Karl's Reading List

Published by Walker Books Ltd: Vauxhall Walk, London, 2008. Book 1 in the 'Chaos Walking' series. Followed by 'The Ask and the Answer.' I knew of this book. I knew it had also been made into a not-very-well-received movie. I knew that it was set on a planet where all of the men uncontrollably broadcast their thoughts and the women had disappeared. I knew it was a Young Adult novel and part of a well-loved trilogy. I didn't know it would be so gory and heavy. There is a lot of death in The Knife of Letting Go, including much loved supporting characters, and even (keeping it a little vague to avoid spoiling too much) some characters that most books would avoid killing in order to keep the audience from disliking the narrative too much. The main character even has an arc where he is unable to kill people, and as a result, things keep getting worse. Considering this to be a weakness, he eventually pushes himself to kill - a horrific moment in the book that I felt sure w...

Published by Lawrence & Gibson Publishing Collective: Aoetearoa/New Zealand, 2023. Taking a break from looking at potential Level 2 texts, this is a potential Level 1 text instead! At the heart of Turncoat is an extended metaphor, an allegory, in which Māori culture and worldview is represented by the book's portrayal of humanity as a whole, and non-Māori culture - aka, the European-centric worldview - is represented by literal aliens, who invaded in past centuries and have now interbred with humanity to the point that most humans look just like them. Our main character, Daniel, is one such human, who understands and operates in Alien culture (called the Hierarch) all the time, but still seeks to influence the Hierarch to honour the original covenants they signed with humanity all those years ago. The metaphor isn't subtle, and at times it purposefully (often humorously) becomes incredibly obvious, particularly for readers from New Zealand. So, in place of Captain Cook bein...

Published by Gollancz/Hachette UK: London, 2019 (2018). Book 2 of the 'Skyward' series. Preceded by ' Skyward. ' Followed by 'Cytonic.' Two years ago I read the first book in this series, and quite enjoyed it. Our main protagonist, Spensa, followed her dream of becoming a pilot on a planet that was constantly fighting off alien invaders. She found a hidden ship, M-Bot, with an advanced AI system (that often uses what I now recognise as Sanderson's trademark quipping style), and helped save the day, while unlocking her special 'powers' - very on point for Sanderson, but not at all a negative. This book, like so many of Sanderson's sequels, ups the stakes considerably from what has come before. Suddenly, Spensa is thrust into a far greater universe than she had previously known, having to impersonate an alien species and infiltrate Starsight, an advanced space-station that is home to the aliens who have been attacking Spensa's planet, but who m...

Published by Victor Gollancz Ltd: London, 1974 (1963). First published 1949. I first read this story as a kid, and have fond memories of it. It is also very weird, something that Elise pointed out as well. This is the only book I have read (so far) of Robert A Heinlein, and yet I know by reputation that he was a prominent science-fiction writer in his day. This book, first written in 1949, is certainly of its day. We get a Mars with canals, native plant and animal life, and a sentient Martian species with ruined cities on the surface and still-thriving (if less populated) sections underground.  Our main character, Jim Marlowe Jr, is a teenager living in South Colony. He has befriended a local 'bouncer', a basketball-sized Martian creature that can perfectly mimic what it hears, parrot-like, and also has some level of intelligence. 'Willis', as Jim calls the creature, is a hugely important part of the plot, helping Jim and his friend Frank get out of numerous scrapes, as...

Published as an audiobook by Audible Studios, released 04-05-2021. Audiobook narrated by Ray Porter. Originally published 2021. This book surprised me, despite being very much what I expected. I know that author Andy Weir wrote The Martian (aka, the book that the 'Matt Damon growing potatoes on Mars' movie was based on) and expected that, like that book, this one was going to be a science-heavy piece of science-fiction. Tick. The plot of Project Hail Mary unfolds gradually, with protagonist Dr Ryland Grace awakening from a medically induced coma in a mysterious location, being tended to by a mysterious medical robot. To begin with, he is suffering from amnesia (Grace tells us that long-term comas are not good for people, and that it must have scrambled his brain), but as he slowly regains his memories he realises he is on a mission to save all of humanity. A "space bacteria" - given the name 'Astrophage' by Grace - is slowly consuming the light from the sun, a...

