“What the heck does that mean?” “It means trouble. Lots of trouble.”
Opening round in a multi-book space opera series with so many Star Trek parallels “What the heck does that mean?” “It means trouble. Lots of trouble.”
Opening round in a multi-book space opera series with so many Star Trek parallels that Kilby should owe royalties to the estate of Gene Roddenberry. Supposed hard science fiction, though like most SF authors Kilby flunks elementary orbital dynamics.
For the first time in the entire three years this crew had been together, they had started to feel like a team—actually, more than that: they felt to [redacted] like family, and he liked that feeling.
Like Captain Kirk, the cheesy protagonist is a self-absorbed emotionally-stunted twit. The cause of his angst is revealed as the story progresses. One character’s hyper-vision requires him to wear a wraparound visor permanently attached to his skull (apologies to Star Trek NG) yet doesn’t directly interface to the ship’s sensors. Similarly, readers may wonder why an exotic quantum, as opposed to artificial, intelligence resides on a near-derelict exploration craft? That answer shows up late in the story.
“I don't know which I'm more afraid of: the armada of armed ships chasing us down, or riding around the solar system with a sentient QI.”
Since this is a blatant space opera series, don’t expect any kind of closure at the end of this (and probably not the next) installment. That said, Kilby tied off one plot line and chummed the water for more. It’s all good, clean fun: popcorn for the SF-inclined mind. (My edition had different cover art.)
Yet in the end, his continued existence in the solar system was down to Miranda risking her own life to save him from his reckless stupidity. Her words, not his....more
“You’re sitting up here deciding the fate of the Dedelphi. You’re planning out their every move and correcting them when they go wrong. Why don’t you “You’re sitting up here deciding the fate of the Dedelphi. You’re planning out their every move and correcting them when they go wrong. Why don’t you just get yourself a throne and a beard, declare yourself God, and finish it!”
A complex science fiction adventure involving family, good intentions, lies, and race hatred. Zettel establishes her characters and setting by immersing the reader in a dramatic change in the history of an alien planet and people. Complexities of Dedelphi biology and familial structure are scattered through the interactions of humans who have conflicting goals and loyalties.
“Somebody’s obviously decided that there’s something more important than saving the world, and we got in the way.”
Cross purposes abound between and within various factions. Imperfect knowledge of what their own side is doing, not to mention the actions of adversaries, force dilemmas on everyone.
“But this I promise you, my Sisters, as I promise my daughters in my womb. When our world is saved, the [redacted] will no longer walk on it to plague us.” ...more
“If you’re familiar with Brad R. Torgersen’s stories, you’ll probably just want to skip this introduction and get right to the good stuff. That’s what“If you’re familiar with Brad R. Torgersen’s stories, you’ll probably just want to skip this introduction and get right to the good stuff. That’s what I’d do.” Dave Wolverton
Better than average single-author anthology of short stories and novellas. Includes Torgersen’s early works, published in 2014. With a few exceptions, it’s a pleasurable mix of science fiction. Paradoxically, the titular story is the worst of the collection.
I’m old. Old, and tired. And they turned the [redacted] gravity back on.
Each story is introduced by more background than is pleasant to read. Skip them. Skip the three Introductions too. Read the stories first, especially “Life Flight.” Most stories include both a compelling plot and character growth. I especially like “Reardon’s Law” and “Peacekeeper.” To avoid pornography skip “The Flamingo Girl.”
The lamps would drain battery power even faster than the reheaters, but I reasoned there was no choice now.
Squishy for “hard” SF. Unfortunately most of its physics and sociology is based on early twenty-first century movies and Star Trek. In addition to the time-speed problem Torgerson acknowledges in “Life Flight,” the hydrogen “liquid-slush isotope” fuel is problematic, when water or hydrogen peroxide would be more manageable and provide better protection from radiation and micro-impacts. The story is the thing; disregard the scientific ignorance.
… and that I stop thinking of them as the enemy. Mostly, though, I hope I can stop being a peacekeeper … and start being a peacemaker. ...more
“I’m back online.” She smiled. “I’ll warn everybody.”
