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Up Against It
Geoff and his friends live in Phocaea, a distant asteroid colony on the Solar System's frontier. They're your basic high-spirited young adults, enjoying such pastimes as hacking matter compilers to produce dancing skeletons that prance through the low-gee communal areas, using their rocket-bikes to salvage methane ice shrapnel that flies away when the colony brings in a big (and vital) rock of the stuff, and figuring out how to avoid the ubiquitous surveillance motes that are the million eyes of 'Stroiders, a reality-TV show whose Earthside producers have paid handsomely for the privilege of spying on every detail of the Phocaeans' lives.
Life isn't as good as it seems, though. A mysterious act of sabotage kills Geoff's brother Carl and puts the entire colony at risk. And in short order, we discover that the whole thing may have been cooked up by the Martian mafia, as a means of executing a coup and turning Phocaea into a client-state. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's a rogue AI that was spawned during the industrial emergency and slipped through the distracted safeguards, and a giant x-factor in the form of the Viridians, a transhumanist cult that lives in Phocaea's bowels.
In addition to Geoff, our story revolves around Jane, the colony's resource manager -- a bureaucrat engineer in charge of keeping the plumbing running on an artificial island of humanity poised on the knife-edge of hard vacuum and unforgiving space. She's more than a century old, and good at her job, but she is torn between the technical demands of the colony and the political realities of her situation, in which the fishbowl effect of 'Stroiders is compounded by a reputation economy that turns every person into a beauty contest competitor. Her manoeuverings to keep politics and engineering in harmony are the heart of the book.
Life isn't as good as it seems, though. A mysterious act of sabotage kills Geoff's brother Carl and puts the entire colony at risk. And in short order, we discover that the whole thing may have been cooked up by the Martian mafia, as a means of executing a coup and turning Phocaea into a client-state. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's a rogue AI that was spawned during the industrial emergency and slipped through the distracted safeguards, and a giant x-factor in the form of the Viridians, a transhumanist cult that lives in Phocaea's bowels.
In addition to Geoff, our story revolves around Jane, the colony's resource manager -- a bureaucrat engineer in charge of keeping the plumbing running on an artificial island of humanity poised on the knife-edge of hard vacuum and unforgiving space. She's more than a century old, and good at her job, but she is torn between the technical demands of the colony and the political realities of her situation, in which the fishbowl effect of 'Stroiders is compounded by a reputation economy that turns every person into a beauty contest competitor. Her manoeuverings to keep politics and engineering in harmony are the heart of the book.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2011
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1263 people want to read
About the author
Laura J. Mixon
15 books38 followersLaura J. Mixon is a chemical and environmental engineer better known as a science fiction writer. She writes about the impact of technology and environmental changes on personal identity and social structures. Her work has been the focus of academic studies on the intersection of technology, feminism, and gender. She has also experimented with interactive storytelling, in collaboration with renowned game designer Chris Crawford. She is married to SF writer Steven Gould (Jumper), with whom she collaborated on the novel Greenwar. In 2011, she began publishing under the pen name Morgan J. Locke. Under that name, she is one of the writers for the group blog Eat Our Brains.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
June 25, 2022
3.5 Stars
This is an underhyped science fiction novel. If it was not for the Tor Essentials line, I suspect I never would have read (or even heard of) this book.
The forward to this re-edition was done by the sci fi duo, James SA Corey. This was an excellent choice because the book definitely had some similarities with the Expanse. While the characters and story aren't quite at the same level, this still had a similar tone with a similar plot involving political unrest in a near future. The story was very accessible with some interesting worldbuilding.
I would recommend this hidden gem to anyone looking for a hidden gem to read.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is an underhyped science fiction novel. If it was not for the Tor Essentials line, I suspect I never would have read (or even heard of) this book.
The forward to this re-edition was done by the sci fi duo, James SA Corey. This was an excellent choice because the book definitely had some similarities with the Expanse. While the characters and story aren't quite at the same level, this still had a similar tone with a similar plot involving political unrest in a near future. The story was very accessible with some interesting worldbuilding.
I would recommend this hidden gem to anyone looking for a hidden gem to read.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
September 5, 2022
This has been compared to The Expanse and came out around the same time as the first book in that series. I can certainly see why. Up Against It is an action packed sci-fi novel set in space that is layered with deep themes and interesting questions.
Power, gender, aging, artificial intelligence, body modification, art, the impact of reality television or vlogs on our choices, and more are themes woven into the narrative. It moves quickly but has interesting characters living on a space station, trying to cope with potentially apocalyptic emergencies.
I do think you could critique the way this book handles gender identity, particularly with genderfluid characters from a particular group being portrayed as weird or even inhuman (not just because of their gender identity but also because of their extreme body modifications). There is some level of nuance, and it's not a major part of the book, but it's certainly not ideal. And worth mentioning for readers who might be particularly bothered by it.
Overall though, I really liked this and had a good time with the story. It's also not a book I had been familiar with before getting this new reprint in the mail from the publisher. I'm glad it's being highlighted as a sci-fi story written by a woman in the early 2000's with female characters in leadership positions. It's an interesting read. Thank you to Tor for sending a copy for review, all opinions are my own.
Power, gender, aging, artificial intelligence, body modification, art, the impact of reality television or vlogs on our choices, and more are themes woven into the narrative. It moves quickly but has interesting characters living on a space station, trying to cope with potentially apocalyptic emergencies.
I do think you could critique the way this book handles gender identity, particularly with genderfluid characters from a particular group being portrayed as weird or even inhuman (not just because of their gender identity but also because of their extreme body modifications). There is some level of nuance, and it's not a major part of the book, but it's certainly not ideal. And worth mentioning for readers who might be particularly bothered by it.
Overall though, I really liked this and had a good time with the story. It's also not a book I had been familiar with before getting this new reprint in the mail from the publisher. I'm glad it's being highlighted as a sci-fi story written by a woman in the early 2000's with female characters in leadership positions. It's an interesting read. Thank you to Tor for sending a copy for review, all opinions are my own.
April 28, 2022
Very good book, kind of a feminist update to the old asteroid-belt consensus mid-future shtick -- but updated to current science & tech. I liked it a lot. Villains are a bit cartoony, and the "feral sentient" business... well, those 2 problems cost it its 5th star, but not by much. This is Locke's (Laura J. Mixon) best book that I've read so far.
Recommended for hard-SF fans. Another positive: Jo Walton liked it, a lot: https://www.tor.com/2015/01/19/eight-... (scroll down). On the downside, here, 6 years later in 2018, I remember very little of it. I should reread it.
Started a reread, January 2020. Abandoned at the cartoonish Bad Guys, and knocked it back to 3.5 stars, rounded down. Which might be a little harsh, as I did enjoy it the first time. Didn't stand up to a (partial) reread, though.
Recommended for hard-SF fans. Another positive: Jo Walton liked it, a lot: https://www.tor.com/2015/01/19/eight-... (scroll down). On the downside, here, 6 years later in 2018, I remember very little of it. I should reread it.
Started a reread, January 2020. Abandoned at the cartoonish Bad Guys, and knocked it back to 3.5 stars, rounded down. Which might be a little harsh, as I did enjoy it the first time. Didn't stand up to a (partial) reread, though.
February 10, 2014
"But I recently read M.J. Locke’s Up Against It, which is set in space in our future and is wonderful and just the sort of thing to give me faith that there’s a lot of juice in the genre yet." -- Jo Walton
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/have...
"Best book of politics I've EVER read." -- Justin Landon (Staffer's Book Review)
http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...
It kind of switches between YA and political dealings, but...the mafia? That seems so 'Rockford Files' to me.
UPDATE:
All done. Slow around 40%. A lot of political dealings. But Justin Landon says they are authentic political dealings. Seems like it might have been originally YA, with Geoff's pov, but then you have the older woman pov in the politician of Jane. You might not realize a lot of mini-mysteries are being setup to be revealed at the end. (Reminds me of Connie Willis.) Certainly if you stick with it there are a lot of payoffs as you finish. Hard sf if you want it, and a few fairly good characters. Lots of ideas like nanotech, low gravity, body hacking (it was nominated for a Tiptree), AI (cool language), popularity ratings, reality shows, and head chips. Maybe not shatteringly original, but definitely in dialog with other science fiction. The author acknowledges Cory Doctorow (Whuffies), Bruce Sterling (Viridians) and Chris Crawford (game designer, invented the AI language?) in the afterword. It could use a glossary for the made up tech terms. Or maybe it's more fun to write down the tech as you go. I think it would play well in some visual medium, where you can really see people floating around in low gravity, like the anime "PlanetES" (some episodes are on youtube).
Scott is giving it 3 stars, and I am giving it 4 stars, because we really want to give it 3.5 stars, so it'll average out. :)
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/have...
"Best book of politics I've EVER read." -- Justin Landon (Staffer's Book Review)
http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...
It kind of switches between YA and political dealings, but...the mafia? That seems so 'Rockford Files' to me.
UPDATE:
All done. Slow around 40%. A lot of political dealings. But Justin Landon says they are authentic political dealings. Seems like it might have been originally YA, with Geoff's pov, but then you have the older woman pov in the politician of Jane. You might not realize a lot of mini-mysteries are being setup to be revealed at the end. (Reminds me of Connie Willis.) Certainly if you stick with it there are a lot of payoffs as you finish. Hard sf if you want it, and a few fairly good characters. Lots of ideas like nanotech, low gravity, body hacking (it was nominated for a Tiptree), AI (cool language), popularity ratings, reality shows, and head chips. Maybe not shatteringly original, but definitely in dialog with other science fiction. The author acknowledges Cory Doctorow (Whuffies), Bruce Sterling (Viridians) and Chris Crawford (game designer, invented the AI language?) in the afterword. It could use a glossary for the made up tech terms. Or maybe it's more fun to write down the tech as you go. I think it would play well in some visual medium, where you can really see people floating around in low gravity, like the anime "PlanetES" (some episodes are on youtube).
Scott is giving it 3 stars, and I am giving it 4 stars, because we really want to give it 3.5 stars, so it'll average out. :)
January 28, 2015
This book was almost like pulling an old worn paperback off my shelf full of classic sci-fi novels. The idioms of contemporary SF are all there -- transhumanism, singularities, nanotechnology, ubiquitous computing and surveillance -- but the story is pure Golden Age sci-fi.
Phoecea is an asteroid colony on the precarious edge of survival and profitability. To increase their income, they have cut a deal with an Earth-based media corporation to broadcast everything that happens on Phoecea for a reality TV show called 'Stroiders. Although the constant live feeds from floating "motes" do play a role in the story, the effects are largely unseen, as the vast Earthling audience is so remote from Phoecea and there doesn't seem to be much interaction with the inner system worlds. Thus, the "reality TV show" angle doesn't get used much.
Phoecea also depends on water collected from asteroids, and this is how the villains of the story, a corporate front for the Martian mafia, seek to take over Phoecea. After a disaster destroys most of the colony's H20 reserves, the mobsters are the only ones who can bring enough water to save the colonists in time, unless they find another source. And to make matters worse, the disaster also unleashes an Artificial Intelligence, or "feral sapient," that escapes into the wild, taking up residence in Phoecea's computer network.
The main character is engineer Jane Navio, resource manager of Phoecea. She tries to negotiate a way to save the colony that won't hand it over to the Martian mafia, in the face of opposition from quisling bureaucrats, treacherous coworkers, and a mysterious cult of transhumanists whose allegiances are uncertain.
There is also a group of teenagers whose discovery of a "sugar rock," laden with ice, may just save the colony, if the bad guys don't get it first.
It's a complicated setting with many elements and tons of science fiction, but the story, while involving several major subplots, is pretty straightforward, and Up Against It moves along with a pleasant mix of action, suspense, mystery, and sci-fi geekery. I found the writing to be perfectly suited to the job of describing the environment and telling the story, without a lot of stylistic flourishes, and the characters were all pretty interesting, though Jane was a much more fully fleshed out protagonist than Geoff and his teen sidekicks.
If you like rockin' good SF, especially of the sort favored by us SF fans who are getting a little long in the tooth, this is a fresh arrival in the SF field we know and love. It's certainly not a groundbreaking or genre-shaking entry, but it won't disappoint anyone who knows what they expect and want when they read it.
Phoecea is an asteroid colony on the precarious edge of survival and profitability. To increase their income, they have cut a deal with an Earth-based media corporation to broadcast everything that happens on Phoecea for a reality TV show called 'Stroiders. Although the constant live feeds from floating "motes" do play a role in the story, the effects are largely unseen, as the vast Earthling audience is so remote from Phoecea and there doesn't seem to be much interaction with the inner system worlds. Thus, the "reality TV show" angle doesn't get used much.
Phoecea also depends on water collected from asteroids, and this is how the villains of the story, a corporate front for the Martian mafia, seek to take over Phoecea. After a disaster destroys most of the colony's H20 reserves, the mobsters are the only ones who can bring enough water to save the colonists in time, unless they find another source. And to make matters worse, the disaster also unleashes an Artificial Intelligence, or "feral sapient," that escapes into the wild, taking up residence in Phoecea's computer network.
The main character is engineer Jane Navio, resource manager of Phoecea. She tries to negotiate a way to save the colony that won't hand it over to the Martian mafia, in the face of opposition from quisling bureaucrats, treacherous coworkers, and a mysterious cult of transhumanists whose allegiances are uncertain.
There is also a group of teenagers whose discovery of a "sugar rock," laden with ice, may just save the colony, if the bad guys don't get it first.
It's a complicated setting with many elements and tons of science fiction, but the story, while involving several major subplots, is pretty straightforward, and Up Against It moves along with a pleasant mix of action, suspense, mystery, and sci-fi geekery. I found the writing to be perfectly suited to the job of describing the environment and telling the story, without a lot of stylistic flourishes, and the characters were all pretty interesting, though Jane was a much more fully fleshed out protagonist than Geoff and his teen sidekicks.
If you like rockin' good SF, especially of the sort favored by us SF fans who are getting a little long in the tooth, this is a fresh arrival in the SF field we know and love. It's certainly not a groundbreaking or genre-shaking entry, but it won't disappoint anyone who knows what they expect and want when they read it.
November 5, 2011
This book started off on the wrong foot for me. It bills itself as a first novel, which it isn't. ("M.J. Locke" is Laura J. Mixon, a good writer who has apparently reached the point in the publishing cycle where she needs to reboot with a pseudonym.) The plot also depends on an asteroid colony that doesn't seem to make sense -- would 200,000 people really live in a place where one reasonably likely accident can doom them all?
Then the story rolls onward, and it all starts to make sense. Phocaea is a boomtown, a place rich in resources that has just barely kept up with its own growth. It's a neat town, too, full of miners and mobsters and the occasional runaway art project. Mixon brings the colony to life, filling it with a robust sense of community. It seems like a place where lots of stories could happen, not just the story in the book, and I found myself buying into the world and wanting to explore it further. The character writing is also sharp, and there are some great action sequences. I was sorry to reach the end of the book, and I'll be keeping an eye out for a sequel.
Then the story rolls onward, and it all starts to make sense. Phocaea is a boomtown, a place rich in resources that has just barely kept up with its own growth. It's a neat town, too, full of miners and mobsters and the occasional runaway art project. Mixon brings the colony to life, filling it with a robust sense of community. It seems like a place where lots of stories could happen, not just the story in the book, and I found myself buying into the world and wanting to explore it further. The character writing is also sharp, and there are some great action sequences. I was sorry to reach the end of the book, and I'll be keeping an eye out for a sequel.
April 29, 2015
I want to call this book too long, but given it's a space station political thriller, a coming of age story, a social commentary and a hard SF warning on nanotechnology, AI, genetic engineering and low-G tech ... It's hard to see that criticism as fair.
The world-building is exquisite, but at the cost of only having two well-realized characters, who are themselves far from compelling. What I would have loved to have seen is more depth to the Vivian-Geoff relationship, and a little bit less stark evil in the antagonists.
I recommend it to fans of the growing list of Solar System-based hard SF.
