Number6's Journal

Okay, I really need to start doing these more often. Then again not many people read these.

Normally, I'd basically copy and paste my Goodreads reviews here, maybe with a couple additional comments, but... you know what, I'm exhausted today. I blame 2017. Anyway, instead, I'm just going to link directly to the Goodreads reviews of the books since last time, in case you're interested in checking them out, along with maybe a couple words.

Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon - Okay
Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky - better in description than reality.
Borrowed Tides by Paul Levinson - Awful, complete garbage, more fun writing the review complaining about how stupid it was than reading it.
Bird Box by Josh Malerman - Really good concept, decent execution
Waking Hell by Al Robertson - Good sequel-not-really-but-set-in-the-same-world
Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald - Interesting set of short stories
Limit of Vision by Linda Nagata (reread)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - Really great concept, but really needed to be longer so there was time to breathe.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
The Trader's War by Charles Stross
Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders - very much Not My Thing
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger (reread)
A Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger (reread)
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (reread) - Liked it as much or more the second time
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
The Exile Kiss by George Alec Effinger (reread)
Impulse by Steven Gould (reread)
Woken Furies by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts (short stories) - Like the concept of SF stories centered around mental illness, a few seemed to miss the point.
Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson - Not Wilson's best, but I always enjoy his work.
Uglies by Scott Westerfield - Good start to a YA series.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - Pretty good.
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (reread) - Much iffier than I remember.
The Revolution Trade by Charles Stross
Spin State by Chris Moriarty (reread)
The Weave by Nancy Jane Moore - Has some elements I don't particularly like in my SF so was only okay.
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory - Pretty cool idea and well told story.
Spin Control by Chris Moriarty (reread) - not especially exciting but relentlessly interesting
Tech-Heaven by Linda Nagata - really disappointing book from an author I normally really enjoy.
Children of the Divide by Patrick S. Tomlinson
Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty
Exo by Steven Gould (reread)
The Uploaded by Ferrett Steinmetz
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (short stories) - Pretty good set of stories.
The Waking Engine by David Edison - Disappointing but the author's got potential.
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling (reread)
Provenance by Ann Leckie - Loved the first 2/3, last 1/3 felt a bit disconnected. Still cool stuff.
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler - Classic SF for a reason, great alien-human interaction story.
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - Watched the movie first, book's very similar, still enjoyed it
Firestarter by Stephen King (reread)
Expendable by James Alan Gardner - liked the high concept behind the universe but the humor aspect wore thin as it went on.
Artemis by Andy Weir - Decent, but doesn't hold a candle to The Martian. And you shouldn't be lighting a candle anyway on the Moon or Mars unless you're very careful and have clearance.
Barbary Station by R.E. Stearns - Lesbian pirates of color vs a murderous AI? Some really good stuff but something about the writing style made it difficult for me.
Babylon's Ashes by James S.A Corey - Enjoyed it but the ending felt a bit too abrupt.
A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason - Good anthropological SF, but dragged a bit.
The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt - Disappointing, loads of stuff I normally love in SF but just couldn't take it seriously for the most part, felt like TV SF in book form.
Against the Tide of Years by S.M. Stirling (reread)
On the Oceans of Eternity by S.M. Stirling (reread)
Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling - Okay, but not nearly as good as the short story that made me want to read all the stuff in the universe.
The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (reread) - Old fashioned, a bit awkward, but some mindblowing ideas about time-travel.



Now for my YEAR IN REVIEW!
So, in 2017, I read 75 books! Same as last year, that may be my limit. Goodreads counts that as 29,726 pages, or 3.393 pages every hour I was alive, or one page every 17.7 minutes. Again, mostly read while at work, walking to/from work, or doing laundry.

I do think I'm going to consciously try to read less next year. Just because I got the sense that I was rushing some of the books just to keep on track, rather than savoring them at their own pace, and having time where I'm not reading but just thinking of my own ideas can't hurt. Okay, that could hurt, but I don't expect it to hurt much. Don't have a number per se, but just to keep it in mind. But it's not a New Year's resolution because I don't make those.

01. ...?
02. The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
( Read more... )
75. The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (reread)

... Okay, making this list (I did it from the bottom up), I just realized, that Goodreads counted Altered Carbon twice for some reason. But you know what, several of those Charles Stross books were actually two books combined into one. So I'm calling it 75 anyway, just pretending I split up one, because if I knew I was one behind, I'd have chosen a couple shorter books to make it up. So there, Goodreads. :P The total page read count is probably about 300-400 pages less, too. Oh well.

Anyway, trends: 23 rereads, which is almost 1/3. The rest were new books. 4 Multi-author short fiction collections, which means 71/70 single-author books. 19 books by women based on a quick count, so still want to get things more even there.

My favorite non-reread was probably Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson. The most-popular book I read was The Time Traveler's Wife.

So yes, it's the end of another year. One widely considered to be one of the worst in recent memory at least, and I can't say I disagree. I can, however, offer advice. If, after midnight, you happen to come across a discarded calendar of 2016... don't get complacent. Stab, stomp, or burn the thing immediately. We all know how it works in the movies, the monster always SEEMS dead but then it somehow lurches back for one final attack when people leave the body behind.

In other news, one last book foo of the year!

Finished: Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Red, the lowest of the low in a rigid (and color-coded) hierarchy of society working on Mars. He believes he's laboring to make it habitable, but it's already habitable... the Golds at the top just keep the Reds in utter subjugation for convenience. But after Darrow loses everything he cares about, he's given a chance to strike back, to turn into a Gold and work to infiltrate their society and, perhaps, one day, strike back at them.

Typical YA scenario. Dystopia run on pure evil. Teen hero with improbably impressive abilities fighting against it. Competition, a little romance. There's nothing exceptionally novel about it, and it's even gimmicky in a few ways... but at the same time it has a pretty good fun factor. ( Read more... ) I've heard the series does improve greatly after the first book (and some say it even grows to be more proper science fiction), and despite my reservations with Red Rising, I did like this one enough that I'm willing to follow along and see if that's true.


Finished: The Noise Within, by Ian Whates

A pirate ship's been prowling the spacelanes, and special forces troops are trying to track it down. So is a businessman, who believes the ship is actually a lost prototype his company put out.. and designed to be the first ship piloted by an AI. ( Read more... )In a generally better book, I might have looked past these groaners, but here, they're about the only thing that stuck with me.


Finished: Phantasm Japan (short stories)

This is a collection of fantasy stories, about half written by Japanese authors and translated, and about half written in English that just happen to involve some aspect of Japanese culture or mythology. ( Read more... )I still think I'd give it only 3 stars, like the other anthology, but it's a much higher 3 stars.

Finished: Worlds That Weren't (short stories) (reread)

This is a collection of alternate history tales, and as there's only four of them, they're of novella length. In one, Socrates goes to war with an old friend and ends up changing his mind. In another, over a century after a major meteor shower in 1878 radically realigns the world and puts the brakes on progress, an aristocrat from India (now the center of what was once the British Empire) goes hunting in the wilds of Texas. In another, a group of mercenaries get into conflict with a religious order over their demand to bury a woman fighting with them. And in the last, German Philosopher Frederich Nietzsche moves to the U.S. for his health and eventually winds up in the middle of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

I love alternate history. In theory. ( Read more... )Two stars.

Finished: A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
Because even reading the simple summary spoils some aspects of the ending of "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet," hiding behind a cut.
( Read more... )I liked the first book, a lot, but I thought I might like it as an exception, as a novelty. This one is less a novelty, but I liked it even more, which means the author is definitely one to keep watching.

Finished: Golden Son, by Pierce Brown

(description behind cut for possible Red Rising spoilers) ( Read more... )It looks like I'm hating on the book a lot more than I am, but I think more than anything I'm just disappointed by the hype. It's fine. I don't think I wasted my time on it. I'll probably read the third book (my level of enjoyment and curiosity about how they'll move on from where they did are just enough to make that decision) but I'll set my expectations a lot more realistically. Dumb fun is still fun.

Finished: Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson (reread)
Normally I don't review rereads, but since I had to write a Goodreads review for it the first time I might not have my official one posted here, so, here goes:

One night, three kids are outside as the stars disappear. Soon, they, and the rest of the world, come to learn the shocking truth... the entire Earth has been wrapped in some kind of bubble, and for every year that passes on Earth, millions upon millions of years pass in the rest of the universe. If it keeps up, within decades, the sun will die. But life goes on, or at least it tries to, and people deal with the upcoming apocalypse in their own ways. ( Read more... )Overall it's just a fantastic book that I'd recommend to everyone, even if you're not a hard-core SF fan.

Finished: The End of All Things, by John Scalzi

Part of a long-running series, so plot description might be spoilery.
( Read more... )I like the author, but I want to read stories that I feel excite him, and I don't get that feel from this book, by and large. I'm not entirely ready to give up on the universe, but I think he needs to find a new focus to build stories around, and let the political shenanigans and authoritarian dirty tricks move more into the background, rather than center stage.

Finished: The City and the City, by China Mieville (reread)

Finished: The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters (reread)

Finished: Countdown City, by Ben H. Winters (reread)

Finished: Infomocracy, by Malka Ann Older

In the future, the world's political systems have changed dramatically, now (aside from a few holdout countries) everyone is divided into groups of their 100,000 nearest neighbors, and vote every ten years on which government will rule them. Within their 'centenals', the laws of their governments hold, even if another government is just across the street. It's election time again, and everybody's scrambling for control of more and more areas, and a few might be scheming to tamper with the vote. ( Read more... )Overall, I'd say I like it more than many of the actual elections that were going on this year that I was aware of. Which is a low bar to beat, admittedly, but still the novel's in a mild 'like' category, so, three stars. I'm not sure I'd read a sequel, but only because I think as a series this may be geared more to the type of people who really are into this stuff. But I might be willing to give it a try, if a sequel expanded on the world more and got more deeply into the character's other traits than being electoral geeks, or try other works by the author.

