FACT SF Reading Group

December 2007

December 5: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

This meeting at the North Village Library attracted seven participants, including two first-timers. Our topic was The Lightning Thief, a young adult fantasy by San Antonio author Rick Riordan. The book is a modern-day tale about an adolescent boy, Percy Jackson, raised by his mother and an unpleasant stepfather. Percy discovers that his absent father is a Greek God, and that supernatural creatures are out to get him. This leads him to a summer camp for “half-bloods” and eventually to a big adventure.  Two of us had read Riordan’s prior books, which are mystery novels.  Everyone at the meeting started and finished The Lightning Thief.

We enjoyed how this book revisited classic Greek mythology. It was fun to read about what gods do now vs. what they did in the past. We felt that much of this material might be new to a kid in its target age range.  One person appreciated the underworld being located in Los Angeles. Another liked the modern twist of wings on sneakers.

We liked Percy and his cohorts. They were flawed and likeable, but not too reminiscent of Harry Potter and his friends. We liked Percy’s mother and appreciated the final fate of his evil stepfather.

We admired Riordan’s efficient writing style that was always clear and never boring. We felt that this book is well-suited to its audience, children with short attention spans.  We appreciated the whimsical tone. Several of us reported finishing the book in either one or two sittings. One person commented that this is close to the best children’s fiction she’s read. She thought Riordan‘s story followed classic fiction tropes.

Several of us reported giving copies of this book to our early-teen children, nieces, and nephews. This has proven to be a popular gift, often passed around among groups of friends.

We found The Lightning Thief to be fun for kids of all ages. It was perfect holiday reading.  One member said that she plans to read future books in the series when she needs cheering up.

After the meeting, several of us had a nice dinner at Conan’s.

---A. T. Campbell, III

December 18: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

13 people attended a discussion of The Android's Dream by John Scalzi. 5 people have read Scalzi before. About 10 people started the book, almost all of them finished it. Most people liked this book, although they almost unanimously agreed it wasn't very deep. The characters left some readers wishing for more depth.

The plot of the book can be summed up thus: "An interstellar scandal explodes when a human diplomat assassinates an alien diplomat by farting at him, albeit using a scent-emitting communicator. To forestall interspecies war, the government enlists former war hero and current uberhacker Harry Creek. His mission: to placate the aliens by finding a unique form of sheep used in the aliens' upcoming coronation ritual." (From Booklist via amazon.com)

As one can guess from the synopsis, the value of this novel is mostly in the humor, and most readers agreed with that. Still, some people didn't find it very funny. At least one reader was put off by the chapter-long fart joke, easily the longest fart joke ever told, that the book opens with. The same reader admitted she could not get into the book until she seduced herself into it with a pizza and a large bottle of cheap red wine.

Another reader had an idea why that may have been necessary. The first few chapters don't help you to get into the book, because they go on without establishing what the book is about. The protagonist hardly shows up in the first few chapters, and when he does show up, it's not obvious that he's an important character. So if you don't enjoy long, dragged-out fart jokes, the beginning of the book may not motivate you to keep reading. However, once religion enters the storyline, and when the action starts focusing on Harry Creek, that's where it starts getting interesting, the reader said. It's a pity, though, that Harry Creek was the one driving all the action without ever letting the female main character to take the lead. Some readers missed the heroine having an independent role. She just went along for a ride.

When it comes to fart jokes, a few readers admitted they find them funny, and the one in the book was found to be on par with the best of them. :-) The setup where a person can insult another to their face without anyone else understanding what was going on, and the English translations of the scent insults, were hilarious.

Many readers thought religion was the most interesting aspect of the story. Some people got more out of it than just the chuckle factor. They were intrigued by how the two factions within the church of the Evolved Lamb played off against each other. The book explored questions of what is religion, what does being religious mean, although it did it in a very irreverent manner. An unusual angle of the cult of the Evolved Lamb was that its adherents were actively working to make the prophecies come true. One person said this part hit uncomfortably close to home, since in her opinion the US current government is working to make that happen in the Middle East.

One reader noted science and technology was not very credible in some places. As a computer expert, he criticized the scene where one of the main characters "hacks back" into the computer of a hacker that's trying to attack his server. Such hacking back would be impossible, because no attacker would be so stupid as to make his IP address visible. Another implausibility has to do with modeling a human brain down to quantum level, since it's impossible even in theory.

These glitches were outweighed by realistic portrayal of government institutions. The attempts of the State Department and Defense Department to undermine each other looked familiar to some people. And one reader testified that the level of nepotism in bureaucratic institutions portrayed in the book is just as it is in real life: everybody is somebody's brother or went to college with somebody.

A few people noted that the title The Android's Dream was misleading, since the book had nothing to do with Philip K. Dick. One reader added the lack of connection was a big bonus.

Elze Hamilton