Anime/SF Reviews - nuwen.net

Name	Rating	Very short summary
Akira		A pointless waste of time.
Mobile Battleship Nadesico		A space/mecha series done wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.
Neon Genesis Evangelion		Why people with clinical depression shouldn't direct.
Mahoromatic		Robot maid series with lots of nudity crowding out what little time there is for plot.
RahXephon		Like Evangelion, but finds novel ways to be lousy.
Record Of Lodoss War		J. Random Fantasy Series
Serial Experiments Lain		Cyberpunk introspection.
Armitage III		A short, fairly pointless cyberpunk movie.
Ghost In The Shell		Yet another short, fairly pointless cyberpunk movie.
Chobits		Boy meets robot girl.
Hand Maid May		Like Mahoromatic, but with no nudity and just as many annoying characters.
.hack//SIGN		Set entirely in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Geneshaft		Entertaining and touching space/mecha series with a weak plot.
Love Hina		A romantic comedy.
Rurouni Kenshin		Two seasons of excellent sword fighting followed by a season of filler.
Trigun		Deep space planet future gun action
Vandread		A space/mecha series done right.
Scryed		A battle series done right.
Hoshi no Koe		25 minutes of sheer bliss.
Angelic Layer		A lighthearted female-oriented battle series.
Full Metal Panic		Intriguing and beautiful mecha series.

Sorted Summary of Fiction Reviews

Name	Rating	Very short summary
The Martians		The most boring story about Mars ever written.
Mars		The second most boring story about Mars ever written.
Neuromancer		An awful cyberpunk novel, with style but no content.
The Difference Engine		A confusing and boring alternate history, in which nothing much happens.
Nemesis		Even Asimov can write bad novels.
First Landing		A ridiculous Mars novel.
Red Mars; Green Mars; Blue Mars		Full of interest, then throws it completely away.
The Diamond Age		Nanotechnology can't provide books with real endings, it seems.
The Fortunate Fall		Another novel suffers the Nanotech Curse.
K-PAX III: The Worlds Of Prot		Yet another K-PAX novel. Mildly interesting with no innovation.
Feersum Endjinn		Bizarre future Earth, crazy birds, and phonetic spelling.
The Gods Themselves		Worth reading just for the second part alone.
Snow Crash		"Of course I won the fucking sword fight. I'm the greatest sword fighter in the world."
Look To Windward		A mildly interesting Culture novel.
Prey		The attack of the gray goo.
K-PAX		Would we know the difference between an alien and a mental patient?
K-PAX II: On A Beam Of Light		Prot is back.
Halo: The Flood		The official novelization of Halo.
Excession		The story of an Outside Context Problem.
T2: Infiltrator		Skynet sends an augmented human back in time.
T2: Rising Storm		The Infiltrator wasn't entirely destroyed, and the Connors have to stop Skynet again.
Cryptonomicon		Worth it just for the tunnel sequence alone.
Wheelers		In the twenty-third century, aliens are discovered... in our Solar System.
Inversions		A deeply confusing but ultimately interesting novel.
Voyage		A novel of what might have been
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress		Sentient supercomputer masterminds Lunar rebellion.
Twistor		Hard SF, electromagnetic fields, and shadow universes.
Einstein's Bridge		Hard SF, particle accelerators, and wormholes.
Halo: The Fall Of Reach		The epic tale of a losing battle.

Foundation Novels
Name	Rating	Very short summary
Foundation's Edge		Dialogue on planets, dialogue on spaceships. Nothing much happens.
Foundation And Earth		Like Foundation's Edge, but with a couple of neat revelations at the end.
The Robots Of Dawn		Would have been a better detective story were the plot not so contrived.
The Naked Sun		Spacers ask Baley to solve another crime.
Prelude To Foundation		The great psychohistorian Hari Seldon had to start somewhere.
Foundation		Seldon's Plan unfolds across the centuries.
Foundation And Empire		The Seldon Plan is far from invincible. It can be defeated.
The Caves Of Steel		An excellent SF detective story.
Second Foundation		What is the Second Foundation and what are they up to?
Forward The Foundation		In the last years of his life, Hari Seldon struggles to implement the Plan.
Robots And Empire		R. Daneel Olivaw discovers that the First Law can be transcended.

Tom Clancy Novels
Name	Rating	Very short summary
The Cardinal Of The Kremlin		The Soviets might have an antisatellite laser! Ho hum.
Executive Orders		A weak plot mixed in with too much pointless agonizing.
Patriot Games		Similar to the movie, except that the novel's ending is less interesting.
Red Storm Rising		Russia and NATO slug it out with conventional forces.
Rainbow Six		An elite antiterrorist team faces an unknown enemy.
Clear And Present Danger		America slugs it out with Colombian drug lords.
The Hunt For Red October		Engage the caterpillar drive!
Red Rabbit		Soviet-era espionage done right.
The Sum Of All Fears		Nuclear terrorism hits America, described in vivid detail.
Without Remorse		Drug dealers mess with the wrong man.
Debt Of Honor		America and Japan slug it out.
The Bear And The Dragon		Russia and China slug it out, while America is powerless to do much of anything.

New to Anime?

If you're new to this whole anime thing, I recommend starting out with Angelic Layer (for lighthearted fun), Scryed or Vandread (for action), or Full Metal Panic.

Anime Reviews

In something resembling the order I watched various anime series in, here's a description of them and my thoughts. I ordinarily hate it, but here I've Americanized all names (first names first). It helps to know that 'mecha' refers to giant robots, 'OAV' or 'OVA' is the anime term for direct-to-video, manga is to comics as anime is to cartoons, and that most titles of anime series have nothing whatsoever to do with their content.

I'm glad I watched all of these series and movies, even the ones I rip on (except for Akira, there's a reason why I dug out the two-star rating for it). Every anime series sounds weird until you watch a few episodes (some are still weird after that). Be open to new things.

As with everything on my site, I appreciate hearing your thoughts about this page. However, before you go off and E-mail me, first read this Frequently Asked Question:

Q: Why haven't you reviewed series X?
A: Because I haven't watched it yet. My time is severely constrained; I have watched a fair amount of anime, but it's taken me over two years. Everything I have watched in full I have reviewed here. When I finish another series, I'll review it. And yes, I will watch Cowboy Bebop eventually.

I have attempted to classify the genres of these series, somewhat successfully. Many anime series, like many TV shows, follow similar themes; e.g. robotic girls are fairly common, as are mecha. I've also attempted to note whether a series tends to be broken up by episodes or if it progresses continously - neither is better than the other, of course, it's the skill with which either style is executed that matters.

Record Of Lodoss War

Fantasy - You can probably imagine the plot already - I watched a few episodes of Record of Lodoss War, but not in a very organized fashion. My impression of it was that it was a fairly decent fantasy anime, but nothing else about it really attracted my attention. It was superior to the movie Dungeons and Dragons which was released some time after I watched Lodoss War.
Neon Genesis Evangelion

Mecha/Symbolic, continuous - Beings called 'Angels' are attacking the Earth, and only the 'Evangelion' mecha, which are piloted by the 14-year-old Shinji Ikari, et al., can save the world.

Rei Ayanami Asuka
Langley Sohryu Pen Pen Shinji Ikari

NGE was the first anime series I ever really watched, back in freshman year. Consisting of twenty-six episodes and the movie End of Evangelion (the movie Death and Rebirth doesn't count), it could be described as a fairly well-known mecha series. It could also be described as the most screwed-up thing ever created (Aaron and I agree wholeheartedly on this point). It's an insane journey that starts off by sucking you into its world and then dragging you along through more fan abuse than you ever could have thought was possible. I thought NGE's world was extremely interesting at first, but I was disappointed by the turn the series took in the middle and sustained until the end. (And no, the religious symbolism in NGE didn't turn me off; indeed, by the end it was the most sane thing about the series.) I can't say that NGE is good because of the ending. But it's essentially something everyone has to watch, if only to understand the fierce controversy over it.
Serial Experiments Lain

Cyberpunk/Symbolic, continuous - One day, Lain Iwakura's classmate whom she once walked home with, Chisa Yomoda, commits suicide. This is bad. Worse is that one week later, Lain receives an E-mail... from Chisa, who says she only gave up her physical body to exist in the Wired, the worldwide network. You shouldn't be receiving E-mail from a dead girl.

