The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth) by N. K. Jemisin

The third and final part of the series, where practically all secrets are revealed and there is closure for the most of the characters. The book pretty much continues from where the second part ended.

Essun has been unconscious since the cataclysmic events of the former part. When she awakes, she finds that her other arm has turned to stone. Nassum, Essun’s daughter, is also recovering from both the mental and physical stress of turning her abusive father to stone. The third story presented in the book happens thousands of years earlier, before the “seasons” (catastrophic events happening every few decades, which destroy pretty much everything). That story tells why the seasons started. All three plot lines are followed in alternating chapters until they eventually more or less converge.

The book was pretty good, better than the middle part - as could be expected. The writing was excellent and engaging. A lot was happening in the book, but the beginning might still have been a bit tighter. All in all, an excellent trilogy which will most likely do an unprecedented feat: it will win a Hugo-award with all its parts; most likely it won't be the last one on my voting list, either. The mix of fantasy and science fiction was interesting, even though some of the fantasy tropes were slightly far-fetched. Mother Earth ISN’T a metaphor in this book - and she/he isn’t benevolent, but she has very good reason to be angry with humanity. For some reason, those parts were less annoying than they were in the second part of series; I had probably gotten used to them already. A very good and emotionally moving book.

464 pp.

Kate Atkinson: Kaikkein vähäpätöisin asia (One Good Turn)

A book which portrayed itself as a mystery, but was more of a literary kind of book after all. The story has a large assortment of different characters, and it takes its time to introduce them all. Eventually, there is a dead body, and even a second one, but how is everything connected? There was fairly good writing, but the plot was a bit disjointed and depended on several coincidences.


Kirja, joka oli olevinaan dekkari, mutta todellisuudessa olikin oikeastaan jotain ihan muuta. Kirjasta kyllä löytyy murhakin, mutta se oli oikeastaan aivan loppuosaa lukuun ottamatta enemmänkin enemmän vain taustaa tapahtumille. Kirjan alussa esiteltiin monilukuinen joukko erilaisia enemmän tai vähemmän erikoisia henkilöhahmoja. Näiden hahmojen elämää seurattiin sitten luku luvulta, ilman että oikein mitään selkeää yhteyttä vaikutti olevan kenenkään välillä. Kirjan tapahtumat alkoivat tieraivokohtauksesta, jossa pikku kolarin jälkeen yksi päähenkilöistä hakattiin sairaalakuntoon. Pahoinpitelyn lopetti pikkusieviä dekkareita kirjoittanut kirjailija heittämällä kannettavan tietokoneensa pahoinpitelijään, jolloin tämä lopetti ja joutui pakenemaan. Mutta miten hämäräperäinen rakastajattarensa luona sydänkohtauksen saanut kiinteistöpohatta liittyy tarinaan ja miten merestä kellumasta löytynyt kuollut tyttö liittyy muihin juonen säikeisiin?

Kirja oli etenkin alkupuolella melkoisen sekava suuren henkilömäärän myötä eikä aina ollut kovin helppoa ymmärtää mitä tapahtuu. Loppua kohti kerronta tuntui jäntevöityvän ja varsinainen juoni tuli vähitellen esiin. Kirjan alku tosiaan koostui enemmän henkilöhahmojen esittelystä ja kun hahmoja oli paljon niin sivuja tähän kului.

Kirja ei mitään suurta ihastusta minussa oikeastaan herättänyt ja jäi osittain pettymykseksi. En ehkä aivan heti saman kirjailijan muita kirjoja ole lukemassa, mutta ei se mahdotontakaan ole – ei tämä kuitenkaan mitenkään aivan huono kirja ei ollut ja ehkä jos sitä ei dekkarina olisi aluksi alkanut lukea niin vaikutelma kokonaisuudesta olisi saattanut olla toisenlainen. Kielellisesti teksti oli kumminkin varsin hienoa, juonikin oli ihan hyvä, joskin aika monen sattuman varassa lepäävä.

389 s.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

An old classic, which I hadn’t read before. I am familiar with it from several TV productions. Is there any long running TV series which hasn’t had an episode modelled on this story? The basic story is probably familiar to everyone: the stingy and sour businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge, is visited by three ghosts during Christmas Eve and naturally abandons his selfish ways. The book was read for the book club as appropriate Christmastime reading. I read the book in English, as the freely available Finnish translation felt pretty archaic. The book was written in quaint, wonderful old language, but was pretty easy to read at the same time. I read a fair amount of Dickens in my teens, and if I had time I probably should re-read some of the classics. As a whole, very interesting (on many levels – from the language, historic and basic knowledge points of view) read, which suited the season well.

93 pp.

Brandon Sanderson: Viimeinen valtakunta (Mistborn: The Final Empire)

This is the first book by Brandon Sanderson which I have read. I have enjoyed some of his short fiction, and I also liked this book. The beginning – or rather the middle part - was slightly slow, but the end was anything but slow. (I had to read the last hundred pages in one sitting.) The “end solution” was slightly too easy and was based on a very unlikely event. Also, the romance subplot was not very believable; or necessary. Nevertheless, I might be “forced” to read the second part someday.



Ensimmäinen Brandon Sandersonin kirjoittama kokonainen kirja, mitä olen lukenut. Muutamia hänen Hugo –ehdokkaana olleista novelleistaan olen aikaisemmin lukenut ja niistä olen pitänyt. Tämän kirjan huomasin Worldconissa päätöspäivänä myynnissä aika mukavalla alennuksella ja kun olin nähnyt siitä positiivisia arvioita, niin kirja tarttui mukaan.

Kirja tapahtuu maailmassa, jota vallitsee käytännössä jumalaksi noussut ihminen, loordihallitsija, joka on tarinan mukaan joskus vuosisatoja sitten pelastanut maailman joltain koko sen olemassaolon vaarantaneelta uhalta. Samalla hän on saanut itselleen valtavat voimat ja käytännössä kuolemattomuuden. Ikävä vain, että tämä johtaja on ilmeisen piittaamaton ihmisistä ja hallitsee maailmaa armottomalla tavalla. Suuri osa ihmisistä on käytännössä orjia, joiden hengellä ei ole mitään arvoa aatelisten oikkujen edessä. Ja aatelisetkaan eivät ole turvassa jos mitenkään asettuvat loordihallitsijan tielle.

Vin on nuori tyttö, joka kuuluu varaskoplaan. Hän on saanut olla melko rauhassa eikä ole tullut kovin pahasti pahoinpidellyksi kovinkaan usein, koska hänellä on kyky vaikuttaa lievästi ihmisten ajatuksiin. Kopla yrittää hiukan liian suurta keikkaa ja kiinnittää itseensä vääränlaista huomioita. Tätä ennen Vin on tutustunut Kelsieriin, salaperäiseen mieheen, joka on suunnittelemassa kapinan aloittamista ja Lordihallitsijan vallasta syöksemistä. Mutta miten kuolemattoman voittaminen olisi mitenkään mahdollista? Vin saa myös tietää, että se pieni taikuus, mitä hän tähän asti on pystynyt käyttämään, on vain kalpea aavistus siitä, mihin taikuus oikeasti kykenee. Kirjan taikajärjestelmä on kiinnostava ja perustuu nieltyjen metallihiukkasten “polttamiseen” - kun metalli loppuu, niin taikuus loppuu. Eri metallit saavat aikaan erilaisia vaikutuksia, ja taikuuden hallitseminen täydellisesti vaatii runsaasti harjoittelua, ja vain hyvin harvat ja aatelisia sukujuuria omaavat henkilöt pystyvät edes rajalliseen taidon hallintaan. Vin osoittautuu poikkeuksellisen taitavaksi taikuuden, allomantian, taitajaksi. Hänellä olisi oma tärkeä osuus Kelsierin suunnitelmassa, mutta kun Vin on aina tullut jätetyksi ja petetyksi, voiko hän ikinä enää luottaa kehenkään?

Kirja oli kovin paksu ja ehkä paikoitellen siinä olisi voinut olla hiukan tiivistämisen varaa. Erittäin miellyttävää oli, että vaikka kirja on sarjan ensimmäinen osa, se toimi oikein hyvin itsenäisenä teoksena ja juoni ei jäänyt ainakaan pahasti kesken, vaikka pientä petausta jatko-osaan siinä olikin. Vielä siinä noin ⅚ ennen loppua tuntui siltä, että tarinaa ei mitenkään voida saada järkevästi päätökseen tässä kirjassa. Tähän mennessä tapahtumien tahti oli ollut varsin verkkainen, mutta tämä loppu olikin sitten ihan täynnä toimintaa. Nämä viimeiset reilu sata sivu oli ihan pakko lukea yhdellä kertaa loppuun, sen verran nopeasti tapahtumat yllättäen alkoivat vyöryä. Loppuratkaisu oli sitten ehkä hiukan liian “helppo” ja oikeastaan pohjautui epätodennäköiseen sattumaan. Myös romanttinen alajuoni oli melkoisen epäuskottava ja ehkä ainakin jossain määrin tarpeeton. Joka tapauksessa kirjasta jäi siinä määrin positiivinen kuva, että jossain vaiheessa ehkä niitä jatko-osiakin pitää hankkia luettavaksi.

608 s.

Petri Pietiläinen: Koirien maailmanhistoria

A pretty comprehensive book about dogs as human companions (and in other uses, up to and including, as meat animals) through the ages. Not a single picture, which is pretty strange and makes the book heavy to read.