Fear not, those who feared Murderbot might not survive the transition to novel-length. Our favori“I’m back online.” She smiled. “I’ll warn everybody.”
Fear not, those who feared Murderbot might not survive the transition to novel-length. Our favorite … uhm, construct strides through three hundred pages with his self-doubt and existential crisis—not to mention his weaponry and some of his drones—intact.
“What are you? You’re a bot?” Thiago said, “It’s a security unit. A bot/human construct.” “Why does it look like a person?” I said, “I ask myself that sometimes.”
Hasn’t quite the immediacy and edge of the shorter stories, but equally entertaining. Diaries 5 and 7 are halves of a single story, but Wells concludes Network Effect without a cliffhanger. But System Collapse continues the story. (Internal evidence suggests Diary #6, Fugitive Telemetry, occurs before #5, Network Effect.)
(If I got angry at myself for being angry I would be angry constantly and I wouldn’t have time to think about anything else.) (Wait, I think I am angry constantly. That might explain a lot.)
It’s all in the parentheticals. Not everyone can sustain so many snarky asides without dissolving into silliness. It’s a knack, and Wells has it. (Don’t look for it in her older books; it’s not there.)
F---, f--- everything, f--- this, f--- me especially.
Concerns: Excessive and gratuitous profanity. Wells uses profanity to highlight the emotional immaturity of Murderbot and ART; having established that, everything else is piling on. The f-word is particularly overused. Lazy storytelling. And inappropriate considering Murderbot’s attitude toward human bodily functions. A low-orbit space elevator is not possible without huge energy use to combat gravity and rotation or a massive, geosynchronous counterweight. With all the sentient software, Wells forgets the massive processing power required. Infiltrating killware to a fire-walled system may be possible, but as soon as 2.0 thinks, let alone acts, it exposes its presence.
Confession time: that moment, when the humans or augmented humans realize you’re really here to help them. I don’t hate that moment.
I like these stories enough to re-read them periodically, but the dissonance of the profanity grows rather than diminishes with subsequent readings. Other readers may not be offended, but you’ve been warned.
“My risk assessment module thought everything was great. (I know, it worries me when I say that, too.)”...more
In a hundred thousand years, mankind had faced no real rivals except those it had made itself. So far it seemed that no world, and perhaps no galaxy, In a hundred thousand years, mankind had faced no real rivals except those it had made itself. So far it seemed that no world, and perhaps no galaxy, was big enough for two sentient species.
A maybe-not-first-contact story set twenty-eight millennia into the future. Standalone science fiction published in 2010. Worlds, faiths, personalities, and maybe species collide as a team of not-quite friends and maybe scapegoats investigate a populated planet-like moon reported to have been invaded by humanoid aliens. Team members have their own, often conflicting, agenda.
“It’s faith. [Redacted] says it won’t happen, so it won’t.” “A whole world refusing to face the truth? That’s horrible!” “It’s human. People ignore bad news whenever they can.”
In addition to the usual rich, talented, powerful, and gearheads, the team includes a Capuchin friar, out of step with the secular and pagan of his day, but even more so with the faith of Pock’s natives. Unfortunately, he fades to a caricature as the story evolves to old-fashioned politics, lust, and avarice.
Sample paragraph, emphasis added: [Redacted] was breakfasting alone on a terrace beside a gently steaming pool. Ravenously hungry, he was gobbling like a New Winish swamp dragon. It was a fine morning, almost too hot already, although the grass was wet and shining like diamonds. The sun was higher than yesterday; Javel had already set.
Annihilation clock ticking. Crisp, clean storytelling with distinct point-of-view shifts. Quibble: much passive voice. Duncan does better. The story’s first half surpasses the second.
“Go forth and multiply. Isn’t that a rather primitive motive for a superhuman species?” “No. It’s the defining characteristic of life.” ...more
“Friends are harder to make than enemies, but they are more useful.”
