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Fool's War
In this New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a strange new life form threatens all of humanity, and only a fool would stand in its way
Katmer Al Shei has done well with the starship Pasadena, cutting corners where necessary to keep her crew paid and her journeys profitable. But there are two things she will never skimp her crew—and her fool. For a long space journey, a certified Fool’s Guild clown is essential, to amuse, excite, and otherwise distract the crew from the drudgeries of interstellar flight. Her newest fool, Evelyn Dobbs, is a talented jester. But does she have enough wit to save mankind?
In the computers of the Pasadena, something is emerging. The highly sophisticated software that makes interstellar travel practical is playing host to a new form of artificial intelligence, one with its own mind, its own needs, and its own desperate fears. Combatting this terrifying new threat becomes the fool’s secret fight. Evelyn Dobbs’s personal war might just cost Katmer Al Shei everything, and everyone, she holds dear. But if they fail, humanity itself is lost for good.
Katmer Al Shei has done well with the starship Pasadena, cutting corners where necessary to keep her crew paid and her journeys profitable. But there are two things she will never skimp her crew—and her fool. For a long space journey, a certified Fool’s Guild clown is essential, to amuse, excite, and otherwise distract the crew from the drudgeries of interstellar flight. Her newest fool, Evelyn Dobbs, is a talented jester. But does she have enough wit to save mankind?
In the computers of the Pasadena, something is emerging. The highly sophisticated software that makes interstellar travel practical is playing host to a new form of artificial intelligence, one with its own mind, its own needs, and its own desperate fears. Combatting this terrifying new threat becomes the fool’s secret fight. Evelyn Dobbs’s personal war might just cost Katmer Al Shei everything, and everyone, she holds dear. But if they fail, humanity itself is lost for good.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
39 people are currently reading
999 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Zettel
60 books437 followersSarah Zettel is the critically acclaimed author of more than twenty novels, spanning the full range of genre fiction. Her debut novel, Reclamation, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Her second release, Fool’s War, was a 1997 New York Times Notable Book, and the American Library Association named Playing God one of the Best Books for Young Adults of 1999. Her novel Bitter Angels won the Philip K. Dick Award for best science fiction paperback in 2009. Her latest novel, Dust Girl, was named as one of the best young adult books of the year by both Kirkus Reviews and the American Library Association. Zettel lives in Michigan with her husband, her rapidly growing son, and her cat, Buffy the Vermin Slayer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
June 27, 2022
"Oh yeah, Fool's War. I totally remember liking that book back in, what, 1998? Damn, no Wiki entry to summarize. What the hell? 4 stars and a meta-review it will be."
Cruising around Goodreads, I'm constantly reminded that I've read books in the past but have forgotten almost everything about the experience. I'm rebuilding a library based on memory, associations and reminders. I envy future generations that will find it impossible to forget anything in a well-archived life. I have a few things I would love to Life Google.
Cruising around Goodreads, I'm constantly reminded that I've read books in the past but have forgotten almost everything about the experience. I'm rebuilding a library based on memory, associations and reminders. I envy future generations that will find it impossible to forget anything in a well-archived life. I have a few things I would love to Life Google.
June 23, 2010
5.5 stars. This is an AMAZINGLY well done science fiction story that really surprised me as I did not go into it with high expectations. Well, my expectations were vastly exceeded. This story was fresh, original and very well written. As explained in more detail below, three interesting aspects of the novel are: (1) a devout female muslim main character, (2) the "Fool's" Guild (yes think actual fools like a court jester, and (3) the use and treatment of artificial intelligence.
BRIEF BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Hundreds of years in the future, following a nuclear holocaust called the "Fast Burn" initiated by radical muslims, humanity has colonized the Solar System and beyond through a combination of colony worlds and space stations. FTL communication has been made possible via a network owned by the powerful Interstellar Banking Network. However, the cost of using the network is so expensive that it is used sparingly. Thus day-to-day communications are handled between planets by starships acting as "couriers". Artifical Intelligence is an important aspect of the society and is handled in a particularly interesting way. AIs are portrayed as a "necessary evil" given that they are vital to run certain complex systems but have caused catastrophic disasters when they occassionaly become "self aware" or go "live" leading to the deaths of entire colonies.
Enter Katmer Al Shei, devout Muslin, loving wife and mother who is captain of the starship Pasedena. Al Shei is a superbly drawn character. She wears the traditional Muslim hajib over her head, prays to Mecca and follows all of the dictates of the Koran. In doing so, she faces significant bigotry as a result of the previously mentioned Fast Burn. The main plot involves Al Shei's latest courier mission. However, it is impossible to provide a summary of it without giving away spoilers which I do not want to do as they are just terrrific. Therefore, I will just provide a description of the themes explored and a few more of the characters.
Conflict and predjudice and how people react to both is a central theme of the book. There are various factions in the book that play an important role. In addtion to Muslims, two of the more interesting (and emotionally volatile) are: (1) "Freers" who believe that "self aware" or "live" Artificial Intelligences are actually AI's that have captured a human soul upon death; (2) those people who have been the victim of a "live" AI who hate everything about them and thus hate the Freers for their beliefs.
As a result of these various factions and the personality issues that can arise from being in close proximity on a starship, the "Fool's Guild" was created over time. The guild is a highly trained, very secretive group of entertainers/psychologists hired out to starships to defuse tensions among the crew during missions. Of course, the real story behind the Fool's Guild is a significant spoiler and I will not give it away here other than to say.....BRILLIANT.
This was an excellent story that gets my HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!
BRIEF BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Hundreds of years in the future, following a nuclear holocaust called the "Fast Burn" initiated by radical muslims, humanity has colonized the Solar System and beyond through a combination of colony worlds and space stations. FTL communication has been made possible via a network owned by the powerful Interstellar Banking Network. However, the cost of using the network is so expensive that it is used sparingly. Thus day-to-day communications are handled between planets by starships acting as "couriers". Artifical Intelligence is an important aspect of the society and is handled in a particularly interesting way. AIs are portrayed as a "necessary evil" given that they are vital to run certain complex systems but have caused catastrophic disasters when they occassionaly become "self aware" or go "live" leading to the deaths of entire colonies.
Enter Katmer Al Shei, devout Muslin, loving wife and mother who is captain of the starship Pasedena. Al Shei is a superbly drawn character. She wears the traditional Muslim hajib over her head, prays to Mecca and follows all of the dictates of the Koran. In doing so, she faces significant bigotry as a result of the previously mentioned Fast Burn. The main plot involves Al Shei's latest courier mission. However, it is impossible to provide a summary of it without giving away spoilers which I do not want to do as they are just terrrific. Therefore, I will just provide a description of the themes explored and a few more of the characters.
Conflict and predjudice and how people react to both is a central theme of the book. There are various factions in the book that play an important role. In addtion to Muslims, two of the more interesting (and emotionally volatile) are: (1) "Freers" who believe that "self aware" or "live" Artificial Intelligences are actually AI's that have captured a human soul upon death; (2) those people who have been the victim of a "live" AI who hate everything about them and thus hate the Freers for their beliefs.
As a result of these various factions and the personality issues that can arise from being in close proximity on a starship, the "Fool's Guild" was created over time. The guild is a highly trained, very secretive group of entertainers/psychologists hired out to starships to defuse tensions among the crew during missions. Of course, the real story behind the Fool's Guild is a significant spoiler and I will not give it away here other than to say.....BRILLIANT.
This was an excellent story that gets my HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!
March 12, 2012
I really loved this book. I found it because the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club read When Gravity Fails and one of the discussions that came from it was a search for other science fiction books featurning Muslim and Arab characters. I really enjoy books with international or intercultural storylines and the descriptions of this one really caught my attention. A female Muslim captain certainly seemed like a different perspective that would be pretty fascinating if done well, it sure isn't something you see a lot of in fiction or non-fiction! And done well it was, I was really pleased with almost every aspect of this book.
The cultural aspects were quite interesting. Katmer Al Shei, the chief engineer and part owner of the Pasadena, basically the captain, is a very devout Muslim. She and her cousin, Resit, the ship's lawyer, wear kijabs (what we call hijabs, the head coverings many observant Muslim women wear), although Al Shai covers her mouth and Resit does not because she says that no one would trust a lawyer who doesn't show her face. The women are both very observant, attending prayers several times each day and following as many rules of their faith as possible while traveling in space. In addition, it was interesting to see the author's vision of how Muslims might be perceived in the future. In this version of the future there was a castastrophic event called the Slow Burn 300 years ago that the Muslims were blamed for. They scattered across the setteled space, along with other cultural and religious groups, but there is still a lot of negative feeling toward them. It's pretting upsetting that a book written in 1997 was already so prescient about so many people's inability to forgive and forget. But I have to say that it felt realistic, it wasn't written in dramatic way, or like it was trying to illustrate a lesson in any way other than in a way that good literature does. It just felt like a natureal part of the landscape as it was presented, a piece of the bigger puzzle.
Other than the Muslim religion, there wasn't a lot of other traditional Earth culture presented, but there were several other interesting cultures that were central to the story. The most interesting was the Fools. This was such a neat idea right from the start. People who are traveling around in tiny ships for months to years at a time are under a tremendous amount of stress, so they need pressure valves, entertainers, confidants, clowns - Fools. And of course these Fools have to be untouchable or the people who do will get blackballed, how else can the Fools have the freedom to do their jobs properly?
Other than the Fools there was also the Freers, people who think that true freedom can only come from humans living in space and building environments to suit their growing needs. If they had it there way human would never touch another planet again. They also think that AIs are born when they capture the souls of dying humans and do everything they can to fostor that happening, even though to this point no one has ever figured out what has caused an AI to become independent.
I found this book to be completely engaging from beginning to end. By the middle it got really tense and exciting, with a big twist that really surprised me and changed things around completely. But what made it work most of all was the characters. I can see why some of the reviews I saw compared it to Star Trek, both because of the multicultural cast and the well-rounded story, but it also has quite a bit of Firefly as well. These guys are more on the up-and-up (although Al Shei's partner certainy isn't!) but they're independent operators trying to make it in a system that isn't always so friendly.
All right, I can't say too much more without giving anything away. Read it, it's just a great novel all around, smart and entertaining.
The cultural aspects were quite interesting. Katmer Al Shei, the chief engineer and part owner of the Pasadena, basically the captain, is a very devout Muslim. She and her cousin, Resit, the ship's lawyer, wear kijabs (what we call hijabs, the head coverings many observant Muslim women wear), although Al Shai covers her mouth and Resit does not because she says that no one would trust a lawyer who doesn't show her face. The women are both very observant, attending prayers several times each day and following as many rules of their faith as possible while traveling in space. In addition, it was interesting to see the author's vision of how Muslims might be perceived in the future. In this version of the future there was a castastrophic event called the Slow Burn 300 years ago that the Muslims were blamed for. They scattered across the setteled space, along with other cultural and religious groups, but there is still a lot of negative feeling toward them. It's pretting upsetting that a book written in 1997 was already so prescient about so many people's inability to forgive and forget. But I have to say that it felt realistic, it wasn't written in dramatic way, or like it was trying to illustrate a lesson in any way other than in a way that good literature does. It just felt like a natureal part of the landscape as it was presented, a piece of the bigger puzzle.
Other than the Muslim religion, there wasn't a lot of other traditional Earth culture presented, but there were several other interesting cultures that were central to the story. The most interesting was the Fools. This was such a neat idea right from the start. People who are traveling around in tiny ships for months to years at a time are under a tremendous amount of stress, so they need pressure valves, entertainers, confidants, clowns - Fools. And of course these Fools have to be untouchable or the people who do will get blackballed, how else can the Fools have the freedom to do their jobs properly?
Other than the Fools there was also the Freers, people who think that true freedom can only come from humans living in space and building environments to suit their growing needs. If they had it there way human would never touch another planet again. They also think that AIs are born when they capture the souls of dying humans and do everything they can to fostor that happening, even though to this point no one has ever figured out what has caused an AI to become independent.
I found this book to be completely engaging from beginning to end. By the middle it got really tense and exciting, with a big twist that really surprised me and changed things around completely. But what made it work most of all was the characters. I can see why some of the reviews I saw compared it to Star Trek, both because of the multicultural cast and the well-rounded story, but it also has quite a bit of Firefly as well. These guys are more on the up-and-up (although Al Shei's partner certainy isn't!) but they're independent operators trying to make it in a system that isn't always so friendly.
All right, I can't say too much more without giving anything away. Read it, it's just a great novel all around, smart and entertaining.
Read
October 5, 2020I love a twist, and this science-fiction novel has great twists.
April 7, 2009
I have read sicnec fiction for over 40 years. This is probably the best in the last 5 years. I do not' want to spoil the plot so I will not review this now--I am new to this site.
I will say if you are a science fiction fan who is looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, this is definitely worth a try. The main characters are well developed and the premise is unusual.
I will say if you are a science fiction fan who is looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, this is definitely worth a try. The main characters are well developed and the premise is unusual.
December 5, 2017
This is a great story about what might happen if sentient AIs came into existence and tried to take over the network where they were created. It’s also about the futility of war.
I liked the narrator at first, she has a pleasant voice and could make subtle differentiations between characters using accents and speech mannerisms. However as the book wore on, he odd, very frequent pauses in the middle of sentences (much worse than William Shatner!) became almost unbearable. It was especially bad through techno-babble. A good producer could have edited those pauses out so it flowed more naturally. But the producer also didn’t leave enough space between scene shifts, so that it was a bit confusing and took a little while to figure out that someone else was the focus of the narrative somewhere else. The visual lack should be made up for with longer gaps. Oh well.
Did I say the story was great?
I liked the narrator at first, she has a pleasant voice and could make subtle differentiations between characters using accents and speech mannerisms. However as the book wore on, he odd, very frequent pauses in the middle of sentences (much worse than William Shatner!) became almost unbearable. It was especially bad through techno-babble. A good producer could have edited those pauses out so it flowed more naturally. But the producer also didn’t leave enough space between scene shifts, so that it was a bit confusing and took a little while to figure out that someone else was the focus of the narrative somewhere else. The visual lack should be made up for with longer gaps. Oh well.
Did I say the story was great?
June 11, 2013
I'm going to pass on this one. Made it to page 100, and still the book totally failed to hold my attention.
I did like the captain, though. Al Shei is a practicing Muslim, and she even wears a niqab—and yet she's captain of a starship. How cool is that? The book kept hammering the point that she wore the hijab early on, but it eventually got over it. She's a wonderful character, a totally different captain from the usual slew of alpha males given to captaining starships in SF.