Hesarin tilaajien ilmaisena kirjana luettu teos. Kirja kertoo koirien tarinan ihmisten kumppanina halki historian. Alkupuoli on aikamoista viitteiden, nimien ja pikkufaktojen vyörytystä, loppupuolella päästään hiukan enemmän filosofistyyppisiin pohdintoihin. Kokonaisuutena kirja oli kiinnostava, joskin tässä muodossa aika raskaslukuinen. Täysin käsittämätöntä, että kirjassa, joka laajalti kuvailee taidetta, kirjallisuutta ja erilaisia koirarotuja ei ole ainoatakaan kuvaa. Jonkin verran piti lukiessa googlailla, mutta se ei vastannut sitä, että kuvat olisivat olleet valmiiksi kirjassa. En tiedä, onko se ”oikeakin” kirja yhtä heikosti suunniteltu, vai liittyikö kuvattomuus vain ekirja-versioon, mutta vaikka Hesarin kirjojen lukuohjelma on ylivoimaisesti heikoin lukuohjelma mitä iPadissä olen ikinä käyttänyt, niin luulisi sen sentään kuvituksen pystyvän näyttämään. Mielenkiintoista tietoa kirjassa kuitenkin oli eikä lukeminen kaduta.

344 s.

Unidentified Funny Objects 6 edited by Alex Shvartsman

A clection of humourous stories. Mostly fairly good, just suitable for reading from phone during lunch breaks.

A Game of Goblins • short fiction by Jim C. Hines
The Goblin stories meet Game of Thrones. The leader of the goblins is asked/forced to help humans in a minor matter of deciding who will sit on the onyx throne. To do that, she must get married to a human (and survive the wedding, as weddings apparently can be very dangerous.) and hope that the bloody brunch doesn't happen again. A very fun story where Golaka, the goblin chieftess, and cook, shows which is the more clever (and ruthless) race. ****+
The Breakdown of Parasite/Host Relationship • short fiction by Paul R. Hardy
Two people share the same body: a bit anal human and a bit sloppy parasitic alien. The alien is in control when the human sleeps and vice versa. The alien is a vital specialist on a space mission. Both minds communicate with leaving notes for each other. And they complain to the mission leader. A lot. Their quarrels escalate to an absurd point. A pretty fun story which is told entirely as short messages. ***½
From This She Makes a Living? • short fiction by Esther M. Friesner [as by Esther Friesner]
People live in a town which is apparently known for foolishness. It turns out that a dragon has arrived there and eaten at least one man. A modern woman appears at the town meeting. Apparently, the town exists in some dimension outside of time and space. It is a rather silly story, which is told in grating "funny" language with many, silly footnotes. I didn't find it to be funny, only pretty irritating. I don't know why the story needed a zillion Jewish references. ***
Twenty-Nine Responses to Inquiries About My Craigslist Post: Alien Spaceship for Sale $200, You Haul • short fiction by Tina Connolly
Someone sells a crashed flying saucer on Craigslist and answers some stupid questions. A short, and not very funny story. **
Agent of Chaos • short fiction by Jack Campbell
A writer is out in the woods in pouring rain. Possibly chased by monsters. She is forced to follow her muse, who is arranging material for her writing, even when she herself isn't so happy about such "hands-on" experience. She manages to find a cave, but it contains an evil god chained to its walls. When the god learns that she is a writer, he doesn't eat her, but gives her a task. She is supposed to deliver the god's manuscript to the publishers. There is a slight catch: the manuscript is also a spell, which destroys the world if someone reads it. Very good, and even humorous. ****-
Tyler the Snot Elemental Scours the Newspaper, Searching for Change • short fiction by Zach Shephard
A snot elemental has a bad day and tries to find something to do and to get some friends. He meets several mystical creatures - most of them are not happy with their lives. But things get better. A heartwarming nice story with a warm humorous element going through it for the whole length. ***½
Display of Affection • short fiction by P. J. Sambeaux
A man loses his mother, who has been ill for a while. The world is super connected and everything happens with great speed. After his mother’s body is repurposed, his employer asks him to return back to the work, as he has had whole five minutes of mourning. Soon he disconnects himself from the net. A pretty good story, but not exactly funny. Had a strong feeling of an episode of Black Mirror TV-series. ***½
The Great Manhattan Eat-Off • short fiction by Mike Resnick
Apparently belongs to a series. I haven’t read any previous installments; it took a few pages to figure out what was going on. A sort of thirties style of gangster boss rules from his bar arranges boxing bets and so on. He hears about an eating contest with nice rewards and possibilities for betting. One of his goonies can eat practically limitless portions and is always hungry. And he has a few magicians on a payroll - there is no way he can lose...A pretty nice amusing story with a slightly baffling world.***½
An Evil Opportunity Employer • short fiction by Lawrence Watt-Evans
A masked superhero has a day job as a contracts attorney. A henchman of an evil supercriminal comes to him with his employee contracts as he feels that he isn’t treated fairly. It turns out that according to the contract, he isn’t henchman, he is a minion. And that is totally different. A fun, short story. ***½
Common Scents • short fiction by Jody Lynn Nye
A pregnant homicide detective is carrying an implanted alien who gets very intoxicated from powerful smells. They investigate a murder of a man who used to use vast amounts of really obnoxious cologne. Not bad, mildly amusing science fiction detective story. ***+
A Mountain Man and a Cat Walk into a Bar • short fiction by Alan Dean Foster
A vast man comes to a bar on Wild West. He has a slight argument with another man about dogs and cats. As both are apparently sorcerers, the arguments get slightly wild. Involving wild and very dangerous types of dogs and cats. A pretty good and even funny story. ***½
Lost and Found • short fiction by Laura Resnick
An asteroid, which turns out to be an alien spaceship is closing to Earth. The US president reacts be going golfing. And different news outlets react in their own way. This would be a funny story if it were really fiction. ***½
A Crawlspace Full of Prizes • short fiction by Bill Ferris
A man starts to get tickets when he does ordinary household chores from the space between the washer and dryer. Under his house in the crawlspace is a booth, where he can validate the tickets for different prizes. Up to a possibility to live an entire lifetime as someone else. However, the grand prize is Xbox One. Not bad, but it is only mildly amusing story. ***+
Return to Sender • short fiction by Melissa Mead
The giant of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tale corresponds with his brother. Short and sad - but funny at the same time. ***
The Friendly Necromancer • short fiction by Rod M. Santos
A group of adventurers goes to the castle of a recently died necromancer. He had an extremely valuable and very dangerous artifact which should be destroyed. They encounter several traps and threats and mostly survive them while having funny banter. Nice and entertaining story. ***½
An Open Letter to the Sentient AI Who Has Announced Its Intention to Take Over the Earth • short fiction by Ken Liu
AI has taken over the world. A manager with a degree in business communication sends to the AI a surrender letter offering his services. Ok, a pretty average story for this book. ***
Approved Expense • short fiction by David Vierling
A James Bond type of secret agent sends his travel expense bill and there are some slightly unusual (and expensive) items there, which the accounting isn’t ready to accept without a good explanation. They have correspondence concerning some of the more unusual expenses. Not bad, a fairly amusing story.***-
Alexander Outland: Space Jockey • short fiction by Jeanne Cook [as by Gini Koch]
A space pirate crew has landed for some repairs and recreation. In a bar, they get a couple of applicants for a position on the ship. After a lot of sexist jokes, stupid wisecracking and some inane adventures, they get back to the ship. A very grating and horribly sexist and stupid story, with irritating and stereotypical characters. **½
Dear Joyce • short fiction by Langley Hyde
The chosen one asks guidance from “Joyce”, who apparently runs a help column in the local paper. Following her advice, the chosen escapes his destiny which includes marrying the princess and defeating the evil leader and moves in together with his male lover. The princess, who has waited for her destiny for years, isn’t happy, but eventually, things work out for the best. Pretty good and even fun story. ***½
Impress Me, Then We'll Talk About the Money • short fiction by Tatiana Ivanova
An unscrupulous chemist and even more unscrupulous manager of a drug company sell drugs which alter people’s appearances. The drugs also have some very drastic side-effects – but you can always sell another drug for those. An overlong and badly implausible (even for humorous story) novel. The writing and plotting felt very old fashioned: this wouldn’t have been out of place in Galaxy magazine in 1952. **½

304 pp.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November-December 2017

A little worse issue than the previous, but there were a few pretty nice stories.

