Review: Time to Orbit: Unknown

The Javelin Program by Derin Edala
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've always been fascinated by sociology in science fiction. Whether they're Belters from Corey's The Expanse, or various individuals in Banks' The Culture, seeing the sociological ramifications of various sci-fi premises is always something that scratches my rationalist itch.

I also love a good mystery in science fiction; these are somewhat more rare, usually showing up with unfair deus ex machina, but occasionally something like Clement's Mission of Gravity will present a hard sci-fi mystery that the reader can technically figure out from context, but which is difficult enough that you'll usually fail to do so. Good mysteries will always reward a second reread, like Palahniuk's Fight Club. Good mysteries in the hard sci-fi genre are almost nonexistent.

So consider my surprise when I come across Derin Edala's Time to Orbit: Unknown series. This is rational science fiction (my favorite kind!) focusing on a series of entirely fair mysteries (so rare!) about sociology of all things! This is a rarity of rarities, and it does not disappoint.

The main character of the two books in this series, The Javelin Program & The Antarctica Conspiracy, is the sociologist Dr. Aspen Greaves. They are, without a doubt, one of the best protagonists in a rational sci-fi mystery that I'm, aware of. (Part of this might be because the great hard sci-fi mystery writers are generally only good at _natural science_ mysteries, not mysteries of motivations or sociology. (Clement in particular is *terrible* at dialogue, to the same extent as he is utterly amazing at setting.)) Aspen, despite originating from a society that is foreign to me, proves to be an excellent reader surrogate. I'm not sure how exactly Edala was able to accomplish this, but it is easy to imagine myself in Aspen's shoes, even as they evaluate the various cultures of those around them.

I haven't even spoken to the plot of the Time to Orbit: Unknown series, but, honestly, I don't think I need to. The fact that the setting is a deep space colonization ship; that the characters are all from various cultures in the Sol system far enough in the future that everything is not quite what you'd expect; and that the mysteries are all entirely fair, predictable if you spend enough time thinking about them, but difficult enough that you'll never figure them out before reaching the point in the text where they are resolved — these are all superfluous to the fact that I just plain enjoyed this series.

If any of this would also appeal to you, then I heartily recommend Derin Edala's two books in the Time to Orbit: Unknown series: The Javelin Program & The Antarctica Conspiracy. I fully endorse this story as a rationalist sci-fi sociological mystery. Well done, Edala.

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Review: The Fifth Defiance

The Fifth Defiance by Walter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good superhero stories are hard to find. All too often, the protagonists hold the idiot ball, never really utilizing their powers in ways that would make sense in real life. It's often even worse for the antagonists. Yet occasionally a superhero story comes along that breaks these conventions: Walter's The Fifth Defiance is one of them.

This is a world where the strongest of the strong is a tyrant, bringing the entire world into ruin. Four times the world has risen up against her, and four times they have failed. This story recounts the fifth defiance, an attempt by our protagonists to take down the tyrant once and for all.

I really enjoyed this tale. The characters act rationally; the story beats are surprising and fruitful; the twists are fair and never really come out of nowhere, even if it may sometimes at first seem so. It was a genuinely fun (though harrowing) read.

With that said, there are some major issues that bring the text down. In the middle of the book, the author begins writing a questing prequel that is almost entirely unrelated to the main story of the fifth defiance. While it may be good on its own, not all readers who enjoy rational fiction superhero tales will also be interesting in the questing genre of allowing readers to directly influence the characters, plot, setting, and everything else the writer decides to put from pen to paper. Combining these two stories in the same text was a huge miss. So much so that I recommend skipping all "Regime Quest" chapters when reading the main story. If you are into the questing genre, you can then go back to read Regime Quest afterward.

The depictions of rape and unrestrained violence would ordinarily be a miss for me, but in this book they truly do make sense in the context of the story. This story is not just an excuse to write graphic scenes — it genuinely uses these scenes to propel the story at various points. With that said, some readers might want to skip The Fifth Defiance for this reason alone. The graphic scenes occur spread throughout and they are relevant to the story; it's not the kind of thing you can just skip over whenever they come up. With that said, they are written almost like the author has aphantasia: while graphic, there is no Melville-style depiction of every squicky thing that happens. I found these scenes to be quite bearable.

Which brings me to the part of the book that I disliked the most. Unfortunately, this is spoiler territory. If you want to go in completely blind, skip the rest of this review. I'll try to be as vague as possible, but what I'm about to say is still what I'd consider to be a medium-sized spoiler.

I disliked the ending. I won't say why, as that would be too spoilery, but fellow readers will know exactly what I am referring to. I went along the ride with this author from beginning to end, enjoying the ups and downs, getting excited as new revelations came up that changed the entire perception of what was going on in this world. And then: that ending. It is not that the ending is bad, per se. I understand why the author did it, and I can tell that the author planned this weird style of ending from the very beginning of the story. It makes sense to the story, and so I cannot call it bad writing. The concept itself is fascinating, but the execution left me in a state of denial. In the moment, I could not believe that that was the final chapter, and I did not like the author for having put me in that position. Now, hours after experiencing it, thinking about it as I write this review, I appreciate how unusual and surprising the ending was. It still sucked when I first read it, and that ultimately means I truly disliked it overall — but there is a sort of interestingness to reading an ending like this that maybe makes it worthwhile. This is not something that I can imagine a professional editor to ever allow in an ending, so seeing it here makes me somewhat appreciate the twist, even if I hated reading it in the moment.

Overall, I enjoyed The Fifth Defiance. Some parts were sloppy; there were times when I felt like the author didn't want to write a section and so they did a time skip so they wouldn't have to. But overall, I think the story worked. Walter could definitely use a good editor, but even without one, I'm glad that this story caught my attention.

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