TRACKERS; books 1 & 2 by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

TRACKERS; Trackers Book 1

Much Needed Departure from Zombies

THE HUNTED; Trackers Book 2

E.M.P. Not the Star of this Show

I am reviewing these two book s together since I listened to them back-to-back and they do seem to form one contiguous story.  I have listened to several books by Smith strictly because I am a great admirer of the narrator, Bronson Pinchot. The books in the Extinction Cycle are above average Zombie fare and Smith has demonstrated to me that he understands what makes for interesting action sequences. The two Tracker books here are a welcome relief from the frantic Zombie books he usually offers. I recommend listening to the afterward first before starting the first novel. It will give you an appreciation as to what Smith was attempting.

When I first approached the book I was sure that it would be a carbon copy of the book One Second After, but—to my relief—it is chiefly a book concerning the efforts to track down criminals in the worst possible circumstance—the aftermath of an E.M.P. strike. Personally I thin thet E.M.P. effect is down-played too much but Smith manages to tell a decent story with this situation used as the back-drop.

Bronson Pinchot is good, as always, but he really did not have enough quirky characters with which to flex his vocal cords. Most of the characters are small town Americans. I hear those voices every day. But Pinchot is faithful to the story and does not engage in an extra exaggeration. 

ZODIAC by Neal Stephenson

Do it if You are a Stephenson Fan

The third book in my preparation for Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle (& Cryptonomicon). I found this book to be engaging throughout but it never gave me a sense that it knew where it was going. And the ending proved to me that it really did not know when to end. It just kind of quits. This is definitely not among Stephenson’s better efforts but does serve to demonstrate a certain potential for storytelling.

Ax Norman narrates and does a fine job. 

INTERFACE by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George

Average Techno-Thriller Effort

The second book in my run up to Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle (& Cryptonomicon) was to listen to this older work. I liked this much more than D.O.D.O. Interface is a fairly straight thriller. There is a bit of an SF element in it, the technology of the brain implant, but this is no Science fiction book. I enjoyed the characterization and the foreshadowed plot. But I must say that the ending was not expected.

The Oliver Wyman narration was very good. Mr. Wyman made an extra effort to vocalize the more oddball characters, making the experience more fun.  

THE RISE AND FALL OF D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

Too Much YA Influence

I am gearing up to listen to Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle (& Cryptonomicon) and so thought it wise to explore some of his other works. I am a great admirer of time travel stories so this one seemed right up my alley.

In the interest of time let’s cut to the chase. D.O.D.O. is a mildly entertaining time travel yarn with some engaging characters. But in the end it suffers from an add mixture of ingenuous plotting and insufferable inconsistencies. I chalk this up to, what I believe to be, an incompatible collaboration. There is a Young Adult thread throughout, accompanied by YA comments concerning the back-sides of the male characters. Going through these sections I felt like I was at the local mall on Saturday. Then there were some adult themed scenes involving a barbarian and a prostitute that would garner a NC-17 rating at the theater. Some of the time travel elements are interesting, and the whole magic element was ingenuous. But then other time travel elements were so contradictory as to cause me to loose my sense of awe. All in all, this is a muddled book at best.

The narration is geared toward teenage girls, it seems to me. Who, knows maybe the YA segment will love it? I hung in there to the end just to say that I did. 

Gene Wolfe Checklist

I have worked up a reading checklist for the Gene Wolfe books available to us—all 31 novels plus short story collections. My Wolfe collection is missing just a few items, and by few I mean two. I intend to read or re-read all of Gene Wolfe's works before the Deathclock stops ticking. We have already begun the project with the reading of AN EVIL GUEST and PIRATE FREEDOM. The checklist will be distributed to all members via the usual medium. It is similar to the checklist for the Parker books.

Richard K. Morgan's New Novel THIN AIR

Yes Richard Morgan has a Netflix series due out in February based on his novel ALTERED CARBON and next he will be releasing a new novel called THIN AIR on March 20, 2018, just a month later. The publisher is touting it as, "An atmospheric tale of corruption and abduction set on Mars." 

These are both items of great interest to the Fictionados since Morgan is one of our favorite authors.

THIN AIR will be released on Kindle so you know what that means. We will need to read it immediately.

ALTERED CARBON Teaser Video

Where will you be on February 2nd, 2018? Hopefully in front of a TV watching ALTERED CARBON.

The Netflix 10 episode series Altered Carbon now has a Teaser video. The show is due to begin on February 2nd.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/12/04/altered-carbon-trailer-netflix/

I plan to obtain a Netflix subscription just for this series. It will be a must watch event. It is rumored to have the largest ever television budget. Watch the teaser and see if the money was well spent. I know enough about it to know that the series alters some essential elements of the novel, so it should be surprising even to Takeshi Kovacs aficionados.