I’m part of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club on Goodreads and they selected This Alien Shore for a book of the month. I got it through interlibrary loan originally, and stopped a little ways in (I think around 50 pages) because I loved it so much I wanted to listen to it. I could tell already that it would turn into something special for me. I have had some difficulties happen recently that meant that I didn’t listen as much as I normally would (10-20 hours/week), so it took a little bit longer than I’d have liked.
It was totally worth it. The description as cyberpunk Dune doesn’t really do total justice to the book, but it’s not completely inaccurate. There are many parallels with the broader ideas of those, but it’s also quite different. This Alien Shore is much more intimate than Dune is, to the point where as a reader you’re almost claustrophobic at times. Much of the book is internal, but it never feels like there’s too much monologue to me. The plot follows a young woman who seems to be afflicted by memory loss as she’s being hotly pursued by at least one threatening group. Meanwhile, other characters work to try to stop a kind of computer virus from undermining space travel.
I loved the central mystery of the plot, which you don’t really even get fully until the very, very end. It was such a great hook to get me interested, and it just stayed there the whole time without ever feeling stale. Some readers may see it as something of a deus ex machina, but I think there are enough hints to pick it up. Pay attention, if you read it!
Some books that do cyberpunk make it really opaque to the point of incoherence to me. Neuromancer is one I’ve read several times and I’m still not sure if I love or loathe it or understand it at all. Here, the elements that are standard for the subgenre were not always easy to pick up on, but they were much simpler to grasp. Absolutely loved the use of devices throughout and the way the whole story played out. The tech was integral to the plot at multiple key points, which made it seem much less of an attempt at prophesying the future than much cyberpunk does. The combination of different aspects of the plot with the many, many fantastic ideas Friedman brings to the table makes the book constantly feel fresh without being incomprehensible.
I will definitely be seeking out more works by Friedman in the future. This was astonishingly good. Check out This Alien Shoreyourself. I recommend it very highly.
Links
Sci-Fi Hub– Come read many, many more posts about science fiction novels and shows. I look forward to reading with you and discussing more books and shows!
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
Vintage Sci-Fi– Click the link and scroll down to read more vintage sci-fi posts! I love hearing about your own responses and favorites!
My Read-Through of the Hugos– Check out all my posts on reading through the Hugo Award winners and nominees. Tons of sci-fi fantasy discussion throughout.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
With the second Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (“SPACEFIC”) well underway, my group is going through one of my favorite parts of the contest: sorting through a slush pile. Basically, we get a stack of books and need to sample them all to narrow down our selections for quarter- and semi-finalists. Here, I’ll be going over my first impressions of some of these books. Please note my “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe” vote is only indicative of my opinion and may not reflect the opinion of our whole group. Since we advance books as a group, it’s possible a “Yes” from me may end up a “No” overall and vice versa. Let me know what you think of the books in the comments!
A cop-type drama in a zombie (with a twist) post-apocalyptic setting. There are some hard boiled cop drama, several comments about cleavage, and decent action scenes early on. I noticed several editorial misses early on, such as saying “everyone once” instead of “every once…” and a few awkwardly worded sentences. I am kind of curious as to where this keeps going, and the anime-esque feel of the cover and contents makes me want to say yes. The focus on “fan service”-y [read: boob comments] moments and editorial things make me more cautious. This is going to the maybe stack.
The book starts with a strange premise about a near mafia-esque family going through a battle for control within the family. To solve the battle, the matriarch decides the two brothers must each raise the other’s son. [One group member pointed out there’s some confusion here about how this is set up.] Anyway, skip forward and the plan has, inevitably, collapsed, but it’s yielded a main character who’s controlled by some code phrases and needs to go on the run as he’s testifying against his powerful family. Then, after the first 4-5% of the book focuses on that part of the story, the next portion (up to the 20% or so I’m at) turns into a kind of rodeo/ranch love story. No, really! It’s like the book just turned on a dime, decided, “Nope, I’m actually a rancher romance, now” with the sub-plot of the witness protection program being a thin veneer to keep the main plot waiting in the wings. And somehow, for me, it really is working. While the science-fiction-y aspects are super light so far, I’m curious to know where it goes, and I’m loving the characters.
It’s a yes, mostly because I’m confused and intrigued and that combination has me want to keep going.
In a futuristic matriarchal society, someone is protecting a male child, despite men being basically unneeded for the continuation of humanity. Content warnings should be plastered all over this one. The first scene is a somewhat inept torture and interrogation of a leader in the society, ending in some violence. Sexual violence and attempted power-rape are found in the first few chapters, as well. I thought the prose was strong, but the dialogue is cringe-inducing. Lines like “let me melt her fucking dollface” [kudos to another judge for pointing that one out] feel totally off-feel from the way the book itself is written. It’s like a Jekyll and Hyde scenario of the plot being interesting but the dialogue and content putting me off. This one is a “No” from me, but fans of dystopian fiction with stomach for violence may want to check it out.
