Caliban's War (The Expanse book 2)

Caliban's War is the second book in the Expanse series. It's still the future, and everything is mostly fine as long as you don't think about Venus so don't think about Venus. The three superpowers (Earth, Mars, and the Belt) are eyeing each other nervously. As long as nobody rocks the boat, and Venus stays quiet, it looks like things will go back to normal soon.

Bobbie Draper is working on Ganymede, a moon where scientists do farming. She's in the Martian military, and her job is to stare at the Earth military while farming happens. Because, seriously, who would attack a farm moon? Then a lanky humanoid with huge hands and a huge head rips through both teams and violently explodes. Bobbie is the only survivor. Now, she's got one thing on her mind: revenge. And also I think she has PTSD.

But, she wasn't the only person on Ganymede. There was also Praxidike Meng, or "Prax," one of the aforementioned farm scientists. Now his science farm has been destroyed, along with most of his life's work. At least he still has his daughter, Amy or somethingMei, who was kidnapped shortly before the monster appeared so okay maybe he doesn't have his daughter. Still, he has a slim hope of finding her, so that's what he'll do.

Back on Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala is hard at work as a politician trying to keep the solar system falling apart. Then this whole Ganymede business happens, and things start really getting bad. Also, Venus seems to be acting up a bit. Try not to think about it. Anyways, she's got to put all the pieces together and figure out who done the monster, and also make some friends.

And James Holden is still there, with his crew, trying to deal with things as best he can. He messes up slightly less in this one. I think he's learning.

So, to be honest, I liked the original book better than this one. First of all, Leviathan Wakes straight-up had more action, and I like my boom boom bang. Second, I feel like only having two main characters, rather than the four in Caliban's War, kept things simpler and more predictable, which I felt was a good thing. There's no character order in Caliban's War, so it sometimes just flips between two characters without addressing the other two, which lessens a bit the feeling of everything is going wrong everywhere.

Still, Caliban's War is a good book, and the new characters are all nice. If you liked Leviathan Wakes, you'll probably like it. Yep, that's my big final rating: "If you liked the first one, you might want to continue the series." Don't I feel smart.

World War Z

The year is like 2026-ish. The world is slowly being rebuilt from the devastating 10-year zombie apocalypse. Max Brooks, of the United Nations Postwar Commission Report, has spent the last few years flying around the world and gathering stories from the survivors. Now, some of their stories have been compiled into World War Z, an oral history of the zombie war.

This is one of my favorite books. It is, as I said, a collection of stories, all in the form of interviews, which together tell the overall story of humanity and it's struggle to overcome this deadly force. It was apparently inspired by a real history book, The Good War, which was told in the same format. I am quickly running out of things to say.

So, I've just read a bunch of other reviews, because I have no ideas of my own. It seems like most of the complaints stem from the strange format, because you cannot connect to the characters and watch their story arcs, because the interview are so short. I can see what they're talking about, but that's not really a problem for me, because I tend to empathize with any character who isn't completely terrible, and most of these characters are likable.

I actually think this format works well, because it emphasizes that the zombie war (and other wars) can't be seen as simply actions of "the masses," and that everyone needs to work together to defeat the zombies. This theme is slightly undercut by the U.S.-centrism which creeps it way into some parts of the book, but it still works overall.

What I like most about World War Z is the fact that Brooks makes so many different kinds of stories. There are quite a few about guilty military personnel, and about how everyone was doing things wrong, but for the most part it was full of diversity. There are some stories about survival, people going insane, a nuclear exchange, the formation of a religious state, plans that pulled humanity back from the brink, people giving their lives to try to cleanse areas from zombies, and gung-ho military operations.

So, If you think you will like it, give it a shot. If not, well, maybe this book is not for you. At least read a few chapters. Oh, and if you liked The Zombie Survival Guide (which uses the same zombies), then you will probably love World War Z, because it is a collection of the kinds of stories you made up while you read the survival guide. That's all I've got.

Killer of Enemies

Killer of Enemies is kind of a terrible book and it's great. I initially started reading it because of its ridiculous title, and it lived up to its cover. This is not to say that is was a bad book; I had fun reading it and the world of the story is pretty cool, so I don't feel like I wasted my time or anything. So, what is it about?

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wonder what it would be like to read about someone playing Monster Hunter or Shadow of the Colossus or a similar game with giant monsters"? Have you ever then immediately thought, "no, wait, that wouldn't be nearly as interesting, I'll just play them myself and that will be more fun"? Well, Joseph Bruchac did not have the second thought, and so Killer of Enemies was born.

The book involves our protagonist, Lozen, who is the best at everything, killing huge genetically modified monsters. This is a post-apocalyptic future, set after the rigidly-divided classist technofuture from so many books. An entity known only as the Cloud has come and turned off all of the electronic devices and engines, but not gunpowder, and also rocket launchers and automatic weapons still work. The rules seem to be kinda fuzzy.

Anyways, all the super rich leaders had electronic implants or nanobots and so they died when the Cloud came. Some survivors who didn't have many implants formed a rigid society with aristocrats as evil dictators. One such society is holding Lozen's parents hostage to make her kill things. She then kills things. Usually huge things. There's more story, but not much.

Killer of Enemies is not high-brow hmmyes fiction, and it doesn't try to be. It really reads like a fanfiction of Shadow of the Colossus, because it mostly involves Lozen outsmarting and then wrecking giants. There is a simple story, which is nice, but it's not the focus. If you like big dumb action, and I certainly do, then you should read Killer of Enemies.

Oh and also there's magic. And zombies. Just thought you should know.

The Zombie Survival Guide

To me, Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide will always be the definitive book on zombies. I know it's not the first book about zombies, not by a long shot, but it is close to my heart because it's the one my friends and I based all our apocalyptic survival plans off of.

The Zombie Survival Guide is exactly what is said on the cover: a survival guide, in a completely serious and informational tone, for surviving the zombie apocalypse. It details zombie strengths and weaknesses, the best ways to fight them, and other tips and tricks for adapting to the zombie apocalypse.

As for the Brooks Zombies, they are slow, stupid, and uncoordinated. Their only advantage is that they can defy many laws of biology, like the need for oxygen, nutrients, a functioning body, or higher thought. Brooks used his zombies in his other book, World War Z, which I also recommend and will probably talk about later.

If you enjoy losing yourself in another world (perhaps with friends), you should get this book immediately. If you don't, then maybe you can get this book anyways and it can convince you. There is no story arc and no characters, so while reading it you inevitably start imagining yourself in these situations, and even start planning a little. Unless you're a nerd, in which case you plan a lot.

In conclusion: zombies. how to survive them. Thank you for your time.