Finished: World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters (reread)

I'm not sure what it says that I closed out the year with a reread of a trilogy set in the months before a civilization-ending asteroid hits the Earth. Maybe that it's preferable to how the rest of 2016's gone.

Anyway, my end of the year wrapup!

My complete 2016 reading list was:

1. Planetfall, by Emma Newman
( Read more... )
75. World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters (reread)

75 is a new record for me, for yearly books read. Average length was 376 pages, 27,061 pages overall. That's 3.08 pages every hour of the year. Or one page every 19.5 minutes of my life.

10 multi-author short story collections this year (1 was a reread... technically one was a collection of essays, but we'll count it here)

That leaves us with 65. Breaking it down by gender, I did not do so well as last year, 19 books by women. (In addition, one trans male who is counted on the male side, and one author who I understand identified as androgynous, so I haven't counted in either category)

Now, last year I had accidental gender equality, but one key factor was in play last year... last year I had a secondary goal of no rereads. This year, I've been rereading some books. I had 17 rereads, one of which was a short story collection, one was by a female author, and 15 by males. Obviously, there's a historical imbalance, since before I was consciously trying to 'read more women authors', a large majority of my reading was by males, and so a large majority of my favorites have been as well (and that's likely to persist for quite a while).

If we remove rereads from the equation and focus on new books, there'd be 49 single-author books in total. 48 by people who identify either as male or female. Of that, 18 by women authors is still lower than I'd like, but a bit more respectable at least. Still, clearly there are unintentional biases that push my reading taste more towards male writers.

I'll continue trying in the future, to try and read more diverse voices in general.

I got 5 physical books for free as part of promotional 'contest' style giveaways, as well as 4 others that were pre-release electronic book giveaways for review purposes for a total of 9 (these are the ones with asterisks beside them). Another 6 I got for free either because that's how the publishers or authors generally offer them, or as special post-release promotions where they offered them free to everyone for a limited time.

Going into 2017, I'm reading:
The John Varley Reader, by John Varley (short stories), The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds and Fire with Fire, by Charles Gannon

Bit in a rush, so no other comments, still alive, that's about all that matters.

On to Book Foo... had to divide it into two posts, sorry, blame LJ:

Finished: Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen

Disclaimer: I received this book free through a giveaway (although, not through Goodreads itself). I don't think it affects my review.

A secret agent, code-named Kangaroo, has the apparently unique ability to open a portal to an empty universe and store stuff there. This makes him extremely valuable and makes up for the other areas where he may lack some of the qualities ideal in a secret agent. But when he's on vacation, none of that should matter. Except on his vacation cruise between Earth and Mars he stumbles upon a plot that could lead to interplanetary war.

I find I don't really have a lot to say about this book. It's fun, but it doesn't blow me away. ( Read more... )

Finished: The Future is Japanese (short stories)

What I thought this book was: A book of science fiction stories mostly by Japanese authors, many of which translated into English for the first time.
What this book actually was: A book of mostly science fiction stories, about half written by Japanese authors (and may well have been translated for the first time), the other half written by Western authors (many of whom have a particular connection to Japan) in English but set in Japan or using Japanese characters.

The difference between what I thought this book was and what it actually was, was a big disappointment.( Read more... )

Finished: The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler

After the ship her father is traveling on is lost at sea, twelve-year-old Alice goes to lie with an uncle she never knew she had, who has a mysterious and impossible Library. There she soon comes to discover that she is a Reader, with abilities that include traveling through magic books and controlling creatures imprisoned within. And there may be much more to her father's disappearance that she needs to uncover.

Disclaimer: I won the first three books in this series through a giveaway. I don't think it affected my review.

Obviously, this is a book intended for an audience much younger than me... the back of the book reads ages ten and up.( Read more... )Rating-wise, I'll put it at three stars, while acknowledging I'd probably have given it four were I the proper age. Since I won all three currently-published books of the series, and I did enjoy it, I'll be continuing on with the others before probably passing the books on to someone who could appreciate them more.

Finished: The Mad Apprentice by Django Wexler

(description cut due to possible spoilers)
( Read more... )I'll give it a star beyond what I gave the first.

Finished: The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

For some mysterious reason, nobody can remember Hope Arden. After you stop interacting with her for more than about a minute, you completely and permanently forget she'd ever existed. Naturally, this makes a few things difficult. She lives as a thief, at first for survival and then for the thrill, but when somebody she's interacted with commits suicide, and it seems to be connected with a phone app that is becoming ubiquitous, she gets involve for personal reasons, and is caught up in events that might change the world... even if no one will remember her part in it.

First, a little personal info. Long ago, on an online text-based roleplaying game themed around the X-Men, I played a character with a power/curse very much like this ( Read more... )So far Claire North's books under this pseudonym have been extremely enjoyable and I look forward to what comes next.

Finished: The Palace of Glass by Django Wexler
(plot synopsis behind cut because of potential spoilers for previous books)( Read more... )I don't think I'm going to be one of those people that buy the snap up the next book when it comes out... my reading list is already much too big. But, I might like to see what happens, and so if one day I happen to see the next book in a discount bin or something, I might grab it. Or a few years down the line if I'm gripped by nostalgia and a burning curiosity, maybe I'll try to find the series. Or, maybe I'll just look up summaries on Wikipedia. Too soon to say. But I was more into the series than I expected to be, which says something, at least.

Finished: The Just City by Jo Walton

The goddess Athena gathers people from all over time for a bold experiment... to recreate the "ideal society" proposed in Plato's Republic. In addition to admirers of Plato from across time, she also helps them recruit slave children to be the free citizens of the Republic, and robots to do the work. While the society is very different from ours, it seems im many ways to be working... at least until Socrates shows up and starts asking questions.( Read more... )Personally, I think it's my favorite of her works (which, admittedly, I've only read two of).

Finished: Metrophage by Richard Kadrey

A young punk tries to stay alive in a near future torn between gangs and corporate-controlled governments with sinister agendas. There's also a plague.

Okay, so it's cyberpunk, that classic 80s subgenre of SF filled with street level characters, cyber-enhancement and drugs, morally grey protagonists and cynical plotlines.( Read more... )I'll probably forget it almost entirely within a few years, as there's very little sticking in my memory right now. Maybe someone less familiar with the tropes of the subgenre would get more out of it, and maybe in historical context it was published right at the perfect time to stick in the minds of the readers, but for me, it was only okay.

Finished: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (reread)

Finished: City of Pearl by Karen Traviss

A long mission has been sent to a colony on a distant planet that had been thought gone. Leading it is an environmental protection officer who isn't even entirely aware of her mission, just that it's locked away in some corner of her mind. On the planet, she finds that the colony is safe and under the protection of another alien race, seemingly far more advanced than humanity, and must strike a balance between keeping good relations and discovering all she can... a task which gets complicated with many different competing interests.

I can't really find a lot to say about this book. I liked it, but it didn't blow me away. ( Read more... )I enjoyed it well enough, though, and found one of the central sci-fi-y concepts interesting enough, that I might move on to the rest of the series in time.

Finished: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread, as I always tend to do when going to cons)

Finished: A Hidden Place by Robert Charles Wilson

During the Depression, a young man goes to live with his aunt and uncle. A mysterious girl lives upstairs that isn't quite normal. And meanwhile, a lonely drifter wanders the roads, drawn by some impulse towards another part of the country.

Robert Charles Wilson is one of my favorite authors. But it took him a while to get there. Some of his earlier work I've read, I liked, but not as much as his more recent offerings. This book is his first novel.... so I approached it with both curiosity and a little trepidation. First novels are often a little rough. ( Read more... )So two stars, only okay. But if this is your first experience with the author, check out some of his later work.

Don't really have time for a TV wrapup this time, maybe I'll do a separate one later.

But here are the last batch of books read:

Finished: Against A Dark Background by Iain M. Banks (reread)

As the year 10000 approaches, the Lady Sharrow is marked for assassination by religious extremists, who believe her death, for the actions of her ancestors, will allow a religious prophecy to be fulfilled. Only two things, besides her death, will alter things. If she can stay alive until the decamillenia, or if she can return the priceless artifact that sparked the feud... an impossible weapon that has long been lost. Sharrow assembles her old team from when she was a soldier, and sets out to find the last Lazy Gun, a weapon that kills with a sense of humor, even though the clues to its location are tied to other, also lost, artifacts. Unfortunately, others want the gun. ( Read more... )But on the whole, I really liked that book, even the second time around.

Finished: Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired By Microsoft (short story collection)
As the title suggests, this is a set of stories that were inspired by Microsoft... as I understand it, several authors were invited to tour the facilities and see stuff the company was developing, and write stories if they were inspired. ( Read more... )Worth a look, at least.

Finished: Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Wil Brierson is a detective, maybe the last one. Sometime in the twenty-second century, every human on Earth disappeared. The only ones left are those who were, at the time, encased in "bobbles", spheres of absolute stasis that many used to jump ahead through the years... and there are only a few hundred people left, trying to build what society they can by jumping further and further ahead to collect more stragglers. Nobody knows what happened to the rest. But that's not Wil's case. Nor is it his case to find the person who bobbled him for over a hundred years without his consent and separated him from his family forever... although he'd really like to do that, too. No, his case is to solve a murder of one of the few survivors left, who was murdered by being left outside of the bobbles, marooned in realtime, when everyone else jumped a century into the future. Murder by old age. But since the victim is one of the key people trying to keep the human race viable, it's a crime that everyone's got a stake in. ( Read more... )This was my first reread of the book, and I already know I want to reread it again somewhere down the line.

