Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear

 

First published in 1992

Anvil of Stars is a mildly disappointing sequel to the mildly disappointing The Forge of God.  With the help of friendly aliens, a group of survivors of the cataclysm described in the first novel begin a quest to hunt down the unfriendly aliens who caused that catastrophe.  Most of the novel describes the factions and in-fighting that develop in the ship-bound society of youngsters seeking vengeance (or justice, depending on your point of view), as well as the training they undergo. A lot of it was repetitive and dull.

More interesting was the joining of the Earth ship with the aliens from another ship on the same mission. The aliens were well-conceived. In both physical description and behavior, they seemed truly alien, and therefore credible--as opposed to television aliens who seem like humans with funny hair, or movie aliens who seem like lizards.

The other interesting aspect of the novel concerns the conflict that developed between those who want at all costs to wipe out the species that destroyed the Earth (even in the absence of conclusive evidence of their responsibility) and those who worry they might be destroying innocents--ancestors who did not make the decision to attack the Earth and who may disagree with it, or a different alien race that had nothing to do with the attack. That moral dilemma poses no easy solution, and Bear does a good job of portraying both viewpoints fairly. This would have been a better novel if more emphasis had been placed on that conflict and less on training sessions.  In the end, the dilemma is resolved in a satisfying manner. I would have enjoyed the novel more if it had arrived at that resolution much more quickly.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

The Librarian by Larry Beinhart

Published by Nation Books on August 25, 2004

Alan Stowe, an elderly man of great wealth and power, hires David Goldberg, a university librarian, to act as his personal librarian, sorting and recording the papers he's collected during his life. Stowe is a conservative backer of the president (a thinly disguised George Bush) in his bid for reelection. Soon people are trying to kill Goldberg because they believe his perusal of the papers has caused him to discover the plot they've prepared to steal the election.

If you put politics aside (which some readers will probably be unable to do), what's left is an entertaining thriller that charges along at a furious pace. The characters tend to be thin and the relationship between Goldberg and the beautiful woman who may or may not be on his side is improbable at best, but the inventive and action-filled story nonetheless entertains.

RECOMMENDED

Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi

Publsihed by Henry Holt and Co. on June 12, 2007

Volk's Game is a fast paced thriller with an abundance of violence that would seem gratuitous were it not for the carefully drawn characters Brent Ghelfi created to drive the story. Colonel Volk lost his leg fighting Chechen separatists while his beautiful (and dangerous) young friend and lover Valya carries emotional scars from that same conflict. The backstory explains why both characters so readily resort to violence, but it is a tribute to Ghelfi's deft storytelling that, as the story unfolds (and continuing into the next book), they begin to question their own bitterness and wonder if some better life might be possible.

Volk works for "the General" in a clandestine role, while also managing his own small-scale criminal enterprise and trying to keep Maxim (a powerful crime boss) happy. Volk's current assignment involves the theft of an unknown Da Vinci masterpiece that has been hidden in an art gallery. During the course of events Volk is betrayed by nearly everyone.

Volk is a complex character: a criminal who works for himself, for other criminals and for the Russian Army (i.e., for his country, which he fiercely loves); a ruthless and (mostly) remorseless assassin who finds time to dispense charity to war veterans and their widows; a man who, despite questioning his capacity for love, displays the self-sacrifice that is love's greatest measure. The secondary characters are a bit one-dimensional and the plot, while tight, is more than a little improbable -- but improbable plot twists are standard in the thriller genre. The story's background seems to have been well researched. All told, I thought this was a fun, enjoyable read.

RECOMMENDED

High Life by Matthew Stokoe

First published 2002; reprinted by Akashic Books in 2008

Jack lives in a seedy part of LA, works at Donut Haven, is married to a hooker named Karen, and dreams of being a celebrity.  It doesn’t surprise him when Karen disappears after selling her kidney for $30,000. Expecting her to be on a prolonged bender, Jack goes looking for Karen and instead finds the police, in a park, examining a gutted body.  Jack soon enters into uncomfortable relationships with a police detective named Ryan and a seductive surgeon named Bella.  His life is about to become much better -- or much worse -- than he ever imagined.

High Life is noir on steroids. It has the blunt and gory mixture of sex, drugs, and violence that animates American Psycho, but it almost makes that novel resemble Winnie the Pooh by comparison. If you're put off by scatology, necrophilia, incest, and gruesome descriptions of death, you might want to give High Life a pass. On the other hand, if you can stomach the violence and the bizarre sexual appetites of the principle characters, you'll be rewarded with a masterful piece of writing, as well as an insightful examination of the seedy underbelly of Hollywood and the craving that certain outcasts feel for the well publicized lives of wealthy celebrities.

Matthew Stokoe makes the novel's first person narrator into a likable sociopath--no small feat, and a tribute to his authorial abilities. The tightly plotted story is credible, the characters are fully realized, and the atmosphere is a rich mix of the darkness of noir and the superficial sunshine of Hollywood. High Life is hard to put down and hard to forget.

RECOMMENDED

The Prisoner by Carlos J. Cortes

Published by Spectra on October 27, 2009

In 2049, prisons have been replaced by facilities that house prisoners in hibernation tanks.  The private corporation that runs them has hidden some tanks in the middle of each facility that are used to house Russian mafia types and political prisoners who never receive a trial.  Why these folks aren’t just killed rather than hidden away (presumably forever) is never satisfactorily explained.  Even more far-fetched is the plot:  a senator’s son who became a political activist is one of the occupants of the hidden tanks (for patently absurd reasons that, for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I won't reveal) and three lawyers (yes, lawyers, not former special forces types who might be trained to do this sort of thing, but lawyers) are recruited to bust the activist out of the hibernation tank.

Putting aside the ridiculous plot, most of the novel reads like a well written thriller, as powerful but relatively incompetent agents of Homeland Security chase the lawyers and the thawed activist through the D.C. sewer system.  The characters suffer from the single dimensionality that is common enough in thrillers, but the action sustains the novel until the novel reaches it's stunningly bad (but oh-so-happy) ending.

Tempted though I am to steer readers away from this novel, I must admit that I enjoyed reading much of it.  The writing is polished, the story is action-filled (as befits a thriller), and the pace is furious (which makes it possible to read without thinking much about the plot holes).  The last few pages, however, are rather dull polemic, in contrast to the lively writing that precedes them.  It's a shame that so much good writing was wasted on such a silly plot, but readers looking for an exciting science fiction thriller might want to take a look at this one.  Just check your common sense at the door if you want to enjoy it.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS