woodwardiocom

Two minor disappointments here . . .

King Rat by China Miéville

Our hero comes home to find his dad dead, him suspected of the crime, and, oh yeah, his uncle is King of all Rats. Mostly, this novel felt like an endless exercise in showing off China's street cred, culminating in a battle which had me muttering, "Chew through the damn power cables, you moron!" Stick with his otherworldly fantasies.

Manifold Time by Stephen Baxter

In this novel, a space entrepreneur gets convinced that the Doomsday argument actually has something to it, and is compelled to start looking for messages from the future and exploiting near-Earth asteroids. Then, as in other Baxter novels, things Get Cosmic. The end has a nice idea or two (e.g., the logical answer to the question, "What is the purpose of a universe with intelligent life in it?"), but Baxter spends way too much time being mean to people he doesn't like. (The offhanded attack on Burning Man was wholly gratuitous.) I don't think Baxter is my thing.