Carl, Princess Donut, and all their hard won allies are on the ninth floor of the dungeon where nine armies ledAnother fantastic entry in the series.
Carl, Princess Donut, and all their hard won allies are on the ninth floor of the dungeon where nine armies led by the galaxy’s elite fight for dominance - except this time the stakes are as high for the outsiders as they are for the humans. Overall, absolutely fantastic! Bombastically entertaining and comedic and yet also moving as the characters rail against an intractably cruel world. Maybe I’m crazy but I think there is something genuinely moving about an army of desperate human survivors resolutely facing a horde of monsters unleashed by cruel alien overlords all for reality television, and the monsters are hopped up on a powerful berserker potion called “Truck Stop Boner Pill”. Even the deepest horrors are sometimes just stupid and you have to keep going despite it. I will say that the last book made this feel more climatic than it actually was. I was expecting more of a series resolution, but it was more of the same (not meant derogatorily, only that the stakes get ever higher instead of reaching resolutions).
If you liked the previous books, you already know what to expect. Highly recommended. ...more
A really fun entry in the series, but it follows the ensemble plotting of the pervious book, rather than the tighter arcs of the first three books.
BobA really fun entry in the series, but it follows the ensemble plotting of the pervious book, rather than the tighter arcs of the first three books.
Bob and crew are back to grapple with the twin questions of why is the universe so full of life yet empty of space faring civilizations and, as a basically unopposed force, what do the Bobs want to do in a vast galaxy? Overall, it was the same fun setting and characters that I've come to love with lots of space infrastructure, exploration, and annoying human politics. I will say that the AGI plot was a little annoying in how stereotypical it was. The point of the Bobs as sci-fi nerds is that they generally take sci-fi threats very seriously, but here they fall into the usual tropes.
I am excited for the next book as this sets up very obvious plots to explore for at least one more book. Highly recommended if you liked the previous books!...more
A really exciting beginning to a trilogy that does a great job of writing aliens and conveying the crushing despair of facing an absolutely superior fA really exciting beginning to a trilogy that does a great job of writing aliens and conveying the crushing despair of facing an absolutely superior force.
The human colony on Anjiin has long lost contact with the rest of humanity, but a recent breakthrough creates academic drama. However, the human politics are cut short when the Carryx appear in the sky, announce all humans are now owned by the Carryx, 1/8 of humanity dies instantly, and then all the planet’s experts are abducted for unknown tasks. I ultimately really liked this book, but I will say that it started very slow. The human research group drama was fine, but felt a little silly with the reader’s knowledge of the coming aliens. However, once the aliens arrived, it was so excruciatingly bleak that I was hooked for the rest of the book. If you liked the expanse, I think you will like this, it is still hard sci-fi with an ensemble cast, but the characters are not jaunting across the solar system and they have very little agency, so do set your expectations. I did wish for a bit more explanation or shown process for how the scientists ultimately figure things out, but that was a minor quibble.
Highly recommended if you want a hard sci-fi first contact story....more
A really interesting near-future sci-fi with a compelling protagonist.
Lauren Olamina lives in a gated. community in a deeply impoverished LA. From a A really interesting near-future sci-fi with a compelling protagonist.
Lauren Olamina lives in a gated. community in a deeply impoverished LA. From a young age she feels compelled to prepare for what she feels is the inevitable collapse of society as well as discover/build her own relationship to God/the world (which basically means building her own religion). A points this book is very dark and very bleak, sometimes unnecessarily so. It also really felt like it was building towards something and I wasn’t entirely blown away at the end. It does stick the landing, I just thought there would be more. I will note that the narrator was phenomenal.
Recommended if you want a thoughtful near future sci-fi in a dark setting....more
A great fourth entry in the series and a nice soft reset. The stakes have been reeled back a bit from the initial trilogy, with this mostly being anotA great fourth entry in the series and a nice soft reset. The stakes have been reeled back a bit from the initial trilogy, with this mostly being another solo adventure for original bob with a lot of background politics/worldbuilding. Highly recommend if you liked the first three, even if you felt that it had perhaps run its course. ...more
A really fun sci-fi space opera about an uploaded human becoming a Von Neumann probe. Bob is a fun, quirky protagnist to follow and there is a really A really fun sci-fi space opera about an uploaded human becoming a Von Neumann probe. Bob is a fun, quirky protagnist to follow and there is a really satisfying sense of progression as he builds up his space presence.
