Tommi Kinnunen: Ei kertonut katuvansa

The book talks about Finnish women who have escaped to Norway at the end of the Second World War. As the soldiers are sent home, they are left behind. They have no other good idea except to walk through destroyed arctic tundra with little food and only the most basic clothing. An excellent book that is very well told, with clear but creative language. The characters are well described and realistically depict the conditions they go through – altruism isn’t always the most important value when you are struggling for your own life.  

Finlandia ehdokkaanakin ollut kirja kirjailijalta, jonka kaikki teokset olen lukenut. 

Kirja kertoo toisen maailman sodan loppuvaiheista, jolloin suomalaiset naiset, jotka olevat tavalla tai toisella – työsuhteen, rakkauden tai molempien, vuoksi päätyneet vetäytyvien saksalaisten joukkojen mukana Norjaan. Kun saksalaiset evakuoitiin, Norjan joukot aluksi pidättivät miehittäjän kanssa yhteistyötä tehneet ja myöhemmin sitten vain laskivat nämä vapaaksi kävelemään takaisin Suomeen. Muutama nainen lähtee kävelemään Norjasta Rovaniemelle. Ilman varusteita, ilman kunnon vaatteita ja käytännössä ilman ruokaa tämä on raju taival, joka koettelee naisia viimeiseen asti fyysisesti ja henkisesti. Takana ei ole mitään, mutta myöskään edessä ei ole paljoa odotettavissa, kaikki on hävitetty ja aikaisempaan elämään palaaminen tuntuu – ja mitä todennäköisimmin on – täysin mahdottomalta. Matka on raskas, mutta sen lukeminen ei kuitenkaan ole. Kieli on hyvä, vetävää kuten aikaisemmissakin kirjoissa ja hyvällä tapaa helppolukuista. Naiset eivät matkallaan hirveän syvällisesti pohdi, mitä edes on, mutta tähän ei energiaa kyllä riitäkään, kun koko ajan on nälkä ja vilu ja jalkojen rakkoihin tulee rakkoja, mutta kirja ei tästä kärsi, vaan on hyvä kuvaus kovasta taipaleesta hyvin luettavasti kirjoitettuna. Kirjaa Tommi Kinnusen kirjoissa omassa järjestyksessäni toiseksi parhaaksi. 

351 pp. 

A Deadly Education (The Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik

 I loved Naomi Novik’s last two books, which were separate works. This new book starts a series that feels in some ways partly juvenile, but is in some way very adult.

The premise is fairly standard: a wizard school where the young magic users learn to use their powers. But there is a twist: the school is a very dangerous place and surviving is anything but certain. There are no teachers, there is no leaving the school, all friendships are carefully calculated to ensure survival and beneficial alliances after school (if one somehow manages to survive). There is a constant threat of monsters who are hungry for the power of magic users. The outside world is even worse for the growing wizards, but even in the “safe” environment of the school, a significant percentage of the pupils won’t survive. (if the death rate of young wizards is on high double-digit percentage-wise. Large families in the wizarding world appear necessary - if 30% or more of all children die). The protagonist, El is a loner and she hasn’t really been able to make alliances to ensure her survival. She radiates negative energy and the first impression of her is usually fairly bad. She is a mighty dark wizard who apparently is destined to take over the world, but she wants to keep her dark side and powers in check. It is sometimes a bit hard, as many of the spells the school gives (the magical workings of the school give pupils spells to learn, that the school deems suitable for each student) to her are so powerful that they are unusable - if she doesn’t want to kill all the other pupils or cause a plague which will cause the extinction of most of the population of the Earth, so she plays a pretty low key and keeps her powers mostly very secret. And then there is that irritating boy who already has saved El’s life several times. It is very infuriating as she would have been perfectly capable of saving her own life in most cases at least, and being constantly saved gives the impression that she is weak and not worthy of alliances. And he seems to like to be in El’s company - so much so that El thinks people might think they are dating - which of course is absurd - who would want to be in a relationship with her?    

The book is pretty good, but not on par with the two earlier ones. There are places which felt like padding, for example, a history of the spell (with little relation to the plot) was explained in detail. The mechanics of the world was also fairly poorly imagined - considering the vast mortality of the young wizards, why have wizards not died out centuries ago? As a whole, it wasn’t a bad book at all and the character of El was very fascinating and interesting. I wonder if she really ends up conquering the world by the end of the series?

I saw some claims that the book has some racism in it. That feels like a totally unwarranted and stupid claim with some really, really farfetched interpretation of some passages. I understand that the passages will be changed - I think that is needless and even harmful, and it means giving in to someone who makes up stupid and far-fetched claims, and is dangerous in the long run.  

336 pp.

Indrek Hargla: Apteekkari Melchior ja Olevisten kirkon arvoitus

 

Dekkari, joka tapahtuu keskiajan Tallinnassa. Korkea-arvoinen saksalaisen ritarikunnan jäsen löytyy murhattuna - eikä vain yksinkertaisesti tapettuna ja pää irrotettuna ja tappiin lyötynä. Suuhun on tungettu epätavallinen kolikko. Tämä on jo itsessään koko kaupunkia vavisuttava tapaus, mutta kun löytyy toinenkin kuollut niin syyllisen löytämisellä on kiire. Apteekkari Melchior alkaa selvittelemään kuka on syyllinen. Kirja on erittäin hidasliikkeinen, ja alun murhan jälkeen tapahtumien liikkeelle lähteminen on hyvin hidasta ja jaarittelevaa. Loppuratkaisu oli myös niin puhtaasti keskiaikaisiin taikauskoihin pohjautuvat, että se antoi vähän hatusta tempaistun vaikutelman, eikä motiivi ollut nykypäivän ihmisen näkökulmasta vähäisimmässäkään määrin uskottava. Loppuselvittelykohtaus oli suoraan Agatha Christieltä lainattu - kaikki hahmot ovat paikalla, kun etsivä seikkaperäisesti selvittää tutkimuksiensa tulokset. En suuremmin kirjaan ihastunut, eikä mitään kiirettä sarjan muihin osiin tutustumisen kanssa ole.

This is a detective story occurring in Tallinn in the late Middle-Ages. A high ranking German knight has been murdered, and not only murdered but also decapitated. That shakes the little close-knit town and when another victim is found dead, the town elders demand that the guilty (or at least someone who can be blamed) be found and punished quickly.  The town pharmacist takes an interest and eventually finds the offender. This is a very slow-moving book. The first half especially seemed to last forever. And the motive for the killings was pretty unbelievable for the modern man. The rest of the series isn’t going to the top of my reading queue.  

349 pp.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November-December 2020

An ok issue, but Analog would, really, really need a science editor. More and more stupid errors seem to creep in issue by issue.

Together, We Can Be More! • novelette by Juliette Wade

A space station is repurposed for several different alien species so that they can learn co-operation, their languages, habits and to make friends. Told in snippets from different (in most cases alien) viewpoints (the aliens having pretty human psyches and even languages which resemble English in structure [two personals pronouns for genders]). A bit of an overlong story with little cohesive plot. **+

This Hard World of Unwanted Beauty • novelette by Evan Marcroft

A human ship has crashed on a world where most life is apparently silicon-based ends horribly sharp and maims and kills when touched. However, somehow there are intelligent creatures, who help humans, carry them around apparently as pets, give them pieces of their flesh to eat, and parts of their skin as “cloth” (I don’t really understand the biochemistry of that). The humans consider this horribly demeaning and try to get to the emergency transmitter to get help. The aliens feel a bit anthropomorphized and chemistry is bizarre. Human behavior and attitudes feel strange, also. ***½     

A Purpose for Stars • short story by Brad McNaughton

An altruistic doctor is on an alien planet performing procedures for a condition that affects the faces of the local intelligent species. The colors on faces are used as part of local communication, so the condition which prevents that is socially debilitating. One child has a heart condition that poses a huge risk for the procedure and it is most likely the child will die from it. The mother presses for the operation. What should they do?  A pretty good but slightly short story. ***½

Ghost Strike • short story by Brenda Kalt

Down in his luck, asteroid prospector gets an offer he can’t refuse. He is supposed to find an old discarded lump of ore. He doesn’t find that but something more valuable. A problem-solving story with nothing really new. ***

Peaceweaver • short story by Marissa Lingen

An artist joins an alien race to enhance co-operation and friendship between species. How does a composer present his art to a species which has no concept of music? There is something all artists everywhere share. Reading critiques. A short entertaining story. ***

The Polar Bear Sleeps On • short story by M. Bennardo

A polar bear escapes the zoo and has moved into an upper-class apartment. The people there have died. There are food stores but they don’t last long. A well-told postapocalyptic story. I don’t get why the bear was so lethargic, though. ***-