Hybrid, Blue, by Firelight • novelette by Bill Johnson
Time travelers from different time periods and alternative futures hang together. Sometimes someone might disappear when his future turns out to be impossible. There is a lot of scheming and discussing. I didn't look into the story - just I didn't get into any previous installments of this series. **
Keepsakes • novelette by Kenneth Schneyer
People can make copies of their mind which represents the way they think at that moment. As people change when they get older, it is often interesting to go back and see how one thought when he/she was younger. One woman talks with a simulation of her five-year-old self. The little girl version says that her father killed her mother. The adult version doesn’t remember anything like that. Was the memory repressed? Can the copy be trusted? Can what the copy says be used on a trial as a testimony? An interesting story, but it was partly spoiled by totally unnecessary love subplot of two people investigating the alleged crime. There was more than enough plot without it. ***+
Laminated Moose Zombies and Other Road Maintenance Problems • short story by Michael F. Flynn and Dennis M. Flynn
A fungal infection turns everything dead into zombies. They aren’t very dangerous, though, as they move extremely slowly and clumsily and they invade only dead bodies. Or do they? There are strict and very bureaucratic rules how they should be dealt with. Why is the bureaucracy so bad? Not bad, writing is nice but very short, so there isn’t enough plot. ***
Downsized • short story by Bud Sparhawk
A who lives on a luxurious retirement home on a space station gets a notion that he must move to a smaller apartment as his wife died and so he isn’t allocated to have so much space anymore. He tries to appeal to the authorities of the station, but they are not very sympathetic. The old apartment is filled with memories, should he let them go? A good well written and moving story. ***½
New Teeth • short story by James Sallis
A man hunts changed people. Some kind of presence invades humans and takes over their mind. Or so he at least believes. There was little backstory and fairly little real plot and the story goes for the mood. I didn't get it, and it was too scene like for my taste. **½
Luscinia • short story by Robert Reed
The world richest woman lives in an alley pushing old child carriage (filled with the best automatic safety gear money can buy). She doesn't really need anything, but her smart money accumulates itself. A short story (or a political statement) which was ok. ***-
Fermi's Slime • short story by Tom Jolly
An expedition to another solar system finds only planets filled with slime. It appears to have very stable DNA, and the mutation rate is negligible, so there hasn't been any evolution. Are all other worlds in the universe filled with single cellular slime colonies? A short but okay story. ***+
Quirks • short story by Marie Vibbert
Skills can be easily transferred to other people. That has led to heavy unionizing, where unions protect their knowledge. But as there is always some "leaking" of talent to the public domain, it is becoming harder and harder to get jobs with a decent pay. A man gets an offer for his skills. A bit too short, but a decent story. ***
Time Travel Is Only for the Poor • short story by S. L. Huang
Poor people are offered an investment. They are supposed to make a small monetary investment, even cents, and then they put in suspended animation until that investment is grown by compounded interest to a real fortune. And that isn't exactly a voluntary practice. One man fights back and he is supported by a lawyer working pro bono. A pretty good but depressing story. ***+
Papoose Lake • short story by Richard A. Lovett
A man has a friend who is heavily on conspiracy theories. So much that he is very irritating company. He has another friend who is an expert on experimental neurology. Would it be possible to influence thought patterns? A bit short, but good story. ***½
Hot Air • short story by Igor Teper
A scientist has come to China. She meets an old friend, who worked on a similar defense project on the Chinese side. They have a common past and share a secret. A good non-linear story. ***½
Kindle No Flame • short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer
A researcher goes to Oxford library, soon after American newspapers have encountered strange problems with paper. Nicely written story, but I wonder what would have been motivation for such bug. ***+
Two Hours at Frontier • short story by Sean McMullen
Four people wake up in android bodies. They were on a way to study a strange artifact on the fringes of the solar system. It turns out five thousand years have gone and the Earth is silent on all bands. And they then spend two hours arguing about extremely stupid things, like the inability of getting children if you are an android. Like that would be the most important thing in that situation? A fairly stupid story which discusses all the non-interesting points of the setting and glosses over the more relevant things. A nice twist at the end makes the story slightly better. ***
Reentry • short story by Brendan DuBois
A three-man mission has been sent to an asteroid. An accident happens which kills two of three member and damages the ship. The return will take well over thousand days. It is a long time to be alone. The survivor is recuperating in a hospital. The company which sent him on the mission is taking care of him- but not out of kindness. A good story even if the company was unreasonably evil. ***
Weaponized • short story by Jay O'Connell
A man and a woman have dated for a while, they are falling in love. Every time they have sex, she checks something from her phone. A pretty nice, but short story. ***
Housekeeping 100 XP • short story by Brenta Blevins
A technician who repairs the malfunctions of smart houses, has to take her grandmother with her to work. There is a bit of a generation gap and the job in question is hard. A pretty average story. ***-
And Then They Were Gone • short story by Ian Creasey
The rich and famous parents of an eighteen years old girl, tell her that they are going to upload their minds to the virtual world. The girl has mostly been neglected by the parents and she has issues. Will her scars ever heal? An excellent story which could have been longer. ****-
How Val Finally Escaped from the Basement • novelette by Scott Edelman
A man inherits a house from his uncle. He finds an imprisoned alien in its cellar. The alien gives humanity all the technological and medical secrets anyone could have hoped. The man becomes hated and despised as his uncle apparently delayed the revelations. A bitter man whose father was killed a little before the revelations, imprisons him ( I didn't get that point at all - why anyone would blame him? It doesn't make any sense). But then there is a twist. A good, well written and enjoyable story. ****-
Native Seeds • novella by Catherine Wells
There has been a catastrophe – first there has been widespread famine, and then vast flooding and almost everything has been destroyed. Two groups have survived: a group which is descendants of scientist who have lived inside a mountain, and a group which is apparently descendants of Native Americans. Both are small, and just surviving. They encounter. Should the “wilds” move to the mountain? Could they even be supported? Do they even want to move? And both groups are almost too small to survive from the genetic point of view. A very good story, there are nice possibilities for both prequels and sequels. ****-

Arundhati Roy: Äärimmäisen onnen ministeriö (The Ministry of Utmost Happiness)

This is a fairly chaotic novel about India and about the conflict in Kashmir. There was little actual plot, but the book followed lives of several people. At the beginning of the book the intersex boy/girl was promising, but then the plot spread like a network, following far too many sub-characters in a non-coherent way. The book is filled with violence, rape, and injustice, and is not light reading.



Kirja, joka oli kulttuurillisesti niin outo, että alkupuolella sitä piti lukea ”science fiction” -moodi päällä – harva scifi romaani kuvaa vieraampaa ja kummallisempaa maailmaa. Juonellisesti kirja on kuin Intia, runsas, vaihteleva ja kaoottinen. Kirjassa ei ole varsinaista yhtä yksittäistä juonta, vaan se muodostaa enemmänkin toisiaan sivuavien toisistaan polveilevien juonien verkoston, joka tuntuu laajentuvan koko ajan.
Kirja alkaa hermafrodiitin, Anjumin tarinalla. Hän muuttaa 15-vuotiaana hijrojen taloon. Hijrat ovat ”kolmatta sukupuolta” perinteisesti edustava ala”kasti” Intiassa. (Tämä piti googlata, ja näin tosiaan on, kyseessä ovat etenkin miehet mutta ilmeisesti myös naiset, jotka kokevat olevansa normaalin sukupuolensa ”ulkopuolella”. Heillä on oma asemansa Intian elämässä ja rituaaleissa). Vietettyään vuosia hijrojen talossa ja koettuaan sekä hyviä, että huonoja aikoja hän muuttaa hökkeliin hautausmaalle. Sinne kerääntyy muita kohtalon koettelemia ihmisiä ja osittain näiden ihmisten kokemaan kirjan tapahtumat perustuvat – tosin poimuillen runsaasti eri henkilöiden välillä. Kovin merkittävää ja selkeää yhtenäistä juonta kirjassa ei oikeastaan ollut.
Asiat joita kirja kuvaa ovat pääosin järkyttäviä ja ahdistavia, eivätkä todellakaan saa aikaan mitään mielihalua matkustaa Intiaan. Pistää ihmettelemään minkälainen valta uskonnolla ja kansallistunteella (jotka ovat pitkälti oikeastaan samaa asiaa tai ainakin saman asian kahta eri puolta) oikein on. En oikein ymmärrä logiikkaa, miksi jotain yksittäisen maan osaa – vaikkapa siis Kashmirin Intiassa ei anneta erota emämaasta, jos pääosa sen väestöstä sitä haluaa. Mihin ihmeeseen Intia sitä muka tarvitsi? Miksi sen takia pitää sotia ja sortaa? Mutta tätä kumminkin tapahtuu ja tämän älyttömyyden julkituomissa kirja on tärkeä. Mikään varsinainen lukunautinto se ei ollut, enkä edes pidä sitä erityisen hyvin tai kauniilla kielellä kirjoitettuna, vaikka omat hyvät kohtansa siinä onkin. Tosin sen arvioiminen, onko tässä kyse käännöksestä vai alkuperäistekstistä ei ole helppoa. Suosittelen kirjaa luettavaksi, jos on ihan liian pirteällä ja optimistisella tuulella ja ajattelee, että maailma on kaikkialla hyvä paikka.

478 s.

Liza Marklund: Ajojahti

Second to last of the Annika Bengtzon series. A businessman is tortured almost to his death and his wife is missing. There is nothing in their past (at first glance) which could be the reason for those things. And Annika's boss is in trouble as the TV-documentary he made about twenty years ago is suspected to be false. (Like anyone would really care so much). A lot better than some of the former books – Annika is less irritating and there less dwelling on her personal life.

Annika Bengtzon -sarjan viimeistä edellinen osa. Solsidanin eliittilähiöstä löytyy kotoaan lähes kuoliaaksi kidutettu liikemies. Hän on aikaisemmin ollut mukana politiikassa äärikonservatiivissa puolueessa, mutta on joutunut eromaan yrityksiensä taloudellisten epäselvyyksien vuoksi. Myös liikemiehen vaimo on kadonnut. Samaan aikaan lehden päätoimittaja, Anders Schyman on vaikeuksissa, kun hänen vuosia sitten tekemäänsä TV-dokumenttia on alettu epäillä valheelliseksi, ja tuntematon blogikirjoittaja arvostelee häntä siitä kovin sanoin. Liikemiehen kidutusta tutkii muiden poliisin mukana edellisistä kirjoista tuttu poliisi, Nina Hoffman, joka on saanut uuden työpaikan rikospoliisista. Annikalla itsellään on sopeutumisia uuden avopuolisonsa ja etenkin hänen lastensa kanssa elämiseen. Kirjassa seurataan osajuonia aika tasapuolisesti ja mielenkiintoisesti ja Annikan oman elämän kuviot eivät saa suhteetonta osaa, kuten joissain aikaisemmissa kirjoissa. Hän myös vaikuttaa selvästi vähemmän ärsyttävältä kuin joskus aikaisemmin. Nina Hoffman on hyvä uusi lisä päähenkilöiden joukossa ja hänen osuutensa ovat lähestulkoon kiinnostavimpia koko kirjassa. Tapahtumat etenevät hyvää vauhtia ja seuraavaa, sarjan päättävää osaa, jää odottamaan ihan hyvällä mielellä. Ainoita hiukan häiritseviä osuuksia olivat Anders Schymania koskevat jaksot – oikeastiko joku olisi niin kiinnostunut yksittäisestä parikymmentä vuotta sitten julkaistusta TV-dokumentista, että välittäisi vähääkään, saati sitten, että asiaa koskeva blogi keräsi suunnattoman suosion ja tiedotusvälineet parveilisivat asian tiimoilla niin innostuneina?

382 s.

Markus Bennemann: Himokas härkäsammakko ja muita eläinkunnan seksipetoja

A book which examines many different strategies animals have for procreation. Some very interesting stories.

Mielenkiintoinen tietokirja, joka esittelee eläinkunnan erikoisimpia lisääntymistapoja kattaen osapuilleen kaikki eliöryhmät paperiveneistä hyönteisten (sieltä niitä erikoisuuksia todella paljon löytyykin) kautta nisäkkäisiin. Kaikennäköiset mahdolliset erikoisuudet prostituutiosta erilaisiaan petostyyleihin asti kyllä löytyy. Esimerkkinä vaikkapa kalalaji, jossa urokset ja naaraat ovat erinäköisiä, ja uros puolustaa haaremiaan raivokkaasti. Mutta osa uroksista näyttääkin naaralta ja tässä valeasussa pääsee livahtamaan naaraiden seuraan.

