The Caledonian Gambit (SF)

The Caledonian Gambit (SF) - Dan Moren ****

This is a novel with a classic science fiction setting - empire versus federation / commonwealth / rebel alliance with roots that stretch back to the likes of Asimov's Foundation series and reach into the science fantasy world of Star Wars. There's even a figure vaguely reminiscent of Luke Skywalker, in the sense that he's a good pilot, an innocent abroad and related to key figures in the rebellion. But it would be unfair to dismiss it as 'more of the same', because its saving grace is that the central group of characters is, in reality, a trio of intelligence operatives - and they really bring the book alive.

The back of the book asks 'can two unlikely heroes keep peace in the galaxy', but the innocent abroad, Eli Brody, seems to spend most of his time feeling sick or cracking bad jokes - he only comes into his own right at the end of the book when a pilot is needed. The other of the pair is a leading Commonwealth intelligence operative Simon Kovalic, accompanied by his team consisting of a ninja-like lieutenant and a solid military sergeant with a penchant for weapons and a good punch-up. Kovalic and friends occupy by far the most interesting sections of the book (for a large part, Kovalik and Brody operate independently). If anything they are bit too good at their jobs - but there is still enough peril to keep it interesting.

Dan Moren's writing style is workmanlike, if lacking panache. Just occasionally it grates a little, but on the whole he keeps the action going well and throws in enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. It's not great art, or even the best science fiction, but it's an enjoyable romp with elements of a spy thriller in space.

The book probably could have done with a slightly better edit, both to pick up on those slightly clunky bits of writing and an impressively bad bit of arithmetic, when we read:

'How far are we from the defensive perimeter?'
'About twenty-five thousand kilometres. Our speed's fairly steady at around five thousand kilometres per hour.'

'Five minutes.'

Oops. But this isn't the kind of SF you pick up for hard science and mathematical precision. It's a fine, escapist bit of nonsense and I had a good time reading it.

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 free here

Comments

The Genetic Book of the Dead: Richard Dawkins ****

When someone came up with the title for this book they were probably thinking deep cultural echoes - I suspect I'm not the only Robert Rankin fan in whom it raised a smile instead, thinking of The Suburban Book of the Dead . That aside, this is a glossy and engaging book showing how physical makeup (phenotype), behaviour and more tell us about the past, with the messenger being (inevitably, this being Richard Dawkins) the genes. Worthy of comment straight away are the illustrations - this is one of the best illustrated science books I've ever come across. Generally illustrations are either an afterthought, or the book is heavily illustrated and the text is really just an accompaniment to the pictures. Here the full colour images tie in directly to the text. They are not asides, but are 'read' with the text by placing them strategically so the picture is directly with the text that refers to it. Many are photographs, though some are effective paintings by Jana Lenzová. T

Everything is Predictable - Tom Chivers *****

There's a stereotype of computer users: Mac users are creative and cool, while PC users are businesslike and unimaginative. Less well-known is that the world of statistics has an equivalent division. Bayesians are the Mac users of the stats world, where frequentists are the PC people. This book sets out to show why Bayesians are not just cool, but also mostly right. Tom Chivers does an excellent job of giving us some historical background, then dives into two key aspects of the use of statistics. These are in science, where the standard approach is frequentist and Bayes only creeps into a few specific applications, such as the accuracy of medical tests, and in decision theory where Bayes is dominant. If this all sounds very dry and unexciting, it's quite the reverse. I admit, I love probability and statistics, and I am something of a closet Bayesian*), but Chivers' light and entertaining style means that what could have been the mathematical equivalent of debating angels on

David Spiegelhalter Five Way interview

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE is Emeritus Professor of Statistics in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He was previously Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication and has presented the BBC4 documentaries Tails you Win: the Science of Chance, the award-winning Climate Change by Numbers. His bestselling book, The Art of Statistics , was published in March 2019. He was knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics, was President of the Royal Statistical Society (2017-2018), and became a Non-Executive Director of the UK Statistics Authority in 2020. His latest book is The Art of Uncertainty . Why probability? because I have been fascinated by the idea of probability, and what it might be, for over 50 years. Why is the ‘P’ word missing from the title? That's a good question. Partly so as not to make it sound like a technical book, but also because I did not want to give the impression that it was yet another book

Search This Blog