Highly recommended if you want a sci-fi about a space probe. ...more
A fun, if slightly under realized sci-fi space opera. I wish the story had either focused a lot more heavily on lit-rpg elements (such as more focus oA fun, if slightly under realized sci-fi space opera. I wish the story had either focused a lot more heavily on lit-rpg elements (such as more focus on consolidation of resources and upgrading the ship), or perhaps streamlined the narrative and left out the lit-rpg elements which didn’t seem to do much. Recommended if you want a sci-fi story focused on upgrading a derelict ship in an ancient, abandoned battlefield....more
Interesting ideas are held back by hollow worldbuilding and the over reliance on violence and slavery to give impact. It seems like the story really wInteresting ideas are held back by hollow worldbuilding and the over reliance on violence and slavery to give impact. It seems like the story really wants the serious patina of slavery and state violence while discussing twitter level discourse about public transit and gentrification.
The book is three novellas in chronological order exploring the growth of a corporate owned planet being terraformed into a resort planet. All of the workers on the planet are made in a lab with designated levels of intelligence (and thus rights). This could have been an interesting subject to explore, but workers are all enslaved (legally property) by the company and will be executed by space laser if they rebel (or even just have poor job performance). This creates and extremely grim setting that is handled with a whimsical becky chambers/solarpunk tone. For example, one novella follows a group of workers (again, enslaved with a genetic caste systems a la Brave New World) arguing about how to design an especially equitable public transit system. It is an extremely jarring tone, especially when none of the characters take the threat of death by space laser seriously, even when the corporation has done so before and seems eager to use it again. Also, there is an obsession with sapience, where characters are uplifting animals and objects left and right, which again could be a fun topic, but they are extremely careless, even while the narrative treats them as justified. For example, characters come across a scientist trying to uplift earthworms (to better manage soil in the area, an interesting premise!), but the scientist has used an outdated template and accidentally put language inhibitors in all of her previous earthworms. So you have human level intelligence earthworms that are solving complex problems for her, but they can’t communicate and are trapped inside their minds by her cavalier experimenting, and she doesn’t reconcile with this at all! And the narrative also doesn’t wrestle with it, it seems to support her efforts. For a novel that wants its arguments about conservation, community, and equality taken seriously, it doesn’t take its own arguments seriously enough to actually explore anything!
I did not enjoy this book and I really don’t recommend it. I think it was genuinely quite bad, which is a shame because the sci-fi interconnectedness and whimsy of cats dating trains was fun. ...more
A satisfying enough conclusion, but it felt very long with unnecessary repetition. It felt like Idris was forever diving deeper into unspace, finding A satisfying enough conclusion, but it felt very long with unnecessary repetition. It felt like Idris was forever diving deeper into unspace, finding the threshold to the axis of the universe (where, it is implied, all their problems will be solved), but then his heart flatlines and they yank him out. I was just sitting around while a bunch of side quests played out, waiting for the author to finally pull the curtain and reveal everything that was happening. Also, the bad guys kind of win for about 200 pages and the book really likes to revel in how evil and dastardly they are, and again, I was just waiting for the curtain pull when they lost.
Definitely recommended if you liked the first two and want answers, it just felt like it could have been trimmed (or better yet, I would have loved a single 1,200 page book over three 700 page books). Do note, I did have a hard time remember all the events and characters of the second book, which maybe tarnished my overall reaction....more
A near future sci-fi that I really didn’t enjoy. A fair warning, I am generally picky with both my short stories and my near-future sci-fi and many otA near future sci-fi that I really didn’t enjoy. A fair warning, I am generally picky with both my short stories and my near-future sci-fi and many other people seemed to have really liked this.