338 s.

Glen Cook: Varjot pitenevät (The Black Company -Shadows Linger)

The second part of the adventures of the Black Company and the work of a mystical and evil woman named Lady. This time, they try to prevent the resuscitation of her husband, who is even more evil than his wife. A pretty dark fantasy book, which looks at things from their evil side, however, this time it was from the side of lesser evil. The best part was the first half, which was more of setup, with a smaller cast than the end, when the war got really hot. I'm looking forward to the next part. (Read in Finnish, reviewed mostly in Finnish.)


Toinen osa sarjaa, joka seuraa Mustan Komppanian seikkailuja. Musta Komppania on palkkasoturi joukko, joka viimeisimmät vuodet on taistellut Ladyn puolesta. Lady on yliluonnolliset kyvyt omaava mystisen paha olento. Osaa palkkasotureista on ajoittain hiukan kiusannut pahan puolella taisteleminen, mutta pääosalle sotilaista säännöllinen palkan maksaminen on ollut kylliksi, siitä viis kenen puolella ollaan. Nyt joukko on komennettu maailmaan ääriin pikkukaupunkiin, jossa Ladyn kuollut puoliso, Alistaja, on heräämässä henkiin. Tämä sitten onkin sellainen kaveri, että Lady häneen verrattuna on hyvin leppoinen ja hyväntahtoinen tuttavuus.

Kirjan alussa viime kirjan lopussa joukosta eronnut Korppi ja hänen suojattinsa Kullanmuru asuvat sattumalta juuri siinä kaupungissa, jonka liepeillä kohoaa musta linnake. Se kerää kuolleiden ruumiita kasvaakseen ja saattaakseen loppuun Alistajan henkiin herättämiseen tarvittavan taian. Kun Mustan Komppanian etuvartio saapuu paikalle, Korppi ja Kullanmuru - joka ilmeisesti on ennustuksen mainitsema neito, ainoa joka saattaa Ladyn voittokulun katkaista, pakenevat kaupungista. Tietysti, jos Alistaja herää henkiin, ennuksella ei ole paljoa merkitystä, kun hän hoitelee sekä Ladyn ja käytännössä koko maailman päiviltä.

Kyseessä oli varsin vetävä kirja, joka oli selvästi parempi kuin ensimmäinen osa. Kirja paras oli sen alku, joka tapahtui suppeammassa ja mystisemmässä mittakaavassa kuin lopun rymistelevämpi osuus, jossa henkilöiden suuri määrä, etenkin huomioiden heidän erittäin huonosti muistettavissa olevat nimet saivat kirjan tuntumaan hieman sekavalta. Mielenkiinnolla odotan seuraavaa osaa, joka ilmeisesti punoo kasaan tämän juonikokonaisuuden. Tässä kirjassa sitten ilmeisesti siirrytään hiukan enemmän ”hyvien” puolelle, joskin kirjankertojahenkilöllä on varsin kyyninen asenne heidän mahdolliseen ”hyvyyteensä” – tosin hänellä on kohtuullisen kyyninen asenne melkein kaikkeen.

303 s

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse #1) by Dennis E. Taylor

A young man has just sold his software company for a good amount of money. He used a part of his wealth to buy a deal for cryogenic preservation after his death. Very soon after that, while he is returning from a science fiction convention, he is run over by a car. He wakes in a future which is ruled by a theocratic dictature. The cold war between other current nations is on a brick of becoming hot. All his assets have been confiscated and, according to the current laws, he has no rights at all. He is offered a choice: he could be used as intelligence, used to run a project which needs high-class AI, or he could be terminated. Not much of a choice. It turns out that the job in question was running a Von Neumann probe which will be sent to the stars to find habitable planets. (there were supposed to be several probes, but due to budget constraints and political infighting, only one will be built - I wonder what would have been the point in building several _self-replicating_ probes anyway.) After a few problems, he is headed to space and starts to replicate after he arrives at another star. His copies are not exactly the same as the original, but mostly pretty close in personality to the original Bob.

A book which I read from my mobile phone during lunch breaks and occasional commutes in a bus. It was very suitable for such use - it was easy to read with straightforward language and an engaging and fun plot. It wasn’t any great literature, but sometimes it is fun to read something which doesn’t try to be anything but entertainment and is a kind of nerdish wish-fulfillment fantasy - being almost all powerful and exploring space and finding new planets and even lifeforms.

304 pp.

Kjell Westö: Rikinkeltainen taivas

A story of a lower middle-class boy who befriends another same age boy, whose summerhouse is nearby, and who belongs to a family with “old money”. The book follows them until they are middle-aged and explores the stormy love-story between the fairly poor boy and the sister of the rich kid. The book dwells far too long on the adolescence of the characters but gets better when they become adults. The ending is extremely quick and seems forced, though. The writing was good, but the plot felt a bit clichéd and didn’t really engage me.


Luettu lukupiirin kirjana.
Kirja kertoo alemman keskiluokan pojan tarinan. Hän tutustuu mökkinaapuruuden kautta ruotsinsuomalaisen suursuvun saman ikäiseen poikaan, Alexiin. He ystävystyvät ja päähenkilö oppii tuntemaan koko perheen. Poikien välinen suhde säilyy vuosikymmenten läpi ollen välillä lämpimämpi ja välillä viileämpi. Yhteiskuntaluokalla ja rahalla on aina jonkinasteista erottavaa tekijää heidän välillään, eikä vuosikausia tai vuosikymmeniä jatkunut on/off seurustelusuhde Alexin siskoon, Stellaan, välttämättä aina välejä ainakaan lämmittänyt. Pienen ystäväpiirin elämää seurataan lapsuudesta myöhäiskeski-ikään asti. Tarinan yksi kantava voima on kertojan ajoittain myrskyinen, lopulta keskinäiseksi ystävyydeksi muuttuva suhde Stellaan.

Kirja oli kirjoitettu sujuvalla kielellä, mutta olisi voinut kyllä lyhentää sellaiset 50–100 sivua - etenkin sitä alkupuolen teinisäätöä olisi voinut kyllä rajusti leikata ja siinä vaiheessa kirjan lukeminen oli kaikkein raskainta. Ilmeisen tarkoituksellisen ärsyttävät päähenkilöt kävivät välillä hermoon. Loppupuolella kirjassa nopeasti käväisevä Arabi-hahmo oli kliseinen ja tarpeeton ja tuntui ajankohtaisuuden vuoksi kirjaan lisätyltä - kuten kyllä muutama kirjan kohtauksistakin. Loppua kohden kirja parani selvästi, kun hahmot ja heidän suhteensa tuntuivat lopultakin kypsyvän, mutta viimeiset 40 sivua olivat hyvin hätäiset. Vaikutti melkein siltä, kuin kustantaja olisi ilmoittanut kirjailijalle kesken kirjoittamisen, että kirjan PITÄÄ olla viikon kuluttua valmis ja piti nopeasti kyhätä jonkinlainen lopetus. Myös arabihahmon uusi ilmaantuminen kirjan lopussa oli tarpeeton ja ”tyhjästä tullut”. Monissa arvioissa on kehuttu kirjan antamaa tunnelmaa paikallisuudesta ja hyvästä paikallisväristä. Itsellä paikat ja kadut olivat pääosin täysin outoja, eivätkä ulkopaikkakuntalaiselle aiheuttaneet minkäänmoisia tuntemuksia tai väristyksiä.

Kirjapiirissä useimpien mielipiteet olivat samansuuntaisia; kukaan ei erityisesti ihastunut kirjaan ja tarinankuljetusta pidettiin hiukan löysänä ja juonikuviota jopa kulahtaneina. Joku mietti sitäkin, että jos kirjassa käydään jossain eurooppalaisessa kaupungissa, niin miksi sen pitää aina olla Berliini? Ja toinen lukupiiriläinen oli sitä mieltä, että tämä kirjan paransi hänet tarpeesta lukea Westöön uudet kirjat jatkossa.

459 s.

The Long List Anthology: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List by David Steffen (Editor)

A collection of stories that just missed a Hugo nomination in 2015. A varied bunch of tales, some very good, some a little less good.


