FACT SF Reading Group

May 2000

May 2: Playing God by Sarah Zettel

Five people attended the discussion of Playing God, and one person submitted comments by e-mail. In this futuristic science fiction novel, a human corporation is hired to revitalize the ecology of a planet that has been ravaged by decades of war. The planet's indigenous inhabitants, who have finally reached peace, agree to be completely evacuated to orbiting space habitats while the planet's environment is being saved. The plot of this book chronicles the first few months of this ambitious project.

We found a lot to admire about this book. We liked Zettel's writing style, which told the story cleanly yet compellingly. The major characters were an interesting mixture of humans and aliens of various ages and professions. The author did a good job explaining the difficulties and huge scope of the planet-saving project.

The aliens in this book were well developed and worthy of particular note. The touch and smell of humans was deadly to the aliens. The gender roles in their society were unusual, with females handling all positions of responsibility. The politics of the alien world had several competing and well-thought-out factions with realistic tribal behavior. Many of the alien characters had a great deal of depth, so we rooted for some of them as much as we did the humans.

This book did have a few minor drawbacks. We all found the alien names confusing. The ending seemed rushed. The men in our group did not appreciate the author's decision to make all the alien males nonsentient.

While most of the group was happy with the largely political nature of Playing God, two members were disappointed that this was not the book they'd expected from the cover material. They had been looking forward to a hard SF novel following the revitalization project from beginning to end, but that was simply not what Zettel delivered.

In general we found Playing God to be an engaging novel full of interesting ideas, and we would recommend it to fans of political science fiction.

May 16: Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones

Seven people attended the discussion of Deep Secret, and one person submitted comments by e-mail. Deep Secret is a light fantasy novel set largely in our world in the present. Rupert Venables, a young magid (an interdimensional wizard) is assigned the task of recruiting a new magid from Earth. To simplify his task, he compiles a list of suitable candidates and arranges for all of them to attend a science fiction convention held in Great Britain during Easter weekend. Rupert's experiences at the con are complicated by centaurs, obnoxious writers, a struggle for succession in an other-dimensional kingdom, and romance.

We liked a lot about this book. The story and characters were engaging, and we appreciated the novelty of a story taking place at a convention. Many details of the convention (hotel overbooking, egotistical authors, strange slogans on T-shirts, etc.) rang true, and we appreciated Jones giving a generally positive portrayal of SF fans. The story was a good mixture of light and dark elements. We found the secret magid society interesting. Many of us were in a mood for a less serious book than we'd been reading recently, and we felt that Jones offered "superior mind candy."

Deep Secret had some problems. Some in the group wanted to see less of the convention and more of the other dimensions. The author's treatment of professional writers and overweight people seemed remarkably unkind, particularly since Diana Wynne Jones herself falls into both categories. Multiple first-person narrators told the story, and sometimes we ended up reading a scene twice without gaining any new insights in the second go-round. The last chapter, taking place after the story is over, is a particularly bad example of needless retelling.

Overall this was a fun book, and we're looking forward to reading more from Diana Wynne Jones.

-- A. T. Campbell, III