STAND ON ZANZIBAR By John Brunner

Published : 1968
Pages : 648
Overall Mark : 7/10

In a future world where only those whose genes are deemed to be perfect are allowed to reproduce, and even then there's a limit on how many children people can have due to overpopulation, a doctor has made a genetic breakthrough by which any abnormalities in a foetus can be fixed, basically leading to the introduction of a possible perfect human. This discovery leads the American government to investigate the claims, taking them to the Australasian country of Yatakang where they set about trying to gain this breakthrough for themselves.

This is a very confusing book, which has various sections which intersperse with each other and provide both background information for the reader as well as a continuing narrative. This is a lengthy novel which could have been far shorter if much of the descriptive chapters had been removed, but this would have lost the novel it's distinctive feel. This novel is not for those who want a quick fix when reading, but the whole idea of the book ios fascinating and leaves a lot to be thought about, especially as the future in this novel is less than two years away.

TIMELINE By Michael Crichton

Published : 1999
Pages : 489
Overall Mark : 9/10

When a man is found wandering in the desert, a group of young scientists find themselves lead into a search for a missing professor. When they discover that he's actually missing 600 years in the past, they are sent on a dangerous mission back through time to medieval France to find him and bring him back, but the company that have discovered this means of time travel have neglected to give the scientists some important information which could mean the difference between life and death.

This is an extremely well researched novel, which manages to blend science fiction flawlessly with historical accuracy. Crichton once again proves that he is able to jump from one genre to the next without losing any of the detail or the love for the subject, and here he gives us an almost flawless example of his work. If you haven’t read Crichton’s work before, I recommend starting with either this or Disclosure, which are about as different as two books can get but are both just as enjoyable as the other.

THE DEMOLISHED MAN By Alfred Bester

Published : 1953
Pages : 250
Overall Mark : 9/10

Ben Reich is the owner of the second most powerful conglomerate in the entire solar system, but that's not enough for him. When he thinks he's been turned down by his business rival Craye D'Courtney when he asks for their two companies to merge, he decides to murder his rival, but because of the presence of peepers, mind readers who can invade the head of anyone, Reich is forced to commit the crime in such a way that no-one can ever find out about it.

There's something sneakingly clever about this novel, with the introduction of a code and the answers to all our questions almost from the get go. The character of Ben Reich is one of the saddest and most self defeating characters I think I've ever seen outside of a Shakespeare play, and the final twist almost trumps the main twist of the entire novel.

THE GOOD GUY By Dean Koontz

Published : 2006
Pages : 438
Overall Mark : 8/10

When Tim Carrier is mistaken for a hitman for hire, he decides to seek out the subject of the hit and warn her of her impending murder. When he meets the subject of the hit, Linda Paqette, she claims to have no idea who would want her dead, so Tim decides to help her set out on the run, but the hitman whose job it was to kill her has figured out the mix up and is hot on both their trails with murder on his mind.

It's nice to read a novel that looks at things from the perspective of both the good guy and the bad. Tim Carrier isn't the most interesting of characters - I think Koontz may have planned this on purpose - and he feels like too much of a goody-goody at times, but it's Krait that makes the story, with his unorthodox approach to rectifying government mess ups and his thirst for murder and revenge. Worth checking out if you enjoy James Patterson's Alex Cross stories.

MARTIAN TIME-SLIP By Philip K Dick

Published : 1975
Pages : 226
Overall Mark : 7/10

Arnie Kott is one of the wealthiest men on Mars, running the plumbing union who have vitrual control over all of the canals on the planet, but greed leads him to desire even more power of the Martian people. So when he hears a theory that connects autism weith time travel, he decides to use the aid of a young autistic boy so that he can travel back in time and buy some land that Earth's government plan to build housing on.

This is a very intricate and intriguing story. The characters become intertwined in the most unlikely ways, and the notion of time travel is approached in an original and wholly unusual way. The ending is a little to quickly wrapped up for my liking, but overall this is a fine example of Dick's expertise as one of the most accessible sci-fi writers of the recent past.

