The Three-Body Problem (Cixin Liu)

This is the sprawling, complex first volume of a trilogy about a most unusual first contact. Set in China (the author's home), starting during the Cultural Revolution and continuing until today or possibly the near future, it tracks several different people with complex relationships. A woman working at radio transmission/monitoring station dedicated to tracking and possibly attacking satellites in orbit discovers, almost by accident, a way to harness the energy of the sun to send out a brief transmission detected by aliens from Alpha Centauri. This is a binary star system, with another fainter star that is believed to be part of the system as well - hence the three-body problem of the title. Orbital mechanics can completely solve the movements of two bodies, but except for a few special cases there is no general solution for predicting the movements of three of them. This means that these aliens live in a very hostile and trying environment. Still, they manage to (a) receive the message (which somehow is more powerful than the whole sun, despite being broadcast spherically), (b) decode it almost instantly (because it uses a "self-decrypting" format, whatever that is), and (c) respond in colloquial Chinese (in the same self-decrypting format). And this isn't even the least believable part of the story. Part of the problem is that I started out thinking of this as science fiction - if I had it in my "magic realism" category, perhaps it would have fit better. I just kept bumping up against science things and going, "um, no." So it didn't work for me, and I won't be reading the rest of the trilogy.

The Newlyweds (Nell Freudenberger)

Amina is a young woman from India marries an American man after they meet through an online service, and moves to Rochester. It was a lot of fun to read a book with so many local details (though some of them are wrong). I thought the Indian woman and the Indian life she left behind were very well drawn, but the rest of the story was disappointing. Although some ambiguity in a story is a good thing, there was too much of it here for me. Was her husband in love with her? Was he good, or bad? What was up with that other woman; was she seriously trying to be Amina's friend, or was there some nefarious purpose behind her actions? It's not that the author left unanswered questions, it's that these people and situations were not drawn clearly. The story was well told in each incident, but it all felt like nothing more than a series of incidents that didn't really add up to anything. This all sounds more negative than it should. I enjoyed reading the book, but it left me feeling dissatisfied.

The Magistrates of Hell (Barbara Hambly)

This is the fourth (and, so far, the last) in Hambly's James Asher series of vampire novels. I confess that I really like her vampires (and Don Ysidro in particular) - they are powerful, scary, dangerous, and definitely do not sparkle. This version, set in China where strange things even scarier than vampires have been found, is better than the last one, but of course can't meet the standard of the first (Those Who Hunt the Night), which was awesome. James is as resourceful and competent as ever; his lovely intelligent wife as resourceful and gutsy as ever; Don Simon as morally ambiguous and seductive as ever. I love Hambly's writing, which is lush and evocative of exotic locations peopled with exotic but clearly-drawn characters. I will keep reading them if she keeps writing them, but more out of loyalty than real love for the newest ones.

Idoru (William Gibson)

This complex near-future tale entwines media and celebrity with technology and the Internet in unexpected ways, but it still feels familiar. Much of the story takes place in a post-earthquake Tokyo; the rest in various virtual venues. Gibson, who invented (or at least named) cyberspace, brings it home to a 14-year-old fangirl and a disgraced former data analyst. They are both linked with a rock star beloved by pubescent girls around the world when he announces that he intends to marry an idoru - a synthetic AI with her own career in music. She is not actually a person, but instead is a corporate creation designed to appeal to fans, but somehow she has become much more, and their intention to marry has created a firestorm into which smugglers, Russian mobsters, media moguls, and ex-felon bodyguards have all been drawn. I enjoyed the ride.

Reamde (Neal Stephenson)

Wow.  This book is massive (1042 pages in hard cover) but it never slows down. I was about a third of the way through when I realized is was expecting it to end shortly because it felt like the grand climax. After that, it just kept ratcheting the intensity higher and higher. Reamde is the name of a computer virus designed to siphon cash out of players in a hugely popular multiplayer world. The virus triggers a sequence of events dragging in the developer of this world, his niece, Russian mobsters, Islamic terrorists, Chinese hackers and a tea distributor, American fundamentalists, M16 agents, and sundry others before all is done. The plot is insanely complicated and intricately worked out, and it grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. If you like thrillers with lots of intelligent characters, and lots of detail about computers, guns, boats, and undercover operations, you will love this one.

The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi)

In the future, genetic modification, climate change, and short-sighted agricultural policy have caused the world food supply to crash. Bangkok is a city under siege, with giant levees to keep out the ocean and strong barriers to keep out unnatural things - including windups. These "New People" are genetically designed and creche-grown, and one of them ends up abandoned in Bangkok when her Japanese owner tires of her. She is just one of the people trying to survive in this dystopian future. Others are a calorie man, secretly working for an American company making its money providing food to starving people. One is a displaced Chinese man whose family all died in a wave of riots in Malaysia. One is an official taking seriously the attempt to keep dangerous products out of the city, and his unsmiling assistant. How these various people deal with the corruption, physical and psychological, that surrounds them makes for a complex and moving story.

Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)

This is a big book with an amazing number of threads: math, computers, cryptography, World War II, treasure hunting, data security, hacking, and more. At first, the two halves of the story (WWII and present day) seem connected only by the last names of some of the characters and the general theme of cryptography, but by the end everything has come together. I enjoyed all the science geekery, presented in a way that is accessible but also accurate, and was completely caught up in the personal stories of loyalty, trust, and love. Highly recommended.

The Dervish House (Ian McDonald)

Reading this sprawling, convoluted story wasn't easy, but it was worth it. In a near-future Istanbul, the lives of several people living in the same house come together in unexpected ways. One is a high-powered financial trader working on an almost-legal plan to earn millions. One is a trader in antiquities drawn into the mystical search for a legendary artifact. One is a retired professor of economics and former activist. One is a 9-year-old boy with a disability and a nearly magical robot. One is a woman who came to the city from a small agrarian community determined to make a name for herself in business. One is an empty-hearted drug user who begins seeing visions of djinni and saints. Their story begins with an explosion on a tram, and ends with a monstrous terrorist attack on the city. It was slow going, especially at first, but came together into a thrilling and satisfying conclusion.