Moon

Review: Steel Beach by John Varley

A lot of people love John Varley’s books, and he’s a Hugo- and Nebula-award winner, so I decided to give him another try (I didn’t particularly like one of his other books, Titan).

Unfortunately, while Steel Beach had some interesting characters and cool ideas, the plot wandered around so much that I had to stop several times and wonder what the point of the book was. I almost put it down several times, and maybe I should have.

The whole story takes place on the moon two hundred years after aliens invaded Earth and kicked all the humans off. On the moon, a central computer that controls everything makes life easy for everyone, except the protagonist, who keeps trying to kill himself, but his motivation never struck me as realistic.

Recommendation: Unless you’re a John Varley fan, skip Steel Beach.

Dan

Share
Published by
Dan

Recent Posts

Review: <em>Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia</em> by Jason Pargin

Author Jason Pargin has made a career out of hilarious and fast-moving books with surprisingly…

2 years ago

Review: <em>The Tusks of Extinction</em> by Ray Nayler

The Tusks of Extinction is a short novellette/novelito (smaller than a novella) where mammoths have…

2 years ago

The Best Silkpunk Books

There are a couple of science fiction books in this list, but right now, most…

2 years ago

Review: <em>Venomous Lumpsucker</em> by Ned Beauman

In the near-future world of Venomous Lumpsucker, everything has continued to get worse, to the…

2 years ago

The Best Dark Science Fiction Books

Calling a book "dark" can mean many things, and the books on this list mean…

2 years ago

The Best Science Fiction Books with Gas Giants

Gas giants are wonderfully weird, mysterious, and incredibly dangerous. It's surprising there aren't more gas…

2 years ago