STARDUST By Neil Gaiman

Published : 1998
Pages : 194
Overall Mark : 9/10

Tristran Thorn is madly in love with Victoria Forester, who he thinks is the most beautiful girl in the village of Wall, so when they witness a shooting star falling from the sky and landing in the magical realm of Stormhold he agrees to go in search of it and bring it back to her in return for her hand in marriage. However, when he finds the star, he discovers that it has taken human form as a young woman called Yvaine, and that a coven of witches are after the star so that they can eat her heart and rejuvinate their youth.

This novel, also available as a graphic novel, is probably the best modern fairy tale I've read in a long time. The characters are rich and vibrate and the scenarios are original and come together in a brilliant medly of twists. The ending is both happy and sad, so there's something for everyone in this wonderful tale of love, betrayal, and evil.

EARTH ABIDES By George R Stewart

Published : 1949
Pages : 312
Overall Mark : 8/10

Isherwood Williams fins himself one of the few survivors of an unknown eppidemic that has wiped out most of the human race. He soon meets some other survivors, and together they prepare to rebuild the human race, but after years of bringing up a new generation without the ability to teach them or train them to do anything that could be of benefit, such as the ability to repair damaged buildings or to hunt for food, Ish questions his standing as the leader of the group.

Clearly the influence for Stephen King's The Stand, this post apocalyptic novel doesn't go down the road of giving us an unbelievable view of the future but instead gives a view that seems frightening belieavable and very probable. None of the characters have ridiculous abilities that make their lives easier, and they don't have a moral code that precludes them from exacting punishment against those they distrust. This novel is simply put a wonderful example of survivalism set against a nautral or unnatural disaster of epic proportions.

DEXTER IN THE DARK By Jeff Lindsay

Published : 2007
Pages : 376
Overall Mark : 8/10

Dexter Morgan is faced with a terrifying concept - being seperated from his Dark Passenger, the part of him that allows him to kill truly evil people without remorse. Now he may have to live the rest of his life with a conscience, making it very difficult for him to act out his murderous tendencies. What's more, there's a killer on the loose - a killer who is so deadly and evil that they even frighten Dexter himself.

The Dexter novels appear to be going from strength to strength, with Jeff Lindsay continually evolving the character into an ever more likeable and loveable rogue. Here we are shown that it isn't just Dexter's Dark Passanger that possesses a blood lust, but that Dexter himself feels incomplete without thatpart of himself. This installment is very different from the previous two, but still gives us some funny situations mixed with some truly terrifying concepts, bordering almost on the supernatural.

LAST AND FIRST MEN By Olaf Stapledon

Published : 1930
Pages : 307
Overall Mark : 6/10

Mankind is coming to an end, and the last of them have decided to send a message back through time to warn us, the First Men, of what is yet to come. Through a conduit who is inspired to write down their words, the Last Men invite us to witness a future where man is continually brought to the brink of extinction before resurfacing in a similar, yet distinctly dissimilar way.

This book reads more as a history of the future than an actual novel. Fans of science fiction may not enjoy it, but those who enjoy the works of AJP Taylor will find it insightful and filled with interesting theories on the future. Although the writing is imaginative, it can get repetitive and become boring at points, but toward the end things speed up and it becomes a far more enjoyable read.

DEATH DU JOUR By Kathy Reichs

Published : 1999
Pages : 436
Overall Mark : 8/10

When Dr Temperance Brennan is called upon to help investigate a crime scene where a suspected arson attack has killed a young couple and their children, she finds connections to a strange and nameless cult lead by the mysterious Dom Owens. On further investigation she discovers that her own sister, Harry, has gone missing and might be in danger from the self same cult, who are far more far reaching than Temperance first suspected.

Although the connections between the various events involved by Temperance in this novel did seem a little convoluted and simply constructed to further the narrative, the story was still thoroughly engaging and kept me interested right up until the final page. This is a great edition to the series of novels and, although I’ve only read the first two, I look forward to continuing with the series to the end.