But, well, other than that, the book didn't work for me. I found the very idea of a ship's fool to be ridiculous, for instance, and even though everyone seems to find Dobbs hilarious, I found her jokes stupid and pointless. The other characters lacked the flair and appeal of Al Shei, for sure.
Ah well. Can't enjoy them all, I guess.
I did like the captain, though. Al Shei is a practicing Muslim, and she even wears a niqab—and yet she's captain of a starship. How cool is that? The book kept hammering the point that she wore the hijab early on, but it eventually got over it. She's a wonderful character, a totally different captain from the usual slew of alpha males given to captaining starships in SF.
But, well, other than that, the book didn't work for me. I found the very idea of a ship's fool to be ridiculous, for instance, and even though everyone seems to find Dobbs hilarious, I found her jokes stupid and pointless. The other characters lacked the flair and appeal of Al Shei, for sure.
Ah well. Can't enjoy them all, I guess.
December 9, 2016
Read for the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge and the Space Opera Challenge.
The book has received a lot of mixed reviews. I think the big reason why is that no matter what you're expecting, this book is not what you expect. Is it space opera? Well; yes; sort of. Is it cyberpunk? Yeah; that too. Is it a story about the Singularity? Yes; but not entirely. Is it a story about First Contact? That too.
What's the plot? I think the second paragraph of the back of the book summary is probably the best description I could come up with: "Katmer Al Shei, owner of the starship Pasadena, does not know she is carrying a living entity in her ship's computer systems. Or that the electronic network her family helped weave holds a new race fighting for survival. Or that her ship's professional Fool is trying to avert a battle that could destroy entire worlds. And when Al Shei learns the truth, all she'll really know is that it's time to take sides."
What's a professional Fool? Well, in Firefly they have Companions to keep the space travelers sane; in this world they have professional Fools, allowed to go where they want and keep people laughing.
And if I tell you any more than that, I will totally spoil the book for you, because plot and counter-plot and plot twist are the name of the game.
It does take a little while to get going. A lot of time is spent at the beginning of the book fretting and worrying about what the other owner of the ship, Al Shei's no-good brother-in-law, might have done with the Pasadena while it was in his possession (they time-share) and with not much apparently happening. I see that people have gotten impatient with that. Relax; it picks up quickly. All of that is necessary setup. I think that people may have just gotten lazy about reading setup in recent years because we're all used to reading James Patterson novels and Twitter feeds. Stick with it, and you'll find a whole world of wonder opening up to you.
There's so much to like about this book! One of the first things? There are two protagonists. Both are women. The plot would not change much if they weren't. One of these women is a devout Muslim, who blows all the Western stereotypes about Muslim women into the void. This novel doesn't have any issues in passing the Bechdel Test.
Another thing to like is that Al Shei (the Muslim protagonist) is happily married, shows no interest in the male members of her crew, and is a mother, but still travels around the galaxy because that's the nature of her job. The writer, Sarah Zettel, pulls off a very difficult task; she manages to make Al Shei's husband Asil into a significant character whose fate you care about, even though he does not appear in the book more than a handful of times. Also, Zettel succeeds admirably at the John W. Campbell challenge.
Aside from that, it's just really good writing. And good all-around space opera. And hard science fiction, proving that space opera doesn't have to be disguised fantasy.
I see that someone else who reviewed this book was saying that they didn't like it because they were comparing it to Ancillary Justice, and that wasn't fair because "that book was the Exception That Proves the Rule." I assure that reviewer that without Fool's War, which was written in the 1990s, there would not have been an Ancillary Justice. I see why Fool's War is considered such an influential book in science fiction, and as I have many times before, I find myself wondering why it has not won more awards, nor garnered more attention than it has.
The book has received a lot of mixed reviews. I think the big reason why is that no matter what you're expecting, this book is not what you expect. Is it space opera? Well; yes; sort of. Is it cyberpunk? Yeah; that too. Is it a story about the Singularity? Yes; but not entirely. Is it a story about First Contact? That too.
What's the plot? I think the second paragraph of the back of the book summary is probably the best description I could come up with: "Katmer Al Shei, owner of the starship Pasadena, does not know she is carrying a living entity in her ship's computer systems. Or that the electronic network her family helped weave holds a new race fighting for survival. Or that her ship's professional Fool is trying to avert a battle that could destroy entire worlds. And when Al Shei learns the truth, all she'll really know is that it's time to take sides."
What's a professional Fool? Well, in Firefly they have Companions to keep the space travelers sane; in this world they have professional Fools, allowed to go where they want and keep people laughing.
And if I tell you any more than that, I will totally spoil the book for you, because plot and counter-plot and plot twist are the name of the game.
It does take a little while to get going. A lot of time is spent at the beginning of the book fretting and worrying about what the other owner of the ship, Al Shei's no-good brother-in-law, might have done with the Pasadena while it was in his possession (they time-share) and with not much apparently happening. I see that people have gotten impatient with that. Relax; it picks up quickly. All of that is necessary setup. I think that people may have just gotten lazy about reading setup in recent years because we're all used to reading James Patterson novels and Twitter feeds. Stick with it, and you'll find a whole world of wonder opening up to you.
There's so much to like about this book! One of the first things? There are two protagonists. Both are women. The plot would not change much if they weren't. One of these women is a devout Muslim, who blows all the Western stereotypes about Muslim women into the void. This novel doesn't have any issues in passing the Bechdel Test.
Another thing to like is that Al Shei (the Muslim protagonist) is happily married, shows no interest in the male members of her crew, and is a mother, but still travels around the galaxy because that's the nature of her job. The writer, Sarah Zettel, pulls off a very difficult task; she manages to make Al Shei's husband Asil into a significant character whose fate you care about, even though he does not appear in the book more than a handful of times. Also, Zettel succeeds admirably at the John W. Campbell challenge.
Aside from that, it's just really good writing. And good all-around space opera. And hard science fiction, proving that space opera doesn't have to be disguised fantasy.
I see that someone else who reviewed this book was saying that they didn't like it because they were comparing it to Ancillary Justice, and that wasn't fair because "that book was the Exception That Proves the Rule." I assure that reviewer that without Fool's War, which was written in the 1990s, there would not have been an Ancillary Justice. I see why Fool's War is considered such an influential book in science fiction, and as I have many times before, I find myself wondering why it has not won more awards, nor garnered more attention than it has.
January 6, 2013
An interesting standalone space opera centered on the crew of a spaceship which delivers data packages across interstellar space. It's a future where where Artificial Intelligences are useful but dangerous entities, as they have a history of causing great destruction if they become sentient, which happens unpredictably. Many people are afraid of them, with good reason, but some view the AIs with earnest hopefulness for the future of mankind.
The ship's owner is hijab-wearing Muslim woman, and a recurring theme of the book is "what it’s like to be set apart by your beliefs". I'm lukewarm on this aspect of the story, as it has a fairly shallow treatment of the character’s beliefs and religion in general.
Another significant character is the ship's Fool, whose highly-regarded job is to entertain the crew and maintain morale. I liked the character, but the Fool's antics as described are not in the least amusing.
The writing is awkward at first. The author spends too much time spelling out the details of how some of the technology is used - we get tedious descriptions of people hand-writing computer commands on various surfaces with special pens, for instance. There’s also a bit too much narrative set in cyberspace for my taste. But plot-wise the story works pretty well, and the characterizations are decent. I was turning pages steadily in the last half of the book.
