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Starred Review: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu“Remarkable, revelatory and not to be missed.”

Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem got starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and in Publisher’s Weekly!

Here’s the full review, from the October 15 issue of Kirkus Reviews:

starred-review-gif Strange and fascinating alien-contact yarn, the first of a trilogy from China’s most celebrated science-fiction author.

In 1967, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, young physicist Ye Wenjie helplessly watches as fanatical Red Guards beat her father to death. She ends up in a remote re-education (i.e. forced labor) camp not far from an imposing, top secret military installation called Red Coast Base. Eventually, Ye comes to work at Red Coast as a lowly technician, but what really goes on there? Weapons research, certainly, but is it also listening for signals from space—maybe even signaling in return? Another thread picks up the story 40 years later, when nanomaterials researcher Wang Miao and thuggish but perceptive policeman Shi Qiang, summoned by a top-secret international (!) military commission, learn of a war so secret and mysterious that the military officers will give no details. Of more immediate concern is a series of inexplicable deaths, all prominent scientists, including the suicide of Yang Dong, the physicist daughter of Ye Wenjie; the scientists were involved with the shadowy group Frontiers of Science. Wang agrees to join the group and investigate and soon must confront events that seem to defy the laws of physics. He also logs on to a highly sophisticated virtual reality game called “Three Body,” set on a planet whose unpredictable and often deadly environment alternates between Stable times and Chaotic times. And he meets Ye Wenjie, rehabilitated and now a retired professor. Ye begins to tell Wang what happened more than 40 years ago. Jaw-dropping revelations build to a stunning conclusion. In concept and development, it resembles top-notch Arthur C. Clarke or Larry Niven but with a perspective—plots, mysteries, conspiracies, murders, revelations and all—embedded in a culture and politic dramatically unfamiliar to most readers in the West, conveniently illuminated with footnotes courtesy of translator Liu.

Remarkable, revelatory and not to be missed.

Here’s the full review, from the September 29 issue of Publisher’s Weekly:

starred-review-gif-1 Fans of hard SF will revel in this intricate and imaginative novel by one of China’s most celebrated genre writers. In 1967, physics professor Ye Zhetai is killed after he refuses to denounce the theory of relativity. His daughter, Ye Wenjie, witnesses his gruesome death. Shortly after, she’s falsely charged with sedition for promoting the works of environmentalist Rachel Carson, and told she can avoid punishment by working at a defense research facility involved with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. More than 40 years later, Ye’s work becomes linked to a string of physicist suicides and a complex role-playing game involving the classic physics problem of the title. Liu impressively succeeds in integrating complex topics—such as the field of frontier science, which attempts to define the limits of science’s ability to know nature—without slowing down the action or sacrificing characterization. His smooth handling of the disparate plot elements cleverly sets up the second volume of the trilogy.

The Three-Body Problem will be published on November 11.

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Starred Review: The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man by W. Bruce Cameron

The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man by W. Bruce Cameron“This spirited novel, a rollicking mystery and sweet romance rolled into one, is the perfect vehicle for a wild joy ride.”

W. Bruce Cameron’s The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!

Here’s the full review, from the September 18 issue:

starred-review-gif This laugh-out-loud mystery narrated by a word-clever repo man in Kalkaska, Michigan, will convince readers to keep on (tow) trucking.

