Virus Thirteen by Joshua Alan Parry

Premise: In a future suffering from global warming storms and government-mandated health requirements, scientists James Logan and his wife, Linda, work at GeneFirm, the world’s leading biotech company. It is there that so much of the world’s vaccines are developed and where genetic research has essentially eliminated most diseases.

When a bioterrorist attack spreads a super-flu virus around the world, GeneFirm is tapped to come up with a vaccine. The problem is that Linda is the head of the research team developing the vaccine and her team ends up in lockdown in the underground labs at GeneFirm.

After he collapses from a supposed brain tumor, James goes looking for answers. He is supposed to be immune to cancer because of the preventative genetic alterations most people have done to themselves, but in his search he learns the flu virus attack is more than it seems. When he discovers the reasons for the attack, his life and those he loves are in danger, but the worldwide ramifications are much greater.

Themes: Current scientific issues are the primary theme of Virus Thirteen. We are shown one idea of the after-effects of global warming. Most diseases are eliminated through vaccines and genetic manipulation. The ramifications of curing some of those diseases are what is really at issue. What happens when curing a disease is worse than letting it continue to exist?

Government-controlled health care is an issue that is covered. Because most diseases have a cure in Virus Thirteen, vaccines and genetic alterations are mandated, though some people shirk the government and have free births. Heart disease prevention is enforced through government agencies who track down overweight people and force them into grueling and controlled exercise and eating programs.

Pros: Virus Thirteen has a quick tempo with short chapters, making it pretty readable and easy to consume. The premise is interesting as a future pandemic postulation in spite of the rough execution. The highly-technical scientific subjects are made surprisingly easy to understand thanks to a knowledgeable author.

Cons: One major problem with Virus Thirteen is the lack of setting. It is set in the future, but with no explanation of exactly when or where these events are taking place apart from a couple mentions of Austin, Texas. The metaphor and simile use is awful, and that’s not the worst part of the prose. With the amount of flippant profanity, sex, and inane humor I felt like I was reading the polished work of a high school student, complete with insults about overweight people with fat and poop jokes. On top of this, I sensed a political agenda with the focus on global warming and genetic manipulation, with an antagonism toward children because of a perceived overpopulation on the planet.

Recommendations: If you have a juvenile sense of humor and are looking for a quick read about the near future that touches on scientific ethics, politics, and genetic manipulation, by all means give Virus Thirteen a shot. These also happen to be its biggest faults, trying too hard to be unsuccessfully funny in places and with a disregard to giving the reader a true sense of setting. This lack of place or time made the global warming and genetic science of Virus Thirteen weaker, to the point where the story suffers from a lack in believability or plausible objectivity. Virus Thirteen is fast-paced and about as lighthearted as a global pandemic can be, but there are also so many other better executed post-apocalyptic novels out there.

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I received a copy from the publisher to write this honest review.

 

Legion by Brandon Sanderson

Premise: Stephen Leeds has developed his mental condition into a lucrative business where he solves problems using his many skills. Those skills really come through his many hallucinations, giving one man the abilities of a legion of people. It is for this reason that Stephen is nicknamed Legion.

Legion’s new job comes about when someone shows him photographs of past events that are impossibilities. Someone has developed a camera that can take pictures of the past, but the creator has gone missing with the camera. Stephen’s role is to track down the creator and bring back the camera. His search takes him around the world on a crazy ride along with some of his personae.

Themes: Faith is the ultimate struggle for the religious and non-religious, for it is here where the wrestling happens with purpose, existence, and more. For the non-religious, disbelief is the barrier between a person and the unseen. For the religious, the lack of evidence makes faith essential. Without evidence, such as with the potential evidence a camera that can see into the past can bring, the only thing left for belief is faith.

Another theme that Legion explores is the idea of new technologies and their potential for more harm than good. When the existence of a camera that sees into the past is revealed, the potential to prove or disprove events is sought out by terrorists. The potential for invading privacy is considered, along with blackmail and solving crimes.

Pros: Sanderson is skilled with character voice and using plot devices, and Legion does not let down in those areas. In such a short book he is able to form multiple characters in the mind of Leeds along with a few others. With Legion, Sanderson has laid the groundwork for something that he could turn into an entire series. He plays with some interesting concepts with having a protagonist with a mental condition using it to his benefit. Sanderson fills his story appropriately with humor even characters are in dire circumstances.

Cons: Some of the things that Leeds’ personalities enable him to do seem absurd, such as one hallucination holding his hand to make him fire a gun accurately or another perusing a foreign language dictionary to learn the “structure” of the language allowing Leeds to create a hallucination that can translate that language perfectly. If it were magic I would understand that some things can be explained away, but this novella is different in that it’s barely a science fiction book with no magic. There were a lot of threads left hanging at the end with this being a novella and not having much space to tie them all up that gave Legion the feeling of a sort of unfinished tinkering with ideas.

