Rolling Thunder

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...

Im addicted to Varley. His characters talk and act they way I would. Its refreshing. I hope we dont have to wait too long for the next one.

Book 3 of the series was the weakest. Red Thunder was good, and Red Lightening the 2nd in the series was the best, in my opinion.

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.

Mars is an independent republic with colonies of its own having won the war with Earth and keeping the bubble technology for itself. The wave killed millions of people all over the land and made much of the land unusable for growing crops. It is considered hardship duty for anyone from the Martian military to be assigned earthside but Ensign Podkayne Strickland is a one woman show at the California when she is summoned home to say good bye to her ailing grandmother who is going into stasis until they find a cure for her. Now Podkayne is a lieutenant assigned to the music, arts, and drama division based on Europa where the Crystal Mountains are a popular tourist sight. They send out very powerful radio waves but nobody knows what they mean or if there is life forms in the mountains. Podkayne is visiting the tourist attraction and she sees the crystal mountain named grumpy lift off. She goes into stasis and when she wakes up ten years have passed. Grumpy and six other mountaineers have landed on earth totally decimating the planet. Mars cant take all the people who want to immigrate to earth, and fearful that the mountains will one day turn to Mars, Podkayne and her uncle Travis subsidize a way to avoid that possibility. ROLLING THUNDER takes place sometime in the twenty-first century when humans have colonized the solar system. Podkayne is an interesting multi-faceted character, a singer who is in the military yet thinks like a Martian as she was born and raised there. The allure of Mars and their relationship to a slowly deteriorating earth is examined in much detail. The socio-political events are witnessed through Podkaynes eyes and readers will empathize with the plight of earth yet like the Martians realize the people of the Red Planet cant save everyone. Harriet Klausner