Customer Reviews

Rolling Thunder

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Good:

The writing style is terrific. It feels human, it adds to characters, and is brilliant in its direction of the point of view.

The Bad:

Lazy story craft and characterization. It's a major turn off in a science fiction series to be presented with characters in the future that continually refer to present day themes and seem to identify with an age far before when the story takes place.


It's a character driven novel, and Varley handles characters very well; I just found the continual references to anything and everything 20th century to be distracting to the point of pulling me out of the story. Takes a bit too much pleasure in its references to 20th century popular culture and other works of that time period to be a serious piece of science fiction, and suffers mightily for it.

John Varley continues to channel Robert Heinlein, explore the implications of the "bubble" technology introduced in "Red Thunder," and follow the adventures of succeeding generations of the Garcia-Strickland clan.

Channel Heinlein: the heroine is named Podkayne, at one point she travels on the spaceship Rodger Young, and there's enough sex and nudity to kick this off any kids' reading list. Podkayne read "Podkayne," and vows not to read any more books by the author. Cute. Big government is diabolical. And the ending is another classic Heinlein event.

"Bubble" technology: there's a bit of revisionism about the device's invention and some suggestions that the technology is at least partly created by a mental effort. New uses and weaknesses are found.

And the third generation of the Garcia-Strickland family is in the thick of it all. Along with the Broussards. Especially Podkayne, who is a singer, a member of the Martian space navy's entertainment troupe. But on a trip to Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter, everything changes.

Alien life is a long-standing trope in science fiction. Will we recognize that lien life if we meet it? If that alien life lives in geologic time, and not human time, will we even be able to communicate? What will happen if we can't? There's a flavor, a hint, of Varley's Gaia Trilogy here.

Some of Varley's premises are a bit of a reach. And poor old planet earth, ravaged by the tsunami in "Red Lightning" and by global warming, gets whumped again. But it's a fun novel, if a bit slow in spots, and there is room for a couple more sequels, likely involving twin girls. I hope those hypothetical sequels can recapture the charm of the first book.

Recommended for science fiction fans.

I was looking forward to reading this title after having enjoyed the previous two titles in the series so much.
Unfortunately I was somewhat disapointed with the whole book.
I found it difficult to get into the viewpoint of a young woman telling the story and basically whining and complaining through the first half.
The book undulates, rather than rolls and there is very little thunder. Maybe in the crash scene but that is about it.
So many great ideas, from the black spheres, to compressors, even the creatures on the Jovian moon are not fleshed out.
There are too many long passages giving mind numbing details about minor aspects of Jovian moons and other solar bodies.
The action and adventure that made the first two such a rollicking ride are missing. The new character is far less interesting and even the original ones are played down.
It's obvious that there is a fourth book planned but I will probably not be along for the ride.

I used to be a big John Varley fan, but am now pretty disappointed. Some of the older books are very good, and it's obvious he greatly amires Heinlein. Personally, I don't understand the infatuation with RH, as the guy writes the same stories over and over, but what the heck, I'm sure there are some good reasons, and the guy is practically a god in the sci-fi pantheon.

The protagnist is an 18 year old cadet in the Martian Navy. Only she's 18 going on about 40 in her understanding of the world. Seriously, if human 18 year olds were this worldly and understanding that would be truly amzing. So while this is hard sci-fi, and that by definition stretches the bounds of practicality, it seems that only the Garcia-Strickland and Broussard clans are born of such stock, and the remainder of humanity is much more average (or worse - there are some good parts like when Poddy discourages a vapid "Earthie" from emmigrating to Mars).

There are also some parts, especially towards the end of the book where it looks like Varley just got tired of writing or something. There are several plot lines or story arcs that end more or less abruptly, and he just sums up what happened. This is the kind of stuff I expect in excessively complicated stories (Robert Jordan), or very long movies. But an average length paperback? What happened there? Did he run into some kind of deadline from an advance or contract?

Varley's books are definitely written for adults, complete with adult language, themes, sex, violence, and all the details you can imagine. For the most part I regards this as a good thing because so much of life and civilization is not rated PG-13.

I wouldn't call this the worst ever or even a waste of money, but John Varley has written some *much* better novels and short stories than Rolling Thunder.