Beloved Toiler • short story by George Zebrowski

Orson Welles’s Magnificant Ambressons is being recreated but the original footage which was thought to be lost is found - or something. The first half of the story is the history of Orson Welles and Citizen Kane and Magnificent Andersson told in more than 100-word-long sentences (no kidding, I counted). A pretty bad story; more of a history lecture and not very well told. **-  

Brought Near to Beast • short story by Gregor Hartmann

Pleistocene ecology with mammoths and dire wolves has been created in North America after ChoRen, a group that took global power and eliminated religion and superstition (and most of the humans). A game warden has lived for a long time with animals and when a veterinarian comes to visit, is gone pretty much “native”. The professionalism of them seems to be pretty bad, as the feed rhododendron leas for the mammoths - it is a poisonous plant, after all. The leader of Choren is coming to visit. A pretty clumsy and bad story with a LOT of forced exposition and explaining. **+ 

Trial and Error • novelette by Grey Rollins

A research group has landed on an alien planet with sentient aliens. The aliens are not at all interested in humans and mostly ignore them. There is a disastrous encounter where both humans and aliens end up dead. The cook of the ship has a plan for a peaceful solution, but some hotheads want revenge at almost any cost. I don’t understand why the members of a research/diplomatic mission would be horribly stupid, bigoted, and violent persons. Wouldn’t there be some sort of vetting process to weed out idiots? Otherwise a very good and well-written story. ****-

Asleep Was the Ship • short story by Eric Del Carlo

A human is working as a “breath” on an alien space ship. He stays awake as the alien pilgrims sleep while the ship passes a region of space which for some reason is harmful to the alien minds. He must watch over the sleeping alien during the transit. A few days into the journey he hears steps… is someone else there? A fairly good story, but 40 days at about half food rations (apparently there is no leeway in the food stores at all) isn’t going to kill or even seriously hurt anyone. ***½

Ashes • short story by Mario Milosevic

Hundreds of years' old woman is at her mother’s funeral, who died by suicide when she was 950 years old. They have evolved to live for a long time by conceiving from the last possible egg. The funerals are bittersweet and festive and the won powders on her own life. Otherwise a nice story, but the premise was horribly stupid. EVOLUTION DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY. The genetic set-up of a child doesn’t depend on which order the children are born. The second story with Lamarckian evolution in Analog in a short while. **-

State of Grace • short story by Clancy Weeks

An interstellar spaceship encounters a disaster mid-transit. The automatic systems can’t handle it and the ship AI wakes one passenger, an engineer who can make the repairs. The downside is that repairs will cause radiation damage which will certainly kill him from cancer in a few years. Actually, it doesn’t work like that - after a single radiation dose (which apparently doesn’t even cause severe radiation sickness) the cancer risk goes well up, but cancer is anything but a sure thing. According to the data I found, a single 1000 mSV dose, which will give you pretty bad but usually survivable radiation sickness, gives you a 1:13 risk of cancer due to radiation, and it takes years or decades. In spite of the bit shaky background, the story was very good with a nice development of the characters. ***½ 

Why Things Work on a Starship • short story by Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer

An engineer in a space ship is very good and is able to improve on the designs on the ship. The captain recognizes that but warns him of two original designs as more or less mediocre other crew wouldn't understand in a dangerous situation, but...  A nice, but short story. ***

Winter's Spring • novelette by A. P. Hawkins

A ship that has run from the Earth, which is under an alien attack has arrived at its destination. The planet they are supposed to colonize is cold - very cold. Much colder than it was supposed to be. Is it even possible to establish a colony so that the crew will be able to WAKE up the sleeping colonists? They try to establish farming, but the ground doesn’t seem to warm as it should. As a surprise discovery they find out that the frozen ground acts as a heat sink. No shit. Who would have thought? The energy needed for heating is running out. Using geothermal energy and drilling through 10 meters of frozen ground would be too demanding so they invent another approach: build gigantic wind turbines on the other side of the planet (where it is constantly windy) and use robot tractors to haul loaded batteries from there - that uses so much fewer resources! The writing is average, but the characters are stupid beyond belief. **

Enter the Fungicene • novelette by J. M. Swenson

A small group of clones are working to restore Earth. Most humans are dead; only a few cloned women have been single-mindedly worked towards their goal for thousands of generations. Vivian 2698 is an engineer (as are all her predecessors). She is known for being sometimes unorthodox and behaving in somewhat novel ways, something the other clones, who work as scientists, really don’t understand. The earth is filled with a wide variety of fungal growth. A breakthrough aiming for the reintroduction of normal plants seems to be very near, possibly in a few weeks. Like it has been for the last thousand years or so. Is there a way to turn the biosphere back to what it used to be? Or should it be done? A pretty good story, perhaps some small tightening might have made even better. ***½

Skirmishes (Diving Universe #4) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

The next part in the Diving Universe series. This part continues pretty much from where the former ended while there are some chapters which are flashbacks to earlier books which are now presented from another point of view. For example, we learn what happened at the Room of Lost Souls. It wasn’t as straightforward an operation as Captain Jonathon “Coop” Cooper - who was flung from the past in a working Dignity Vessel (which paradoxically is by far the most “modern” and powerful warship ever seen by any living person) - was led to believe. The “Boss”, the heroine of the earlier parts is starting to study the “graveyard”, a location in the space filled with shipwrecks, and which is protected by a forcefield. And the Empire who lost its main research base in a raid organized by “Coop” and the “Boss” is not going to stand quietly by when their “cloaking” experiments are destroyed. A very exciting book that was fast and fun to read, and it was very easy to follow in spite of several viewpoint characters and several timelines it tracked. It is a vastly better book than the plot synopsis (which sounds slightly “pulpish”) with well described and believable characters and enjoyable writing. I already purchased the next part.

326 pp.

The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files #1) by Charles Stross

 Laundry is a British intelligence agency that specializes in supernatural threats. There are many of those, all carefully suppressed from the public, as the truth would cause panic. It turns out that Lovecraft and his descriptions of vile creatures preying on humanity were partly correct, but vastly optimistic. But as Laundry IS a British government agency, it takes proper bureaucratic procedures very seriously and paper clip audits are not unheard of. A new member of the organization is sent on a mission to the USA. He encounters a beautiful mathematical researcher, whose research might have supernatural significance. The supernatural world is contacted with a mix of mathematics and computers. Previously spells and such had some components right by accident which made them work in a haphazard way, at least sometimes. So, a good knowledge of both routers and some higher math is essential while trying to stop summoned devils and such, or defuse an occult plan the Nazis started during the second world war. Included in the book is a novella about using Medulla’s look, which turns everyone to stone on camcorders.  A pretty good and fun book with a nice mixture of comedy and horror. The writing was pretty good and the characters were engaging. I would like to read the other parts sometime in the future – in the next ten years or so when there is enough time.   

345 pp. 

Celeste Ng: Tulenarkoja asioita (Little Fires Everywhere)

 

Elena Richardson elää täydellisessä amerikkalaisessa lähiössä, jossa kaikki on kaunista ja talot sopivat toisiinsa, ihmiset ovat onnellisia ja ystävällisiä. Tai ainakin tämä on julkisivu. Elena vuoraa ylimääräisen huoneistonsa yksihuoltaja Mia Warrenille, jolla on teini-ikäinen tytär Pearl. Elena lapset ja Pearl ystävystyvät nopeasti. Mia Warren on valokuvaaja. Nähtyään mielenkiintoisen valokuvan Mian luona pikkulehden rivitoimittajana toimiva Elena alkaa selvitellä Mian taustaa. Taustalta sitten löytyy varsin kiinnostavia asioita. Samaan aikaan Elenan lapsilla ja Pearlilla on monennäköistä teinisäätöä, oka ei hirveän kiinnostavalta pääosin kirjan aiheena vaikuta.

Kirjan alku on varsin hidas, kun henkilöt tutustuvat toisiinsa ja samalla heitä esitellään lukijalle. Siten, kun paljastuu, että tyynen pinnan alla on monella jotain salattavaa tai jopa tiedostamatonta kirja muuttuu kiinnostavammaksi.

Ihan valtavan suurta vaikutusta kirja ei antanut, se tuntui hiukan tavanomaiselta ihmissuhteita käsittelevältä kirjalta. Miehet kirjassa oli kuvattu mielestäni aika huonosti, Elena puolison näkökulmaa asioihin jäin kovasti kaipaamaan, hän oli erittäin vahvasti vain taustalla oleva hahmo. Kielellisesti tarina oli hyvin kerrottu, ilman liikoja hienostelevia koukeroita. Hiukan jäi loppujen lopuksi tyhjä olo: tässäkö tämä nyt oli? Mitään varsinaisen uutta ja radikaalia kirjassa ei ollut, vaan se oli ”pikkusievä” ihan kiva teos. Yhden kummallisuuden huomasin, en tiedä onko kääntäjän vai kirjailijan numeron käsityskyvyssä vai mistä on kiinni: Erään tarjoilijan työskentelevä henkilön kerrottiin ansaitsevan tarjoilijan työstään vain tarjoilijan minimipalkan 2.35 dollaria + juomarahat ja työskentelevän 50 tuntia viikossa, jolloin hänen kuukausitulonsa jäävät 317.50 dollariin. Nuo luvut eivät ole mitenkään järkeviä, ovatko juomarahat negatiivisia, vai?

