Wild Cards (Series) by George R.R. Martin

It's been a while, but I have lot's of books to review!

I am going to address the Wild Cards series in one chunk, because there isn't a lot to say about individual books.  I got up through Volume 9 (Jokertown Shuffle) before stopping because the books became difficult to find and for other reasons discussed below. 

This review will contain spoilers.

Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn

In which an attack on a space station leads to an investigation into an interplanetary conspiracy.

Mass Effect: Revelation is related to the Mass Effect video games.  I'm not sure about how close it is to the video games, because I haven't played them.  Revelation stands completely on its own as an exciting story in a well-developed setting

Homeward Bound by Harry Turtledove

The final book in the series that starts with Worldwar: In the Balance. 

Homeward Bound is the less than stunning conclusion to Harry Turtledove's series about an alien invasion of Earth.  It's set in the near-future where America has maintained its independence (mostly) and sent a space ship to the alien invaders' home world.

This review will not contain major spoilers.

Colonization: Aftershocks by Harry Turtledove

The third and final volume in Turtledove's Colonization trilogy.

This book was awesome in that it continued the stories of the characters from previous books who, as I've mentioned, I really like.  This book was also very disappointing in that it has no conclusion!

Colonization: Down to Earth by Harry Turtledove

Sequel to Colonization: Second Contact, the series set after the Worldwar series.


The Worldwar/Colonization series continues to be super awesome. You'd think the setting would run out of relevant story, but it's just heating up in Down to Earth! The characters from Second Contact (I don't think there were any new ones) continue to be compelling and exciting. I continue to enjoy the series greatly, although I am running out of new things to say about it in review!

Colonization: Second Contact by Harry Turtledove

In which humans and alien coexist with varying degrees of success twenty years after the partial conquest of earth during World War II, upon the arrival of the alien race's second fleet of ships.


Harry Turtledove is unequivocally the master of the alternate history fiction. His settings are their own special kind of nerdery where time travel, alien invasions or random events change history. So in Guns of the South, for example, the confederate army is supplied with AK-47s by time travelers. His books are an interesting mixture of real historical figures and events and fiction in ways that make (alternate) history come alive.

Virus on Orbis by P.J. Haarsma

In which an orphaned boy, sold into slavery on an alien world, learns about his abilities and the intrigues in his new home.


I randomly picked up this book at the Phoenix comicon when a guy manning the booth accosted me! It was cheap and sounded entertaining, and I can't say no to enthusiastic sales people when it's something I'm inclined to do anyway. The author, PJ Haarsma, was there too and he signed my book. I think he wrote "Fear Nothing" but I'm not sure.

Calculating God, by Robert Sawyer

Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer. Tor Books, 2000. 334 pp.

...in which aliens land on Earth and say "Take me to your paleontologists."

The premise and plot of this book (which was a finalist for the Hugo Award!) are fairly simple: A group of aliens come to visit Earth, and request to see paleontologists and other scientists around the world. Their purpose for exploring the universe is to prove the existence of a god. The story follows one particular alien, Hollus, and a paleontologist Tom Jericho, who works at the Royal Ontario Museum. Hollus believes in a god, and Tom is a die-hard atheist. This book, a very, very satisfying throwback to classical science fiction, is less about plot and more about the conversations that take place between Hollus and Tom.

This book should appeal to anyone who enjoys science fiction, including atheists, religious folk, and everyone in between. The aliens' perception of god is not really a religious perception... they believe in a god, but they don't worship god, they don't attach any kind of morality or dogma to their belief in god; they simply believe god exists and has, in some sense, impacted how life came to be on various worlds. They don't pray, they don't have churches. The way in which the aliens explain their belief in god is neither spiritual nor anti-science; in fact, they explain god almost purely in terms of science, and they do so in a way that does not at all interfere with principles like the antiquity of earth or evolution. There is nothing mystical or omnipotent about their god; to them, god, like everything else, follows a cycle of life that ends in death.

Tom, as an atheist and scientist (a vertebrate paleontologist), disagrees with the aliens' belief system, for two reasons. First, as a human on Earth, the concepts of "God", "religion", "morality", and "souls" are inextricably linked; the aliens do not have these limitations in their beliefs. The second reason is that Tom, through absolutely no fault of his own, is dying of cancer. Because many theistic religions on earth would call this the "will of God", Tom is very understandably not jumping with joy at the chance to join a church.

Because most of the scientific evidence that the aliens cite for god's existence is evidence from other planets, that also means that most of the science has been fabricated for the purpose of this book. As a result, I don't think this book was intended to convince people of the existence of a god, nor was it meant to be any kind of declaration of beliefs on the author's part. Indeed, the main atheist character is portrayed in a much, MUCH more sympathetic light than the religious fundamentalist characters that appear in the book. Instead, I think it's meant to be read as an interesting hypothetical conversation, and the reader can take from it what they like.

In the end, my own religious and scientific convictions remained completely unchanged after reading this book, but I am still very glad to have read it because it was extremely interesting, well-written, and nicely thought out. To people who know that science fiction is more than space battles and weird looking aliens, this book should be a refreshing read.