Ringworld

by Larry Niven

(Warning – contains a major spoiler. Yes, just one.)

I don’t have all that much to say about the book, really. I enjoyed parts of it, but the overall impression was more in the lines of “meh” than of anything else. I know Niven, especially his Ringworld construction has inspired many a mind in the science fiction world, but having read Iain M. Banks just before it and some other books containing unimaginable spacey grandeur stuff before that, I wasn’t as impressed with the enormous artificially constructed ring of land circling a star as I obviously should have been. That being said, the idea itself is still awesome.

I liked Niven’s aliens, especially the kzinti. They are so cute and fuzzy and furry and orange. And yeah – they’re dangerous, but they’re in a book, so I’m not scared. The puppeteers are an odd but strangely likable bunch; I do think, however, that my sympathy has more to do with the ingenious creation of such an alien race than their actual motives and actions as a species, awesome as they are.

(Still, I just looove my planet-moving, three-legged aliens, even if they’re complete a-holes… Um, I should really stop contradicting myself, shouldn’t I?)

As far as the conclusion goes, I was not at all impressed by it. It made sense and was entertaining, sure, but the idea that all the epic events in the story took place simply because of the luck of some highly irritating female character (who is probably only annoying because she was written by a man – sorry, Niven) does not resonate with me.

Overall, the book was still quite good, one that I will definitely come back to in the future and, who knows, maybe even start liking for all the things that I currently think it could do without.

This has been an utterly pointless and very badly written review by,
Triinu

Mina Olin Siin

by Sass Henno.

(Before moving any further than the title of the book I must warn you all that it’s been a while since I last did this. My most recent book review was on Pyramids by Terry Pratchett (if I’m not mistaken) and that was over a year ago. So bear with me.)

I bought the book at the request of a good friend who was very much in love with it. I happened to get my hands on a special edition celebrating the movie that was based on it: it has pretty yellow covers, a picture of a handsome young man in handcuffs sitting in a murky room, and the autograph of the writer on the cover page. The real deal – blue on white and everything. Written with his own hand.

Moving on from the loveliness of the edition… I started reading the book with certain prejudices. I first heard about Henno and his great debut a good while ago but was wary of even taking a look at it. You know how it is in this small country we like to call Estonia – everyone who has mustered up enough courage and found enough time to waste to produce a book or something creative of a similar sort is considered special. We have so few people who actually care to go through the trouble of writing something that they all automatically get showered with roses and the tears of angels. The gates of Heaven open before them and divine light shines down upon the streets they walk. The sad thing is that most of the time they are not worthy of even a fraction of the praise they get, especially the numerous young people trying out their so-called amazing talent. They are special because they are all we have got, nothing more. But that’s no reason to call them good. So, of course, upon reading one article of praise after another on the subject of Sass Henno’s Mina olin siin, I expected it to be nothing more than what I was used to getting.

And I was pleasantly surprised. Already the first word (which also formed up the first sentence of the book – “Värdjad.” meaning “Bastards.”) was engaging. It set the mood for the whole of the first chapter which did not disappoint the expectations that were presented at the beginning. The (often times very harsh) language flowed freely throughout the whole book and made it easy yet rewardingly enjoyable to read. Henno sounds fresh without crawling out of his skin to do something special. I do not know how much effort he put into keeping the same style throughout the whole book, but he has done a good job at making it seem as if it was easy as pie. Having read the first 30 pages or so I could not help but agree with Kaur Kender’s comment on the novel: “Sass possesses an important quality that sets him apart from the majority of Estonia’s writers – he can write.”

Having settled that, it is time to move on to character development, which I was also impressed by. By the end of the book I felt sympathy, understanding, even a sort of friendshippy feeling (the kind that a mentally healthy reader can have with a fictional character ) towards the protagonist Rass. He was portrayed not as just another punk who has turned to crime because it is the easy way of making money, instead he is a likable intelligent young man who is trying to make ends meet and change the course of his life set by his late abusive mother. Alas, things do not always end up the way we wish they would, and Rass has the “privilege” to experience this truth firsthand. Some decisions he makes for himself, misjudging the situation and its possible outcomes, some things just happen, because the world lets them to. Some things are caused by other people who simply want to keep their lives rolling while preventing Rass’s from being anything near livable. He sets out with the best of intentions but chooses the wrong measures. This book has forced me into an ethical dilemma that I am still yet to solve, as I have always, without exceptions, despised the people connected with the business that Rass gets tangled up in. But I’m not going there at the moment, since my brain is quite the whiner today (or as Mona would say, I can’t think today, I have the dumb).

Some find the book a good reading for parents who have no idea what really goes on behind the garage buildings of their old panel block houses, what dangers lurk right in their backyard, waiting for their children to find them. I personally believe it is simply a story, a confession of tragic and painful events that lead to the devastation of many a dream. It gives a meaningful insight into how young people might get pushed into actions they are not very proud of, and how not every criminal is filled with a malign need to destroy lives and unsettle the society.

Definitely a book I will read again, definitely one I will take with me once I move away into the Fairyland that is the world outside Estonia. A worthwhile read for anyone.

Triinu

P.S. Oh, gosh. My brain is so dead. It took me over an hour to write and edit this thing, so someone better appreciate it. Blergh. It really is a good book.

P.P.S. I know I promised to do Ender’s Game first, but I decided over Mina olin siin, because I actually read the latter earlier. Ender’s Game is coming up next, I think. I started with Geoff Ryman’s Air today, so you might be hearing about that one soon enough.