Messiah Online — Seth Rain

Messiah Online -- Seth RainAnd so we continue where we left of with Spectrum Worlds, the pacing doesn’t slow down at all and The Postman still has no idea who to trust and, even as a reader with my god like view of things, i still have no idea who is being honest and what their real agendas are in these books: which is what makes them so good.   Eventually things will come out in the wash and we’ll find out who is really pulling whose strings.

If you enjoyed the first book, you’ll enjoy this just as much.

But, between this and the last book in the series, there’s the penultimate book, Android State, which begins with all humans being told that they’ve got about 3 weeks to all get out of the United Kingdom or they’ll be killed on sight: should be fun.

Seth’s Page

#scifi #cyberpunk #sethrain

Spectrum Worlds — Seth Rain

Spectrum Worlds -- Seth RainThe first book in The Cyberpunk Uploads series.

Having just been put through the ultimate in tedious and pointless interruptions to story flow and action scenes when i read The Heartstrikers series, to sit and read this book was an absolute pleasure.   Yes folks, if you really like a high paced, non-stop, story line then this just might be what you’re looking for.

On top of the fast flowing story it’s also a rather good story.   We essentially have a battle royale going between three groups: androids who hate humans and want to eradicate and/or enslave them, humans who want to do the same to androids, and then there’s the odd-ball androids and humans out in left field who think we can all live peacefully and happily together ever after.   Centre it all in the London of the future, known as Lundun, and shove our main protagonist, The Postman, right in the middle of all this is.

The most astute reader will get to realise by the end of the book that there really isn’t anyone The Postman can trust, android or human, everyone seems to have agendas and secrets and i’m really looking forward to learning more in the next book, Messiah Online, which i dove straight into without any hesitation.

Seth’s Page

#scifi #cyberpunk #sethrain

The Maid — Yasutaka Tsutsui

The Maid -- Yasutaka TsutsuiWe have a young woman who can read minds who works as a live in maid so that she doesn’t have to stay in any single place very long so that no one will guess her secret.

Thus begins our journey with Nanase as she works for and lives with 8 different Japanese families and ventures through their thoughts and discovers all their private truths.

As a lover of Japanese fiction i found this very interesting, and i can imagine that it must have been quite controversial in Japan when published and probably still is.   Tsutsui essentially strips away the public veneer of polite and controlled Japanese people and society and suggests that there’s something very different lurking underneath: what are their private thoughts and lives really like, can we really take people at face value?

My first book by Tsutsui and i’m looking forward to reading a few more soon, which are already queued up on my Kindle.

Yasutaka’s Page

#japan #yasutakatsutsui

Mythic Quest — Season 2

Mythic Quest -- Season 2Season 2 has finally appeared and the most important thing is that all the cast seemed to have survived intact from covid — which is obviously the best thing ever.

Basically, if you enjoyed Season 1, then you’ll love this as it’s pretty much more of the same continuing on from where we left off.   If you didn’t enjoy Season 1 then you need psychiatric help rather quickly.

Anyways, super duper, love this series and can’t wait for Season 3 which will be made whenever it gets made but is most probably going to get made at some point as soon as Rob has finished working on another show.
 

#5t4n5 #mythicquest #tv

Last Dragon Standing — Rachel Aaron

Last Dragon Standing -- Rachel AaronConsidering this was the shortest book of the series, it seemed to drag on much more than the previous books.

Once again, like most of the series, Rachel seems to just like filling pages with belabouring conversations when we’re in the middle of seriously important stuff to do.   One can’t help but wonder just how much of the problems faced by our characters in this series would have been avoided if they just got on with things instead of continuously stopping to have a conversation about something completely unimportant.

It gets quite ridiculous when it takes 4 times as long to read about something happening than the something happening is taking to happen because everyone has to have a conversation about something before anything can finish happening.

But, none the less, i got to the end because — belabouring conversations aside — it is a rather good tale.   It is such a shame that it wasn’t edited more strictly and seriously cropped to keep things moving along.

Rachel’s Page

#fantasy #rachelaaron

Direct Descent — Frank Herbert

Direct Descent -- Frank HerbertThe first non-Dune book of Frank’s that i ever read.   And what did i think?

It ain’t Dune, that’s for sure.   But, then, what is?

But it could have been better written.   It just all seems rushed to fit into a 100page novella kind of thing when it could have been written really well as a full length trilogy.

The Earth has become humanity’s library, the place where all the knowledge of human history is kept for anyone in the galaxy wishing to access it, it’s like a galactic wide Wikipedia and then some.

And all Frank could think to do is to write a novella sized rushed thing out about it?   Disappointing: not because it’s bad, but because it could have been so much more.

Frank’s Page

#scifi #frankherbert

A Shrewdness of Swindlers — DeAnna Knippling

A Shrewdness of Swindlers -- DeAnna KnipplingDeAnna sent me an ARC to have a read and comment on, with the caveat that she still had some polishing to do.   So yes, there were a few things that still needed some work with the copy i received, but all in all, it was a very enjoyable read.   And then, having sent my notes to Deanna, she then sent me an updated version back with my little moans all sorted out.

What i liked most-est about this book is that instead of the the usual bunch of short stories thrown randomly into a collection, DeAnna has taken time to tie all these stories together with a frame story.   Each short is given its own character to tell it in a magical, story contest in a downstairs backroom of a speakeasy: which just happens to be organised by one of the Fae who we’re told really like to collect human stories.

But one of the story tellers is murdered just before the contest with the suspect most probably being one of the tellers at the table, which makes things more interesting.

Best of all, it’s a good collection of characters and a good collection of stories for you to enjoy, with a prize at the end for the best story.

DeAnna’s Page

#vampires #scifi #fantasy #deannaknippling

No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished — Rachel Aaron

No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished -- Rachel AaronYeah . . .

. . . one more of these huge books is read, only two more to go.   My goodreads book reading tally is going to look a bit sad after this series: i was a few books ahead of my 70 book per year schedule when i started this series, i am now 6 books behind schedule and soon to be more when i finish the series.   But, ho hum, i think it’s very worth it.

This book picked up a bit with a few extra elements being thrown into the mix: various spirits, mages and other things besides, and i’m thoroughly enjoying the whole experience.

So yeah, keep on reading the earlier books when you feel they drag on a little as it’s all pays off well in the end.

And now it’s straight into A Dragon of a Different Color, which is the penultimate tome of dragonistic adventures.

Rachel’s Page

#fantasy #rachelaaron

The Girl and the Stars — Mark Lawrence

The Girl and the Stars -- Mark LawrenceThe continuation trilogy to be read after Book of the Ancestor series.

Now we leave the green belt around the equator and venture out to the tribes that live on the ice and what they do with the children they deem too weak to be of any future use to the tribe.

If you enjoyed Book of the Ancestor then i reckon you’ll enjoy this too.

Next up in the trilogy is The Girl and the Mountain, which i’ve plunged straight into cause i’m enjoying it all soooo much.

Mark’s Page

#fantasy #marklawrence