A new planet. New colonists trying to make a solid go of it, free from secular impurities and new-fangled technologies. Men and women roughing it in the ways of their ancestors. The colonists arrive only to find an indigenous race on the planet and a terrible bioweapon that forces telepathy on every man, on every animal. Every man and animal has no choice but to broadcast their thoughts for all to hear. The crocodiles whisper FLESH and TOOTH and HUNGRY, while the dogs happily bark about the squirrels they see and their urgent need to poop.
On this world, in what he thinks is the only settlement on the planet, Todd Hewitt is about to have his twelfth birthday and undergo the ritual of manhood. While walking in the swamps with his dog Todd stumbles upon a girl, only every girl died in the plagues of ten years ago. Right? Of course not. This is a YA dystopia--a popular genre right now--reminiscent of Suzanne Collins "Hunger Games" or even Jonathan Lethem's "Girl in Landscape."
This is a lovely novel that is deeply concerned with communication between the sexes, how different cultures react to hardship, religious fanaticism, and the lies we tell children. It is the first book in a trilogy, but book two is already published.
Consider it highly recommended.
"Berserker" (1967) tells the story of humanity's war with Death Star-like automated killing machines called berserkers. They are remnants of a war long forgotten between races long dead. All that survives are the berserkers and their desire to eliminate all life.
Their methods are unique. The berserkers were built to be unpredictable machines. Essentially all of their planning and tactics and strategy rests on a random number generator buried deep in their cores. Will they bombard a planet with rockets? Will they abduct people and brainwash them? Will they secretly contact the mob and flood the black markets of a sector with enough currency to cause a civil war?
They are odd monsters. But they are not the most interesting thing in this book.
Formally Saberhagen has structured "Berserker" as a series of short stories exploring man's war with the berserkers from a variety of viewpoints and circumstances. It reminds one of Bradbury's "the Martian Chronicles" or Asimov's "I, Robot." Variations on a theme, a wealth of characters. While some of the stories left me cold--a painter encounters a berserker but he is so broken already in spirit and full of self-loathing the berserker refuses to kill him, as the man himself is an advertisement for the futility of life--others are outstanding bits of space opera and hard sci-fi. Saberhagen is a gifted author. I regret having waited this long to read this series.
Under the Dome is much like Stephen King's other infamous doorstop of a novel, The Stand. A mysterious Thing happens that isolates a few thousand people and we follow a few dozen characters as Bad Things compound. But I honestly love The Stand, so that's dandy.
The plot in a nutshell, one day a small Maine town finds itself cut off from the rest of the world by a massive dome. The dome is impenetrable, except to air, but transparent. While some people try and keep their heads down and decide to plod along others see the Dome as an opportunity for power grabs and enacting end-of-the-world moralities.
The book is incredibly readable--it's Stephen King, y'know?--with language and plot tricks that impress and delight. I read the whole 1200+ pages on vacation and it felt like the literary equivalent of watching an entire season of a tv show in a weekend.
Thematically I'd make the argument that this is Stephen King's attack on the Bush years, with the corrupt Selectmen standing in for Bush, Cheney and perhaps Pelosi. It's about fear and power, manipulation and the madness of crowds.
Others might complain that he left too much in. That there are asides and moments we don't need to see. And sure, that's probably true. He could've told this story in five pages if he'd wanted to. But it wouldn't have been nearly as fun.
Consider it highly recommended.
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