2002-2003 books.
© 2003 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>

For posterity, here are the book reviews that I posted to my blog in 2002 and 2003. This isn't a "best of", "worst of", or even, "list of everything I've read." These are just the few that I happened to write about for whatever reason. (See also: 2004.)

Antarctica, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Most of the book is a fictionalized travel guide to the continent, heavy on the talking heads. It was pretty interesting, and made me never want to go there. The actual plot is pretty thin, and the book is about 200 pages too long; I was skimming rapidly near the end.

I bought this book mostly because I really, really loved the comics Whiteout and Melt by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. Those were way better than this book, with a much more interesting plot, though not as obsessive in Antarctica-related detail.

Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Given how I felt about Antarctica, why did I buy this? I don't know. I fucking hated it. It was about as boring as reading licenses or material data sheets. The only reason I kept up was that sometimes it helped me fall asleep. Immediately.

The Fourth World, by Dennis Danvers

A sort-of cyberpunk story set in rural Mexico. The main characters start off as gargoyles/cameramen for US news/entertainment shows, get disillusioned, and throw in with the Zapatistas. The majority of the book is a depressing look at the underbelly of the high-tech utopia portrayed in most near-future scifi: how the first world needs the third world as slaves. But the ending really didn't work for me: after 3/4ths of the book being a total downer with a very pessimistic view of human nature, the ending springs up with a deus ex machina happy ending. It really felt like the author was trying to find a way for everyone to live happily ever after, but he didn't really believe it. It was a good book, but the ending pissed me off. He just didn't sell it very well. ``I want to believe,'' but I didn't, and I suspect he didn't either.

I've read two other books by him that I liked a lot more: Circuit of Heaven, and its sequel, End of Days. They're about uploading consciousness, but don't let that put you off: they are actually a new take on it, very aware that the whole ``uploading'' thing has been pretty much played out. Like The Fourth World, they also spend a lot of time focusing on the have-nots, and people who fell through the cracks.

Alias, by Brian Michael Bendis

Somehow I missed this when it came out. It's a graphic novel about a former superhero turned private investigator, because she just didn't feel "heroic" enough. This is another one of those "realistic" looks at supheroes, like Bendis's other great series, Powers. This one is really good, pretty bleak. And the interesting thing is, it manages to have a very real-world feel about it while being knee deep in Marvel continuity. There are a few great moments like trying to wade through the bureaucracy to have a meeting with the Fantastic 4. Of course they have a lobby, and a receptionist...

Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson

I only made it 50 pages in to this Stephenson cinderblock (877 pages to go, or 2,730 if you count the two forthcoming sequels) and it bored me to tears. After consulting with others who had actually finished it, I realized that life was too short, and gave up.

I had liked all of his previous books, including the Stephen Bury ones (the only one I haven't read is The Big U.) Snow Crash being my favorite, I guess.

Cryptonomicon also started off almost-intolerably slowly (though not as bad as Quicksilver) and I ended up liking it.

Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, and Diamond Age all suffer the same problem: he devotes the first 50% of the book to the first 10% of the story, then rushes through the next 80% of the story (which sounds to me like "the publisher is breathing down my neck, time to wrap it up"), then the last 10% is just completely incomprehensible metaphysical babble that seems to have nothing to do with what's gone on so far.

Still, though, even with those two pretty glaring bugs, I've liked his books.

But from what I was able to tolerate of Quicksilver, it reminded me of The Difference Engine more than anything, which is to say, utterly intolerable. I didn't make it more than a few chapters into Difference Engine before throwing it across the room.