Tagged: zoe
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up.
That is, until his and Jane’s past reaches out to bring them back into the game–as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds, for a deep political purpose that will put Perry and Sagan back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war.
If, after The Ghost Brigades, you were still unsure about the ethics of the Colonial Union, you’re going to be sure about them after this. The Colonial Union is pretty much exactly as ominous as the name initially suggested to me. But I’ll get into that shortly.
First off, I want to say that as with every John Scalzi novel, the characters are fantastic. We’re back with John Perry, only now he’s retired. Until the Colonial Union throws a wrench into his plans for being a small community leader on the farming world of Huckleberry. So he, Jane and Zoe are thrown straight into a colonization project on a new world. Since many of the other races in the universe have banded together to stop colonization and the frequent wars that errupt because of it, this is way more risky than it sounds as the discovery of their colony could lead to all of their deaths.
John is a wonderful character and seeing him in this morally ambiguous situation really brings out his better traits. He clearly knows that colonization on a large scale like humans do is wrong when it pushes alien races out of their home worlds but at the same time he can’t really change the entire basis of the Colonial Union. So he has to make sure his new colony of Roanoke stays undetected and therefore safe. But while John is stuck between a rock and a hard place, his ingenuity eventually allows him to succeed where it would have been so easy to fail.
The plot is fantastic. John Scalzi crams a lot into just over 300 pages. We go off and see our characters found a new colony, learn that they’re not where they’re supposed to be, struggle to try to make the colony functional and eventually fight for their lives when the Colonial Union and the rest of the universe face off. At the same time, this is also a wonderful personal story. The relationship between John and Jane is wonderful and loving but not without its struggles. And of course Zoe is now a teenager and life is never simple when you’re a teenager on a new colony with two alien bodyguards with their own agendas and struggles. In the end, The Last Colony is a both a very human story of love and survival and a political thriller that asks you to question the world around you, particularly the motivations of various governments.
This is the third book in the Old Man’s War series and although the ending is satisfying in itself, it leaves open so many possibilities in the next few books. I can’t really get into the details of the ending because that would be a massive spoiler but let’s just say I definitely did not see that coming. John Scalzi is one of the few novelists who consistently surprises me and I honestly can’t wait to read more of the Old Man’s War series.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan
(Cover picture courtesy of KurzweilAI.)
Philosopher, entrepreneur, and former National Geographic and New York Times correspondent Zoltan Istvan presents his bestselling visionary novel, The Transhumanist Wager, as a seminal statement of our times.
Scorned by over 500 publishers and literary agents around the world, his indie philosophical thriller has been called “revolutionary” and “socially dangerous” by readers, scholars, and religious authorities. The novel debuts a challenging original philosophy, which rebuffs modern civilization by inviting the end of the human species–and declaring the onset of something greater.
Set in the present day, the novel tells the story of transhumanist Jethro Knights and his unwavering quest for immortality via science and technology. Fighting against him are fanatical religious groups, economically depressed governments, and mystic Zoe Bach: a dazzling trauma surgeon and the love of his life, whose belief in spirituality and the afterlife is absolute. Exiled from America and reeling from personal tragedy, Knights forges a new nation of willing scientists on the world’s largest seasteading project, Transhumania. When the world declares war against the floating city, demanding an end to its renegade and godless transhuman experiments and ambitions, Knights strikes back, leaving the planet forever changed.
[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy from Zoltan Istvan in exchange for an honest review.]
I usually steer away from reviewing books on controversial topics, but this one is definitely the exception. I was so interested from the blurb that I couldn’t pass up a chance to read it. So what did I think of The Transhumanist Wager?
Well, I can say that I don’t really feel one way or the other about it. It’s fascinating from a philosophical perspective because it combines libertarianism, liberalism and conservatism all together to create transhumanism. If you like what I call ‘philosophical thrillers’ I would recommend The Transhumanist Wager. And while I know a little bit about philosophy, I’m far from an expert so that angle didn’t work for me.
This brought along the obvious problem with this book: it really, really, really tries hard to promote transhumanism. There are pages of transhumanist rhetoric that the main character, Jethro Knights, thinks and says. Sure, it’s interesting from a philosophical standpoint as I said before, but as a regular book it’s boring. In fantasy books I don’t like heroes or villains going on big moral rants. In science fiction books I don’t like pages and pages of explanations for technology. So would I put up with pages and pages of philosophy for this sci-fi/philosophy thriller? Not really. There comes a point in time when it stops being interesting and starts getting boring.
The Transhumanist Wager was supposed to be a novel but I think it would have done much better as a nonfiction manifesto. The main character Jethro Knights is generally unemotional and utterly dedicated to transhumanism. He barely has doubts along the way, something that I find a little unbelievable. I mean, doesn’t everyone question their beliefs once in a while? The only thing I found sympathetic about him was his love for Zoe. Despite his beliefs he tolerated her spiritual beliefs and eventually placed her beliefs over his because he knew it would have been what she wanted.
Considering how slow the beginning started out I was surprised that it actually picked up at the end. Zoltan Istvan got off to a pretty shaky start with Jethro’s backstory and his transhuman beliefs, but I did appreciate that the plot gradually picked up later on. It wasn’t exactly a fast-paced thrill ride, but it wasn’t mind-numbingly boring. If he had cut out some of Jethro’s long speeches the plot wouldn’t have dragged in places, but I think the philosophy of transhumanism was more important to him than the pacing.
Overall I’d have to say that The Transhumanist Wager is a good book if you focus more on the philosophy than on it being a book that’s supposed to entertain you. If you’re interested in transhumanism, go ahead and read it. But if you’re looking for a science fiction novel you’re meant to enjoy for its plot, characters and world-building I don’t think this is the right book for you.
I give this book 2.5/5 stars.