Rolling Thunder

This is the third book in Varleys ongoing tribute to Robert Heinleins juveniles. Its not the best (thats the first) and not the worst (thats the second one) but its solid Varley - playful and joking, yet deadly serious.

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 theres 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: theres a bit of revisionism about the devices 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 navys 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 cant? Theres a flavor, a hint, of Varleys Gaia Trilogy here. Some of Varleys 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 its 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.

Okay, this is another generation of Manny Garcias tribe, and it beggars belief that there are this many influential members. Each with a different talent, yet sharing intelligence, grit and fast reactions. Must be in the DNA. Red Thunder used a mechanism named a squeezer to store energy, then power spacecraft. Fine, it worked for a prototype and performed flawlessly. But in any rational universe, scientists must duplicate the unit; begin to investigate the physics involved. But no, that is impossible. Only the original inventor can make them.... Then he makes himself scarce, to thwart potential kidnappers. Now Podkayne, a singer, gets a gig with a traveling entertainers group, sent to a ruggedly beautiful outpost- dangerously so. She is just earning fame when disaster strikes. The family mourns, but the planets do not stop turning. She lives on in her music. However, Varley has other plans.

Read this at the Pismp Beach a long time ago but never seen to the other two books at the book store. Great story and characters; a must read for SCI-FI fans.

Listening to the audiobook version of the novel. Its very distracting to have a male narrator for a book that is mainly female characters. The narrator is the same person that preformed the first two books - which was fine since most of the characters were male in those novels. Im sorry, but he just does not sound anything like an 18 year old girl to me - just a guy pretending to be a girl. The story itself - its a bit different than the previous two books in the series. Too much of a travel-log IMO.

This is the third book in Varleys Thunder & Lightning series - the others being Red Thunder and Red Lightning, and it continues the theme of following the clan Garcia/Strickland/Redmond; as with Red Lightning, this is the story of the next generation of the clan. Everybody says that the T&L series are a lot like the Heinlein juveniles, such as Red Planet or Podkayne of Mars, and its even more apparent in this book - the lead character is even named Podkayne, and there are plenty of other Heinlein references scattered throughout. However, the characters are more adult than anything in Heinleins juveniles, and, typical Varley, theres plenty of sex and nudity... though its nowhere near as descriptive or involved as Steel Beach or his Gaean Trilogy. Still, theres enough sex and brutal violence in it that this is definitely not a book for kids. Varley does his usual with Earth, trashing it. Each book in the series has gotten a little darker and more murderous, and this is no different - but at the same time, this is the lightest book in the series (so far), as it seems to brush over or alter previous plot points from the other books, and there are plot points in this book that just seem to disappear, with no effort to resolve them. Podkayne isnt quite the attention grabber that previous characters have been, and most of the time she just seems to mindlessly go with the flow - no questioning anything, no real serious thought, no real attempts to control her own life. It is readable, and interesting enough, and with the fourth book in the series due out in August 2014, I suppose you need to get this one as well - especially as the fourth one seems to start almost exactly where this one ends, rather than skipping ahead 20 years as the previous ones have. One thing to note: this is the second copy of this book that I have bought... but only because the first one I got (paperback, picked up at a yard sale) was missing almost 50 pages (281-328), and after the story ended pages 329-376 are reprinted. Probably a once-only error, but...

NOTE: Closer to 3.5 stars. I am really hoping that John Varleys 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 isnt 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 didnt 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.

John Varley has written another endearing book. This is a worthy addition to the two previous books in the series. This time the book centers around Podkane, who is the next generation of the the heroes in the first two books. Pokane is nineteen and is serving her mandatory term in the Martian Armed Forces. After putting in about 6 months on Earth, the Mars-born Podkane is assigned to Europa. She is assigned to the Entertainment section of the Martian Armed Services. She forms a band and and tours the bases in Jovian system. All the main characters from the first two books are back and are living on a thriving Mars. The book is written in the first person and the writing is superb. The ending of the book is unexpected and paves the way for future sequels. Podkane is of course named by her parents after a heroine of a Heinlein juvenile. In the last chapter of the book Varley cleverly sneaks in the names of many Heinlein juvenile books.

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. Its obvious that there is a fourth book planned but I will probably not be along for the ride.

Lieutenant Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond (otherwise known as Podkayne) is a Martian, a human born on Mars. While serving out her military term on a toasty Earth things suddenly change. A higher-up gets her an audition with the Martian Navy and she passes! You see, the Martian Navy has its own entertainment division--musicians and the like. Life is hard enough when youre trying to be the next big thing, but Podkayne quickly learns that being a singer in the Martian Navy, even with a little bit of fame under your belt, doesnt mean you can get a free ticket to safety-planet. She might just find herself in a bit of trouble! The one thing I have to say about Varleys Rolling Thunder is that it isnt like other science fiction novels I have read. What I mean is this: rather than dealing entirely with major events and characters reacting to them from a personal standpoint, Rolling Thunder is about the lives of characters doing what people would be doing in the world presented. There isnt really a whole lot of war here, though some does take place. Were presented with Podkayne, and thats where we stay. We follow her through her life doing what we might all assume to be regular everyday things in a future human time when weve (humankind) moved off and colonized the majority of the solar system. Most of the nitty gritty stuff were familiar with in SF takes place in the background (thats not to say I dont like the nitty gritty stuff, just that this novel really does move away from all of that). Varleys style is different than Im used to. Rolling Thunder is written in first person, but some of it feels very much like stream of consciousness. In the beginning it bugged me, but it sort of grew on me as the novel progressed. I think a lot of my initial reactions to the beginning were influenced by my assumption that this would be more in the vein of techy/war-based SF, when this novel clearly isnt that. The beginning does move a little slow though, but once you get into it and get used to the style it really is an enjoyable read. Podkaynes comments are rather humorous (or Varleys comments, if you want to take the fun out of pretending Podkayne is a real person) and descriptions of things (technological and otherwise) are more often than not unobtrusive in the sense that they actually add to the story rather than pull you out of it (these would be sections that would otherwise be labeled as telling, but seem to work well enough in almost all cases). The black bubbles are probably the coolest thing invented in an SF novel in a long time. Black bubbles sounds funny because it should and because they are, gasp, black bubbles. In Varleys future, people use them as a way of putting themselves in a form of stasis. The bubbles actually freeze time for the person. You can put anything into them. You want to save a piece of that really good chocolate cake youre eating for when youre 90? Okay, put a black bubble around it and open it up later! That cake will be just as fresh as when you put it in the bubble. Are you sick and dying? Put yourself in a bubble and when they have a cure or a way to fix you the doctors can pull you out and do so. And, guess what, they work almost instantly! Now thats cool technology! I would consider this a novel for those that arent necessarily SF nuts and also a new SFnal look for those of us who are well versed. If you want something that has some of the flashiness of SF, but without all the war, the governments going haywire, dystopian scary bits, and the like, then you should seriously take a look. Yes, there are dystopian elements in the novel, and there is some darkness, but the way in which it is portrayed is different from other novels. We learn everything through Podkayne and a vast majority of it doesnt directly affect her. Mostly she remarks on the happenings as they occur elsewhere, if that makes sense, which is somewhat refreshing. There is a good bit of optimism here and while pessimism is fine in SF it is always nice to get a taste of something else. Thats sort of how I would describe this: a taste of something else. I mean that in a good way, of course. So, if youre looking for something a little different from what youre used to in SF, then this might be what youre looking for. If you dont usually read SF, then maybe this would be a good starter novel for you. Its accessible to a wide range of audiences, or at least I think so, and who knows, maybe this could be the novel that gets those of you whove never really liked SF to change your mind!