Published by Puffin Audiobooks. Date unknown.  Narrated by James Bolam. Preceded by 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' Wow. The contrast between this book and the previous book in the duology is incredible. Both focus on Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka, but whereas the earlier book has the tight narrative structure of the competition and the factory tour to keep it bound, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator has no such limitations, and gives Dahl the free reign to go into out-of-this-world (literally, of a good chunk of the book) weirdness. Picking up right where Chocolate Factory left off, Glass Elevator follows Charlie, Willy Wonka, Grandpa Joe, Charlie's parents and (in the greatest increase of relevance to the plot) his other three grandparents, who remain bed-ridden for almost the entire book. Of the protagonists of the first book, Grandpa Joe's role suffers the most, with the elderly man reduced to a supporting role, and being left out of one side-quest altoget...

Published by Gollancz/Hachette UK: London, UK, 2018. Book 1 of the 'Skyward' series. Followed by ' Starsight. ' This is the first Sci-Fi (as opposed to Fantasy) book by Brandon Sanderson that I have read, and it is a good read. It is also much more in the YA vein of literature, with a quick-fire pace and easy chapters to get through (not that Sanderson is usually tricky to get through - I just am used to his 'denser' fantasy series'). Spensa 'Spin' Nightshade is the daughter of a disgraced former pilot who was shot down and killed for cowardice during the Battle of Alta. Spensa, who doesn't believe that her father was a coward, seeks to become a pilot in order to regain her family honour - as well as to satisfy her warrior-urges and desire to seek revenge against the Krell (alien invaders). She is pressured not to join by Admiral Ironsides (the primary antagonist of this book), who believes that Spensa will follow in her father's footsteps, b...

Published by Bantam Books: New York, 1996 (1995). This is the first ever 'Expanded Universe' Star Wars novel I've ever read, and is part of what is now considered the 'Legends' universe (aka, all of this was considered Star Wars canon until Disney took over Lucasfilm and decided to reboot everything). This makes Children of the Jedi an interesting read. It is apparent while reading that many of the characters referenced have turned up in other novels previously (novels I have not read). It is apparent that characters we know from the movies, such as Luke, Leia and Han, have also had numerous other adventures that likely feature in other novels I have not read. And yet I also know that according to current 'canon' none of these stories actually happened (I know, I know, all of this is fiction and none of this happened, but its still confusing...). So... its like reading some sort of complicated fan-fiction. It's also a very weird novel. Luke gets trapped ...

Published by Huia Publishers: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2018. This is a new book in the English department, another by an up-and-coming new Maori author, and whoo boy it ramps up quickly! At the end of the first chapter a bus full of highschool students crashes in the New Zealand bush. Most die. A few chapters later one student needs his leg operated on by another student. A few chapters later another student turns murderous. Somewhere in the midst of all this the survivors begin getting nose-bleeds and seeing visions. Eventually a spaceship and a sinister corporation are introduced. It's so much and it all just keeps escalating! The book is a page-turner, helped by the amount of plot and the very short chapters (the shortest chapter is made up of a single line of text), and I can imagine students really enjoying it for its realistic New Zealand teens (well, before they turn murderous), its fast pace, and even its occasional romantic subplots (which do at times get a bit mo...