Conclusion
What did you think of these books? Which sound interesting to you? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to follow the blog for more SPSFC content!
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I’m a judge for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC), and I’m reading and reviewing a bunch of books besides the semi-finalists and finalists! Check out my SPSFC Hub for all my posts and reviews for the contest.
I saw this book in another group’s slush pile and thought it looked intriguing because, well, there’s a giant mech on the cover. I’m a simple man; I love fiction with tanks and mechs.
The draw of Ironshield is that it is a large-scale world with warfare and mechs. The staying power of this chunky book is found, though, in the characters, the politics, and the world. The core plot centers around a civil war between North and South Arkenia. Initially, I thought it might be an analogue for the United States Civil War. It’s not, really. The war is over whether or not to disarm at the demands of an outside force, the Xangese. The South wants to disarm to assure peace with Xang, the Northern industrialists refuse to do so, as they’re worried it could empower a different empire to attack and take them back over.
These plot points and political machinations get revealed in satisfying chunks in between character vignettes and action scenes. The moves between characters come at a good clip, so readers get to see both sides of the conflict as more and more of the world and background plot is also revealed. And trust me, there’s a lot going on here. Of course, the big hitters are the mechs, and I enjoyed how Nile made them make sense in-world while also making some of the restrictions using them to fight played out. It’s a tightly done world, and while there are a few quibbles one could bring up about how neatly some of the plot ties up, I found it all enjoyable.
The elevator pitch for this novel would be something like: WWI combined with Old West US meets mechs and a splash of Indiana Jones with implications of a bigger conflict coming.
I have a few small qualms. The Xangese people and the Native inhabitants of the region each seem a bit flat. It would be great to see them get more dynamic development and not ride the line of stereotyping. I think it’s supposed to contribute to the feel of the novel as a kind of Old West-esque setting, but I wasn’t a fan of the simplistic way these characters were written. Let them be people, and have deeper reasons to work–against colonialism or what have you! It made me feel a little iffy how they were portrayed. The final qualm is just that the book could use a little cutting of the corners here and there. It doesn’t feel bloated, per se, but there are parts where the flow could move a little better.
Overall, though, Ironshield a great read with some superb world-building. The ending feels like a huge setup for more, and I was excited to see the next book is coming soon. I recommend this for fans of dieselpunk/steampunk, and fantasy with warfare.
Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.
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Having finally watched Babylon 5 for the first time (check out my posts for that series at my Babylon 5 Hub), I decided to dive into the novels. I’ll be reading them largely in publication order and reviewing them individually as we go along. Please do not spoil later books for me. There will be SPOILERS for the book reviewed going forward.
The blurb for this one promises some insight into the series that can’t really be found anywhere else. The novel follows the story of John Sheridan and his wife, Anna, before the TV series begins. Thus, we are to see scenes of John on the Agamemnon and his wife exploring archaeological finds that we know will lead to the shadows. Mr. Morden also looms large, as he’s on the expedition with Anna.
This plot setup is enough to vault the novel into a point of interest, as it allows the author to effectively have free say with the past of characters we care about while possibly explaining some of their motivations and background in ways we’ve not yet seen. Cavelos largely takes advantage of that, providing some believable background into characters we enjoy–or enjoy hating.
John Sheridan’s background, unfortunately, is a bit boring, however. Yes, some things go down on the ship and he even saves a bunch of lives, but it all feels a bit pedestrian while reading it. I found myself wanting to push through the Jon scenes to get to the ones featuring Anna. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but one would think seeing Sheridan as a war hero should be more exciting than it is.
The scenes with Anna largely deliver. Part of that is because we don’t have a great sense of who she was before the show yet, and so Cavelos can play with her character both in development and in what she encounters throughout the novel. I quite enjoyed the portrayal of Anna, and certainly her encounters with Mr. Morden are of interest to any fans of the show. What really sealed it for me was the ending, which basically takes us to where Anna starts in the show. It’s chilling and exciting–something we haven’t really encountered in the other novels to this point. There’s also a look at Ambassador Kosh and, briefly, what he might have been up to as a few major events played out.
The Shadow Within is among the best of the first run of Babylon 5 novels. It provides background for characters of interest on the show and even glimpses of what can explain some later interactions. Unfortunately, a good portion of the book falls flat due to not being engaging. Overall, this one is at least worth the read for fans of the show who’d like to have some additional story about major events that predate the show.
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Links
Babylon 5 Hub– Find all my Babylon 5-related posts and content here.
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
I’m a judge for the first-ever SPSFC (Self Published Science Fiction Contest- see all my posts on that here), but couldn’t help noticing the parallel SPFBO (Self Published Fantasy Blog-Off) contest happening. I always love finding some new indie authors and books, so I decided to read through the finalists of that contest and review them on my site. As always, let me know your own thoughts in the comments.
The Forever King is the start of a new series by Ben Galley that’s set in the same world as 4 novels he’s written before, the Emaneska series. I decided to go back and try those before reading this one. I enjoyed them well enough, but having now read The Forever King as well, I would say that this may be the best starting point.
The Forever King is in a world in which magick is banned with a death sentence. The current ruler of the land is fiercely trying to stop magick from spreading because, he argues, that’s how peace was brought to the land. Of course, there’s always more to the story.
Mithrid lives in a gentle seaside village, gathering flotsam from shipwrecks to see if it can provide a boon to her family. Other characters show up, and whether it’s a mage fighting against other mages, a vampire, or dragons, they all have interesting backstories. Some of them are from previous books in the series, but, again I think this is a fine place to start. The stories for individual characters are quite strong, and I hugely enjoyed the setting of the novel as well.
This is a long read, though, and you’ve got to be committed to some of the tropes of epic fantasy going in. Sometimes, it seems the evil characters are evil for evil’s sake and little else. Motivations at either the good and bad ends of the spectrum are fairly transparent. Mithrid went from being an intriguing child character to something a bit more one-dimensional than I expected.
My greatest complaint, though, is that Galley chose to use the name “Loki” for one of the gods in the world. I know this might be a little thing to some people, but it really killed my immersion in the world to have “real world” names for gods overlap in what is otherwise a completely fabricated world, including largely names that don’t sound similar to our own. I wouldn’t even have minded Loki as a name for a character, but having Loki be a trickster-ish god yet again and with no connection or reason to have the name be the same just made it feel strange.
The story itself is captivating, if somewhat predictable. The development of a resistance movement and the ways magic works, revenge and other motivations, dragons and other magical creatures–all of these and more feature in the plot of this sprawling epic fantasy.
The Forever Kingis a lengthy but rewarding read. It’s got plenty of action to go along with solid character development. It stumbles occasionally along the way, but ultimately delivers an experience well worth reading.
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Links
Fantasy Hub– My hub for links to posts about fantasy works on this site. Hugo and other Award nominees, vintage fantasy, indie books, and more!
Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
I am beyond thrilled to be a judge once again for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! The SPSFC can be shortened to “spacefic” (a la SPFBO being spiffbo), by the way! Here, I’d like to introduce all of our group’s “slush pile” reads. These are the reads that we are assigned to narrow down to quarter- and semi-finalists! I’ve posted covers, blurbs (shortened from Amazon), links to the books (affiliates), and my very short initial impression purely based on those two unless otherwise noted.
Against of backdrop of escalating tensions, double-sided revelations of first contact ripple through all involved as the probe attempts the first landing on the ice of Europa. The novel intertwines perspectives of Earth and under Europa as all struggle for truth.
Initial Thoughts
I like first contact and hard sci-fi, so I’m hoping to love this novel, too! The cover is quite striking in its stark simplicity.
A bat virus brought the world to its knees. Lizzie had it worse than most. Will she give up? At 17, Lizzie barely remembers her father. She needs to forget her mother’s loser boyfriends. Surviving an apocalypse could push anyone to the unthinkable. Lizzie’s shotgun is loaded. Then she meets Spike.
Initial Thoughts
Post-apocalyptic books are super hit-or-miss for me. They can trigger some latent anxiety, because the world already feels somedays like we’re headed there. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one strikes me!
A caustic fog blankets the Earth. Only the transparent barrier known as the Shield holds it at bay. It is the Amboians—an advanced alien species—and their technology that saved the last remnants of Humanity from the deadly Haze…
As disturbing reports of attacks from beyond the perimeter of the Shield reach the capital city of Amboy, all eyes turn eastward.
Initial Thoughts
I already reviewed this book last year when I saw it in another group’s slush pile and even interviewed the author. My thoughts can be found there, but here I’ll just say that I think the book delivers on its premise for an epic introduction to a big world.
Framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Haunted by the ghosts of his past. Incarcerated in the most notorious prison in the Freeholds. Fate has mauled Mattias Temple, a failed cadre necromancer, leaving him with little hope.
Initial Thoughts
Um… what? A necromancer, notorious prison, and military sci-fi-ish showing up all together? This reads like a premise I’ll love. I look forward to diving in.
In 2029, Gabriel Martiniere testified against the Martiniere Group’s forced imposition of mind control programming on unwilling indentured workers.
For his pains, he was forced into exile for over thirty years. Forced to divorce the love of his life.
Initial Thoughts
Okay, I didn’t really even read the blurb before I started reading this one, which I selected somewhat at random. Now that I’ve started it, I don’t know how to say much without spoiling some of the surprises I’ve run into. Let’s just say I definitely didn’t look at the tagline “An Agripunk thriller” before I started, lol. I look forward to continuing it for my great sifting of the slush pile!
Nearly 1,500 years have passed since the Human race fled Gaia, Earth to the ancients, in an effort for survival and, with time, expansion among the stars. Through dwindling hopes, a mass collaboration brought Humanity back from the brink and not only did they survive, they thrived. The vestiges of the Human race formed the Gaian Interplanetary Alliance, the GIA, to continue their expansion, known as the Auctius, past their home solar system and beyond.