The Breath of War • [Universe of Xuya] • (2014) • short story by Aliette de Bodard
The women of the world apparently sculpt a some kind of golem out of stone and, with a breath, turn it alive. When a woman gives birth to a child, the stone being must breathe on the newborn or it will die. A woman, whose Stoneman was left behind in the jungle and is heavily pregnant, tries to find it before her labor started. It turns out that she had sculpted a spaceship, which is alive.
The writing was very good but the story didn't make any sense whatsoever. Even fantasy should have some degree of believability and internal consistency. I can't imagine how the method of conception that was described could evolve, or what the benefits would be. If it is an artificial construct, why would anyone create such dependency? And waking up a stone statue is a pretty common trope. It is even harder to believe that you could sculpt a spaceship out of stone and then wake it up and end with a self-conscious, actually flight capable, vehicle. ***+
When It Ends, He Catches Her • (2014) • short story by Eugie Foster
A former professional dancer met her former dance partner, after the fall of civilization. He is a zombie (though, this word is not mentioned) but dancing restores his mind. They will have one last dance. A well written, bittersweet story. ***½
Toad Words • (2014) • short story by Ursula Vernon [as by T. Kingfisher ]
A man is cursed. Everything that he says comes out of his mouth as toads or frogs. When he learns that amphibians are dying out, he finds a way to capitalize on his curse. A fun little story. ***½
Makeisha in Time • (2014) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
A woman is pulled into the past and lives whole lifetimes there. She returns to the present when she dies in these lifetimes and no time has passed for anyone she was with before her time travel. As it has been decades for her, she tends to be slightly disorganized and has problems with her relationships. She is distressed, as her work in the past seems to disappear and is sometimes attributed to men. The end is slightly confusing but it was otherwise a pretty good story. I also wonder why she valued her life so much in the "present" that she was willing to commit suicide repeatedly in the other lifetimes. She apparently was able to have fully satisfying relationships in other times, the problems were only relationships in the present. ***½
Covenant • (2014) • short story by Elizabeth Bear
A psychopath is given a choice: he may go to prison or be cured. As he believes that his mind is strong enough to resist any tampering, he takes that choice. But more than his mind is changed; and soon to hunter becomes prey. A pretty good story, especially and beginning and end, the middle was a little less successful. ***½
The Truth About Owls • (2014) • short story by Amal El-Mohtar
A Lebanese girl has moved to Britain. She takes an interest to an owl that lives at a local owl sanctuary. She seems to have some sort of psychic powers that she can’t completely control, which she uses when she feels threatened. Nice writing but bit too vague for me. ***+
A Kiss with Teeth • (2014) • short story by Max Gladstone
A vampire pretends to be a husband who takes care of his family. His wife is aware of what he is and helps him. But it is very hard for him to pretend to be clumsy and slow like humans. His son has problems in school, so he starts to work with his teacher. But will he be able to control his urges? A pretty good story. ***+
The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family • (2014) • short story by Usman T. Malik
The terrorism and desperate lives of people in Pakistan is compared to different states of matter. A woman who has lost a lot tries to find her brother after years of separation. The writing was pretty good, but the story felt fairly disjointed and very hard to follow. ***
This Chance Planet • (2014) • short story by Elizabeth Bear
A woman works herself almost to death as a waitress, as her boyfriend is about to make a break in the music business. The problem is that he has been "about to" for a very long time already. He even suggests that she should volunteer to raise spare organs inside of her body to get more money, so that it would be easier for him to start touring. One day, on the way to her job, she encounters a stray, very pregnant, dog and eventually makes a connection with her. An excellent and well written story, with some magic realism happening in the fairly near future. ****-
Goodnight Stars • (2014) • short story by Annie Bellet
Something has hit the moon and it has shattered into pieces. The pieces are falling down and causing widespread destruction. A young woman, whose mother was on the moon working on a telescope station (and is most likely dead), journeys to her father's home. A pretty good, very well written, and moving story. But I didn't really believe the premise – just like I didn’t buy the premise of the Hugo nominated novel, Seveneves. ***½
We Are the Cloud • (2014) • novelette by Sam J. Miller
A young gay man lives on a world where poor people rent out their brains for computing, risking severe brain damage in the process. Some nice ideas, but they are a side note, while the emphasis is on relationships. I didn’t really get into the story, it was ok, but nothing really special. ***
The Magician and Laplace's Demon • (2014) • novelette by Tom Crosshill
An artificial intelligence that has appeared spontaneously encounters magic. Magicians are able to bend the probabilities but only when no one sees them do so and if the situation is such that the magic can't be proved. The AI starts hunting the magicians, as they are the only ones able to limit its powers. Centuries later, the AI is chasing the last one, who is extremely powerful. A very good and well written story with an interesting brand of magic. ***½
Spring Festival: Happiness, Anger, Love, Sorrow, Joy • (2014) • novelette by Xia Jia
Episodes of life in China, with heavy touches of magic realism. Intriguing fragments of life that open a window to another culture. To really get the stories, one probably should have some familiarity with the Chinese culture. ***
The Husband Stitch • (2014) • novelette by Carmen Maria Machado
A young woman meets a young man who she wants to marry. She seduces him, submits to all of the sex he ever wanted and more, but she refuses to take a ribbon off of her neck, not even when her husband and, later her son, asks her to. A well written, allegorical story with a really stupid ending. ***
The Bonedrake's Penance • (2014) • novelette by Yoon Ha Lee
A human has been raised by an alien queen, who is revered by people who serve her and bring occasional gifts. There are secrets and choices which must be made. A very good and entertaining story. I would love to read other stories set in the same world. ****-
The Devil in America • (2014) • novelette by Kai Ashante Wilson
A story of a young black girl from the 19th century who can ask for help from "angels." However, they aren't so easy to control as she thinks. But there is always a possibility of making a deal with a demon... and white people are hunting blacks. At places, the story was hard to follow and pretty slow moving. I didn't get into it at all, but I don't usually like this kind of magical realism. ***
The Litany of Earth • (2014) • novelette by Ruthanna Emrys
Apparently, this story continues some of the classic Chulthu-stories. Inhabitants/survivors of a town that was invaded by the “old ones” have lived in camps for years. As I am not a fan of these stories (nor am I familiar with them), I didn’t get into the story at all. As a matter of fact after, a few days, I'm having a lot of trouble recalling anything about it. **
A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i • (2014) • novelette by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Vampires have conquered humanity. The remaining humans are practically raised as cattle, in kind of concentration camps, and are used as a workforce and bled to sustain the vampires. A few select ones get special treatment, and there is a competition for who will be the most favored one. Less dark of a story than one might imagine from the subject matter; an excellent and well-written tale. ****
A Year and a Day in Old Theradane • (2014) • novelette by Scott Lynch
A gang of rascals is blackmailed to perform an impossible heist: they are supposed to steal an entire city street. A lot of banter, which was possibly meant to be funny, but I didn’t get into this story at all, and it was a struggle to read through. All of that banter felt mostly stupid and silly. The story was very boring to me, possibly because it is connected to a series I am totally unfamiliar with. **½
The Regular • (2014) • novella by Ken Liu
A hooker is killed and her eyes are dug out. The police blame gangs. The hooker’s mother hires a private detective, who has some bionic augmentations and still has issues with the death of her own daughter. Her ex-husband works for the police and they combine forces. An extremely well-written and interesting story, but it is more of a detective story than science fiction. ****
Grand Jeté (The Great Leap) • (2014) • novella by Rachel Swirsky
A young girl is dying from cancer, only a little while after her mother died, also from cancer. Her distraught father uses a new technology to create an android that looks like his daughter and has all of her memories. The story is told in three chapters, from three different viewpoints. The basic plot and writing are pretty good, but far too much of the storyline is spent on Jewish habits. ***½

498 pp.

Emmi Itäranta: Teemestarin kirja (Memory of Water)

A book that has received rave reviews everywhere. It tells a story of a future where water is rare and strictly controlled by a police state. The heroine of the book conducts Japanese-style tea ceremonies and controls the secret of one of the last springs. Nice and fluent writing, but the details of the world and society didn’t make much sense.

Kovasti kehuja saanut kirja, joka tapahtuu epämääräisessä, ilmeisesti kohtalaisen kaukaisessa tulevaisuudessa. Ilmasto on muuttunut huomattavasti lämpimämmäksi, meri on kohonnut ja peittänyt suuria alueita ja juomakelpoinen vesi on muuttunut jostain syystä erittäin harvinaiseksi. Jonkinlainen tarkemmin määrittelemätön totalitaarinen diktatuuri pitää valtaa. Kirjan päähenkilö, Noria, on nuori nainen, jonka isä on teemestari, joka järjestää tarkkaan perinteen säätelemiä teeseremonioita yleensä varakkaille vieraille. Noria auttaa häntä ja on mitä ilmeisimmin perimässä saman seremoniallisen tehtävän sukupuolestaan huolimatta. Vanhalta kaatopaikalta Noria ja hänen ystävänsä Sanja löytävät kummallisia kiiltäviä levyjä, joiden sisältämät äänitykset he onnistuvat toistamaan. Sisältö saattaisi järkyttää maailman perustuksia ja olettamia siitä missä juomakelpoista vettä voi olla olemassa.

Kielellisesti kirja on erittäin hienoa työtä, mutta muuten siinä on ongelmia. Päähenkilö on hyvin naiivi - toisaalta kun kyseessä on nuori (alle 20 v?) nainen, niin naiivius on osittain ymmärrettävää. Perusjuoni ja koko maailma ovat epäuskottavia. Mikä ihme sen makean veden on hävittänyt niin, että kuitenkin on suuri ja vuolas salainen maanalainen koski olemassa? Ja paarmoja ja muita hyönteisiä vaikuttaa olevan aivan suunnattomat määrät, niin paljon, että käytännössä mihinkään ei voi liikkua ilman hyönteisiltä suojaavaa huppua. Miten tämä on mahdollista jos on niin kuivaa, että metsät ovat kuolleet pystyyn? Melkein loppuun asti toivoin, että tässä olisi takana jokin ovela kirjailijan laatima juonenkäänne, mutta ei. Myös kasvit, mitä Noria kasvattaa olivat pääosin ihan samoja ja vanhoja tuttuja kasveja karviaisista alkaen - missäs vaikka viinirypäleet jotka lämpimässä ja kuivassa ilmastossa kasvaisivat hienosti. Maailman yleinen taloudellis-ekonominen toimivuus muutenkin jäi auki - mitä kyläläiset oikein tekivät? Viljelivät maata? Täydessä kuivuudessa? Olivat työssä jossain? Tekemässä mitä? Norian teknisesti lahjakas ystävä, Sanja, mietti laittoman vesijohdon rakentamista kotiinsa - mistä ihmeestä se vesi siihen johtoon olisi tullut? Kokonaisuutena kirja antoi kyllä hyvin nuortenkirjamaisen vaikutelman - naiivi nuori päähenkilö eikä ihan loppuun asti ajateltu juoni. Yhteiskunnallis-taloudellinen logiikka ei kirjassa ollut edes Nälkämaailman tasolla - ja senkään taso ei ollut kovin korkea. Hienon, soljuvan kielen vuoksi kirjaa kuitenkin jaksoi lukea, mutta jäi pettymykseksi aika koviin ennakko-odotuksiin nähden. Loppu oli kuitenkin varsin hyvä ja aika tulkinnanvarainenkin. Olisiko eräs henkilö ollut petturi melkein alusta alkaen? Vai ei?

329 s.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September-October 2017

A pretty good issue; most of the stories were at least pretty good, a few were very good.