Duncan’s borrowed body tetralogy continues as Wallie/Shonsu unravels how this feu“Friends are harder to make than enemies, but they are more useful.”
Duncan’s borrowed body tetralogy continues as Wallie/Shonsu unravels how this feudal shogunate-analog society works, let alone raise an army to fulfill his divinely-appointed destiny. Nothing comes easily. Except he gets nudges—in the form of good fortune—when he makes correct decisions.
At that point the fight was as good as lost for [redacted]. [redacted] could hold them off while Wallie … scrambled out through the window. Then he was over the rail also, and the sharks were in the swimming pool.
Fun fantasy adventure. Wallie’s his American memories and experience leads him astray, of course. His brave new world requires him to operate way outside his comfort zone. And he makes some egregious decisions.
There was no way Wallie could ever reconcile a shame culture and a guilt culture. The ways of thinking were too unlike. But he had to try—try to show [redacted] that what he had done was not such an atrocity to him.
Duncan stretches historic and literary archetypes to fit his story. Issues of caste, slavery, hierarchy, and divine intervention provide Wallie with dilemmas which are seldom as clean cut as modern morality would suggest. A sprinkling of humor and humility softens the hard lessons.
Wallie Smith knew that noise. That was no thunderbolt—that was a shot. The coming of wisdom. The Goddess had chosen the soul of a chemical engineer, and he had been too damn dumb to see why. ...more
“We didn’t ruin his life, we just happened to benefit from it.”
Fun SF story in a near future dystopia with weak science. The usual (for modern SF) St“We didn’t ruin his life, we just happened to benefit from it.”
Fun SF story in a near future dystopia with weak science. The usual (for modern SF) Star Trekkian illogic and misunderstood science. Misunderstands the geography of Mars.
Photosensitive cells on their helmets were activated by the sublight radiation. (Not UV or IR, but darkness as he tells it.)
Published in 1991. Apparently written with thesaurus in hand but didn’t read meanings. Excessive adjectives and adverbs, especially very. Gratuitous profanity, starts mid-novel.
“I’ll be damned.” “You already have been. And so have I.”
Disappointing ending. The whole story is a setup for a resolution which never comes.
‘Sometimes the only way to learn is to live.’ ‘Sounds hard.’
An imaginative, if not original story of multiple universes and multiple lives. Readers w‘Sometimes the only way to learn is to live.’ ‘Sounds hard.’
An imaginative, if not original story of multiple universes and multiple lives. Readers who survive the setup are rewarded with the protagonist exploring many versions of how her own life might have played out had she made different decisions.
‘You don’t go to death. Death comes to you.’ Even death was something Nora couldn’t do properly, it seemed.
Easy to follow plot threads play out to various, usually unsatisfactory conclusions. Appropriate that she would not be able to fake her way through some of her alter egos. Philosophy and pop culture interweave to connect and differentiate her lives.
‘I would like to hand in my library card.’ ‘You are the library card.’ ‘I want it to stop.’ ‘No you don’t.’
Some quibbles; a few misquotes. The climax is inevitable but satisfying. Sometimes a stopped clock adds tension; sometimes it’s a ticking clock. Lost a star for language.
‘It just shows you, doesn’t it?’ ‘Shows me what?’ ‘Well, that you can choose choices but not outcomes.’ ...more
If the last to know he’s an addict is the addict, then maybe the last to know when a man means what he says is the man himself.
Illogical. Boring. ProfIf the last to know he’s an addict is the addict, then maybe the last to know when a man means what he says is the man himself.
Illogical. Boring. Profane. Almost gave up, but it grows on you. This plunge into California’s drug culture has little to recommend it, other than a frank look at how people ruined their lives then. Of course, no comparison with the utopia California is today. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)
All their brains are … slushed and mutually interacting in a slushed way. It’s the slushed leading the slushed. And right into doom.