Arboreality is a chronological series of short stories set in the pacific northwest as climate change causes drastic changes and severely impoverishes the inhabitants of the region. However, the world building felt paper thin, only fleshed out in small snippets when the author wanted to glut the reader on misery. For example, the library of University of Victoria is so under funded that professors start stealing books so they don’t perish, but there is money for cutting edge genome engineering and mars missions. Or how the government can sometimes send rations to Vancouver island, and satellites don’t exist anymore, but everything’s great in Cincinnati (because nebulous billionaires), and also, here’s a random cut away to a girl on a beach watching a pod of dolphins die. I really didn’t enjoy this on a short story level, I didn’t find it entertaining, and I found it really lacking as a thought piece/exploration of climate change. It held strains of “government oversight will recede and finally communities of people that really care about each other can return to the land”, which is a story, but not one about reducing carbon in the atmosphere! I don’t really get what this has to say other than a popular feeling that climate change will come and punish us and only through small human connections can we rebuild. That is not how its going to go (or if that is, it will be after such a monumental loss of human life that cannot be ignored in a narrative like this)! I guess the strongest theme is about how certain people, especially the poor, will be left behind during large scale strife, but I would have liked am much stronger exploration if that is meant to be the sum total of the work. Obviously, I have a strong reaction to this because I really hate a vibes based reaction to climate change over the many interesting and challenging topics that exist, but your mileage may vary. Sorry if you really liked this.
I don’t recommend this book and I don’t think it has much to add to a discussion about climate change....more
A great sequel, although the pacing and expansion of POV’s made it fall a bit short of the first book (for me).
After the events of the first book, MahA great sequel, although the pacing and expansion of POV’s made it fall a bit short of the first book (for me).
After the events of the first book, Mahit has returned to her home station, though politics make her safety uncertain, Three Seagrass is bored out of her mind as undersecretary, a newly appointed commander is struggling with encroaching aliens, and Eight Antidote wrestles with his role in the empire. Once this got going, this was a successful sequel, especially in terms of a two book emotional arc for Mahit and Three Seagrass. What didn’t work for me was the expansion from one to four POV’s with rapid switching. It bogged down the beginning and diluted Mahit’s voice. The writing is very flowery and full of in-world literary references, which worked for me when it is solely from Mahit’s perspective as it shows how twisted up in Teixcalaanli culture she is, but when its just narrative style across four people, it sometimes came off as too flowery. However, once it got to the good stuff (Mahit and Three Seagrass interacting or Mahit and Three Seagrass interacting with aliens), it was really good. Do note that a lot of my gripes seem to be received as improvements to the first book by other people, so take them with a grain of salt. I just really loved how intensely the first book looked through Mahit’s eyes and I missed that here.
A five book series that scratches the dungeon core itch, but juvenile writing/characters holds it back, especially for the first few books.
Milton wasA five book series that scratches the dungeon core itch, but juvenile writing/characters holds it back, especially for the first few books.
Milton was a pro-gamer until aliens abducted him to place his consciousness in a station core, a machine meant to churn out attack drones and coordinate the defense of the alien’s worlds. However, before Milton arrives, the ship is attacked and he is stranded on an alien world where he must repair himself and eventually get off planet. I did appreciate that Milton was not an amoral murderous core, as he generally wants to defend peaceful sapients and the creation of defensive structures and drones was fun. However, the writing and characters often come off as pretty juvenile (Milton is really sensitive about swearing, people are weird about sex, etc), plus the system Milton uses to repair/upgrade himself is pretty forced and awkward. But if you can get past all of that, it was fun enough, especially as I listened to the audiobook omnibus, so even if the specific books weren’t always great, it lent it the weight of a long epic, which I enjoyed.
I only recommend this if you already know you really want a dungeon core book....more
A great sci-fi with a lot of court intrigue and memorable relationships.
Mahit is from a collection of mining stations and is chosen as a diplomat to tA great sci-fi with a lot of court intrigue and memorable relationships.
Mahit is from a collection of mining stations and is chosen as a diplomat to the ancient and powerful Teixcalannli Empire after her predecessors untimely death. She must uncover the palace intrigue that lead to her predecessor’s death while dealing with malfunctioning (and Empire illegal) neurological enhancements. This is my third time reading this book and each time it gets better. Mahit is a fun protagonist, always ready with a quip and filled with yearning for a culture not her own. On this third read I really appreciated the juxtaposition of how the empire is described as an enormous, consuming monster while her own station is extremely authoritarian (severe reproductive control, mostly unelected rulers, very small living quarters).
Recommended if you want a queer, culture heavy sci-fi with a lot of court politics. ...more
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast but then his uncle dies and leaves him his super villain business. It has ScaA fun, if slightly thin sci-fi romp.
Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast but then his uncle dies and leaves him his super villain business. It has Scalzi’s characteristic wit and charm that made for a good time. It did feel a bit thin at places and I’m not sure if all those people would have made the decisions they did, but if I accepted the ridiculousness of the premise, then I guess I can’t quibble with super villain decision making. It did feel like Charlie was hung out to dry in the end by several pivotal characters, which felt weird and I didn’t love.
Recommended if you want a fun and fast read....more
A thick space opera with a fun world and engaging story, but small execution problems make it ultimately stumble a bit for me.
Kira is a xenobiologist A thick space opera with a fun world and engaging story, but small execution problems make it ultimately stumble a bit for me.
Kira is a xenobiologist on a routine scouting mission of a colony site when she accidentally bonds with an alien symbiote, upsetting galactic politics. I appreciate how big this book was, I was really in the mood for a thick space opera, but it also could have definitely been streamlined. That’s my feeling for a lot of the book, it was fun and I was in the right mood, but it could have been better. There are several scenes where the characters are desperately trying to escape and someone realizes they can stick the thingamabob in the nuclear reactor and it saves the day. That’s not how engineering works, especially on these giant space ships. The fun thing about space opera is the scale of space travel means you can easily slip in a month of “rushed” repairs and it makes sense in the plot, but 5 minutes of engineering just isn’t how it works. There are also a few cases were the main character makes pretty wild decisions for plot reasons and people are often quickly convinced to help her (except when they are extremely, cartoonishly opposed to her) and it didn’t feel organic.
Tentatively recommended if you want an accessible space opera....more
An odd little genre mishmash that I was quite taken with. It was like a dark cozy sci-fi faustian bargain?
Katrina Nguyen is a trans violin prodigy whoAn odd little genre mishmash that I was quite taken with. It was like a dark cozy sci-fi faustian bargain?
Katrina Nguyen is a trans violin prodigy who as run away from home, Shizuki is a violin teacher who sells souls to a demon, and Lan is the captain of a spaceship hidden in a donut shop. This book does have a lot of heavy content, so check content warnings if you’re concerned, but it doesn’t feel excessive. It ultimately was really heart warming meditation on doing your best even if you’ve made mistakes (even the selling of souls grade) before. It does feel a bit messy at points, but I just had so much fun reading this.
Recommended if you want a fun, queer sci-fi romp....more
A really lovely, atmospheric story which doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Basit Deniau built an AI house like no other and then entombed himself in it afA really lovely, atmospheric story which doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Basit Deniau built an AI house like no other and then entombed himself in it after he died. Only his old student, a woman who has denounced him, can visit the house one week per year, yet when Rose House calls the local police station to report a murder, it’s not her. The vibes were great, I had a great time, and it mostly stuck the landing. I loved the tension with the AI: it’s an inhuman consciousness that has to follow rules, but inherent in consciousness is the ability to lie, especially to oneself. (view spoiler)[ I do really want to know what was up with the flowers though. No idea what was going on there (hide spoiler)]
Recommended for a quick locked room, atmospheric sci-fi murder mystery....more
Phenomenal. P h e n o m e n a l. Fun, gay space adventures with a terrifying new type of sex/marriage/body horror.
Set in Leckie’s Imperial Radch worlPhenomenal. P h e n o m e n a l. Fun, gay space adventures with a terrifying new type of sex/marriage/body horror.
Set in Leckie’s Imperial Radch world, the story follows three POV’s: Qven, a juvenile Presger translator with some questions about growing up, Enae, a fifty some woman given busy work of a long cold missing person case to get her out of sight, and Reet, an odd man just trying to watch his pirate dramas. I had so much fun with this book, it was a fantastic return to the world of Ancillary Justice. It was great to finally get insight into the translators (but not really the Presgar!). I thought this book did a great job with asking serious questions while also being fairly tongue in cheek or straight up funny. What if children ate people so you had to let them run feral until 30 (it’s fine they’re aliens or something, unless maybe they’re not)? I also was genuinely terrified by the body horror in this book. It’s brief, but it really packs a wallop when it appears. I think Leckie did a great job of having a bit tighter of a narrative than in the Ancillary books and the book clips along quite compulsively.
Highly recommended to all. You could probably start your journey with the Imperial Radch world here, it works great as a stand alone, but it probably would make more sense if you had at least read Ancillary Justice....more
Christopher
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