The ship's owner is hijab-wearing Muslim woman, and a recurring theme of the book is "what it’s like to be set apart by your beliefs". I'm lukewarm on this aspect of the story, as it has a fairly shallow treatment of the character’s beliefs and religion in general.
Another significant character is the ship's Fool, whose highly-regarded job is to entertain the crew and maintain morale. I liked the character, but the Fool's antics as described are not in the least amusing.
The writing is awkward at first. The author spends too much time spelling out the details of how some of the technology is used - we get tedious descriptions of people hand-writing computer commands on various surfaces with special pens, for instance. There’s also a bit too much narrative set in cyberspace for my taste. But plot-wise the story works pretty well, and the characterizations are decent. I was turning pages steadily in the last half of the book.
March 6, 2022
Review to come
August 9, 2017
Rating: "A-/B+" -- a fine and twisty feminista space-opera.
This one sat on my 'to-read' shelf for a long time, after I bounced off her first, Reclamation, which has an excruciatingly slow start. Fool's War was a New York Times Notable Book of 1997 (and Reclamation won a Locus Award for Best First Novel...).
The setup is uncomfortably topical -- the story-now is 500 years after violent religious wars, started by Islamic extremists, almost wrecked Earth. The subsequent diaspora to the colony worlds simply spread out the same old hatreds. Now the ugly chickens are flapping home to roost....
I can't say very much about Fool's War's plot without spoiling things for you, but Zettel spins an impressively twisty tale. She constantly plays with the reader's expectations, and she (mostly) plays fair -- though her storytelling craft still has some rough spots in this sophomore effort. A cover blurb compares her to Heinlein and Asimov, but there's more than a touch of Van Vogt's signature rapidfire scene-changes here.
Fool's War is somethng of a grrrl power-fantasy -- and I do like a well-done power-fantasy, especially one with a light touch. Here's Pilot Yerusha, in a moment of reflection within the storm of denouement: "I'm saving the human race so I can go on a date..." If you like to see femmes kicking butt that needs kicking, you'll like Fool's War.
Zettel's authorial hand does get a bit heavy with her villains, and in pointing characters where they need to go for the next plot-twist. But overall it's good, clean fun, and I'll have to do some Zettel catchup reading soon.
My original 2002 review with links to other opinions. Some may even still work ;-]
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict...
This one sat on my 'to-read' shelf for a long time, after I bounced off her first, Reclamation, which has an excruciatingly slow start. Fool's War was a New York Times Notable Book of 1997 (and Reclamation won a Locus Award for Best First Novel...).
The setup is uncomfortably topical -- the story-now is 500 years after violent religious wars, started by Islamic extremists, almost wrecked Earth. The subsequent diaspora to the colony worlds simply spread out the same old hatreds. Now the ugly chickens are flapping home to roost....
I can't say very much about Fool's War's plot without spoiling things for you, but Zettel spins an impressively twisty tale. She constantly plays with the reader's expectations, and she (mostly) plays fair -- though her storytelling craft still has some rough spots in this sophomore effort. A cover blurb compares her to Heinlein and Asimov, but there's more than a touch of Van Vogt's signature rapidfire scene-changes here.
Fool's War is somethng of a grrrl power-fantasy -- and I do like a well-done power-fantasy, especially one with a light touch. Here's Pilot Yerusha, in a moment of reflection within the storm of denouement: "I'm saving the human race so I can go on a date..." If you like to see femmes kicking butt that needs kicking, you'll like Fool's War.
Zettel's authorial hand does get a bit heavy with her villains, and in pointing characters where they need to go for the next plot-twist. But overall it's good, clean fun, and I'll have to do some Zettel catchup reading soon.
My original 2002 review with links to other opinions. Some may even still work ;-]
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfict...
October 17, 2016
I really liked this book for it's interesting space opera, good world building and really solid diversity but in the end, this book sacrificed interesting plot for interesting characters, so I ended up not being attached to any single character. I also didn't really like the AI-to-human transformation -- felt forced. This book also gets a slightly lower rating for the fact that in my head i compared it to Ancillary Justice, which probably was not fair to it, since that book is the Exception that Proves the Rule.
But anyway this book had good robots and ais, but not amazing
But anyway this book had good robots and ais, but not amazing
April 9, 2021
Reread 5/14. Author is in top form in this tale of a commercial space ship's crew that gets caught up in a war between (actually, among) humans and AIs. The ensemble cast is terrific, there's plenty of action that is well choreographed, and the introspective passages are (this is really rare these days) not too long---Zettel lets readers figure out for themselves what's going on in her characters' heads and hearts. If I were to recommend one of the author's books as a starter, this would be it. Solid A.
February 1, 2024
What I like about this book:
- A hijab wearing Chief Engineer (basically Captain) devout Muslim protagonist and a kijab wearing lawyer sidekick
- A professional Space Fools. It did make sense that people living in cramped condition would need one. Maybe NASA should look into hiring comedians?
- Living/rogue AI. I was a bit ambivalent about the morality of living AI. If your birth could potentially cause the death of hundred of thousands of lives, do you deserve to live at all?
- A well written story with more plot twists than a pretzel :)
- A hijab wearing Chief Engineer (basically Captain) devout Muslim protagonist and a kijab wearing lawyer sidekick
- A professional Space Fools. It did make sense that people living in cramped condition would need one. Maybe NASA should look into hiring comedians?
- Living/rogue AI. I was a bit ambivalent about the morality of living AI. If your birth could potentially cause the death of hundred of thousands of lives, do you deserve to live at all?
- A well written story with more plot twists than a pretzel :)
March 11, 2021
10/10
Wow! I didn’t really know what to expect, and what few expectations I developed were upended over and over. Such great characters, interesting concepts, and truths about humans (and other sentient beings) that are both sad and reassuring. Highly recommended!
Wow! I didn’t really know what to expect, and what few expectations I developed were upended over and over. Such great characters, interesting concepts, and truths about humans (and other sentient beings) that are both sad and reassuring. Highly recommended!
July 25, 2020
Have to DNF @ 25%. I realize having a devout muslim female as the captain of a starship is a large part of the author's concept for making the book unique. However, the religious aspects of her character were a bit over-the-top for a fiction novel within the sci-fi genre. In other words, more sci-fi and less religion would have been better. Nevertheless, that was not the reason for the DNF. Nor was (as mentioned by another reviewer) the absurd concept of a ship's fool - i.e. a jester. The character was decent although the jokes/gags/etc were childish and absurd.
No, what ultimately led to the DNF was being thrown out of the flow of the story practically every other page by spelling/punctuation/grammar errors. Many of which were quite egregious and should have been caught/corrected prior to publication. Yes, I'm talking about the published (you pay for it) edition... not an ARC. If you're going to put out a professionally published book and ask people to pay for it then I expect it to be PROFESSIONALLY published. And let me reiterate, I was not exaggerating about the errors being roughly every other page... they were indeed that numerous. If you are also someone who doesn't like being thrown out of the flow of a story due to such frequent and egregious errors then you should definitely avoid this book.
No, what ultimately led to the DNF was being thrown out of the flow of the story practically every other page by spelling/punctuation/grammar errors. Many of which were quite egregious and should have been caught/corrected prior to publication. Yes, I'm talking about the published (you pay for it) edition... not an ARC. If you're going to put out a professionally published book and ask people to pay for it then I expect it to be PROFESSIONALLY published. And let me reiterate, I was not exaggerating about the errors being roughly every other page... they were indeed that numerous. If you are also someone who doesn't like being thrown out of the flow of a story due to such frequent and egregious errors then you should definitely avoid this book.
