I was on a family weekend getaway and my sister had this book on hand. It had an interesting pitch, and I borrowed it for a solid read.

One of the more interesting bits here is that this series was developed with PnP in mind, so the tail end has an annex on how to apply D20/DnD rules to the setting. Given the amount of world building in many graphical novels today, it felt like a smart move. Most writers are going to spend a fair amount of time on the lore anyhow, and this allows a more practical view on the various character power levels and history.

The Last God falls into the fantastical horror genre, with a big layer of flawed legends and the gradual uncovering of the truth. The plot itself isn’t terribly innovative, and you can see most of the twists and turns throughout. There are character archetypes, the corrupt leader, the rebellious wife, the pure newbie, and so on. This isn’t a critique per se, it’s sort of like how there are many simple Lego pieces and depending on how you put them together, you get different results. There are many graphic novels that apply this mind set.

The results here are quite good, primarily enabled by the fundamental lore than gives a platform for these characters. The main character here is the setting. The gods themselves and their lasting impacts on the world are fascinating. The impacts of prophecy and the desire to escape one’s fate are cool. The cost of magic, at scale, is even more interesting. The ending feels like an ending.

The largest issue I have is the poor print quality. This was clearly digital art that was then transferred to paper, and the quality loss is significant. I’m ok with poor print quality in an actual comic that’s produced in large quantities. A hard cover book should do better. If you happen to have a 10in+ tablet, you’re better off getting a digital copy.

If you see it on sale, I’d say pick it up.

I like to write, which I think for most people who enjoy that, also likely enjoy reading. I could go into a very long post about how society is on the verge of being post-literate, best exemplified by the increase in streaming + book to movie conversions. But this is a blog, and you’re reading it, so you’re not exactly that audience.

I have a preference for fiction. Mostly due to work giving me more than enough material in the non-fiction area. I tend to stick to sci-fi authors, as they generally have more complex world building that isn’t reliant on tropes. Or perhaps that’s just cause the gap between good sci-fi and bad is much larger than good and bad fantasy.

Dune – Herbert

Might as well start with a gold standard. Dune as a standalone novel is full of crazy ideas that have been replicated in nearly all sci-fi stories from 1990 on out. Dune as an idea, that is something else. There are few examples of books that can tackle the concepts of religion and determinism, and this series is at another level. It is one of the first books to really take the concept of AI to the next level, again, with religious tones.

Foundation – Asimov

This series started as a collection of short stories in pulp. The three main line books (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) deal with intergalactic civilizations and rarely ever fire a shot. It’s a thinking person’s series, more in line with Sherlock Holmes than you would think. The concept here is that there’s a math equation for society, that can foretell future events at larger scales (not individuals, but groups of people). There’s an underlying plan to avert 1000 year dark age, and then seeing how people deal with that concept and the people “controlling” the math. There are ton of books in this series, but these 3 are the gold standard.

If you want to read another seminal book from Asimov, I suggest The Gods Themselves. That is a mind messer.

Childhood’s End – Clarke

I’ve read this story at least a dozen times. Every time is makes me take pause and reflect on our understanding of what humanity really means. This theme of humanity exploring it’s own limits is also found in 2001: A Space Odyssey (I do appreciate the film more than the novel), and Rendez-vous with Rama (only the first book is worth it). Childhood’s End instead focused on the end of humanity as we know it, and how society comes to terms with that fact. It is an astounding work of thought.

The Fifth Season – Jemison

A very recent series that deals with society facing the end of the world. Again. There are a few tropes in here (mages are all evil and need to be controlled) but the real interesting bit here is the world building. The lengths that people will go to in order to protect their own. The 3rd novel comes to terms with the lore, which ties in so many other loose ends. There’s no denying the fact that as a female author of colour, Jemison had to surmount some impressive hurdles to get this out the door.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Covey

I can’t think of any other book that has had more impact on my general life than this one. If ever you’re feeling overswamped with things, this book has a set of tools that can help you prioritize through them. With some exercises. If you have someone you can talk to about this method, all the better. I’m somewhat amazed this isn’t mandatory reading in high school.

