North A 2011 America pacifica

A dystopian novel where the dystopia is fully imagined and the plot has holes that need attention.

A generation from now the new ice age has made America uninhabitable. We learn, through memories and story telling, how civil behaviour collapsed as cold and hunger became commonplace. Visionaries fled to a new island home, and slowly others joined them. We meet this new society some twenty years after  it was founded, and it's not a great place to be poor. The teenage protagonist knows little about how things got to be as they are, and cares little about changing them. She's focused on the rent, dinner, staying safe.

I found the descriptions of how a marginal society gets by to be compelling. There is filth and hunger which reflect every refugee camp and shanty town you've ever read about, and turned your eyes away from. And the privileged classes - mostly the Mayflower first boaters - hold their privilege by deception and firepower, which also reflects every ailing society you've ever read about and turned away from. The plot, which at first had me gripped when a main character goes missing, lost me for the final third of the book. The final chapter? Meh.

I'd read another novel by this author though, and she seems to have set up a sequel.

First line:

The trouble started when the woman with the shaking hands came to the apartment.

Morgan R 2001 Altered carbon

This is a tough and nasty read, but I've read it multiple times.

The fighting is dirty, and I usually skip those passages. The torture is horrific, and I always skip past that. The sex is explicit: some in the good way (merge9 -yes please); some in the bad way (abuse of sex workers). The plot is convoluted and I'm not sure I could describe it.

What did I like? Our anti hero,  Kovacs. We learn in flashbacks that he entered  the military to escpe a tough childhood, we learn just how tough the fighting was - never his fight, never his body - and we learn how hundreds of years and light years distance don't distance you from your demons. Also, despite the body count, he seems to be basically decent. Maybe I'm just an optimist?

Also, I really like the world(s) Morgan creates. It is perfectly constructed. I believe. Has someone fan-ficed the Quellist philosophy into a quasi Little Book of Calm? Make it personal.

First line:

Two hours before dawn I sat in the peeling kitchen and smoked one of Sarah's cigarettes, listening to the maelstrom and waiting.

Last line:

 The doors were waiting at the top, the needlecast beyond. Still trying to laugh, I went through.

Ryman, G 2004 Air

Just a few pages in and I was thinking this author doesn't like women. At least, he definitely doesn't like his lead character Mae: a shallow, bitchy wannabe who isn't. I like her though. Creating her space in the village selling fashion and cosmetics, she reminds me of the many women entrepreneurs listed on Kiva. If she needed a $25 loan, I'd cough up. Mr Ryman: I think you could write Mae more sympathetically.

I don't know why, but something in this book makes me think of Roberts' The Land of the Headless. When I've finished Air I'm going to read other reviews and find the connection. And then I might reread Roberts, although I remember the concept being more interesting than the story. I do hope that's not the connection...

First line:

Mae lived in the last village in the world to go online.

Last line:

[redacted for possible spoilers] , all of them, turned and walked together into the future.

Update: Mae is written more warmly as the story unfolds. I was interested to note that I had no believability problem with the surprise pregnancy (spit: don't swallow) but for me a talking dog was a an innovation too far.

Howey H, 2011, Wool omnibus edition (1-5)

A dystopia. With knitting.

What's outside the silo? Start this book and you will need to know. This is a stay-up-all-nighter. In fact it's a stay-up-all-nighter then read it again the next day just to check you didn't miss something important at 5am. For me, there's something terrifyingly immersive about the world Howey creates and I'd vote for Mayor Jahns given half a chance.

Yes, yes I liked this book.

First line:

The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do. 

Last line:

'I think you're right,' he told little Elise, pulling his radio free. 'I think everything's gonna be just fine...'

Spolier: never trust the bastards in IT.