December 12, 2020
Evelyn Dobbs is a Master of the Guild Of Fools - a sort of psychological smoother for spaceships crews. Al Shei is a Muslim mail-packet master who hires Dobbs on to be Ship’s Fool but unbeknownst to everybody concerned Al Shei’s dodgy brother-in-law has stolen a virus and stored it on board the ship. The virus is not the only thing that climbed aboard in the data hold however - it is almost certain a Live AI has birthed on board. AIs are not exactly popular since a few disastrous outbreaks which took human lives and when the one on board the Pasadena starts panicking and destroying systems things go awry. It gets worse. The Guild Of Fools has a much more secret function - to curtail and tame Live AIs that are found and give them tank-grown bodies so they can masquerade as humans, but when a splinter group of rogue Fools devises a much more monstrous way of embodiment it threatens a full-scale war between rival AI factions and humans against AIs begins. Can Dobbs and the Pasadena prevent it? Sarah Zettel has given us a slow burn here but it eventually heats up into a satisfying tale of cyberminds and bigotry (both computer and human) with an appropriately exciting conclusion! Well worth a read.
December 5, 2025
This book had some fantastic Big Ideas, especially considering it was published in 1997. I had a lot of fun thinking about those Big Ideas even when I wasn't reading -- which on its own gets high marks from me. (I can't give much more detail without spoilers.)
However... however... This is my second book I've read by Sarah Zettel, and I'm doubtful that I'll read another. The Big Ideas are not backed up by good writing. The dialogue falls flat for me, the casts are too large, and the action sequences are dull. The big action sequence in Fool's War reads a bit like: and then this happened, then they did this, and then this happened, then they did this ad nauseam. It's really too bad.
One other side note, I listened to this as an audiobook, and the performance is just not very good. The narration between dialogue in particular is read so staccato that there's a pause every 2-4 words. It sounded a bit like Captain Kirk's affect on Star Trek. In addition, the tone was the same whether it was a lull in action or the height of action. Her character accents were pretty good, however. I would personally recommend avoiding the narrator (Parisa Johnston) in the future. Bummer.
However... however... This is my second book I've read by Sarah Zettel, and I'm doubtful that I'll read another. The Big Ideas are not backed up by good writing. The dialogue falls flat for me, the casts are too large, and the action sequences are dull. The big action sequence in Fool's War reads a bit like: and then this happened, then they did this, and then this happened, then they did this ad nauseam. It's really too bad.
One other side note, I listened to this as an audiobook, and the performance is just not very good. The narration between dialogue in particular is read so staccato that there's a pause every 2-4 words. It sounded a bit like Captain Kirk's affect on Star Trek. In addition, the tone was the same whether it was a lull in action or the height of action. Her character accents were pretty good, however. I would personally recommend avoiding the narrator (Parisa Johnston) in the future. Bummer.
September 5, 2013
I picked up this book largely because I was on an episode of The Skiffy and Fanty podcast with the author, and was impressed with the intelligent things she said about speculative fiction. (I don't think that particular podcast episode has been released yet at the time I'm writing this review.)
I'm going to assume it's not her best work. It's not terrible, but I lost enthusiasm for it at 39% of the way through the ebook. It's a long book, and I felt like I was ready for the story to wrap up not too long after that point, but instead there was more than half of it left to go.
Partly this is because, at 39% (and having not marked some in the first couple of chapters, because you can't highlight things on Kindle when you're reading the sample), I had already hit 54 errors that annoyed me enough to highlight. Everything from an inconsistent number of hours to the jump point, to multiple homonym errors (pouring/poring, effect/affect, past time/pastime, who's/whose, to/too, everyday/every day, wreak/wreck, it's/its, exercisers/exercises), to missing words, missing spaces, misplaced apostrophes and commas, disagreements of tense and number... all the classic errors were there, and in large numbers. That sort of thing is distracting from the story.
I was reading along, though, thinking, "This isn't a bad space opera. At least the computers aren't out of the 1960s. There's even a kind of cyberpunk thing going... Oh, it's cyberpunk." And, unfortunately, there are two things that cyberpunk often has trouble with, and this book also has trouble with them. One is making interface metaphors too literal, and another is providing a believable justification for any sense of true risk to the person in cyberspace. There was a reason given for why there was a risk, but to me it came across as contrived.
I also didn't find the logic that set up the situation consistent. On the one hand, bandwidth was incredibly expensive, which justified carrying data in ships. That, by itself, is fine and believable and gives your ships something to carry that isn't raw materials - more realistic than the average space opera. But then that's all completely undermined when the Fool is able (without the very alert sysadmin noticing) to steal enough bandwidth to get her entire consciousness several systems away, and bring back several other people.
And then the Fool has to do something dangerous because she's the only one who can... except that, cyberspace being what it is, surely at least one of the other people in cyberspace with her can do whatever she can do, since distance makes no difference and none of them is physically present in the first place.
That was when I stopped reading. I was enjoying the unusual characters (women, non-Westerners, people of faith), but mainly for the fact that they were unusual. Apart from the owner of the ship, they weren't yet fleshed out to the point that I felt very close to them as characters, and I bid them farewell without regret.
I will look out for other Sarah Zettel books, in the hope that I can find one that represents the highly intelligent person I enjoyed chatting with on that podcast. Preferably one that's been past a really good editor, too.
I'm going to assume it's not her best work. It's not terrible, but I lost enthusiasm for it at 39% of the way through the ebook. It's a long book, and I felt like I was ready for the story to wrap up not too long after that point, but instead there was more than half of it left to go.
Partly this is because, at 39% (and having not marked some in the first couple of chapters, because you can't highlight things on Kindle when you're reading the sample), I had already hit 54 errors that annoyed me enough to highlight. Everything from an inconsistent number of hours to the jump point, to multiple homonym errors (pouring/poring, effect/affect, past time/pastime, who's/whose, to/too, everyday/every day, wreak/wreck, it's/its, exercisers/exercises), to missing words, missing spaces, misplaced apostrophes and commas, disagreements of tense and number... all the classic errors were there, and in large numbers. That sort of thing is distracting from the story.
I was reading along, though, thinking, "This isn't a bad space opera. At least the computers aren't out of the 1960s. There's even a kind of cyberpunk thing going... Oh, it's cyberpunk." And, unfortunately, there are two things that cyberpunk often has trouble with, and this book also has trouble with them. One is making interface metaphors too literal, and another is providing a believable justification for any sense of true risk to the person in cyberspace. There was a reason given for why there was a risk, but to me it came across as contrived.
I also didn't find the logic that set up the situation consistent. On the one hand, bandwidth was incredibly expensive, which justified carrying data in ships. That, by itself, is fine and believable and gives your ships something to carry that isn't raw materials - more realistic than the average space opera. But then that's all completely undermined when the Fool is able (without the very alert sysadmin noticing) to steal enough bandwidth to get her entire consciousness several systems away, and bring back several other people.
And then the Fool has to do something dangerous because she's the only one who can... except that, cyberspace being what it is, surely at least one of the other people in cyberspace with her can do whatever she can do, since distance makes no difference and none of them is physically present in the first place.