Finished: The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter

A reporter in a Russian of the future does more than tell a tale... she sees it, feels it, and the audience is wired into her brain to feel it through her, almost live, ideally with some of the personal or embarrassing bits edited out by a screener. Maya is one such reporter, and she's doing a story about the anniversary of a set of atrocities in a prior war, and working with a new, untested screener. But as she follows the story, she uncovers a lot more than she expected about both the world, and herself.

Wow. This is one of those books I'd only heard of through the occasional, but usually high, recommendation. But it wasn't in print, and I couldn't find a copy in any of the used bookstores I frequent. Eventually, I had to order a copy online from a used bookseller. And I'm glad I did. ( Read more... )This is Raphael Carter's first and only novel, which is a huge shame. They seem to have disappeared from the SF scene, but after reading this, I hope they're still out there and may one day make a return, I think they'd fit in well with some of my favorites of today. Also a huge shame is how this book seems to be one of those ones that made a small splash but then disappeared. It really should be remembered.

Finished: The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson

Aliens visit the Earth, but at first they're silent, visible in the sky but not engaging. Until finally, in mass dream, they speak to everybody at once with an incredible offer. They will give functional immortality to everyone who wants it. As well as other benefits. The only catch is... once death is no longer a concern to you, or anyone else, you can't help but change your outlook, your priorities... you, in essence. And maybe that means you're no longer going to be what you presently consider human. Still, most people accept the offer. The novel follows a few of the small minority that refuse it, who are left unaffected, except that they're in a world full of people who said "yes." Could this all be a sinister ploy by the aliens and those who accepted the offer are enslaved and need rescuing? And, even if it's not... is it that much better?

This type of book is pretty much Robert Charles Wilson's specialty. A big event that can't help but change the world, and yet the focus is on the personal, how individual, rather normal people react to it, often helpless to change the course of events.( Read more... )Still, on the whole, I enjoyed the book. Wilson may not have shown himself as capable as he has in other works, but it was still interesting and worth a read. And he avoided several pitfalls that I think others might have fallen into and created a story that was far more conventional and much less interesting. The biggest sin is that I think that if he wrote from the same premise today, I think it might be a great book instead of merely good.

Finished: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

A giant metal hand is found under the ground, one that defies known science and anthropology. At first dismissed, years later it becomes the focus of intense investigation and top-secret efforts to find more of these artifacts and perhaps lay claim to the power behind them.

Full disclosure: I received a copy of this book free through a Goodreads giveaway. I don't think it affected my review. ( Read more... )The book's part of a series, but I'm not interested in continuing and seeing how it wraps up, I think I'd rather be reading other books. This one, it's just not my thing.

Finished: A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias

The distant planet Ilmatar is a single ocean with a roof of ice, and almost all of that ocean is without light. But it is the home to intelligent life, and humans have been secretly studying the crab-like beings, following the rules of the Sholen, another alien race, who dictate that there be no contact. When poor judgement causes the death of one of the science team, at the hands of an Ilmatarian, the Sholen come to assess the situation and decide whether the human expedition needs to be shut down... but they might not be willing to go along with the Sholen's rules if it means shutting down research rather than merely inconveniencing it.

This book is a lot of fun and will stick with me for a while, and I'm sure I'll reread it, because while it does have its flaws, it succeeds very well at one of of my favorite things in the genre. ( Read more... )But hey, it's a first novel and a really good one at that. I can't wait to see more.

Finished: Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper
Long ago, an offshoot of humanity that had embraced technological advancement, transplanting themselves into robot bodies or computer systems, was expelled from the rest of the system. Since then, they've lurked in the dark fringes, occasionally raiding or trading with the stations. But suddenly they launch an attack to show their power and make their demands... they want to be let back in, on their own terms.

This book explores a number of themes that I really like, but it didn't work for me quite as much as I'd hoped.( Read more... )Still, I might read the sequel, see how it all turns out.

Finished: The Diving Bundle: Six Diving Universe Novellas by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Space is really big, and really dangerous. That means there are a lot of wrecks, damaged ships, abandoned stations, and more. Some people, for money, knowledge, or glory, like to explore these wrecks, much like people in bygone eras would put on a diving suit to explore a sunken ship. But in space, it's a lot more dangerous, as the wrecks mght contain technologies that are lost or poorly understood, and still active, or worse, malfunctioning. And sometimes, even weirder things can be found...

This is a set of novellas, loosely connected, set in the same universe. Many of them are also parts of longer novels.( Read more... )I'll merely mark it down as a universe and writer I'm interested in checking out again somewhere down the line.

Finished: The Diamond Age: or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (reread)

In the future, most basic needs are taken care of, with nanotechnology producing food, clothing, and furniture... but that doesn't mean there aren't the rich and the poor, or conflicts. One rich man commissions an intelligent book for his daughter, to educate her and give her the mindset needed to challenge ideas and become a leader. However, an illegal copy of the book also falls into the hands of Nell, a poor girl in an unstable family situation, and her stories may also change the world.

I read this once, long long ago, probably around the time it first came out (about twenty years ago). ( Read more... )Still the book is awash with cool ideas, many of which are still mind-blowing and relevant (maybe even more relevant) today, and an appealing tale of both the power and risks of technology, without losing sight of the human element. Even in the storylines I wasn't quite feeling as much, I found myself stopping and thinking, "Wow, that's so neat," many times.

And I wish I had a Primer of my own.

Finished: Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Two college students discover how to give people super powers, and try it on themselves. Ten years later, one finally breaks out of prison, bent on revenge against the other. Each finds allies with unique powers of their own. But in this story, the heroes and villains aren't as easy to pick out as they are in the comics.( Read more... )I'd recommend the book to people who like superhero comics or shows or movies, even if they're not huge novel readers in general. The book's enough of a page-turner that if you think you might enjoy a novel but are just not sure where to start, and are afraid of being bogged down in something huge and dense, and the subject matter seems to your liking, this is a pretty good choice, maybe better than any other superhero novel that immediately comes to mind (with the possible exception of the Jumper books).

Finished: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Disclaimer: I recieved an electronic ARC from Netgalley for free. I don't think it affected my review.

In the far future, as part of a ploy to retake control of a space station that has fallen to heresy, a brilliant but disgraced, mass-murdering and long-dead general is bonded to a loyal soldier with a mathematical gift and given command of a group of ships.

I've had a somewhat of a mixed relationship with Yoon Ha Lee's short fiction. A few I've really enjoyed, while some of what he's written has done nothing for me. Still, the ones I liked I liked enough that I was really interested to see what he'd write at novel length.

Unfortunately, the results are also somewhat mixed, for me, at least, although some of that is because of personal distaste for some of the approach and worldbuilding. In fact, for the first third or so, I was convinced I was going to give it two stars at best.( Read more... )And even though my rating is only three stars, I can see certain types of SF readers really liking this first book as it is, craving the complete dislocation that was a bit much for me.

Finished: Glasshouse by Charles Stross (reread)
It's the far future. Earth is a distant memory... most people don't even live on planets anymore, but rather small habitats linked by wormhole gates. And death's difficult to come by, because you can back yourself up as easily as taking a shower. If you want, you can change your body-plan or gender while you're at it. But there are still wars, and in the wake of one, many people have chosen to wipe their memories and start fresh. Some of these people, including Robin, an ex-spy who may have a mission so secret even he isn't aware of it, are recruited into what seems like an innocent three-year experiment, to examine how the society of the 20th century worked, by establishing a community following similar rules as they had to live under. No choosing your body. No instant repair. No ability to leave early if you don't like it. And a lot of expectations for how you behave. And Robin's worried the experiment may be run by war criminals with a nefarious agenda.

I've read this book at least four times now. That alone should tell you that I really enjoy it.( Read more... )

Finished: Permanence by Karl Schroeder (reread)

Rue Cassels steals her inheritance, which includes part-ownership of a ship, in order to escape her older half-brother and forge a new life for herself outside of his control. While in transit, she stumbles upon on unregistered comet, and stakes a claim, making her wealthy... but things only get more complicated when the comet turns out to be a cycler, a starship that runs on a cycle around the dim, chilly worlds that have been colonized between stars, like Rue's. Cyclers haven't been coming by as often as they used to, since the development of FTL that only works near stars, and Rue's society is slowly withering. A single cycler would help, but she soon learns that there's a lot more going on, and the stakes are a lot bigger than one person, one world, or even one species.

I read this book once before, and although it wasn't my favorite of Schroeder's, by far, I still quite enjoyed it.( Read more... )Despite this, I had a lot of fun revisiting the story and ideas, and thinking about some of the issues it brought up. Schroeder remains one of my favorite authors, this simply isn't one of his best works.

Currently reading: Nemesis Games, by James S.A Corey (Expanse #5), Echopraxia by Peter Watts (reread), and A World Out of Time by Larry Niven (honestly I don't even know if it's a reread or not, I found it on my shelf but it inspires no memory in me, not even of when I acquired it).

Before we dip into the books, some TV stuff to talk about because I keep saying I might do it in another post and forgetting...
Superhero TV:
I'm enjoying Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl more or less. Not perfect, but solidly enjoyable. Legends of Tomorrow I'm more mixed on. I like the characters and their interactions but on a plot level it's just not working for me, time travel plots are hard to make work long term, and Vandal Savage is not enough of a "mission" especially when they keep making dumb mistakes (I remember recently reading someone say that it's a problem with chaining your ongoing TV show a movie-style single-mission plot... if you're not careful all your heroes have to fail every single week). And, fundamentally... I'd rather see certain characters like Captain Cold on the OTHER DC shows, even if only occasionally, rather than used here. Lucifer's not really a superhero show but it was based on a comic, but typically they ruined it by making it a procedural.

Upcoming:Daredevil season 2 starts soon.

Book-inspired TV:
The Expanse: Enjoyed it for the most part, although I'm a bit confused at where they stopped, cause I don't think there's enough story left in Book 1 to make a 13 ep second season, so are they going to wrap up book 1 in the first few episodes then jump to book 2? IDK. But I'm looking forward to it regardless.