The world-building is exquisite, but at the cost of only having two well-realized characters, who are themselves far from compelling. What I would have loved to have seen is more depth to the Vivian-Geoff relationship, and a little bit less stark evil in the antagonists.
I recommend it to fans of the growing list of Solar System-based hard SF.
July 31, 2017
A slightly further then near-future set in the asteroid belt with kind of a YA feel to it. But more than that it's a kitchen sink hard sf space opera. With the mob and emerging AI and gene-hacking and societal changes and Truman Show level surveillance for money and ... Too much. Way too much. But still a fun read with fun ideas. And no zombies at all.
January 5, 2011
MJ Locke combines the science of asteroid settlement with a tale of adventure and intrigue in this impressive, well-realized novel set on the solar system’s low-gravity frontier. Recommended.
May 28, 2016
This is a tricky book to review. Or is it two books?
There's a good YA Heinlein-juvenile story in here, with the usual crowd of plucky teens who just happen to be superbly capable at anything they try. Such as trying the controls of a giant digger once and then years later remembering the password and how to operate it. Or how to flip something into the space above a tiny asteroid JUST hard enough that it orbits. Or how to program a mining robot in 20 seconds.
There's a better story for grownups about a capable administrator struggling with both a real crisis and the usual bungling/corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs and (spoiler withheld). There are some people who don't cope with life any better than real people do.
I think the book is weaker for having both stories at once. Two good books could have been produced from the core of this one.
There's quite a lot of well-researched hard SF, and some that's a bit more out there. Lookit, I know about the relationships between mathematics and music, but great googly moogly, a programming language based on singing and harp playing? Where presumably a D-flat minor 7th diminished means "wyverns are attacking" and a C-sharp minor fifth is "get a loaf of bread on the way home."
Sorry, I mean "Action:acquire; item: bread; quantity: loaf; at-time: your commute" - actually believable as pseudo-XML, but it's hard to see a harper singing "la la diddly-i dee doh" to issue that command. And yes, I am a better programmer than musician.
It was actually refreshing to see a hard-SF story that contains a certain kind of bad guys. I just realized that Glease and Mills are more or less Terry Pratchett's Mr Tulip and Mr Pin (two of the most delightfully nasty villains ever, so that's not a complaint).
Also, wasn't it convenient that Geoff just happened to befriend a lonely miner, and just happened to be able to visit this guy even when Geoff must have been eight or so? Who knew that would end up ?
And that Geoff's all-purpose space bike, super-versatile and easy to operate, was previously owned by a professional racer? In most fields of current endeavour, if you get on a professional racing machine you will find it not very much like what you've known before. Imagine a Flexible Flyer sled and an Olympic luge.
And. amid the usually-compelling writing there are some whole sections that really do feel like the work of the first-time writer that "Locke" isn't. Note: I have no problem with authors writing under multiple names, no matter what the reason, and I have never noticed any distinction between male and female SF/F writers in terms of quality. The really funny ones have often been by men, and the really bad and really violent ones are almost always by men, but that may just be because of the numbers.
I have documented things I didn't care for in this book, but overall I still enjoyed it. I will look for Locke's next one (maybe skimming the reviews first) and probably try to find one of the better-reviewed Mixons.
There's a good YA Heinlein-juvenile story in here, with the usual crowd of plucky teens who just happen to be superbly capable at anything they try. Such as trying the controls of a giant digger once and then years later remembering the password and how to operate it. Or how to flip something into the space above a tiny asteroid JUST hard enough that it orbits. Or how to program a mining robot in 20 seconds.
There's a better story for grownups about a capable administrator struggling with both a real crisis and the usual bungling/corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs and (spoiler withheld). There are some people who don't cope with life any better than real people do.
I think the book is weaker for having both stories at once. Two good books could have been produced from the core of this one.
There's quite a lot of well-researched hard SF, and some that's a bit more out there. Lookit, I know about the relationships between mathematics and music, but great googly moogly, a programming language based on singing and harp playing? Where presumably a D-flat minor 7th diminished means "wyverns are attacking" and a C-sharp minor fifth is "get a loaf of bread on the way home."
Sorry, I mean "Action:acquire; item: bread; quantity: loaf; at-time: your commute" - actually believable as pseudo-XML, but it's hard to see a harper singing "la la diddly-i dee doh" to issue that command. And yes, I am a better programmer than musician.
It was actually refreshing to see a hard-SF story that contains a certain kind of bad guys. I just realized that Glease and Mills are more or less Terry Pratchett's Mr Tulip and Mr Pin (two of the most delightfully nasty villains ever, so that's not a complaint).
Also, wasn't it convenient that Geoff just happened to befriend a lonely miner, and just happened to be able to visit this guy even when Geoff must have been eight or so? Who knew that would end up ?
And that Geoff's all-purpose space bike, super-versatile and easy to operate, was previously owned by a professional racer? In most fields of current endeavour, if you get on a professional racing machine you will find it not very much like what you've known before. Imagine a Flexible Flyer sled and an Olympic luge.
And. amid the usually-compelling writing there are some whole sections that really do feel like the work of the first-time writer that "Locke" isn't. Note: I have no problem with authors writing under multiple names, no matter what the reason, and I have never noticed any distinction between male and female SF/F writers in terms of quality. The really funny ones have often been by men, and the really bad and really violent ones are almost always by men, but that may just be because of the numbers.
I have documented things I didn't care for in this book, but overall I still enjoyed it. I will look for Locke's next one (maybe skimming the reviews first) and probably try to find one of the better-reviewed Mixons.
April 15, 2018
In Up Against It a 25th-century asteroid-based community is beset by a confluence of disasters: a critical resource hemorrhaging accident, a takeover threat by the Martian mob, a rogue artificial intelligence in the asteroid's systems -- the list goes on. It explores both the fragility of human life in a hostile environment, and life's pluck and resilience in the face of adversity.
The novel is roughly split between following the community's resource manager Jane Navio as she attempts to respond to the crisis, and the exploits of mildly rebellious/disaffected/underachieving teen Geoff Agre and his friends.
Navio's side of the story is pretty nuts-and-bolts credible: she's faced with tough decisions and political attacks; I was reminded a bit of The Wire.
Despite some distinctly modern elements -- pervasive nanotech and a far-future take on reality TV among them -- Geoff's story, with its old-school, whiz-bang, derring-do, reminded me powerfully of Heinlein's deservedly classic "juvenile" novels, partly because of the age and attitude of the protagonists, but also because of sentences like "She gave him the spacer OK sign: left arm crooked with the glove touching helmet crown; right arm straight out and up at a forty-five-degree angle," not to mention paragraphs like:
Thankfully, this is an extreme example, but the prose does tend to bog down a little when Locke wants to make sure the reader knows how well researched the novel is. The pacing of some of the "action" sequences also suffers from a little more laborious blocking than is strictly necessary. The resolution of some of the plot elements leans on coincidence almost to the point of deus ex machina and one dangling plot thread clearly leads to a potential sequel. The cast of of characters is large and some of the names invite confusion (Ian/Ivan; Harbough/Harman/Harper); I had a little trouble keeping all the relationships and roles straight.
Despite these minor quibbles, I definitely enjoyed Up Against It.
Up Against It is marketed as the debut novel of the gender-neutral M. J. Locke, but strictly speaking, it's really not. Laura Mixon discusses her reasons for adopting a pseuodynm on her website. Although it's not her primary reason, it saddens me to think that even in the 21st-century, using a not-female-identifiable name is a boon in the hard sf marketplace, but I suppose it's realistic.
The novel is roughly split between following the community's resource manager Jane Navio as she attempts to respond to the crisis, and the exploits of mildly rebellious/disaffected/underachieving teen Geoff Agre and his friends.
Navio's side of the story is pretty nuts-and-bolts credible: she's faced with tough decisions and political attacks; I was reminded a bit of The Wire.
