Re: F&SF that I Read in 2007: W

Here, robo <digitalice@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
> >
> > SATURN RETURNS: ASTROPOLIS # 1           Williams, Sean         
5/1/2008
> >
> > EARTH ASCENDANT: ASTROPOLIS #2           Williams, Sean
> >
> > A former rebel is restored from back-up, only to discover that
> > the galaxy-wide civilization that he fought for and against has
collapsed.
> > Can he and a cast of literally several people create a new
civilization
> > comparable to what has been lost.
> >
> > This would be the series where in the year 1.5 Million, we
> > learn that architectural styles of our period are still around.
There's
> > just so much to dislike about these books.
>
> Not just architectural styles... Characters spout idiomatic expressions,

> drive tracked vehicles, and use weapons that fire slugs.

I categorize tracks and bullets as technologies that really will never
go out of style. You can imagine hand-lasers that blow giant holes in
people (and these books have 'em), but slugthrowers blow holes just as
gianty on the cheap, and you don't have to think about antimatter-like
power densities. Same goes for tank treads. They work.

Yes, these books have the "white Georgian town house" ("Georgian" is
used in *both* books -- I can only suspect a mulish kick at James's
RASFW comment of several months ago). And the history of the galaxy
seems to revolve around five people, and societies are awfully willing
to stay recognizable while those people take 100-kiloyear jaunts out of
town. 

But I'm still having a good time. (I'm most of the way through book
2.) The books are flashy, they've got galactic empires, they take the
notion of post-human neural architectures seriously in the plot.
(Without John C. Wright's leaden, I mean Golden, ponderousness.)
There's a big mystery and I want to see how it comes out. I don't see
a reason to trash the series.

--Z

-- 
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
*
Bush's biggest lie is his claim that it's okay to disagree with him. As
soon as
you *actually* disagree with him, he sadly explains that you're
undermining
America, that you're giving comfort to the enemy. That you need to be
silent.