THE REDISCOVERY OF MAN By Cordwainer Smith

Published : 1975
Pages : 377
Overall Mark : 8/10

The Instrumentality, the central government of humanity, have created a form of human called Scanners, who for most of the time are without emotion and can feel no pain, their primary use being to pilot ships through interstellar space. As the years go by, the Instrumentality decides to also utilise animals – mixed with human DNA – to further their works in space to an exponential degree.

In this series of short stories, loosely held together through a future where humans have been split into subgroups, partly made up from genetically engineered animals, an incredibly descriptive future landscape has been designed which is rich in character and design. Every story herein can be read on its own, but it makes for a great read to go through each one and experience the vast parabola of characters and situations that unfold.

A LONG WAY DOWN By Nick Hornby

Published : 2005
Pages : 257
Overall Mark : 8/10

Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ have nothing in common, except they all tried to commit suicide at the same time in the same place on New Year’s Eve. When they all decide not to kill themselves, but instead stay alive until Valentine’s Day to see if anything gets better, their lives become irrevocably intertwined to the point that they slowly and grudgingly become friends. The question is; will their friendship last past February 14th?

Considering the subject matter, this was a very entertaining and very amusing novel. As usual Hornby has the right level of comedy and pathos and combines them in such a way that they sneak up on you in the narrative. The characters are unique from each other which furthers the story greatly, and the notion of telling the story from each of their perspectives in alternating chapters gives us a better insight into what each character is thinking.

GATEWAY By Frederik Pohl

Published : 1976
Pages : 313
Overall Mark : 9/10

Bob Broadhead is lucky enough to win the lottery, and he uses his winnings to buy a one-way ticket to Gateway, a spaceport where people can take salvaged vessels from the mysterious alien race known as the Heechee and take risks in using them to travel through space in search of wealth. Following one disastrous journey, Bob finds himself talking over the events with an artificial psychiatrist, feeling responsible for the events that transpired on the trip.

This is one of the better science fiction novels I’ve read of late, with Robinette "Bob" Broadhead portrayed as possibly one of the most complex characters I’ve ever seen in fiction. He is neither heroic in his actions, nor actually evil in any way, but his endeavours and his attitude towards them make for a great read.

MAKING MONEY By Terry Pratchett

Published : 2007
Pages : 474
Overall Mark : 9/10

Moist von Lipwig, only having just got used to changing from a life of crime to being in charge of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, now finds himself the inheritor of a controlling claim in the Ankh-Morpork mint. Now, using the popularity of his stamps, and their increased use as legal tender, Moist decides to convert Ankh-Morpork onto paper money, an idea which makes him a target of the Lavish family, who had only recently been expecting to run the mint!

Pratchett does it again with another tightly woven tale about Moist von Lipwig. Every moment in Pratchett’s books are there for a reason, and always lead to a satisfying ending which brings all the trails together and wraps them up into its wonderful completion. I look forward to seeing what Pratchett has in store next with the publication of his first non-Discworld novel in years, Nation.

THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS By Gene Wolfe

Published : 1972
Pages : 252
Overall Mark : 8/10

A young boy, the narrator, whose name is not known has been brought up in relative seclusion with his younger brother David. Together they have been treated to a barrage of psychological tests by their father for reasons they do not know, and the narrator is given the new name of Number 5. He later breaks into a slave trader’s warehouse where he finds a mutated slave who looks like his father, and from there he starts to question his very existence.

This is a fascinating story, which takes the idea that humans are an alien race that have invaded another species world and makes it into something truly remarkable. The other stories in the book, telling a tale of the original planets inhabitants and what happened to them, as well as a story of the consequences met by the anthropolgist from the first story, John Marsch, are not quite as good but are still well worth reading and lend a lot of substance to the original tale.