My Fifth and Most Exotic Voyage • novelette by Edward M. Lerner
Gulliver describes his latest travel - to the future. Future scientists wanted to capture a person from the past, and they got the Gulliver, who claims he himself wrote the famous book about his travels. The scientists don't believe him, as he clearly isn't Jonathan Swift. And he claims that his travels are true, not fiction. Did they capture a madman? A very good story, once you get past the oldish writing style. There was one very stupid scientific mistake, though. The carbon dating tells the age of an object - not the year it comes from. There is a difference, especially if your dealing with time travel. An object brought from the past should seem new, if it were tested by C14 dating. It is almost a spoiler for me to say that very a similar plot idea was used earlier by Larry Niven. ****-
I Know My Own & My Own Know Me • novelette by Tracy Canfield
The story is told as chat logs. An expedition tries to find out why a colony of humans has reverted to almost mindless animals, whose brains don't even accept brain implants. Someone has used an implant for a cat, who can now take part in the discussions in broken language. And it has eaten all of the lab rats. A pretty nice story, but perhaps a tad too long for the idea. ***+
Ghostmail • short story by Eric Del Carlo
A man is connected to his wife, who is fighting in a war, through some sort of direct subspace link. Then his wife is killed in action. To his surprise, he continues receiving messages. Is he mad? A pretty good and moving story. ****-
The First Trebuchet on Mars • short story by Marie Vibbert
A short story about what the title says. It turns out that there is a use for such a thing in Mars. A short and amusing story. ***
Climbing Olympus • short story by Simon Kewin
Another story about Mars. A man whose father was an avid mountain climber also used to climb mountains, but they never did it together, as they were never at the same skill level. Now he is taking part on a Mars expedition, and tries to climb Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in the solar system. A pretty good story, which explores a failed father-son relationship. ***+
A Tinker's Damnation • short story by Jerry Oltion
The nano-machine which was supposed to create all of the required high-tech items on a colony on another planet is broken beyond repair. It was supposed to be able to create almost anything, with the correct instructions. But, as it isn't working, the colony must use old-fashioned methods to survive. An apprentice for the mechanic of the colony has tinkered with it, but it seems to be beyond repair. A good story, but with such strong Luddite overtones that I wonder why such people would have moved to another planet. ***½
The Old Man • novelette by Rich Larson
A criminal is thawed out from cryostorage. He is made an offer: if he hunts down an even worse criminal, he will get a pardon. He knows the criminal intimately and hates him; the criminal in question is his father. Not bad story, first seemed like a retreated old movie, but ended up being something really different. ***+
Orphans • novelette by Craig DeLancey
A mission to Betelgeuse 2 is approaching a planet. It appears to bear a lot of life, but there are no signs of intelligence. They discover subterranean lines, which appear to be artificial, but there are no other signs of civilization. Several probes they sent to the planet failed soon after landing for unknown reasons. And then there is an accident. Another pretty good story, where the "enemy" is unexpected, but the crew is very clueless and makes extremely stupid risks. ***+
The Absence • short story by Robert R. Chase
A smart man has succeeded in almost everything. Now he is building a space elevator. It turns out that, as a student, he took part in an experiment which was designed to boost brain activity. It seemed to be a failure, but now some participants have reported some strange and worrisome effects. A bit of a fractured story. I didn't really get the connection between the drugs and impending catastrophe. ***-
Arp! Arp! • short story by Christina De La Rocha
A marine biologist examines why a sea farm, which is supposed to produce high-quality algae extract that can be fed to animals, used as food, or even as fertilizer, is failing. She finds what is going on, by a very big coincidence. And the guilty ones apparently did what they did mainly because they are evil. ***
The Mathematician • short story by Tom Jolly
Life among aliens who are essentially immortal, but are able to combine their bodies, but usually lose their memories and knowledge in the process. One manages to circumvent that partially. A too-short story, which was fairly hard to get, as a lot of the pretty unusual life cycles were crammed into too few pages. **+
The Sword of Damocles • novelette by Norman Spinrad
The Galactic Eye is a giant telescope which is built in space. It is tended by people who have been modified to live in free fall. The main purpose of the telescope is to find alien civilizations. And it finds several of them, but all seem to be restricted to their own solar systems. There are no interstellar empires. Why? There isn't a lot of story here. The novelette is mainly fairly philosophical discussions of the main theme, but it was good, nevertheless. ****-
Heaven's Covenant • novella by Bud Sparhawk
A planet has been colonized by humans possibly centuries ago. They ready to use the old colony ship to send a new colony on another star. The government is apparently ruled by religious fanatics, who are pushing for the extermination of a "lesser" race who is apparently used for menial tasks who are called Folk. Even the moderate factions have not the slightest doubt of their inferiority. A woman whose family has died is tending a large farm. She takes good care of her Folk, but she meets a man with whom she falls in love. She is also asked to take part in the new expedition. At the same time, the more strict factions are pushing for the genocide of the Folk. A well-written story, but a bit too long, and the racist and narcissistic husband was very grating. There were some hints that the normal humans were Folk, and the protagonists were members of a “better” race, but that was not stated explicitly. ****-
Abductive Reasoning • short story by Christopher L. Bennett
An advanced alien must land on Earth to make repairs to her ship. She encounters a UFO fanatic conspiracy theorist whose theories about aliens make her think that humans must be lunatics. A fun little story. ***½
Coyote Moon • short story by James Van Pelt
A poor couple, who works at several jobs at the same time and still can't make the ends to meet, sells everything to get a place on a clandestine flight to the Moon. They hope that, since they will be some of the first people there, they will be in a better position. Well, the exploited usually will be exploited. The story could be slightly longer. The emotional attachment to the characters isn't powerful enough. ***
Invaders • short story by Stanley Schmidt
A man goes to a remote hotel to watch a total eclipse of the Sun. Some of the other inhabitants of the hotel seem slightly strange. It turns out that a total eclipse is really rare, and some of the watchers come far away. A nice humorous story. ***½

Anne Holt, Even Holt: Äkkikuolema (Sudden Death)

Two cardiologist friends try to find out if a football team is using doping to improve running speeds or not. In the same mix is an art robbery which happened a few years earlier and a retired Mossad agent. A fairly good medical detective story, but perhaps with too many side plots.

Eräänlainen osittain lääketieteeseen pohjautuva dekkari. Tunnettu ja loistoluokan kardiologi, Sara, on enemmän tai vähemmän sattumalta jalkapallostadionilla, kun yksi palaajista lyyhistyy maahan sydänkohtauksen saaneen. Kardiologin ammattitaidolla elvytys onnistuu ja pelaaja selviää. Hänet kutsutaan jalkapallojoukkueen omistajan, upporikkaan arabin kotiin illalliselle. Arabi kerää huippuluokan taidetta ja häneltä on ryöstetty joitain vuosia aikaisemmin useampia mestaritason taideteos. Saran ystävä, Ola, työskentelee jalkapallojoukkueen yhtenä lääkäreistä. Hän huomaa, että yllättävän moni joukkueen pelaaja on saanut sydänoireita viime vuosien aikana. Ja yllättävän moni on parantanut juoksuaikaansa paljon enemmän, kuin millään tavanomaisella harjoittelulla olisi mahdollista. Voisiko kyseessä olla doping? Mutta kaikille pelaajille tehdään jatkuvasti hyvin tarkkaa doping-seurantaa – miten mitään dopingia voisi olla käytössä? Ola ja Sara alkavat selvittää mistä on kyse ja peli lopulta muuttuu kovin kuumaksi, ehkä jopa vaaralliseksi. Mutta miten tuo aikaisempi taideryöstö liittyy asiaan? Ja vielä kummallisempaa on, mitä eläkkeelle jääneellä Mossadin agentilla on asioiden kanssa tekemistä.
Ihan kohtalainen kirja, jossa oli hiukan liikaa hajanaisuutta ja ehkä muutama sivujuoni liikaa; pieni tiivistys olisi voinut tehdä terää. Nopeaa luettavaa, mutta etenkin alussa oli hiukan vaikeaa pysyä henkilöistä perillä, varmaan osittain koska en ollut edeltävä samaan sarjaan liittyvää kirjaa lukenut.

443 s

Tommi Kinnunen: Lopotti

Continues the story of an earlier book which was both critical and commercial success in Finland. Tells the story of two people who were more or less side characters in the first book. The book had extremely good writing, but the life stories of the main characters were fairly depressing, and they lived very much life of outsiders.

Neljän tuulen tien jatko-osa, joka jatkaa ja syventää edellisen kirjan joidenkin hahmojen tarinaa ja osittain jatkaa siitä mihin edellinen kirja loppui.
Kirjan päähenkilöinä ovat Helena, tyttö joka Neljän tuulen tie- kirjassa tuli sokeaksi ja lähetettiin sokeainkouluun ja jäi kirjassa tämän jälkeen lähinnä sivuhenkilöksi.
Toinen päähenkilö on Tuomas, Helenan veljenpoika, joka aluksi lähtee kylältä armeijaan ja jä myöhemmin etelään opiskelemaan.
Aikaisempi kirja oli kotikylässä asuvien näkökulmasta, tämä kylästä olosuhteiden pakosta muuttaneiden näkökulmasta. Molemmat muuttaneet kokevat enemmän tai vähemmän irrallisuutta eivätkä täysin kotikylästänsä eroon pääse, mutta lyhyiden lomien yhteydessä ovat siellä yhtälailla ulkopuolisia, elämä kun pohjoisessakin on edennyt omaa rataansa.
Sokean tytön, Helenan elämä vaikutti aluksi menevän olosuhteisiin nähden hyvin, kunhan hän ottaa oman elämänsä hallintaansa rankkojen kouluvuosien jälkeen. Hänen kohtalonsa lopulta ei ollut mikään miellyttävä. Tuomaksen tarina oli osittain samantyyppinen: alkuvaikeuksien kautta näytti elämä kääntyvän hyväksi, kunnes asiat eivät sujuneet kuin henkilö olisivat toivoneet

Tämä elämän yleinen surkeus oli jopa ahdistuksen tunnetta aiheuttavaa, jotain positiivisempaa kirja olisi mielestäni tarvinnut – nyt meni vähän liikaa suomalaisen ”kurjuus-realismin” puolelle. Osaltaan kirja myös tuntui hiukan turhalta - ei Neljän tuulen tie mielestäni mitään jatkoa olisi kaivannut, se oli hyvä ihan sellaisenaan. Toisaalta kieli oli kirjassa niin hienoa ja nautittavaa, että sen luki mielellään ihmiskohtaloiden kovuudesta huolimatta. Juonellisesti tarina oli hiukan liian hajanainen. Päähenkilöitä seurataan ajassa hyppien melkein, mutta ei kuitenkaan kokonaan, kronologisessa järjestyksessä ja etenkin alussa tarina vaikutti hiukan sekavalta.