Lain Iwakura

Lain consists of 13 episodes and is a cyberpunk anime. I'm not going to tell you any more about it. It has a number of deep things to think about, a lot of symbolism, and plenty of mysterious happenings to boot. Lain is good - excellent, even - but it's by no means lighthearted. It has what could be considered a decent ending that will leave you thinking for a while.
Angelic Layer

Lighthearted/Battle, episodic - Misaki Suzuhara, 12 years old, arrives in Tokyo and soon sees an epic battle fought on television between a woman clad in white and a dark, hulking grunt. She learns that these aren't actually people, but dolls called Angels that people control - and that anyone, even herself, can buy one at a store.

Misaki Suzuhara Wizard Hikaru

Aaron introduced me to Angelic Layer, which consists of 26 episodes. This is a lighthearted, battle-an-episode anime which nevertheless has a plot. I enjoyed Angelic Layer completely, I thought the concept was neat and the plot well-done. The plot itself is fairly predictable (except in a couple of cases which I won't tell you about), but it doesn't hurt the series at all. The series is entirely wrapped up by the ending, which is very nice. Remember to watch the entire last episode; don't stop as soon as you see the credits.

Angelic Layer is based on a manga, which I am told differs in only minor ways from the anime.
Rurouni Kenshin
without third season
with third season
Historical/Battle, episodic with long arcs - Kenshin Himura acted as an assassin for the reformist group Ishinshishi during the Meiji Restoration of Japan. But by the eleventh year of the Meiji Era, in 1878, he's become a wanderer who has sworn to never kill again. Will he be able to keep his vow?

Sanosuke Sagara Misao Makimachi Aoshi Shinomori Saito Hajime Makoto Shishio Kenshin Himura

RK is the classic swordsmen anime, consisting of 95 episodes, 2 OAVs (4 episodes and 2 episodes, respectively), and a movie (RK: Requiem for Patriots). It's a huge story, as you can probably tell. It's fairly good; my only complaint is that the series suffers from a lot of filler episodes. In particular, the third and final season is all filler, and is entirely useless to watch. (I watched it all. Argh.) If you haven't seen RK, you're missing something. However, the series itself has no ending (it was cancelled, due to the filler season). The OAVs do a decent job of filling in other parts of the story, and I highly recommend them after you've watched the series.

Rurouni Kenshin is based on a manga which covers more storyline than the anime. The anime follows the manga fairly closely until the end of the "Kyoto Arc", at which point it wanders off into filler, whereas the manga begins a third arc, the "Jinchuu Arc".
Trigun

Episodic - Deep space planet future gun action

Vash the Stampede

Trigun is awesome. Awesome. You must watch it. Consisting of 26 episodes, Trigun deals with the adventures of Vash the Stampede, a completely badass gunman on a dry desert planet (in a binary star system) who has a reputation for destroying entire cities. The actual Vash is totally different from his reputation, however; he values human life even more strongly than Kenshin. Why is this? What are the origins of the mysterious Vash, and why does everyone want the sixty billion double dollar reward on his head? Well, rather, why is there a reward on his head in the first place? And why does this take place on a desert planet in a binary star system anyways? Vash doesn't fire his gun until the fifth episode; don't get bored and quit before then. You're in for a ride. Trigun also has excellent music. There's one episode in particular which stands out in my mind for the incredible sense of loss it creates; you know that this scene has to happen, in order for everything else to fall into place - that there is no other choice, but you wish it could be a different way nevertheless.

Trigun is based on a manga which I am told covers more story than the anime.
Armitage III

Cyberpunk - This is a cyberpunk movie dealing with 'thirds', humaniform robots. It was decent, if short (as with all the anime movies I've watched; I am not yet convinced that anime and movies mix well together). I'm not a huge fan of this movie.
Ghost In The Shell

Cyberpunk - Another cyberpunk movie. Didn't enjoy this one too much, for the same reason as always: it's too short to really figure out what's going on.
Mobile Battleship Nadesico

Space/Mecha, episodic - Aliens called the 'Jovian Lizards' are attacking the Earth, and only the advanced battleship Nadesico built by the private company Nergal Heavy Industries can save the world. - Nadesico is a space/mecha anime consisting of 26 episodes and a movie (Nadesico: The Prince of Darkness). Nadesico appears to contain a lot of inside jokes, and in particular has a sub-series, Gekigangar III (which is a parody of very old giant robot shows). All this would be well and good, except for one thing - the plot goes nowhere. Nowhere! Not even the movie (which is more incredibly rushed than any other movie I've seen) clears anything up or makes the plot go anywhere. In the end, Nadesico is pointless. It even has too much filler! Indeed, there were only two episodes I really found enjoyable, both revolving around the computer operator of the Nadesico, Ruri Hoshino. I don't understand why Nadesico is so popular, even given Ruri (who's the only worthwhile character in the whole series, and even then appears far too rarely).
Love Hina

Romantic Comedy, episodic - Long ago, Keitaro Urashima made a promise to a childhood friend that he would go to Tokyo University with her and find happiness there. Now, as a graduate from high school, he's failed the entrance exam repeatedly, and he can't even remember the name of the 'promised girl'. Kicked out by his parents, he comes to be the manager of an all-female dormitory named the "Hinata Inn", and meets Naru Narusegawa, who has also failed the Tokyo University entrance exam. But has Keitaro already met her before?

Naru Narusegawa Keitaro Urashima Mutsumi Otohime Mitsune Konno

Love Hina is a romantic comedy consisting of 25 episodes followed by Christmas and Spring special OAVs, then by the Love Hina Again OAV which consists of 3 episodes. I watched this series because I had heard some people talking about it. It was surprisingly good; several of the episodes stand out in my mind. There's a few filler episodes, but not too many, and several good ones. The Spring OAV does a good job of closing up the series, though not as well as the ending of the manga. The Love Hina Again OAVs are, I think, rushed and not as good as the series. I recommend this, even if you aren't usually interested in romantic comedies.

Love Hina is based on a manga. My impression is that the manga and the anime are worthwhile in different ways; the manga has less filler, but also doesn't cover some things that the anime does (like, why the various characters live at the Hinata Inn). The Love Hina Again OAVs compress the end of the manga story fairly severely. I prefer the ending of the manga, or the ending of the Spring OAV.
Mahoromatic

Robot Girl/Maid series, episodic - Earth is being invaded by an alien group named SAINT. The organization Vesper is formed to defend against this invasion, and uses SAINT's own technology to create a battle android named V1046-R MAHORO. Mahoro goes on to become Vesper's most powerful and successful fighter, and keeps the aliens at bay. However, her power cell has a finite charge, and eventually there is only a month of energy left before Mahoro's system entirely shuts down. Vesper, in recognition of her service, discharges her and offers her a choice: live a month as a soldier, or undergo complete disarmament to extend her life span to somewhat over a year. She chooses the latter, and becomes a maid...

Mahoro

Mahoromatic consists of 12 episodes. I enjoyed it, but it's far too short. The two things that I didn't like about this series is that it has a fair amount of pointless material and is fairly graphic at points (that is to say, nudity, which I don't particularly approve of in anime). There is an ending, but it obviously begs to be continued in a second season.
Hand Maid May

Robot Girl/Maid series, episodic - Kazuya Saotome, a 19 year old student at a technical college, is working on a robot in the form of a squid for a project when he is given a DVD by Koutarou Nanbara, who claims to be Kazuya's friend but in reality hates him because Kazuya is successful where Nanbara is not. This DVD (said to enhance computer performance) is laden with viruses, and causes Kazuya's computer to go nuts and order a cyberdoll from the Cyberdyne Corporation. Almost immediately, a delivery shows up at his door - a robotic doll named May who is one-sixth the size of a normal person. - HMM consists of 10 episodes and an 'eleventh episode' OAV. This series is very similar in many respects to Mahoromatic, though lacks the things I didn't like about that series. Instead, HMM has probably the most annoying character I can think of in an anime, Nanbara (yes, he outdoes the teacher in Mahoromatic, though it's a close call). At least he's supposed to be annoying. Even so, I enjoyed Hand Maid May too; it doesn't feel as short as Mahoromatic, and the ending has some finality to it. There's a point around the fifth episode that I really enjoyed.
RahXephon

Mecha/Symbolic, continuous - While Tokyo is being attacked, Ayato Kamina discovers the existence of a giant robot named RahXephon. He then learns the truth about his world...