THE NANNY DIARIES By Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus

Published : 2002
Pages : 306
Overall Mark : 9/10

Nan is a nanny who takes a job working for Mr and Mrs X, taking care of their son Grayer, but Nan soon realises that the X’s consider themselves to have employed not only a nanny but their own personal slave, expecting her to work all the hours that God sends and setting her tasks which are outside of her job description. Lump on top of this the fact that Nan has accidentally discovered that Mr X is having an affair with his secretary, and you’ll find that Nan is in one of the least favourable positions imaginable.

This is a great novel, full of quick wit and fast pacing and the kind of characters you can only despise. The relationship between Nan and her employees makes for a great structure to work around, and the conflicts that interfere throughout the novel make for entertaining reading. I’m glad the movie was just as good as the novel, because it really does make it seem even better.

LORD OF LIGHT By Roger Zelazny

Published : 1967
Pages : 317
Overall Mark : 6/10

Sam is a being whose soul is taken from Nirvana and returned to the planet he once lived on under the name of Buddha. There are a number of other beings on this world, seeming immortals with the ability for reincarnation who name themselves after Eastern Gods, and Sam has taken it upon himself to defeat their hunger for power and put an end to their limitless rule through the undermining their ways by making reincarnation either available for all or for none.

This is a very strange novel and is sometimes difficult to read. It takes most of its ideas from Buddhism as well as the Hindu religion, and each chapter feels more like a parable or morality tale than part of a cohesive whole. The basic ideas of the story have been copied on occasion in such movies as Stargate, but the idea of a renegade God who wants to destroy his fellow beings has a feel to it that is both timeless and powerful as it gives us a lead character who must be either very brave or very stupid, but in any case has a firm grip on what he believes is right and wrong.

BROTHER ODD By Dean Koontz

Published : 2006
Pages : 438
Overall Mark : 9/10

Odd Thomas has taken up residence in a monastery which tends to disables children in the hope that the seclusion from the outside world will free him of his cursed visions of ghosts of the dead. Unfortunately the monastery has ghosts of its own, one of which takes the form of a giant skeletal creature! It’s now left down to Odd to rally the troops and defend the monastery against the creature, whatever it’s origins may be…

This was far better than Forever Odd. Where that novel sort of lingered on the same situation, which didn’t seem to go anywhere, this novel was far more action packed and left me with a feeling of far more satisfaction. It’s good to see Koontz back on form, though I fear he may start to meander a bit with his apparent obsession with dogs being a possible plotline for Odd Hours, what with Boo the ghost dog becoming something of a lingering presence.

CITIES IN FLIGHT By James Blish

Published : 1970
Pages : 607
Overall Mark : 6/10

Colonel Paige Russell is hired by a large company to find soil samples on distant planets and bring them back to the company for study. His investigations soon lead him to discover some unusual facts about the bridges being built on Jupiter and an odd connection to an anti-gravity device called a spindizzy. Many years later, the spindizzies are being used to transport entire cities across the Universe in an attempt to both colonise other planets and also to get away from the Earth.

This is an odd science fiction novel to say the least. It seems to come from a political stand point and gives a lot of information without actually telling the reader a whole lot. It feels a lot longer than its 600+ pages, but can be entertaining in parts. I’d skim read the first section if I were you, the remainder of the books are a vast improvement.

BLAZE By Stephen King

Published : 2007
Pages : 309
Overall Mark : 9/10

Clayton Blaisdell Jr, aka Blaze, is a simple man who turned to crime as something of a last resort because he wasn’t clever enough to do anything else. His best friend and partner in crime, George, had died whilst they were coming up with a plan to make one final big wad of cash, so Blaze decides to try out the plan on his own: the plan being to kidnap the child of a rich family and hold it to ransom. Unfortunately Blaze finds himself forming a bond with the baby and decided he doesn’t really want to give the child back.

This is a nice novel because it actually has the reader sympathising with someone who, in the best sense of the word, is the villain of the piece, and turns them into something of a hero. Blaze is a likeable character, and the reasons for his criminal behaviour are explained in the many flashback sequences which pepper this novel. Stephen King is back on form here, and it’s surprising that this novel got turned down for publication over thirty years ago.