Wheel of Time – Jordan

Where Tolkien laid the ground work, Jordan defined pretty much every single fantasy trope in use today. It is an astoundingly dense series of overflow 4 million words, hundreds of characters, massive armies, complex magical structures, time travelling eternals, and an absolutely effective ending. I re-read the series every time a new book came out, and there’s a practically essential wiki as well.

Flowers for Algernon – Keyes

This is a story about a slow person who goes through an experimental project to become smarter, and examines the positives and negatives that come with it. It exemplifies the “ignorance is bliss” mindset. It is rare to read any tragic sci-fi novel, and rarer still to have one stick with you for years on.

Ender’s Game – Card

Boy genius + military world set = catastrophic consequences. This is a very complicated story, with a very strange writer. This was written when war games (simulated war through computers) was a theory, and has only aged like wine with time. The entire concept of consequences when you think you’re playing a game is the foundation of drone strikes being a valid military strategy. That distance removes empathy and allows for crazy decisions. Then the realization dawns, and it all falls to pieces.

Hyperion Cantos – Simmons

What if people were immortal? What if time travel were possible? What if both intersected? The first novel is more anthology, and absolutely spectacular with a tomb that is travelling back through time as the focal point. The latter parts of the series focuses on the challenges with immortality, the risks with AI, and the concepts of self-sacrifice. Simmons underlays it all with multiple allusions to the poet Keats.

American Gods – Gaiman

Gaiman is a prolific author, primarily in visual mediums (comics, tv). This book explores the concept of gods being real, manifest of our worships and feeding off of it. The American Gods reflect our obsession with the internet, TV, and food, taking away from the older gods of folklore. It’s really hard to write any fantasy in current day settings, it just doesn’t age well. Yet here it feels almost prescient.

There are dozens of other authors I enjoy. King’s Dark Tower series would be here if he was still doing drugs (Blaine the mono can only exist on a binge). A lot a references from other people, or message boards. And with ebooks its a simple matter of finding what you want. And there’s plenty of “good” bad writing out there. Dan Brown is a horrible writer, like eye gouging bad, but he gets people reading which is awesome. Not everything needs to be about learning or deep thought, it can be to just past the time and think of something else.

While we’re all strapped for time, there really isn’t much compared to the feeling you get when reading a great book. Just need to make time for it.

Transport

Driving is more than the act of sitting in a vehicle, it involves actual movement.  Living in Canada in the winter, the capital no less, means that there’s not much driving to be had, so I end up taking the bus to and from work.  I don’t particularly like the bus as I can spend 20 minutes waiting for the damn thing to arrive, only to be packed like sardines, but it is a greener option and less costly overall.  When things do end up just right, I get a seat and can get some reading done.

Reading Goals

Murf had mentioned this late last year, getting some heavy reading done with a particular focus on the Hugo Awards. That works out, since I have quite a liking to the sci-fi genre.  I used to read quite heavily on my e-reader, though over time I found it less and less practical compared to having a tablet.  So I’ve loaded up some software and started at it.

I will say this about sci-fi, and fantasy even, authors have a love for trilogies.  I don’t get what people are so fascinated about the number 3, but it seems like everything is linked to something else.  The downside to this is that you have trouble moving between series and feel some sort of obligation to finish it (if possible) or end up waiting years between the books to close some cliffhangers.  Robert Jordan and GRR Martin are notorious culprits in the length of writing, though quite nicely offset by the quality.

Back on track.  I wasn’t quite sure where to start with the Hugos, either the golden age or the new age.  Then I started looking at the titles and realized that I’ve already read a fair chunk of the older stuff.  Clark, Asimov, Dick, Heinlein, Niven, Card…heck, without realizing it I’ve probably read 20 of them on the list already.  So I’m going to move from the newest to the oldest, skipping those I’ve already done.  If all works out, I should have 20 novels done by the year, though that will likely include books in the series rather than just from the list.  Some of them will be long to get through, such as Robinson’s Mars series but other’s I’ve already done, like Herbert’s Dune series.

Ancillary Justice

While I know the Three Body Problem should be first, I noticed that the Ancillary series was already there twice, so I started with the first one, Ancillary Justice.

Set in space, with a very high tech empire bent on conquest and annexation, the story deals with a ship AI who’s been stranded in a single body and is looking for revenge.  Ancillaries are corpse soldiers, captured enemies who get implants that allows for the ship AI to take possession of their body.  Not a hive mind as much as a bunch of puppets.

