Keeping track of what books I am reading can be a pain sometimes, because I read too many of them. Then I forgot to put them up here. Well, here is my attempt at catch up–4 books past, and 1 that I’m doing at the moment.

There are in no particular order:

First is The Ethos Effect by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. As anyone who knows me well already knows, I like L. E. Modesitt’s writing. The Ethos Effect is no exception. I really liked it. It stands by itself very well, so even if you hadn’t ever ready anything by Modesitt, you would like this book. It is a strong contender for a new series if he wishes to use it as a launching platform. Other than some of the better books of his Recluse series, this is probably one of his best books, and it stands tall along side of the Empire and Ecolitan series, which I believe are probably his best.

As you might gather from the title, ethics play a large part of the theme of the book. At times, the ethics talks get tiresome, and you have a pretty good idea exactly what is going to eventually happen to the protagonist.

One thing that was interesting and slightly different from most of his books–racial tensions. The protagonist is a “black Taran”, and other groups include a hispanic culture, a cultist white-supremecy group, and the semi-hologenous Tarans. The “black Tarans” are also pro-homosexual, and most of the rest of the Taran empire is not. So there are double-thick overtones about racism and discrimination.

If you need a thought provoker, then this is it.

Now for the bad parts. There isn’t much. I find that his space fighting tactics to be overly simplistic and elementary. Additionally, once the same tactic gets used, you would think that everyone would know it soon. Even if no transmissions are made by the ship that gets destroyed, the tactics are so obvious that you would think that everyone would know them.
Second is Ender’s Game. I had heard about Ender’s Game for a long time, but I hadn’t ever gotten around to reading it. Now, I always shop the bargin book rack at my local Barnes & Noble, and I spotted Book 5 of the Ender’s Game series in hardback for $5.98. I pick up lots of hardback books from the bargin section just to have good reading material. I can get an inexpensive look at some series. However, with this book, I went ahead and bought Shadow of the Hegemon and Ender’s Game at the same time. I knew that the series was good, and I didn’t want to blow too much of the series by reading the last book first.

I have several philosophical disagreements with Orson Scott Card, the list of which is going by first, middle and last name all of the time. I think that using your middle initial is elegant, but all three makes you appear to be flaunting something. It reminds me of attorneys putting Esquire after their name.

Regardless of what I think of Mr. Card, Ender’s Game is brilliant. I had the Author’s Definitive Edition, which includes a preface by Mr. Card. He expounds on how he really didn’t write Ender’s Game to be the way it is now. He really wanted to write Speaker for the Dead (next book down). I would hate to think that Ender’s Game is really just back-story, but that is what he makes it sound like. Whatever the reason he wrote the book, it is simply brilliant.

I think that many geeks identify with the book because they want to think that they are possessed of a superior intelligence, as was Ender’s family. Peter and Valentine both had superior intellects, but were flawed for other reasons. Ender was what they wanted. Most geeks do not possess the intellect that Ender’s character has. I think I am a pretty smart guy too, but nothing like what Mr. Card makes Ender out to be. I think that more geeks need to be totally honest with themselves.

The book is also a study into how humans might interact with a new species from space. He makes an unusual stance about how we not only would have trouble communicating, but would not even consider communication to be an issue. Stories about insect communication are overdone, and Mr. Card uses it as a plot line. He does not explore any new territory with the insect communcation, but he does speak well about the conceptual issues that we would face. He also predicts that humans will not turn into some Star Trek Federation group of nice-guys. Humans would not work out their problems, but work to kill off an entire species.

None of the topics in this book were original, but he put them together in a simply brilliant fashion.

Next is Speaker for the Dead. This is the reason why Mr. Card wrote Ender’s Game. This is the story he wanted to tell. Well, it is intersting, but there are too many overtones of missionarism, at least in the beginning. I found the first 80-100 pages to be really slow and the plot device to enable Ender to still be alive after 3,000 years is, well, a bit contrived. This book again talks to inter-species mis-communication, and does a better job than Ender’s Game.

Ender is not 35-years old and seems to have grown up a little. He still has the package he acquired at the end of Ender’s Game and he thinks he can do something with it. He also picks up a suitable girlfriend for a geek, a computer personality. She talks to him via an ear ring and shows herself via holo projections. Well, at least he has grown up a little. He grows up a lot more by the end of the book.

One think that really bothers me in series such as this one, where there a long time spans involved, is how their systems are still compatible or based on a 3,000-year old technology. The instantaneous communication device that was invented in the first book is still in use. I don’t think that I’m remiss in thinking that there would be more improvements in 3,000 years. Maybe there were, but we just aren’t told about them. I dunno.

Speaker for the Dead is still a good read, and I recommend it to anyone.

Last is Legacies (The Corean Chronicles). It is book 1 of the series, and another example where I picked up a book towards the end of the series in hardback from the bargin rack. I probably paid $5.98 for this one too.

I am actually still reading this book. I am having a hard time getting into the book, primarily because it is moving so slow. It seems obvious that so much of this book is setup for the rest of the series. It reads like a biography of the series protagonist. Much of it is very boring, which is so unlike L. E. Modesitt. I’m on page 190 of 597, and I’m just plowing though it. I’m sure it will get interesting eventually, but I feel that I’ll put it down once I’m finished and go get more of the Ender Wiggins series in paperback.

I’m sure I’ll post something about this book or series again sometime.

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