to immerse the reader in the environment of the story and does it effortlessly. Thanks to the structure of the story you find yourself investing belief rather than suspending your disbelief (which is a discussion for another day) and the result is a story where you are beside the characters feeling their joys and pains, their failures and successes and living their lives with them
Recommended.
(Review also published at http://stuffianlikes.aussieblogs.com.au/2013/04/02/review-the-disestablishment-of-paradise-by-phillip-mann/)
It is about the evacuation of a planet, Paradise, which has been decreed as being unsuitable for further human usage. It is told through the voice of a narrator, Olivia, who is retelling the story of Hera Melhuish, the last human to leave Paradise. Olivia accompanies the story with a ton of appendices which stretch out further the story of Paradise and its human history. She refers to these quite often during the novel which only adds to the verisimilitude of the story. Unfortunately, she also has a rather annoying authorial voice that – thankfully – disappears as the novel progresses.
But it is not her story: Hera and her lover Mack walk, sail and fly across Paradise, exploring its ecology, discovering in the process that the planet is exhuming rubbish, bodies, anything that is alien to its surface, as though it is cleansing itself of impurities. And the extent of this is being felt even in space where Hera and Mack’s transport offworld are waiting for them…
But it is primarily the story of Hera’s journey across Paradise. Which is where Mann really goes to town: this is a book about journeys and destinations, metaphorical and actual. While the planet returns to its natural condition, so too does Hera. Already widely knowledgeable about Paradise she discovers things that she never realised she knew amidst its astonishing variety of life.
Mann has really created a believable milieu for his story here. He has taken great pains to immerse the reader in the environment of the story and does it effortlessly. Thanks to the structure of the story you find yourself investing belief rather than suspending your disbelief (which is a discussion for another day) and the result is a story where you are beside the characters feeling their joys and pains, their failures and successes and living their lives with them
Recommended.
(Review also published at http://stuffianlikes.aussieblogs.com.au/2013/04/02/review-the-disestablishment-of-paradise-by-phillip-mann/)
Fade to Black by Francis Knight
3.0
Fade To Black is Francis Knight’s first novel. It is also the first volume of a series about the private detective/ bounty hunter/ soldier of misfortune Rojan Dizon. In this introductory volume, Rojan has just “recovered” the daughter of a prominent citizen of the towering city of Mahala when he is approached by his brother who wants him to rescue his daughter, recently taken by the mysterious agents of the Ministry for some nefarious purpose of their own…
As it is the first volume of an eponymous series I can tell you safely that things do not end badly for Rojan. However the status quo of life in Mahala changes significantly over the course of this book so that future volumes will be quite interesting.
Which is good because this is quite a promising series: Rojan is a dark character, with a history of sadness and bad things and magical talents that he has barely begun to plumb due to the societal mistrust of things magical. And the setting has loads of potential as well: Mahala is a city state crushed between two larger nations and it has had to resort to some fearsome practices in order to stay alive. And due to the increasing population and lack of space they have grown up rather than out. The result is a city that wants to remind you of Blade Runner, Lankhmar, New Crobuzon and every New York mean street you ever walked down but more often than not – at least for this reader – brings to mind the setting of Marvel’s 2099 series from many years back. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It has a lot to offer a reader who is interested in genre mash-ups. It is a soap opera, a fantasy saga about magic being passed genetically down a line, a war story, a detective novel, a thriller and it contains enough mindbending concepts that could be the basis of novels or stories all on their ownsome, which is what you should be getting when inspiration strikes true.
But for me, it felt a little samey compared to what other writers have achieved with similar stories. However, I wouldn’t say no to picking up future volumes because Knight tells a cracking story and keeps those pages turning.
(This review is also published at http://stuffianlikes.aussieblogs.com.au/2013/04/06/34/
As it is the first volume of an eponymous series I can tell you safely that things do not end badly for Rojan. However the status quo of life in Mahala changes significantly over the course of this book so that future volumes will be quite interesting.
Which is good because this is quite a promising series: Rojan is a dark character, with a history of sadness and bad things and magical talents that he has barely begun to plumb due to the societal mistrust of things magical. And the setting has loads of potential as well: Mahala is a city state crushed between two larger nations and it has had to resort to some fearsome practices in order to stay alive. And due to the increasing population and lack of space they have grown up rather than out. The result is a city that wants to remind you of Blade Runner, Lankhmar, New Crobuzon and every New York mean street you ever walked down but more often than not – at least for this reader – brings to mind the setting of Marvel’s 2099 series from many years back. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It has a lot to offer a reader who is interested in genre mash-ups. It is a soap opera, a fantasy saga about magic being passed genetically down a line, a war story, a detective novel, a thriller and it contains enough mindbending concepts that could be the basis of novels or stories all on their ownsome, which is what you should be getting when inspiration strikes true.
But for me, it felt a little samey compared to what other writers have achieved with similar stories. However, I wouldn’t say no to picking up future volumes because Knight tells a cracking story and keeps those pages turning.
(This review is also published at http://stuffianlikes.aussieblogs.com.au/2013/04/06/34/