BABEL-17 By Samuel R Delany

Published : 1967
Pages : 193
Overall Mark : 6/10

Rydra Wong, a famous poet and more importantly an expert in languages, is hired to investigate a language, known by the name Babel-17, which is being used by an alien race as a communication tool for a number of terrorist attacks. She puts together a crew and travels in search of more information, but as she starts to learn the language through the aid of a murder known only as The Butcher, she discovers that the language itself may be used as a weapon, as it can control people’s perceptions and thoughts by forcing parts of their brain to shut down.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with this novel, although the idea it is based around is a very interesting and original one. Some of the characters do prove to be interesting as, in her search for the key to Babel-17, Rydra Wong meets a number of people who all have drastically different perceptions of reality themselves, proving to be a nice counterpoint to the subject of the novel itself.

HIGH FIDELITY By Nick Hornby

Published : 1995
Pages : 253
Overall Mark : 9/10

After his girlfriend Laura leaves him for another man, Rob Fleming decides to look back at his top five relationships and try to figure out where he’s been going wrong. As he meets up with his exes one by one, he starts to realise that many of the relationships didn’t just fail because of him, and that with each failure there were two people to blame. So, when Laura’s father dies, Rob takes the opportunity to try and be the better man and attempts to face his fear of death which has lead to his fear of commitment.

This is a great little book, and not just because we’re given the skewed view of a sole individual whose opinions soon begin to become our own. Rob’s belief that his only failing is his fear of commitment sounds like a small thing, but this fear impacts on not just his relationships but his work situation as well. Mixed in with his musical snobbery, this makes for a fun filled yet emotional rollercoaster which we are invited to take part in, and also given the opportunity to reach some of our own conclusions thanks to the partly open ended ending.

THE STARS MY DESTINATION By Alfred Bester

Published : 1956
Pages : 258
Overall Mark : 8/10

After drifting in space for a number of weeks as the only survivor of his ship, the Nomad, Gully Foyle is rescued by a group of people who set about tattooing his face with stripes similar to that of a tiger. Foyle soon decides to seek revenge on the crew of a spacecraft named the Vorga, which passed him by and ignored his distress call, by using his ability to teleport – a universal ability which most of the population can perform – to find them and kill them, but as his journey brings him ever closer to those responsible, he starts to discover some interesting facts about both them and himself.

This is a great little sci-fi novel, with a lead character which you sympathise with whilst also taking an instant disliking to. Bester manages with expert ease to build a framework around Gully Foyle and the rest of the supporting characters which is both believable and strangely accessible, whilst creating scenarios and settings which are both fantastic and highly imaginative.

A SIMPLE PLAN By Scott Smith

Published : 1993
Pages : 416
Overall Mark : 8/10

Hank and Jacob Mitchell discover a crashed plane on their way to visit their father’s grave site. Along with Jacob’s friend Lou, they find a dead pilot and a large quantity of money on board, and Hank comes up with the idea of holding the money in secret until they can be sure that the police aren’t looking for it, then split it three ways. But as Lou becomes increasingly eager for his share in the money, Hank realises he may have to resort to drastic action to ensure they can keep the money.

This is a very well paced book, which slowly but surely changes Hank Mitchell’s character into something of a mad man. There are a few moments that didn’t really flow very well, such as the chapter where Hank tries to retrieve some of the money from a shop, but other than these small moments where the story seems to be going off on a tangent, this is a very well written first novel.

THE FOREVER WAR By Joe Haldeman

Published : 1974
Pages : 253
Overall Mark : 9/10

William Mandella is a soldier fighting in a war against an alien race known as the Taurans, a war that may not seem to him to go on forever, but does none the less. In order to travel to their rendezvous to fight the aliens, the soldiers are shipped through worm holes which cause time to seem to stand still for them, and consequently many years pass for them back on Earth. Each trip Mandella is faced with the prospect of coming back to a new and vastly transformed world, ranging from an Earth that promotes homosexuality as the norm to stop the population from booming, to a world entirely made up of clones, all the while hoping to meet up again with fellow soldier and love interest Marygay Potter.