Initial Thoughts
Can someone say “Space Opera”? This premise reads like space opera on a high level. It’s one of my favorite sub-genres, so I am excited to know how this one strikes me.
Dan Fallon is a courtroom warrior at the pinnacle of his profession. That’s what he knows—it’s who he is. As he’s driving back from the biggest victory of his career an electromagnetic pulse [EMP] wipes out modern civilization and strands him hundreds of miles away from his family.
Initial Thoughts
Okay, the Amazon description of this starts with “THE ROAD meets SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON” and I just…. what is that!? Lol, I have to find out.
Kit Baldwin can’t afford trouble, not in a city where superhuman Empowered offer their help only for a fee. But rent doesn’t wait so she scavenges the ruins for valuable artifacts from a crashed alien ship. When Kit discovers a powerful alien object, it pays off more than she ever hoped.
Initial Thoughts
I also read this one from another group’s slush for the heck of it, and then it ended up in our slush pile! This superhero-fueled sci-fi story deserves attention. Check out my review for my fuller (mostly spoiler free) thoughts.
On colonial Venus, people who are susceptible to lies have been denigrated and barred from the citizenry. Ancient dirigibles dock at the top of colossal towers to shunt people to and from underground cities. Armies of enclosed, beetle-shaped biocrawlers creep around the planet providing a coveted, yet deficient, natural environment. Colonists strive for an outdoor ecology to call their own, but terraforming is faltering.
There is growing unrest, and at the heart of this rift is Hix, a member of the Venusian underclass. He has risen from the tenements to become a renowned film star, until he is accused of murder. Neeva is destined to be Keeper, an esteemed protector of First Colony Heritage. She is also an inspector assigned to Hix’s case… and the victim happens to be her sister.
Initial Thoughts
I love me a good sci-fi mystery, so I’m ready to settle in and read this one once I get the chance. I also like the cover. There’s a lot of detail to sink into the longer I look at it.
For more than two decades, the sight of Doctor Fid’s powered armor has struck terror into the hearts of hero and civilian alike. But when a personal tragedy motivates Doctor Fid to investigate a crime, a plot is uncovered so horrific that even he is taken aback. Haunted by painful memories and profound guilt, the veteran supervillain must race against time if he is to have any hope of confronting the approaching threat. Every battle takes its toll…but the stakes are too high for retreat to be an option.
Initial Thoughts
Another superhero story that promises drama! I love superhero novels, so I’m ready to see where this one takes me.
The children are the future. And someone is turning them into highly trained killing machines.
Straight out of school, Griffin, a junior Investigations agent for the North American Trade Union, is put on the case: Find and close the illegal crèches. No one expects him to succeed, Griffin least of all.
Installed in a combat chassis Abdul, a depressed seventeen year old killed during the Secession Wars in Old Montreal, is assigned as Griffin’s Heavy Weapons support.
Nadia, a state-sanctioned investigative reporter working the stolen children story, pushes Griffin ever deeper into the nightmare of the black market brain trade.
Initial Thoughts
That got dark fast… the cover strikes me as badass sci-fi western. The blurb reads as nightmarish hellscape cyberpunk. We’ll see which it is (both?) when I sample it!
25 years after the fall of Earth, the Commonwealth is locked in a vicious, galaxy-spanning war against the Revenant. Countless worlds have been lost in the fighting, and now one crew must come together and stand in the way of galactic annihilation.
Initial Thoughts
The blurb reads like an epic space opera with a traditional premise: spaceships and guns on an adventure to save the galaxy. Strap in, and let’s ride!
When the life Alex had created away from his murky past is destroyed by creatures from the deepest and darkest parts of space, vengeance forces him to return to the path of war! But can he walk this path, when the ghosts of his past come back to haunt him?
Join him and an ensemble cast of characters as they try and find a place for themselves in a changing new world as their old world begins to collapse… lost souls in the vast star system trying to help each other find their true paths… just as a great War charges ahead on its path to them!
Initial Thoughts
I’m curious about this one for so many reasons. The cover; the pseudonym; what is going on with the big cast; everything.
Talos June performs with the creed of never break character. It lets him hide his awkward self from the universe as the ancient and powerful Wizard Joontal. No one knows the man behind the curtain.
It is a good job, and he has his artificial companions to keep him company as he plays with the most fabulous technologies the colonized planets have produced. Technologies as dangerous as they are exciting.
Initial Thoughts
On Amazon the subtitle is “A Gamelit Inspired Space Opera” and I’m all about that premise.
Imogen “Chim” Esper is thrust into the center of an interplanetary conflict when her family is torn apart by the cruel and indifferent Kardashev Corporation. Forced to run, along with her robotic best friend, Chim struggles to find her place in a society that is poised for revolutionary transformation.
