Once again, I’ve received way too many books from the library, so I’ve been reading like a fiend to tackle them all before they’re due. I’m grouping the sci-fi here, and the fluffy stuff will be in another post. So, onward!

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi: As you may recall from a previous post, I’ve read a couple of John Scalzi’s books and enjoyed them. But those were the more lighthearted books; I wasn’t sure I would be as delighted with the heavier material, namely the four books in the Old Man’s War series. But like his stuff I do, so read this book I did. And I was silly to be worried — this book was just as excellent as the lighter stuff. He’s created a fascinating universe, where humans can volunteer for the colonial defense (a badass space army) at age 75. They’re made physically fit, trained, and sent out to fight pretty much every other race in the universe. It’s almost, dare I say it, an Ender’s Game for the senior set. Scalzi has taken the sci-fi trope of training-space-soldiers and put a very cool twist on it. In full disclosure, Scott is reading this book right now, and said, “This lead characer, John, is kind of a Mary Sue, isn’t he?” I didn’t feel that, but there it is. 8 out of 10.

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi: I was going to read the latest Nick Hornby book, but then this arrived on my doorstep, and poor Nick got bumped. It’s the second book in the Old Man’s War series, set in the same universe with a couple of the same characters. But a much different angle; more of a mystery combined with sci-fi war and adventure. And again, it was a really enjoyable read. (I’ve put the third book in the series in my request queue.) Three alien races are coming together to attempt to wipe out humankind, and a human traitor is behind it. The special forces (also called the titular ghost brigades) are tasked with finding out where the traitor is, and what his plans are. The story moved along at a great clip, and the ending gave just a glimpse into the possible content of the next book, which I can’t wait to receive. 8 out of 10.

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card: I enjoyed Ender’s Game immensely, so I promptly requested the second book in the series. It took a very long time to get to me; the line of library requests was oddly long. And I’ll say this right off the bat: this book is incredibly different from Ender’s Game. And at first, I had a really hard time getting into it. While the first book was about children learning to be soldiers, this book starts out about biologists studying an alien race. Eventually Ender himself enters the scene, and the book comes together not as a war book, but as a sci-fi murder mystery. Once I finally realized how completely opposite this book was, I got a lot more into it. I wish I’d known in advance that it was nothing like Ender’s Game — it might have taken less time for me to settle in. For me, then, the back half of the book really took off and got interesting. My biggest issue overall is that most of the characters had given names and nicknames, and a lot of their nicknames were similar. I spent a lot of time thinking, Wait, now who was that again? Card also pretty plainly telegraphed what the sequel would be about, and even led me to guess about some of the relationships that would develop. We’ll see if they come about the way I think; I’ve put book 3, Xenocide, on the hold list. 7 out of 10.

Onward with some fiction! Both of these books are written by John Scalzi, the shiny-new president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. I was altogether unfamiliar with Scalzi, until Wil Wheaton posted a blog post with a ghastly, horrifying, magically awesome painting, inviting readers to head over to Scalzi’s blog to find out the deets. So scoot over I did, and found John Scalzi to be an intriguing writer.

Since he’s friends with Wil Wheaton, and other friends of Wil Wheaton whom we’ve met have turned out to be really hoopy froods, I scampered over to the library Web site and put a couple of his books on hold.

Agent to the Stars arrived first, and was a great introduction to John Scalzi’s humorous sci-fi writing. A benevolent alien species wants to approach humankind in peace, but they’re smelly. And look like slime. One look at The Blob lets them know that it may not go over well, which leads the aliens to get a Hollywood agent to make the introductions.

I ripped through this book, because I didn’t want to put it down. The characters were fun, the situations clever, and the writing very witty. There were a couple of really glaring typos (which was also the case with the other Scalzi book I read), which is always distressing. And three female characters in the first part whose names start with M, which got a tad bit confusing. But considering that this was Scalzi’s first novel, written partially just to see if he could indeed write, it’s an amazing effort. A load of fun, and 8 out of 10.

The second Scalzi book I received was The Android’s Dream. On a future Earth where alien races are welcomed, a political incident arises when the Nidu species requires a specific genetically created sheep for a ceremony — the Android’s Dream sheep. (A nice nod to Philip K. Dick there.) The only problem is that someone’s killing off any and all of the sheep. Enter Harry Creek, a state department employee with a past both in the army and as a hacker. The perfect combination to find and protect Robin Baker, the only woman with a connection to the sheep needed to prevent interstellar war.

Again, the mix of humor and sci-fi was excellent. And again, I sped through this book in one day, in order to find out what happens. It tickled the same sci-fi funnybone as Douglas Adams — a nice, dry wit. 9 out of 10.

I’ve put my next Scalzi book on hold — The Old Man’s War, which is apparently the first in a set of four (the next are Ghost Brigades, Last Colony, and Zoe’s Tale) more serious books. I hope he still has some of his humor, even if the material is a bit heavier. We’ll have to see if they strike me the same way his lighthearted books have.

