Review of "Lords Of Uncreation: The Final Architecture (Book Three) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

  

This is the third book in 'The Final Architecture' trilogy. The first two novels in the series are Shards of Earth and Eyes of the Void.

Background: (Warning: there will be minor spoilers if you haven't read the first two books).

The story takes place in the distant future, when humans have colonized space and encountered many kinds of intergalactic species. The most frightening of these entities are called Architects, each one as large as a moon, with crystalline spikes radiating from its surface.



An Architect will suddenly appear over an inhabited world, then quickly reshape it into a gigantic sculpture, killing everything that lives there.



The only planets, spaceships, orbitals (orbiting habitats), or installations 'immune' to Architect demolition contain remains or ruins left behind by mysterious entities called 'Originators.'



An Architect destroyed Earth, and the remaining shards of humanity reside elsewhere in the universe. Over time, humans became divided into rival clans that compete with one another for power and control. At the same time, humanity battles intergalactic beings and AIs. All this results in constant conflict and death.



Still, all societies have a common enemy in the Architects, whose mission is to demolish all sentient life. Thus alliances sometimes form between organizations that would otherwise be at each other's throats.

The Architects were unstoppable until a human girl named Xavienne Torino was able to mentally connect with an Architect and persuade it to cease its attack and go away.



Xavienne was termed an "Intermediary' (Int) and a program was developed to tinker with people's brains to make more Ints.



In addition to communicating with the Architects, the Ints are able to navigate through a region called 'unspace', a dimension under the universe that allows faster than light travel.



The most experienced and successful Int is Idris Telemmier, who's been repeatedly abducted by gangs wanting to use his gifts. Luckily, Idris's crewmates and friends have been able to mount rescue operations.



By the conclusion of 'Eyes of the Void' (book two), Idris has made a game-changing discovery. He's learned unspace contains the Architect nursery, where the Architects originate.



In addition, Idris and a few allies absconded with an Originator installation, called the Eye, from a planet named Criccieth's Hell. Idris and other Ints can use the Eye to penetrate deep into unspace, and perhaps find a way to fight the Architects.



*****

When Lords of Uncreation opens, an alliance called the 'Cartel' has been formed to battle the Architects. The Cartel is comprised of representatives from the following groups:

🞴🞴 Hugh: the governing body of Colonists (humans dispersed through the universe);

🞴🞴 The Parthenon: a faction of genetically engineered human women, called Partheni, bred to be warriors;

🞴🞴 Hivers: insectoid aliens;

🞴🞴 Broken Harvest: a criminal cartel of diverse species ruled by the clam-like Essiel (aka The Unspeakable Aklu, the Razor and the Hook);

......and other political and commercial interests.



Two groups aren't on board with the Cartel. One is the wealthy, powerful, aristocratic Uskaro family from old Earth. The Uskaros want to use the Eye - and the Int Idris Telemmier - for themselves. Their ultimate goal is to establish 'superior' human communities and rule over them.



The other opponents of the Cartel are a breakaway faction of the Parthenon led by Executor Mercy. Executor Mercy and her followers think the Cartel contains corrupt elements out to benefit themselves. Executor Mercy also fears some Partheni have been compromised or corrupted.



All this results in battles, kidnappings, imprisonments, deaths, and rescues that comprise the first part of 'Lords of Uncreation.'

Once the drama described above has been dealt with, the war against the Architects goes into high gear. At this point, the Eye - now containing Idris Telemmier and a coalition of Ints, humans, aliens, and AIs - is connected to the salvage vessel Vulture God.



In the Eye, Idris and his colleagues study ways to neutralize or destroy the Architects. This requires Idris and other Ints to repeatedly 'send their minds' into unspace, an enterprise that's physically and mentally draining, dangerous, and sometimes deadly.



During his visits to unspace, Idris discovers the presence of an enormously powerful entity, connected to the Originators, that's directing the Architects to destroy sentient life. The objective now is to deal with this forceful being, so the attacks on life in the universe will stop.