Quire a few others have noted that in his "Thunder" series John Varley is continuously referring to Robert Heinlein's novels. But what I haven't seen so far is the notion, which struck me after the second book of the series and seems still more pertinent after the third, that what Varley is doing here is reimagining Heinlein's entire sequence of juveniles for another age.

From 1947 through 1962, Heinlein wrote a total of 14 juveniles. The first dozen were published by Scribner's; they rejected STARSHIP TROOPERS as too adult and this effectively ended the series, although a final junvenile, PODKAYNE OF MARS, was published tree years later.

The Heinlein novels. although all stand alone, in fact describe a sequence of future events. The first of them, ROCKET SHIP 'GALILEO', gives an account of the first trip to the Moon; later ones introduce Mars, Venus, Jupiter's moon Ganymede and the Asteroid belt; after that, the novels make the leap to the stars, initially in early explorations, later on in the series into a galaxy largely explored by mankind. In this respect, PODKAYNE OF MARS is a throwback to the earlier part of the sequence.

What strikes me is that Varley is more or less writing the same sequence of stories, beginning on Earth, going on to Mars and, in the newest book, envisioning future trips to the stars. I hope he continues there. These novels are very close in feel to the Heinlien stories, but firmly placed in the context of a future bleivable in the present. Heinlein was never able to let his characters actually have sex, as Scribner's editors wouldn't allow it; instead he made fun of their prejudices by making his main characters so naive that even early 1950s teenagers must have gotten the point (in TUNNEL THROUGH THE SKY, the hero lives for a month in a cave on an alien planet with a girl without realizing that she isn't a boy; when another boy happens along, he knows it within minutes). I note that someone else commenting on these books feels that their sexual openness should bar them from any child's reading list; this to me seems pure idiocy. Kids today grow up watching ads, TV shows and movies depicting sex openly and continuously; Varley's novels accept it as part of life. I find that commendable and if anything adding to their merit as superior juvenile science fiction.

The Heinlein project was in a sense unique. Almost no other major sf author made a similar effort to write at the top of his or her form for young readers, possibly with the exception of Andre Norton and Ted White. Varleys novels are in my view the best sf juveniles to be published over the last at least three decades; if there is anyt writing around today more prone to make younger readers advance from Harry Potter to science fiction, I've yet to find out about it.

I won't attempt to summarize the book, as there are some excellent reviews that do that well. The book is part of the continuing homage to Heinlein. "Red Thunder" did up "Rocketship Galileo" (and some of the "Rolling Stones" and went it some better. "Red Lightning" had those elements of "The moon is a harsh mistress", with the war against earth. "Red Thunder" is obviously "Podkayne of Mars" with an older, more capable girl.

If you are paying homage to Heinlein, you are courting the readers who grew up on him, so some of the retro music, etc is not unreasonable. Besides, who can predict what musical taste will be 50 years from now?

I thought it was amusing that, once again, in a Varley universe, aliens from Jupiter (or at least one of its moons) kicked humanity off of earth. But this time for reasons unknown. That doesn't bother me because hey, they're really alien, not humanoids with all to similar habits and tastes.

As someone pointed out, the "black bubble" technology is more developed in this book. Good stuff, especially for making an ark. But as wonderful as it is, useless against the aliens... scary thought that. But the personal survival units were a good concept.

I'm glad our favorite Cajun inventor got to make a comeback. In the first two books, he was interesting, but not really developed. Here he finally meets someone who actually listens to him and discovers there is more than everyone thought. Of course she had to practically die first... but they will have time enough for love.

The trial of Podkayne was interesting. I think Heinlein would have approved.
And the driving sequence was pretty funny...

This book is the third book in a series that started with an unlikely group of people, including a Cajun ex-astronaut and his genius brother, who beat the Chinese in being the first humans on Mars, using a radical new technology even its inventor doesn't fully understand.

Lieutenant Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond, a third-generation member of the Martian pioneer family, narrates the story. She goes by only one of her many names, Podkayne. She says she's never read Robert A. Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars because she doesn't care much for science fiction. She's 18 as the book begins, a third-generation Martian whose grandparents were among the first to reach Mars. She's in the Music, Arts and Drama Division of the Martian Navy, and as the book opens, she's enduring Earth gravity (Mars has a gravity that's 38% of Earth's) in Pismo Beach, California weeding out people who want to emigrate to Mars.