The Kardashev Corporation dominates all commerce and politics in the solar system. Its megalomaniac CEO, Alton Neal, is hell-bent on transforming society by capturing the full energy output of the sun through the creation of a Dyson Swarm.
Citizens of Earth and the stations throughout the system must band together to protect access to the lifeblood of the system or risk becoming permanently enslaved to the Kardashev Corporation.
Initial Thoughts
What’s this: a corporation in unfettered capitalism being evil? Say it ain’t so! I look forward to seeing what Garcin does with this premise.
Savant Elise Jackson, Arkite’s supreme leader, is stricken with terrible grief over the recent loss of her lover. She has spent the last two years with her assistant, Sara, trying to repair and genetically engineer her lover’s damaged body and mind.
But the Viceroy of Pyramid City and her followers in the Savant Council have no interest in squandering the city’s resources for Elise’s personal gain. With the help of the mainframe AI, they will vie for power, even attempting collusion with Sara and sabotage.
As the last descendants of Earth struggle to survive beneath the surface of an alien ocean, one man’s discovery will lead him on a journey of redemption, while he fights to save what’s left of his world.
Jacob Stone is a man haunted by his past. When he reluctantly accepts a job to help pay for a cargo submarine he inherited but doesn’t want, he inadvertently awakens an ancient and terrible power. Its arrival triggers a chain of events that could destroy what’s left of the human race or be the key to its future. But, is it a future he’s willing to fight for, let alone die for?
Initial Thoughts
As a kid I was absolutely mesmerized by the show SeaQuest DSV (as an adult, apparently the last season is terrible, so I haven’t watched it because I don’t want to ruin those memories). I love the idea of humanity hiding under the sea. Submarines are super cool.
What does someone who can slip between universes do for a living? They help shape the fate of this reality. When his grandfather dies, a young Eli Clarke takes over as the Key: an individual with the power to traverse the multiverse. Raised inside a cult that works with the government, he erases targets from the timeline. Then he meets Jess, a fellow outsider who shows him what it is to question everything. Set in the 80s, 90s, and now, OF ALL POSSIBILITIES is a dark universe-hopping, story about loss, identity, and obsession that explores the repercussions of the choices we make and what makes us who we are.
Initial Thoughts
The premise is haunting and promises to use time travel in an actual impactful way. I’m here for it.
The year is 20018. The famed magician Illuminari is dead, and his greatest illusion has died with him. Dark forces now seek the Engine of Armageddon, the ancient, sentient doomsday weapon that Illuminari hid amongst the stars.
Enter Percival Gynt, accountant and part-time hero, whose quest to find the Engine before it falls into the wrong hands may be our universe’s last best hope for survival. It is a quest that will take him from the highest reaches of power to the lowest pits of despair and through every manner of horror and absurdity between.
But beware. This accountant has a secret. A secret that may damn us all.
Initial Thoughts
Is it a comedy? A serious time-travel novel? Something else entirely? I don’t know, but I am interested.
Pink is a mysterious woman who walked out of the wastes. She is an up and coming member of the Patrol. They are the sheriffs of the wild wastes, taking on zombies, mutants, bandits and robots left over in the ruins.
Initial Thoughts
Something about the anime vibes of this cover and premise have me interested and this is the first book I grabbed on Kindle Unlimited from our stack. I haven’t started it yet, but rest assured, I’ll share my thoughts when I do!
An ambitious Singapore gangster recruits an elite hacker to steal a devastatingly powerful quantum computer and hijack the world’s financial markets. Meanwhile, a beautiful streetwise CIA agent is determined to foil their plan in a case that could make or break her career. With settings ranging from Detroit to Singapore to the slums of Bihar, India (the “Sicily of India”), *Qubit* examines both the vulnerability of our cryptographic infrastructure and corruptibility of our financial systems. The story features international intrigue, a violent gang war, an unlikely love story, and an intricate cryptographic chess match that takes place as the global economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
Initial Thoughts
Will this be a math-filled novel about cryptography or something else entirely? I don’t know, but the premise has me wondering what direction it will take the global economy chess match.
Nuetierra. An alien world where twin moons light the night and massive air-breathing jellyfish float through the violet skies trolling for prey. Nue Bayona. A gaslit, steam-powered city caught between the iron fist of a despot and the bloody fist of a terrorist… Four hundred years have passed since The Great War toppled the technologically advanced colonial civilization created by refugees fleeing a dying planet. Since its fall, the descendants of the survivors have gradually rebuilt a new society on the bones of the old.
Initial Thoughts
The blurb has a ton of info in it (I only posted a fraction of it here), and I gotta say, it strikes me as potential for an epic space opera with a huge cast. I’m very excited to dive into this one.
[NOTE: This book was actually taken off our allocation and given to a different group. I posted this before I knew that news. Apologies!]
Blurb
Fresh off his first Marine deployment, Boone must now choose between two schools: Intelligence or Scout Sniper. Though he’s shown clear aptitude for the second, he’s not sure he has what it takes to do the job.