The Magicians: Never read the books, but I tried the series on a whim, and am surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. For those who don't know, it's a bit of a cross between Harry Potter and Narnia for adults... college students learn they're magicians and go to a magical college (and one of them has a connection to another world). Not perfect and the characters are occasionally rather unlikable, but they're likably unlikable, if that makes sense. Mostly enjoying the story of Julia, who takes the entrance exam for the school and told that no, she's not magical enough.

The Man In The High Castle: Was actually quite impressed with this series overall, looking forward to next season.

The 100: Technically based on a book series but IIRC was created before the book even came out (which I've never read), but what the hell, I'll call it here. Still, for a show based on a YA series on the most "teen-centric" of the networks, it's remarkably deep and daring, and I look forward to it. Also, even though it took a while to make that clear, yay for having a bisexual lead protagonist.

Upcoming: 11/23/63, an adaptation of Stephen King's time travel "save Kennedy" story, starts on Hulu or something in a few days with James Franco as the lead. King's stories are usually ones where the journey is fun but the endings suck (although this novel wasn't TOO bad in that regard), so it works for a series. Probably a few others in the long term, but nothing particularly soon that I can remember.

Other Shows: Watching Colony, fairly basic "living under and occupation, only the occupiers are aliens!" type story, but I think it's well done so far. And I'm still annoyed that Doctor Who is taking a year off (except for the Christmas ep) for the stupid Olympics, but on the other hand pleased Moffat's going to be leaving after the next full season, but on the gripping hand, not all that impressed by Chris Chibnall so far. So, overall, meh on that.

Now, onto January (and early February) books!

Finished: Planetfall by Emma Newman

Renata maintains the 3D printers on a new colony on an alien world, one that was half-religious pilgrimage, lead by her ex-lover and settled at the edge of an alien city that is nearly incomprehensible. For decades the Pathfinder has been gone, and the colony believes she's communing with God inside the city, but there are dark secrets surrounding the Planetfall and when a newcomer arrives to the colony, they threaten to tear Renata apart.( Read more... )

All in all, I was ready to give it four stars... up until the ending. Without spoiling, ( Read more... )Still, what came before that was done well enough that the author's on my radar for the future.

Finished: Stars: Stories Inspired by the Songs of Janis Ian (short story collection)

As the title indicates, this is a set of stories inspired by the songs of singer-songwriter Janis Ian. ( Read more... )The collection might do particularly well with somebody who's a bigger fan of her than I am, but otherwise, it's solid.

Finished: Aliens: Recent Encounters (short story collection)
Recently, I read an anthology, Alien Contact, and found myself somewhat disappointed... while there were a couple good stories, not only were a lot of the contacts not first contacts, but also, many of the aliens seemed to either go to extremes of "even if ridiculous things happen that's just because aliens are completely incomprehensible, so why bother trying" to "humans in funny suits with a few cultural differences". I found it hard to understand how an anthology pulling the best first contact stories from all of SF history could wind up so uninspiring.

But I still had that itch that needed to be scratched, stories of the alien, but with a sense that there was a real something behind them, something that may be hard for the the human mind to grasp, but not impossible to at least approach. So I tried again, with Aliens: Recent Encounters. The Recent is because these stories were all pulled from the year 2000 or later, which should make it less likely to get great stories, but somehow the opposite happened.( Read more... )Most importantly, it successfully scratched that particular itch, for stories of the alien... for a while, at least.

Finished: City by Clifford D. Simak

Long after Mankind has left Earth behind, the planet has gone to the dogs... literally. They have risen to intelligence and created their own society, aided by robots, and been on their own so long that many have come to doubt the stories about Man were mere legends. But they study the stories anyway.

Sounds like Pixar's next great movie!

Of course, it's not quite so commercial. ( Read more... ) Note: All the cheap dog puns in this review are my own, not in the book itself.

Finished: Vast by Linda Nagata
Third book in a trilogy, so the synopsis is cut.
( Read more... )I enjoyed the book, maybe on the low end of the scale because I think the ideas may have ran away with her, a little, at the expense of compelling story and characters this time around, but it really makes me crave her return to more farther future speculation. If she could somehow blend this talent for far out SF ideas with the more personal character work she displayed in her Red trilogy, I think she'd easily generate a book I don't just enjoy, but consider a favorite.

Finished: Central Station by Lavie Tidhar

I recieved an electronic advance review copy from NetGalley. Since I technically said I'd only post my review on Goodreads until closer to the publication date, instead of copy/pasting it, I'll just link directly to that one for now. But in short, I quite liked it and would like to see more in that universe.

Finished: Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield
Tomorrow and Tomorrow tells of Drake Merlin, a composer who discovers his wife, and love of his life, Ana, is dying of an incurable disease. Unwilling to lose her, he has her froze in the hopes that later there will be a cure... and then soon after, freezes himself, so that he can be around to take care of her and make sure she's brought back. But things may be more difficult than he anticipated, and he must go further and further into the future in the slim hope that he and Ana might be reunited.

This is my first experience with Sheffield, at least in novel form, but I don't think it'll be my last. ( Read more... )All in all, I think it's a three, but a very high three, and enough tickled my sense of wonder that I'm interested in checking out what else the author's done.

Still Reading (or finished but haven't put up reviews: The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway, Murasaki (early 90s shared world project by 6 Nebula-winning authors), Trident's Forge by Patrick S. Tomlinson (eARC from Netgalley, sequel to The Ark), Faith by John Love

Only 4 days from the day that shall not be named and the associated rubbing-the-face-in-unhappiness. :P At least it's on a Sunday so I have to go to sleep early that day anyway.

Probably the second last of the year.
But first, just a couple brief TV thoughts:

Doctor Who: Last week's episode (with the Veil) was one of the best in recent memory, marred only by tying it to the annoying Hybrid plot, which, well, it depends on how it turns out but I'm not optimistic about it being anything other than a clumsy and not very good retcon. But we'll see.

Jessica Jones: Really enjoyed it. I do have some thoughts on some things I might like to see in future seasons, but I don't really want to get into them right now. Maybe I'll do a separate TV post.

The Expanse: Haven't watched the first ep yet, even though it's been streaming all over, but I'm enjoying the books and looking forward to it.

The Man In The High Castle: Just started watching this one (Though I saw the pilot months ago), still not sure about it but on a production-values/acting/etc standpoint it looks really good.

Flash/Arrow: Still enjoy it, but the season so far have been hampered by how hard they're pushing towards the Legends of Tomorrow spinoff. So much doesn't feel natural but rather driven because they need to introduce/reintroduce characters and get them into position. Hopefully once it's gone they'll settle down a little. Flash is better off on that front because at least it has the Zoom plotline.

Walking Dead: I can't believe they ended the midseason on that point and not a point what would be, in the comic, a few pages later.

Anyway, now to books!

Finished: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

( Description cut because it's third in a series )I recommend the series as whole and can't wait to see more from this author.

Finished: Forgotten Suns by Judith Tarr

On a distant planet, a young girl in a family of archaeologists accidentally releases a man who looks human, but is an alien king with psionic powers, left behind in stasis by his people because he was too much of a threat... but now, he may be the only one who can save them.

I did not care for this book at all. It was a slog to get through. ( Read more... )In the end, I just didn't give a damn about what happened. It felt more like a fantasy novel with a light papering over of sci-fi tropes, and worse, not even a particularly interesting fantasy novel, where characters make clever or difficult decisions in high-stakes situations, but rather one where characters are dragged along by destiny and prophecy.

Finished: Children of the Comet by Donald Moffitt (recieved for free)

Six billion years in the future, Earth is uninhabitable, beneath the surface of the red giant sun. But life persists, in the outer reaches of the solar system, huge trees grow from comets, and people live there too, keeping air in hand-made suits. But things threaten to change when a ship arrives, a ship full of humans returning to see what home is like after a long, time-dilated trip to another galaxy. ( Read more... )If it were a shorter story focused on the good parts, I might have given it a 3 or possibly even a 4. Everything else... well, it certainly could have been done well, but in this case, it wasn't, and the entire book suffered for it.

Finished: Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson
Jack Forster has returned to his home after a war. Home is a giant space station, run by the Pantheon, artificially intelligent corporations that, to the human population, fill the role of gods, in the Ancient Greek mold. Jack's not welcome at home, because during the war he surrendered to the other side, but the terms of the peace allow him home, and he wants to wrap up loose ends before his looming death... for Jack has an AI war machine named Hugo Fist, in his head, and once the license expires in a few more months, Hugo will overwrite him. He came to peace with that with the help of an old flame, and wants to see in her last days... only he discovers she's already dead, and it's connected to an old case that may involve the Pantheon.

For a first novel, this is quite impressive and right up my alley. ( Read more... )Still, it was only a minor disappointment, and I otherwise had a lot of fun with the book, and it would probably make my personal shortlist for the Hugo nominations of this year. I'm definitely going to have to look out for whatever Robertson does next.

Finished: Strong-Arm Tactics by Jody Lynn Nye
Lt. Wolfe has just taken command of the Cockroaches, a platoon full of some of the most highly skilled--yet least regarded--soldiers in the Galactic Defense Force. They don't always follow the rules, but in a pinch, they'll get things done, and they're a good squad to lead... if you can earn their respect.

This is a light comedic military SF story, first in a series, apparently, although there don't seem to be any sequels in the ten years since it was first published, so perhaps that plan fell through. In any event, it's something of a mix between traditional military SF, with pitched battles and (at least in the first books) various training sequences, but with a vibe something like McHale's Navy added on top of it.( Read more... )It was an easy read, never a slog, and I don't regret the time I spent on it, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to read more if there were sequels available.

