February 2026 Review of Reviews, Part Two

 

At last I am continuing with Part Two of my Review of Reviews for February 2026 (see Part One here). I figured I should post this before February is over. Here are my reviews of Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan, How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn, Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov, A Few Rules for Predicting the Future by Octavia Butler, and Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany.

Iʻm also reading Michael Harriotʻs Black AF History for Black History Month. Iʻm loving it, but alas, Iʻm not quire done, so maybe Iʻll get that in the next batch.

You can find these and other reviews on my Goodreads.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

This is one of the books that made me a serious science fiction reader back in my teens, and part of why Clarke is my favorite of the mid- to late- 20th century "Big Three." I've been meaning to reread this for a few years, and I thought it would be a good one for my first read of 2026. I also acquired one of those cool yellow UK Gollancz Masterworks editions when I went to Worldcon in Scotland in 2024. So, Rendezvous with Rama slid into my reading orbit for the first time in over 30 years.

The sense of wonder in this classic of the "Big Dumb Object" trope is what I remember most, and that's still there. There's more plot than I remembered, although I hardly remember plot details from books I read last year much less 30+ years ago. Most of the plot is pretty interesting, including solar system politics and an exciting "air bike" sequence.

This is definitely "old school" sci-fi in all the good and bad ways, although Clarke was relatively progressive for his time. Not everyone in the book a white man, but this doesn't stop some problematic colonialist rhetoric (a lot of praise of James Cook, talk of "primitives," etc.) and some maddening sexism (even if there are actual women astronauts in the crew).

The novel is essentially a mystery/exploration story. We do get some clues, but I love--LOVE--that we don't get all of the mysteries solved. I love stories that don't tie everything up in a neat bow, because that's the truest kind of fiction. Life is filled with mysteries that exceed the grasp of human intellect. I appreciate that Clarke, who can be the wonkiest of science fiction authors about science and engineering details, leaves some room for for what is, in a Camus or Lovecraft sense, the absurdity of human existence, but in his hands becomes what someone once referred to as "cosmic loneliness."

There's a deep joy, but also a deep melancholy in Clarke's best work (see also Childhood's End, the 2001 books, etc.). Something about that speaks to me, which is why Clarke will always be one of my favorites.

I read the first Rama sequel (Rama II) decades ago, which I remember being pretty different. I may read the sequels, but whatever happens they can't take away the genius of the original. Rama is always there, gliding through the space of my imagination.


Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

This is my third or fourth Discworld book. I enjoy them, but this is one of those things that seems like it should be my thing, but--and this is as inexplicable to me as to anyone else--somehow is not. I can tell the author has some basic themes of decency and whimsy, but I guess I like to have a little more in the way of ideas in my reading. Iʻm not sure. Anyway, this one is fun, with plenty of riffs on Hamlet and Macbeth. My favorite is a scene of a witch watching a play of the first time and just ... not getting the whole concept of a play. Hilarious. But also, plays are kinda weird.



The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

I read the first book of the Wheel of Time (The Eye of the World) in the mid-90's. I think my Grandma gave it to me for Christmas after she went to a bookstore and asked for a book for her nerdy grandson. I remember enjoying it, although finding it to be a bit of a Tolkien knock-off. I had friends who raved about this series, but through the 90's and 2000's Robert Jordan kept pumping out 700-1000 pages tomes at an alarming rate. I decided I wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. 

Besides, I'm more of a sci-fi sort of nerd, and so much of contemporary fantasy feels like bad rehashings of Tolkien that I'd rather just re-read the Lord of the Rings (which I do once in a while). While the fantasy genre has broadened a lot in the last 10-15 years, I'm still more of a sci-fi nerd at heart.

When the Wheel of Time TV adaptation was released several years ago, I started watching it, remembering that I did kind of like that first book. I heard the bellyaching from book fans who were mad that it didn't follow the books word-for-word, but that's just silly and not how adaptations work (lo! the decline of basic media literacy and critical thinking skills--alas!). Anyway, I enjoyed the TV show a lot, and thought maybe I should give this series another shot. I found some of what fans told me about the big picture worldbuilding to be fascinating.