RahXephon

RahXephon consists of 26 episodes. There is also something called "RahXephon: Memories" which is an edited compilation of the first 9 or so episodes that adds no new material (and hence is useless to watch). I compare RahXephon to Evangelion not because of any wish on my part for all anime series to be like Evangelion, but because the two resemble each other so closely. Aside from the gross similarities in plot (giant aliens attacking Tokyo, while a young boy is the only one who can pilot an amazing mecha and thereby save the world), there are other similarities. Yet RahXephon is not an Evangelion clone - there are differences. Like Eva, the motivations of most of the characters in RX are mysterious until the end. Unlike Eva, you can be sympathetic to some of the characters in RX, since they're not that screwed up. Ayato is not (always) a lame whiner. Like Eva, there is a fair amount of character death. Unlike Eva, none of the character death evokes any real emotion. Like Eva, RX attracts you with its interesting premise and world, and then proceeds to torture you. Unlike Eva, the most maddening thing about RX is not the fan abuse but the mind-numbingly disconnected and nonsensical plot (it is also slow, but that is one of its lesser failings). Like Eva, in the end it has a fairly low level of quality, all things considered. Unlike Eva, there is one episode of RahXephon which is actually good.

In the end, I had to give RahXephon four ("dubious") stars rather than five ("average") stars. RX is a little less crazy than Eva and a little more crazy than Lain. RX has decent art, unlike Lain and Eva. But in the end, RahXephon makes no sense. Lain makes sense in the end, and isn't that bad, hence five stars. Eva makes sense (a sick, twisted sense), but gets four stars for its incredible levels of fan abuse and other problems. While RahXephon does not hideously abuse the viewer, it bores the viewer. Seemingly interesting things happen, but there is no inner meaning to them. Everything is disjointed. The final episode explains a couple of things, but not nearly enough. By the end of Evangelion, the motivations of all the characters can be figured out, with enough thinking. This is not possible for RahXephon, where a majority of the characters seem to have no motivations at all. RahXephon has such potential, and proceeds to throw it all away. Its ending is fairly happy, I think, but tacking on half an episode of a happy ending to 25.5 episodes of gibberish does not a series save. In my final analysis, RahXephon is of dubious quality.

Full Metal Panic

Mecha/High School/Comedy, episodic with arcs averaging six episodes - FMP consists of 24 episodes. It's awesome, I love it.


Kaname Chidori	Major Andrei Sergeyevich Kalinin	Sergeant Sousuke Sagara	Sergeant Kurz Weber	Sergeant Melissa Mao	Captain Theresa Testarossa

Shinji Kazama	Gaul	M9 Gurnsback	Unknown Mecha	ARX-7 Arbalest	Kyoko Tokiwa

Anyways, you could loosely classify it as a mecha anime involving high school students. It takes place in 2000, and the premise is that terrorist organizations (some of which are affiliated with the KGB; the Soviet Union hasn't broken up) are looking to kidnap a 16-year old girl, Kaname Chidori, for reasons which are not immediately obvious.

Three soldiers of the antiterrorist organization Mithril, which is not affiliated with the governments of the world, are sent to protect her, by the orders of Major Kalinin. Each can pilot mecha called Arm Slaves. This is, I believe, short for Armored Slaves, and they are outfitted with "ECS" technology that can render them invisible. Two of the soldiers, Kurz Weber and Melissa Mao, act as backup while the third, Sousuke Sagara, poses as a student at Kaname's high school.

Mithril's Pacific operations aren't run from a fixed base; instead, they are run from an advanced five-billion-dollar submarine, the Tuatha de' Danann, commanded by Captain Theresa Testarossa. It is a trivial spoiler that both Sousuke Sagara and Theresa Testarossa are also 16 years old.

Why do I like Full Metal Panic?

The art is fantastic. I've seen a fair number of anime series so far, and Full Metal Panic blows them all away. (Hoshi no Koe is much more stunning in the art department, but it is not a full series, whereas FMP is.) The drawings are crisp and clear, and the animation is fluid. Motion blurring effects and CGI are used to great effect, to the point where they blend in and you're not conscious of them.
It doesn't repeat what I consider mistakes of other series. Why is the 16 year old Sagara Sousuke able to pilot an Arm Slave? Not because he's a superhuman, but because he's been trained as a soldier for years. (I have some of my own conjectures regarding Sousuke, actually, but to mention them would reveal critical plot points.) Do any of the main characters have seriously screwed up personalities? Not really. In fact, the series pokes fun at standard conventions of anime... you might be able to pick up on a few of these.
The plot is strong and moves at a very good pace. After each major arc, there are a couple of "light" episodes, and then the plot gets moving again. In the series, there are 4 arcs, and there's a good sense of finality at the end of each arc - while some questions remain. New questions are raised, but most importantly other questions are answered at a respectable pace, or at least get more light shed on them. It keeps you wondering what's going to happen next.
The production is excellent. I can't comment on the voice acting since I cannot understand Japanese (it sounds very good to me), but little things like English text in the series are all done near flawlessly. You can actually pause at several points and read grammatically correct English documents that shed more light on the story. Usually, I forgive series that don't get English right (because we butcher Japanese too), but to see this is all for the better. If you're observant, you'll see that Major Kalinin signs his name in Russian. (His name is indeed Andrei Sergeyevich Kalinin; I've seen fansubs transliterate it as Serenovich and Karinin - they know more Japanese than I do, but I've got them beat on the Russian side of things).
Other cool things too numerous to name; one mecha collapses from "gravitic stress" (that is to say, its own weight destroys it). I've never seen that before.
The ending is good. Like Q said, all good things must come to an end, but FMP gives you so much over the course of 24 episodes that the ending feels like a good place to leave the story (until next season... I hope). It really makes you wonder how other series can have 13, or 26, or more episodes and do so little with them. If FMP ended at the seventh episode, it would still be a worthy contender against the other series reviewed here. (The sadistic would end the series halfway through the sixth episode.)

So yeah. I love Full Metal Panic more than anything else I've ever seen. The opening sequence and closing sequence change with the 18th episode; I like the new closing sequence much more. The 18th episode was hilarious, too, but I'll let you watch it for yourself. (Actually, many of the episodes are hilarious, which is rare for anime series. "I feel unimaginable happiness wasting time talking with women.")

Full Metal Panic is, interestingly, based on novels and manga - the novels cover the serious side of the story, whereas the manga covers the lighthearted side of things. I've seen some of the manga, and can tell you that the anime is FAR superior. I would be very interested in reading the novels, since I presume that's where the excellence of this story comes from, but that'll never happen.

Scryed

Battle series, continuous - 22 years ago, an unknown natural phenomenon cut off a chunk of Japan from the mainland and produced an island called the "Lost Ground". Here, 1% of the population is born with a special ability, called "Alter". Alter users have the power to transform matter at the molecular level. Some Alter users create giant machines of destruction, others augment parts of their own bodies. Every Alter user's power is unique. Many Alter users are dangerous, so a subdivision of the military organization HOLD is created and named HOLY. HOLY recruits Alter users, in order to control the "native Alters" of the Lost Ground. Kazuma (a native Alter) resents the control the mainland is trying to exert over the Lost Ground, and soon comes into conflict with Ryuhou, an agent of HOLY.