Despite some distinctly modern elements -- pervasive nanotech and a far-future take on reality TV among them -- Geoff's story, with its old-school, whiz-bang, derring-do, reminded me powerfully of Heinlein's deservedly classic "juvenile" novels, partly because of the age and attitude of the protagonists, but also because of sentences like "She gave him the spacer OK sign: left arm crooked with the glove touching helmet crown; right arm straight out and up at a forty-five-degree angle," not to mention paragraphs like:
The original prospector had extensively surveyed it. The stroid was primarily metal ore. It was a big one: about three by three by ten kilometers in size, roughly barbell-shaped. Its albedo was high -- typical for nickel-iron rocks. Its mean density had been 5.8 grams per cubic centimeter -- nearly three times Phocaea's. One end of the barbell consisted of a big lump of crumbly silicates; the result of a collision with a silica rock sometime in the distant past. But the bulk of the stroid was high-grade ore.
Thankfully, this is an extreme example, but the prose does tend to bog down a little when Locke wants to make sure the reader knows how well researched the novel is. The pacing of some of the "action" sequences also suffers from a little more laborious blocking than is strictly necessary. The resolution of some of the plot elements leans on coincidence almost to the point of deus ex machina and one dangling plot thread clearly leads to a potential sequel. The cast of of characters is large and some of the names invite confusion (Ian/Ivan; Harbough/Harman/Harper); I had a little trouble keeping all the relationships and roles straight.
Despite these minor quibbles, I definitely enjoyed Up Against It.
Up Against It is marketed as the debut novel of the gender-neutral M. J. Locke, but strictly speaking, it's really not. Laura Mixon discusses her reasons for adopting a pseuodynm on her website. Although it's not her primary reason, it saddens me to think that even in the 21st-century, using a not-female-identifiable name is a boon in the hard sf marketplace, but I suppose it's realistic.
August 27, 2011
I really wanted to love this book, and while parts of it were wonderful, as a whole it didn't grip me as much as I thought it would, and I can't quite figure out why. There are great characters, a wonderful world, an interesting emerging AI, politics and mystery galore. What tipped this up from a 3.5 for me were the really interesting background details which explored race, gender and sexuality in very interesting ways.Racial diversity, gender-bending characters, groups marriages are all there in the background, forming a complex picture of the very different world that is Phocaea, an asteroid colony.
Maybe I've been reading too many fat fantasy trilogys lately, but it felt to me like there was enough here to easily spread over a triology! Not sure if this is a standalone - if there is more I will certainly read.
Maybe I've been reading too many fat fantasy trilogys lately, but it felt to me like there was enough here to easily spread over a triology! Not sure if this is a standalone - if there is more I will certainly read.
June 1, 2022
Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live
Up Against It, by Laura J. Mixon, was a novel I missed upon its initial release in 2011 (published with the pseudonym M.J. Locke). I was only a wee sci-fi book baby, lost in the bookstore, lured by flashy titles and flashier book covers. But with Tor Essentials providing readers with a reprint and a foreword for James S.A. Corey themselves, I was intrigued. And folks, did I miss a boat back then. While certain elements would have played better in my younger years, this book still packs a punch that I rarely feel in contemporary releases. Up Against It is political science fiction at its finest, featuring intrigue, resource management, and clashing personalities.
Phocaea, an asteroid colony on the edge of the solar system, may be in serious trouble. A possible act of sabotage has put the colony’s methane supply in danger, and Jane, the resident resource czar, has to figure out how to save the colony. The “accident” occurred within the asteroid’s nanobot digestion facility, causing not only death, but the loss of a large store of methane and the nanobots the colony relies on to break down materials and create the stocks that the colonists rely on. Faced with a ticking clock of doom, Jane has to muster the ties she has within Phocaea, while fending off a possible takeover by the Martian mafia. All of this has to be done while managing her reputation on ‘Stroiders (a near 24/7 reality show that follows the lives of those on Phocaea, recorded by floating clouds of nanites) and her relationship with her husband. Throw in a few enterprising teenagers with astro-bikes who hack the nanobots in their free time and some opportunistic government agents, and Jane has one hell of a mess on her hands, and hand-feet. Will she be able to help the colony survive without dealing with the devil?
The main thrust of the book involves the control of a dwindling methane supply, and the political choices made to ensure survival and sovereignty. Jane is a great vehicle for this, having adapted to space, both physically with her hand-feet, and mentally through sheer determination. Jane maintains a healthy amount of paranoia from her past dealing with station governments and the Martian Mafia, and has a bullheaded nature that allows her to clash with them as necessary. She is not afraid to stand her ground and go toe to toe with both friends and enemies that she feels are making the wrong decisions for Phocaea. The only real complaint I have with her is I don’t feel like the plot ever threw her for a loop. I loved that she was capable of handling any situation, but I never felt like her paranoia was unfounded. I wanted something that would make her question herself, or have to use her skills to gain a new perspective with the situation at hand.
Plotwise, Mixon unravels a heavy yarn that threatens to tangle the observer with every pull. It’s paced well with a growing stack of impossible odds being stacked against the characters. Material issues are exacerbated by human desires for power, fame and positioning. Little side stories evolve into major problems at just the right moment. Jane and her cohorts are rarely ever given a break, highlighting the dangers of living on the outskirts of the solar system. Mixon doesn’t skirt the details either, diving headfirst into the details and letting them unwind into the dilemmas they were born to be. Everything becomes a game of management, with some not realizing they are being played, while others exploit every advantage they have on offer. Mixon built an ecosystem only to push it to its limits and I adored it. Some authors kick over their rube-goldberg machines, Mixon just overclocks hers and lets people argue over its efficacy, earning a chef’s kiss.
The one aspect of the novel that didn’t really draw me in though was Geoff’s storyline, the aforementioned teenager with an astro-bike. This is probably more a taste thing as he is written to be a teenager. He’s rambunctious, spontaneous, and out to prove himself after his brother’s untimely death. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time to thrust himself into the story. I think that would actually have been fun had I read it at a younger age, but it was hard for me to buy into it now. It isn’t necessarily a coming of age story, but he and his cadre of semi-delinquent teenagers get to participate in something that may end their lives or make them heroes. It plays out like Goonies in space as a side story, mixing both fun and adventure with scenarios that would be terrifying.
And that’s all before even appreciating the amount of worldbuilding Mixon guides the reader through. I mean there are underground organizations, rogue sapient AIs, garbage disposal nanites, Kuiper belt hikes and so much more. There is not enough room to really dive into the fun and cool side characters that influence the plot beats. If I had one complaint about the world, it would be that there is not enough about the Viridians. If you want a very well realized space station culture with multiple tendencies, this book is what you’re looking for.
Up Against It is a rare stand alone novel that does everything it needs to in a cool 400 pages. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and teases out so many other possibilities. It has fun characters, an unending avalanche of a plot, and an incredibly detailed world in Phocaea. If you missed out and are looking for something that hits that realistic leaning science fiction sweet spot, Mixon’s book is for you.
Rating: Up Against It - 8.0/10
-Alex
An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.
Up Against It, by Laura J. Mixon, was a novel I missed upon its initial release in 2011 (published with the pseudonym M.J. Locke). I was only a wee sci-fi book baby, lost in the bookstore, lured by flashy titles and flashier book covers. But with Tor Essentials providing readers with a reprint and a foreword for James S.A. Corey themselves, I was intrigued. And folks, did I miss a boat back then. While certain elements would have played better in my younger years, this book still packs a punch that I rarely feel in contemporary releases. Up Against It is political science fiction at its finest, featuring intrigue, resource management, and clashing personalities.
Phocaea, an asteroid colony on the edge of the solar system, may be in serious trouble. A possible act of sabotage has put the colony’s methane supply in danger, and Jane, the resident resource czar, has to figure out how to save the colony. The “accident” occurred within the asteroid’s nanobot digestion facility, causing not only death, but the loss of a large store of methane and the nanobots the colony relies on to break down materials and create the stocks that the colonists rely on. Faced with a ticking clock of doom, Jane has to muster the ties she has within Phocaea, while fending off a possible takeover by the Martian mafia. All of this has to be done while managing her reputation on ‘Stroiders (a near 24/7 reality show that follows the lives of those on Phocaea, recorded by floating clouds of nanites) and her relationship with her husband. Throw in a few enterprising teenagers with astro-bikes who hack the nanobots in their free time and some opportunistic government agents, and Jane has one hell of a mess on her hands, and hand-feet. Will she be able to help the colony survive without dealing with the devil?