Recommendations: Legion takes everything that Brandon Sanderson is good at: creating cool plot devices, adding twists, and then infusing them with interesting characters. Each hallucination ran the risk of becoming a caricature, and I think a couple of them did, but there was enough to them to make a mostly complete story. Sanderson could have made Legion into a full novel, if not a series, but in it he plays with some interesting concepts. I purchased the limited edition from Subterranean Press and it came with a free ebook, both of which were perfectly edited and formatted. If you are on the fence, the ebookis fairly inexpensive and is a fun, quick read. The limited edition is probably more for devoted Brandon Sanderson fans.

Brandon Sanderson’s website
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Ganymede by Cherie Priest

Premise: After years of smuggling the blight gas used to make the drug sap, air pirate Andan Cly has decided to become a legitimate businessman. Unfortunately, the money paying for his first job comes from a sap dealer in Seattle. Luckily, this trip to New Orleans comes with a good amount of money, with Andan doubling up on pay by taking a job when he gets to his destination. His employer in New Orleans happens to be an ex-girlfriend and brothel madam Josephine Early.

Andan has no idea what kind of job he is getting himself into in New Orleans. He only knows that it will help cover the costs to retrofit his airship for legal shipping and it might give him a chance at closure in the relationship with Josephine that he never really got. When he arrives to pilot the ship, it turns out it isn’t an airship at all. He is to pilot a massive submersible from Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf through enemy lines in order to use its weapons capabilities to swing the tides in the war, assuming he and his men can survive the trip.

Facing his past will be difficult with his future back in Seattle. This set of jobs might be the break he needs to make a good amount of money, get the necessary supplies for Seattle to expand, and settle down with his new flame with a new business. This is all assuming he doesn’t die in battle or by sinking the Ganymede to the bottom of the ocean.

Themes: Ganymede is a romance story between Andan Cly and the past love in Josephine Early and present and future love in Briar Wilkes. We get to see Andan and Josephine work out their problems of the past, but also get to see how those problems and resolutions might affect their future relationships.

Letting go of the past is a major theme in Ganymede not just for Andan and his relationship with Josephine, but also as Andan makes the attempt to get out of the life of piracy shipping drugs and into the legitimate business of setting up Seattle as a shipping hub.

Ganymede also attempts to bring the issue of discrimination to light through Josephine. She is a mixed race prostitute but has connections which come in handy in a New Orleans bordered by Confederate states with a penchant for racism. One of her prostitutes also has a secret that we see an issue in modern discrimination topics.

Pros: With some thoughtful character development, Ganymede gives the reader not only some great character interactions, but it also elaborates on some familiar characters from previous books in the series in Andan Cly, Briar Wilkes, Mercy Lynch, Ranger Korman, and more. Josephine Early stands out as a strong female protagonist who is not only successful in spite of her circumstances, but also who is a leader of the common people. Something Cherie Priest does well is creating multiple settings in the same novel that help define each other through contrast.

Cons: As the third full novel in the series, the plot for Ganymede was thinner than Boneshaker or Dreadnought. Especially at the main climax of the entire story, things felt like they just fell into place and nothing was really going to go wrong. Perhaps it was a failure to create tension, but I got the sense that no one was really in danger. In fact, it almost felt like the last few chapters were just lopped off the end. The primary climax seemed more like a minor one, leaving me with a desire for the stakes to be raised but left hanging.

Recommendations: My recommendation for Ganymede is that you at least read Boneshaker first, if not Boneshaker and Dreadnought. Ganymede creates some depth to characters from those previous novels, but that background will probably be helpful. The character development is very well executed for the main characters, even compared to the previous books, which is good because this book is more of a romance than the more action-packed predecessors. While thin on plot compared to its predecessors, Ganymede narrows the focus on a couple of the characters in the Clockwork Century series while bringing back some familiar faces in the periphery.

Cherie Priest’s website
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The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

Premise: When asteroid 2011GV1 came into view, the likelihood of its impact with the Earth eventually grew to a certainty. From that point on, people reacted in different ways. Some cashed in their retirements and moved to exotic locations to spend the rest of their lives (six months) to the fullest or to indulge themselves into dangerous or illegal behavior, while some turned to God or sought other meaning. Others fell into despair and gave up, beating the asteroid to the punch by committing suicide. Concord, New Hampshire has become one of those places rife with suicides, and Peter Zell is just another on the list when he is found dangling from a belt in a McDonald’s bathroom. Hank Palace doesn’t think it’s a suicide. The real problem is no one else cares, including the cops he works with.

Due to a lack of personnel, Hank Palace has been put on the fast track from beat cop to detective. Since being a detective is always what he wanted to be, he takes his job seriously, even with the limited amount of time he has left to do it. He is about the only one who still wants to do his job, so he follows the Peter Zell trail to those who last knew of his whereabouts. As he pieces the clues together, he believes more and more this was a murder, even when the medical examiner also rules it a suicide.

In a world that is about to end, with people committing suicide left and right, why bother investigating it as a murder? Everyone is trying to cope in their own way, and maybe this is just Hank’s way of coping. Or maybe he just wants to do his job right. Whatever reasons he has for investigating the death or reasons someone would have to kill a man this close to the end, Hank Palace knows that even if he does find a killer, it might not even ultimately matter.