The book tells about a perfect little town where perfect, and perfectly behaving, and perfectly open-minded people live. When a photographer single mom, Mia, and her teenage daughter move into a small apartment rented by Elena, a woman working in a small paper, things become ruffled. The daughter, Pearl, makes friends with Elena’s children. When Elena starts to study Mia’s past, secrets are revealed.  An OK book which takes its time to get going, and some, felt fairly ordinary and a bit lukewarm. The writing was smooth and easy to read. There was a severe problem with math at one point, either there was a severe translation error or the author doesn’t handle basic calculations.

384 pp

Leena Lehtolainen; Viattomuuden loppu (Maria Kallio #14)

 Maria Kallio-sarjan kirja. 

Pikkupoikien seksuaalisesta hyväksikäytöstä vankilassa ollut nainen murhataan samana päivänä, kun hän vapautui vankilasta. Onko syyllinen joku hänen uhreistaan tai uhrien omainen? Uhreista yksi on tehnyt itsemurhan, toinen asuu Espanjassa ja muilla näyttäisi olevan varsin hyvät alibit. Lähistöllä tunnetun laulajan ex-vaimo, joka oli toiminut pitkään perhepäivähoitajana, tekee itsemurhan. Onko näillä tapauksilla jotain yhteyttä keskenään?

 Kirja oli ihan kohtalainen, sen alkupuoli on hitaahko ja lopussa sitten vauhtia tuli ihan riittävästi. Kirjassa on useampia ihan tolkuttoman epätodennäköisiä sattumia, eikä kahden kuolemantapauksen yhdistämisessä toisiinsa ei ollut vähäisintäkään logiikkaa. Toinen on käyttänyt esimurrosikäisiä poikia hyväkseen, toinen on toiminut vuosia sitten perhepäivähoitajana, tietenkin viisas Maria Kallio heti keksii, että asiat saattavat liittyä toisiinsa. Hah hah. Myös se, että hyväksikäytetty poika ihan sattumalta sattuu netistä löytämään oman kuvansa pornosivustolta ja vielä hyvin nopeasti sen jälkeen, kun sinne oli ladattu, oli sen verran suuri sattuma, että oletin asian liittyvän jotenkin juoneen, mutta ei, tämä oli oikeastikin sattuma, mitäs siitä, että todennäköisyys olisi noin 1:100 miljoonaan. 

Maria Kallio ei jostain syystä ei myöskään näytä olevan perillä suomalaisesta kotietsintäluvista, eli siitä, että sellaista ei pääsääntöisesti tarvita. Ruumiinavauksia koskevissa asioissa ehkä olisi voinut konsultoida jotain asiasta tietävää: ei ruumiinavauksessa pysty näkemään aikaisempia abortteja ja veren hiilidioksidipitoisuuden määritys olisi hieman haasteellista, sillä myrkytyskuolemassa tukehtuminen ja hengityksen lamaantuminen on yleensä se viimekäden kuolinsyy ja hiilidioksidi koholla joka tapauksessa. 

Sinällään kyseessä oli kuitenkin ihan viihdyttävä kirja nopealukuinen, ainakin jos ei liikaa mieti asioita tai edellytä suurta loogisuutta tapahtumilta. 

Part of the series involves police inspector Maria Kallio, a female police who runs a police department specializing in serious crimes. This time, a female sexual abuser of young boys is strangled on the same day she was released from the prison. Was one of her victims responsible? They all seem to have had good alibis. Who even knew she was released? This is a fairly smoothly running book, though the first third was fairly slow. There were some irritating stupidities; for example, Maria Kallio seems to believe that the rules of search warrants in Finland are about the same as in the US.   

464 pp. 

Robin Hobb: Kuninkaan salamurhaaja (The Farseer Trilogy #2)

The second part of the trilogy. After the events at the end of the first part, Fitz, the bastard assassin, is barely alive. It takes a long time to recuperate, and even then everything seems to go in a worse direction. The king is ailing, the prince is second in line to the throne; he seems to be plotting to steal the crown, and the pirate attacks and outbreaks of zombie-like creatures are spreading. And then things go worse. And then even worse.

The book is about as good as the first part. The writing is good, but pretty loose and the story could have been told at least as well in a thinner book. But Fitz was left in such a tight spot at the end, that reading the next book (fairly soon) is pretty compulsory.



Toinen osa Robin Hobbin tunnettua trilogiaa. Äpärä, salamurhaaja, Fitz selvisi edellisestä kirjasta hengissä vain nipin napin. Hänen toipumiseensa kuluu aikaa ja hän palaa linnaan väsyneenä ja katkerana. Linnassa sillä aikaa kuninkaan vointi on heikentynyt ja silloin kun hän suostuu ja jaksaa Fitzin tapaamaan, hän on uupunut ja poissaoleva - ja kruununtavoittelija Vallan kätyrit ovat aina lähellä. Kun zombiemaiset ahjotut lisäävät hyökkäyksiään, kruununprinssi Totuus lähtee epätoivoiselle matkalle etsimään apua. Tänä aikana prinssi Valta lisää valtaansa, väittää linnan talouden olevan perikadossa ja myy ja siirtää pois kaiken liikenevän parhaita jalostusoreja ja huonekaluja myöten. Samalla hyökkäykset lähestyvät linnaa ja näyttää siltä, että varoitukset eivät tule perille niin kuin olisi tarkoitus…

Tarina jatkuu aika samantapaisena kuin aikaisemmassakin kirjassa. Fitzillä ei tässäkään kirjassa mene hyvin ja kirjan lopussa hän on jopa huonommassa kunnossa kuin edellisen kirjan lopussa. Kielellisesti kirja oli hyvin luettavaa, kohtalaisen vetävää, tekstiä, mutta sivumäärässä olisi kyllä ollut varaa hiukan supistaa ja tapahtumissa olisi ollut tiivistämisen varaa ihan reilusti. Eikä Fitz jotenkin ihan kaikkein fiksuimman sankarin vaikutelmaa kyllä anna.

Eiköhän se viimeinenkin osa tätä ensimmäistä trilogiaa pidä pikapuoliin kuitenkin lukea, sen verran ikävä tilanne Fitzille jäi, että on kiinnostavaa nähdä miten hän tästä tulee selviämään.

768 pp.

Jarkko Sipilä: Tappokäsky (Takamäki #2)

Äänikirjana automatkoilla kuunneltu teos. Toinen osa komisario Takamäestä, Helsingin kaupungin murharyhmän johtajasta, kertovasta sarjasta. Tällä kertaa huumejutun jäljillä olevat poliisit kuulevat puhelinkuuntelussa aivan selvän murhakäskyn. Valitettavasti vain ei ole kunnolla tiedossa kuka puhuu kenelle ja kuka on murhakäskyn kohde, kuuntelu kun pohjautuu puhelinnumeroon, jota tiedetään huumekaupassa käytetyn. Siitä, kenen se on, ole mitään tietoa. Ei kestä pitkään kun löytyy ei vain yksi, vaan kaksi ruumista, jotka on tapettu telotustyyliin. Kärsivällisen poliisityön pohjalta vähitellen poliisi saa selville kuka on välitön syyllinen ja kuka antoi tappokaskyn. 

Ehkä jonkin verran sujuvammin etenevä kirja kuin sarjan ensimmäinen osa. Tässä oli ehkä vähän vähemmän kirjailijan omia kommentteja poliisiin ja politiikkaan liittyen. Myös tämä osa oli kovin kliininen ja poliisien yksityiselämää ei juuri sivuttu, vaan pääpaino oli vahvasti tarkassa lähes dokumentaarisessa peruspoliisityön realistiselta vaikuttavassa kuvauksessa.  

The narcotic division of the Helsinki police hears a clear order of murder while listening to a phone line that is known to be used for trading drugs. Unfortunately, the police don’t know who is speaking to whom, and who is the person who is supposed to be murdered. So, there is little police can do, until not one, but two bodies are found. As both are shot execution-style, it seems like the bodies and the recorded conversation are connected. After a lot of police work, which is described almost in a documentary style, the culprits are caught. A nice book. The emphasis is on the description of how the police work rather than the quirky personalities of the officers.    