I got a number of library books in a very short period of time, so I’ve been reading my face off lately. Our library system delivers requested books right to your doorstep, so it was a surprising few days as my stack grew.

First up: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Actually, what I received is what I’ve linked to: the young reader’s edition. Which I kind of like, because it was written with a fun tone that’s easy to understand. Not thick and wordy like that pesky Good Calories, Bad Calories. Anyhoo, in this book Michael Pollan takes us through four meals: one from conventionally available foods, one from organically grown foods, one from a local sustainable farm, and one from foods he hunted and gathered himself. It’s a very nice look at how our foods make it to our local supermarkets, and how foods labeled as “organic” aren’t necessarily any better as far as health OR saving the environment.

The book was a quick read, and would make an excellent companion piece to the documentary Food, Inc. (which also involves Michael Pollan). And even the young reader’s edition contains tons of great information about healthy foods. It made me want to plant a garden. And to visit Polyface Farms (Food, Inc. also made me want to visit Polyface). 8 out of 10.

Next: Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. I have to admit, I heard about this book and thought it was going to be great. Ettlinger takes apart the ingredients list of a Twinkie, then finds out how each of those ingredients is grown, processed, or mined. Sadly, the book was a long slog of a read. There wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped there would be, and it was almost too much information in some ways. The chapters all felt 30% longer than they needed to be.

It was interesting to learn how certain ingredients are created; I was surprised at how many of them were made from petroleum, through cracking and solvents and chemical interactions. Many of the others were made from corn by-products, which are also treated with solvents and chemicals. And in that vein, I think my biggest issue with the book is the fact that the author points out things (Hey, did you know that soy oil is treated with toxic hexane to create shortening?) without a lot of questioning of if these things are good. I guess I wanted a little less here’s-how-it-is, and a little more here’s-what-I-think-about-that. Does Ettlinger think that creating chemical food additives out of petroleum is healthy? Or smart? We don’t really know. He lays out the facts, and not much more. 6 out of 10.

On Scott’s recommendation, I just read two books by Daniel Suarez: Daemon and Freedom™.

Daemon is the first in the set; it was originally self-published, and was then bought up and republished by Dutton, a branch of Penguin books. The sequel, Freedom™, was also put out by Dutton. And thank goodness these books got picked up by a big publisher, so they’re available to all of us. Because you guys, everyone should read these books.

They’re billed as “high-tech thrillers” and “technothrillers”, which is both accurate and not. The thing is, these books cover many different genres. Daemon starts out as a murder mystery and police procedural, but as the book moves on and the world of the book opens up, the scope of the novel grows. And Freedom™ grows even larger in scope, touching on diverse subjects from Chinese manufacturing to corn subsidies while still remaining tense and exciting.

At its most basic, Daemon is about the investigation around a pair of murders linked to a recently-deceased software developer, and the rogue computer program (daemon) triggered after his death. As the daemon grows and takes over systems, it also recruits humans to join its network and become operatives. The ensemble cast of characters is split between those working with the daemon and those set on destroying it. The book ends in a somewhat abrupt cliffhangery manner, with Freedom™ picking up immediately and increasing the scale and number of the groups working with and against the daemon.

I had issues with Daemon overexplaining things at the beginning; the first few chapters seem to all start with overly-detailed descriptions of characters, and a few technological things are described in too much detail as well. But after the first few chapters, the overexplaining is done, and the story gets cooking. And I suppose for people not as familiar with technology, some of the description is helpful. My library copy (a first-edition Dutton hardback) also had a number of glaring typos and punctuation errors, which have hopefully been corrected in later printings. Probably not a big issue for most people, but they popped me right out of the immersive reading experience. My other big issue with Daemon was a sudden romantic relationship out of nowhere. But those things aside, it was a fantastic book. Well-paced, exciting, with a great number of twists and turns.

I then dug straight into Freedom™ — the library had perfect timing, delivering it the same day I finished Daemon. No glaring errors like in the first book, hooray. And again: a swift pace, twists and turns galore, and at least one event that had Scott watching me as I read, so he could laugh at my shocked gasp (I didn’t disappoint). There was at least one character from the first book who wasn’t followed in the second, but the ensemble was a whole was great; as opposed to a lot of ensemble pieces, there wasn’t that one story that just wasn’t interesting (that is to say, there was no Nikki & Paulo story, or even a Michael & Walt).

I’ll be thinking about these books for a LONG time to come. And I’m glad that Scott has read them as well; we’re sure to have some great conversations about them. The movie rights for both books have been purchased, and sites like IMDB are showing a preliminary 2012 release for Daemon. Which is probably highly inaccurate, but it’s enough to wet my whistle. I agree with Scott’s casting choices for a couple of characters, and I’m sure we’ll do even more sky-pie casting in the future.

Daemon: 9 out of 10
Freedom™: 9 out of 10