Ruddy McCann has a bit of a problem: The voice of a murder victim, real estate agent Alan Lottner, has suddenly taken up residence in his head. “I want you to find the people who did this to me, and bring them to justice,” Lottner insists. At first, Ruddy, 30, thinks the chatter in his mind is the result of the dreaded malady “Repo Madness,” the consequence of too many years pursuing deadbeats, a perilous occupation that requires “nerves of stupidity.” But he soon finds that Alan—both a nag and a wisenheimer—is telling the truth about his death, and the pieces of this ingenious plot begin to click into place. Ruddy is soon in hot pursuit of the two murderers, who are more depraved than he originally thought; he’s also in pursuit of the lovely Katie, who turn out—yikes!—to be Lottner’s daughter. Through all the twists and turns of the unlikely plot, Ruddy is surrounded by a vividly drawn cast of characters, including Becky, his ultraresponsible sister, who had “a tapeworm or something that was always drawing the fun out of her”; Becky’s goofy new boyfriend, Kermit, a voluble Mr. Malaprop; Ruddy’s stud-muffin younger pal, Jimmy, whose earlier acting career “was somewhat hampered by his inability to act”; and Ruddy’s beloved dog, Jake, “fifty pounds of anyone’s guess.” While it’s no surprise that Ruddy gets both the evildoers and the girl, how he gets to that finish line is totally unexpected. A storyline that would be a car wreck in the hands of a less-talented writer turns out to be a delightfully entertaining road trip thanks to the deft touch of Cameron, a best-selling author (A Dog’s Journey, 2012, etc.), humor writer and independent movie producer.

This spirited novel, a rollicking mystery and sweet romance rolled into one, is the perfect vehicle for a wild joy ride.

The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man will be published on October 28.

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Starred Review: Exo by Steven Gould

Exo by Steven Gould“Gould literally raises the bar on teleportation in this sequel to Impulse (2013)”

Steven Gould’s Exo got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!

Here’s the full review, from the September 9 issue:

Poster Placeholder of - 54 Gould literally raises the bar on teleportation in this sequel to Impulse (2013). Seventeen-year-old Cent is your typical teen: She’s reeling from a breakup with her boyfriend, worried about her ailing grandmother and developing a plan to teleport into orbit—you know, the usual. Intelligent, resourceful and well-funded, she begins field-testing a new spacesuit and putting together a company that will both support her voyages and make a profit by placing small satellites into orbit and removing debris. It’s not long before Cent’s one-woman space program gains considerable attention, including some from the shadowy corporation that once captured Cent’s father, Davy, and still pursues their family. Gould grows more ambitious with every book in the Jumper series. He began by mixing speculative fiction, adventure and bildungsroman, then added in political and corporate thriller; this novel is primarily hard sci-fi while maintaining the other genres. By constantly experimenting with new tropes and extending the limits of the Harrison-Rice family’s power to teleport, Gould ensures that each installment remains fresh and enthralling. As in the previous book, Cent’s genius and her social skills (considering that she’s been discouraged from creating close bonds with anyone outside her immediate family) seem almost more unusual than her teleporting ability, but her character has an intellectual and emotional validity as well as an inherent likability that encourages the reader to overlook those quibbles. There’s simply no knowing where Cent and this series are headed next…but it’ll sure be interesting to find out.

Exo will be published on September 9.

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Starred Review: Lock In by John Scalzi

Lock In by John Scalzi“[T]he novel–which contains plenty of action, great character development, vivid and believable worldbuilding and a thought-provoking examination of disability culture and politics–is definitely worth the ride.
This SF thriller provides yet more evidence that Scalzi (The Human Division, 2013, etc.) is a master at creating appealing commercial fiction.”

John Scalzi’s Lock In got a starred review in Kirkus!

Here’s the full review, from the June 26 issue:

Image Placeholder of - 91 In the near future, a meningitis-like disease has killed millions and left a small percentage of survivors “locked in”–fully conscious, but unable to move any part of their bodies.

Government-funded research has allowed the locked-in Haden’s syndrome survivors to flourish in a virtual environment, and to interact with the real world via humanoid robots known as “threeps.” They can also use the bodies of a small group of Haden survivors known as “Integrators,” who have found that they can allow their bodies to be controlled by others. Right before a major rally by Haden activists to protest a law cutting support for survivors, a series of murders and the bombing of a major pharmaceutical company suggest that someone has developed the ability to take over Integrators’ bodies against their will. Rookie FBI agent and Haden survivor Chris Vance and his new partner, troubled former Integrator Leslie Vann, must find the culprit before an even more devastating act is committed. There’s only one real suspect from the get-go, so most of the mystery lies in determining his motives and finding the evidence to make an arrest before his plan can be fulfilled; but the novel–which contains plenty of action, great character development, vivid and believable worldbuilding and a thought-provoking examination of disability culture and politics–is definitely worth the ride.