The main thrust of the book involves the control of a dwindling methane supply, and the political choices made to ensure survival and sovereignty. Jane is a great vehicle for this, having adapted to space, both physically with her hand-feet, and mentally through sheer determination. Jane maintains a healthy amount of paranoia from her past dealing with station governments and the Martian Mafia, and has a bullheaded nature that allows her to clash with them as necessary. She is not afraid to stand her ground and go toe to toe with both friends and enemies that she feels are making the wrong decisions for Phocaea. The only real complaint I have with her is I don’t feel like the plot ever threw her for a loop. I loved that she was capable of handling any situation, but I never felt like her paranoia was unfounded. I wanted something that would make her question herself, or have to use her skills to gain a new perspective with the situation at hand.
Plotwise, Mixon unravels a heavy yarn that threatens to tangle the observer with every pull. It’s paced well with a growing stack of impossible odds being stacked against the characters. Material issues are exacerbated by human desires for power, fame and positioning. Little side stories evolve into major problems at just the right moment. Jane and her cohorts are rarely ever given a break, highlighting the dangers of living on the outskirts of the solar system. Mixon doesn’t skirt the details either, diving headfirst into the details and letting them unwind into the dilemmas they were born to be. Everything becomes a game of management, with some not realizing they are being played, while others exploit every advantage they have on offer. Mixon built an ecosystem only to push it to its limits and I adored it. Some authors kick over their rube-goldberg machines, Mixon just overclocks hers and lets people argue over its efficacy, earning a chef’s kiss.
The one aspect of the novel that didn’t really draw me in though was Geoff’s storyline, the aforementioned teenager with an astro-bike. This is probably more a taste thing as he is written to be a teenager. He’s rambunctious, spontaneous, and out to prove himself after his brother’s untimely death. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time to thrust himself into the story. I think that would actually have been fun had I read it at a younger age, but it was hard for me to buy into it now. It isn’t necessarily a coming of age story, but he and his cadre of semi-delinquent teenagers get to participate in something that may end their lives or make them heroes. It plays out like Goonies in space as a side story, mixing both fun and adventure with scenarios that would be terrifying.
And that’s all before even appreciating the amount of worldbuilding Mixon guides the reader through. I mean there are underground organizations, rogue sapient AIs, garbage disposal nanites, Kuiper belt hikes and so much more. There is not enough room to really dive into the fun and cool side characters that influence the plot beats. If I had one complaint about the world, it would be that there is not enough about the Viridians. If you want a very well realized space station culture with multiple tendencies, this book is what you’re looking for.
Up Against It is a rare stand alone novel that does everything it needs to in a cool 400 pages. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and teases out so many other possibilities. It has fun characters, an unending avalanche of a plot, and an incredibly detailed world in Phocaea. If you missed out and are looking for something that hits that realistic leaning science fiction sweet spot, Mixon’s book is for you.
Rating: Up Against It - 8.0/10
-Alex
An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.
March 10, 2015
This was a pleasant read, but had some pacing problems throughout. The scifi elements were great, and the characters generally appealing and realistic, but the focus of the story shifted from overly detailed to breezing past what plenty would consider critical action. I'd almost fault the editor(s) more than author, as the story was solid, and I'd recommend it on that alone, but I'd tell people to save it for a holiday read or a public transportation commute given that good portions of the book are forgettable, if not skimmable.
April 30, 2024
I love a good political science fiction story, and 'Up Against It' is certainly one. The main protagonist is the colony's resource allocation manager. We root for her as she uncovers secrets and tries to avert a devastating crisis. The other protagonist is a teenager thrown into the middle of it all, where he and his friends bravely try to save the day.
An action-packed political adventure story with a breath of YA and a rich world-building about gaining consciousness, power struggles, surveillance, transhumanism, trauma, love, and the frontiers of asteroid mining.
An action-packed political adventure story with a breath of YA and a rich world-building about gaining consciousness, power struggles, surveillance, transhumanism, trauma, love, and the frontiers of asteroid mining.
February 9, 2014
3.5 stars. 4 stars for the first quarter of the novel. The setting among asteroids was wonderful, the emergence of a sapient in the computer system was interesting. After that, it turned into an action packed plot full of running (or its in-space equivalent) and explosions. The first part I'd call a combination of Clarke and Doctorow, and the rest a kind of 24 in space. I liked it, which equals 3 stars.
June 23, 2019
There's a lot of books in this new subgenre of "early spacefaring society" and this one is quite nice, a good way to pass an afternoon. It leans quite YA but reserves some time to set up a bigger world.
Plot: passable
Setting: interesting
Style: Decent
Characters: decent
Plot: passable
Setting: interesting
Style: Decent
Characters: decent
November 12, 2013
http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...
Best book of politics I've EVER read.
Best book of politics I've EVER read.
zzz-books-not-for-me
May 28, 2020It was an enjoyable read, but it lost me towards the end. I would probably not recommend it to someone who is not into sci-fi books already, but I do hope to check more of the author's work. :)
January 2, 2025
There are some overly pat plot elements towards the end of the book. But overall, it’s a solid story on an excellent world-building frame, with fine characters. And: some very interesting conceptual development. At 400 quick-reading pages, it’s also the perfect length. I spent a couple very pleasurable afternoons reading this one.
Want to read
June 29, 2022I have added this book by M.J. Locke (aka Laura J Mixon) to my To-Read List after reading Cory Doctrow's review:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/25/mj...
https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/25/mj...
November 17, 2011
I am not always a fan of hard science fiction. It is a sad truth but a true one. Blame the fact that I came to science fiction via fantasy and Star Wars. In fact I’ve read very little hard science fiction and placing novels within this sub-genre is not the simplest process. I mean Alistair Reynolds Revelation Space is hard science fiction in one sense but it also most definitely a space opera that is not completely grounded by today’s reality. On the other hand Ben Bova’s The Precipice is a hard science fiction novel strongly grounded in today’s reality and informed by the authors views on the industrialization of space. I absolutely loved the former and have started and stopped the latter more than once. So, when I started M. J. Locke’s Up Against It there was some trepidation as to whether or not it was really the right fit for me as a reader. Thankfully that trepidation was completely unfounded as Locke’s novel combines hard science fiction with political drama and crime thriller elements to create a unique and engrossing blend.
The action of Up Against It takes place on a distant asteroid on the distant frontier of our solar system. Inhabitants of this asteroid, Phocaea, mine methane ice to stay functional. In order to stay financially afloat Phocaea has also agreed to participate in a reality show called ‘Stroiders and everyone is constantly followed by nano-mote cameras and their viewer popularity is tracked and measured. The novel follows the teenager Geoff and his friends in their rebellious teenager ways and as they are drawn via the tragic death of Geoff’s brother Carl into events bigger than themselves. At the same time much of the novel follows Jane the colony resource manager as she begins to uncover the shocking truth behind the sabotage that killed Carl while also dealing with the political fallout engendered by the crisis.
Up Against It feels a lot shorter than its 416 pages thanks to the various character perspectives and the excellent pacing. Locke provides two solid characters in Geoff and Jane and readers quickly find themselves drawn into each of their lives. Jane’s take charge, no nonsense attitude is at once endearing and abrasive. Her desire to get the job done rather than pander to politics and the popularity ratings of ‘Stroiders is both one her greatest strengths as a character and what will inevitably cause her no end of trouble. Geoff a creative and rebellious teen is struggling in the perceived shadow of his older brother Carl; a notion that is compounded by Carl’s sudden death. His personality and reactions walk the line between truism and teenaged cliché; thankfully straying closer to the former than the latter. Locke quickly and easily conveys a sense of familiarity and friendship when comes to Geoff and his friends and you really root for them (the classic underdog trope done well) as they are further enmeshed in growing crisis on Phocaea.
If sabotage and political drama aren’t your thing the issues in Up Against It are further compounded by the presence of a feral sapient AI. Introduced sort of late in the game the new AI provides for an interesting element to the story and offers some of novel’s most diverse scenes as various individuals do their best to shut it down. I was particularly engrossed by the Tron-like scene when Jane and a co-worker delve into the system to stop the AI. Up Against It also introduces a post-humanist cult. Unfortunately it only plays a small part in the novel. It’s a fascinating little sub-culture that Locke has created and I would have loved to have seen it explored more.