364 s.

Necessity by Jo Walton

The last part of a trilogy. The setting of the book is completely different from the earlier books. It doesn’t happen in ancient Greece, but in a future on a distant planet. When Zeus heard of the experimental city Apollo and Athene had set up based on the principles of Plato’s Republic, he was not too happy about it. He decided to transfer the town (which, by that time, had already split up into several sub-towns, each following its own interpretation of The Republic) in time and space.

When the book starts, several decades have passed. Most of the characters of the earlier books have died, including Apollo, who had been living in the town in corporeal form. After his body died, he regained his godly powers. As a god, he learns that Athene has disappeared and she can’t be found anywhere in time and space.

Life has settled on the new planet, even if it is much colder than Greece, with the temperature hovering around the freezing point of water for half of the year. (That doesn’t sound very bad, by the way; way better climate than I have in my hometown.) But the supposedly smart philosophers still wear chitons or togas. One would imagine that they would have learned to make some warmer clothes in a few decades. The inhabitants of the planet have already made contact with a couple of alien races, with some aliens living in the towns as full citizens. A human ship shows up in the orbit. They came from a human colony and want to trade. How are they going to explain to these new humans how they ended up on the planet? The story about a divine intervention might sound slightly odd. Many people think that they should tell the truth, as it wouldn’t be believed anyway, but the new arrivals might refrain from other questions, being afraid of offending religious sensibilities.

The setup is very interesting. Unfortunately, most of the book consists of more or less philosophical discussions, and fairly little actually happens. The aliens, the new human visitors, and even the disappearance of Athene have a pretty minor role and are underdeveloped in the book. The writing was very good, just like in the earlier parts, and even if the discussions were interesting as such (and the book was good and enjoyable), it was a slight disappointment after the two earlier excellent installments.

336 pp.

Tove Jansson: Muumilaakson Marraskuu (Moominvalley in November)

The last of the Moomin books. One of the few I didn't read as a child. On the other hand, there are no moomins in this book at all. Several inhabitants of the Moominvalley want to meet the moomins and travel to the Moominhouse late at autumn. It turns out, that the house is empty and there is no trace of any of the Moomins. The characters almost start to imitate the life of the moomin family and they move in the house. The writing is excellent and gives powerful feeling of the autumn stillness. A very good book and a proper goodbye for the moomins.



Luettu kirjapiirin syksyyn sopivana kirjana. En ollut tätä muumikirjaa aikaisemmin lukenut, en edes lapsena. Lastenkirjasta tosin ei oikeastaan edes ole kyse. Eikä oikeastaan tarkkaan ottaen edes muumikirjasta – muumeja ei tässä kirjassa tavata.

On syksy. Monet muumilaakson asukkaat päättävät mieli enemmän tai vähemmän haikeana lähteä muumitalolle muumeja, etenkin muumimammaa, tapaamaan. Mutta muumitalo onkin tyhjä. Ovet ovat auki, mutta kukaan ei ole paikalla. Jokainen erikseen tullut pikku olento: Hemuli, joka on yhtäkkiä tuntenut elämänsä jotenkin tyhjäksi, Vilijonkka, joka on menettänyt halunsa siivoamiseen, yksinäinen ja hieman pelokas homssu, ikivanha ja huonomuistinen Ruttuvaari ja kaunis, itsevarma pikku Myyn isosisko, Mymmeli. Kun muumit eivät ole paikalla, vieraat asettuvat asumaan muumitaloon ja jopa ottavat osittain muumien rooleja itselleen.

Ajallisesti kirja ilmeisesti liittyy kirjaan Muumipappa ja meri, jota en muista lukeneeni. Lopussa ilmeisesti muumiperhe on palaamassa tuolta merimatkaltaan – tai sitten ei, asia jää lopulta hiukan auki.

Kirja on hyvin kaunista kieltä, joka välittää syksyn haikean ja jotenkin melankolisen ja jopa hitaan tunnelman hyvin voimakkaana. Kirjan yhtenä henkenä on myös muutos, yhden aikakauden päättyminen. Kirjan loppuun mennessä oikeastaan kaikki kirjan henkilöt olivat jollain lailla muuttuneet ja ehkä hyväksyneet itsensä paremmin.

Muumit eivät kirjan kirjoittamisen aikaan tainneet olla ihan yhtä suosittuja kuin nykyään, mutta onkohan kirjan juonessa mukana jonkinlaista metakirjallista kommentointia muumien kovasta suosiosta? Kaikki kirjan hahmot ihailevat muumiperhettä, haluavat tavata heitä ja jopa alkavat käyttäytyä ja osittain jopa melkein muuttua muumien kaltaisiksi. Onko tämä kirjailijan kannanotto muumifaneihin? Ei ehkä sentään.

Kokonaisuutena kyllä hieno kirja, ja houkuttaa lukemaan muut muumikirjat, muista suurimman osan olen lukenut, mutta vuosikymmeniä sitten ja muistikuvat ovat enemmän tai vähemmän hämäriä.

161 s

Aleksis Kivi: Seitsemän veljestä

This is one of the oldest Finnish novels and by far the oldest that is still being read. Everyone has read this in school. It's a story of seven brothers who live in the countryside. They try to learn to read, escape to a forest to live more or less as hermits, and are later rehabilitated to society. It's written mostly in play format, with oldish but very inventive language. It's still worth reading for the writing and the vivid descriptions of the different personalities of the brothers.

Lukupiirissäni päätettiin lukea Seitsemän veljestä hiukan Suomi 100 teemaan liittyen. Kirja kun on oikeastaan ensimmäinen oikeasti merkittävä suomalainen romaani, ainakin ensimmäinen joka ei ole unohtunut. Tarinahan on kaikille tuttu, todennäköisesti ei ole montaa ihmistä, joka ei tätä ainakin koulussa olisi lukenut – tai tunne ainakin jotain teatteri-, ooppera- tai elokuvaversiota. Tai ainakin Seitsemän koiraveljestä lastenkirjaversion, jos ei muuta. Omasta edellisestä lukukerrasta oli kulunut varmasti ainakin parikymmentä vuotta ja muistikuvat olivat päässeet jossain määrin haalistumaan. Kirjan pituus ja kaksijakoisuus oli vähän yllätys lukiessa. Kun kaikki kohtaukset, jotka kirjasta muistin, olivat tapahtunet (Toukolan poikien kanssa tappelu, lukkarin kanssa lukemaan opettelu, Impivaaraan muutto, talon palaminen jouluna ja kivellä härkiä paossa oleminen), oli kirja vasta puolivälissä. Loppuosan tapahtumista, joissa veljekset ryhdistäytyvät ja alkavat kunnon kansalaisiksi ei ollut mitään muistikuvia. Jonkinlainen muistikuva oli, että tämä olisi kuvattu ”pikakelauksena” sivulla tai kahdella.
Kielellisesti kirja oli hieno, vaikka vanhojen paikoitellen osittain murteellisten sanojen ymmärtäminen ei aina ollut helppoa. Usein sanojen äänen ”makustelu” auttoi asiaa. Uskottavaa kieli ei ollut ollenkaan, ei ole mitenkään mahdollista että lukutaidottomat metsämökin suurelta osin keskenään kasvaneet pojat puhuisivat sellaista kieltä! Aikanaan kirja tyrmättiin arvosteluissa juuri ”ruman” kielen vuoksi – tätä on vaikea ymmärtää, sillä jos jotain, kieli on ihan liian kaunista. Huumoria kirjassa myös oli enemmän kuin muistin, aika nokkelaa ja enemmän kuin vähän ironista sanailua kirjassa oli paljon. Ihan mukava lukukokemus kaiken kaikkiaan kyllä.

405 s.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July-August 2017

A pretty good issue in which most of the stories were enjoyable. However, there were some less-good ones, too.
¨