317 pp

Seppo Jokinen: Piripolkka (Koskinen #7)

Tämä komisario Koskinen oli jäänyt jotenkin väliin - kaikki muut sarjan kirjan viimeisintä lukuun ottamatta olen lukenut. Kirja oli suhteellisen alkupään teoksia, eikä kyllä laadultaan ole myöhemmän tuotannon tasoista. Kirjassa nuorista koostuva huumejengi pahoinpitelee vanhuksen, varastaa tältä auton ja lopulta polttaa tämän auton. Porukka on siinä määrin pöhnässä, että auton sytyttäjä onnistuu polttamaan itsensä pahasti ja teholle. Muu sakki päätyy yöksi putkaan ja kuulustelun jälkeen päästettiin vapaalle jalalle. Koko tapausta ajateltiin aluksi tavanomaiseksi huumeporukan sekoiluksi, mutta sitten yksi porukkaan kuuluneista tytöistä löytyy kuoliaaksi puukotettuna. Tämä ehkä olisi ollut vielä sattuma, mutta kun toinenkin porukasta kuolee, alkaa näyttää siltä, että jotain tavallisuudesta poikkeavaa on menossa. 

Kirja ei ollut sarjansa parhaita. Kieliasullisesti se oli ehkä hieman kankeampaa kerrontaa kuin sarjan loppupää, eikä juonikaan sarjan huippuihin sijoittunut. Huumeporukan toiminta oli äärimmäisen kliseistä ja epäuskottavaa: kannabiksesta tulee satunnaiskäytöstä voimakkaat himot ja vieroitusoireet muutaman käyttökerran jälkeen, ja porttiteoria kannabiksesta injektioaineisiin toimii lähes väistämättömään tapaan muutamissa viikoissa. 

An older Inspector Koskinen book, where the detectives of the Tampere police are trying to find out why two teenagers who were members of a “gang” which was experimenting with drug use were murdered. Not as good as the later books. The book has a very cliched description of drugs where users get very dependent on weed after only a few times. The writing isn’t as fluent, either, as the later parts. 

330 pp. 

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang

 An excellent collection of wonderful stories. 

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • (2007) • Novelette by Ted Chiang

The story happens in Bagdad at the heyday of the Islamic caliphate. A trader encounters a market man who has exquisite items at his booth. He shows a portal he has designed which takes you to another time and tells two stories of who people have used the portal. He warns the merchant that the past is set, there is nothing you can do to change the present. But there is something the merchant really wants to explore at his past. An excellent story is written in poetic, wonderful “Arabian nights” style of language. *****-

Exhalation • (2008) • Short story by Ted Chiang

A species of apparently mechanical creatures live in a cave, where the ceiling is so high it cannot be seen. Everything is powered by pressurized argon, which is produced by vents at the cave. The pressurized gas is stored on aluminum “lungs” which are changed when needed. *****

The Lifecycle of Software Objects • (2010) • Novella by Ted Chiang

A story about AI pets which must be trained carefully (at least as carefully as “normal pets”). At first, they were a popular fad, but when the amount of training needed becomes obvious, most people gave up on them. But a few were so fond of their pets that they kept training them for years. Slowly, the pets got better and better - to at least some degree, but even the software environment on which they run has become so obsolete that it only exists on a private server. Updating the engine modern standards would cost too much for those few who still have “pets.” They get an offer from a company that could pay for the transfer, but that would compromise the principles of those who still spend most of their time with their virtual at least semi-intelligent pets. A well-written story, but then the ending is a lot worse than the beginning, a little sharper and faster ending might have worked better. ****+

Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny • [Thackery T. Lambshead] • (2011) • Short story by Ted Chiang

An eccentric scientist creates a robotic nanny which could be trusted not to steal anything and take care of infants tirelessly. After an initial boom, they soon became unpopular. Later, his son tries to return his father’s reputation and raises his own son using only the device. The results are predictable though. A nice story which is written in the style of a historical article. ****-

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling • (2013) • Novelette by Ted Chiang

People have been using life recording devices for a long time. It has been very hard to access them though. Now, a new program, which enables pretty comprehensive search faculties, is being introduced. A man is testing the software and examines his own memories - do they correspond with reality? A story of how technology shapes self-perception. Which is true - what really did happen or your conception and memory of the event? Interspaced with the modern (or future) story is a tale of how writing changed or almost changed tribal life in Africa. A good story, but at places, especially at the end, feels more like a pamphlet than a "real" story. ****-

The Great Silence • (2015) • Short story by Allora and Calzadilla and Ted Chiang [as by Ted Chiang]

How can we find extraterrestrial intelligences when we can’t find or recognize non-human intelligences at the Earth? A story (or pamphlet) about an intelligent parrot species. A very short story that could be considered to be more of an opinion piece than a story.  ***½

Omphalos • Novelette by Ted Chiang

The story happens in a world where there is irrefutable proof of creation: If you go back enough, you can find ancient trees where there are no growth rings, seashells have smooth contours until they start to show seasonal variation, and the oldest mummies, which can be found, have no navels and their skeletons show no sign of growth zones. All stars there are have been cataloged, no new ones have been found in centuries, even with better telescopes, and they are all alike. The existence of God is something no one doubts, and everyone knows that the world and humans are something God has planned. But then there is new research, which shows that everything everyone has always "known" isn’t exactly what it has been believed, and it might be that there is no such thing as a God's plan after all - at least not for the Earth and humans. The story is told by letters written by a young female archeologist. The writing was extremely good. There were no explanations offered: Apparently, did the world really function that way and it was created by a god? Or was it a computer simulation? *****

Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom • Novella by Ted Chiang

It is possible to buy a ”prismn,” which is a device that splits realities when it is activated. It enables you to change information, and even communicate through videos with your alternate self. As time goes on, the probabilities diverge, and changes cumulate. There is a limit to how much information can pass through before the prismn becomes useless. A con artist uses prismns for nefarious purposes with the help of a woman who has a troubled past. There is a prismn which they want, as it is a possibility for a great profit. The concept of the story is very interesting, and the story takes its time to evolve - it is done very well. The conclusion is moving and very well done. An excellent story, but I don't really see why you would want to discuss with your alternate self - what good would come from that? If you do worse than your ”alternate,” you feel bad, if you do better, you feel bad for your alternate version... So, whatever happens, you don’t feel good. *****-

352 pp.

Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys

A well-known book which I put on my reading list as it was mentioned in a positive way is the book edited by Jo Walton, An Informal History of the Hugos.

The premise of the book is fascinating: there is a strange artifact on the moon, which apparently is more than three-dimensional. It is hard to see and understand and going inside will kill you - at least if you don’t follow the exact protocol which can only be discovered by trial and error. And making an error always means death. Fortunately, a device for instantaneous travel can be used for making copies of people. For some strange and convenient reason, the memories of the dead copies are retained by the new body. Unfortunately, the act of dying makes everyone go crazy and even catatonic. The researchers find a daredevil who apparently has a death wish, and he commonly does stunts which might very well kill him at any time. It turns out that he is able to survive death. (Finding this man, before any real plot starts, takes about half of the book). The premise sounds very interesting, but the actual science fiction story takes about six pages of the book. Everything else is spent while very irritating characters discuss with each other, flirt and compete for attention. And all that in a very, very dated way. For example, according to a female character, one man is very strange as he treats women as humans. And apparently that isn’t all good. The book was a chore to read, so dull that I have rarely seen anything like that and it was really, really dated. One of the worst books I have read in a year or so.

188 pp.

 

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September-October 2020Publication Record # 789770

 A fairly good issue, a bit above average, I believe. 

Mimsy Were the Borogoves • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett]

This is one of the all-time classics. I read this story before — decades ago — and I was surprised by how many details I remembered. Two kids find a crate sent from the distant future. It is filled with learning toys that begin to teach them a new kind of thinking that may evolve the children into something else. Even some 80 years later, it is still a good story. The only downside was a far-too-long lecture by a psychologist.  ****+

 Minerva Girls • novelette by James Van Pelt

Three girls have always been friends. One is very smart in theoretical science, one is brilliant at making stuff, and the third has access to a practically limitless cache of electric parts at her father’s junkyard. At least one of the girls will move after the summer and their friendship might end. What to do? Go to the Moon, of course. Together they manage to invent and build an inertia-less gravity drive. It's a fun story that was well written; it felt very much like a Heinlein juvenile (one of the good ones). The plausibility wasn’t very high, but considering the style of the story, that wasn’t a problem. **** 

City • short story by Joel Richards

A successful businessman lives in a city where anyone might shift to an alternate reality at any time. He has just shifted to an alternate reality where he finds himself even wealthier than before. He contacts former lovers and friends to see whether they know him. It is a nice background for the story, which is quite well told, but it's more a sequence of vignettes than an actual tale with a cohesive plot. ***+

Where There's Life • novelette by John Vester [as by John J. Vester]