Themes: A mystery presents itself and new detective Hank Palace wants to take it seriously, even though no one else does. Seeking justice for a dead man doesn’t make sense when the world is probably coming to an end, but that is exactly what Hank plans on doing. Hank goes on a trail for clues to solve the mystery and digs up just what he needs piece by piece. He knows he must be on the right trail when his own life is threatened.

With the survival (or lack of survival) scenario, The Last Policeman presents a “how would you respond?” question to all readers. It gives a macro level look at the human race and the vast range of responses to such a scenario.

The Last Policeman also zooms in on what people are willing to do for their family, even in the worst circumstances, such as putting their jobs in danger, risking their own lives, or even committing crimes including murder. It looks at what people will do to help their family through tough times and also what people are willing to do to protect those they love.

Pros: The pacing of The Last Policeman was wonderful, plodding along in despair at times, and spinning out of control at others. I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue, especially in the face of the Earth’s demise. Clues are doled out right when they are needed with nothing wasted or overdone. The first person present tense punctuates the immediacy of the situation and the urgency of every moment. It poses valid questions with realistic answers under the worst of scenarios and exemplifies the vast array of human reactions to those circumstances. I think it is this display of humanity that had the most impact on me.

Cons: This was difficult for me since I liked The Last Policeman so much. Some readers might find the story somewhat depressing, though there are glimpses of hope throughout. There is some language and violence you will find in most cop novels. The story might start too slow for impatient readers who give up too easily and stop reading, but the reward is great for those who persevere in finishing.

Recommendations: The Last Policeman is one of those books that just grabbed me from the beginning and got better as it progressed. Everything about it seemed to work, from the dialogue to the gradual reveals in the mystery all the way to the foreshadowed revelations when Hank finally solves the mystery. Ben H. Winters has set out a police mystery in an apocalyptic setting that manages to display optimism under gloomy circumstances. As a mystery, cop drama, or as a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, The Last Policeman has something to offer for everyone. With its exploration of human nature, The Last Policeman poses thoughtful questions everyone should ask themselves. Plus it’s just plain good writing. It’s also the first in a trilogy, for which I am not angry.

Ben H. Winters’ website
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Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Premise: The Unites States has been ravaged by war and major cities have been abandoned. The Constitution is no longer in effect. Instead, there are now the Moral Statutes, put in place by the Federal Bureau of Reformation. Moral behavior has now been legislated by these statutes and those who break them are rounded up and punished severely.

Ember Miller’s very existence is in jeopardy since she is the child of a single mother who reads unapproved books and secretly thumbs her nose at the system. After the government finally tracks down her mother, Ember does whatever it takes to find and rescue her. The only problem is the boy she loves, Chase Jennings, is the person who arrested her mother, and now Ember will have to be sent off to be rehabilitated into compliance.

Ember must go under the radar, deal with curfews, escape from imprisonment, and face death to find her mother. She will have to decide whether or not she trusts Chase and find out if there is any hope of throwing off the oppression of the FBR. Will compliance with the statutes be enough to keep the people complacent or will they eventually rise up?

Themes: The importance of separation of church and state came to mind as a theme when I first read the cover blurb. I’m not sure it was intentional, but the first half of the book puts that forward, while the rest of the book reinforces it. Can we legislate morality?

Survival comes to the forefront as Ember and her mother, along with other rehab girls and everyone else living under the oppression of the FBR, attempt to make ends meet by accepting the meager supplies doled out to them by the government. All of this is done while attempting to secretly hang onto the former freedoms they used to enjoy.

The changes that happen to people in the throes of war become relevant as Ember learns of the transformation that Chase has undergone after enlisting as a soldier and joining with the “Moral Militia” to hunt down the non-compliant. The horrible things that people see while in battle can be too much to handle for some.

Pros: At first glance, I thought I would hate this book, but I actually started to get into it around the halfway point. I was surprised I finished the book and was glad I did. Article 5 gave me some things to think about as far as my own biases. Though rife with plot holes and gaping omissions of important details, the story is still fairly well-constructed as a whole.

Cons: The reason I thought I would hate this is because it sounded preachy. I hate to say I was right. It sets up the government as a “Christian” ruling body that enacts moral statutes, and enforces them by rounding people up and executing them. While I understand this is fiction, I tend to implicate authors’ views at least in some part into what they write. I don’t know if I’m even right on this count, but that’s what I came away with. I didn’t really like Ember because she was so whiny and could have solved so many of her problems by simply breaking out of her self-deprecating angst and actually talking to Chase. Finally, the ending is a non-ending that is either intended to lead you into the next book (something I hate) or is a vague glimpse of hope to overcome the clutches of an extremely nebulous theocracy.

Recommendations: In spite of its numerous flaws, I found myself liking Article 5 more than I thought I would. Even with its annoying protagonist and unclear ending, I enjoyed the journey of reading through it. If you like post-apocalyptic young adult (though this is labeled as “teen”) then you can probably find other better-executed stories out there. I might give book two a chance if it is written, but more likely I will move on to characters I care more about and stories with a premise less preachy.

Kristen Simmons’ website
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