So real it hurts. Sensitive readers may skip the first half, but that’s the setup for the last. Substance D serves as a symptom and a metaphor of dysfunction. Not much to like about the protagonist(s). Supposedly semi-auto biographic. If so, I hurt for Dick in that phase of his life. Glad he survived. Many literary allusions. Some relevant quotes from Goethe rendered in German, which bear translation.
It is not through glass but as reflected back by a glass. And that reflection that returns to you: it is you, it is your face, but it isn’t. And they didn’t have cameras in those old days, and so that’s the only way a person saw himself: backward.
Even by today’s standards a lot of unacceptable language. Imagine it turned off many 1970s potential readers. Yes, it may have been endemic to the drug subculture, but Dick could have handled it better. Not recommended for the faint-hearted.
“Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost … perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well. A portion of him turns against him and acts like another person, defeating him from inside. A man inside a man. Which is no man at all.”...more
“A stroke of luck, wouldn’t you say?” “Don’t say that, I beg of you.” “Why not?” “I may not believe in prophecy, but I do believe in jinxes.”
Entertai“A stroke of luck, wouldn’t you say?” “Don’t say that, I beg of you.” “Why not?” “I may not believe in prophecy, but I do believe in jinxes.”
Entertaining space opera of manners. So slow a start, I paused and restarted. Twice. Glad I stuck with it. Multiple POV characters, including an emerging sentient AI. Avoids common SF physics issues by ignoring them. Works. Reveals backstory appropriately.
“The only way to cope with such an amount of death is to live our lives a hundred times more fiercely.”
Clumsy handling of non-binary pronouns. Using third-person plural for singular characters, especially multiples, confuses readers. Martha Wells handles it better: devise a unique pronoun string for each personality type: xe-xes-xem or dfe-dfes-dfem. Pronouns should enhance storytelling, not distract.
“While I cannot disobey [redacted], self-diagnoses lead me to believe that I am able to skirt the edge of disobedience.” “Skirt its edge? What the [redacted] does that mean?” “On a philosophical level, it is a matter of free will.”
Gratuitous profanity. Nice cover art. Neatly ties several plot threads for a satisfying conclusion while unraveling several previously tied off to bait readers to read Rambo’s next book: Devil's Gun.
“Your life has meaning, but you treat it as though it does not.” ...more
Her only other choice is to accept her enemy as an ally and for them to forge into uncertainty together.
Enemy Mine meets Dune. A satisfying, characteHer only other choice is to accept her enemy as an ally and for them to forge into uncertainty together.
Enemy Mine meets Dune. A satisfying, character-driven story of identity and duty; not a rousing, light-hearted space opera. The story is told from the narrow, third-person point of view of each protagonist. Yes, each is the other’s antagonist. And more. Good character and plot development. Occasional splashes of humor. Love Ann McMan’s cover art.
If all other futures are now impossible, can she hold [redacted] accountable for a past that can’t be changed?
Space operas tend to exist independent of known physics, but No Shelter lowers the bar. Orbital geometry, size and weight of even small spacecraft, and the ecology of moons are Star Trekkian at best. “The gravity on Ellod is less than on [its] moon.” Impossible. “Several weeks of recovery have not completely healed her.” If she survives those wounds treated that way, she’d be crippled for life.
“I have no mother, no father, and no house to call my own. I have no shelter but the stars and no home but where I kneel.”
The sex scenes (“those scenes” as Black imagines her fathers’ reaction) are unnecessarily pornographic and at odds with the protagonists’ situation. Hot sex while starving? Skip them.
“No matter how far into space humanity got, it would never be far enough to escape its own nature.”
Excellent military science fiction. Better than ave“No matter how far into space humanity got, it would never be far enough to escape its own nature.”
Excellent military science fiction. Better than average space opera; better than Tom Clancy; almost as good as John Scalzi. These characters--good, bad and other--have souls. Mission Impossible meets Starship Trooper but with a soul. Almost five stars.
“He couldn’t remember a time that he’d ever been glad he ignored his gut.”
