Review of "Chasm City: A Science Fiction Novel" by Alastair Reynolds

Chasm City is the sequel to Revelation Space but works fine as a standalone.

*****

Chasm City follows two main characters via a narrative in which one man, Tanner Mirabel, has visions of another man, Sky Haussmann.

Chronologically, the story begins in the 26th century, when Earth launches a fleet of generation starships to establish a colony on a distant planet.



The ships carry humans in reefersleep (hibernation), who will be revived when the ships reach their destination, hundreds of years after the launch.





Live crews man the vessels and monitor the sleepers.



Following an attempted sabotage on one of the starships, a man named Sky Haussman becomes the vessel's head of security.



Sky has an agenda and does unspeakable things to (eventually) become the ship's captain and advance his personal interests.



After the starships reach their final destination, named Sky's Edge, Haussmann is ultimately convicted and executed for his crimes. By then, Haussmann has become a cult leader with a fanatical following, and his fans carry and spread a nanovirus that gives people visions of Sky and his life.



The other main character, Tanner Mirabel, is a former soldier who lives in Sky's Edge hundreds of years after Haussmann was executed. Like many people on Sky's Edge, Mirabel is infected with the nanovirus.



Thus Tanner has visions of Sky whenever he falls asleep. Tanner works as head of security for a barbarous arms dealer called Cahuella, a sadistic brute who's made many enemies.



One of Cahuella's foes is a wealthy citizen called Argent Reivich, who blames Cahuella for the death of his family. Cahuella learns that Reivich means to kill him, so the arms dealer and his security chief go on alert and prepare for the attack.

The attack occurs, things go wrong, and security chief Tanner vows to kill Reivich.



As things pan out, Tanner follows Reivich to Chasm City on a planet called Yellowstone; this necessitates a decades-long voyage that requires travelers to enter reefersleep. The hibernation causes partial amnesia, so once Tanner awakens, he needs rehab before he sets off to bag his quarry.

Tanner's quest in Chasm City is hampered by the fact that the region has become infected with the Melding Plague. The plague infects machines of all kinds, including humans with biomechanical body parts.....



......and/or people with internal nanobots.



The Melding Plague causes these people to mutate in bizarre and hideous ways.



Thus most of Chasm City is a disgusting ground-level slum inhabited by the dregs of society.



By contrast, the relatively few wealthy people in Chasm City - who've had their 'mechanics' removed - live in elevated homes in the canopy.



Much of the story is an epic chase in which Tanner gets into one dangerous situation after another as he tries to find and kill Reivich. Tanner meets some people who hinder him and some people who help him, including a few unusual and attractive women.



Scenes of Tanner's murderous quest alternate with scenes of Sky's life, which Tanner sees whenever he nods off. Thus we follow Sky's increasingly horrendous escapades from childhood through adulthood.

This is a bare bones description of the plot, which is enhanced by elaborate world-building and descriptions of futuristic weapons, technology, and novel beings - such as pig people. My favorite lifeforms are the hamadryads, snake-like creatures who grow to hundreds of meters in length. When hamadryads approach adulthood, they wrap themselves around trees and meld with the trunks, becoming part of the structure of the plant.



The story is convoluted and action-packed, with a diverse array of characters - some human, some animal, and some other. Neither of the main characters is a likeable guy, and one is downright disgusting and despicable (in case you need to know).

I enjoyed the book, and especially liked the imaginative worlds created by the author.

3.5 stars

Review of "Fortunate Son: A Novel" by Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley best as the author of the 'Easy Rawlins' mystery series, but Mosley dabbles in many genres. This book is a literary novel about two boys who think of themselves as brothers, but have very different lives.

*****

Branwyn Beerman - a beautiful, black single woman who works in a florist shop - gives birth to a baby boy with a hole in his lung.



Little Thomas Beerman is a 'bubble baby', kept in a glass enclosure that Branwyn visits every day - to will her baby to live.



Tommy's father, Elton Trueblood, didn't want a child and walked out when Branwyn was three weeks pregnant. Thus Branwyn is on her own with the ailing tot.



Dr. Minas Nolan is a recently widowed, handsome white surgeon whose wife died giving birth to Eric.....



.....a big healthy baby destined to become a blonde, blue-eyed Adonis.



Dr. Nolan and Branwyn meet in the hospital and strike up a friendship. The doctor convinces Branwyn to take Tommy out of the facility, so the boy will have a chance to live a normal life. Long story short, Branwyn and Tommy move in with Dr. Nolan and Eric - who live in a lovely large home in Beverly Hills.



Minas and Branwyn become lovers, and the boys are raised as brothers, with Branwyn as their mother and Minas as their father.



The boys also have a Vietnamese nanny called Ahn.



Minas proposes marriage to Branwyn many times, but she refuses to wed since she still secretly yearns for Tommy's father. Though things are going well in the Nolan household, Branwyn's mother strongly objects to the irregular arrangement and constantly chastises her daughter.