Up Against It has a lot of action and while the first part of the novel drags a little by the time the all the cards are on the table things are really rocketing forward. Locke maintains a constant forward momentum that surprisingly never comes at the cost of creating a fully fleshed out an believable world. Phocaea is a fully realized setting and Locke succeeds entirely at making it feel like a living breathing place. More than that she has worked extraordinarily hard at introducing cultural and genetic shifts into her asteroid culture that really aid in the sense of reality. Indeed my only major complain with the novel is that the several plot threads, spearheaded by Jane and Geoff, do interweave and eventually merge they ways in which they initially intersect feels tenuous at best. Readers will likely latch onto one of those main threads more than the other (for me it was Geoff) which lessens the impact of the other. Up Against It is an excellent novel of hard science fiction dosed liberally with adventure and mixed up to create an entertaining concoction that doesn’t disappoint. It’s not perfect by any means but it leaves me hungry to see what other wonders Locke will cook up.
The action of Up Against It takes place on a distant asteroid on the distant frontier of our solar system. Inhabitants of this asteroid, Phocaea, mine methane ice to stay functional. In order to stay financially afloat Phocaea has also agreed to participate in a reality show called ‘Stroiders and everyone is constantly followed by nano-mote cameras and their viewer popularity is tracked and measured. The novel follows the teenager Geoff and his friends in their rebellious teenager ways and as they are drawn via the tragic death of Geoff’s brother Carl into events bigger than themselves. At the same time much of the novel follows Jane the colony resource manager as she begins to uncover the shocking truth behind the sabotage that killed Carl while also dealing with the political fallout engendered by the crisis.
Up Against It feels a lot shorter than its 416 pages thanks to the various character perspectives and the excellent pacing. Locke provides two solid characters in Geoff and Jane and readers quickly find themselves drawn into each of their lives. Jane’s take charge, no nonsense attitude is at once endearing and abrasive. Her desire to get the job done rather than pander to politics and the popularity ratings of ‘Stroiders is both one her greatest strengths as a character and what will inevitably cause her no end of trouble. Geoff a creative and rebellious teen is struggling in the perceived shadow of his older brother Carl; a notion that is compounded by Carl’s sudden death. His personality and reactions walk the line between truism and teenaged cliché; thankfully straying closer to the former than the latter. Locke quickly and easily conveys a sense of familiarity and friendship when comes to Geoff and his friends and you really root for them (the classic underdog trope done well) as they are further enmeshed in growing crisis on Phocaea.
If sabotage and political drama aren’t your thing the issues in Up Against It are further compounded by the presence of a feral sapient AI. Introduced sort of late in the game the new AI provides for an interesting element to the story and offers some of novel’s most diverse scenes as various individuals do their best to shut it down. I was particularly engrossed by the Tron-like scene when Jane and a co-worker delve into the system to stop the AI. Up Against It also introduces a post-humanist cult. Unfortunately it only plays a small part in the novel. It’s a fascinating little sub-culture that Locke has created and I would have loved to have seen it explored more.
Up Against It has a lot of action and while the first part of the novel drags a little by the time the all the cards are on the table things are really rocketing forward. Locke maintains a constant forward momentum that surprisingly never comes at the cost of creating a fully fleshed out an believable world. Phocaea is a fully realized setting and Locke succeeds entirely at making it feel like a living breathing place. More than that she has worked extraordinarily hard at introducing cultural and genetic shifts into her asteroid culture that really aid in the sense of reality. Indeed my only major complain with the novel is that the several plot threads, spearheaded by Jane and Geoff, do interweave and eventually merge they ways in which they initially intersect feels tenuous at best. Readers will likely latch onto one of those main threads more than the other (for me it was Geoff) which lessens the impact of the other. Up Against It is an excellent novel of hard science fiction dosed liberally with adventure and mixed up to create an entertaining concoction that doesn’t disappoint. It’s not perfect by any means but it leaves me hungry to see what other wonders Locke will cook up.
August 25, 2015
On the edges of the solar system is a thriving asteroid colony... thriving, that is, until a disaster, which was possibly sabotage, threatens their regular ice shipment. After that, there's just barely enough resources to survive if everybody pulls together and they manage to make a deal for a new shipment... although, the only source close enough has ties to organized crime and might have been responsible for the initial disaster. Also, there may be a feral AI loose in the system which only adds to the chaos.
There are two main protagonists and point of view characters in this book. One is a traditional SF teenage male hero who's smart and resourceful. The other is a middle-aged woman who's the resource manager... administration, more or less. What's somewhat fascinating is that although the teenage hero gets the most exciting stuff to do, the far more interesting story is the resource manager, who has to make tough decisions and deals and investigate people, as well as deal with the needs of her family. I almost get the feeling that the writer wanted to tell her story, and the teenage hero plotline was added for marketability and to add a few action scenes, fighting pirates. The mix of the two isn't bad, but it is a little awkward.
A little awkward might be my major complaint about the book as a whole, although in a way it's hard to put your finger on, and maybe it's just a collection of tiny off notes that leave me with a slightly less enthusiastic about the book as a whole. I'll get to those in a moment, but first, let's talk about the things I really liked. First, this is hard SF (which I define as "science fiction that tries it's best to authentically play with science or technology and doesn't contain in anything that I personally can call out as impossible."), and more, it's not one of those that explores one idea... there's a huge array of neat stuff here, from playing with gravity and orbital mechanics (not subverting them with a made up technology), to exploring nanotechnology, to considering ubiquitous observation (part of how the colony is self-sufficient is that people on Earth can watch almost everything they do, like a reality show), and there's also AI and transhuman groups who use genetic engineering to change themselves. As mentioned before, I like the resource manager main character plot a lot more, it's something that sounds boring but worked out well (the teenage guy is okay, just a little more bland). Mostly the characters are believable and trying to do their best in a tricky situation, along with a few people trying to take advantage for their own ends, and there's also a good amount of diversity in the types of people you see. The story moves along at a brisk pace and there's always something going on so I never felt bored.
The slightly off notes? Well, although the pace is generally good, it might be a little too fast... the book practically starts with the disaster, and most of the rest of the book is solely consumed with dealing with it, which obviously constrains some of the possible interactions. I would have liked to see more about how the society functions when it wasn't under threat. Also, the crisis goes from all-consuming to "well, we'll probably go all right if things don't suddenly get worse" rather suddenly, not quite at the end, and then they focus on a few dangling plots and threats that just feels like too big a change. The big developments that change things in the actual ending also felt a little too convenient, and, for that matter, the "accident" that kicked everything else. Rather, the event itself seemed a kind of plausible SF coolness that could happen, but in a way where you'd think that it could all have been prevented with a few simple safety protocols (like painting the OUTSIDE of a tank with the material that's resistant to the stuff being kept inside). I liked the AI plot as a whole, but the author created a language for communicating with them that, although certainly more plausible than an English conversation, did not make for easy reading, and it made some of the climax of that plot into something like a chore. And, some of the interactions on the teenage hero plot didn't ring true to me, but rather like what a stereotypical teenager in TV might be like.
I still enjoyed the book, and I'll probably check out more by the author, I just thought that it was dancing on the edge of being really really good, but because of a few stumbles, it landed on the wrong side.
There are two main protagonists and point of view characters in this book. One is a traditional SF teenage male hero who's smart and resourceful. The other is a middle-aged woman who's the resource manager... administration, more or less. What's somewhat fascinating is that although the teenage hero gets the most exciting stuff to do, the far more interesting story is the resource manager, who has to make tough decisions and deals and investigate people, as well as deal with the needs of her family. I almost get the feeling that the writer wanted to tell her story, and the teenage hero plotline was added for marketability and to add a few action scenes, fighting pirates. The mix of the two isn't bad, but it is a little awkward.