Introspective main character who is often confused and conflicted without the teen angst most war story heroes wallow in. Thoughtful, three-dimensional characters on all sides. Great depth of story and storytelling with an economy of words. Feels more real than most space operas, especially than Star Trek or Star Wars fantasies.
“Hard to trust people who say they don’t want to start a war when everyone’s acting like they do.”
Death proofing raises many technical and ethical issues (see also John Scalzi’s Old Man's WarOld Man’s War), not the least of which is how the resurrected self gets a current impression of the personality. They should only have captured up to the start of each mission.
“He’d given his life for his country and they’d been kind enough to give it back.”
Major spoilers follow, though I’ve tried to not be explicit (because I know my niece will read on anyway). If you think you might read this book, read no farther. Seriously. Oh, and don’t read other reviews or the blurb. Get the book and read it for yourself. Discovery is half the fun.
“Information is only part of the problem; usually we have too much of it.”
Quibbles. 1. well-explained--even plausible--instantaneous interplanetary communications, but no explanation of faster-then-light travel. How else could they make a round trip from Earth to Mars in less than a week? 2. (view spoiler)[You don’t think she’s dead dead do you? (Jon, I told you to stop reading.) (hide spoiler)]
“Eventually you came to expect that everything was a trick.”
Assembling cast for series subtle enough not to interfere with this story. Excellent denouement, with plenty of hooks to the next story
“Do the good you can.”
Merged review:
“No matter how far into space humanity got, it would never be far enough to escape its own nature.”
Excellent military science fiction. Better than average space opera; better than Tom Clancy; almost as good as John Scalzi. These characters--good, bad and other--have souls. Mission Impossible meets Starship Trooper but with a soul. Almost five stars.
“He couldn’t remember a time that he’d ever been glad he ignored his gut.”
Introspective main character who is often confused and conflicted without the teen angst most war story heroes wallow in. Thoughtful, three-dimensional characters on all sides. Great depth of story and storytelling with an economy of words. Feels more real than most space operas, especially than Star Trek or Star Wars fantasies.
“Hard to trust people who say they don’t want to start a war when everyone’s acting like they do.”
Death proofing raises many technical and ethical issues (see also John Scalzi’s Old Man's WarOld Man’s War), not the least of which is how the resurrected self gets a current impression of the personality. They should only have captured up to the start of each mission.
“He’d given his life for his country and they’d been kind enough to give it back.”
Major spoilers follow, though I’ve tried to not be explicit (because I know my niece will read on anyway). If you think you might read this book, read no farther. Seriously. Oh, and don’t read other reviews or the blurb. Get the book and read it for yourself. Discovery is half the fun.
“Information is only part of the problem; usually we have too much of it.”
Quibbles. 1. well-explained--even plausible--instantaneous interplanetary communications, but no explanation of faster-then-light travel. How else could they make a round trip from Earth to Mars in less than a week? 2. (view spoiler)[You don’t think she’s dead dead do you? (Jon, I told you to stop reading.) (hide spoiler)]
“Eventually you came to expect that everything was a trick.”
Assembling cast for series subtle enough not to interfere with this story. Excellent denouement, with plenty of hooks to the next story
It was okay. Just. Barely. Normally anthologies front load good stories to set the hook, then put mediocre stuff in the middle and end with a bang. WyIt was okay. Just. Barely. Normally anthologies front load good stories to set the hook, then put mediocre stuff in the middle and end with a bang. Wyrd Worldsidn't do that arguably the worst stories were the third and last. The rest were okay. Only one, "Guns of Napoleon," rose enough above the tide to merit comment.
Okay at best.
Merged review:
It was okay. Just. Barely. Normally anthologies front load good stories to set the hook, then put mediocre stuff in the middle and end with a bang. Wyrd Worldsidn't do that arguably the worst stories were the third and last. The rest were okay. Only one, "Guns of Napoleon," rose enough above the tide to merit comment.