All this is anything but simple, because the Vulture God has become a target for the Architects. Thus the salvage vessel (and the attached Eye) keep popping in and out of unspace while being pursued by the Architects.



To complicate matters, the Vulture God needs to periodically resupply with food, fuel, and other necessities, and any planet or orbital assisting the Vulture God might attract the attention of the Architects.

By the end of the book, we learn the objective of the powerful being in unspace, and we see the resolution of all the chaos.

The book features popular ongoing characters, including:

🞴🞴 Kris - a lawyer;



🞴🞴 Olli - a human crew member of the Vulture God, who uses mobility aids equipped with weapons. Olli acquires new appendages in this book;



🞴🞴 Kit - a Hannilambra (crab-like) crew member of the Vulture God;



🞴🞴 Solace - Idris's Partheni friend;



🞴🞴 Havaer Mundy - a Colonial intelligence agent;



🞴🞴 Emmaneth - an almost indestructible Tothiat (human-alien symbiont);



.... and more.

I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole, but (for me) the first part of 'Lords of Uncreation' contains battles similar to previous books, and doesn't really move the story forward. That said, the remainder of the novel, filled with action, adventure, and surreal explanations, is a fitting finale to the series.

Recommended to fans of space operas.

Rating: 3.5 stars 

Review of "Physics Around The Clock: Adventures in the Science of Everyday Living" by Michael Banks

 

 In 'Physics Around the Clock', author Michael Banks explains the physics involved in our everyday activities, such as preparing breakfast, walking the dog, taking the kids to school, commuting to work, playing sports, choosing a book or film, and so on.

As an example, when your dog comes in from a walk in the rain, the pooch does a 'wet dog shake' and sprays water everywhere. This may spritz you and the furniture, but it could be a matter of life and death for your mutt, helping to stave off hypothermia.



The book's thirteen chapters discuss and explain many phenomena encountered in everyday life. To mention just a few, this includes things like:

❃ Why a teakettle whistles and why the spout drips after you pour the tea.

❃ Why a box of cereal has the big chunks of dried fruit and nuts at the top, and the small bits at the bottom.

❃ How to make the best hard-boiled egg.



❃ Why it's hard to get the last drop of shampoo out of the bottle.

❃ Why non-conformists, like hipsters, end up conforming (i.e. wearing similar clothes).

❃ Why falling cats always land on their feet.



❃ Why a goldfish in a round bowl sometimes 'disappears' due to refraction.

❃ How ferns catapult their spores into the air, to spread them far and wide.

❃ How spiders make their webs.

❃ Why traffic jams form, even when there's no accident.

❃ Why the flight of the original wooden golf balls was so unpredictable.



❃ How disease microbes spread through the air.

❃ What happens when a bottle of champagne is uncorked, and the best-shaped glass for drinking champagne.

❃ How to determine the size of a table you need for a a jigsaw puzzle.

❃ How to make the best pizza, and how to slice a pizza so some pieces have no crust (for the kiddies presumably).



❃ Why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most profitable.

.....and much more.

Though it's sometimes a stretch, Banks explains that physics is involved in just about everything. This is demonstrated by the fact that physicists publish papers about 'non-traditional' research, and sometimes win the Ig Nobel Prize - an award that recognizes achievements that make people laugh and think.



Examples of physics-related studies that received the Ig Nobel prize include:

❃ Levitating a frog with magnets;



❃ Why toast lands butter-side down;



❃ The possibility of walking on water in a swimming pool (a person would need enormous speed and very large feet to avoid sinking);



❃ The slipperiness of banana peels;



❃ The shape of ponytails;



❃ Why wombats produce cube-shaped poop.



One of my favorite vignettes describes the goal scored by Brazilian Roberto Carlos against France in 1997. Banks writes, "Just as it seemed like the shot would be going wide, the ball began to curve strongly to the left and just snuck inside the goalpost; all the French goalkeepr, Fabian Bartez could do was stand and watch, perplexed at what had just happened."