Finished: Hellspark by Janet Kagan

A multi-cultural science team is studying a newly-discovered planet teem with life... some of which, they think might be intelligent. But they're not sure, because they've been unable to establish any meaningful communication. After one of the survey team is killed, possibly by the natives, the team's leader is ready to declare them non-sentient and the planet ripe for exploration. But other members of the team disagree, and a human trader, a Hellspark, is called upon to investigate the issue and perhaps decide the fate of a whole world.

On the face of it, this feels like a fairly standard pulp SF novel of the era. But the author does wind up having some really interesting points on communication and how culturally-instilled concepts and taboos that we're not even aware of can affect relationships between people and cultures. ( Read more... )But on the whole, I enjoyed it.

Finished: The Ark by Patrick S. Tomlinson

When the people of Earth discovered a rogue black hole that would destroy the planet, they spent their last years trying to save some shred of humanity, building the Ark, a massive generation starship bound for a new world. That was two hundred years ago, and they're now nearing the other side of the journey. But when somebody goes missing, Detective Brian Benson must investigate. He soon finds it's murder, and it could mean very bad things for the human race. ( Read more... ) This is a first novel, and typically I give a little bit of a bump in scores, but this one didn't really need it... it probably would have scored near enough to a 4 star rating as it was. It's also the first book of a series, and I liked it enough that I'm pretty sure I'm going to try the second as well, so that also says something.

Finished: Going Dark by Linda Nagata

Description cut because it was the third book in the series... ( Read more... ) although I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it less than the others in the series.

If Nagata writes more in the universe... I'm not sure, really, it depends on what the plot looks like. I'm not sure if I'd have the enthusiasm for another tale of a soldier under the Red's guidance, especially if I thought that the greater plot would get no more resolution than this one. Still, I really enjoy Nagata's writing and if she tried another type of SF I'd be much more interested.

(If you noticed and were amused that those last three titles rhymed, congratulations and/or condolences, you're like me!)

Still Reading (or finished but haven't done my review): The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, Lock-In by John Scalzi, The Phoenix Code by Catherine Asaro, Other Worlds Than These (short story collection).

I probably will next post around the very end of the year, so, I hope everyone has a happy holiday season of whatever type they prefer to enjoy.

Trying to do these more often so I don't have as huge a backlog as last time.

But before we start, Halloween! My schedule changed this year, and this year I actually worked on Halloween night. I was kind to looking forward to seeing Trick or Treaters on the walk to work, but I think I was maybe half an hour too early for that... I saw a few, but not many. A few more on the way home, although that was later so it was mostly older teens and adults. The highlight was a fairly well done Beetlejuice costume, striped suit, hair, face paint... couldn't tell his age because of the makeup, but he was at least with some people in their late teens/early twenties, which was impressive for a costume of a movie that old. Also a few zombies. I actually did dress up, but in my lazy post-apocalyptic drifter costume. I have a decades-old military gas mask (my parents were both in the military) and basically just put that over whatever I wear when I need a really quick costume and call myself a post-apocalyptic drifter. So I brought it with me to work and did manage to wear it for at least a little bit on the walk there and the walk home, although it got a bit awkward to wear it the whole time and my breath started fogging up the glasses after a while. Still, it was incredibly impressive... not the costume itself, but rather that I was able to wear it in public. For those who know me you'll know that dressing up really treads on my irrrational fears. Even wearing a geeky t-shirt in public gives me stupid amounts of anxiety, so wearing an attention-getting costume... well, honestly, when I brought it I gave it 50/50 chance that I'd have the nerve to put it on, even taking into account that it's Halloween and expected. But, maybe partly because it was a costume that hid my face, I did okay with it. Maybe just the fact that it was a costume at all helped too (I mean, not completely, I still felt the internal tremors, but it wasn't as bad)... maybe some kind of convention cosplay, if I can think of a good one, isn't 100% out of the question, because the "stepping outside of myself" aspect might be good for me.

Anyway, on to books!

Finished: Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold

The planet Artemis was designed by advanced science to be a perfect, primitive escape for the ultra rich and powerful. Included in that fantasy was the population, who were mostly human but engineered to fulfill a role and not expand outside of that role. So while the masters have been gone for centuries, and Artemis has been lost to the rest of the galaxy, their society still resembles a fantasy kingdom with quaint villages and hunters who share connections with beasts. One such huntress is Adara, and her genetically uplifted puma Sand Shadow, who rescue a man who's crashed from the sky, a scholar from the rest of the galaxy who has been searching for Artemis... and is now stranded there.

I don't really have a lot to say about this book, except that it's mostly in the category of "Not My Thing." ( Read more... )It's okay. There were some decent elements that kept me interested throughout, but even though the story isn't really complete in the one volume, I don't feel any pressing need to move onto the sequel. I'm sure there are a good number of people who will like it, but for me, meh.

Finished: The Trials by Linda Nagata (The Red #2)
Sequel, so description cut for minor spoilers of the first book inherent... ( Read more... )I still liked it slightly less than the first book, maybe putting it somewhere in the 3.5-4 star range, but since I'm feeling generous today, I'll round it up to a 4. I'm really looking forward to the third book in the series and I am really glad Nagata's writing science fiction novels again, she's proving once again to be a strong voice in the field.

Finished: My Real Children by Jo Walton
Patricia is in a nursing home, suffering from age-related dementia. She's lived a long life... the only problem is, she remembers two of them. In each, she had different loves, different challenges, different children, and the course of history went a different way. She looks back on both of them.

Let's get it out of the way. I guess it's something of a spoiler, but it's the kind of spoiler I wished somebody would have explained to me in advance, attached to the blurb with an asterisk. ( Read more... )I can see how somebody would enjoy this, and it is filled with believable, flawed characters, but for me, it's not why I read, so although I can recognize the skill, as far as my personal enjoyment goes... meh. It's just okay. I never felt like it was a chore to read, but I never felt particularly excited, either. Mostly, I felt like I was waiting for the good stuff, the stuff the synopsis sparked in my imagination, to kick in... I'm still waiting.

Finished: Rapture by Kameron Hurley (The Bel Dame Apocrypha #3)
(Last book in a trilogy, so entire description cut) ( Read more... )I still quite enjoyed the book and the series, and the characters, especially because they're not the type I usually go for. Somehow it worked here, and I look forward to Kameron Hurley's next foray into SF.

Finished: Alien Contact (themed short story collection)

A collection of stories centering on, surprisingly enough, Alien Contact. ( Read more... )I think my main problem is that I know there are many better alien contact stories out there, and so, as an anthology focused on that theme, it's a bit of a disappointment.

Finished: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
The third book in the Expanse series ( Read more... )It's good, but it's just not as exciting. After the last book, I rushed to order the third. After this one... I'm still absolutely going to read the next book, but I can wait a while.

Finished: The Peripheral by William Gibson
In the near future, Flynne is filling in for her brother, working for home at his job, which they both think is testing a new product from a video game company,. It seems like a boring game... she controls a drone pilot and is supposed to keep other drones away from a building in a futuristic city. But she does her job... until she witnesses what looks like a murder inside the building, and soon finds out that she wasn't playing a game, but rather that she's stumbled upon a much bigger game, where her old world could be merely a minor game-piece. Luckily, she does have allies of a sort... not only her own friends and family, but also her employers, who live in that futuristic world she saw in the game, and want her to identify the murderer.

This is one of those books that I'm probably going to have to read a few times just to grasp fully. When it started, I didn't really know what was going on in much of one of the two alternating plot threads. ( Read more... )It's not a high like, maybe just barely at three stars. Possibly on the reread I'll like it more. Or maybe the novelty will wear off some and I'll just think the book was okay. But for now, three stars.

Still Reading (or finished but haven't done my review): Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Raddch series #3), Forgotten Suns by Judith Tarr, Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson, Children of the Comet by Donald Moffitt (received for free from a giveaway)

So, let's see, what else is new?
Let's start with TV.

Fear The Walking Dead's over for the year and.. well, it's not great, there were plenty of stupid things, plotwise, and stupid people, but on the whole I'm still enjoying it, I just question some of the decisions. It's not as good as the Walking Dead, but if it comes back, I'll still watch it. And I'll say something that's probably controversial, at least among reactions I've read elsewhere on the net: I actually like most of the main cast, even the teens. Well, the youngest one's kind of an annoying snot at times, and they all have their stupid moments, but I think the family has good chemistry.

Doctor Who's back. So far it's... well, it's Doctor Who. I still would like to see Moffat go and be replaced with somebody who know how to craft a compelling coherent story rather than stringing together good moments that don't make any sense when you think about it (and often relying on the same old tropes over and over again). But it's enjoyable enough that I'll keep watching, and there's the sense of wonder that'll never completely go away.

Heroes Reborn? Meh. I watched the premiere. I have the third ep (1st ep after the 2 hours), but I haven't watched it yet. That says something, doesn't it? I was kind of hoping they'd go all out reboot with an explicit alternate universe. Instead, they seem to have just continued, and worse, they've not learned the lessons from last time, throwing too much stuff in it and not really considering how it all fits together or how consequences of what you include might mean down the road. And the video game nonsense just makes me want to shut it off.

That's alot of mixed reactions. Is there anything good?

Well, it's not quite TV, but I've gotten quite fond of Critical Role over the last several weeks, on Geek & Sundry. It might be the closest thing to a new TV-ish obsession. It's a bunch of somewhat famous voice actors from cartoons and video games playing a tabletop campaign of Dungeons and Dragons. It's actually a continuation of a campaign they did privately for fun for something like 2 years before, and they just decided to put it online, so if you start on the first ep you're actually starting in the middle of the adventure (which also means that you can pretty much start anywhere). It's turned out to be a big hit and is probably the biggest thing on G&S's twitch channel, live every Thursday night for something like 3 hours (occasionally more). It's just fun seeing a bunch of friends enjoying the game and, since they're all actors, they use voices and such for their characters (and the DM has a big assortment of voices himself), making me nostalgic for my own days of gaming and almost wanting to try and pick it up again, and sometimes they have fun guest stars (Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day have both guested for two weeks, but not at the same time... also, although it wasn't officially Critical Role, Vin Diesel just played a game with the DM and some of the members and really enjoyed it and supposedly there's talk of him playing a guest role too). I don't know how well it would translate to people unfamiliar with D&D tabletop, but it's a bit like a radio play with a lot of dice rolls determining things. So I'll recommend it anyway.