A little awkward might be my major complaint about the book as a whole, although in a way it's hard to put your finger on, and maybe it's just a collection of tiny off notes that leave me with a slightly less enthusiastic about the book as a whole. I'll get to those in a moment, but first, let's talk about the things I really liked. First, this is hard SF (which I define as "science fiction that tries it's best to authentically play with science or technology and doesn't contain in anything that I personally can call out as impossible."), and more, it's not one of those that explores one idea... there's a huge array of neat stuff here, from playing with gravity and orbital mechanics (not subverting them with a made up technology), to exploring nanotechnology, to considering ubiquitous observation (part of how the colony is self-sufficient is that people on Earth can watch almost everything they do, like a reality show), and there's also AI and transhuman groups who use genetic engineering to change themselves. As mentioned before, I like the resource manager main character plot a lot more, it's something that sounds boring but worked out well (the teenage guy is okay, just a little more bland). Mostly the characters are believable and trying to do their best in a tricky situation, along with a few people trying to take advantage for their own ends, and there's also a good amount of diversity in the types of people you see. The story moves along at a brisk pace and there's always something going on so I never felt bored.
The slightly off notes? Well, although the pace is generally good, it might be a little too fast... the book practically starts with the disaster, and most of the rest of the book is solely consumed with dealing with it, which obviously constrains some of the possible interactions. I would have liked to see more about how the society functions when it wasn't under threat. Also, the crisis goes from all-consuming to "well, we'll probably go all right if things don't suddenly get worse" rather suddenly, not quite at the end, and then they focus on a few dangling plots and threats that just feels like too big a change. The big developments that change things in the actual ending also felt a little too convenient, and, for that matter, the "accident" that kicked everything else. Rather, the event itself seemed a kind of plausible SF coolness that could happen, but in a way where you'd think that it could all have been prevented with a few simple safety protocols (like painting the OUTSIDE of a tank with the material that's resistant to the stuff being kept inside). I liked the AI plot as a whole, but the author created a language for communicating with them that, although certainly more plausible than an English conversation, did not make for easy reading, and it made some of the climax of that plot into something like a chore. And, some of the interactions on the teenage hero plot didn't ring true to me, but rather like what a stereotypical teenager in TV might be like.
I still enjoyed the book, and I'll probably check out more by the author, I just thought that it was dancing on the edge of being really really good, but because of a few stumbles, it landed on the wrong side.
July 10, 2014
Everyone is talking about this as a "debut novel." WTF? This was written by Laura J. Mixon, who has been writing sci-fi for, what?, 30 years now? The blurbs on the cover are from her friends, which is one of those sneaky tricks authors often pull.
I don't know why they felt the need to do this sort of bullshit marketing campaign, but it certainly seems to have fooled a bunch of people, who apparently can't be bothered to read the copyright page. It says it right there: "Copyright 2011 by Laura J. Mixon-Gould." The "Gould" part of her name belongs to her husband, Steven Gould, who wrote such books as Jumper. So we're not talking about some neophyte here.
Anne Leckie? THAT is a debut author who hit the ground running.
Anyway, as for the book itself, it's fine. There are a lot of regurgitated ideas here, but they're done well enough. This reads like a decent cover song. Kind of like when The Fugees covered "Killing Me Softly With His Song." They did a nice cover but they certainly didn't deserve winning the Grammy for it.
I'm all about artists using other artists as launching pads, "standing on the shoulders of giants" and all that. (If you've never seen Kirby Ferguson's outstanding documentary "Everything Is A Remix", you need to go watch it right now.) So I'm not going to ding her for that.
Most of my problems with the book itself come from its herky-jerky, stop-start narrative structure. It feels like watching a toddler. Action! Nap. Action! Nap.
The other aspect which had a distancing effect was the "Oh yeah, and another thing" style of revealing the various subcultures and organizations in this world. Surely all of this stuff was plotted out, but it kind of feels like Mixon went, "Oh yeah, there are these body-modders living over in this section. And oh yeah, they're totally hooked up with the Martian mob."
Unlike Leckie's Ancillary Justice, where I couldn't really find anything to remove, Up Against It could really use some tightening up, despite being about the same length. Up Against It would actually make for a pretty good movie, but you'd have to completely restructure it, including adding these other elements of the mob, rogue AIs and such organically.
The ending turns on something that's in between a deus ex machina and a straight-up Ass Pull. Again, another moment that would have been better served with some foreshadowing, or at least disguised with some razzle-dazzle.
To sum up: decent enough story, needs to be streamlined and restructured a bit, not a debut novel.
I don't know why they felt the need to do this sort of bullshit marketing campaign, but it certainly seems to have fooled a bunch of people, who apparently can't be bothered to read the copyright page. It says it right there: "Copyright 2011 by Laura J. Mixon-Gould." The "Gould" part of her name belongs to her husband, Steven Gould, who wrote such books as Jumper. So we're not talking about some neophyte here.
Anne Leckie? THAT is a debut author who hit the ground running.
Anyway, as for the book itself, it's fine. There are a lot of regurgitated ideas here, but they're done well enough. This reads like a decent cover song. Kind of like when The Fugees covered "Killing Me Softly With His Song." They did a nice cover but they certainly didn't deserve winning the Grammy for it.
I'm all about artists using other artists as launching pads, "standing on the shoulders of giants" and all that. (If you've never seen Kirby Ferguson's outstanding documentary "Everything Is A Remix", you need to go watch it right now.) So I'm not going to ding her for that.
Most of my problems with the book itself come from its herky-jerky, stop-start narrative structure. It feels like watching a toddler. Action! Nap. Action! Nap.
The other aspect which had a distancing effect was the "Oh yeah, and another thing" style of revealing the various subcultures and organizations in this world. Surely all of this stuff was plotted out, but it kind of feels like Mixon went, "Oh yeah, there are these body-modders living over in this section. And oh yeah, they're totally hooked up with the Martian mob."
Unlike Leckie's Ancillary Justice, where I couldn't really find anything to remove, Up Against It could really use some tightening up, despite being about the same length. Up Against It would actually make for a pretty good movie, but you'd have to completely restructure it, including adding these other elements of the mob, rogue AIs and such organically.
The ending turns on something that's in between a deus ex machina and a straight-up Ass Pull. Again, another moment that would have been better served with some foreshadowing, or at least disguised with some razzle-dazzle.
To sum up: decent enough story, needs to be streamlined and restructured a bit, not a debut novel.
April 4, 2011
Promising Hard SF debut
Up Against It is my most anticipated debut this year. M. J. Locke paints a picture of space colonization in a not to far future in this thrilling story of a criminal takeover attempt of Phocaea, a strategic and independent asteroid colony.
There are two main characters Geoff and Jane. Geoff is coming of age as he and his young rocketbike-riding friends become central to the events. He witnesses how his beloved brother Carl is killed in the mysterious accident that destroys the colony’s supply of methane and water. Jane is the city administrator in charge of supplies and she soon discovers that there is more to the accident and starts to suspect the Martian Mafia is behind it all, since they conveniently have the only load in range to save the colony. She also has been through it all before on Vesta when the Mafia took over there. Jane has to struggle both with the Mafia and her fellow administrators.
The tale follows the two main characters as they in their own ways try to save the colony. There is some teen love, a mysterious trans-human cult, lots of action on the asteroid and in space, kidnappings, and a fleet of thugs on their way. The accident also spawns a feral AI that complicates things.
The world building is good and quite interesting. We get glimpses here and there that hints at the greater universe. Earth is a refugee camp after an ecological breakdown and people in space have a better life but life outside the atmosphere is dangerous as the events here show. Life in the colonies are televised to earth by small mobile cameras that are everywhere, the colony managements have an allotment of privacy minutes every week.
I really like the characters and the world building and I hope M. J. Locke is going to write more in this world. It is a straightforward hard sf read where the mysteries and characters keep you interested. It reads a bit like classic science fiction but with modern ideas and people. It is a standalone novel but it has many interesting people and events that leave the range open for sequels I really want to read.
I give Up Against it a strong recommendation.
Up Against It is my most anticipated debut this year. M. J. Locke paints a picture of space colonization in a not to far future in this thrilling story of a criminal takeover attempt of Phocaea, a strategic and independent asteroid colony.