Humans are studying Mars while the last Martian creatures are trying to find water from deep below ground. Water has been running out (I wonder where the deep water is going, as it isn’t prone to evaporate like surface water). A comet is going to hit Earth, which would leave the Martian colonists stranded and alone; some even consider returning to Earth (Why? To die there?). One human encounters the Martian creatures and brings them to "normal" pressure and temperature — surely that couldn't harm them! The story is based on huge coincidences and criminally stupid actions. Not very good. **

The Chrysalis Pool • short story by Sean McMullen 

 A young man who enjoys running alone sees a beautiful, naked water nymph in almost any body of water he runs beside. A psychologist tries to analyze what is going on with a portable EEG scanner (and the tech who built the apparatus installed a camera as well). Will the camera capture the nymph? OK story, but the details of the EEG don't make much sense. ***

 A Skyful of Wings • short story by Aimee Ogden

A seed ship is on its way to drop a carefully calculated selection of Earth species when it suffers a malfunction and cannot make the stop — but it can still drop the seedling pods (I'm not sure how it would work with speed differences). The crew has one chance: they must drop some species and travel hibernated in pods. Apparently, every animal species has just one pod (doesn’t make much sense from the redundancy point of view). An OK story, more than a bit hurried. ***-

 Going Small • short story by Jacob C. Cockcroft

Earth is going to be destroyed by a giant meteor. Humanity has built a very tiny ship with a powerful AI with robotic capacity containing human embryos and is going to send it to another solar system. The AI is a bit bored during the travel but the ship arrives safe and sound. The narrative is just a description of events, more or less — which doesn’t even really make sense. Why build just one ship? It is not as though there were not sufficient resources to build more than one — and after the ship design was proved to be viable, such ships could have been built by the hundreds. Also, why not turn down the “clock speed” of the AI for the duration of the travel? ***

 Casualties of the Quake • short story by Wang Yuan

A man travels back in time to before the earthquake that killed his son. Can he alter the events? If so, what are the consequences? It's an OK, bittersweet story. ***

 The Home of the King • short story by Dan Reade

A reporter interviews a famous boxer who has reskinned — that is, transferred his mind to a new, healthy body. The story examines his background, the reporter’s background, and dives deep into what reskinning means for sports in general and boxing in particular. It's a boring story that was written as though boxing were an honorable and admirable pursuit instead of a barbaric thing which should have been outlawed decades ago as something which normalizes violence. **½

 Seeding the Mountain • novelette by Maggie Clark [as by M. L. Clark]

Nanotech has malfunctioned at several places in the world and they are at least partly under quarantine. One place is a mountain in Guatemala. People living nearby are trying to survive even if some strange and dangerous things are happening. I didn’t get into this story; the writing was thick and hard to read, and the characters seemed to discuss things endlessly. It felt far too long. **+

The Writhing Tentacles of History • short story by Jay Werkheiser

 Future descendants of squids dig up strange fossils of a mammal that looks like it walked on two feet, which doesn’t make any sense to them. It's an interesting society with fascinating creatures. Surely there would be massive amounts of physical remains of humanity — glass and ceramics are very resilient. ***

The Boy Who Went to Mars • short story by Mary Soon Lee

The son of a billionaire has lived without any real contact with his father. The father is establishing a Mars colony and asks his son to join it. The son is good in science and engineering, and really wants to join, but he isn’t keen on being with his absentee father. Eventually — at his mother's urging — he relents and goes to Mars. It's a pretty good story, even though it is too short and gives only glimpses of what happens. ***½

The Treasure of the Lugar Morto • short story by Alan Dean Foster

The archeologists are after a fabulous treasure. The find in under the remains of an apparent shopping mall: an untouched seed bank full of seeds which are unmeasurable valuable in a post collapse world. An ok story. ***

I, Bigfoot • novelette by Sarina Dorie

A bigfoot whose name is Bigfoot is interested in humans and goes on a scavenger expedition to the suburbs. He is especially interested in National Geographic magazines featuring Jane Goodall. He helps a young runaway who is almost raped. The leader of his tribe is not happy about the contact with humans. It's a pretty nice warm-hearted story. However, the psychology of the bigfeet is practically exactly human, which felt pretty strange. ***½

Draiken Dies • [Draiken] • novella by Adam-Troy Castro

Continues (and finishes?) an earlier series of stories. A retired spy has been chasing the spy organization that had once used him. Now his female companion has arrived on a planet where the organization has its headquarters. The spy organization captures her, fills her with truth serums and monitoring equipment, and asks where her companion is. She tells them that she killed him. Why? What is her angle? She can’t lie, so she apparently really killed him — but why come to the planet where the risk of capture is extremely high? Like most of the rest of the series, it is a very good story, smoothly written and exciting.  ****-

 

Reijo Mäki: Vares ja kaidan tien kulkijat (Vares #7)

Luin pitkästä aikaa Vares-sarjan kirjan. Ei ehkä olisi kannattanut, sillä tämä osa oli selvästi sarjan heikommasta päästä. Vares matkustaa Pohjanmaalle selvittelemän teinitytön murhaa. Tytöltä oli leikattu sydän rinnasta ja hänet oli haudattu matalaan hautaan kirkonkylän vanhalle, käytöstä poistetulle, hautausmaalle. Kuolintavassa on yhteneväisyyttä paikkakunnan noitalegendaan – onko tämä sattuma? Paikkakunnalta on lähtöisin uskonnollinen liike, joka käytännössä pitää kunnassa valtaa; oluen myynti on kielletty, moraalia vahditaan tarkoin ja poliisitkin ovat herätysliikkeen jäseniä. Vares ei tähän porukkaan ihan sulavasti solahda joukkoon ja päätyy lopulta jopa paikalliseen mielisairaalaan. Tapahtumat sinällään olivat ihan vetäviä, tosin äärimmäisen epäuskottavia monella tasolla (ei perusmielisairaalassa joskus 80-luvulla (?) mitään pikkulapsia hoidettu, eikä iso laitos ollut yhden tohtorin yksityistä temmellysaluetta). Kirja oli myös kielellisesti jotenkin paljon jäykempää kuin myöhemmät osat - Vareksesta itsestään puhumattakaan, hänessä ei oikein tuntunut olevan samanlaista sielua kuin myöhemmissä osissa. Hänen käyttäytymisensä oli monesti todella typerää ja ajattelematonta. Ei tule kiirettä seuraavan osan lukemisen kanssa.

The private detective from Turku is visiting a small, very religious community where a young woman has been murdered and her heart has been removed. After many colorful but hard to believe events, our private Dick (in two meanings of the word) of course solves the case, but only after being committed to a mental hospital almost killed a few times. An early installment in the series, not very well written, and even the main character is strangely soulless and very stupid and a private Dick lead by his dick. 

384 pp. 

Jarkko Sipilä: Kosketuslaukaus (Takamäki #1)

 

Ensimmäinen osa uutta sarjaa. Kesken tavanomaisen liikenneratsian pakettiauton perästä löytyy paketoitu ruumis. Komisario Kari Takamäki alkaa tutkia asiaa, ja kun ruumiin henkilöllisyys paljastuu, osoittautuu, että kyseessä on jotain paljon suurempaa kuin tavanomainen huumeliigojen sisäinen välienselvittely. Kyseessä on eduskunnan pääsihteeri, eli eduskuntatyön kannalta yksi tärkeimmistä henkilöistä. Tutkimukseen panostetaan paljon, Takamäkeen kohdistuu kovia paineita; niskaan hengittävät paitsi oma esimies, niin myös keskusrikospoliisi, supo, johtavat poliitikot ja jopa valtakunnan syyttäjä. Tapauksen taustalta paljastuu hyvin monilonkeroinen juttu, mutta mitkä lonkerot liittyvät murhaan ja mitkä niistä ovat “muuten vain” rikollisia?

 Kirja oli hyvin toisentyyppinen Hautalehto-sarja, joka kesän mittaan tuli kuunneltua loppuun. Hautalehdossa teksti on mehevää, jutustelevaa ja poliisimiesten persoonallisuus ja kotielämä tuodaan vahvasti tarinaan mukaan. Tähän nähden tämä kirja oli tiukan “kliininen”, kotielämää ja persoonaa kirjassa oli mukana hyvin niukasti ja tapahtumien painopiste oli erittäin vahvasti vain selkeässä poliisityön lähes dokumentaarisessa kuvauksessa. Sinällään kritiikkiä eri instituutioita kohtaan kirjasta löytyi runsaasti, toisaalta tosin jopa epäpätevästi. Olisi luullut rikostoimittajan tietävän, että henkirikoksien määrä on ollut vuosikausia tai -kymmeniä laskeva, ei kohoava kuten kirjassa väitetään. Pientä selkeästi kirjailijasta lähtevää piikkiä kohdistui myös eduskuntatyöhön ja sen ”vaativuuteen”, sen silloiseen puhemieheen, valtakunnansyyttäjään ja oikeuslaitoksen toimintaan. 