Amazing. A gripping story which starts like a space opera, gradually playing itself out all over this arm of the Milky Way, then suddenly it blossoms Amazing. A gripping story which starts like a space opera, gradually playing itself out all over this arm of the Milky Way, then suddenly it blossoms into something every different: something the author planted the seeds for from the start, but the reader tends to miss for the space opera. (view spoiler)[The something is a clever tie in to current science assumptions and discussions, which if true would out-weigh even the news of first contact with intelligent aliens. (hide spoiler)]
For a first novel, an amazing feat. Yes, it finished without telling the whole tale, but it drew the reader far enough along to provide short term closure.
There was a jarring gap in the middle--intentional I think--where previous plot points are resolved without telling the reader how. Off stage, as it were. In fact, several major actions occupy off stage.
Scat, the protagonist, is human enough to engage readers tired of too many superhuman humans.
A very good read. (After I digest it for a few day, I may award another star.)
Merged review:
Amazing. A gripping story which starts like a space opera, gradually playing itself out all over this arm of the Milky Way, then suddenly it blossoms into something every different: something the author planted the seeds for from the start, but the reader tends to miss for the space opera. (view spoiler)[The something is a clever tie in to current science assumptions and discussions, which if true would out-weigh even the news of first contact with intelligent aliens. (hide spoiler)]
For a first novel, an amazing feat. Yes, it finished without telling the whole tale, but it drew the reader far enough along to provide short term closure.
There was a jarring gap in the middle--intentional I think--where previous plot points are resolved without telling the reader how. Off stage, as it were. In fact, several major actions occupy off stage.
Scat, the protagonist, is human enough to engage readers tired of too many superhuman humans.
A very good read. (After I digest it for a few day, I may award another star.)...more
This is weird. I liked this story: a contemporary post-apocalyptic female hero’s journey. Good premise; engaging protagonist. I started this review inThis is weird. I liked this story: a contemporary post-apocalyptic female hero’s journey. Good premise; engaging protagonist. I started this review intending to give it four stars, but as I wrote I realized it made no impression on me.
Normally I record quotes as I read, to give readers of my reviews a sense of the writing style of the author. I got to the end of The Road and discovered I’d written nothing. Broncucia writes well; her writing just didn’t move me. In fact, I paused several times while reading it, uncertain whether I wanted to finish it.
Loses one star for the obviously-driven-by-sequel-concerns afterword tacked on the end. It was hokey and added nothing to this story. Other than that, a good first novel.
Merged review:
This is weird. I liked this story: a contemporary post-apocalyptic female hero’s journey. Good premise; engaging protagonist. I started this review intending to give it four stars, but as I wrote I realized it made no impression on me.
Normally I record quotes as I read, to give readers of my reviews a sense of the writing style of the author. I got to the end of The Road and discovered I’d written nothing. Broncucia writes well; her writing just didn’t move me. In fact, I paused several times while reading it, uncertain whether I wanted to finish it.
Loses one star for the obviously-driven-by-sequel-concerns afterword tacked on the end. It was hokey and added nothing to this story. Other than that, a good first novel....more
A short story set in Sanderson Cosmere universe, Sixth starts as the Stone Age adventure which morphs into a futuristic science fiction.
Others might A short story set in Sanderson Cosmere universe, Sixth starts as the Stone Age adventure which morphs into a futuristic science fiction.
Others might splash words over hundreds of pages, thinking they have a Jackson Pollack when all they have is a mess. Not Sanderson. With decisive wording Sanderson tells his story and gets out. The reader is left breathless: wanting more but afraid to ask the question.
Cool. Just right mix of social commentary and projection. Topical in more ways than Kritzer may have “You have to use your phone as a phone? I’m out.”
Cool. Just right mix of social commentary and projection. Topical in more ways than Kritzer may have imagined when she wrote it, probably in 2022.
“I love the idea of an app that tells you to put your phone down more. For your own good.”
2024 Hugo Short Story Award. Watch this author; she has the voice for the times. Hopeful, positive, with a dash of humor.
“That’s probably their biggest finding—people are happier when they have a community. Which I’d say we already knew, honestly, but people are always impressed when science tells them something that we already knew.” ...more
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