Beyond Reality discussion

Let us know what you thought of our April SF Book of the Month, Hammered by Elizabeth Bear.

It's a little early. I just started it. I've only read 19 pages, but it's incredible how much Bear packed into those 19 pages. I've heard a couple of her short stories and loved them. So far, this book isn't disappointing. I don't think it will take long to get through it.

I feel bad because here I am, trying to get this group started... and I haven't been able to read either of the BotM's this time! Argh. This book does seem really interesting and has been recommended to me by some people whose taste I usually trust, so I may jump into this discussion later on.

I have read both the BotMs this time, but not recently--and they're both favorites. I loved Hammered, I thought it was unique and interesting. My favorite character, though, wasn't the main character... it was Razorface ("Face")--I remember reading the book wishing he was more front and center! I don't want to say too much more at this point so as not to spoil anything, but I did really enjoy this book. my only real issue with this book was the parts in French. I know it makes perfect sense since so many of the characters were Canadian, but since I (unfortunately) don't speak French, it was a little frustrating. She should have had footnotes or a glossary for those of us who didn't understand it!

Just ordered it for my Kindle. I'm hoping to begin reading when I get home. I have to admit, the GoodReads service has some neat features.

I just started Hammered last night and I was immediately hooked. I've read short stories and one other novel by Elizabeth Bear - Carnival, which I did and didn't like for different reasons. I loved her characters and enjoyed her writing, but didn't really care for the plot. The short story I read was about space pirates and was in an awesome collection from Nightshade 'Fast Ships, Black Sails'.

I'm about a third of the way through and hope I'll finish this weekend. I have a couple of long-ish train rides and downtime between rehearsals in which I plan to read, read, read!

So far, my thoughts are similar to previous posters': She hooks you real fast, the characters are vivid (if there are perhaps too many of them at the beginning) and I'm intrigued where this all is going.

Thanks everyone who voted this book in as our BotM. It was me who nominated it and I'm really glad I've been given the motivation to read it.

I've listened to (and narrated) a few short stories by Bear, but never a full-lenth novel.

Thanks for nominating this book, Diane. It's a really terrific book. I love that the protagonist is a 49 year-old woman. I can really relate to her.

I read this a few years ago & kind of liked it. I got the second book, but don't know if I ever read it. I think I lost interest part way through & I gave the books to my son when we moved.

The story line reminded me of a lot of the paranormal romances my daughter & I have been reading. The heroine is very reminiscent of Mercy Thompson, I think. (Right one? Sometimes I get them confused.) Anyone else notice that?

I finished the book last night and I think Elizabeth Bear may be on her way to becoming one of my favorite authors. I really wanted to spend more time with Jenny, Gabe, Elspeth and Gabe's girls. I especially want to know what the future holds for Leah. I do think it ended rather abruptly. While it didn't have any real cliffhangers, it left a lot of loose ends. For example, Gabe's daughter, Leah, seems to be getting suspicious about how her Dad and Jenny ended up working at the same place and some of the "chance" things that have occurred. I'd love to see what comes of that suspicion.

Jim, I've only read a couple of paranormal romances, but I'm not seeing a connection. While there was a bit of romance in the story, it wasn't at the forefront and it didn't really come to much of anything.

The heroines just seemed similar, Sandi. Maybe it's just me.

I'm so close to finishing this book, but its Monday and I won't have a chance to read it again until this evening, then I plan on staying up until it's done. I am enjoying it a lot more than I expected it. I love Jenny as a character, she's very realistic I think, particularly her reasons for not wanting to go through with the surgery a second time.

I'm a little over 60 pages in, but I'm liking the book so well that I'll probably finish it in the next couple of days.

At first I really didn't like the style, but once I got about 20 pages in I was hooked. I'm slowly learning not to give up on books so easily. In the past, I'd move on to another book after about 5-10 pages if I wasn't pulled in. I've probably missed some really good books by doing that.

So, I finished the book last night. I loved it! I was a bit overwhelmed by all the characters and the quick shifts in location and even year, but like Brenda, I got used to it after about 20 pages and by that time I was hooked into the story. This was an extremely fast book for me and now I'm wishing I had more than just the 1st chapter teaser of the next novel in the series! Here's the review I wrote for GoodReads:

I've read several stories by Elizabeth Bear and often read her blog, so I was curious how she would handle long-form story telling. I was not disappointed.

This is a tight story, fast-paced and exciting. It has all sorts of elements that I really enjoy in my SF: female protagonists who are "real", robots - or in this case AIs and cyborg elements for the humans, dystopian society, space exploration. This is very definitely a hard SF novel, but the story is really character-centric and Bear doesn't get bogged down in long description of the tech involved. The characters, and there are lots of them (perhaps too many - that would be my only gripe), are all well-rounded, with shades of grey in their personalities. Just the way I like it. Even the baddies are not made out to be completely evil. OK, well maybe Jenny Casey's evil sister Barb is a bit black, but we are not given much back-story for her. The main character is a mature woman (which is rare in and of itself), whose cybernetic implants are breaking down. She has had a tough life and she gets caught up in the machinations of people she had cut out of her life as soon as she was able. She is hard on herself for her past deeds, but she inspires fierce loyalty in all the people she now calls friends, which is a testimony to her inner integrity. The lesser main characters are also unique and full personalities.

Besides the fact that it was a little hard for me to hold so many characters in my head, my only other problem with this book is that it really isn't the end when the novel wraps up. There are certain events which have satisfying developments, but they seem to usher in the next era rather than really conclude anything at all. Actually, now that I write that I'm not sure that's really a bad thing, because that is the way life is, isn't it? It does make it imperative to acquire the rest of the series, though. But I'm not really complaining...

I finished the book this morning, and I loved it. I would really like to read some backstory on some of the characters. Things were hinted at, but never developed or explained. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series, though.

I finished this last night and I've already ordered the next two books through PBS. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this series plays out.

Sandi, I'm posting your comment on my review here, hope you don't mind!

- (from Sandi) I got the impression that Barbara Casey was a sociopath from the time she was a little girl. She had tried to drown Jenny and succeeded in drowning their little sister, Nell and making look like an accident. She was the Bad Seed.
---

Oh absolutely, but I think even sociopaths are not completely evil, or are there? Well, we did get the back story of why Jenny hates Barb so much, but we don't know what Barb's motivations were, if there were any.

So, a couple of months late, I'm finally reading "Hammered", thanks largely to the very positive comments in this thread. I'm about halfway through and I'm loving it: my only qualm is that the story she's telling is already too big for this one book. But, it's gritty and fun and I love the heroine and the other characters. I really like the Canadian element of the book too. I think I'm on the hook for the whole series.

Ron wrote: "I think I'm on the hook for the whole series. "

Me too, we recently got the rest of the series from Amazon.de. My husband and I tried to read Scardown together (me reading outloud) but it just doesn't lend itself to reading aloud, so he's read them right now and I'll read them soon.

I've got the next two books on the shelf, just been trying to fit them in. I'm looking forward to them.