Banks has a good sense of humor and threads fun quips and observations through the book. Be aware though, the book contains REAL PHYSICS, not just amusing anecdotes. Recommended to readers interested in the science behind everyday life.

Thanks to Netgalley, Michael Banks, and Prometheus for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 4 stars 

Review of "The Spectator Bird: A Novel" by Wallace Stegner

The Spectator Bird won the prestigious National Book Award for Fiction in 1977. This is Wallace Stegner's second novel featuring Joe and Ruth Allston, but it works fine as a standalone.

Background: It's the 1950s, and Joe Allston - a New York literary agent, and his wife Ruth - an educated, socially active woman, rub elbows with writers, editors, critics, and erudite professionals.



This contrasts with Joe and Ruth's son Curtis, a surfer who lives a counter-cultural, beach-oriented lifestyle with his drifter friends.



Joe Allston values stability, responsibility, hard work, and creating a legacy, which leads to constant arguments with his 'beach bum' offspring. Ruth is more conciliatory toward Curtis, but can do little to mitigate the discord between father and son.

When Curtis dies in a surfing accident (which may have been suicide), both Joe and Ruth are inconsolable, but Joe is also guilt-ridden, for his contentious relationship with his son.



In the aftermath, Joe and Ruth move from New York to California's bay area, to grieve and heal.

*****

The Spectator Bird opens in 1974, when septuagenarians Joe and Ruth are well-established in their California 'retiree' neighborhood. Ruth is more socially active than Joe, and she constantly encourages her husband to get out and see people, fearing Joe will become depressed about his declining health and friends who've died or are terminally ill.

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Joe, however, prefers to stay home, take care of the property, and organize his papers for a memoir - which Joe knows he'll never write. Joe (who's the story's narrator) observes about himself: "[Joe Allston] has been a wisecracking fellow traveler in the lives of other people, and a tourist in his own. There has not been one significant event in his life that he planned. He has gone downstream like a stick, getting hung up in eddies and getting flushed out again, only half understanding what he floated past, and understanding less with every year. He knows nothing that posterity needs to be told about."



Joe's cynical view of his life is heightened by an afternoon visit from Césare Rulli, a larger-than-life, best-selling Italian writer with an eye for the ladies. Césare is disagreeably surprised when he realizes the Allstons didn't invite more luncheon guests to hear his clever repartee, and he and his pretty travel guide leave early. Before going, however, Césare chides Joe for choosing a dull life of comfort and respectability, rather than a life of fun, risk and excitement.



Joe's self-esteem is declining because this society does not value the old in the slightest, and Joe envies his 70-year-old doctor, who says he doesn't feel like an old man, but like a young man with something the matter with him.

The past comes calling when the Allstons receive a postcard, forwarded from their old New York address. The missive is from Countess Astrid Wredel- Krarup, whom the Allstons met when they visited Denmark two decades ago, after their son Curtis died. Joe's mother was an immigrant from Denmark, and Joe - having lost his only descendant - wanted to connect with his roots.



When Joe shows the postcard to Ruth, he also gets out a diary - composed of several notebooks - that he kept during the 1954 trip. Ruth was unaware of the journal, and asks Joe to read it to her. Joe admits, "I suppose I had no real chance, once I had let her know that the journal existed, of not reading it to Ruth, or at least letting her read it.....If I burn the things and declare that I will not be henpecked into spilling guts I no longer acknowledge, then I burn into her a conviction that certain aspects of the Danish episode were more important than in fact they were—that they left great scars on my soul. "

Joe reads the diary entries over the next few evenings, as Ruth relaxes in bed and Joe sits in his comfortable chair.



From here, the book alternates back and forth between the present, where the Allstons navigate their current lives, and the story told in the diary.

Joe's journal begins with the ocean voyage to Denmark, which occurs amidst ship-rocking storms that make Joe seasick.