But soon Podkayne's on her way back to Mars because her great-grandmother, close to dying, has elected to go into a time-suspending bubble. After her extended family sees off their matriarch, Podkayne heads off to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons to entertain Martian Navy personnel and scientists there and at other scientific outposts in the Jovian system. She's a singer/songwriter/composer, and teams up with other musicians in Podkayne and the Pod People. It seems a safe enough, and even creative, way to spend her mandatory time in the service. Safe, that is, until she's in the wrong place at the wrong time.

John Varley uses the breezy, informal and often humorous style of Podkayne to tell of sweeping events that shape the history of Earth and Mars. It's a troubled history, and global warming on Earth turns out to be only part of the trouble. Podkayne is very articulate, but she's no rocket scientist, so things get explained pretty much in layman's terms. She's an entertainer, and events propel her to the heights of fame, something Varley appears to have learned a lot about during his years in Hollywood. Podkayne's journey through the part of her life told in the book takes several unexpected turns, eventually taking her further than she'd ever imagined.

I wondered at first if this were going to be one of those rambling novels in which the author comes up with excuses for a character from the future to be intimately familiar with popular art and music that dear to someone born ca. 1950. The plot takes an awfully long to get moving, but it does get there. This is a fond tribute to many of the lesser-known Heinlein novels, especially the juvenilia, my favorites. Not Varley's best -- try "Millennium," or even better, his faultless short story, "Press Enter," if you can find it -- but still a considerable cut above any other science fiction you're likely to stumble on.

NOTE: Closer to 3.5 stars.

I am really hoping that John Varley's best writing is not behind him, as he is by far my favorite author. There are only three or four writers who I will read more than once, and Varley tops that list (though not with this trilogy).

To be blunt, I thought the entire trilogy was "good." I liked it. The stories and characters - especially Jubal and Travis - are interesting.

That being said, it isn't nearly as good as his past works such as Demon, Steel Beach, The Golden Globe, The Ophiuchi (sp?) Hotline and Millenium. Those books were nothing short of amazing. Every line seemed carefully crafted to evoke and emotional response. The stories were deep and meaningful. The characters came alive. Frequently, he made me laugh my ass off.

This trilogy didn't do that nearly so much for me.

I had heard somewhere that he might do another story in the world of Steel Beach / Golden Globe. That would be awesome, if he can recapture that same style of writing again.

Regardless of what John writes, I will read it, because it is still very good.

So, John, if you are reading this, please know that I am still one of your biggest fans.

I have now finished reading the story of the Garcia-Strickland family.

And it was pretty good. Not great, however.

I liked the twist abouth how this generation of Garcias ended up in a space career, but I sometimes wonder at the likelihood of such a person being able to accomplish so much in such a major crisis.

IOW, this book stamped "finished" to the storyline, but left me somewhat unsatisfied. Red Thunder was the kind of book which grabbed the reader by the throat and refused to let go until the reader reached the last page. Red Lightning, while less aggressive, carried on the storyline and clearly was a logical extension of what happened in RT.

Rolling Thunder, however...

Don't get me wrong. John Varley is an excellent writer. And his ability to create believable characters and realistic dialog are well-honed. By and large, his plot carried itself well. It's just that things were proceeding along right up until... And it's that "until" which, in my opinion, doomed Rolling Thunder to 'decent' and 'adequate' status rather than 'superb' and 'excellent conclusion'. He chose at one point to have a "character" - if you can call an alien life form which no one can communicate with "character" - do something which totally changes the tone of the book from space adventure to "end-of-humanity" suspense. It would be fine if there were a Bruce Willis character, who, with his team of plucky oil-rig workers, came out and put paid to the threat, but Varley let the E-O-H crisis continue unabated.

I'm not saying that all crises in real life end on a happy note, but given the general upbeat, we can solve this if we put our minds to it, approach of books one and two, the "we're gonna slink off with our tails between our legs" finish simply didn't end the series right.