Ryuhou Kazuma Straight Cougar Xeres Adjani Martin Sigmar Kimishima

Scryed consists of 26 episodes. I enjoyed it a lot; I cared about many of the characters and found the series very interesting to watch. Kazuma (no last name) is a rather aggressive and stubborn main character; some of the time, he gets into conflict with Ryuhou just for the hell of it. His Alter (called the "Shell Bullet") is a bionic fist, which he can supercharge three times. So, most of the time he solves his problems with his fist in a very brute-force manner. Nevertheless, there is a kind side to Kazuma; he watches over a little girl, Kanami, who looks up to him and calls him Kazu-kun. Most of the other characters in Scryed are memorable; for example, Straight Cougar, whose Alter ("Radical Good Speed") allows him to increase the speed of anything. Most of the time he uses it to increase the speed of his car and get other HOLY members from place to place in a hurry. Kazuma is cast, of course, as the hero, and HOLY as the enemy, but as the series progresses, this outlook changes. Cougar seems like a complete dork; he always forgets the name of Mimori Kiryu (a HOLY scientist), calling her "Minori". He doesn't even seem that interested in HOLY's objectives, he's simply furthering his own purposes by being in the organization. Yet over the series I gained a lot of respect for Cougar-san, and for the other characters as well - even Xeres Adjani.
Chobits

Robot Girl series, episodic - Hideki Motosuwa is an 18 year old high school graduate who's just applied to college and has been rejected (making him a 'ronin' like Keitaro of Love Hina, though not several times over). He moves to Tokyo in order to study for and retake the entrance exam, and also to work and earn money so he can survive. He's surprised to see that many people in Tokyo own 'Persocons', which are humaniform personal computers. Hideki wishes he could own one, but they're quite expensive and he's nearly broke. However, he soon finds a persocon abandoned at a trash pickup site. She lacks an operating system, but somehow can move. How can this be, and why is 'chii' the only thing that she can say? - Chobits is an anime series consisting of 26 episodes based on a manga created by CLAMP (who was responsible for Angelic Layer). Here's an interesting thing I noticed - like in Angelic Layer, the series is heavily female-oriented. That is to say, most of the persocons shown are female. (In Angelic Layer, most of the Deuses and almost all of the Angels are female, the biggest exception being Wizard and his Deus. CLAMP is, incidentally, a team of four women who work on manga together.)

Chobits starts off being really interesting. I'm well known for liking robots in general, but even still this series has something special. For example, Hideki begins to teach Chii some Japanese words and phrases, because she's starting off from a blank state. As he teaches her to say "iterashai", which is said to someone who's leaving, you learn the word too. However, the series has a big problem with dragging - there is more than one clip episode in the series. The middle of the series drags on heavily, seeming to tell the same story over and over again. It picks up near the end, but only a little. The ending doesn't make very much sense, and doesn't explain very much, and is mostly predictable. Thus, I give Chobits five stars ("average"), since it shows promise but doesn't deliver. I have a feeling it would have made a much better 13 episode series.
Akira

Akira is a very old anime movie (by my standards, anyways - I was 5 when it was released). I thoroughly unenjoyed this movie; it has no plot, no interesting characters, nothing. The art is lousy too. As you can see, I've given it my two-star ("awful") rating. Actively avoid watching this. If I had one sentence to summarize Akira with, it would be: "One laser does not a movie save."
.hack//SIGN

Gamer/Fantasy, continuous - What would you do if you were in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and you couldn't log out? That is to say, you're not in front of a monitor at all... - Hack Sign consists of 26 episodes. You don't need to have played a MMORPG to understand this series, though any knowledge you might have will illuminate things a little. I enjoyed Hack Sign, but it moves slowly in the middle, and the ending - while good - doesn't answer very many questions. Unlike Chobits, however, Hack Sign doesn't start to repeat itself over and over. The music is excellent and sets up the atmosphere of the series very well.

In the end, I give Hack Sign six stars ("good"). It's better than Chobits, but not astoundingly so. There is a fair amount of mystery to Hack Sign at the beginning, but whatever interest it creates is stamped out in short order by the grindingly slow episodes in the middle. Before you even start to approach the end, you know exactly what's going to happen. That the ending is good is irrelevant. There are too many questions raised (e.g. what is Tsukasa's story, who is the enemy and what is the motivation for the enemy, who is the broken-down man and how does he relate to the plot, what does the cat have to do with anything, etc) which are either half-answered or not at all. There are some things which are thrown in that serve no obvious purpose except to put a twist in the ending. Hack Sign could have been done much better as a 13 episode series, if the plot were heavily rearranged and more questions were answered. Hack Sign should also cover the real world in more detail; those were the most interesting parts of the anime. The beginning and end have such promise, but the series as a whole is undeserving of being called great.
Hoshi no Koe

Hoshi no Koe is a single 25-minute episode. Its animation is beautiful and fluid (rivaling that of Full Metal Panic), and it manages to tell a complete story with the time that it has. I highly recommend this little gem. It is space-oriented, but it's one of those things that is hard to classify.

Here's a scene from Hoshi no Koe:
Vandread

Space/Mecha, episodic - In the future, Earth has colonized space. However, not all of the colonists have gotten along well. Decades ago, one colony split up into two groups, each of which took a planet for themselves. In fact, the colonists divided themselves between gender lines, so that there is now the all-male planet of Tarak and the all-female planet of Mejale. These planets now view each other as enemies, and neither side knows very much about the other anymore. On Tarak, babies are grown in factories, and there is a caste system that accords status based on how distantly related one is to the original colonists from Earth. Hibiki Tokai, a third-class citizen, is taunted by his fellow workers, and stows away on the mighty Tarak warship which is being sent to combat the women of Mejale. However, circumstances soon put him and a pirate ship of women into danger, fighting against a common enemy. Hibiki manages to pilot a Vanguard, a mecha configured for space battles, while the women use Dreads, which are sleek space fighters.

Hibiki Tokai Meia Barnette Dita Bart

Vandread consists of 13 episodes, followed by an OVA, followed by a second season of 13 episodes (called Vandread the Second Stage). It was produced by Gonzo, the same group behind Full Metal Panic, and makes heavy use of CGI for the space battles. This looks very good, and gets better in the second season, though the series doesn't look as visually good as Full Metal Panic (this makes sense considering the chronology of when they were made). I enjoyed this series a lot; there was little filler, the plot was interesting (though not all-important), and there were plenty of surprises along the way. Unlike most anime series, all of the characters in Vandread are memorable and all have distinct personalities. I highly recommend this series - that is, with one exception. The OVA is a 90-minute recap of the first season (intended to explain it to people who were watching the second season but hadn't seen the first). As such, there is only one minute of new material in it, so there's no reason to watch it if you've seen the first season.
Geneshaft

Space/Mecha, continuous - In the 23^rd century, humanity has apparently solved its problems with genetic engineering. Violent, aggressive tendencies have been engineered out of the main population, which is mostly female (in a 9 to 1 ratio). The best decision-making characteristics, however, are to be found in males, who have violent tendencies which cannot be completely suppressed. Thus, any male in a decision-making position must have his actions monitored and checked by a female Register. (This is akin to the position of Soviet commissars.) As the show opens, humanity has found ancient artifacts: the Bilkis, an incredibly powerful ship, and the Shaft, a large mecha. These prove useful when Earth is attacked by a strange enemy...

Beatrice

Geneshaft consists of 13 episodes. As far as space/mecha series go, I found Geneshaft to be highly superior to Nadesico, but slightly inferior to Vandread. Its main plus is that it has a storyline which is somewhat more involved than Vandread. Its main minus is that the storyline is not especially comprehensible, though not to the extreme of Nadesico. Issues are raised, but never really resolved or explained. The final deciding factor is that Geneshaft does have some interesting characters. Not all of them are interesting, but some are. It takes a while for it to sink in that the characters in Geneshaft live in a horrible world. Genetic engineering is used to control and oppress, not to enhance the quality of life. The worst thing is that the characters have no clue just how horrible their world is, a world where life is not valued and where love is forgotten. So, when the characters show the slightest glimmer of humanity, it's magnified by the surrounding bleakness. The most touching moment in all of Geneshaft is a simple hug. I think that the series is definitely worth watching, but the hardcore SF nut in me wanted to see more of its world and why it works the way it does.