When a passenger dies from a heart attack, Joe describes the man's burial as follows: "A cluster of figures huddled out there, hanging on to each other or to the davits of a lifeboat, intent on something at their center. They hulked like conspirators, bent away from the wind and rain, and in my scared condition I had the wild idea they were planning like a lot of Lord Jims to abandon ship and let the pilgrims perish.....Then they fell back into a ragged line, two of them bent and lifted, and there went [the deceased] down the plank and into that appalling sea. There is no word for how instant his obliteration was. The second after they stooped, he was not."



The Allstons finally reach Copenhagen, and settle on accommodations with the financially strapped, fortyish Countess Astrid Wredel- Krarup. Joe writes, "The countess retains the front studio-bedroom, we take the drawing room, dining room, and back bedroom. We share the kitchen and one bath." The Allstons would probably have been more comfortable in their own apartment, but Joe writes, "Are we sorry for her because her husband ran out on her? Do we pity a woman who once had everything and now has to share the little she has left with strangers? Maybe."



After the Allstons settle in, and Joe observes his wife and the countess returning from a shopping trip, Joe notes, "Ruth is small, the countess five nine or ten, with a vivid face and fine clear skin. She would be statuesque except that she is so animated. An almost feverish eagerness possesses her in conversation....Everything is so funny, or so wonderful, or so nice....Something in the way she moves. Is it breeding, or do they train them? American women who have what is called 'bearing' look as if they learned it in model school and need a mirror for its constant reassurance. This one, in her tweed suit and sensible walking shoes and utilitarian raincoat, throws it away and still has it."



And later on, when Joe and the countess go swimming in the ocean, Joe remarks on how young and beautiful Astrid looks, and how graceful and alive she seems outside the confines of the city. It's clear Joe is growing increasingly attracted to Astrid.



The Allstons and the countess occasionally do things together, like attending the opera, and Joe and Ruth notice that NO ONE speaks to the countess. In fact, people go out of their way to avoid her.



The countess confides that her estranged husband Erik "caught the Nazi disease" during World War II and is considered a quisling/collaborator. Astrid's family is notorious for other reasons as well, and no one in Copenhagen has spoken to her for the past nine years.

When the countess learns Joe's mother was a Sverdrup, she realizes Joe's ancestors must have lived near her own forebears in Lolland. So Astrid invites the Allstons to visit her family estate and castle, called Ørebyslot, in Lolland. Along the way, the trio picnics with Astrid's distant cousin Karen Blixen (author of 'Out of Africa'), who hints at dark secrets in Astrid's clan.



Afterward, the Allstons have an eventful visit with Astrid's relatives at Ørebyslo, and Joe gets a tour of the property, which is an outstanding example of farm management and conservation. Joe also learns more about his mother, who was a housemaid in one of the cottages on the estate.



Some time later, back in Copenhagen, Astrid tells the Allstons about her family history. Astrid's father was the brilliant Danish scientist Aage Karl Rødding, and Astrid says, "The beginning is since many yearss, perhaps even before the beginning of this century. My father was interested in genetics, all kinds, but especially human, and that was hardest to study." Astrid relates many details of her father's research, and the studies he passed on to his followers. To say more would be a spoiler.



Later entries in Joe's diary reveal Joe's concern about Astrid's poverty and isolation, and his desire to help her, even to bring her to America. In the present, Ruth talks about Joe's obvious infatuation with Astrid, and the outcome of the visit.

For Joe's part, he's ambivalent about the past. On the one hand, Joe says, "I can't see that Danish episode as an adventure, or a crisis survived, or a serious quest for anything definable. It was just another happening like today's luncheon, something I got into and got out of." That's not true, of course, because Joe also thinks of "that possibility I had renounced, or been made to renounce, twenty years before and carried around with me like a cyst ever since."



Author Wallace Stegner is an erudite wordsmith who sprinkles his narrative with literary and historical references. The entire story is compelling, and I was especially interested in the research conducted by Astrid's father and his followers.


Author Wallace Stegner

Stegner's themes are aging, memories, missed possibilities, love, marriage, loss, grief, and ancestral roots. He also interested in the environment, and addresses irresponsible development in the California bay area, where the Allston characters live.

Recommended to fans of literary fiction.

Rating: 4 stars