As for other new or returning shows, nothing's really started yet that I've gotten into. I checked out Blindspot because one of the secondary-character regulars is actually one of the players on Critical Role (she had to leave as a regular when she started working on the series, but she's open to returning for guest spots or hiatuses), but really, it doesn't do much for me. Castle, meh, the relationship tension/conspiracy of this year's just not working for me... the only thing that is, is Castle and his daughter's kind of doing a Veronica Mars vibe - but they need to at least acknowledge that with some kind of reference! Flash and Arrow restart this week, as does iZombie and Agents of SHIELD returned last week, which is solid but not exciting.

Speaking of Marvel, I finally watched Avengers: Age of Ultron. It wasn't as good as the first movie, but it was fun. I do have some complaints, which are a bit spoilery if I'm not the only one who hadn't seen it until recently. ( Read more... )So I guess you could say all the new Avengers were poorly handled.

Anyway, on to the Book Foo. Blah blah blah copied from my Goodreads blah blah blah mostly non-spoilery beyond back-of-the-book type stuff unless I warn.

Finished: The Red/First Light by Linda Nagata
In "The Red: First Light" (variously called solely by the part either before or after the colon, depending on edition and publisher... mine is simply The Red) tells of Lieutenant James Shelly, who leads a squadron of soldiers on a near future mission that he cynically believes is more about making money for defense contractors than it is about any actual purpose. But while he scoffs at the leadership decisions, he believes in the people and the brotherhood, even while knowing that some of that is manipulated by hi-tech equipment. Still, he does his best to keep his people alive using his skills and wits... and one thing extra. Somebody has been giving him warning when things aren't quite right, warnings that have saved the lives of his squad several times, warnings his leadership can't seem to stop. And it may be that an emergent, globe-spanning artificial intelligence exists, and has taken an interest in Shelly... but probably just as a tool to its own ends, to be discarded at its whim.

This may be my favorite Earthbound military SF ever.( Read more... )Overall, I really enjoyed this and will definitely be picking up the sequels. One final note that has nothing to do with the story, but I loved nonetheless. The publisher is releasing these books simultaneously, not just in hardcover and ebook form, but also in paperback (and not even the oversized trade paperback format, but the mass market kind that can fit into a large pocket). I love paperbacks, and having this choice right from the publication date, instead of having to wait six months to a year, makes me so happy that I just had to mention it. I've always wanted books to go this way, only to be told by those I trust to be more knowledgeable, that this wasn't feasible or profitable. I don't know if the people telling me these things were wrong, or things changed, or this publisher's making a crazy gamble that will lead them to ruin, but I love them for it all the same and it's making me more eager to get the second and third book.

Finished: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A SF take on Cinderella, in which Linh Cinder is a cyborg living in New Beijing, and because cyborgs have limited rights, is technically the property of her stepmother. But she's also an extremely skilled mechanic, and in this capacity she meets the prince, who doesn't realize she's a cyborg and takes a liking to her. ( Read more... )It's not the kind of book that I'd make a regular habit of reading, but for once-in-a-while it does hit the spot, and it was skilled enough with its particular approach that I was impressed enough that I'm probably going to check out the rest of the series (where the author recasts other fairy tales in the same SF universe). I'd say it's almost certainly worth checking out if this is the kind of thing that already interests you, and if you're iffy on it... it still might be worth a try.

Finished: Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Erasmus lives a simple existence, owning few possessions by vow, and living in a monastic environment which only opens its doors to the outside world every ten years (other orders only open on longer periods). Inside, in addition to the usual interpersonal dramas with the rest of his order, he gets involved in logical debates and philosophical discussions. But there are things going on in the outside world, and member of his order are getting called by the government outside, a government his order is separate from but beholden too. For this is not a religious order (although individual members may believe in God), this is how scientists live, on a world that is not Earth. ( Read more... )I was almost always engaged and excited about what would happen next, despite the fact that not a lot was happening at any given part. Truly this is one of those books where the journey is more important than the destination, and, as stated before, a master class in building an alternate world.

Finished: The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu
(synopsis behind cut because it's the second book in a series)( Read more... )The last one I scored a three, and despite liking it less, numerically, this one I think I'd give the same... but it's a much lower three, possibly rounded up from a very high two. It does gets a bonus point for an obscure Alpha Flight reference, which would bring would theoretically bring it up to a four (see disclaimer).

Disclaimer: Said bonus point normally exists in a idyllic seeming alternate dimension and will only appear when the normal review is threatened... at all other times, the rating will be a plain unassuming-looking three.

Continued next post because apparently the post is too large for LJ.

So, I guess life continues. Not much has changed for me personally, except for one piece that has gone firmly in the negative column: My job. Oh, it still exists, and objectively I can't complain compared to other people, but, they changed all the times around. So now instead of, on work days, waking up and going in early, then coming home and having the rest of the day (and not to mention hitting the grocery stores on the way home), I have one in the middle of the afternoon and the others are at night, which means having to go to work hangs over me the whole day, I usually can't do much grocery shopping on the way home, and, sometimes, I feel messed up the next day (whereas before sometimes I feel a bit messed up the day I work, but it's gone by the next day). And of course, it means any family events I have to schedule around, instead of being pretty much available any time anyone else is. Bleh. Unfortunately, it's unlikely to change much, due to everything from cost-cutting at the head office, our new mayor's parking laws, and some stupid sports games all colliding into a perfect storm.

I guess there is one other piece of mild news, I went to Wonderland for the first time in years (Canada's, not Alice's). My brother got me a season's pass for my birthday, and one for himself as well, so we went down to ride some of the roller coasters, and probably will go one or two times more during the summer (and possibly on some other trip with my dad, who separately got a pass with his wife, so he can take the step-grandkids). It was fun, especially the Leviathan, which had a huge drop.

Adventures in Food... still doing most of the cooking, and have gotten a bit more adventurous. I've done some baking experiments that have mostly turned out well... I've made peanut butter cookies a few times, and oatmeal peanut butter cookies once, and last week I did a cheesecake for the first time, including home-made graham cracker peanut butter crust (and topped with sliced fresh strawberries which were on sale the day I made it). The cheesecake wasn't as dense as I was hoping, I think I need more cheese in the mix, but I think the flavors were good. And I cooked ribs for the first time, which turned out awesome, fall off the bone tender (and, since I have a bag full of oatmeal from when I made the cookies, I tried something I read online and made a savory oatmeal side dish with onions and mushrooms that turned out really well and I'll probably be making again tonight). Not sure what I'll try next (that I haven't already done, I mean, tonight I'm making meatloaf).

TV stuffs:

I'm not going to try to recap most of TV. I will say that the new shows for the networks are dull dull dull. A few looked like they might be kind of interesting, SF concepts, except they tagged on "And helps the police solve crimes!" at the end and I lost all my interest. I'll probably watch Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, and, perhaps surprisingly, I'm more excited about the latter (LoT has a lot of cast members I like, but I'm not sure how they're going to make it work and I think it's going to mess up some stuff I liked about Arrow and Flash).

I did watch a couple Binge-Watch shows. There's Netflix's Daredevil, which turned out to be pretty good. I mean, yeah, there were a few issues, but overall I liked it and the cast was well done (especially Foggy, who was perfect).

And I checked out Sony's Playstation-network-exclusive series Powers, based on the Bendis comic. There are... good parts and bad parts.
( Read more... )

There are a couple SF Netflix or Cable Channel series starting soon (or already started) that I plan on checking out, though: Sense8, Dark Matters, Killjoys, and The Expanse (though that's probably not for a few months).

And since the last one is based on a book series, that segues us nicely into Book Foo.

First, a word about the Hugo awards: Bleh.

Bleh's a word, right? Yeah, many words have been written about it already, but I am not happy, the Puppies campaigns were, in my mind, cheating, even if they were technically allowed by the rules (last year, they were a little closer to the line of "I think the choices are despicable but they went about it fairly"). I almost feel like I wasted the money to get a Worldcon membership so I could nominate and vote because of this stupid campaign. *I* played fairly, reading and choosing stories that made ME passionate, but most of the categories get dominated by people gaming the system. I will mostly be voting No Award against the slate-nominated works, because it's the only way to discourage such tactics (although I'll try to give the nominees a fair chance to impress me as "independently worthy of winning one").

But on to the books I HAVE read since my last post. As usual, reviews taken from my goodreads account, and spoilers should be generally minor and limited to back-of-the-book type descriptions (or I'll try to warn if anything greater), but I can't promise.

Finished: Recursion, by Tony Ballantyne
Recursion interweaves three stories set at different time periods in the future. ( Read more... )I'm willing to write off the problems as either a personal experience (I was reading them during the winter blues!) or the traditional first novel problems where authors hopefully improve, and I'm still interested in trying the second book in the series.

Finished: Behemoth, by Peter Watts (Rifters, #3)

( Read more... )

Finished: Light, by M. John Harrison
Light tells three stories... a serial killer in the modern day and, in the far future, a woman bonded to a starship and a man who's addicted to virtual reality scenarios. They wander about doing a variety of things more or less on whims but there are connections between them that supposedly makes it all something more than a pointless exercise.

I'm being a little harsh on this book, and it's unfair, especially because I only have myself to blame. I have a rule of thumb... if a book is described as being "literary," either in the synopsis, the blurbs they put there, or even recommendations from people I know, I usually take this as a big black and red sign saying "This Book Is Not For You!" But once in a while I choose to ignore that sign. Occasionally, it works out. But mostly, it's like this case. ( Read more... )I'm sure there will be plenty of fans of the sort of thing he does, but I am not one of them.

