Category Archives: literature

I like most of the novels written by Vernor Vinge (well, with exception of Taja Grimm’s World). I thought Rainbow’s End was inspired, and that Deepness in the Sky was a really solid piece of SF. Fire Upon the Deep … Continue reading →

Back in July I have reviewed an excellent Polish SF novel titled “Perfect Imperfection”, which by the way may be getting an English language release soon. Over the holidays I acquired two new books by the same author thanks to … Continue reading →

Sometimes you read a book, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Not because it was bad, but because the story is so depressing and/or disturbing that it makes you feel dirty. The Sparrow by Marry Doria Rusell … Continue reading →

Sometimes I often rag on fantasy for being redundant and uninspired genre. It’s not that I hate it, it’s just that I find it a rather one-note genre with very little originality. In fact, I would go as far as … Continue reading →

It’s not often that I am unable to finish a book. I am a book worm by nature – I devour printed volumes wholesale not unlike Sam Savage’s Firmin. Good, bad – it does not really matter. So far there … Continue reading →

When I reviewed Embassytown I lamented at the scarcity of well designed, interesting aliens that do not conform to overplayed archetypes such as rubber-forehead people, and rabid, insectoid killing machines. I enjoyed Miéville’s attempt to create a race with a … Continue reading →

We are all fans of science fiction here. Some of us enjoy it more than the others, but most of us read it. Most literary genres have their share of crappy novels, but it often seems like ours has it … Continue reading →

Taja Grimm’s World has a rather interesting pedigree. It started as a short story titled Grimm’s Story which Vinge published some time in the early 60’s. In 1968 he expanded it into a novella format, renamed it to Grimm’s World … Continue reading →

If you have been following my literary reviews for a little while, you have probably noticed a pattern according to which I select my reading materials. I love hard SF, and I am fascinated by anything that even brushes against … Continue reading →

China Miéville is probably best known for his imaginative fantasy work set in the same funky universe as the excellent Perdido Street Station. I really like what he is doing to re-invigorate the genre by pushing at it’s borders from … Continue reading →

Long time ago, some time in the 90’s I presume, the literary science fiction magazine I subscribed to, used to run a series of editorials titled something like “The Return of Feudalism”. They were all written by a Polish expat … Continue reading →

Guess what time it is kids? It’s time for a book review! We haven’t had one of these in a while. Stop whining! I’m giving you good SF titles to read here. I’m enriching your lives. So you are gonna … Continue reading →

I love books that explore interesting concepts. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi was a little bit of an impulse buy for me. You see, I have a running Amazon wish list. Whenever I stumble upon very favorable book reviews, … Continue reading →

Halting State is definitely one of Charlie Stross’ low end books. It is nowhere near as impressive and intellectually stimulating as Accelerando or Glasshouse. I’d probably put it in the same category as Singularity Sky. Still, it is quite interesting … Continue reading →

When I read Accelerando I concluded that Charlie Stross is a master of putting a staggering number of cool ideas on every single page of his novel. The density of ideas per page in that book was so great it … Continue reading →

Sometimes you stumble upon a book that is well written, interesting, suspenseful, full of unexpected plot turns and reveals, and you go: “Meh…”. Don’t get me wrong – there is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. I really can’t criticize … Continue reading →

Back in September, I wrote about American Gods by Neil Gaiman. As I mentioned back then, my introduction to Gaiman was via the excellent Sandman comics. While his novel was very different from the comics, I still liked it. And … Continue reading →

If you have read this blog for a while, you probably know my opinion of Fantasy genre. For the most part I find the genre to be frequently shallow, sloppy and ironically unimaginative. And yet here I am, about to … Continue reading →

Charlie Stross is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He is very imaginative and his fiction is dense with interesting and well researched ideas. You may probably recall that I highly recommended his novel Glass House and said a … Continue reading →

I picked up House of Suns by Alastair Raynolds for two reasons. One of these reasons was that his name reminded me of this guy: The other reason, was equally or slightly more important but I managed to forget what … Continue reading →

The Illium series is Dan Simmons’ other, much under-appreciated book cycle. Everyone seems to know and love his Hyperion novel which is just exceptional. It is imaginative, interesting, combines several different narrative styles, and has inexplicable central mystery. Simmons wrote … Continue reading →

I recently stumbled upon this peculiar book titled “Man after Man” by Dougal Dixon. Just one look at the cover hooked me. I mean, look at this cover. Is it anything but intriguing? “Anthropology of the Future” eh? I’m interested. … Continue reading →

I really don’t know how to review this book without spoiling its ending. There is just not much else there to talk about. The characters are flat, one dimensional and barely realized. They come and go as Clarke cumbersomely steamrolls … Continue reading →

Can I just say one thing? I love my commenters. Seriously, the best part of this blog are the insightful comments I get on a lot of random topics I rant about. For example, my Utopia/Dystopia post prompted Ludvikas to … Continue reading →

Every once in a while I stumble on to good short stories and I post them here for your enjoyment. I found yet another one, and I wanted to share it. This time it is not some hidden gem by … Continue reading →