For your winter reading: Two Dan Simmons novels, reviewed by Jon Moss

It's winter--a great time to stay inside and curl up with your favorite means of staying warm, to read great books new and old. 

Here are a pair of "50-Word Reviews" by our prize-winning reviewer Jon Moss (for more of her reviews, see her blog Misty Midwest Mossiness). 

Hyperion
by Dan Simmons (3 stars)

I’m disappointed. Just when I was getting pieces of the puzzle and a few of the questions answered, the story ends. Abruptly. Hyperion is a re-imagining of the literary frame tale, similar to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, but as science fiction space opera.

Seven pilgrims travel to Hyperion to petition the Shrike. Each pilgrim tells their tale in the hope  they will collectively  discover why they were chosen for the pilgrimage.  Between the tales, we eek out what’s really going on in the interstellar love triangle gone bad between the Hegemony (static humanity), the Ousters (evolved humanity) and the TechnoCore (AIs). 

(1989; won Hugo and Locus Awards in 1990)

The Terror (2007)
by Dan Simmons (4 stars)

I started reading this on a February evening, with snowfall predicted to commence after midnight. I sat shivering at the kitchen table while I read the first few chapters, even though my furnace kept my house toasty.  Brrrr..... Great writing by Dan Simmons, atmospherically speaking.

Simmons kept me riveted until the last few chapters, when he decided to take an extreme detour into arctic supernatural spirituality that left me, well, cold. Still, a great read by an outstanding author. I recommend lots of warm tea or hot cocoa and abstinence from long pork.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Wikipedia for the Hyperion cover, and to Amazon for the cover of The Terror.

Three John Scalzi Reviews by Jon Moss

Back in 2013, KaCSFFS held a 50-Word Review Contest, soliciting reviews for the Blog by KAXFEN and friends of KaCSFFS. The winner of that contest was the prolific and well-read Jon Moss--but after the contest ended we didn't manage to publish all of her reviews. 

Now we are seeking reviews of books or other materials that fall into Hugo Award categories, and we specifically want reviews for works that are eligible for the 2016 Hugo Awards. These, of course, will be presented at Kansas City's own MidAmericon II. 

Please consider this a long-overdue tip-of-the-hat to the inimitable Jon Moss, and a challenge to consider writing and submitting your own review of something published during the year 2015. We'd love to hear from you. 

Now let's hear from Jon Moss, on three popular novels by John Scalzi: 

Old Man's War (2007-4 stars) 

A good story, regardless of genre, and an especially great military science fiction tale.

For me, the best parts of this story were the relationships. They were sparse but gripping. Perry's memories of his wife and marriage. The familial bonding among the Old Farts and the grief of their passing.

I recommend this to anyone who loves military science fiction, with a good dose of wit and sarcasm, flavored with a gentle touch of what it means to be human in an insane non-human galaxy. 

The Ghost Brigades (2007-4 stars) 

The first half of this sequel to Old Man's War immersed us in Special Forces, as experienced by Jared Dirac, a very unusual recruit to the Ghost Brigades. Jared's squad leader is none other than Jane Sagan. 

The second half reveals more of the politics driving the war and fight to colonize in this corner of the galaxy. Jane and Jared discover ever more frightening information regarding the aliens.

I enjoyed this novel at least as much as the first one. If you've read Old Man's War, you won't be disappointed in this sequel.

The Last Colony  (2007-3.5 stars)

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot twists, and the conundrum of The Last Colony. I couldn't keep from reading it, even while attending an all-day technology conference. No one looked at me strangely between sessions, since we were all geeks and I was reading a Scalzi novel, for goodness sake.

On an interesting side note, I now understand why John Scalzi is listed as a creative consultant to the Stargate:Universe television series. The fate of the stranded, lost people trapped on the Destiny mirrors many of the challenges and situations faced by the members of the colony Roanoke.

IMAGES: Many thanks to MidAmericon II for their logo; and to Amazon for the cover art of Old Man’s War, to SF Reviews for the cover of The Ghost Brigades, and to Cephus’ Corner for the cover of The Last Colony.