Fiction Reviews

Since coming to Caltech, I've reviewed and rated almost every science fiction (and otherwise) novel that I've read. In parentheses I have mentioned the genres, such as they are, of these novels.

Hard SF
- Einstein's Bridge (Hard SF, Aliens)- John Cramer
  
  What would have happened if the Superconducting Super Collider had been constructed? - This is an excellent hard SF novel. Go read it now. The physics is solid and the plot is intricate and detailed. The ending of the novel is superb and you simply won't know what hit you.
- Twistor (Hard SF) - John Cramer
  
  A physicist, working with mundane electromagnetic fields, makes an astonishing discovery... - An excellent hard SF book, which is only slightly outdone by Einstein's Bridge (Twistor is the earlier novel, so that's to be expected). Cramer perhaps got characterization done a little better in this book than its successor, actually. Cramer commits the sin of spelling it "CalTech", but one of the main characters does come from Caltech (a plus) and there is indeed a Ride reference (double plus) so I can forgive him. This book is definitely worth your time; it reminds me of the Asimov short story "The Billiard Ball". Eric S. Raymond has reviewed Twistor, and enjoyed it.
- Wheelers (Hard SF, Aliens) - Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen
  
  Stewart and Cohen wrote the nonfiction books The Collapse of Chaos and Figments of Reality; I consider them two of the best books I've ever read. Now, I put off buying Wheelers for a while because the summary on the back simply sounds weird. However, I eventually caved in and bought it, because I liked those nonfiction books so much. And I was pleasantly rewarded! Wheelers is an excellent hard SF novel, with perhaps the best description of aliens since The Gods Themselves. In fact, perhaps better than Asimov's aliens entirely, since the aliens in Wheelers exist in our universe and are bound by the rules of our physics. One of my favorite parts of the novel was the neo-Zen space monks. Yes, neo-Zen space monks. Wheelers is well worth your time.
Mars
- Voyage (Hard SF) - Stephen Baxter
  
  What would have happened had President Kennedy survived the assassination attempt and pushed America to continue its space program, leading to a Mars landing in 1986? - This was an excellent book which captured my interest immediately. I'm familiar with how the Apollo missions went (from the movies Apollo 13 and From The Earth To The Moon, as well as reading plenty of books about the Apollo era), and Voyage reads exactly like they do. The amount of detail in the novel is staggering, and it's presented so convincingly, you will believe the phrase on the book's cover: "A Novel of What Might Have Been". There are some fantastic surprises in Voyage, and if you adore the memory of the gleaming Apollo era, Voyage will take you back there. Now, I just want to comment on two minor issues. First, this book was published in 1996. Robert Zubrin's The Case For Mars was published in November 1997. That means that the Mars mission in Voyage does not use the Mars Direct plan. Since Baxter couldn't have known about it at the time, this is not a flaw, simply something to keep in mind. The other thing is that he renames a couple of historical characters, as he then goes on to use them for other things. One of them (Buzz Aldrin) is understandable, but he also goes on to rename and use Scott Carpenter. In reality, Carpenter was an incompetent astronaut. There is no way he could have ever had a future at NASA. (At least he's also incompetent in the novel.) Anyways, don't let this minor issue deter you from reading Voyage, because you really should.
  
  The interesting thing about Voyage is that it made me a little sad. Yes, we reach Mars in 1986. But what did we sacrifice to get there? There's nearly a throwaway mention of the deep space probes (the Voyagers and Pioneers) which left a big impression on me, and convinced me that while Voyage is an entertaining story, the way things actually happened was probably for the best.
- Mars (SF) - Ben Bova
  
  This was a goddamned waste of time. The thing that might have interested me was the "Mars Virus", which turned out to be Vitamin C deficiency because the vitamin pills were exposed to pure oxygen, destroying the vitamin C and giving everyone scurvy. And if that spoiler sounds lame, that was the most exciting part of the book. What a waste of time.
- Red Mars, then Green Mars and finally Blue Mars (SF) - Kim Stanley Robinson
  
  A long trilogy that covers the colonization and terraforming of Mars. Now, they didn't exactly suck like Mars by Ben Bova. However, they sucked in a different way. Red Mars was pretty cool - it had a really cool war, and some memorable descriptions and a few memorable characters. Green Mars is about governing Mars, and if it sounds boring when I describe it, it was twice as boring to read it. Plus, it has a weird colonist named Hiroko and her strange band of followers who worship in the "aerophany". I'm sure it sounded like an interesting idea, but it's utterly boring to read about. And the original group of colonists, on Mars, discover a way to prolong life. In this manner Robinson keeps those first hundred alive throughout all three novels. (However, most of them die by accidents or malice along the way.) There are some interesting things about this, and Mars's interaction with Earth, except that they are few and increasingly far between. The war in Red Mars is the highlight of the thing. Blue Mars is the anticlimax you expect after reading the first two. The only thing I liked about it was that it concentrated for a time on the scientist Sax and his attempts to restore his damaged mind which is slowly degrading after 200 years - that was exciting, because I wasn't sure whether he'd survive or die in the attempt. There were a couple of interesting characters. However, far too many of them were annoying. And the trilogy's ending sucks. Hard. In the end, I feel as conflicted about this as I do about Evangelion: it has such promise at the beginning, and proceeds to throw it all away.
- The Martians (SF) - Kim Stanley Robinson
  
  Sort of a fourth novel to the trilogy, covering the First Hundred's lives in more detail. I found out a couple of things from this book that illuminated the trilogy more. However, except for that, it entirely utterly sucked, perhaps more than Mars by Ben Bova because at least THAT was a continuous story. A completely worthless book.
- First Landing (SF) - Robert Zubrin
  
  Zubrin wrote the excellent nonfiction book The Case For Mars. In First Landing, he demonstrates that he really should stick to nonfiction. The characters are shallow and unrealistic. The politics back home are laughable. For instance, they talk about shooting down the returning astronauts. The dialogue and exposition are stilted; the novel reads like a bad piece of fanfiction. I can't even call this novel hard SF, because it isn't. Zubrin is insane if he thinks that the NASA in his novel bears even the slightest resemblance to the NASA of Apollo or even the NASA of today. Most damningly?
  
  "Yes. Mars' north celestial pole is located about halfway between Deneb and Alpha Cephei."
  "How do you get that?"
  "It says so right here."
  Rebecca looked over at the text displayed on McGee's electropad. It had been many years since she'd first read it, but she recognized the passage instantly, from The Case for Mars, published in 1996.
  I'm probably generous in giving this a high 3 stars ("bad").
Asimov
- The Gods Themselves (SF, Aliens) - Isaac Asimov
  
  A good classic novel, with an excellent middle part even if its first and last parts are mediocre Asimov.
- Nemesis (SF) - Isaac Asimov
  
  This novel sucked, which disappointed me. It is Asimov, and contains just enough merit to avoid a two-star ("awful") rating, but that's it. Eric S. Raymond has reviewed Nemesis, and I can tell you his review is wholly accurate. It begins: "This book is very boring, and that's sad."
- The Foundation Series (SF) - Isaac Asimov - The Foundation series consists of 14 books. I explain this in detail on the Foundation page, and I do recommend (with one exception) that you read them all in fictional-chronological order. However, they can be read standalone (with one exception) - Asimov made sure of that. Hence, I will provide short (very short) reviews if you simply want to jump right in and read a couple of the best novels. In fictional-chronological order, they are:
  - The Caves Of Steel - Isaac Asimov
    
    An excellent SF detective story.
  - The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
    
    Another good SF detective story.
  - The Robots Of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
    
    This SF detective story's plot is unduly contrived and complicated; hence, I give it 5 stars.
  - Robots And Empire - Isaac Asimov
    