Finished: The Hydrogen Sonata, by Iain M. Banks
The Gzilt, a galactic civilization that was very nearly one of the founding members of the utopian Culture, is about to move on, to Sublime, to ascend, as an entire civilization, to another plane of existence, along with most of its population. But, as the days wind down before the big event, an ancient secret is discovered, and, fearing that it might cause some percentage of the population to have second thoughts about subliming, there's an attempt to cover it up, and other attempts to learn of it. One citizen is caught up in events because she once knew somebody who was alive when the events were unfolding, thousands of years earlier, a man who is still alive but in hiding. Meanwhile, members of the Culture learn about the secret and decide they should find out the truth, even if they're not sure whether it's a good idea to reveal that truth once they learn it. Wackiness ensues.

This is (sadly) the final book set in the Culture, the author himself having passed on. ( Read more... )And perhaps that is a good legacy for Banks... he wrote stories that shouldn't have worked, and he made them work. It's almost like he's been performing a Hydrogen Sonata of his own, with one key difference... even thought it have might be clunky at times, it's been a pleasure to experience it.

And I'm sad as hell that the last note has been played.

Finished: Collected Stories, by Hannu Rajaniemi (short story collection, received for free)

I received an ebook of this book for free through NetGalley. I don't think it affected my review.

This collects short stories by Hannu Rajaniemi, perhaps best known for the hard SF post-singularity series that starts with The Quantum Thief. ( Read more... ) I actually would buy this collection with my own money... at least if it gets released in paperback. The original print run is a hardcover and apparently limited only to 2000 copies... and, aside from preferring the paperback format in general, I'd rather somebody else get to enjoy the stories than get a separate copy for my own later rereading.

Finished: Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
Perdido Street Station tells of a city of humans, insect-headed women, cactus people, toad people, and more. One of them is Isaac, a scientist, involved in a secret cross-species relationship, and hired to restore flight to a bird-man who was punished by his people with the removal of his wings. In the course of this assignment, something is accidentally unleashed that threatens the entire city.

Obviously, this is a fantasy novel, with elements of steampunk (although I personally wouldn't consider it pure steampunk). And I should probably start out by saying that I'm not a big fan of either genre, in terms of novel-reading (movies or TV, fine, and I like the steampunk aesthetic, I just typically don't enjoy reading either genre). However, Mieville has impressed me with some of his other work that I've read, so I decided I'd stretch outside of my comfort zone and give it a try, since it is, perhaps, his most famous work.

I'm glad I did, because this really is something interesting.( Read more... )Definitely worth a try, at least, even if you're like me, a science fiction reader who doesn't generally enjoy fantasy.

Finished: Apex, by Ramez Naam (Nexus #3, received for free)
I received an advanced review ebook of this for free through NetGalley. I don't think it affected my review. What may have affected the review was my enjoyment for the previous books, which is why I signed up to get the early look... I just couldn't wait until it came out in stores. ( Read more... )I still have the ebook, but I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to buy a physical copy, so the series will look nice together on my shelves, and, if our technological civilization ever totally collapses, I can read by candlelight and imagine a world that might have been.

Finished: A Song Called Youth, by John Shirley
War is gripping the world, but that's not the real danger. The real danger is that it's being used by secretive powers to promote a new wave of racist fascism, where 'undesirables' can be accused of being enemy agents, terrorist sympathizers, or security risk, and systematically eliminated from power... and, eventually, just eliminated. However, there are forces working for freedom, the New Resistance, often struggling just to stay alive and to expose the villains for who they are. But it's harder than ever, especially in a world where, if you fall into enemy hands, their machines can extract every secret and even turn them to their side.

A Song Called Youth is actually a collection of three late-80s, early-90s cyberpunk novels: Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, and Eclipse Corona, collected in an omnibus under a new title for the 21st century. ( Read more... )I'm rating it three stars, which means "I liked it", while the truth is I'd probably describe it as "ok"... it gets the extra star because it's one of those rare books that I'm glad I read despite it being a slog, despite not enjoying it on a pure pleasure, because I think it has some important ideas that'll stick with me.

Finished: The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu
An alien race has been with humanity, guiding us, since the beginning. They can only survive inside bodies and provide advice and insight to the people they're bonded to, until that person dies and they must quickly find a new body. They've guided some of the most well-known people in history. And they're at war with each other, two factions, one who want to provoke humanity into war and conflict, and another who want to guide them to being better. Tao is on the latter side, but when his last partner dies on a mission, he's forced to find another quickly or die, and the only choice available is Roen Tan, an out-of-shape computer geek going nowhere in life. Not agent material, but Tao has to make the best of it and train him for the conflicts ahead.

I don't really have a lot to say about this book. I enjoyed it, but it felt a little on the lightweight side. ( Read more... )it's the kind of middle-of-the-road SF book that is good enough that I can enjoy it, but not so good that I despair in my own ambitions because I'd never be able to write anything even close to as good... and that's an important niche in my reading life too. It's the kind of book where I'll probably decide to try the author again with another book if it had a good premise. And in this case, this is only the first book in a series (although you can read it as a stand-alone without problems), and I liked the world and premise and characters enough that I'm willing to commit to reading the next book in it, The Deaths of Tao, at least eventually... I'm not rushing out to buy it, but if I spot it on a book run and have some spare cash and space in my bookbag/order, I'll probably grab it.

Finished: Capacity, by Tony Ballantyne

In the future, humanity is watched over, arguably controlled by AIs, and only a small fraction of people live in what we think of as the "real" world... many citizens are digital copies, living in simulations of reality, albeit with a human lifespan. An agent of the government rescues one of these digital copies from an illegal simulation used for torture fantasies, and the two go on a quest to find the creator of the sim and bring him to justice. And in deep space, a human is sent to investigate a planet where super-intelligent AIs seem to be effectively killing themselves by reducing themselves to below human intelligence.

This is set in the same world as Recursion, although it's hard to call it a sequel, as really the only character in common seems to be the Watcher, an AI that guides humanity. I liked Recursion, although it had flaws. This one... I'm a lot more mixed on. ( Read more... )I rated it a three, but it's on the edge between two and three. I was hoping to like it more. There is a third book in the series/universe, and, right now, I'm not sure I'll follow through to it. Maybe if I'm browsing a used bookstore and see it I might try it, but I don't have a drive to seek it out.

Finished: Untaken, by J.E. Anckorn (ebook received for free)
Aliens ships appear in the sky, and, at first do nothing but wait, leading people to wonder what their goal is. But suddenly, they strike, and soon most of the population is gone, killed or taken up in one of their ships, which might amount to the same thing. Two teenagers are among those left behind, though, and they must struggle to survive and take care of a young child who was also left behind.

I was able to read this book free through NetGalley. It had a premise just intriguing enough to request it... it is, of course, a YA book, and while I enjoy these kinds of books when they've got a good plot, I've not yet read a YA alien invasion story, which is a staple of SF in general. (short version: enjoyed it a lot until a certain thing happened, tiny bit spoilery)( Read more... )As it is, I think I have to stick with my overall rating of a two, and maybe guess that, were I a YA, I'd have bumped it up to a three at least.

Finished: City of Savages, by Lee Kelly
In the future, all of New York City is a POW camp, although most of the survivors cluster near Central Park. Two sisters, Skye and Phee, are among the minority who spend only the cold months there, because their mother doesn't like to be under the rule of the camp leader, Rolladin any more than she has to. As the time comes to move back, the sisters share a special bond as they discover their mother's hidden journal, which dates back to the start of the war, a time she never talks about it, and secretly begin to read it. But also, forces from outside the city make a startling appearance that threatens Rolladin's power. Both of these events will cause the sisters to question everything they thought they knew about the city, their family, and world.

City of Savages is a YA book, but the premise really drew me. I mean, look at the first few words of my summary... all of New York City as a POW camp. It's immediately interesting. And the author does a good job of bringing you into that world right away. ( Read more... )I'll stick with 3 stars as my official rating. I'd still recommend it to teenagers who like adventure stories along the lines of the Hunger Games (but different).

Finished: Galactic North, by Alastair Reynolds
Galactic North is a series of short stories all set in the author's Revelation Space universe, spanning a time period from less than two hundred years in the future, to thousands and thousands of years beyond (and arranged in roughly chronological order). ( Read more... )To somebody who isn't familiar at all with the universe, I don't know how well these will land, but I think they're pretty accessible (to somebody who enjoys space opera with a lot of hard SF elements). If you're a fan of the novels, though (regardless of your thoughts on the ending) it's absolutely worth picking up.

Currently Reading (or finished but haven't put up reviews): Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, by Judd Trichter, The Blondes by Emily Schultz (received for free), The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Shelter by Susan Palwick, River of Gods by Ian McDonald.

I'm considering reviving my Unreachable Star site, that I used to do comic reviews on, and remaking it as a general SF review site, since I'm doing these book reviews anyway. Even if they're just mirroring my Goodreads reviews, at the very least, it might get me more free review copies of upcoming SF novels. Anyway, not today, I'm lazy.

Hope everything's been good with y'all.

End of the year post! As some of you know, I don't really celebrate New Years, both due to being a social hermit and just not liking it. But, why not put up a post to finish off my book review posts as an easy-to-find bookend, and also update on other things.

First, other things. I probably should have posted this earlier, but I hope everyone's had a nice holiday season, regardless of any holidays you celebrate (and if you don't celebrate any, well, I hope you enjoyed the lights and colors of other people celebrating?). I had a fairly quiet Xmas, just my Dad, Grandmother, Stepmother, and Brother having a dinner. It was good, though.

And it goes without saying (except that I'm doing so anyway) that I wish you all a Happy New Year for 2015, even if I don't expect one for myself.

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, on to the actual update.