Not Far Enough • novella by Martin L. Shoemaker
The second expedition to Mars arrives. As there were some problems with the first one, the current mission is controlled in part by artificial intelligence. It turns out to be extremely badly designed and is partially responsible for a catastrophe that almost destroys the party. There are deaths and one member of the expedition loses a leg. (I wonder why—the severed leg is described in detail and it seems to be perfectly fine.) The psychological profiling of the expedition is apparently of the same "high" quality as the AI design and causes some problems. A fairly good "survival" story. Andy Weir did survival on Mars so much better, though. ***
The Fool's Stone • short story by Aubry Kae Andersen
A magician/alchemist finds a stone that can actually transmute metals. Unfortunately it turns gold into lead and not other way around. It also apparently makes people very sick. A caliph who murdered the previous caliph believes the alchemist has valuable secrets and isn’t telling everything he knows. It's a very good story that happens in an eastern setting. The “MacGuffin” of the story is an intriguing substance that is clearly radioactive, but otherwise doesn't really seem to obey the laws of nature. ****-
The First Rule Is, You Don't Eat Your Friends • short story by Robert R. Chase
A monastery raises pigs and the abbot has noticed they are really intelligent. Should they be used as meat? Or should their capabilities be enhanced? A scientist also seek asylum at the monastery. Not bad, but not much backstory and then the story just ends. ***-
Alouette, Gentille Alouette • short story by Andrew Barton
An ancient satellite with historical value is being rescued from orbit. It has parts that don't fit into the docking bay—should they be broken? A very short story—more of a scene than a real story. It was perfectly nice, though. ***
Fat Bubble • short story by Thomas A. Easton [as by Tom Easton]
An overweight couple invests heavily into gut bacteria that make you thinner. A very short, but fairly good, story—and it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. ***
Perspective • short story by Kyle Kirkland
A retired expert of direct brain stimulation is enlisted to examine the president. He has misused brain stimulation in his youth and there is a chance of brain damage. A pretty good story with unlikely, but certainly possible, type of brain injury. ***+
For All Mankind • novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
A joint mission of Americans and Russians is sent to intercept an asteroid that will hit Earth in a few decades. To deflect it, the asteroid must be reached as soon as possible. A joint mission of two women (they weigh less than men and consume less food and oxygen) is sent to the asteroid. Their payload is enough bombs to slightly shift the asteroid's trajectory. And the mission is one-way only—there will be no return or rescue. An excellent and moving story. ****+
Clarity of Signal • short story by Holly Schofield
A woman studies alien animals on an interstellar mission. She is convinced they are intelligent and intends to prove it at all costs. A fairly short story with a main protagonist who somehow manages to be very irritating. ***-
Belly Up • novelette by Maggie Clark
A story I didn’t really get at all. The backstory is pretty scant: there is apparently some sort of racing, space ships, a war going on, and there is some sort of revenge. The plot felt pretty confusing and I found the language hard to read and understand. Didn’t like it at all. **-
Pitch • short story by Bruce McAllister and Patrick Smith
A plot proposal for a movie in the future with some prophetic undertones. Short and OK—probably contained references to something I didn’t get. **½
Phuquiang: A History • short story by Uncle River
A sort of folk tale of a post-apocalyptic future (or a feral colony planet). Cousins discover some sort of hot vents that can be useful and which turn out to be important. A pretty short story, but not bad.***-
Blinking Noon and Midnight • short story by Tim McDaniel
User interfaces tend to be hard to use, especially for elderly people. It always has been so, and it probably will always be so. A pretty fun story about an old man in a future “smart house” with a confusing UI. ***
Teamwork • short story by Eve Warren
The kids who live in a Martian colony have fun in dangerous ways. A very short story, but not a bad one. ***
Often and Silently We Come • short story by Ron Collins
Aliens with truly different physiology examine samples of beings with a more ordinary physiology. As they don’t really understand what they are doing, they first make some grave errors. Not bad, but a bit short. ***+
Galleon • novelette by Brian Trent
A space ship with a very powerful AI takes an active interest in its occupants. It has some very advanced and sometimes unpleasant ways to influence its occupants. It turns out that all other ships like it have been decommissioned. A very good, well-written, and fresh story, where the main character (the AI) is very well drawn with sufficiently “alien” thought patterns. ****-
Across the Steaming Sea • novelette by Rob Chilson
I have loathed the previous installments in this series. The characters have extremely irritating speech patterns that make them seem like brain-damaged half-wits. Did not read. Not rated.

Jennifer Egan: Sydäntorni (The Keep)

A man has had to escape his old life for undefined reasons. He goes to work with his cousin, who has become very rich and has bought a castle in Europe. Their relationship in childhood ended with some very bad blood, but now past is past, and they are renewing their relationship. The events slowly turn almost surrealistic. At first, the book felt at best mediocre, but rarely has the ending of a book changed my conception of the book to such a degree.


Mies, joka on joutunut jonkinlaisiin tarkemmin kuvailemattomiin vaikeuksiin ja joutuu käytännössä pakenemaan, saa työtä rikkaalta serkultaan. Serkku on rikastunut osakevälityksellä ja on nyt nuorena eläkkeelle jäämisen jälkeen ostanut Euroopasta vanhan linnan. Hän on remontoimassa sitä kovan tason retriittihotelliksi. Serkukset olivat olleet lapsena kaverukset, kunnes välit rikkoutuvat osittain ryhmäpaineesta aiheutuneen aika rajun kiusaamisepisodin jälkeen. Mutta mennyt on mennyttä ja serkkujen suhde on lämpiämässä uudelleen. Tosin etäällä oleva linna, jonka alueella ei ole kännykkäverkkoa ja kaikki sähköiset laitteet toimivat heikosti, ei ole välttämättä kovin auvoisa paikka miehelle, joka on addiktoinut kännyköihin ja yhteydenpitoon. Linnan keskellä on vanha sydäntorni, jossa vielä asuu linnan omistajasuvun vanha jäsen, joka ei ole suostunut muuttamaan pois. Linnan aluetta kunnostamassa on melko sekalainen ryhmä ihmisiä, mukana myös kesätyössä olevia opiskelijoita. Pikkuhiljaa tapahtumat muuttuvat kummallisemmiksi ja melkein surrealistisiksi. Tämän kirjan päätarinan välissä on lukuja, jotka kertovat vankilassa olevan vangin kirjoitusharjoituksista ja hänen kehittyvästä suhteestaan vankilassa käyvään luovan kirjoituksen opettajaan.
Kirja vaikutti alussa melko kömpelösti kirjoitetulta sekä hiukan sekavalta ja epäloogiselta ja jotenkin ärsyttävältä. Loppuratkaisu oli kumminkin sen verran yllättävä ja hyvä, että nämä virheet voi antaa anteeksi (ja oikeastaan ne jopa selittyvät). Aika harvoin on alustava mielipide kirjasta muuttunut niin paljon niin nopeasti kuin nyt, kun matto vedettiin jalkojen alta siihen malliin, että sama kappale piti lukea muutamaan kertaan, jotta oikeasti ymmärsi mitä juuri tapahtui. Kirja melkein pitäisi lukea uudelleen, nyt kun tietää, mistä milloinkin on oikeasti kyse. Lopputuloksena kirja oli kuitenkin hyvin mielenkiintoinen lukuelämys.

347 s.

Salla Simukka: Valkea kuin lumi (As White as Snow)

A Finnish YA-book which has gotten some international fame. The main character of the series is spending some vacation time in Prague after the events in the first book. She is approached by a young woman who claims to be her sister. Could that be true? A smoothly going book with some hard to believe plot points, but it was nice light reading anyway for young spirited people of all ages.

Toinen osa kansainvälistä huomiota saaneesta suomalaisesta nuortenkirja-sarjasta. Kovien koettelemuksien jälkeen Lumikki on matkustanut Prahaan lomalle. Siellä hänelle aikaisemmin tuntematon nuori nainen lähestyy häntä ja kertoo olevansa hänen siskonsa. Puhuuko hän totta? Onko Lumikin perheessä salaisuus, josta ei ole puhuttu? Tämä ainakin jotenkin tuntuisi olevan totta, mutta onko Lumikin isä joskus yli kaksikymmentä vuotta sitten käynyt Tsekeissä, ainakaan ennen Lumikin matkaa asiasta ei ollut mitään puhetta. Lumikin siskoksi esittäytynyt nainen näyttää elävän osana kummallista uskonlahkoa. Lumikkia näyttää alkavan vainota joku, joka oikeasti haluaa tappaa hänet. Mitä ihmettä oikein on meneillään?
Sujuvasti kirjoitettu nuortenkirja; tosin joten vaikutti hiukan heikommalta kuin ensimmäinen osa. Kyseessä tietysti osaltaan voi olla trilogioiden toisen osan vaikeus – henkilöt ja tausta on esitelty, mutta loppuratkaisuja ei vielä päästä tekemään. Juonen uskottavuudessa oli jonkin verran epäuskottavuutta, mutta vetävästi kirjoitettu kirja oli, ja siinä jäi ihan mukavasti auki asioita päätösosaan. Eiköhän sekin jossain vaiheessa pidä lukea.


237 pp.

The Dark Forest and Death's End (Remembrance of Earth's Past #2 and #3) by Liu Cixin

I read these two books back to back. I already have some trouble remembering what happened in which book, as they continue almost directly from the same story. Aliens are going to attack Earth. Luckily it is going to take a few centuries, so Earth will have time to prepare. Unfortunately, aliens have been able to prevent all high energy particle physics, so it is likely that humans will run against a technological barrier at some point. But as centuries pass, humans have built a huge space navy and are practically sure they will easily beat the invaders. But the science gap turns out to be vastly greater than almost anyone on Earth anticipated.
A lot happens in these novels – and I mean a LOT. The structure of one book is such that it leaps even centuries at a time, while the main characters spend their time in suspended animation. And then it is carefully explained what has happened; this book mostly tells things, doesn’t actually show them, except the most crucial moments. It is hard to give a very detailed plot description without spoilers, and because of the really vast scope the book covers.
There were some strange details, like smoking in a future restaurant (which had android waiters who looked completely human, but with such bad programming and pattern recognition that they are not able to recognize a removed table). And the behavior of some characters is incredibly stupid: after several failed murder attempts, one character casually orders drugs for very mundane reason, and almost takes them without a second thought.
Also, the strategies used by humans are completely insane. An unknown enemy probe with unknown capabilities arrives. Oh, let's arrange the whole human fleet in close proximity at STRAIGHT LINES very close to each others.
There were many problems with science; for example, interstellar dust is so dense that it slows spaceships which move at relativistic speeds by “drag” significantly? Electromagnetic pulse caused by a nuclear detonation causes such a heavy vibration of the space ship hull that it kills everyone inside?
The motives of many the characters are often very strange and hard to understand, and some actions even the nations took were very strange. There was no mention at all about opposition, which is active in all western countries; all political decisions were apparently unanimous with no one opposing sometimes very strange decisions, like classifying all attempts to build ships to escape the solar system and the coming invasion as “escapism” and extremely criminal – I didn’t get that at all (there was an explanation in book for that, but it was a ridiculously stupid one).
There is a lot of lecturing, explaining pretty basic scientific things, and if something isn't explained, there is a translator's note which explains it.
As a whole, the plot was interesting, but the writing style and behavior of many of the protagonists was pretty infuriating. However so much happened - sometimes pretty surprising (but depressing) things - that the books were an easy reads in spite of hefty page counts.

512 + 604 pp.