When he puts the decision aside to join his buddies on a day of leave, the last thing Boone expects to see is a naval weapons locker in the hands of a man who is clearly not Navy. On impulse, he shadows the man, only to find himself running for his life… smack into a Unit operator.
Initial Thoughts
If this is a military sci-fi novel about a sniper I think it could be totally awesome.
While searching a deserted mountain range, an explorer locates a high-tech artifact he assumes is merely another interesting find. It’s only one piece in a greater puzzle leading towards a device of ultimate power, the Diffusor-Sphere. Suddenly, he’s thrown into a battle between an engineer who’s remade himself as a cybernetic demigod, and the one tasked with safeguarding humanity from him. The only way out is recovering the Sphere first, but will he reach it in time?
Initial Thoughts
Space archaeology is one of my favorite things. It doesn’t sound like this will have a ton of that, but the lost lore/artifact/etc. thing is something I am absolutely a sucker for. Is this Space Indiana Jones? We’ll see.
In 2120, New America is the world leader in technology and individual freedom. Why, then, has seventeen-year-old Fae Luna felt like an isolated prisoner her entire life? She survived the worst of the foster care system by honing her skills as a top-level hacker and thanks to the support of her humanoid robot, Sunny, who is illegally upgraded to a human-level AI. Finally, she’s matched with a foster mom who treats her kindly. Fae slowly lets her guard down until a suspicious tragedy tears them apart.
Initial Thoughts
I think the premise for this dystopia-cyberpunk mashup (based on the blurb, that’s what I’m calling it) sounds neat. Dystopias need a twist to make them interesting, so lets see of Brian Terenna brings it!
Scouting crews arrive on newly discovered Dandros to find it ripe with life and fresh for colonization. There are no people and no vertebrate animals. But there is one castle, and one statue of a man known as the anomaly. Energy resonates from the head of this monument of times past where instruments and machinery probe the anomaly’s head and its empty keep, the only signs of civilization. It mourns for its love, speaks of its demise, and tells the humble beginnings of Dandros. It is kept under lock and key for the stories it tells. They learn that his name is Doug, a traveler from long ago, and he had prayed to a being known as the Goddess. Doug’s energy mentions her endlessly just before he had turned to stone. He had been making plans for her physical arrival on Dandros.
Initial Thoughts
The blurb for this reads like some zany New Wave sci-fi from Robert Silverberg way back when, and readers who know me know I love me some Silverberg. We’ll see where this wacky story leads us.
When everyone has a brain-interfacing tracking chip, one glitch threatens the entire network.
Kaya Weiss is that glitch.
Through thoughts and blinks, Kaya can access anyone or anything on the tracker network. But the authorities monitor everything—where Kaya goes, who she talks to, and what she searches. And without the ability to turn it off, Kaya and her family can’t observe a tech-free Shabbat. To fix the glitch, the authorities slice into her skull to reset her tracker, leaving Kaya to question more than the system’s invasion into her faith.
Initial Thoughts
I read this one on a whim after the end of the last SPSFC. It’s a kind of YA dystopia with some great twists and turns, and I’ll have fuller thoughts and a review coming up.
Zendaya Fernwood carries with her a secret. The world around her is a lie, an ingeniously designed digital prison for the mind. Escape occupies her every thought. Freedom is her goal and nothing will stop her from unplugging. What awaits Zendaya is a fate far worse than she could have imagined. Beyond her prison is a scorched earth where man and machine wage war in a seemingly endless campaign of suffering. There is hope on the horizon, a unique figure with the potential of rising from the shadows of the scorched earth to make a difference. To finally, after so very long, give humans the freedom they deserve.
Initial Thoughts
Sounds like “The Matrix.” Sign me the hell up.
Conclusion
Let me know which books you plan to read/check out! Are there any you’ve read already? Share all your thoughts in the comments.
Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.
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I’m on a quest to re-read all of my favorite (or least favorite that I kept for whatever reason) Star Wars novels in the Expanded Universe and beyond. Come along for the ride and check out my Star Wars Hub for more. There will be SPOILERS for the book discussed.
I believe it was around when this novel came out that I realized something dreadful when I was at the bookstore. I had missed out on the earlier entries, and as I cast about trying to find the earlier books in the series, they weren’t available. I was both a kid and a human who lived before Google and so had no concept of going to the desk to ask them to order it for me or to do so at the library. I figured I’d just have to wait for the other books to show up someday, and it never did. So this is actually my first ever reading of the novel.
I do recall other Expanded Universe books having mentions of the Bacta War or Bacta shortages, so one of the things I love about this book right off the bat is that it has wider ramifications. Too often, events in one book are either ignored by others or tie directly into the next book in an endless parade of sequels. Here, though, the Bacta War ripples out to books that aren’t even in the same series, showing a more ambitious form of storytelling than before.
