Skip to main content

Cytonic (SF) - Brandon Sanderson **** 

Updated for paperback
The third in Brandon Sanderson's Skyward series is perhaps not quite as impressive as the second, Starsight, but still packs in enough to make it a good read. Interestingly, where Starsight triumphed in terms of action sequences, the best bits of Cytonic for me were more talky and philosophical - but filled in huge gaps in exactly what is going on in the series, particular in terms of the nature and motivation of the mysterious delvers. Not as action packed, then, but more fulfilling in its revelations. 

Broadly we get three acts here - the first is a kind of mission quest across a Roger Dean-like (and surely Roger Dean-inspired) floating islands, the second involving some of the starfighter flying action that Sanderson does so well, and the third the talky bit, which had a touch of van Vogt about it, for SF oldies who might appreciate the reference. (Speaking of Roger Dean's art, the Barbie-like proportions of the central character seem to get more extreme with every cover, bearing in mind she's 5 foot 1 tall in the book.)

Pretty well all the action takes place not in the real universe, but the 'nowhere' that ships pass through when travelling faster than light. It's amusing that the up-front dedication (as opposed to the lengthy acknowledgements at the end) refers to getting physics guidance, as one thing this place lacks is good physics - specifically, the conservation of energy. It's very convenient to keep the plot line simple that no one in the nowhere needs to eat, for example, but you do wonder how they get their energy.

This non-physics underlines what is the most important thing about the Skyward series as it is developing - it's not really science fiction. Like the Star Wars films, it is a fairy story that makes use of SF tropes. That's not a bad thing - I loved the original Star Wars trilogy - but accepting this is essential to be able to make use of the right suspension of disbelief to read the book if you are into real science fiction. Sanderson even underlines this by making explicit referral to storytelling and inhabiting a story.

Once you pick up this idea, the parallels with Star Wars are strong. Not only in the central character from a hick location who becomes a space jockey and then a user of mental 'cytonic' abilities. But also, for example, in the way that all the aliens are just humans with a different shape (with the exception of the delvers, whose difference is here explained), in the juvenile aspects that are particularly strong in the first novel, not to mention in the irritatingly pompous-yet-cute entities. (Remember ewoks, anyone?)

I ought to stress that I am not putting this forward as a negative. Apart from finding the quest section a little episodic, the book was highly enjoyable to read (based on having read the previous titles - I wouldn't recommend it standalone), with some clever twists. And I am looking forward to the way Sanderson develops the new complexities added at the end of the book in the already promised sequel, Defiant. But don't expect sophisticated SF, because that's not what this book is.

Paperback:   
Kindle:  
Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you
Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email for free here

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Language of Mathematics - Raúl Rojas ***

One of the biggest developments in the history of maths was moving from describing relationships and functions with words to using symbols. This interesting little book traces the origins of a whole range of symbols from those familiar to all, to the more obscure squiggles used in logic and elsewhere. On the whole Raúl Rojas does a good job of filling in some historical detail, if in what is generally a fairly dry fashion. We get to trace what was often a bumpy path as different symbols were employed (particularly, for example, for division and multiplication, where several still remain in use), but usually, gradually, standards were adopted. This feels better as a reference, to dip into if you want to find out about a specific symbol, rather than an interesting end to end read. Rojas tells us the sections are designed to be read in any order, which means that there is some overlap of text - it feels more like a collection of short essays or blog posts that he couldn't be bothered ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics - Frank Verstraete and Céline Broeckaert **

It's with a heavy heart that I have to say that I could not get on with this book. The structure is all over the place, while the content veers from childish remarks to unexplained jargon. Frank Versraete is a highly regarded physicist and knows what he’s talking about - but unfortunately, physics professors are not always the best people to explain physics to a general audience and, possibly contributed to by this being a translation, I thought this book simply doesn’t work. A small issue is that there are few historical inaccuracies, but that’s often the case when scientists write history of science, and that’s not the main part of the book so I would have overlooked it. As an example, we are told that Newton's apple story originated with Voltaire. Yet Newton himself mentioned the apple story to William Stukeley in 1726. He may have made it up - but he certainly originated it, not Voltaire. We are also told that ‘Galileo discovered the counterintuitive law behind a swinging o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ctrl+Alt+Chaos - Joe Tidy ****

Anyone like me with a background in programming is likely to be fascinated (if horrified) by books that present stories of hacking and other destructive work mostly by young males, some of whom have remarkable abilities with code, but use it for unpleasant purposes. I remember reading Clifford Stoll's 1990 book The Cuckoo's Egg about the first ever network worm (the 1988 ARPANet worm, which accidentally did more damage than was intended) - the book is so engraved in my mind I could still remember who the author was decades later. This is very much in the same vein,  but brings the story into the true internet age. Joe Tidy gives us real insights into the often-teen hacking gangs, many with members from the US and UK, who have caused online chaos and real harm. These attacks seem to have mostly started as pranks, but have moved into financial extortion and attempts to destroy others' lives through doxing, swatting (sending false messages to the police resulting in a SWAT te...
Post a Comment
Read more