Published in an omnibus audiobook edition 'First Command Box Set: Spacers, Books 1-6' by Audible, 03-08-2022. Contains: ' First Command '; 'Free Space'; 'Wartorn Cluster'; 'Empire Space'; 'The Fall'; 'Thatcher's Gambit'. Narrated by Mark Boyett. First published 2019. I had an Audible credit sitting there and had no idea what to get. In the end, I decided to go for quantity, purchasing this 'box set' of six audiobooks for the price of one. I had fairly low expectations for the series, and as long as you do that I can tell you that this first book at least meets those expectations. Our protagonist, Tad Thatcher, has just been given command of his first spaceship, the New Jersey, and is sent to the far side of the galaxy through a wormhole to fight pirates for a private security firm. After some time there, the wormhole collapses, and now Thatcher is stranded far from home and his pregnant wife. Thatcher is the sort of pr...

Published by Orbit Books: London, England, 2017. A strange science-fiction book, in that it is a simple storyline, but with a strange amount of complex world-building for a 'stand alone' novel. Apparently this is because Provenance is set in the same universe as author Ann Leckie's previous trilogy, but as a reader fresh to Leckie's world, I found it a little confusing. Not only are there numerous political factions and treaties being signed between groups that the reader never actually encounters in the book, but Leckie also includes a third gender into her world without explaining fully how the whole thing works. This is particularly disorienting when the third gender is referred to as 'e' (as opposed to 'he' or 'she') or 'eir' (as opposed to 'their') with no warning - I honestly thought the book was just poorly edited for quite some time.  As for the storyline itself, we follow Ingray Aughskold, the adopted daughter of Netano A...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2009 (2008). Book Seven of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; ' The Ashes of Worlds '. Aaaand, this is it! The final book in the Saga of the Seven Suns! Wow...  The majority of this book is devoted to paying off the various character arcs that remain and finishing off the various villains that still live. By the end we have happy endings for pretty much every surviving protagonist, and the galaxy is safe from every single threat that still remained at the beginning of the book. Some of the plot threads wrap up in ways that are a bit unexpected, but overall this is a book that is simply powering towards its ending. Characters do some odd things in order to be where the author needs them to be, either to further the plot or to be killed off (...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2008 (2007). Book Six of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; 'The Ashes of Worlds'. In some ways I think The Saga of the Seven Suns might have been better wrapping up in the last entry. Of Fire and Night finished the hydrogue war and had King Peter and Queen Estarra finally escape from under Basil Wenceslas' control to the forest planet of Theroc. But the big twist at the end of the last book was the return of the insect-like Klikiss - the ancient race believed to be extinct - and now they have a massive presence in this book. So, where things were just wrapping up, now we have a new villain to face. At the same time, the insane brother of Jora'h, Rusa'h (who had flown directly into a star in Scattered Suns ) has also returned,...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2007 (2006). Book Five of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; ' The Ashes of Worlds '. After the last two installments in this series seemed a little unfocussed, Of Fire and Night course-corrects by bringing pay-off to a number of long-running subplots. Where Horizon Storms and Scattered Suns both technically contained the start of the Klikiss robot uprising, Of Fire and Night brings that war out into the open. Not only does the Hansa league become aware of the robotic treachery, but they begin having to figure out how to do battle against them. The hydrogue war also reaches its peak; with the Ildirian empire forced into a difficult corner, being asked to join the hydrogues or face annihilation themselves, Jora'h sides with the hydrogues...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2007 (2005). Book Four of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; 'The Ashes of Worlds'. By now I'm guessing you know there are spoilers for earlier in the series. About halfway through this book I took a break from the story and had a look at a section in the back called 'meet the author'. Within it Kevin J Anderson admits that originally this book and book 3, the previous installment , were intended to be one entry in the series. However, as he was writing the draft the story grew enough that he ended up splitting it in two, which also allowed him to explore a few extra plotlines he would have otherwise trimmed. This extra information helped me to make sense of the pacing of this book, as well as Horizon Storms before it. Basically...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group, Inc.: New York, NY, 2007 (2004). Book Three of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; ' The Ashes of Worlds '. Spoilers for the first two books. Horizon Storms continues the story set up in the previous installments, with this one feeling perhaps a little more action-packed, now that the set-up has finished for many of the subplots. Particularly, the Klikiss robot subplot finally kicks into gear, with the robots beginning to turn against both the human and Ildiran races. Jora'h gets a lot of focus in this installment as he steps into the role of Mage-Imperator, realising how much of his father's scheming he needs to continue (reluctantly) while also seeking to change many of the long-standing Ildiran traditions, almost as a reaction against his father'...