The plot itself is fun, too. We’ve got the now splintered off group of pilots seeking to build their own resources in the first quarter or so of the book. Then, the middle portion is found with Corran Horn et al. playing a cat-and-mouse game with Isard. Finally, the latter part focuses on an epic final showdown. It’s all pretty solidly done, and the conclusion is satisfying.
There are plenty of great character vignettes as well. Stackpole has done well writing characters in other universes (eg. BattleTech), so it’s fun to see him unleashed in Star Wars. He does so with grand impact, showing off several side characters who get more development than any did earlier in the EU novels.
On the flip side, our villains are once again very one-dimensional. Isard is evil for evil’s sake and power hungry is the icing on the cake. Her erstwhile allies and supporters do everything but diabolically laugh as they watch her defeat or quiver in fear if she gets angry. Also, one specific scene talks about how the Empire continues to underestimate the power of a snub-nose fighter with torpedoes. I know it’s a weird sticking point, but it annoyed me that this is the case. You’d think after the first Death Star, they’d be all over that. The Second Death Star can be forgiven for being incomplete when it got rocked. But after that, if I were the Empire I’d be investing all my resources into building something like the anti-fighter/corvette missile destroyer from the video game Homeworld. Just imagine a huge ship that has effectively limitless guided missiles to track down fleeing fighters. That’s what I’d be building by the dozen. Instead, they underestimate fighters again? Come on.
Overall, though, The Bacta Warwas everything I was hoping it’d be. It’s got tons of Star Wars space fighting, solid character relationships, and a glimpse at broader implications.
The Good
+Great action sequences +Development of many side characters +Wider repercussions exist
The Bad
-Villains continue to be very one-dimensional
Cover Score: 7/10 A solid cover with iconic ships and explosions.
Grade [measured against my super objective* Star Wars enjoyment factor]: B+ Worth going back and reading as a fan.
*Not super objective and in fact wholly based on my feeling at the time of this review. Not measured against any other sci-fi works or really any other literature. This score is purely because I like giving scores to things.
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Links
Star Wars Hub– All of my Star Wars-related posts can be found here. These include posts about more expanded universe books, the movies, and new canon novels.
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
There are other posts on science fiction books to be found! Read them here.
The SPSFC started with 300 books and narrowed it down to 30 semi-finalists. I’ll be reviewing every semi-finalist, as well as several books from other group’s slush piles that looked interesting to me.
Kit finds an alien artifact as she’s scavenging through the ruins of her city for something to sell. When she goes to swap it, she gets caught up in the tragic story of Valene, a super-powered woman who can hear everything, everywhere, all the time. Her suffering from this power is great, and Kit finds herself trying to manipulate the artifact to help the ailing super.
In Ever the Hero, Harn tells a superhero tale that has several twists on genre tropes. Most of these twists can be found elsewhere (like existing non-powered in a super-powered society; having superheroes be… less than heroic, etc.), but the combination Harn weaves is enough to make it all feel fresh and new.
I was especially taken by the relationship between Kit and Valene, which has enough wrinkles in it to be raw and exciting by turns. Are they going to survive? Do they love each other? Can they? And, of course, what of the aliens and the mysterious artifacts they’ve left behind that seem to grant super powers to some individuals and not others? There are many questions of this type raised throughout the novel, and while some answers are given, others are left for later in the series.
Ever the Herotells fantastic superhero story. It has enough twists to keep even this comic book fan interested in seeing what’s going to happen next. I highly recommend it.
Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.
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The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.
We’re back to where it all began. On Basilisk Station is our introduction to Honor Harrington, as well as a number of other major players in the series and our first glimpses at what will turn out to be a much wider conflict. I’ve read this book four or five times now, and I keep finding things I enjoy in it. This time, I was intentionally paying much more attention to the side names that pop up, and was surprised by how many Weber packs into this first book in the series. It’s clear he was at least thinking of the long game from the outset.
What makes this book most impressive to me, though, is how well it balances a razor-sharp focus on an escalating conflict centered around Basilisk with hints of broader conflict and political action happening around it. That’s one of the biggest draws to the series, of course. At times, the back and forth between action “on the ground” (read: largely in space) and people sitting around board rooms talking about making action happen can get uneven. Here, though, we see Weber at a focused, exciting pace that still throws enough reveals out there to whet appetites for broader discussion.
Horrible Hemphill shows up right away- she’s of course the subject of an extremely pivotal character scene for Honor much later in the series when Honor and Hamish Alexander fight over how seriously to take Hemphill’s new takes on weapons’ systems and more. Here, she acts a bit as a stooge, including for the delightful final scene in which Harrington is asked enthusiastically to provide (presumably positive) feedback on the weapon systems from the Fearless. Whether Weber intended to make Hemphill a point of recurring interest or not, it was a smart move to include someone here to shake things up. The added wrinkle of Fearless having armament that doesn’t make sense increases the tension and also makes the final battle more satisfying.