Some madness convinced me to try to read the second book without re-reading the first one. I guess I figured I'd give it a shot and rely on having watched the show and online plot synopses to get me through. Actually, this worked pretty well for the first third or so of the book. I did get a bit lost and bored in the middle. I briefly thought about not finishing it, but it started to come together for me toward the end. The last part was pretty exciting, so I'm glad I did push through.

Overall: I love the big picture world building of the Wheel of Time. So cool! I just wish we got more of that. The details (so many details!) get in the way for me. The whole horn thing is okay, I guess, but I sort of lost the point or why I should care until the end. 

Rand is kind of an annoying/boring main character (He doesn't want to accept his destiny! There's a beautiful woman he can't resist! Ugh.). The show did well to make Moraine a bigger lead (so as not to waste Rosamund Pike's talents, I suppose, which is a valid point). I love anything with the Aes Sedai (the fantasy version of Dune's Bene Gesserit) as well as Egwene and Nynaeve. I LOVE Loial, as, I think, does everybody else. I liked Mat and Perrin more in the show, to be honest. I'm not sure why. Maybe they got more attention in the show.

I've heard the show jumped around a lot in the books, so I've probably been spoiled for some of the next two books, but that's okay. It really is more about the journey. I don't know if I'll complete the dozen or so more books in this particular journey (I've heard some of the later books are excruciating). But maybe I'll keep turning on this wheel a little bit longer if the wheel wills.

How the World Made the West by Josephine Quinn

"The question we now face is not whether Western Civilization is bad or good, but whether civilizational thinking helps explain much of anything at all. Understanding societies in terms of lonely trees and isolated islands is 200 years out-of-date and is demonstrably, historically wrong. It is time to find new ways to oranize our common world." (Josephine Quinn, How the World Made the West, p. 437)

Josephine Quinn's How the World Made the West provides a vastly encompassing historical vision for a point I've been making about "Western philosophy" for a long time: namely, there is no such thing. At least not as conceived as some sort of hermetically sealed essence that locks in an inflexible shared worldview for "the West" or "Europe" or (more bluntly and honestly) "white people." 

History and philosophy have always been cross-cultural. It's time we started writing our histories and philosophies more honestly, unencumbered with the surprisingly recent and colonially problematic conceptual construction of "Western civilization." Quinn's sprawling historical narrative is an excellent start.

Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov

A lot of interesting ideas wound together with a surprisingly intricate plot make for something that doesn't quite work as well as Asimov's other Galactic Empire novels and not nearly as well as the Foundation books, but it was his first published novel and he had to start somewhere.

A Few Rules for Predicting the Future by Ocravia Butler

A beautiful little volume with an insightful essay from one of my favorite authors.

Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany

I picked this up as a fan of Delany, for Black History Month, and for the story "Aye, and Gomorrah." That story is pure Delany: androgynous space travelers meet people with just that sexual fetish, weirdness and sexuality and thoughts about sexuality ensue. The other stories arenʻt necessarily my favorite of Delanyʻs, but I enjoyed them. And in true Delany fashion, it would be hard to explain exactly what happens ins some of these stories, but you can tell the author is brilliant. 

I probably most enjoyed "Driftglass" (amphibian people!), "We, in Some Strange Powerʻs Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line" (post-apocalyptic motorcycle gang? Sort of?), and "High Weir" (Martian linguistic anthropology that drives you mad... almost Lovecraftian?). But honestly, I always enjoy reading Delany just for the prose whether I have any idea what it all means or not. I unlocked a new experience: on a whim I wondered if reading Delany would go better with a jazz accompaniment, so I listed to a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane for some of this, which made it all flow more smoothly. Maybe this is jazz science fiction? Anyway, I highly recommend it.