Dystopian

Background

Published in 1982, Battlefield Earth is a story of Earth a thousand years from now after we had been invaded by an alien civilization known as the Psychlos. They have almost no interest in us, rather they just want to mine our planet for the heavy metals.

My Thoughts

This was a pretty fun book and I remember being intimidated by it by it’s shear size when I read it as a teen. With my adult eyes, it was pretty campy and all the women had almost no character development but it was still fun.

The movie that came out a number of years ago was pretty terrible and didn’t do much to help promote the book. Oh well, Travolta tried…

Recommendation

A fun action book but pretty long.

Background

Published in November of 2020, “Ready Player Two” is a science fiction novel written by Ernest Cline and serves as a sequel to his 2011 bestseller, “Ready Player One”. The story takes place in a near-future world where virtual reality technology has become even more advanced, and the line between the real world and the digital realm has become increasingly blurred. The story follows Wade Watts, the protagonist from the first book, as he discovers a new technological breakthrough that promises to change everything. However, as Wade and his friends delve deeper into this new world, they find themselves facing new dangers and challenges that threaten to upend everything they thought they knew.

My Thoughts

Unfortunately the quality of this book was down from the last. I really enjoyed Ready Player One but that may be it hit me perfectly as nostalgic for the 80s. This book felt tacked on.

Recommendation

Skip this one!

Background

Published in March of 2005, Shadow of the Giant is the fourth book in the “Shadow” series by Orson Scott Card. These books continue and deepen the story found in the “Ender’s Game” series.

This book finds Bean as an ever growing giant and watches the critical stages of Peter as he is trying to unite earth and end war forever. However, the question keeps coming up, “What to do with the Battle-school graduates?” They just keep stirring up trouble.

My Thoughts

This book closed up a bunch of gaps and brought some good closure to the series. There is another book so I will read it but this would have been a good stopping place for me.

Recommendation

Pretty good. Worth the time.

Background

Published in August of 2002, Shadow Puppets is the third book in the Orson Scott Card’s Shadow Series. This installment follows Bean and Petra through their marriage and sees the resolution of their conflict with Achilles.

My Thoughts

Not a bad book but again it seems to give so much power to Achilles were it doesn’t seem to make much sense. Peter Wiggin continues to be more understandable and we see continued redemption of the Wiggin parents. All made the characters more human and therefore more likeable. Well done!

Recommendation

Good book

Background

Published in December of 2000, Shadow of the Hegemon is the second book in Orson Scott Card’s Shadow series. While we know the Hegemon will be Peter Wiggin (older and more aggressive brother of Ender Wiggin) the book primarily follows Bean and Petra through their lives after the great battle of Ender’s Game. It raises the specter of war on Earth after we ran out of others to fight.

My Thoughts

While it made sense the nation-states would fall back into war, I was surprised the main villain turned out to be Achilles who grew up on the streets with Bean. I just didn’t see him as that much of a character. Peter Wiggin becomes more reasonable now that he is overmatched and knows it. Also, we finally see the Wiggin parents weren’t quite the 2-dimensional characters they were made out to be.

Recommendation

Not a bad read