    This is the greatest Foundation novel, but it needs to be read after reading everything else. It's the glue that holds together the Robot Novels and all of the Foundation Novels. Everything that comes before, even the robot short stories, is simply leading up to this; everything that comes after is simply an echo of this. Even the great Hari Seldon and the First Speaker of the Second Foundation cannot compare to R. Daneel Olivaw.
  - The Stars, Like Dust-- - Isaac Asimov (Out of Print)
    I have not read this novel yet.
  - The Currents Of Space - Isaac Asimov (Out of Print)
    I have not read this novel yet.
  - Pebble In The Sky - Isaac Asimov (Out of Print)
    I have not read this novel yet.
  - Prelude To Foundation - Isaac Asimov
    
    A good introduction to the life of Hari Seldon and how he begins to develop psychohistory.
  - Forward The Foundation - Isaac Asimov
    
    This novel covers the end of Hari Seldon's life, and Asimov himself was dying as he wrote this. This captures the struggle to save humanity more beautifully than anything else... except for Robots and Empire.
  - Foundation - Isaac Asimov
    
    The novel that started it all, Foundation shows how science itself is power.
  - Foundation And Empire - Isaac Asimov
    
    In which the great Seldon plan is derailed in short order.
  - Second Foundation - Isaac Asimov
    
    I consider the Second Foundation to be the greatest hook ever left in a novel and later followed up on. This novel also has one of the most memorable characters of any of Asimov's novels: Arkady Darrell. I am of the opinion that this is a fine place to leave the Foundation series.
  - Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov
    
    This is simply a poor novel. It's talky, and nothing happens.
  - Foundation And Earth - Isaac Asimov (Out of Print)
    
    This is just as poor a novel as Foundation's Edge. However, it sheds a little light on the entire series, and this redeems it - partially.
Cyberpunk
- Neuromancer (Cyberpunk) - William Gibson
  
  This book has the style of Blade Runner. And, like Blade Runner, it sucks. Gibson didn't even own a computer when he wrote this thing, and it's just not worth reading.
- The Difference Engine (Steampunk) - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
  
  What would have happened if Babbage had built his Analytical Engine? - Interesting premise; this book sucks less than Neuromancer, probably because of Sterling's influence than Gibson somehow getting better. However, I couldn't really tell what happened, if anything, whereas I eventually figured out what happened in Neuromancer. And parts of it are, shall we say, unsavory. I won't feel like reading this one again. (ESR liked it, but what does he know?)
- Snow Crash (Cyberpunk) - Neal Stephenson
  
  There's a virus running around that turns people into raving nutcases, and kills hackers dead. Uh oh. - This was an enjoyable book, wild and fantastic. Stephenson creates some memorable characters and a twisted view of society - the Mafia are, uh, the good guys. Some of the Babylonian stuff is rather strange, and I could have done without it.
- The Diamond Age (Nanopunk) - Neal Stephenson
  
  An interesting novel about a world transformed by nanotechnology and a nanotechnogically enhanced storybook that falls into the hands of an ordinary little girl. It's enjoyable at times, but has a number of flaws - the premise of the Sources is rather silly, and the book has an unreasonable amount of sex in it, linked with the weird Drummers that make no sense at all (and are highly ridiculous in any case). Also, it has nothing that you could call an ending, which was highly disappointing. I have mixed feelings about this book, and thus it receives a four-star ("dubious") rating.
- Cryptonomicon (Cypherpunk) - Neal Stephenson
  
  Cryptonomicon is looooong. So long. However, it's good. It takes place in two time periods, and it's actually done well. And it has a real ending, whoo hoo. I really enjoyed it.
- The Fortunate Fall (Nanotech, Cyberpunk) - Raphael Carter
  
  The first two chapters of this novel are available online. And now I'll begin my familiar refrain. The beginning is full of interest, but the ending throws it all away. Had the novel ended at the end of chapter 18, I might rate it a low six stars, but instead it gets a high four stars. The society makes no sense. How did the Guardians come about? How did the Unanimous Army come about? How did the Weavers come about? They're all very interesting, yes, but they hang together loosely. There is an ending, but it can't make up its mind whether to be happy or tragic. For a novel which makes you feel what the main character feels, the ending fails at that miserably. Not to mention the nonsense about the Unknown King which looks like it has something to do with the core of the novel, but really doesn't. Blah, I say.
- Feersum Endjinn (Cyberpunk) - Iain M. Banks
  
  I bought this thinking it was a Culture novel. It isn't. (At least, I don't think so....) As for what it actually is, well, that's hard to describe. Feersum Endjinn takes place on an Earth of the future, where people have eight real lives and eight virtual reality lives given to them. It just gets weirder from there. It's very hard to figure out what exactly's going on. I understand the concept of the fastness that appears in the novel, but its structure is not clear at all. Where is Chapel City and how are they going to drop bombs on it? The really confusing thing about Feersum Endjinn is that a good part of it is not written in English at all, but phonetic English. Yes, it's cute the first time we see it. But each successive time the story returns to the character who writes in phonetic English, I want to close the damn book and go do something else. It's not really that bad; you get used to it, though reading it goes much more slowly than the normal English sections. Unfortunately, the phonetic sections of the book are just as unclear as the normal sections of the book. There's talk of "crypting", and birds (lots of birds), and a giant gibbering... thing, but little of it makes very much sense. The one thing this novel has going for it is that its ending doesn't entirely suck. While the premise of the story doesn't make very much sense at all (why do they have to go to so much trouble in the first place?), the ending explains most of what's been going on - except for the gibbering - and it ties things up fairly well. I get the feeling that Feersum Endjinn would have made a very good short story. As it is, however, the lessons which can be learned from the story are drowned out by the confusion and irrelevancy of the bulk of the book. I give this novel a low five stars ("average"); you won't regret reading it, but I'm not so sure you'll enjoy it either.
Space
- Halo: The Fall Of Reach (SF) - Eric Nylund
  
  I bought this because it's the official prequel novel to the Xbox game Halo. It was everything I hoped it would be. The story was extremely interesting despite the fact that as it's a prequel, you know how the book has to end (or do you?). The background of the Master Chief and his training are explained brilliantly, and all of the scenes with MJOLNIR armor are fantastic. Cortana makes an appearance as well. The reason I like this novel so much is that it doesn't fall into the usual traps of novels based on a game or a movie. Characters aren't thrown in merely because they occur in Halo. The novel is not a one-dimensional shadow of the game. Indeed, it's the other way around - after reading The Fall Of Reach, Halo seems as if it is a shadow of the rich and complex world developed in the novel. In the game, Cortana is merely an AI who's seen for a few minutes of gameplay time and her voice acts as a guide throughout the game. In the novel, Cortana has personality, feelings, motivations, and so forth. I can't help but feel that due to the pressure to make its release simultaneous with the Xbox launch, most of Halo's story was cut out, leaving The Fall Of Reach as the only way to experience the rich and detailed world of the Human/Covenant War. I recommend this novel highly, even if you have never played Halo.
- Halo: The Flood (SF) - William C. Dietz
  
  This is a decent book, but nothing spectacular. It's the official novelization of the Xbox game Halo. In that, it succeeds fairly well. It stays close to the story of the game while expanding on some parts. For example, the Covenant are explored more deeply. This novel can be read if you've never played the game before. If you have played Halo, however, then Halo: The Flood won't add much more, except for the Covenant's perspective. Halo's story was fairly weak, because the game had to be ready for the Xbox launch. Dietz does a good job of patching up the story, but even he falters at times; for example, the Library sequence in the novel is almost as tiresome as the sequence in the game, and the author's frustration shows. The Flood, as the title might suggest, play a big role in the novel. Small amounts of time are given to the Flood's perspective; I thought that this was inventive and well executed. However, the basic flaw of Halo's story remains: nothing is explained. Who the Forerunners are, why Halo exists, what the Flood have to do with anything... the questions are many yet the answers are few. The deepest questions of Halo are actually made even more mysterious by the novel. There's a second Reclaimer, which I don't remember from the Library sequence. Perhaps he's in the game, but you'll forgive me for not paying closer attention to that particular point in the gameplay. Apparently, this second Reclaimer is thrown in just to confuse the reader even more. In the initial light bridge sequence, the Master Chief finds out that something else is going on, which ties into the whole Reclaimer business. But is it explained? No!
  