That was when I stopped reading. I was enjoying the unusual characters (women, non-Westerners, people of faith), but mainly for the fact that they were unusual. Apart from the owner of the ship, they weren't yet fleshed out to the point that I felt very close to them as characters, and I bid them farewell without regret.
I will look out for other Sarah Zettel books, in the hope that I can find one that represents the highly intelligent person I enjoyed chatting with on that podcast. Preferably one that's been past a really good editor, too.
July 31, 2015
I have to Spoiler-tag this review; otherwise I can't talk much about what I loved about it.
I've always been drawn to books that feature a female Other as a sympathetic protagonist, and here we have Evelyn Dobbs as a fascinating and beautiful example of the type. She may start the story as a somewhat awkward clown, but oh, where she goes! As she realizes she must stand with humanity against her own kind, because both lives and SOULS are at stake ("we can't become careless with the lives of outsiders"), she becomes a hero at a terrible cost. Her moral stance is a powerful one, and her final fate, heartbreaking.
Since my review is safely Spoiler-tagged, I can say outright: Dobbs is an AI gifted with a human body, and she and all her kind are trying to work out their position in the universe vis-a-vis human beings. It's an intriguing situation, and naming the first sentient, independently-thinking AI "Hal Clarke" is the cherry atop the sundae. The dilemma builds to the climax, and even though I found myself lost by a good bit of the "tech talk" (something that occasionally alienates me from sci-fi), I could still enjoy the plot and look forward to seeing what would happen next.
Sarah Zettel strikes a satisfying balance between the Big Ideas and the emotional lives of her characters. Dobbs may be my favorite, but she's far from the story's only compelling character. We have Katmer Al Shei, the commander who pulls off a bit of major-league badassery in the climax, and Yerusha, the pilot who comes from a culture with some very interesting ideas about AIs. Along with Dobbs, these are our main point-of-view characters, a triumvirate of complex and intriguing women. Readers, you want strong female characters? Look no further. Zettel's cast of characters is racially diverse as well. Al Shei is a Muslim woman, and her crew are described as coming from a wide range of racial/ethnic backgrounds. This diversity is a big part of what makes the story work.
But I do have a quibble. Let's say that I'm giving this one, like Novik's "Uprooted," four and three-fourths stars, because of one thing: the ending. Not the climax -- that's awesome -- but the "falling action/resolution" at the very end of the book. It felt curiously hollow and abrupt to me. What happened to Yerusha? How will she process all that's happened? I wanted at least one more scene from her point of view -- partly because with the exception of the Sundars (tertiary characters), she's the only human character who didn't treat Dobbs like garbage at some crucial point in the story, the only real friend Dobbs had. In view of Dobbs' final sacrifice and lonely fate, I wanted to hear from at least one character who would actually mourn her and remember her fondly.
Highly recommended, especially for those who love a good AI story and welcome character diversity in science fiction.
I've always been drawn to books that feature a female Other as a sympathetic protagonist, and here we have Evelyn Dobbs as a fascinating and beautiful example of the type. She may start the story as a somewhat awkward clown, but oh, where she goes! As she realizes she must stand with humanity against her own kind, because both lives and SOULS are at stake ("we can't become careless with the lives of outsiders"), she becomes a hero at a terrible cost. Her moral stance is a powerful one, and her final fate, heartbreaking.
Since my review is safely Spoiler-tagged, I can say outright: Dobbs is an AI gifted with a human body, and she and all her kind are trying to work out their position in the universe vis-a-vis human beings. It's an intriguing situation, and naming the first sentient, independently-thinking AI "Hal Clarke" is the cherry atop the sundae. The dilemma builds to the climax, and even though I found myself lost by a good bit of the "tech talk" (something that occasionally alienates me from sci-fi), I could still enjoy the plot and look forward to seeing what would happen next.
Sarah Zettel strikes a satisfying balance between the Big Ideas and the emotional lives of her characters. Dobbs may be my favorite, but she's far from the story's only compelling character. We have Katmer Al Shei, the commander who pulls off a bit of major-league badassery in the climax, and Yerusha, the pilot who comes from a culture with some very interesting ideas about AIs. Along with Dobbs, these are our main point-of-view characters, a triumvirate of complex and intriguing women. Readers, you want strong female characters? Look no further. Zettel's cast of characters is racially diverse as well. Al Shei is a Muslim woman, and her crew are described as coming from a wide range of racial/ethnic backgrounds. This diversity is a big part of what makes the story work.
But I do have a quibble. Let's say that I'm giving this one, like Novik's "Uprooted," four and three-fourths stars, because of one thing: the ending. Not the climax -- that's awesome -- but the "falling action/resolution" at the very end of the book. It felt curiously hollow and abrupt to me. What happened to Yerusha? How will she process all that's happened? I wanted at least one more scene from her point of view -- partly because with the exception of the Sundars (tertiary characters), she's the only human character who didn't treat Dobbs like garbage at some crucial point in the story, the only real friend Dobbs had. In view of Dobbs' final sacrifice and lonely fate, I wanted to hear from at least one character who would actually mourn her and remember her fondly.
Highly recommended, especially for those who love a good AI story and welcome character diversity in science fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2014
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/20...
I had been meaning to read Fool’s War ever since Andrea reviewed it back in 2012. I enjoy reading sci-fi and fantasy with a diverse cast of characters, and the protagonist of Fool’s War, a woman named Katmer Al Shei, is a devout Muslim. She wears the hijab and prays facing Mecca, but she’s also the captain of a ship called the Pasadena, which she operates on a timeshare system with her brother-in-law. She’s saving up money to buy her own ship, which will be much larger, so that her husband and children can come with her on her journeys. The only problem is that Al Shei’s brother-in-law is up to no good and gets involved with some shady business deals that end up coming back to haunt Al Shei on her final voyage aboard the Pasadena.
You see, this is a world where artificial intelligence is a major tool, but sometimes, an AI can gain consciousness. When an AI becomes sentient, it is generally scared, upset, and dangerous. A rogue AI could wipe out an entire settlement without even trying. It’s happened before, and it can happen again. And the problems on board the Pasadena can be traced to an AI that’s gotten out of control.
Some people are suspicious of AIs, and some people embrace them. My favorite character in the book is a Freer named Jemima Yerusha. The Freers are a cult that believe that the AIs should become sentient, and that only when humans can live in worlds of their own creation can they truly be free. This means the Freers don’t generally land on planets and prefer to live in space. They think that AIs become sentient because they capture the souls of freshly departed humans. One of the things that I wished when reading Fool’s War was that the Freers could have played a greater role in the plot; they were such fascinating characters that I was sad to spend so little time with them.
Fool’s War begins as a typical space opera, but then it becomes so much more. It’s hard to describe without descending into major spoilers, but I’ll do my best. It is a mark of prestige for a ship to have a Fool on board. The Fool helps keep the peace between crew members during long journeys in confined spaces, but the Fools have a secret that would make conspiracy theorists shit their pants. So, when things begin to go wrong on the Pasadena, the ship’s Fool, a woman named Evelyn Dobbs, becomes the secondary protagonist, and she plays a major role in trying to make things right. If you read the book, keep an eye on her character. Pay attention to her, and wait for it.
Fool’s War starts out slowly, but as the plot builds it turns into a total mindfuck that makes the characters think of the world they thought they knew in a completely different way. It’s glorious.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/20...