 

A police procedural style of book which is the first book in its series. Inspector Kari Takamäki works for the homicide department of the Helsinki police. When a pickup truck with a body inside is stopped at a normal police traffic stop, he starts his work. The case turns out to be much more important than it first seemed: the body isn’t the body of a random drug dealer, but the main secretary for the Finnish parliament. Was the killing political? Or was the secretary involved in something illegal? Soon there are many clues and lines of investigation - but which of them are relevant? 

This is a very different book than the Hautalehto series I have been reviewing. This is a very “clinical” book where the emphasis is on the work of the police. The private lives and personalities of the policemen are very much in the background. The basic police work of trying to find clues and interviewing witnesses is very well described. The book also has some undisguised critiques of the political system and certain institutions in Finland.

254 pp.

Robin Hobb: Salamurhaajan oppipoika (The Farseer Trilogy #1, Assassin's Apprentice)

 

I had never before read anything by Robin Hobb. I bought the first two parts of his Fitz and the Fool series and noticed that I should read two three-part series before those. Fitz is a bastard of a prince even though he is supposed to be very proper. When Fitz’s mother brings him to court, everyone is very surprised. He then lives with a stableman until the king drafts him as an apprentice to the royal assassin. He ends up entangled in court intrigue and the magical powers the royal family have.

It is a well-told story with slow-moving parts (important plot points) combined with action scenes (where Fitz usually ends up getting badly hurt). It was such a good book that I have the next in the series already ordered from the library.

Ensimmäinen Robin Hobb:n kirja mitä olen lukenut. Itse asiassa ostin tarjouksista Narri ja Näkijä -sarjan ensimmäisen ja toisen osan ja kun tarkemmin tutustuin asiaan, niin huomasin, että pitää mielellään lukea pari kolmen kirjan sarjaa ennen kuin siirryn niihin ostamiini kirjoihin.

 Kirja kertoo Fitzistä, äpäräpojasta, jonka hänen äitinsä toimittaa linnaan isänsä kasvatettavaksi. Isän maine oli tätä ennen ollut täysin nuhteeton ja hänestä oli määrä tulla seuraava kuningas. Fitz näyttää niin paljon isältään, että sukulaisuus on kaikille täysin ilmiselvää. Isäänsä poika ei oikein näe, mutta hänet otetaan linnaan kasvatiksi ja tallista vastaava mies saa hänet vastuulleen (eikä hän suin päin joudu “onnettomuuden” kohteeksi kuten olisi voinut käydä). Lapsuutensa poika viettää tallilla eläinten ja työmiesten joukossa sekä kaupungissa muiden lasten kanssa seikkaillessa, mutta kun kuningas itse kiinnostuu hänestä, aletaan pojasta kouluttaa salamurhaajaa. Valtakunnan kuninkaallisilla kulkee suvussa taitoja, joilla voi mennä toisen ihmisen ajatuksiin ja vaikuttaa hänen tahtoonsa. Fitzilläkin osoittautuu olevan näitä kykyjä. Hän pystyy myös luomaan voimakkaan yhteyden eläimiin, mutta tämä on kyky, jota ainakin tallimestari pitää äärimmäisen pahana ja salattavana asiana. Kirjaa käsittelee noin pojan elämän ensimmäiset kymmenen vuotta ja hänen olemistaan salaliittojen kohteena ja hiukan osallisenakin. Kuningassuvun äpärä kun saa aikaan kateutta, pelkoa ja epäilyksiä, josko tällä olisi kunnianhimoja kruunua kohtaan tai ainakin josko jokin taho haluaisin hän käyttää hyväkseen?

Kirja on kirjoitettu sujuvasti ja erittäin mukaansatempaavasti, vaikka sivumäärään nähden varsinaisia tapahtumia ei kovin paljoa loppujen lopuksi tapahdu, vaan paljon kirja seuraa Fitzin elämää. Tosin aika monella pienelläkin asialla mitä hänelle tapahtuu, osoittautuu myöhemmin olevan merkitystä kokonaisuuden kannalta. Hänelle myös tapahtuu paljon, yleensä asioita, joista toipumiseen kuluu viikkokausia vuoteessa. Kirja oli siinä määrin hyvän tuntuinen aloitus sarjalle, että seuraavasta osasta tuli juuri ilmoitus kännykkään varatun materiaalin saapumisesta.

446 pp. 

Christian Rönnbacka: Majakka (Antti Hautalehto #7)

Ja sitten viimeinen Hautalehto mitä on (tai oli, uusi taisi tulla ihan näinä päivinä) olemassa. Tällä kertaa Hautalehto itse kirjaimellisesti törmää ruumiiseen. Hän oli ollut pankinjohtajaystävänsä kanssa viettämässä kosteahkoa mökkiviikonloppua, kun vuosikymmeniä sammuneena olleen majakan valo syttyy. Hyvän alkuvauhtiin päässet kaverukset lähtevät veneellä tarkistamaan mistä on kyse ja törmäävät meressä kelluvaan ruumiiseen. Miesten nostettua ruumiin veneeseen saapuu paikalla merivartiosto, joka ei ole asiasta huvittunut ja Antti pääsee viettämään seuraavan yön putkassa. Kun osoittautuu, että mies oli kuollut ennen veneen törmäystä, kuolemansyyn tutkimus on sitten Antin oman poliisiosaston tehtävä. Kuolemassa osoittautuu olevan sen verran epäselvyyksiä, että vastoin alkukäsitystä ei sitä voi suoraan onnettomuudeksi kirjata. 

Kirja oli samaa tasoa kuin suurin osa sarjan kirjoista, tai jopa keskitasoa parempi. Letkeää sanailua, mielenkiintoinen juonia ja jännittäviä tilanteita - mitä muuta hyvältä dekkarilta voisi vaatia?

The latest inspector Hautalehto book. This time he literally hits a body while driving a boat. As he is slightly inebriated (under the legal limit, though) the coast guard who soon arrived wasn’t amused and put him in jail. As it was found out that the man had been dead when the boat hit him, Hautalehto was let out and soon was trying to find the cause of death. What at first seemed like an accident turned out to be a very cleverly planned murder. Another well-written police procedural with witty dialogue and an intriguing plot.

300 pp. 

Haruki Murakami: Sputnik - rakastettuni (Sputnik Sweetheart)

 

A book which tells of a young man who has fallen in love with a young woman, but who loves him just as a friend. The woman herself falls madly in love with a slightly older woman, who in turn doesn’t return the love. She, however, got the younger woman to work for her as a kind of personal secretary. A slightly below average for a book which was written by Murakami, but it was interesting, original, and well written in spite of that. There were some thematic similarities with 1q84.

Nuori mies on kuolettavan rakastunut naiseen, Sumireen, jonka hän tuntee ja joka haaveilee kirjailijan urasta. Valitettavasti Sumire ei koskaan ole saanut yhtään kirjaa valmiiksi, vaikka lyhyitä jaksoja kirjoittaakin loistavalla tyylillä. Hän ei vaikuta myöskään olevan lainkaan kiinnostunut seksistä, ei kenenkään kanssa ja kaikkein vähiten ystävänsä. Yhtäkkiä tämä nainen ihastuu suunnattomasta hieman vanhempaan naiseen, Miuhun, jonka on nähnyt sattumalta. Miu ottaa Sumiren töihin lähinnä henkilökohtaista sihteeriä muistuttavaan työnkuvaan. Kun naiset ovat yhdessä matkalla Kreikassa, Sumire katoaa salaperäisesti. Nuori mies matkustaa paikalla Miun pyynnöstä auttamaan Sumiren etsimisessä.  

Kirja oli lyhyempi ja pienempimuotoisempi kuin muut lukemani Murakamit. Kului aikansa, ennen kuin pääsin kirjaan sisään, ja sitten se olikin loppu. Noin 250 sivun pituudesta huolimatta kirja tuntui jotenkin novellilta, jotenkin sen muoto oli enemmän novellin muoto kuin romaanin muoto. Tarinassa oli mukana Murakamille tyypillistä maagista realismia, mutta ehkä enemmän mausteena ja sivujuonena kuin varsinaisena juonen pääosana. Jotain samankaltaisuutta kirjalla oli 1q84 kirjan kanssa, mukana oli “toinen” maa ja ”sieluttomia” ihmisiä. Kyseessä ei missään nimessä ollut Murakamin parhaita, mutta keskitasoinenkin kirja häneltä on hyvä millä asteikolla vain.

252 pp.

Matti Vuento: Bakteerien planeetta

Aiheessaan hyvin perusteellinen tietokirja bakteereista. Kirja lähtee liikkeelle bakteereiden rakenteesta ja käsittelee sitten lyhyehkösti tärkeimmät tauteja aiheuttavat bakteeriryhmät, jonka jälkeen kirja käsittelee bakteereiden genetiikkaa ja evoluutiota, mm antibioottiresistenssiä ja bakteerien (suurta) merkitystä oikeastaan kaikessa.

