Sf.

FICTION

****

Hunter's Run

By George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham

When the hunted becomes the hunter.

On a planet named for the Brazilian city Sao Paulo, a small group of human colonists are scraping by, working as laborers for the alien landlords. It takes all types to make a world; one type is the hardened prospector only in it for the cash, represented here by Ramon Espejo. After killing a foreign dignitary in a bar fight, Espejo decides to go on the run, only to find himself the unwilling predator in an alien game of cat and mouse. Literally tethered to an alien warrior, Espejo is forced to pursue a member of his own species--and in the process finds out what it means to be human.

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Eos. 320 pages. $25.95. ISBN: 006137329X

Fantasybookcritic ****

"Even though it took thirty years for Hunter's run to see publication, the tale is a timeless one and is just as relevant today as it would be in the 70s. ... I just had a blast exploring the book's alien setting, and once again find myself wishing that more authors would do the same." ROBERT THOMPSON

SciFi Weekly ****

"The first item of business to get out of the way is the tripartite authorship of this book. At first it seems a rather circuslike distraction that, however, has actually resulted in a superb fusion of talents. ... [The] book reads like the work of one melded intelligence, seamless and organic." PAUL DIFILLIPPO

SFSignal.com ****

"Hunter's Run is a solid, well-constructed and wholly entertaining story." JOHN DENARDO

CRITICAL SUMMARY

In music, supergroups of established artists are rarely greater than the sum of their parts. The same often goes for science fiction, but critics agreed that these three authors beat the trend by producing a tight, consistent novel. Whether because of Martin's decades of collaborative work, Dozois's long career as an editor, or Abraham's fresh prose style, every reviewer said the book seemed as if it were written by one person. The only complaint came from reviewers who had read an earlier, novella-length version of the story; they felt that expanding the story enriched it somewhat, but not by much. While it would be hard to match Hunter's Run with any of these authors' previous works, it can certainly be called a successful experiment--and a compelling SF novel.

****

Matter

By Iain M. Banks

Culture shock.

In Banks's long-running Culture series of novels, an advanced interstellar civilization that has transcended physical limitations and material needs occasionally intervenes in the affairs of lesser species. In this installment (after Look to Windward [2000]), two medieval kingdoms occupying different levels within a hollow world are at war. As one emerges victorious, its king is murdered, and a treacherous adviser moves to control the throne. The forces of the Culture are soon pulled into the affair--not only because the king's daughter is one of its agents but also because this seemingly backwards world may be more than it seems.

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Orbit. 608 pages. $25.99. ISBN: 0316005363

Onion A. V. Club *****

"After seven books collecting culture tales of various lengths and experimental structures, the prolific Scottish writer has produced an almost-perfect work of 21st-century science fiction. Combining the hard SF of Larry Niven, Robert L. Forward, and Robert Anton Wilson with the light, fantastic touch of Douglas Adams and Piers Anthony, Matter is a page-turner with humor, suspense, and a huge imagination that would be intimidating if it weren't so thoroughly humane."

DONNA BOWMAN

SFFWorld.com ****

"As with any of Iain's books to date, in Matter he deals with the material with wit and intelligence, as well as his trademark complexity and violence. It does manage to mix genres with aplomb, and there are some pleasingly jarring cultural moments when aliens intermix." MARK YON

Time ****

"The Culture novels (there are eight of them) are about the challenges of a world in which thinking beings must deal with one another across vertiginous gulfs of cultural and technological difference--a world, in other words, both completely different from and identical to our own." LEV GROSSMAN

SciFi Weekly ****

"Matter strives to strike a balance between the medieval shenanigans on Sursamen and the galactic wonders of the Culture, but it fails. ... Ultimately, Banks does provide a sense of a thronging milieu of wonders." PAUL DIFILLIPPO

SFSignal.com ****

"Banks gives us his usual array of cool ideas. ... Is Matter the best Culture novel by Banks? No, that's still Use of Weapons. However, Matter can sit comfortably alongside Consider Phlebas for second." J. P. FRANTZ

CRITICAL SUMMARY

It has been eight years since the last Culture novel, and critics have clearly missed Banks's unique combination of galactic wonder and quirky humor. Their anticipation made for high standards, and for most critics, Matter exceeded them. Many fans of this universe enjoyed the way Banks mixes space opera with royal intrigue, though a few felt he does not quite pull off this cultural collision with his usual finesse. A more common complaint concerned the book's length and pacing. While most reviewers were, in the end, happy to immerse themselves in 600 more pages of Culture, the novel's heft may make it a poor entry point for readers hoping to pick up the series for the first time. It may be best to start with the first in the series, Consider Phlebas (1987).