This SF thriller provides yet more evidence that Scalzi (The Human Division, 2013, etc.) is a master at creating appealing commercial fiction.

Lock In will be published on August 26.

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Starred Review: Hurricane Fever by Tobias S. Buckell

Hurricane Fever by Tobias S. Buckell“Buckell has written a smart and well-constructed tale that’s filled with excitement and the flavor of the Caribbean isles… So don’t wait for a dark and stormy night to read this novel; you’ll have plenty of fun.”

Tobias S. Buckell’s Hurricane Fever got a starred review in Kirkus!

Here’s the full review, from the June 1 issue:

Place holder  of - 75 A stormy, aptly named thriller set in the Caribbean of the near future.

“Destruction brewed in the far-off trade winds,” writes the narrator, who spent his early years in Grenada and the Virgin Islands. In this story, hurricanes are rated up to Category 6, yet humans threaten to do even more damage than nature. Prudence “Roo” Jones is a former operative of the Caribbean Intelligence Group who now wants simply to enjoy sailing his catamaran, Spitfire II, and dodge an approaching hurricane. He thinks he has “left all that spy shit behind.” Then a friend and a relative die, a package arrives, and Roo is up to his dreadlocks in trouble. A mysterious woman named Kit claims to be the sister of Roo’s dead friend Zee, and a company named Beauchamp Industries may prove a bigger threat than the worst of storms. There are terrific action scenes with flying debris, falling bodies, poisoned projectiles and tattooed neo-Nazis. Roo (don’t call him Prudence) is a tough gent who can take seemingly endless physical abuse and never look like a victim. Violence is present, of course, but it’s never excessive or gory. The stakes are higher than one might expect, and even the specter of racism comes into play. Buckell has written a smart and well-constructed tale that’s filled with excitement and the flavor of the Caribbean isles. The only nit is the prominence of Aves Island, a rock squabbled over by Venezuela and Barbados that in reality barely peeks out of the ocean but in the story hosts skyscrapers and a harbor patrol. But any reviewer who points that out is just reaching for something to criticize.

So don’t wait for a dark and stormy night to read this novel; you’ll have plenty of fun.

Hurricane Fever will be published on July 1.

Starred Review: Copper Magic by Julia Mary Gibson

Copper Magic by Julia Mary Gibson“An impressive debut that’s both historical fiction and enchanted realism… Fresh, subtle, daring: well done indeed.”

Julia Mary Gibson’s Copper Magic got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!

Here’s the full review, from the June 15 issue:

Image Place holder  of - 91 An impressive debut that’s both historical fiction and enchanted realism.

The protagonist opens the book by proclaiming: “[t]here wasn’t one soul who knew how I made up things.” Thus begins the story of Violet Blake, accomplished 12-year-old liar and proud of it. Violet is also angry, feeling abandoned by her mother, who left, taking Violet’s beloved younger brother but leaving her daughter behind. However, hope arrives in the form of a hand made of copper that Violet believes can grant wishes. First she finds a friend in Mercy, a girl who summers in Violet’s Lake Michigan–side town. Then she gets a job as an assistant to the (remarkably for 1906) independent-minded photographer Miss Zalzman. But Mercy’s despicable older brother soon steals the hand, and a plan is hatched to retrieve it that has unforeseen consequences. The magic of the hand is presented in such a way that readers have the option of believing in it or not—it’s always a pleasure when an author trusts her readers to come to their own conclusions. Gibson examines race, ethnicity, class and tragedy without didacticism or oversimplification, and while all of the characters are well-crafted, the imperfect protagonist is particularly refreshing. Furthermore, Violet’s poor choices have real-world consequences, and those negatively affected are not blissfully forgiving but instead help Violet feel the depth of her transgressions.