Eric and Tommy love each other dearly though they're as different as chalk and cheese. Little Tommy is a frail, clumsy dreamer who collects rocks and twigs in the garden, to show his doting mother. Eric is a hearty boy with a big personality who takes all the 'real toys' for himself, including Tommy's trucks and cars. When Branwyn retrieves Tommy's playthings from Eric's room one day, the big toddler howls for hours.....and Tommy, a big-hearted child, drags everything back to his brother's door.

Things go well until the boys are six-years-old, and Branwyn dies. Elton, encouraged by Tommy's grandmother, takes his son away - even though Elton knows nothing about kids and is unprepared to raise the child.



Tommy gets a makeshift bed on the back porch of Elton's ghetto house, where Elton lives with his girlfriend Eve. Tommy is disoriented and frightened, but Eve is kind.....and the child tries to adjust. He gets enrolled in a school down the block, which - for the first time - is full of kids that look like him.



Meanwhile, Eric - who's already missing Branwyn - is distraught at the loss of his brother, and vows to get him back. It will be many years before the boys meet again.

The narrative switches back and forth between Tommy and Eric, highlighting the contrasting events in the boys' lives as they grow up.

*****

On his first day in the new school, six-year-old Tommy meets a boy called Bruno, who gives Tommy the ironic nickname Lucky. Tommy becomes friends with Bruno and his older sister Monique, both of whom will greatly impact his life. In his first week of classes Tommy is repeatedly attacked by bullies and brought to tears in the classroom, where the sunlight is too bright. Thus Tommy stops going to school and spends every day in an unused, fenced-off alley behind Elton's house.



In the alley, Tommy cleans up trash, looks at nature, and hangs out in his 'clubhouse' - an abandoned basement room. Bruno tells the teacher that Tommy went back to his former home, and hard-drinking Elton - who works long hours as a mechanic - is too indifferent to notice. Thus Tommy's elementary school truancy goes on for three years.....until Elton's violent temper makes Tommy run away from home.

Tommy starts working for a drug dealer, delivering packages to customers, and makes good money.



Eventually, Tommy, who's not yet 12-years-old, moves in with Monique and her new baby - and becomes the provider for the household. Before long the drug business goes badly wrong, there's a shoot out, and Tommy is injured. Tommy is then sentenced to nine years in juvie, where he's repeatedly raped and abused. Eventually Tommy escapes and gets back on the streets, where he becomes one of the homeless, pushing a shopping cart through town.



*****

Eric, in the meantime, leads a charmed life. By the time he's fourteen, Eric - who reads newspapers with his father at breakfast - is knowledgeable about world affairs, is doing well in private school, is a fine athlete, and is popular with the girls.....even seniors. And his charmed life goes on from there.



The one person who has reservations about Eric is the former nanny (now housekeeper) Ahn - who thinks Eric is 'cursed'......and that his 'good luck' leads to other people's 'bad luck.' And this, indeed, appears to be true. To say more would be a spoiler.

In objective terms, Eric has a much better life than Tommy. Eric has a nice home, is bound for college, and has everything going his way. On the downside, Eric never recovers from losing Branwyn and Tommy and - with great insight - realizes he's 'toxic' to other people. This leads Eric to make major sacrifices, and he can't seem to find true happiness.



Tommy, on the other hand, has a very rough existence. He's yanked from a life of privilege, gets into trouble, suffers beatings and broken bones, comes across a dead body, gets shot more than once, wanders the street with bloody feet, grows up essentially illiterate and uneducated, is falsely arrested, and more. Through it all, however, Tommy remains stoic - even optimistic and happy. Tommy is the ultimate example of resiliency.



So, who's the 'fortunate son?" (I still vote Eric.)

In time, the two brothers find one another, which leads to a series of dramatic events and a memorable climax.

I enjoyed the book, but some parts are too slow and some strain credulity (for me). Still, this is a good novel, well worth reading.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Novel" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

On a side street in Tokyo there's a little coffee shop called Funiculi Funicula that has a very unusual feature. It allows people to travel back in time. There are rigid rules for time travelers, however, as follows:

- Whatever you do, you CANNOT change the present.

- You can only interact with people who have visited Funiculi Funicula.

- You must sit in one specific chair in the café to time travel, and you can't leave the chair for any reason. The catch is, a ghost - in the form of a woman reading a book - occupies the chair and only leaves once a day to go to the toilet.



- A cup of coffee starts the journey, and you MUST return to the present before the coffee gets cold.



As the book unfolds, four women take advantage of the time traveling feature - each one for her own reasons.

*****

♥ Fumiko and her long-time boyfriend Goro arrange to meet at Funiculi Funicula because Goro wants to have a serious conversation.



Fumiko thinks Goro is going to propose, and purchases a special outfit for the occasion. Instead, Goro says he's taking a job in New York and has to leave immediately. Fumiko refuses to hear Goro's explanation and tells him to just go. Thus Goro is off to America.

A few days later Fumiko regrets being so abrupt and - though she knows she can't change the present - goes back in time to tell Goro she doesn't want him to go.

