Luna: New Moon
This book was provided by the publisher at no cost.
Um. Wow.
Over on Goodreads, Jonathan Strahan describes it “basically The Moon is a Very, Very Harsh Mistress” which… yes. (Also makes me curious to back it up with the Heinlein….)
The short version: this is magnificent, occasionally vicious lunar science fiction, with a fascinating society, varied and variable characters, and unexpected plot twists. HIGHLY recommended. I want to read more like this.
Galactic Suburbia 133
In which Alisa has feelings about Lovecraft’s image being associated with (and from next year, removed from) the World Fantasy Award.
WHAT’S NEW ON THE INTERNET
World Fantasy Awards announced
CULTURE CONSUMED
ALEX: Alex: re-reading the James SA Corey series, The Expanse, books 1-3, so I could read the fourth one, Cibola Burn; Eff Yeah Film and Feminism podcast; Manners and Mutiny, Gail Carriger.
ALISA: PhD research and experiments.
TANSY: Tremontaine Parts 1-3 by Ellen Kushner & others, The Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, I, Zombie, Supergirl, Jessica Jones
Skype number: 03 90164171 (within Australia) +613 90164171 (from overseas)
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi: things that were quite good:
- “The emperor is not as forgiving as I am.” Way to go making them both even MORE terrifying.
- I still like the costume progression for Luke.
- The CGI band at Jabba’s is… I’m conflicted. I like the music! BUT.
- Leia saves Han. WIN.
- OMG “I’m all right pal; I’m all right” Han and Chewbacca SO CUTE.
- Han.
- The PAIN of the beastkeeper. You made one of the supposed baddies grieve so poignantly!
- The whole rescue from Jabba is basically a heist plot. I love it.
- The imperial guard. Dead awesome.
- Yoda is the most compassionate and benevolent puppet ever in the history of puppets.
- GENERAL Solo. Heh.
- The speed bike chase is very awesome.
- Ewoks: conflicted. Cute! Resourceful!
- “It’s against my programming to impersonate a deity.”
- Han’s nobility: he apologises to Leia!
- The conflict within Vader is made genuinely more complex with deeper backstory.
- Another great gift to modern culture: “It’s a trap!”
What were you thinking, George?
- The CGI band at Jabba’s… the animation is horrid and so unnecessary.
- Also unnecessary: Jabba’s treatment of women. Ugh. Lazy writing, George. It’s not like we can be under the impression that he’s a good guy.
- Torturing droids, George? Really?
- What an ignominious end for Boba.
- “FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW,” George? You’re making Obi-Wan a relativist? a post-modernist?? Just no.
- Also: Luke’s feelings for Leia “do him credit”?!? How on earth do you figure that?! Ew.
- James: NO, not ew, Obi-Wan is talking about Luke having brotherly feelings towards his sister! Not anything bad!
- Alex: whoa. That’s thirty-odd years of grossed-out-ness being turned on its head.
- George. Look, George. Tax collectors, George? No one liked the Trade Federation in Phantom Menace, George, and the idea that they ought to appear on the bridge in this film? No. That’s the worst retconning yet.
- Apparently I imagined that this was retconning! They’ve always been there and I had either not noticed (possible) or I was assuming George was being evil because prequels! Sorry George. My mistake.
- Ewoks: conflicted. Little bit too much like you’re going with Noble Savages. Some of the markings etc are a bit too much
like stereotypes of some earth cultures. Made me queasy. - I cannot adequately express, George, how annoyed I am at the retconning of the funeral. The idea that it is young Anakin who appears with Obi-Wan and Yoda is just wrong. If he has genuinely been redeemed by Luke’s actions, then his old self ought to represent that. Otherwise, you are dismissing the genuineness of his return to the side of Light. And that’s not fair.
I AM SO READY for The Force Awakens.
The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back: Things that were quite good
- THANK YOU, George, for that great gift to modern culture: “I thought these things smelled bad… on the outside…”
- Han Solo
- The Han/Luke friendship. DAW.
- Han and Leia tension.
- James: I’m surprised by how early in the film this occurs.
- James: the music makes the film.
- Imperial walkers.
- Luke says, in the middle of a FOREST, “It’s like something out of a dream!” Wow, George. Subtle.
- “Wars not make one great.” Preach, George.
- The revelation that the emperor knows who Luke is is definitely more poignant thanks to the prequels.
- And Yoda’s hovel is more poignant too.
- This entire set of movies should be subtitled: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
- Han.
- Lando!
- I’d forgotten just how echoes/foreshadowings there were in the prequels, with words and actions and scenes. It makes me forgive them a little bit more.
What were you thinking, George?
- Unconvinced by the new bits of the snow critter.
- THAT KISS GEORGE EW MY BRAIN.