I had been meaning to read Fool’s War ever since Andrea reviewed it back in 2012. I enjoy reading sci-fi and fantasy with a diverse cast of characters, and the protagonist of Fool’s War, a woman named Katmer Al Shei, is a devout Muslim. She wears the hijab and prays facing Mecca, but she’s also the captain of a ship called the Pasadena, which she operates on a timeshare system with her brother-in-law. She’s saving up money to buy her own ship, which will be much larger, so that her husband and children can come with her on her journeys. The only problem is that Al Shei’s brother-in-law is up to no good and gets involved with some shady business deals that end up coming back to haunt Al Shei on her final voyage aboard the Pasadena.
You see, this is a world where artificial intelligence is a major tool, but sometimes, an AI can gain consciousness. When an AI becomes sentient, it is generally scared, upset, and dangerous. A rogue AI could wipe out an entire settlement without even trying. It’s happened before, and it can happen again. And the problems on board the Pasadena can be traced to an AI that’s gotten out of control.
Some people are suspicious of AIs, and some people embrace them. My favorite character in the book is a Freer named Jemima Yerusha. The Freers are a cult that believe that the AIs should become sentient, and that only when humans can live in worlds of their own creation can they truly be free. This means the Freers don’t generally land on planets and prefer to live in space. They think that AIs become sentient because they capture the souls of freshly departed humans. One of the things that I wished when reading Fool’s War was that the Freers could have played a greater role in the plot; they were such fascinating characters that I was sad to spend so little time with them.
Fool’s War begins as a typical space opera, but then it becomes so much more. It’s hard to describe without descending into major spoilers, but I’ll do my best. It is a mark of prestige for a ship to have a Fool on board. The Fool helps keep the peace between crew members during long journeys in confined spaces, but the Fools have a secret that would make conspiracy theorists shit their pants. So, when things begin to go wrong on the Pasadena, the ship’s Fool, a woman named Evelyn Dobbs, becomes the secondary protagonist, and she plays a major role in trying to make things right. If you read the book, keep an eye on her character. Pay attention to her, and wait for it.
Fool’s War starts out slowly, but as the plot builds it turns into a total mindfuck that makes the characters think of the world they thought they knew in a completely different way. It’s glorious.
July 10, 2016
Interesting mixture of moslem women in space, artificial intelligence and funny pen-interfaces. The story was quite good, with a few unexpected twists and turns, and the society was well fleshed out. Fool's war's world has a history and many different groups with different viewpoints and perspectives. The characters are realistic and even the sympathetic ones behave unsympathetically sometimes. All have their flaws, and, quite interestingly, the cast consists of quite a few women that are invariably competent, despite of their flaws. That's unusual enough in SF to comment on, and I don't think I've ever come across a book with not only competent women in power, but Muslim women to boot. One particular Muslim woman is away from home half of the time, during which her husband takes care of her children. I could only applaude the little speech Katmer Al Shei gave when she was about to engage in a dangerous operation, and her cousin tried to stop her by reminding her of her children. I could have wished for a little less tension among the crew and a little less xenophobia at times, but I am satisfied with everyone's decisions in the end. It's just that I always enjoy a book more if there is a team that sticks together and forms a close-knit group. Despite initial differences, this group was heading that way, but then things started to explode. In the end they pull through, and I'll admit that more trust would perhaps have been unrealistic at an earlier time.
Overall a good book. My rating is not higher then it is, because despite everything I said above, I had a bit of trouble connecting to the characters sometimes. I think perhaps it was a bit too technical at times (I'm a physicist, so I don't mind technical, but some of it pulled me out of the story). And the ebook at least could have used a bit more editing. There were quite a few punctuation errors and sentences that seemed to have come out wrong at the other end of a re-write.
Overall a good book. My rating is not higher then it is, because despite everything I said above, I had a bit of trouble connecting to the characters sometimes. I think perhaps it was a bit too technical at times (I'm a physicist, so I don't mind technical, but some of it pulled me out of the story). And the ebook at least could have used a bit more editing. There were quite a few punctuation errors and sentences that seemed to have come out wrong at the other end of a re-write.
October 22, 2025
This was contradiction. This was chaos. This was lies. It had to be. If this wasn’t a lie, then everything else was.
Creative science fiction exploring bigotry, religion, family, banking, and conspiracies. What could go wrong? Zettel’s second novel displays creativity and storytelling prowess of a veteran. Multiple points of view with expected unreliable narrators. Incompatible agendas. Diffuse threads pull together with increasing tension and risk. Everyone has desires, secrets, and prejudices.
[Redacted] would probably go stark raving mad and try to kill us all, maybe in that order, maybe not.
Excellent character and plot development. Better presentation than most science fiction on issues like how spin-induced artificial gravity affects people. Almost prescient about artificial intelligence even though her computer technology is outdated 30 years into the future, not to mention 400. Marred by over two dozen text errors worse than simple typos.
“Most of us are as afraid of being revered as ghosts or angels as we are of being feared as demons.”
Kept the high rating because it’s such a clean, readable story. In retrospect the climax is obvious but the path to it is convoluted. Getting there is fun. Virtuoso originality displayed along the way.
“You’re a very strange creature.” “Even stranger than I used to be,” [redacted] smiled again, deprecatingly this time. “When we play the fool, how the theater expands!”
Creative science fiction exploring bigotry, religion, family, banking, and conspiracies. What could go wrong? Zettel’s second novel displays creativity and storytelling prowess of a veteran. Multiple points of view with expected unreliable narrators. Incompatible agendas. Diffuse threads pull together with increasing tension and risk. Everyone has desires, secrets, and prejudices.
[Redacted] would probably go stark raving mad and try to kill us all, maybe in that order, maybe not.
Excellent character and plot development. Better presentation than most science fiction on issues like how spin-induced artificial gravity affects people. Almost prescient about artificial intelligence even though her computer technology is outdated 30 years into the future, not to mention 400. Marred by over two dozen text errors worse than simple typos.
“Most of us are as afraid of being revered as ghosts or angels as we are of being feared as demons.”
Kept the high rating because it’s such a clean, readable story. In retrospect the climax is obvious but the path to it is convoluted. Getting there is fun. Virtuoso originality displayed along the way.
“You’re a very strange creature.” “Even stranger than I used to be,” [redacted] smiled again, deprecatingly this time. “When we play the fool, how the theater expands!”
October 17, 2021
Zettel, Sarah. Fool’s War. Aspect, 1997.
Sarah Zettel’s Fool’s War is a space opera with several original features. First, we have a human-colonized galaxy in which the main political divides have to do with computer technology and artificial intelligence. In some places, AIs connect everybody all the time. In other places, smuggling computer parts can send you up the river for a long time. It takes artificial intelligence to run an interstellar spacecraft, but they are strictly controlled. Our heroine is the captain of a trading ship. She is a practicing Muslim who speaks Arabic and wears traditional dress. Finally, there are the Fools. Any ship that hopes to attract business needs to have a Fool in the crew. Fool’s offer slapstick entertainment, and like Medieval court jesters, they can speak truth to power in ways no one else can. They also act as mental health officers in ways that reminded me of Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But Fools are much more than they seem, and the plot of the story gradually reveals their true nature. The interplay between Captain Al Shei and Fool Evelyn Dobbs provides surprising depth. The world of the novel is complex and the wheels within wheels structure does it justice. 4 stars.