There are two main characters Geoff and Jane. Geoff is coming of age as he and his young rocketbike-riding friends become central to the events. He witnesses how his beloved brother Carl is killed in the mysterious accident that destroys the colony’s supply of methane and water. Jane is the city administrator in charge of supplies and she soon discovers that there is more to the accident and starts to suspect the Martian Mafia is behind it all, since they conveniently have the only load in range to save the colony. She also has been through it all before on Vesta when the Mafia took over there. Jane has to struggle both with the Mafia and her fellow administrators.
The tale follows the two main characters as they in their own ways try to save the colony. There is some teen love, a mysterious trans-human cult, lots of action on the asteroid and in space, kidnappings, and a fleet of thugs on their way. The accident also spawns a feral AI that complicates things.
The world building is good and quite interesting. We get glimpses here and there that hints at the greater universe. Earth is a refugee camp after an ecological breakdown and people in space have a better life but life outside the atmosphere is dangerous as the events here show. Life in the colonies are televised to earth by small mobile cameras that are everywhere, the colony managements have an allotment of privacy minutes every week.
I really like the characters and the world building and I hope M. J. Locke is going to write more in this world. It is a straightforward hard sf read where the mysteries and characters keep you interested. It reads a bit like classic science fiction but with modern ideas and people. It is a standalone novel but it has many interesting people and events that leave the range open for sequels I really want to read.
I give Up Against it a strong recommendation.
August 11, 2013
Since M.J. Locke (actually Laura J. Mixon) is an engineer, it's not surprising that this is a book where the nitty gritty of the technical and other challenges of living in space are important. Think Red Mars without the geological digressions. It also has an interesting look at the idea of computer intelligences.
Having just re-read this (August 2013), I'd add that it's an interesting split-the-difference between Michael Flynn's Firestar books (and others set later in the same continuity) and John Barnes's A Million Open Doors continuity. The take on what it's like to live in space is evocative of the former, and the increased sociocultural liberality and certain dystopic aspects of life on Earth remind me of the latter.
There is one thing that bugs me. I am not religious myself, but I am always a little bothered by fictional futures where the author posits that hostility to religious belief is going to be the default. I mean, majority indifference is plausible. But do we gotta treat it like a pathology? (Another example: Kage Baker's Company series. There are probably others but I'm spacing at the moment.)
It would be interesting to see another story set in this universe. Doesn't seem like there's anything on the radar at the moment though ...
Having just re-read this (August 2013), I'd add that it's an interesting split-the-difference between Michael Flynn's Firestar books (and others set later in the same continuity) and John Barnes's A Million Open Doors continuity. The take on what it's like to live in space is evocative of the former, and the increased sociocultural liberality and certain dystopic aspects of life on Earth remind me of the latter.
There is one thing that bugs me. I am not religious myself, but I am always a little bothered by fictional futures where the author posits that hostility to religious belief is going to be the default. I mean, majority indifference is plausible. But do we gotta treat it like a pathology? (Another example: Kage Baker's Company series. There are probably others but I'm spacing at the moment.)
It would be interesting to see another story set in this universe. Doesn't seem like there's anything on the radar at the moment though ...
March 22, 2011
Up Against It (C, enough nuggets to make it worth a check but a minor disappointment overall) by "MJ Locke" has a very interesting premise and a great opening 40-50 pages but things go mostly downhill after that. There are quite a few nuggets like a newly awakened AI that steals the show in all its interactions with humans and a "genetic cult" with surprising philosophies and depth, but the writing style of the pseudonymous author is just not up to handling the interesting world building she created and the novel is mostly a pretty boring slog despite its supposed frantic pace and race against the clock for the inhabitants of Phocaea to save themselves from multiple threats.
The two story lines indicated in the blurb, while theoretically converging in the last part of the book do not mesh well for the most part and the book jumps around without a clear focus and with little that conveys the sense of urgency of the events after the excellent beginning.
It is almost like Up Against It started with "how cool are these ideas and this setting!" and then fit a plot and characters around and the natural result is utter lack of coherence and continually disrupted narrative flow. While the cool ideas/setting keep the book readable for the aforementioned nuggets, the novel tries to be both traditional sf in which Geoff and his friends save the day and "realistic thriller" in which there are things like bureaucracies and parents and the two modes just jar badly one against each other.
The two story lines indicated in the blurb, while theoretically converging in the last part of the book do not mesh well for the most part and the book jumps around without a clear focus and with little that conveys the sense of urgency of the events after the excellent beginning.
It is almost like Up Against It started with "how cool are these ideas and this setting!" and then fit a plot and characters around and the natural result is utter lack of coherence and continually disrupted narrative flow. While the cool ideas/setting keep the book readable for the aforementioned nuggets, the novel tries to be both traditional sf in which Geoff and his friends save the day and "realistic thriller" in which there are things like bureaucracies and parents and the two modes just jar badly one against each other.
May 12, 2011
I'm not sure how to review this without spoilers. Let me think...
I found this book on a shelf marked "'New' author!" and I sort of laughed at that. For one reason, they put "new" in quotes, which sort of goes to show that they know she's not a new author. And her writing isn't "new - so please forgive it if there's some hinkiness to it" either. She's been doing this a while, and this book shows it - it's tightly plotted, the characters are realistic (if fact I might even be related to a few of them) and it moves pretty fast.
The story is told from a few different characters, but not so many that you need a wikipedia page to keep track of them. The, uh *thing* or *things* (I'm trying not to spoil) that happen are pretty big and ambitious, so I think she had to have all the character viewpoints in it to really give the reader an idea of what was happening.
There isn't a gratuitously happy ending, but it's not all bad either. (Even if one of my favourite characters died. Can I say that without spoiling it?) Up Against It seems to fall between Jack McDevitt (Egads, our world is doomed) and Joan Slonczewski (Check out our cool nano-gear!)
I heard a rumour that there could be sequel or two to this book, and I really hope that's the case.
I found this book on a shelf marked "'New' author!" and I sort of laughed at that. For one reason, they put "new" in quotes, which sort of goes to show that they know she's not a new author. And her writing isn't "new - so please forgive it if there's some hinkiness to it" either. She's been doing this a while, and this book shows it - it's tightly plotted, the characters are realistic (if fact I might even be related to a few of them) and it moves pretty fast.
The story is told from a few different characters, but not so many that you need a wikipedia page to keep track of them. The, uh *thing* or *things* (I'm trying not to spoil) that happen are pretty big and ambitious, so I think she had to have all the character viewpoints in it to really give the reader an idea of what was happening.
There isn't a gratuitously happy ending, but it's not all bad either. (Even if one of my favourite characters died. Can I say that without spoiling it?) Up Against It seems to fall between Jack McDevitt (Egads, our world is doomed) and Joan Slonczewski (Check out our cool nano-gear!)
I heard a rumour that there could be sequel or two to this book, and I really hope that's the case.
February 23, 2013
Morgan J. Locke, writing here as M. J. Locke, may not be a familiar name to SF readers, but with her debut novel, she shows herself as an author to be watched. A hard SF novel that is confident, assured, and tightly plotted, Up Against It is a book that I couldn't put down. The author draws a sharply realized world of an asteroid colony facing a life-threatening resource calamity and under attack by organized crime, an accidentally created artificial intelligence (a "feral sapient" that could be a great danger or a wondrous gift), and a cast of characters that spring to life and all but jump off the page. I loved her world building, and the novel builds to a satisfying conclusion (while leaving a bit of wiggle room for more books in the same universe). The richness of the setting and characters could lend itself to many more stories, and I'd be happy for more. I'll be looking forward to her next books.
July 22, 2011
I found the writing dry to the point it would jar me out of the story. Unnecessary detail felt like filler to space out the plot (ha!). Often, it felt like I was reading a checked-off to-do list: first she checked her email, then made some calls, then went to the doctor's office, etc.
Nevertheless, the world that Locke created is fascinating and has potential. I hope the next books in this world are paced a bit quicker -- then we'll be having some fun.
Bottom line: okay for a quick read.
Nevertheless, the world that Locke created is fascinating and has potential. I hope the next books in this world are paced a bit quicker -- then we'll be having some fun.
Bottom line: okay for a quick read.
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