  The worst part about Halo: The Flood is that it's not really a sequel to Halo: The Fall of Reach. Occasional references are made to the prequel, certainly, but Dietz's novel has an entirely different feel and there are some inconsistencies. By page 27 I had already identified one: The Fall of Reach makes it quite clear that the Covenant would prefer to fight hand-to-hand rather than pick up human weapons. So The Flood is inconsistent when it mentions a Grunt with a confiscated human weapon. I'll spare you the other inconsistencies I identified just from the first reading. The fact is that Halo: The Flood is a novelization of Halo and not a sequel of Halo: The Fall of Reach. All of the special little nuances of the Halo universe that appeared in Nylund's novel are simply not present in Dietz's novel. When the Master Chief runs, he's not just fast. He's insanely fast, if you work out the math. Nylund goes to the trouble of describing just how fast he is, in one memorable sequence. Dietz treats the Master Chief basically as another soldier; sure, his armor's cool and all, but that's it. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected so much from Halo: The Flood, but even taken by itself, it manages to do nothing wrong while also managing to do nothing extraordinary.
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (SF) - Robert A. Heinlein
  
  This is the book that Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars wish they were but aren't. In the future, the Moon has been used as a penal colony. Three million decendants of convicts now live on and under its surface. The Lunar Authority controls everything. And yet, what if things could be changed? What if a sentient supercomputer could be convinced to turn against those who built it? This novel is interesting start to finish, though the ending is a little sad. One internal inconsistency: if humans become adapated to lunar gravity after four months, why wouldn't they become adapted to Earth gravity after another four months? We evolved here, you know. Heinlein wrote this before Apollo 11, but still, it's an internal inconsistency.
- Excession (SF, AI, Aliens, Space) - Iain M. Banks
  for the novel as a whole
  for the ship-centered story only
  This is one of those maddening novels that could be so good, if it were only rewritten properly. The basic story of Excession is terrific. The main characters - the ships - are fascinating and well-developed. In the universe of the Culture, ships are controlled by sentient Minds. I read Excession because I had learned that Halo took, among other things, the style of its ship names (e.g. the Truth and Reconciliation and the Pillar of Autumn) from Iain M. Banks. And I was not disappointed. Excession is filled with ships such as the Shoot Them Later, the Steely Glint, the Death and Gravity, and the Not Invented Here. Better yet, the ideas in this novel are terrific. The Outside Context Problem is a common theme in SF, but it's nice to see the characters explicitly recognize this. The Dependency Principle is extremely neat. The organization of the Culture is fascinating, and so forth. The problem with Excession is that its humans are boring. None of their motivations are clear. Nothing they do matters. This wouldn't be so bad, except that considerable time is devoted to them and their meaningless interactions. Fortunately, the human story and the central, ship-dominated story are interwoven, so you don't have to spend much time wading through the muck to get to the good stuff. The one flaw in the central story is that Sublimation into an Elder civilization is treated far more poorly than Vernor Vinge treats Transcendence into a Power in A Fire Upon The Deep. In exchange, Banks considers the Dependency Principle, which doesn't appear in Vinge's work. Without the boring human stuff, Excession would easily be seven stars ("great"). But even as it is, I think it's worth a read.
- Look To Windward (SF, AI, Aliens, Space) - Iain M. Banks
  
  I find it hard to get excited about this novel. Unlike Excession, Look to Windward's story is almost entirely based from the perspective of humans, aliens, and drones. Ships and Minds play a role, but not an overly large one. This novel's human-scale story is better than Excession's human-scale story, but that's faint praise indeed. The thing that I really don't like about Look to Windward is that its aliens are simply not alien. Excession's main aliens, the Affront, were at least very unusual (in fact, they're the best part of that novel's human-scale story). Not so in Windward, where the Chelgrians may as well be human for all the reader cares. There's a alien of the Homomdan species thrown in for no apparent reason at all - he may as well be human, too. Drones play a small part, but again, they act human. That's a pity, since their intelligence must be so different from a human's intelligence (though not of greater magnitude, like a Mind's intelligence is). Banks isn't trying to make the aliens seem "more human than the humans", as in Vinge's A Deepness In The Sky - that takes masterful skill. The problem here is that the aliens and drones are simply portrayed poorly. And there's an entire subplot involving an "airsphere" and the dirigible behemothaurs which live upon it. That's weird enough, but the problem is that the subplot has absolutely no connection whatsoever to the main plot. There are some neat things about Look to Windward - it's not a complete waste of time. I like the Dn. and Cr. abbreviations. The banter about ship names - including the Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again - was entertaining. Most significantly, this novel has a lot to do with Subliming, and those parts are very interesting indeed. In the end, I give Look to Windward five stars ("average").
Other
- Inversions (Medieval SF) - Iain M. Banks
  
  More than anything else, this novel is incredibly subtle. I strongly recommend that you read either Excession or Look to Windward before reading Inversions, to get some idea of what Banks usually talks about. This novel consists of two stories that take place at the same time on the same world. The setting is medieval, and the style is close to fantasy. There are kings, bodyguards, assassins, torturers, and court intrigues aplenty. However, this novel is not fantasy in the sense that magic, dragons, hobbits, and what have you are nowhere to be found. (Well, there's some magic.) Rather, it's SF - it takes place on a world that is not Earth. This much can be surmised from the cover, which depicts a lush forest, a waterfall, a small moss-covered patch of ground with a pitted, jeweled dagger thrust into it, and a winding road leading to a castle in the background, all under two moons. (Or a sun and a moon - I can't be certain. As they aren't the same apparent size, it's still not Earth.) Inversions is confusing for two reasons: "what happened?" and "how should we judge what happened?". The former is mysterious throughout much of the novel; even the identities and motivations of the two narrators are uncertain. By the end, most of these questions are resolved. I'm still left wondering what happened to a couple of characters in the book, but I think that upon a second reading, paying closer attention, it would become apparent. The book is that subtle. The thing that Inversions leaves open is how to judge what happened. The two stories are told so that the reader can compare and contrast them. The question of who was right and who was wrong - or if they were both right, or both wrong - is the whole point of Inversions. Ordinarily, I don't like this. I like stories that are wrapped up neatly in a bow. Yet I can live with Inversions, since it mostly wraps up the actual events. The interpretation is left open just enough so that my mind constantly goes over the events trying to properly judge them, but not so much that I feel that the novel was pointless.
  
  The back cover of the novel says:
  
  ON A DISORDERED WORLD
  
  In Haspidus, Dr. Vosill serves as the personal physician to the king, an incredible achievement for a foreigner and - even more unthinkably - a woman. Sharp-tongued, independent, and full of dangerous ideas, Vosill has more enemies at court than even she suspects. But she also has more remedies at hand than those who wish her ill could possibly imagine.
  
  IN A CRITICAL TIME
  
  Across the mountains, a man named DeWar serves as chief bodyguard to the Protector General of Tassasen, a profession he describes as the business of "assassinating assassins". In a troubled new country ravaged by revolution, DeWar, too, has enemies - but his methods of combating them are more direct.
  
  ONE PERSON'S PRESENCE
  
  As these new nations struggle to rise up from the ruins of a fallen empire, Vosill and DeWar have each caught the ear of those in power. Although they seem to act as loyal servants to their chosen countries, their true agendas are as elusive as their mysterious, and possibly common, past.
  