Kiinnostava ja pääosin kohtalaisen yleistajuinen kirja, jossa joissain kohdissa tosin geenitasolle menevyys oli jo ehkä hiukan liian yksityiskohtaista, mutta toisaalta monesta asasta olisi halunnut vielä enemmän tietoa, etenkin taudeista ja niiden historiasta. Hyvin luettava ja jopa uutta tietoa tarjoava kirja, joka oli sujuvasti kirjoitettu pätevä tietopaketti.

A well written and fairly comprehensive look at the life of bacteria.

398 pp.

Christian Rönnbacka: Tuonen korppi (Antti Hautalehto #6)

 

I listened to another book in the car. This time crime police, led by inspector Hautalehto, tried to determine why an ordinary vocational school teacher with no enemies or criminal record at all was found dismembered at an old abandoned quarry. Smooth and fast-talking, with witty one-liners, just like the earlier parts.

Ja yksi Hautalehto lisää autossa kuunneltuna. Tällä kertaa sotaleikkiä leikkineet pojat löytävät hylätystä kaivoksesta irtonaisen käden. Lähettyviltä löytyy loppuosa ruumiista ja pian selviää, kuka kuollut on: täysin nuhteeton ammattikoulun opettaja. Miksi ihmeessä joku hänet olisi halunnut tappaa? Ja kun miehen tuttava löytyy kuoliaaksi ammuttuna, niin tapaus näyttää entistä omituisemmalta - kuka olisi halunnut tappaa toisen nuhteettoman taustan omaavan henkilön?

Samaa tasoa kuin edelliset kirjat, ehkä hiukan jopa parempi kuin edellinen osa, jossa alkuun lähdössä kesti aikansa. Itse tosin arvasin murhaajan jo noin puolivälissä kirjaa – se oli aivan ilmeistä, kun huomasi pariin yksityiskohtaan kiinnittää huomiota. Motiivi oli epäselvempi, mutta siitäkin aika pian heräsi vahvat epäilyt ainakin suuntaavasti, muu syy ei oikein olisi asioita voinut selittää. Ihan hauskaa kuunneltavaa kirja silti oli.

 248 pp.

William Shakespeare: Hamlet

The first Shakespeare play I have ever read and a very pleasant surprise. The new translation flows very smoothly and is very easy to understand. The play turned out to be very funny, with witty dialogue, many double entendres, and an ending that seemed to be directly from a splatter comedy movie. A fun and entertaining book to read.

Hamlet oli kirjapiirin kesän klassikkona, tosin yhteensattumien ja ehkä osittain koronatilanteen pahentumisen vuoksi kokoontuminen jäi pitämättä. En ole Shakespearea aikaisemmin lukenut yksittäisiä lyhyitä ja lähes käsittämättömältä tuntuvia lainauksia lukuun ottamatta, joten tietyllä varautuneisuudella lähestyin kirjaa. Uuden Matti Rossin tekemän suomennoksen sai vielä hyvin edullisesti e-kirjana – ei tainnut juuri olla kuluja kirjan tekijänoikeuksista. Kirja oli todella iloinen yllätys, suomennus oli hyvin luettavaa ja selkeää, enkä ikinä olisi uskonut ”draaman” olevan näin hauskaa. Isänsä menettänyt ja kostoa hautova Tanskan prinssi sekä yleisesti ottaen melkoisesti säheltävä joukko muita henkilöitä heittelivät niin paljon hauskoja letkautuksia ja kaksimielisyyksiä, että oli vaikea uskoa mitä oli lukemassa. Loppukin meni oikean splatter-komedia elokuvan tyyliin: kaikki kuolivat, mutta verisesti ja huvittavien mokien tuloksena. Oikeastaan kaikin puolin hämmästyttävän tuore kirja, todennäköisesti osittain erittäin onnistuneen käännöksen ansioista. 

247 pp.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July-August 2020

 

A pretty average issue.

Sticks and Stones • novelette by Tom Jolly

A spaceship has been on an exploratory mission and has found an intelligent bacteria colony from another planet that is on board. They have been forbidden to ever return to Earth, and the crew is bitter about that. There is a promise of a world with an oxygen atmosphere and they go there. They find a bizarre world with a lot of promise, have some adventures, encounter some hostile creatures and possible invaders, and eventually, everything goes well. A very naive story where both plot and writing are straight from the 50s. I am not sure if this should have been taken as a parody - but it was too near to the original style to mock it well enough. There were some problems with logic, also. If you always have a mess with tomatoes when you transit from 1 g to zero-g, shouldn’t you pick up the ripe fruits beforehand? If they are carrying an alien organism considered so dangerous that they can never return to Earth, how can they study other inhabited worlds for the same reason (wouldn’t that go without saying)? ***

Flyboys • novella by Stanley Schmidt

A young boy of a species where males are flyers and females aren’t, passes his initiation to adulthood. There are humans on the planet, also. There has been a battle between the humans and flyers, but after a peace treaty, things seem to have settled down. But there are some flyers who want humans out and they kidnap the youngster and try to persuade him to help them. A fairly nice story with average writing and a fair amount “as you know, Bob” style of exposition. The aliens behave very human-like, up to judicial customs. ***½

The Mad Cabbage • short story by Céline Malgen

A young scientist is studying fermented red cabbage as she notices that its color is off: the solution is far too acidic for what it is supposed to be. Lactic acid bacteria aren’t supposed to survive in such conditions - what is going on? A very simple story with very little actual plot. ***-

Aboard the Mithridates • short story by Sean Vivier

A spaceship is traveling to a planet with high sulfur content in the air. The air in the ship is slowly being adjusted to that content so that the passengers evolve to it. There is some gene therapy but strangely it is used after the air change to help current passengers (with autosomal changes?). One boy struggles with adjusting. I wonder why he isn’t on the list for gene therapy? The author seems to have an extremely strange Lamarckian view of evolution, and a bad understanding of gene therapy. Does Analog really have no editor who has any grasp of science at all?  A pretty bad story. **-

On the Changing Roles of Dockworkers • short story by Marie Vibbert

A dock worker tries to find out why a robot doesn’t work like it supposed to. It has become self-aware. But could it be talked around to continue working? A short simple OK story. **½

Mars, the Dumping Ground of the Solar System • short story by Andrew Kozma

Mars is a slum where the most inept people, criminals, and unneeded scum live. All planets (including Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury) have been terraformed and the genetically modified workers of that process live in apparent slum-like conditions on Mars. A girl has gone missing and almost no one cares. The story apparently tries to achieve some sort of a racial point, but manages to be clumsy and extremely stupid, and the “science” part of the story, which is implied, would have been ridiculous even in a story written at end of the 40s. Terraforming Jupiter and Venus is easier than using Mars for a living? Transporting the works to Mars, when the planet they have designed it for would at least have the right gravity? **

Retention • short story by Alec Nevala-Lee

Someone is trying to cancel his cable service/security system and is talking to a very insistent bot, which won’t allow cancellation. It talks and talks and eventually it turns out both are bots that have been left behind by disappeared humans. ***½

Keeping the Peace • short story by Elisabeth R. Adams

Lizard like aliens want to conquer habited worlds. They have sent ships to nearby solar systems with little success, but then the ship from Earth arrived offering information of a ripe catch to be won. But the lizard who is responsible for the solar conquest is having second thoughts. Not bad, takes a while to get into as there was little backstory, but this time that approach worked pretty well. ***½

Ennui • short story by Filip Wiltgren

The AI of a generation spaceship is worried, as its immortal passengers start to give up on life without any reason it can understand or correct. There are also similar problems at the other human settlements. The AI tries to find a solution, but eventually an alternative solution by the AI is needed. A pretty good and even moving story. ****

The Offending Eye • novelette by Robert R. Chase

Continues an earlier story. There are three factions of humans: Stability (authoritarian and conservative faction), Eternals (aiming to prolong human life span at almost any cost), and TransHumans (who aim for uploading human consciousness to computers). A political officer (who keeps watch on too much free thinking and anything which might hint on a machine AI), has returned from an exploration trip where there was a find which might be a threat to all factions of humans. Also, the computer on that ship has apparently achieved self-awareness, and that demands careful study and eventually even visiting the enemy camp, Eternals. Clearly a better story than the first part. There was still a bit too much obvious exposition at places, but there were fewer problems with logic. Even the writing felt better than before. ****-

Piiraan maku makea (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)

In the first part of the series of detective novels, the detective is a precocious 11-year-old girl. She lives in a slightly derelict mansion with her older, very irritating and stupid (some unreliable narrative there?) father who apparently never got over the death of his wife. When Flavia finds a dead man in the vegetable garden she is thrilled: a real murder mystery to be solved!