Fresh, subtle, daring: well done indeed.

Copper Magic will be published on July 1.

Starred Review: Dangerous Women

Placeholder of  -50“Everyone will find something to like here.”

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois’s Dangerous Women got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!

Here’s the full review, from the November 1st issue:

starred-review-gif Bold and deadly female characters of many genres stride through the pages of this massive anthology.
When genre collections include this many big-name authors, they’re typically a grouping of series outtakes and Easter eggs. Readers who want to know how Molly got that cool apartment in Jim Butcher’s Cold Days; meet Shy South as a young fugitive before the open of Joe Abercrombie’s Red Country; get a glimpse of Quentin Coldwater after the events of Lev Grossman’s projected Magicians trilogy; or encounter Jamie Fraser as an inexperienced (in several senses) but still clever mercenary soldier prior to meeting Claire in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander will surely be satisfied by these and other entries (which of course include a bloody slice of history from Martin’s own blockbuster A Song of Ice and Fire universe). But the stand-alones in this smorgasbord of fantasy, science fiction, noir, historical fiction and paranormal romance are also worthy of notice, particularly Megan Abbott’s chilling “My Heart is Either Broken,” concerning a young mother’s socially inappropriate response to her daughter’s kidnapping; Megan Lindholm’s sadly believable “Neighbors,” in which a lonely widow becomes ever more alienated from her daily routine, her family and her neighborhood; and Brandon Sanderson’s gripping “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell,” about an innkeeper/bounty hunter who must defeat rapacious ghosts, brutal outlaws and greedy bureaucrats to keep herself and her daughter safe and free.
Everyone will find something to like here.

Dangerous Women will be published on December 3rd.

Starred Review: The Land Across

Placeholder of  -18“Wolfe, in masterful mood, builds his characters, explores the puzzles, links the elements together and contrives to render the backdrop both intriguingly attractive and creepily sinister. Sheer enjoyment.”

Gene Wolfe’s The Land Across got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!

Here’s the full review, from the October 1st issue:

starred-review-gif From the accomplished author of Home Fires (2011, etc.), a new fantasy that seamlessly blends mystery, travelogue, authoritarianism and the supernatural.

Grafton, an American travel writer, becomes intrigued by a remote and unnamed Balkan country that chooses to make itself extremely difficult to visit—no flights land there, roads turn back on themselves in the mountains, and so the only way in is by train. But at the border, guards remove him from the train and confiscate his passport and luggage. Instead of prison, though, he’s housed with the surly thug Kleon and his attractive wife, Martya, with the proviso that if Grafton absconds, the police will shoot Kleon. Martya, with whom he’s soon having an affair, tells him of a treasure hidden in an abandoned house. Unfortunately, the house is haunted—confirmed by their discovery of a mummified corpse behind an old mirror. Then, Grafton’s kidnapped by the Legion of the Light and conveyed to the capital, where he agrees to help them broadcast their religious-supernatural philosophy. Soon enough JAKA, the secret police, capture him and throw him in jail, where he finds fellow American Russ Rathaus—apparently some kind of sorcerer who soon manages to escape by unknown means. Grafton realizes that the only way he’ll resolve the situation is by figuring out what’s really going on, so when he’s interrogated by Naala, a senior JAKA agent in pursuit of a thoroughly unpleasant black-magic cult known as the Unholy Way, he agrees to help her. But is Grafton a reliable narrator, and is Rathaus as innocent as he seems? Wolfe, in masterful mood, builds his characters, explores the puzzles, links the elements together and contrives to render the backdrop both intriguingly attractive and creepily sinister.

Sheer enjoyment.

The Land Across will be published on November 26th.