  COULD CHANGE A CULTURE
  
  Dr. Vosill is one of my favorite characters. :->
- T2: Infiltrator (SF) - S.M. Stirling
  
  I bought this one based on the T2 name alone (hey, sometimes I'm an easy sell). It turned out to be a really enjoyable read; it stays true to the T2 property and is quite interesting in its own right. It also has an obvious hook for a sequel, which I will buy if it's written. Yum. T2 fans can't go wrong with this one.
- T2: Rising Storm (SF) - S.M. Stirling
  
  Well, looks like my prediction came true. A sequel to Infiltrator was written. And this one is as good, if not better, than the first. I do suggest you read Infiltrator before Rising Storm, though, otherwise things might not make a lot of sense. Again, Rising Storm looks like it's the second novel of a trilogy, but I don't know if a third book is in the works.
- K-PAX (SF, but not extremely. More like a Crichton novel) - Gene Brewer
  
  This was an excellent read, well worth my time. The movie follows the book rather closely. On that note, the movie has some of the most excellent lighting work I've ever seen.
- On A Beam Of Light (SF) - Gene Brewer
  
  The sequel to K-PAX, I enjoyed this one as much as the first. I wouldn't recommend reading it without having read K-PAX first, or having watched the movie.
- Prey (Nanotech SF) - Michael Crichton
  
  This is an interesting take on the gray goo scenario. The ending didn't make as much sense as I would have liked, but it's a standard Crichton novel: interesting and well-written. Better than Sphere and The Terminal Man (though perhaps lacking in memorable quotes like "All men. All women. He had the power"), but not as good as The Andromeda Strain.
Clancy

Tom Clancy has written a series of novels which all take place in the same universe, dubbed the "Ryanverse". Most of the novels in the Ryanverse center on John Patrick Ryan's life throughout the years, but some feature him only peripherally. I suggest reading the Clancy FAQ for more information.
- Without Remorse - Tom Clancy
  
  This was an excellent novel which sets up John Clark's background. Several other novels in the Ryanverse feature Clark, but usually as a supporting character. Interestingly, this is one of only two novels in the Ryanverse where Ryan is not a main character (he is mentioned, but he is very young at the time this novel takes place). Let's put it this way - if you like seeing drug dealers getting shot, then Without Remorse is the book for you.
- Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy
  
  I enjoyed this novel set in the Soviet era. Saying much more would spoil the plot.
- The Hunt For Red October - Tom Clancy
  
  This was the first of Clancy's novels to be published, and the first to be made into a movie. Like the movie, the book is very good. It goes into more detail than the movie, and the plot is more complicated. However, the movie's relative simplicity is a strength. Several key elements (the radiation leak, whether Ramius is a defector or a madman, etc.) are better done in the movie. Still, the book is worth reading.
- Patriot Games - Tom Clancy
  
  I read through this novel exceptionally fast. It's similar to the movie, and while it's not bad, it's nothing special either.
- The Cardinal Of The Kremlin - Tom Clancy
  
  This novel is weak. Perhaps because it was actually written during the Soviet era, taking place in the Soviet era, it lacks any real sense of danger. Oh, the Soviets might be building an antisatellite laser. Oh no, we can't let that happen. There are some subplots which are interesting (e.g. CARDINAL's life and how he came to provide information to the CIA), but overall the book is rather boring.
- Clear And Present Danger - Tom Clancy
  
  I was very bored by the movie version of this novel, but the novel itself is quite solid. It's standard Clancy fare and remains interesting throughout. The one part that I really enjoyed was the scene on the Panache (I'm being deliberately vague here). Chavez and Clark appear, and considerable time is devoted to Chavez. That's great, because they're my favorite characters in the Ryanverse. Ryan himself appears, but only peripherally, which is all right with me. It may be useful to have read Without Remorse before reading this novel. Ninja! We own the night!
- The Sum Of All Fears - Tom Clancy
  
  The movie differs remarkably from the book. The movie's nuclear explosion sucks. Having grown up watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day, I expect nuclear explosions in film to be bad ass. (T2 won awards for having the most realistic depiction of a nuclear explosion on film, and they never used any stock footage.) In addition, thanks to a hurried and disconnected plot, the movie was simply weak. However, I had heard that the novel was far superior, and I was delighted to see that this was true. The novel's depiction of a nuclear explosion is terrific, and the storyline is extremely strong. The movie had replaced Arab terrorists with neofascists in an attempt to modernize the 1991 novel's story - this was before the attack on the World Trade Center towers, of course. The novel thus feels eerily prescient, much like playing Deus Ex today. The only thing that really jarred in the book is that the terrorists made a mistake. Living in a world where the terrorists didn't make any glaring mistakes, this felt a little out of place. Oh well.
- Debt Of Honor - Tom Clancy
  
  This is a great novel dealing with a conflict between Japan and America. Clancy's method of foreshadowing, where he explains events which seem disconnected at first but gradually tie in together, is well done. You can see what is coming up in general, but the specifics are always suprising and interesting. However, the ending makes very little sense.
- Executive Orders - Tom Clancy
  
  A direct sequel to Debt of Honor, this builds off of that novel's weak and fairly nonsensical ending. That's okay, though - in any novel, the author gets one fairytale for free (a fairytale is an otherwise outlandish concept which can serve as the foundation for a story or universe. One can usually be accepted with suspension of disbelief, if it is well executed. Too many, and the story suffers). Indeed, the concept is rather intruiging, and it is one of the few strengths of the novel. However, in the end, Executive Orders is weak. At times, it feels like half the book is repeating itself, going over John Patrick "Misaki Suzuhara" Ryan's endless agonizing about whether he is really fit for the Presidency and how much he hates his job. It reached such levels of ridiculousness that I can barely remember the actual plot, which centers around a biological attack. The ending is thankfully quick and painless.
- Rainbow Six - Tom Clancy
  
  This was made into a horrible, horrible game, but actually started off as a decent novel. Ryan is referred to occasionally, but only once by name. Rather, this novel mostly centers around John Clark. The beginning is full of interest, as Clark builds an elite antiterrorist team. However, I think that the real hero of Rainbow Six is a ex-KGB officer, Dmitri Popov, who starts out working for terrorists, but eventually gets himself into a frightening situation. The process of Popov's escape from that situation is the shining moment of Rainbow Six. While the end is fairly weak, all in all the plot is convincing.
- The Bear And The Dragon - Tom Clancy
  
  This is probably my favorite Clancy novel so far. As it occurs latest in the Ryanverse chronology, the America of The Bear and the Dragon differs most significantly from the real America, past or present. Indeed, it comes fairly close to being an alternate history novel. Thanks to events that occurred earlier in the series, America is heavily demilitarized at the time this novel takes place. Thus, it's a bit harder to smack the enemy with good, old-fashioned American military might. Indeed, the real heroes of The Bear and the Dragon are the Russians, and their fight against the enemy is truly epic. I will be very interested to see the conclusion of the Ryanverse (in an upcoming 2004 novel codenamed HITS, which takes place after The Bear and the Dragon).
Red Storm Rising does not take place in the Ryanverse; the characters and events in it stand alone and appear in no other novels.
- Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy
  
  What would happen if the Soviet Union decided to wage a nonnuclear war against NATO? This is a fairly good Clancy novel, and the battles are fairly interesting. However, I found it hard to get a high level idea of what was going on at any particular moment, and the ending is weak because the plot is weak. I consider Red Storm Rising to be inferior to most of the Ryanverse novels. Still, probably worth your time to read if you like hearing about modern war.

https://nuwen.net/reviews.html (updated a long time ago)
Stephan T. Lavavej
Home: stl@nuwen.net
Work: stl@microsoft.com
This is my personal website. I work for Microsoft, but I don't speak for them.


Sanosuke Sagara	Misao Makimachi	Aoshi Shinomori	Saito Hajime	Makoto Shishio	Kenshin Himura


Ryuhou	Kazuma	Straight Cougar	Xeres Adjani	Martin Sigmar	Kimishima


Rei Ayanami	Asuka Langley Sohryu	Pen Pen	Shinji Ikari


Misaki Suzuhara	Wizard	Hikaru


Naru Narusegawa	Keitaro Urashima	Mutsumi Otohime	Mitsune Konno


Hibiki Tokai	Meia	Barnette	Dita	Bart