A child as a detective isn’t the most realistic premise, but the “voice” of Flavia was delightfully precocious and self-confident. An entertaining, light book that was fast to read. I might pick up the next part, but as I have countless books in my queue it might take some time.



Ensimmäinen osa sarjaa 11-vuotiaan salapoliisin seikkailuista. Flavia de Luce asuu leski-isänsä (joka ilmeisesti ei ole päässyt missään vaiheessa yli puolisonsa kuolemasta) ja kahden isosiskonsa kanssa. Isä on niin vetäytyvä ja siskot niin ärsyttäviä, että Flavia elelee ilmeisen itsenäisesti talon palvelijoiden lievällä tuella harrastaen kemiaa vakavissaan ja jopa suunnitellen myrkkyseoksia siskojensa ärsyttämiseksi. Eräänä päivänä ovensuusta löytyy kuollut lintu vanha postimerkki suussaan. Ja vain vähän myöhemmin kasvimaalta löytyy kuollut mies. Tässä on jotain, mitä Flavia on ikänsä odottanut: oikea murhamysteeri ratkaistavaksi.

Mielenkiintoisella kertojaminällä kuvattu dekkari. Sinällään Flavian kertojaääni ei vaikuta hetkeäkään 11-vuotiaalta, mutta mitäs siitä, viihdekirjahan tässä on kyseessä ja ihan hyvä sellainen. Kieli oli vetävää, hyvää ja samalla helppo- ja nopealukuista. Juoni ei ehkä uskottavampia harvinaisine postimerkkeineen, taikatemppuineen ja ryöstöinen ollut, mutta sentään uskottavampi kuin Flavia itse. Sarjassa on monta osaa lisää, ei ole ollenkaan mahdotonta, että palaisin vielä niiden pariin, siinä määrin viihdyttävä kirja kumminkin oli.

388 pp.

Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski

The only book I had time to even start from the “best related work” category. The book is an autobiography by J. Michael Straczynski, the genius behind Babylon 5, one of my favorite TV-series ever.  As I haven’t been reading comics, I wasn’t aware of the career he has had on that front, and most of the other parts of his post-Babylon career were pretty unfamiliar to me, too. A major part of the book is taken up by his childhood - and what a childhood he had! Whenever you thought things couldn’t get worse, they always did. But that is what one gets with a narcissistic, alcoholic, and abusive father, a true nazi, who kept a real uniform as a memento of the happy days of killing Jewish people during the Second World War on the eastern front. The mother tried committing suicide several times and was committed for long periods. That didn’t make for a very enjoyable reading; it was pretty interesting though, and it also explained why Michael escaped to imaginary worlds as a child first and an adolescent later. An interesting book, but the proportion between the author's early life and, later, his “famous” life could have benefited from leaning slightly more towards the latter part.

 

 480 pp.

Kaikki mikä kiiltää (Antti Hautalehto #5) by Christian Rönnbacka

Lisää Hautalehdon ja hänen tutkimusryhmänsä seikkailuja. Tällä kertaa Hautalehto kiinnittää huomionsa siihen, että hänen tuttunsa keskusrikospoliisista vaikuttaa postaavan jotakuta aivan Hautalehdon kotikentillä ilman, että hänelle olisi tästä mitään tiedotettu. Ilmenee, että kyseessä ovat pari entistä koulukodin kasvattia, joilla näyttää olevan kummallisen paljon rahaa käytettävissään. Ja pian ei vain poliisi, vaan myös konnat, jahtaavat samoja nuoria.

Ehkä aavistuksen heikompi kirja kuin edelliset sarjan osat. Osasyynä lienee se, että kesti aika pitkään ennen kuin Hautalehto ja hänen poliisiryhmänsä pääsivät kirjassa varsinaisesti esille ja turhan pitkään seurattiin nuoria, joihin ei kovin suurta emotionaalista kytköstä vielä siinä vaiheessa ollut. Loppua kohden kirja parantui selvästi ja oli loppupuolellaan ihan samaa korkeaa tasoa kuin muutkin sarjansa kirjat letkeällä humoristisella kielellä maustettuna.

Another police procedural abut inspector Hautalehto and his group. This time they try to find a group of youngsters who have angered some really, really bad people after their smuggling kick went wrong. Nice and entertaining writing, but not without some gore, like the earlier parts of the series.

287 pp.

Middlegame (Middlegame #1) by Seanan McGuire

The last of the Hugo nominees this time. The evil alchemists have created human constructs that could control all forces of nature. The latest attempt has been divided into two parts: to twins being raised as ”cuckoos” in normal families. The twins have been able to communicate telepathically since childhood, but on more than one occasion the alchemists have put a stop to it, believing that premature contact would ruin the experiment. After they establish contact again, after a long pause, they start to grow stronger—and because the alchemists still think of them as something of a test run for the pair that will actually be used for nefarious purposes, they now face termination.


The book was written in nice, easy-to-read, but fairly meandering language. There were many descriptions of mundane details having little to do with the plot; sometimes it felt like even the description of a person waking up in the morning and dressing themselves took several pages. As a whole, it wasn’t a bad book at all, but exceptional children on the run from an ancient and powerful organization is an old trope. In fact, there was another nominee this year with a strikingly similar plot—The Ten Thousand Doors of January—and that book did it better. I will reiterate: this wasn’t a bad book at all, and the last half was particularly enjoyable, but it will not be in the running for my top choices given this year's stiff competition.

492 pp.

My Hugo award votes 2020 part 4: Novels

All nominees were pretty good this year and there are many past winners who were (much) worse than any of the nominees. Another nice detail was that there were no second or third parts this time; all novels were stand-alone works, or the first parts of their series, so they were also more eligible than many earlier nominees for that reason. The exact order of the novels was difficult to decide, however, as said, there wasn’t anything really bad. A few of the works were a bit heavy-handed with slightly ponderous writing which, in places, wasn’t easy to go through. I decided to put in the first place the book which was the most entertaining and which was, by far, the most exciting to read. The writing in it perhaps wasn’t so ”artistic” as some of the other nominees, but very competent anyway. The book was supposed to be a stand-alone one, but I can easily see there might be other stories worth telling in that world. The second place goes to the imaginative use of an old trope of a soldier going through the basic training and fighting battles against a strange enemy. The third, fourth, and fifth places were very difficult to decide, I changed their order a few times, but the following was my final voting list. The City in the Middle of the Night was left in the last place, but by no means is it a bad book.


1. The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
2. The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
3. Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
4. A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
5. Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
6. The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)

Kylmä syli (Antti Hautalehto #4) by Christian Rönnbacka

Kesällä on usein paljon autossa istumista ja samalla tapanamme on kuunnella äänikirjoja. Nyt jatkoimme samaa sarjaa kuin edellinen kuuntelemamme kirja.

Pikkujoulusta palaamassa ollut nuori mies katoaa. Matkareitillä on joki ja oletus on, että hän on pudonnut matkalla veteen. Jokin jää hiukan kiusaamaan komisario Antti Hautalehtoa, mutta valvontakameroiden ja joen pohjan tutkimisen lisäksi aika vähän on tehtävissä. Mutta sitten vedestä löytyy henkihieverissä poliisiharjoittelijana toiminut yhden Antin tutkimusryhmän jäsenen poika, joka ei edes ollut paria olutta tukevammassa humalassa ja joka oli suorittanut armeijan taistelusukeltajana, joten ihan helpolla ei hänen olisi pitänyt veden alle vahingossa joutua. Paikalla oli lisäksi nähty vettä valunut hupparipäinen hämärähkö tyyppi. Onko liikkeellä häikäilemätön murhaaja? Ja kun aletaan käymään läpi vastaavia kuolemantapauksia näyttää siltä, että kyseessä on sarjamurhaaja. Tästä alkaa tutkimus, jossa on paljon pelissä, myös Antin itsensä henkilökohtainen turvallisuus.

Kirja oli samaa tasoa kuin aikaisemmat sarjan kirjat: mielikuvituksellista ja vauhdikasta tarinankerrontaa mukavalla huumorilla ja yllättävillä juonenkäänteillä (kuitenkin pääosin loogisilla) maustettuna. Aika vetreässä kunnossa ollut sairaseläkeläinen syyllinen tosin oli, ei olisi varmaan todellisuudessa eläkehakemus mennyt läpi. Kielellisesti ainakin kuunneltuna kirja oli hyvin sujuvaa tekstiä, joka ei ”tökkinyt” missään vaiheessa.


Another Antti Hautalehto book which I listened to during commutes to the summer cottage and back. The police are now trying to find a serial murderer who drowns young inebriated men returning from restaurants at night. There might be many victims, as deaths like that are most likely considered to be accidents. Exciting and easy listening with many surprising turns. Dialogue was very ”manly”, but funny at the same time. Looking forward to the next book.


317 pp