I last read The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker back when I was a teenager. I loved it then. I wasn’t sure how I’d react to it as an adult.

I’m happy to report the writing holds up really well. It stands the tests of time and experience. This novel is still staggeringly imaginative, exciting, and moving.

What makes this novel unique—what makes many of Mr. Barker’s novels unique—is a narrative structure built on an escalating series of crises and climaxes. The conflict that opens the story would be the climax of an entire novel in the hands of a lesser writer. For Mr. Barker, however, it’s just the beginning. Then he ramps up to another conflict and climax, and another, and another—building tension and emotional investment to a fever pitch.

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The two novels contained in The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by William Sloane are surprisingly satisfying. Well-written and displaying a strong command both of style and the standards of the scifi horror genre, these works present an interesting look into the early history of such work.

They function well as science fiction and even better as mysteries and tales of horror.

These novels make me wonder how much influence Mr. Sloane might have had on the genre if he’d continued his career as an author. Instead, he turned away from writing and spent most of his life as an editor and publisher.

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Historians agree that jazz was born when African musical sensibilities met European instrumentation. For Western listeners, it offered familiar sounds voicing unfamiliar phrases. For African listeners, it gave them familiar rhythms and musical ideas echoing through strange sounds.

For anyone who cared to listen, jazz was a music that expanded perceptions and broadened minds. It was a music that blended different heritages into something new and vibrant.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor is the kind of novel you get when non-Western storytelling traditions and sensibilities utilize the quintessentially Western cultural tools and structures of SF. Like jazz, the experience is revelatory.

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Lock In is what you get when John Scalzi decides to write a mystery novel. And it turns out he’s pretty good at it.

The science fiction in this novel is as good as I’ve come to expect from Mr. Scalzi. He offers a compelling premise with intriguing ramifications. He creates a world based on this premise that’s completely believable—it’s unforced and naturalistic, populated by nuanced and quirky characters who feel very real.

But make no mistake—this is a mystery novel more than it’s a science fiction novel.

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Disappointing and derivative.

These are the words I would choose to describe Armada, Ernest Cline’s second novel, a story of alien invasion and the ascendancy of gamer geeks.

I adored his debut work, Ready Player One. It’s one of the very best novels I’ve read. It ranks as one of my favorite books of all time. I desperately wanted to like his second book but it just doesn’t live up to expectations.

Despite my disappointment, I’m still a fan of Mr. Cline and I retain faith that he can—and will—produce more good work. In this spirit, I want to open my review by mentioning the things Armada does well:

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The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is my favorite book of this series, since the first one.

The first book in the Long Earth series captured my imagination to a degree that’s rare. The world of the Long Earth is stunning. The characters Mr. Pratchett and Mr. Baxter created are fascinating individuals and it’s a rewarding experience to spend time with them.

When I read a book, I want to feel like the story exists for its own sake. I want to feel like the authors are compelled to tell this story, and no other. But the stories in The Long War and The Long Mars feel like they exist mostly as excuses to explore the expanding world of the Long Earth. This isn’t to say that the stories haven’t been good—they’re well-structured and well-told, populated by characters who I care about—but I can’t shake the feeling that different stories would have served the purpose just as well. Exploring the world takes precedence over telling the best possible story.

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I enjoyed The Long Mars, the third book in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s Long Earth series, better than the second entry. This outing managed to recapture some measure of the sense of wonder that characterized the first book in the series. Opening up the Long Mars adds a welcome layer of new complexity to the milieu.

There are three separate plot lines in this novel:

1. Sally, her father, and Frank Wood travel to and explore the Long Mars.
2. Captain Maggie Kauffman and her crew take another epic journey into the Long Earth—this time, traveling to Earth West 250,000,000.
3. Joshua and Lobsang search the Long Earth for what Lobsang believes are a newly emergent and highly developed strain of homo sapiens. Nelson Azikiwe and Roberta Golding make appearances in this plot line.

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The Long War, the second book in The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, gets a lot of things right. It corrects some of the structural missteps that the first book suffered.

And yet, I don’t enjoy this one as much as its predecessor.

Which is not to say that The Long War isn’t a good science fiction novel. It is, and I enjoyed the few hours it took me to read it. I don’t think it’s possible for two such talented authors to write something that isn’t good. The narrative structure is smoother than the first book in the series—the transitions between the various story threads are less haphazard. The tone of the writing is clearer—there are no discordant notes between the seriousness and the humor this time around.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect from The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. These two authors seem like an odd pairing. Sir Pratchett is one of the greats of humorous fantasy but certainly isn’t known for hard science fiction. Mr. Baxter is a leading light in hard science fiction and alternate history but he’s certainly not known for his comedic chops.

I’m happy to report that I enjoyed their first collaboration very much. This is a fine science fiction novel.

The Long Earth is a rather literal take on the multiverse theory—one day, people all over the world learn how to “step” into alternate Earths. There are uncounted millions—possibly an infinity—of these alternate Earths, and humanity eagerly spreads out into them. Most people require a device to step across to these other worlds, but some can step naturally, and some can’t cross the boundaries at all.

The strangest thing is that none of these other Earths have any humans in them—although there are other humanoid creatures out there…

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