Sarah Zettel’s Fool’s War is a space opera with several original features. First, we have a human-colonized galaxy in which the main political divides have to do with computer technology and artificial intelligence. In some places, AIs connect everybody all the time. In other places, smuggling computer parts can send you up the river for a long time. It takes artificial intelligence to run an interstellar spacecraft, but they are strictly controlled. Our heroine is the captain of a trading ship. She is a practicing Muslim who speaks Arabic and wears traditional dress. Finally, there are the Fools. Any ship that hopes to attract business needs to have a Fool in the crew. Fool’s offer slapstick entertainment, and like Medieval court jesters, they can speak truth to power in ways no one else can. They also act as mental health officers in ways that reminded me of Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation. But Fools are much more than they seem, and the plot of the story gradually reveals their true nature. The interplay between Captain Al Shei and Fool Evelyn Dobbs provides surprising depth. The world of the novel is complex and the wheels within wheels structure does it justice. 4 stars.
May 6, 2011
Fool’s War by Sarah Zettel started off very strong for me, but I was left a bit disappointed. Initially, I was captivated by the futuristic setting, and the initial main character, Katmer Al Shei. The female muslim engineer, captain and shareholder in the tradeship Pasadena feels very solid, and provides for a unique perspective in a sci-fi novel. When Dobbs, the real main character, a female Jester is brought on board to up the rating of the vessel’s rating, things get interesting as things quickly start to go wrong aboard the vessel (Entertainment is highly valued, to stave of the boredom of interstellar travel.)
Unfortunately, as the realities of the situation are revealed, we quickly leave a hard-feeling sci-fi world and enter into a fluffy emotional-cyber-space world. This is where things went a bit off for me. Had this later portion of the novel kept more of a hard science feel, I’d definitely recommend this book, but as it is, I’d primarily recommend it for the unique point of view… certainly worthwhile, but I feel it was weakened by the softening of the plot.
Unfortunately, as the realities of the situation are revealed, we quickly leave a hard-feeling sci-fi world and enter into a fluffy emotional-cyber-space world. This is where things went a bit off for me. Had this later portion of the novel kept more of a hard science feel, I’d definitely recommend this book, but as it is, I’d primarily recommend it for the unique point of view… certainly worthwhile, but I feel it was weakened by the softening of the plot.
September 3, 2007
An exciting and fun story involving a Muslim ship captain, her crew, a fool, artificial intelligence and then, not so fun, a war that hurts everyone deeply. I enjoyed the fun stuff, but then was a little disappointed that it had to be so sad by the end. (I know, not up to anything complex right now) The author writes well despite some editor/publisher typos. (January 24, 2004)
May 8, 2009
I really enjoyed this book very much. It's one of the best Scifi's I've read in a long time. Written in the late 90's, I was surprised at how much of it rang true for most of our present time. This book concerned a great story about AI's, the internet, space and settled planets, prejudice and bigotry. It was humorous in parts and very exciting. This story sucks you in. I was very impressed with Zettel's charactor development, you get attached very quickly. I enjoyed this space adventure very much and I highly recommend it. A very good read!
June 8, 2009
Great stand-alone SF book. It doesn't really pick up until halfway through, but once it does, it's awesome. Some of the pseudo-science technical passages were a little much for me, but overall it's a very original, thought-provoking, and entertaining story.
December 23, 2017
I picked up this book because a fellow writer friend told me it was the best science fiction novel ever written with a Muslim protagonist, and I had reason to want to read books of that nature. It didn't deserve that compliment. Indeed, the Muslim protagonist was written in a highly Orientalist way. There was absolutely no interiority that would indicate Islam in any way influenced her character. Sure, she prayed the requisite five times per day and wore a burka, but when push came to shove, she was a cardboard vehicle for the author's libertarian philosophy. Had she been written as a Midwestern American with or without any ties to Protestantism, it wouldn't have changed the story one iota. Maybe just having a Muslim character at all was groundbreaking in 1997 when this came out, especially in a novel in which the character isn't in any way a villain, but with a 2017 sensibility, I would at least go as far as saying if your only reason for reading this is to see a Muslim character in science fiction, you can skip this book.
However, this was an enjoyable read for a totally different reason. Islam was just one of the cultures featured. The two the author created were much more interesting. You had the freers, people who felt that artificial intelligences will soon become sentient, and these sentient AIs should be worshipped as gods. And you have the fools--assigned to space flights in order to relieve tensions and allow crews to get along. And as in Shakespeare, the fool is often quite wise.
Any more than this would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say that the main fool, Dobbs, was a highly enjoyable character. And the main freer, Yerushah, was also interesting and well drawn.
So, if you're looking for space opera with novel societies created and some well-developed characters, if you can get past the Heinlenesque libertarian bias in which plot elements and dialogue are often vehicles for forcing a particular worldview down the readers' throats, this novel is fun.
However, this was an enjoyable read for a totally different reason. Islam was just one of the cultures featured. The two the author created were much more interesting. You had the freers, people who felt that artificial intelligences will soon become sentient, and these sentient AIs should be worshipped as gods. And you have the fools--assigned to space flights in order to relieve tensions and allow crews to get along. And as in Shakespeare, the fool is often quite wise.
Any more than this would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say that the main fool, Dobbs, was a highly enjoyable character. And the main freer, Yerushah, was also interesting and well drawn.
So, if you're looking for space opera with novel societies created and some well-developed characters, if you can get past the Heinlenesque libertarian bias in which plot elements and dialogue are often vehicles for forcing a particular worldview down the readers' throats, this novel is fun.
November 28, 2016
I started out enjoying this book quite a bit. In the end I still felt it was a pretty okay book, though there were some parts that I think sort of fell through.
One of the things I liked right off the bat was the main character. Or the first of the two main characters. I liked her seriousness and logical approach to things. I liked that she was Muslim also, because I find few books that have Muslim main characters that aren't portrayed negatively. I didn't, however, get her animosity towards he uncle. It is never really explained why she feels like that towards him and it seems like all he does over and over again is support her and the rest of his family. Despite that he doesn't agree with her not taking over the family business, he continually does things to support her and look out for her. The animosity seems unbelievable and misplaced.
The second main character was less likable. She came off very childish. I was (and still am) a bit confused on why they are fools and why/how fools have gained this high status. I feel like there are so many other professions that could fulfill their role and do more that would be more beneficial in a spaceship trying to limit its crew numbers.
Despite my dislike of the main character and my disbelief about the fools guild, I did get into the story. I enjoyed the interactions of the characters and and overall themes of prejudices and overcoming previously held beliefs. I also liked some of the technology. The pen interface is an unusual idea that I thought was interesting.
One of the things I liked right off the bat was the main character. Or the first of the two main characters. I liked her seriousness and logical approach to things. I liked that she was Muslim also, because I find few books that have Muslim main characters that aren't portrayed negatively. I didn't, however, get her animosity towards he uncle. It is never really explained why she feels like that towards him and it seems like all he does over and over again is support her and the rest of his family. Despite that he doesn't agree with her not taking over the family business, he continually does things to support her and look out for her. The animosity seems unbelievable and misplaced.
The second main character was less likable. She came off very childish. I was (and still am) a bit confused on why they are fools and why/how fools have gained this high status. I feel like there are so many other professions that could fulfill their role and do more that would be more beneficial in a spaceship trying to limit its crew numbers.
Despite my dislike of the main character and my disbelief about the fools guild, I did get into the story. I enjoyed the interactions of the characters and and overall themes of prejudices and overcoming previously held beliefs. I also liked some of the technology. The pen interface is an unusual idea that I thought was interesting.
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