- You’re continuing the assumption that cities <=> civilisation in Luke’s little comment about Dagobah, George. I know he’s still a whiny little kids, but nonetheless – unhelpful.
- You retconned Boba Fett’s VOICE, George.
- Vader goes through underlings at a rate of knots. Bad vision of leadership there.
Abaddon’s Gate: Redux
(Some spoilers below for Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War. READ THEM.)
The last line of Caliban’s War was an absolute killer, because I read it when it was first published which meant that the next book was about a year away and GOODNESS ME it was a cliffhanger. So I preordered this as soon as I could and happily, it arrived about a week before I went on holidays. I very carefully put it on a shelf where it wasn’t tempting me to read it… and then this week, on holidays, I cracked it open and devoured it in one day. And it was worth the wait. Oh yes. Thank you, James Corey.*
Naw. Cute. PastMe did not feel the need to reread the other two, clearly. Continue reading →
Galactic Suburbia: The Martian
In which Tansy and Alex talk tragic potatoes, Lord of the Rings jokes, deep space parkour and the retirement plans of Sean Bean, among other topics that become inevitable as we delve into the recent Ridley Scott directed, Matt Damon + Science = OTP movie, The Martian, based on the novel by Andy Weir.
Get us from iTunes or at Galactic Suburbia!
ETA: my source was wrong about the LOTR joke! SAD 😡
You can Skype us to leave a short message about any of our topics or episodes, to be included in a future show.
03 90164171 (within Australia) +613 90164171 (from overseas)
Otherwise, please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Caliban’s War: Redux
This review will contain spoilers for Leviathan’s Wake, the first in this series. As with that book, I’ve just reread this one, so this is the REDUX…
Zeroes
This book was provided to me by the publisher at no cost.
I wanted to adore this book. I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t adore it. I’m trying to work through why…
Some general comments and then spoilers will be flagged.
The premise is one of superheroes, where the heroes are adolescents and most of them don’t feel, or want to be, heroic. Their ‘powers’ aren’t obvious (no one is turning green) and sometimes they don’t seem particularly useful, either. At some point in the past they’ve discovered each other and tried to work together, to see whether and how they might become a team… but then it turned sour, and they haven’t really worked together for a year. But when one of them is caught up with the police (his own fault, really), he asks for help and things go from there. Up, and down, and twisty-windy. The plot revolves around accidentally stolen drug money, a bank robbery gone very wrong, people in the wrong place and a bunch of teenagers trying to fix things and occasionally messing up.
We get chapters from each of the Zeroes, although not always alternating; the story begins from the perspective of Ethan (Scam), then Kelsie gets the fourth chapter and then gradually the others are introduced. This structure is exactly as useful as it seems, with multiple perspectives on events and people and ideas. It was an aspect I really liked, but it also contributed to one of the reasons I didn’t adore the book (I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters; more on that below). The characters are nicely varied: girls and boys, different ethnic backgrounds, one blind, families of different structures (those that we see anyway). They definitely have different personalities, which are not entirely tied to their ‘powers’ – which is great. There is some connection (Kelsie can work a crowd and loves going out dancing, for instance), but the question of cause and consequence isn’t tied down.
I liked that the action takes place over just a week; there’s no interest here in dragging a story out. It’s fast-paced over all, as it needs to be when there’s scary underworld types involved and things need to get fixed pronto. There are a few adults around – more parents are mentioned and briefly involved than you might expect in a teens-save-the-world story – but they don’t get in the way of said teens getting into a lot of trouble. The story is set in Cambria, which it turns out is really a name for a town in the US; I don’t know whether it’s intended to be set in the real town or not, but at any rate it’s a dinky little town rather than NY or Chicago, say, which I think is an interesting choice. It lets the characters develop their powers before having to deal with The Big Smoke, I guess (bets on that happening in a later novel?). There’s little real world building – it’s the America of today, and the city itself plays little part in the story, so there’s no need to make it really come alive.
Now, SPOILERS.
Leviathan Wakes: redux
I have the fourth book in the Expanse series waiting to be read… but I haven’t read the other three in a long time, and then only once each. So, yes, I am re-reading. And I’m now going to do a Le Guin and REDUX my review of Leviathan Wakes.
New Galactic Suburbia!
Feedback episode! Thanks so much for all your emails, tweets and voicemails. You can listen to us via iTunes or at Galactic Suburbia.
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Tansy: Andre Norton Sargasso of Space; I am Princess X, Cherie Priest; The Wicked & The Divine, by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie; Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
Alex: Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie; Newt’s Emerald, Garth Nix; Zeroes, Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deb Biancotti.
You can Skype us to leave a short message about any of our topics or episodes, to be included in a future show.
03 90164171 (within Australia) +613 90164171 (from overseas)
Otherwise, please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Randomly Yours, Alex 