Published by William Heinemann Ltd: London, 1977. First published 1945. Translated from the French by Katherine Woods. A cute, quirky, whimsical, oddly melancholic little book. The nameless narrator talks about his early forays into art, then, after his plane breaks down, forcing him to land in the Sahara, he meets the titular Little Prince. The Prince has arrived at Earth from his home on Asteroid B-612, a tiny world with three tiny volcanoes (one extinct) and a vain flower. He befriends the narrator and asks him to draw a sheep. After a few attempts which are criticized by the Prince, the narrator pleases the visitor by drawing a box and tells him the sheep is inside it. The Prince plans to take the sheep home with him, but is struggling to figure out how. This is not a long book, but it does have moments that seem somehow profound, and is very abstract in its ideas. The ending also builds on the feeling of melancholy that has been felt throughout, with the Prince 'finding a way ...

Audiobook published by Audible, 2015.  Narrated by Victor Bevine. Book 1 in 'The Earthborn Trilogy'. Lucas is one of the last survivors of a dying Earth, destroyed in battle with aliens who were after the resources of Earth, particularly water. He comes across an alien spaceship and a sympathetic alien, and then - along with the ferocious female human Asha - they seek to escape the planet. The premise is a little cliché but fine. The novel as a whole is fairly B-grade pulpy - lots of limbs getting blown off, heads splattered etc. This gives the book a slightly unpleasant feel, as does the fact that many remaining humans (our protagonists not included) have resorted to cannibalism, something that always sickens me in any medium I encounter it.  There are a few moments where the plot goes in a different direction than anticipated, and there were enough interesting moments that I kept listening, but honestly, there are much better books than this to get into the genre with. Victo...

Published as "the Author's Preferred Version" by Doubleday: United States, 1992. First published 1982. Audiobook narrated by Unknown, uploaded to YouTube by Bardic Knowledge in 3 parts on 17-02-2021. This was a very well-written book, and also well narrated, but I am going to try not to listen to an audiobook as long as this again as it takes much longer than actually reading it! Also, although YouTube can have a book uploaded for free, I'm not sure of the legality of it all - particularly when I can't find out who actually put in all the work to record it. The book starts off following Pug, the stereotypical young orphan/kitchen boy living in a castle (Crydee), hoping for glory, and coming across a mysterious mentor in the form of the wizard Kulgan. He is trained to become a wizard/magician, while his childhood friend Tomas dreams of becoming a soldier. So far so normal. In fact, a lot of the early plot of Magician is fairly predictable and cliché, right down to ...

Published by Orbit Books/Hachette Book Group: New York, NY, 2007 (2003). Book Two of 'The Saga of Seven Suns' series: ' Hidden Empire '; ' A Forest of Stars '; ' Horizon Storms '; ' Scattered Suns '; ' Of Fire and Night '; ' Metal Swarm '; ' The Ashes of Worlds '. Spoilers for parts of Hidden Empire will follow. The second installment of The Saga of Seven Suns picks up five years after Hidden Empire ended. Both the human race and the Ildirans are under attack from the deadly and mysterious hydrogues, aliens that living in the centre of gas giant planets. The antagonists are able to survive at immense pressures un-survivable to their enemies, and their superior technology is making the ongoing conflict less of a war and more of an extermination. Humanity, broken into three distinct factions, are doing their best to survive the conflict however they can, but the main empire - the Hansatic league, led by Chairman Basil Wence...