Not much has been going on in the TV front other than Legend of Korra finale (Which I discussed in a separate post) and The Doctor Who XMas special (which I don't feel like discussing it at length... suffice it to say it was an episode that was constantly annoying me while it was going on because of things that didn't make sense, but then they explained all of it more or less satisfactory so... I guess I kind of half-liked it? Though it's a weird kind of like. Maybe it'll rewatch better. Also, didn't especially like the ending.

What else... well, I should probably update on the cooking front.

Since I started learning to cook, I've actually cooked, in some limited sense of the word, almost every night for the last three months. A couple "grab fast food" nights and a few family occasions (and inevitable days of leftovers), and a handful of days where my brother cooked (he's busy and stressed with work and school most of the time so I don't want to ask him to do extra... so I like helping him out).

Now, mostly, it's fairly simple stuff... packaged side-dishes where you just have to pour in a pot and follow directions, frozen vegetables, and a couple times were it's something super simple "just pop it in an oven and wait" meals like frozen pizza (though I usually add mushrooms), but a fair number of meats where I actually cook... burgers and sausages being the most common, or ground beef for hamburger helper/tacos. I've also now cooked pork chops (including seasoning, searing, and then finishing in the oven), pork roast (rubbing a seasoning on it and slicing it from a larger roast) with carrots (prepared from fresh, peeled and chopped and) cooked in the juices, bacon and eggs a few different ways, and made what (if I do say so myself) was a pretty excellent meatloaf (in addition to dicing mushrooms for the loaf mix along with other ingredients, I also left three whole mushrooms in the middle as a little surprise which seemed to give it an awesome extra moistness). So I'm glad to be learning new things. And I haven't poisoned anyone yet.

But now let's go to Book Foo. As usual, reviews are usually grabbed from my Goodreads account, and unless otherwise noted don't have what I feel are significant spoilers but may include some minor information outside of the cut (and a 'back-of-the-book' summary before the cut, so if you don't like those you should probably stop reading the entry entirely right now).

Finished: Exo, by Steven Gould (Jumper, Book 4)

Millicent ('Cent') Rice is a teenager who has inherited the otherwise unique ability to teleport from her parents. She can go anywhere she's been, or anywhere she can see clearly, in the blink of an eye, and bring anything she can carry with her. So what does a girl like that do when she wants to make her mark on the world (and also needs a project to distract her from dwelling on a recent breakup)? Why, she starts her own space program, of course.

This book continues the Jumper series, which started out focusing on her father but as of the last book, Impulse changed to Cent, but despite that, and other changes, the series remains a fun and compulsively readable adventure. ( Read more... )

I do think the above problems (or near-problems) make it possibly the weakest book in the SERIES, it's only by degrees. Ideally, I'd like a bit more of an emotional punch other than the sensawunda (which, granted, is here in spades), and a more directed plot with complications, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and am totally on board for more. And there's plenty of room for more ( Read more... ) Whatever happens, I'll be there.

Finished: Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds
When one of Saturn's moons suddenly leaves orbit and takes off for a distant star, revealing itself to be an unfathomably ancient alien starship, a nuclear-powered ice-mining ship is the only one near enough to have a chance at getting some detailed observations before it leaves the system. As they struggle to learn all they can, they soon discover that returning home may not be as simple as they thought, and begin a journey that will take them to the depths of space and time and force them to struggle just to survive. ( Read more... ) If it wasn't for the characters, this would be one of my favorites of Reynolds' books, as it probably has the most appealing (to me) central premise. As it is, it lands somewhere squarely in the middle.

Finished: Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch, Book 2)
(summary cut because it's slightly spoilery for the ending of the first book)

( Read more... ) The quieter, lower-stakes nature of the plot is the biggest flaw, but... it's not really all that big. If that's the worst you can say about it, it's almost like you're reaching for something to say. I liked the book, I enjoyed the characters, and even the pace was pretty good. If you liked the first book, you'll probably like this one as well, but if not, there's not a lot to change your mind, either. When the third book comes out, I'll certainly be reading that as well.

Finished: Maelstrom, by Peter Watts (Rifters, Book 2)

(again cutting summary because description is slightly spoilery for book 1) ( Read more... )Still, on the whole it's a worthy sequel, may even be better than the first (it's a hard call, since they focus on different things and either might appeal to me more when I'm in a certain mood).

Finished: Infoquake, by Daniel Louis Edelmen
Infoquake tells the story of a ruthless businessman in the far future and his attempt to do a product launch for a new technology that's going to change the world. That about describes everything that matters, which doesn't matter a lot to me. ( Read more... ) This might be somebody's ideal book, but it's not mine. There ARE some cool ideas, but I have to wade through too much stuff I'm not interested in to get to them, and the things that do interest me, they don't really get paid off in a satisfying degree.

Finished: Terminal World, by Alastair Reynolds
Terminal World is the story of Quillon, who lives in a world divided by zones, where the laws of physics are slightly different and different levels of technology work in each zone. Some zones allow only steam and clockwork contraptions, others allow circuitry and computer networks, and still others allow far beyond what Earth has today. A few zones don't even allow life, but even those that do, are optimized for those already born to it... crossing a zone boundary is hazardous, sometimes even fatal, without medication. Spearpoint is a city built on an impossibly tall spire, which contains several zones... but Quillon has to leave. For though he comes from one of the highest-technology zones, he's been in hiding in Neon Heights for years, and the people he's hiding from want him. But that's just the start of his journey, because the zones are unstable, and the whole world is at risk.

Ever since I heard about the book, I was both interested and wary. Interested, because I love the idea of different technology zones and crossing between them. This sounded a little like Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought universe, except all mashed onto one planet. And yet, two things worried me. ( Read more... )I would love to see Reynolds come back to this world, maybe not as a sequel (the story could continue, but it doesn't need to, my frustrations with the ending notwithstanding), but merely a different adventure using this world, for I can see plenty of stories left to tell in it.

Finished: This Alien Shore, by C.S. Friedman
The first age of spaceflight ended abruptly when it was discovered that the faster-than-light drive had side effects, altering the genetics of those who used it, which already included millions of colonists bound for different worlds. Earth shut down all travel and left the colonies isolated to survive or fall on their own, and their variants on the human form to develop into their own standards of normal. Centuries later, one of those colonies discovered a new way to travel faster-than-light, and brought together all the human worlds once more... but held a strict and complete monopoly on such travel, forcing everyone else to follow the rules of their Guild or risk being cut off from the rest of the universe. But there's a computer virus spreading which seems to be created to try and learn their secrets, infesting people's brainware and causing more than a few deaths, and the Guild must investigate it. But that's not the only thing that's going on... a teenage girl named Jamiska is on the run and doesn't know why. The subject of an experiment at a young age, she may be another key to toppling the Guild monopoly, and that makes her very valuable to all sorts of people who might not have her personal best interests at heart. But she's on her own... except for the voices in her head.

It's a complicated premise to sum up quickly (I didn't even get into significant spoiler territory), but when reading it, it's fairly easy to grasp, and the author's created a setup for her world and characters that draw you in. ( Read more... )I rated this a three, but it's a high three, nearly a four. I'd happily read something else in this universe. It doesn't absolutely need a sequel, but there's plenty of room in this setting to explore other stories.

Finished: The Human Division, by John Scalzi (Old Man's War universe)
The Human Division takes place in the universe of Old Man's War, after the events of that trilogy, but not focusing on the main characters. Instead, it focuses on Harry Wilson, friend of John Perry from the first books, and his adventures as science adviser on a series of missions, many of which are diplomatic in nature, while meanwhile somebody, possibly somebody in the Colonial Union, seeks to sabotage diplomatic measures.

Generally speaking, this is one of those "optional safe bet" books, at least for fans. If you liked the other books in the series, you'll probably like this... but at the same time, it's not required reading by any means. ( Read more... ) Because the book seems to suffer from this lack of depth (and the series in general is not typically deep SF), the whole thing winds up feeling a little disposable... fun, mind you, but disposable fun. Like watching one of those milestone episodes of a TV series, where instead of going for big events they let the actors just have fun doing wacky stuff, and you could skip the ep if you had to... you might miss a few plot points, but nothing major. I enjoyed it. But not as much as I did the other books in the series.

Finished: Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey (Expanse, Book 1 )
Leviathan Wakes tells the story of a spaceship crew who respond to a distress call and get way over their heads, and a cop on an asteroid colony trying to find a missing girl, who may have been on the ship giving the distress call.

This is a rollicking space adventure that combines SF, noir, action, and horror, and the first book of a series that has not only become very popular, but is also being made into a TV series. And I can see why... there's a lot of neat stuff here. And yet... I also was left, just a little, underwhelmed. ( Read more... )I did like it, and I almost gave it four stars, there was just that niggling TV-vibe that made it feel a little shallower. But I'm almost certainly going to be checking out the sequels, at least the first two or three. I'm not yet sure it's worth committing to all nine.

Started: The Martian, by Andy Weir
Started: Behemoth, by Peter Watts (Rifters, Book 3)
Started: Burning Paradise, by Robert Charles Wilson

That makes my total list for the year:

1. Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt
( Read more... )
60. Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey (Expanse, #1)

Some stats on what I read:
This year I read 60 books.
According to Goodreads, they totalled 26676 pages, which means I read about 3 pages every hour of the year (though of course, not read that way or I'd go insane).

(Though of course, this is slightly inaccurate as I read something like a 3000 page book of short stories slowly, some in 2013, some in 2014, but since I finished in 2014, they count it there... but, whatever, close enough)
I reread 12 books (vs 48 new to me)
Number of books recieved for free (through giveaways, contests, etc, rather than just given or available free by the author): 5
Favorite Books: Echopraxia by Peter Watts, The Causal Angel but both are parts of series I really enjoyed. For completely new finds, The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant and The Last Policeman series by Ben H. Winters were nice surprises that gripped me.