Starred Review: Twenty-First Century Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Image Placeholder of - 48“Grab this book. Whether newcomer or old hand, the reader will not be disappointed.”

Twenty-First Century Science Fiction, edited by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!*

Here’s the full review, from the September 15th issue:

starred-review-gif A bumper crop of 34 stories from authors who first came to prominence in the 21st century, compiled by two of the most highly respected editors in the business.

Thematically, all the entries are science fiction even though some are from writers better known for their fantasy. Some stories won or were nominated for awards, as were many of the authors. Dipping into the pool at random, readers discover Cory Doctorow meditating on the society that results from a handful of hyper-rich owning and running everything; intelligent warships that become infected with Asimovism (John Scalzi); Charles Stross’ amusing but rather gloomy glimpse of an all-too-possible future; Elizabeth Bear’s dying war machine that befriends a semiferal boy; Paul Cornell’s alternate world, where physics itself is different; a drug that brings dramatic psychological changes while some things are eternal (Daryl Gregory); and a robot existential crisis from Rachel Swirsky. Elsewhere, the brilliant Ken Liu offers another wrenching tale of a researcher into artificial intelligence who finds she can no longer distinguish between the artificial and the real; Neal Asher presents an Earth swarming with almost unimaginably advanced aliens; Ian Creasey writes of a not-so-distant future when humans adapt themselves to survive in alien environments; Karl Schroeder’s characters lose themselves in virtual realities; David Levine tries to sell computer software to aliens who have no need of it; Vandana Singh’s mathematician has a revelation; and the remarkable Hannu Rajaniemi again pushes the envelope farther and faster than anyone else. And all these are not necessarily the best on display here, just a sample.

Grab this book. Whether newcomer or old hand, the reader will not be disappointed.

Twenty-First Century Science Fiction will be published on November 5th.

Kirkus Reviews is a subscription-only publication.

Starred Review: The One-Eyed Man by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Image Placeholder of - 58“Intriguing mysteries, subtle plots, vividly drawn female characters and nuggets of hardheaded wisdom are scattered among the narrative strands. One of Modesitt’s best, which means, don’t miss it.”

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.’s The One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment got a starred review in Kirkus Reviews!*

Here’s the full review, from the July 15th issue:

starred-review-gif Independent science fiction from the prolific, talented and versatile Modesitt (Imager’s Battalion, 2013, etc.).

Planet Bachman houses many huge corporations that depend on colony world Stittara’s production of anagathics, drugs that have powerful life-prolonging and cosmetic effects. Political expediency requires Stittara to be inspected, and consultant ecologist Dr. Paulo Verano is hired. On the interstellar voyage to Stittara, Verano meets his fellow passengers—most of whom are extraordinarily cagey about their jobs and their reasons for visiting Stittara. Due to unpredictable electrical storms that whip up tornado-force winds, the Stittaran population lives underground. In the upper atmosphere drift skytubes, differentiated clumps of microorganisms whose exact nature remains unknown. Disturbingly, Verano finds that many facts are being concealed or deliberately ignored. Why do the local women find him so irresistibly attractive? Can Ilsabet, the sole survivor of a community destroyed in a storm, really be 400 years old? Certainly she speaks in enigmatic rhymes and has some connection with the skytubes and the storms. Why are there no statistics on birth and death rates? Why does the appearance of vast, inexplicable badlands coincide with the extinction of alien colonies millions of years ago? Why do the numerous outland settlements, independent of the company towns and living in harmony with the planet, appear on no official census? Research complex RDAEX has hired a number of high-energy physicists—to do what, exactly?—and admits to having lost planes while investigating the skytubes. And the more Verano resists the political pressures being brought to bear, the clearer it becomes that somebody—perhaps several somebodies—would prefer to see him dead. Intriguing mysteries, subtle plots, vividly drawn female characters and nuggets of hardheaded wisdom are scattered among the narrative strands.

One of Modesitt’s best, which means, don’t miss it.

The One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment will be published on September 17th.

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