Our first look at Honor feels very fresh still. It’s just a well written, classic sci-fi scene. We quickly get a look into McKeon’s head as well, as we discover he knows he’s bitter but can’t quite break out of it. This little insight into his thought process makes it all the more satisfying to watch him finally break out, largely urged on by Honor’s gentle handling of the situation throughout the book. We also run int Pavel Young for the first time, and here he’s eager to immediately abandon the station. He has little agency in the noel; mostly acting as villain from afar.
Another major plot point is having Honor show up for the first time on Hamish Alexander’s radar. Obviously this will become a much more important relationship later in the series, but it’s fun to see him running around using back alley means to protect Honor’s work actually making Basilisk station into a competent command. Yet another major player introduced here is Denver Summervale, and I can’t believe I missed this the last few times I read it. Here, he’s a throwaway character, making it all the more surprising how important he becomes later. I wonder if Weber was thinking along those lines already or whether it just came to him to reuse this character. Klaus Hauptman rounds out the series of major players introduced. Having McKeon be the one to stare him down is a great twist from Weber, which both makes McKeon more relatable and Honor more interesting for restraining herself–barely.
It seems notable how Nimitz is largely a non-entity throughout this book. He does very little other than act as a kind of smart shoulder ornamentation for Honor. In fact, I was pretty shocked by how very little he does given how totally we fall in love with him later in the series. We have a cat named after Nimitz, ourselves.
Some early history of Manticore is provided, largely as background for why Hauptman is such a tool. However, even this comes into play in some of the offshoot series. I haven’t read the ones about the rise of Manticore, so I’m excited on this read-through to take that aside, finally.
Let’s be real: I don’t know of anyone who writes ship-to-ship sci-fi battles better than Weber. They’re always exciting, always full of tension, and always fun to read even on subsequent reads. I never find myself skimming these, and the battle between Fearless and Sirius is a thrilling read. Each hit is visceral, and I don’t really care about what physics may or may not have been violated here. There’s a feel of impact of the events, tension ratcheting up as each side exchanges salvos. It’s so well done. Jumping back and forth between captains and crew increases the excitement and engagement as we see casualties pouring in while others frantically try to keep the ship running while others are making life or death decisions about the whole ship. It’s pretty amazing to me how well this battle scene holds up after the later ones when we have huge fleets blowing each other up. This, probably the tiniest scale action in the whole series between ships, is still a great read.
The slaughter of the Medusans hit me a bit odd this go-round. I’m not entirely sure how big the colonies and human settlement on Medusa is supposed to be. It seems, though, that a total and complete, wholesale devastation of literally thousands of Medusans may not have been the best solution. These are sentient beings, and they’re drugged into a murderous rage to serve the whims of various colonizing powers. It just hit me wrong, I guess. I wonder what other means could have been tried.
Near the end, we hear a bit about the “Big Lie” theory, which feels incredibly relevant today. Essentially, it’s the idea that a government or officials therein can say something so absurd people will believe it because they’ll just assume people will think they have proof, lest they get caught in an absurd lie. Unfortunately, many today are caught up in a number of big lies, whether it is conspiracy theories about election fraud or something else, this part of the book feels more not less relevant than it did when I read it the first time.
What are your thoughts on the book? What scenes struck you? Leave comments below!
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The SPSFC started with 300 books and narrowed it down to 30 semi-finalists. I’ll be reviewing every semi-finalist, as well as several books from other group’s slush piles that looked interesting to me.
Jonah Everitt is a hired gun who steals memories for others after killing the people who made those memories. After one kill gets him in trouble with the Wrong People, he becomes embroiled in a complex web of politics, narcotics, and international espionage.
The premise should clue readers in to what they’re getting into. This is a cyberpunk mystery along the lines of Altered Carbon though with bigger implications. It has a lot of the same gritty feel, but that grittiness comes along with plenty of content warnings. Sexual violence, extreme violence, mild misogyny, and drug abuse are rampant throughout the novel. It’s not a pretty world, and it’s hard to know where Hicks himself might come down on some of the “yuck factor” content therein. The world is just there, it’s rarely reflected upon or critiqued.
The characters are similarly there. None of them stood out to me in any major ways, but they get the job done as far as the plot goes. The story itself is, again, what one might expect from a cyberpunk thriller: a smattering of future tech-y stuff combines with Forbidden Power and the big political minds want to get their hands on it. It makes for a read that never slows down.
Convergenceis a thrilling read. For readers less turned off by some of the content noted above, it will likely be a great read to get into a new series.
Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
I’m part of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club on Goodreads and they selected This Alien Shore for a book of the month. I got it through interlibrary loan originally, and stopped a little ways in (I think around 50 pages) because I loved it so much I wanted to listen to it. I could tell already that it would turn into something special for me. I have had some difficulties happen recently that meant that I didn’t listen as much as I normally would (10-20 hours/week), so it took a little bit longer than I’d have liked. 
Eclectic Theist 