The book is most notable for its parallels to the Romans.  Conquest, culture assimilation, language, citizens, emperor and quite a bit more come out from the background.  There’s actually quite a bit found here that’s already been explored in the Foundation series, though this one certainly has more action within the pages.  The second piece that makes this series stand out is that the main culture is gender neutral.  I speak French, and as with most latin-based tongues, it’s heavily focused on gender.  A ball is feminine, while a book is masculine.  English really only focuses on pronouns (he/she), so there’s certainly less of a gap to be had, but it’s still hard to read through a book where the word “she” is used for both males and females.  It makes is hard to visualize the character’s attributes, but otherwise has little impact on the story.

Truly good sci-fi has technology as a setting and not so much part of the plot, which for the majority of the book is the case.  It’s the people that matter and their decisions, and they are all generally relatable.  The hardest part to get your head around is the concept of many bodies but a single mind, and the impact that has on society.  I’ve been in sci-fi for a long time, so the hive-mind mentality isn’t too far-fetched but I’m sure for a lot of folks, it’s a hurdle.  It does bring some interesting ideas to the table, certainly near the mid-point and the plot twist (well, you can see most of it coming), which I think is why it won the Hugo.  It’s not a perfect 5/7, but it’s certainly a solid read.

Now onto Ancillary Sword, then Ancillary Mercy.

I read a lot.  A very lot.  An E-Reader makes that very easy.  Lately I’ve been on a kick of mid 20th century fiction – a lot of sci-fi.  Lord of the Flies, Foundation, I, Robot, Fahrenheit 451 and the like.  I can say with utmost confidence that sci-fi of the past is much better than today’s outings, for one major reason.  Older sci-fi was about the psychological impact of the future rather than the gadgets.  Foundation doesn’t have any major fights or technological “magic”.  It’s just people being people in a different setting.

This brings me to a recent book and probably one of the most profound I’ve read in a while – Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke.  There are 3 main parts – the advent of space ships and overlords that oversee the future of mankind, the prosperity of a golden age and finally the evolution of mankind into a higher life form.

The kicker here is that other than being actual space ships, there is next to no technology used in the entire book.  There are no Deus Ex Machina events where something happens, with no explanation, just to move the story along (a-la Dan Brown or JK Rowling).

The entire premise of the story is how humanity acts, as a whole and individually, when a higher power comes along and provides nothing but benefits, though cloaked in shadow.  Sort of like the TV show “V”, minus evil intents.  Some people welcome the change while others fight the loss of “human identity” and accomplishments.  To see how the various factions move along, in a short book mind you, to accomplish their various goals is intriguing.  Some use subterfuge, others political control and others are granted leniency simply for the sake of curiosity.

The final act however has one heck of a speech where it states plainly that man is not made for the stars.  The sheer scope of space, our galaxy and even our universe completely dwarfs anything that the human mind can comprehend.  At most, we can visualize a city or maybe a small country.  The moon takes weeks to get to, taking 30 times longer than going across the planet.  Think about that.  Jules Verne traveled across the world in 80 days.  It would take 6.5 years to reach the moon at that speed.  Our closest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.24 light years away – 8 million years if you traveled at the same speed of 80 days around the Earth.  And that’s the closest!

Secondary to the psychological impact that number has is the lack of reasoning outside of science.  Somewhat of an anti-sci-fi sentiment and more of a slant towards the paranormal.  When faced with the abyss that is the universe, you start thinking there is more than what science can describe.  When humanity evolves into simple conscious energy, to join a pre-existing mass, you feel a certain shame towards those left behind.  Again, the humans that do remain undergo more psychological trauma where their investment (children) is removed from their grasp – dooming the entire species.  The fact that the space ship aliens are unable to make this transition juxtaposes the scientific advances versus the paranormal ones.  It’s like looking at two sides of a coin and trying to decide which one is better.

It is difficult to convey the imagery of this story as it truly is a personal reflection within the circumstances.  Empathy for each situation is key and that depends on the reader’s disposition. You can take the face value of the words and be entertained or you can experience the story and become thoughtful.  This, above all other criteria, is the mark of a truly great author.