*****

♥ Kohtake and her husband Fusagi are a long-married couple who regularly patronize Funiculi Funicula. A few years ago Fusagi got early onset Alzheimer's and he now doesn't recognize his wife. However, Kohtake is a trained nurse, and she takes care of Fusagi in that capacity.



When Kohtake learns that Fusagi wrote her a letter right after he fell ill, but didn't give it to her, she goes back in time to get the missive.

*****

♥ Hirai was expected to take over her parents' inn, but being a free spirit, left home. Hirai moved to Tokyo and bought a food bar near Funiculi Funicula. Now Hirai is estranged from her parents.....



.....and her younger sister Kumi reluctantly manages the inn.



Kumi frequently comes to Tokyo to see Hirai, but Hirai avoids her sister at all costs. In fact Hirai once crouched behind the counter of Funiculi Funicula for three hours to dodge Kumi.

Sadly, Kumi died in a traffic accident after her latest attempt to see Hirai, and Hirai goes back in time to speak to her sister.

*****

♥ Kei, a waitress at Funiculi Funicula, is married to the café's owner Nagare. Kei has always had a weak constitution and was never able to engage in vigorous activity. Now Kei is pregnant, and the doctor says it's unlikely both she and the baby can survive. Nevertheless, Kei chooses to continue with the pregnancy.



Thinking about time travel at the café, Kei decides to try to travel to the FUTURE, in an attempt to meet her child.

*****

In the course of the book, these protagonists - as well as several secondary characters - are fleshed out, and we learn about various aspects of their lives. We also see how time travel affects the characters.

Time travel is an interesting theme, though staying only as long as it takes for a cup of coffee to cool, and being unable to change the present, is rather limiting. This latter rule seemed fudged a bit, though. The author explains that, should you go back in time and shoot someone (who's now alive), there will happen to be phenomenal surgeon on hand, a supply of blood, etc. In my view, someone who required emergency surgery would be different in the present, but I'll let it go.

I like the book, which is engaging and quirky, and will go on to the sequel, Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café

The book is translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, and the prose is a little stilted and choppy. However I don't know if this is due to the translation or the original narrative.

There's a film adaptation of this book, called Café Funiculi Funicula.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Cat of the Baskervilles: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery" by Vicki Delany

In this 3rd book in the 'Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries', bookstore owner/amateur sleuth Gemma Doyle investigates the death of an actor. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Gemma Doyle moved from England to West London, Massachusetts to manage 'The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium.'





Gemma co-owns the establishment with her nonagenarian great uncle Arthur Clive Doyle, who claims distant kinship with Arthur Conan Doyle - the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Spry Uncle Arthur is often off on excursions, or socializing with lady friends, leaving Gemma in charge of the business.

Gemma also co-owns the adjoining shop, 'Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room', which is run by her best friend Jayne Wilson.





It's tourist season in Massachusetts, and the West London Theater Festival is putting on 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', a play in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate tales of a huge supernatural killer dog.



A famous British actor of stage and screen, Sir Nigel Bellingham, is slated to star as Holmes, and he's expected to draw a big crowd.



Sir Nigel, whose most famous movie was made forty years ago, is now an out-of-shape alcoholic with gray hair, but the play's director Pat thinks the actor will be up to the task.

Before the play's opening night, Theater Festival producer Rebecca Stanton hosts a fundraiser at her home, to raise money for the event. The fundraiser is catered by Jayne Wilson, and attendees pay $200 each to have tea and refreshments with cast members of The Hound of the Baskervilles.



Gemma helps Jayne prepare the treats, which include coconut cupcakes; smoked salmon and cream cheese roulettes; and finger sandwiches made with roast beef and arugula; cucumber and cream cheese; and egg salad.







Jayne's mother Leslie Wilson - who does volunteer work for the Theater Festival - was an actress decades ago and worked with Sir Nigel.



Leslie tries to reminisce with the actor at the fundraiser, but Sir Nigel gets drunk, embarrasses himself, and disappears. When a search is mounted the thespian is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. and Leslie - who was the last person seen with Sir Nigel - is a person of interest to the detectives.

Gemma is certain Leslie is innocent and mounts her own investigation. This annoys Detective Ryan Ashburton and his partner Detective Louise Estrada, who don't like Gemma interfering in police business.





Gemma's relationship with Ryan is especially tricky since they used to date and still harbor feelings for each other. Gemma is a law unto herself, and she hides evidence, does a spot of breaking and entering, and keeps information from the cops. Gemma's sleuthing pays off however, and she eventually solves the case.

Additional characters add interest to the story. These include: Gerald - Sir Nigel's dogsbody, who's disrespected by the actor; Eddie - Sir Nigel's handsome understudy, who has an eye for the ladies; Renee, a haughty actress with a crush on Eddie; Grant - a dealer in rare books; Donald - a retired lawyer and Sherlock Holmes aficionado; Ashleigh - Gemma's bookstore assistant, who has a different wardrobe theme for every day;



Moriarty - the bookstore cat who likes everyone except Gemma; and more.



This is an entertaining cozy mystery, recommended to fans of the genre.

Rating: 3 stars