This is a great novel, and I’m glad I picked it up. The characters are solid and believable, and the book flows beautifully from start to finish. Some people believe that this novel is based on Haldeman’s tour of duty in Vietnam, and the sense of not belonging that Mandella feels each time he returns to Earth, coupled with the idea of the government not even knowing anything much about their enemy, makes me believe that this could well be the case.

DEARLY DEVOTED DEXTER By Jeff Lindsay

Published : 2005
Pages : 296
Overall Mark : 8/10

Dexter finds life increasingly difficult as he is stalked at every turn by Sergeant Doakes, who suspects Dexter of being up to something sinister, maybe even suspecting he’s a killer. Dexter finds himself having to retreat further into his “fake” life with Rita, and even goes as far as to get engaged to her. Things do start to become easier for him though when a criminal from Doakes’s past shows up, a criminal known as Dr Danco who brutally mutilates his victims by chopping off their arms, legs and genitals, and cuts off their eyelids and tongue, but leaves them alive, earning them the slightly evil nickname of the Singing Potatoes. This killer could spell a reprive for Dexter because he’s after all the members of the Black Ops team of which Doakes was a member.

With all of the character’s already introduced in the first novel, this left us with a lot more time to get to know the criminal in this novel, as well as focus on fewer characters. The criminal here, Dr Danco, is a lot more gruesome than the Ice Truck Killer in the first novel, and it would have been interesting to see him transferred to the small screen in the Dexter TV show, but sadly it doesn’t look like this will be happening. I look forward to Jeff Lindsay’s next installemtn, Dexter After Dark, which I’ll hopefully be reading soon.

WINTERSMITH By Terry Pratchett

Published : 2006
Pages : 400
Overall Mark : 8.5/10

Tiffany Aching finds her world turned upside down once again when she decides to dance at the Wintersmith celebrations. This simple action attracts the attention of the Wintersmith himself, who mistakes Tiffany for the spirit of Summer, and due to Tiffany’s interference, it appears that winter may now never come end! Eventually, realising what a danger this new, more human version of the Wintersmith might be, Granny Weatherwax decides to get the Nac Mac Feegles to find Roland, Tiffany’s sort-of love interest, and send him into the underworld to find the real spirit of Summer so that Tiffany can again swap places with her and then the world can be saved.

In many ways this novel is a significant improvement on the previous instalment. The plot flows smoothly and keeps the reader thoroughly interested in what will happen next. I’m happy to her that another Tiffany Aching novel is in the offing, as I can only imagine the characters and situations will continue to go from strength to strength.

FOREVER ODD By Dean Koontz

Published : 2005
Pages : 420
Overall Mark : 7/10

When Odd Thomas’s childhood friend is kidnapped, Odd finds himself having to deal with a crazy woman who thinks Odd can show her the dead. As he ventures to an abandoned hotel to meet with the woman and try to save his friend, he discovers that many of the people who died in the hotel’s infamous fire have remained as spirits

I didn’t like this as much as the original book, but it was still pretty good. Odd has grown since the first novel, but he feels like more of a loner as he doesn’t have anyone to share his life with. The ending also gives the perfect in for the third novel, which I’m sure I’ll get around to reading one day…

DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? By Philip K Dick

Published : 1968
Pages : 210
Overall Mark : 9/10

Bounty hunter Rick Deckard can’t believe his luck when Dave Holden, one of his fellow bounty hunters, is injured in the line of duty by an android called a Nexus-6, one of the most advanced androids built to date, and he is handed his current list of rogue androids to hunt down and collect the rewards. As he begins his search for the dangerous automatons, he realises that perhaps they’re not so different from humans when he meets a woman named Rachael Rosen, who turns out to be an android herself, and he finds himself falling for her.

This is possibly one of the most well known science fiction pieces ever written, and definitely Dick’s most widely read work. Famously made into Blade Runner by Ridley Scott in 1982, this is actually in many ways superior to the movie, concentrating more on the story as a sort of parable on race relations than an out and out action piece.