Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

Book review: Recall by M. Van

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So, my first self-published sci-fi read, and seems that my luck for choosing books that will take my attention is not running out, yet. This one is harder to review without spoilers, but I’ll try my best.

The book starts in what seems to be PoV of a robot or cyborg, which was new experience for me. It sets up the story well, describing the situation on Earth nearing its last stand. Humanity tried to find new homes with space travel but in the process hastened Sun’s lifecycle and sent it towards the rad dwarf phase faster than it would be naturally. As result, the life is now limited to a few cities in domes that block the deadly radiation from much stronger sun and one underground city, Subterra.

It also shows that cyborg-like ARs are remotely directed (not directly controlled, only being given instructions over radio) law enforcement units, which includes the PoV character. Things starts to get weird as it seems said cyborg is getting memories and gaining some degree of free will, leading to this line:

Could it be that someone had compromised my programming? But then how would that let me internally debate the issue?

Then the story gets to reveal that there’s much more going on and that the ARs are more than just cyborgs (not saying the details to avoid spoilers). It is revealed that the Subterran rebels are trying to reveal what is behind their missing people, the ARs and in a chain of events, they lead to even worse revelations. Which is probably all I can say without spoilers.

Read date: 25.-30.4.2018
Published: 16.10.2017
Goodreads rating: 4,0 / Amazon link (so far rated only by me)
My rating: 90%
Length: 365 pages (kindle edition)

There are some things I feel like I should mention. First is that despite the quite nasty things that are found in labs by the end don’t go into too nasty details yet show well enough the depravities done by leaders that want to stay in high places at any cost.

Second is that I found this book by quite some chance – I rarely looked at Goodreads giveaways as (by that time) they were limited to paperback only outside of USA (for which kindle giveaways were still in beta). I found out this one and after a quick look, I eventually added it to my potential TBR list, where it waited for just 6 months, which is not that much considering the list’s size.

Third is that I wondered if the name is, in any way, inspired by the movie Total Recall (though I only saw the 2012 version). In conclusion, it is well possible, there is the theme of getting memories back slowly while being thrown into action (again, can’t say much more without spoilers).

In conclusion, the story has potential and I’ll be waiting for the sequel(s).

Storytelling thoughts: sacrifices

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Another post when I am thinking about memorable moments from books and films, both fantasy and science-fiction. There are few things that bring strong feelings like character that sacrifices himself or herself, for whatever reason – to allow the others to escape, to take the bad guys with him or any other reason. Sometimes, the character even goes through.

I am now going through some cases that were memorable for me, this time mentioning three from films I saw and enjoyed. I’ll cover books and games in future.

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He’s back… in 3D

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So, two days back I went to watch the 3D remaster of Terminator 2: Judgment day. I admit it was mostly out of curiosity to see how it’ll work out with converting a 26-years old film to 3D version, and it ended up quite nicely. Writing comments for the film itself is quite pointless as there was said much about it during the time it was first released (in that time I was still in the crib).

It was somewhat strange going to cinema to watch a film I knew pretty much inside out and could replicate most memorable lines at any time, in both English and Czech. When it comes to 3D itself, I was mostly waiting for it to show when T-1000 took a hit, but to me it was most prominent by the end where the temporary mist from liquid nitrogen was floating around.

Since I usually watch films at home on my PC with headphones, the biggest jump in quality was actually the sound and I realized I heard details I never noticed when watching it at home.

To wrap it up, I think that for someone who likes the series, going to watch the 3D remaster is nice addition. Especially if you don’t have at least 5+1 sound system at home.

Anyway, T2 was supposedly a test and James Cameron might decide to convert more of his films to 3D in time. We’ll see. Rumors are that he’s planning more Terminator sequels as well…