Category: Reviewed

Last Dragon Standing — Rachel Aaron

By 5t4n5

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

By 5t4n5

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

By 5t4n5

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

By 5t4n5

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

By 5t4n5

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

The Girl and the Mountain — Mark Lawrence

By 5t4n5

The Girl and the Mountain -- Mark LawrenceMore of the same, except we finally end up out on the ice for real and there are times when it just gets a bit tedious.   But, thinking about it, i can only imagine that living on the ice caps and seeing nothing but ice, snow and the occasional polar bear wanting to eat you and yours every day of your life would be extremely tedious.

Why any human ever wanted to move into the Arctic is quite beyond me, i struggle at 51 latitude.

Ho hum, one more book left in the trilogy, and at least we know it’s not going to be more ice — at least at the start of it, anyway.

Mark’s Page

#fantasy #marklawrence

Numbercaste — Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

By 5t4n5

Numbercaste -- Yudhanjaya WijeratneThis is a super good story, especially considering the way data is currently being used and what it all might mean in the future.

I’m sure there are people who would read this and think it’s a great idea because they’d assure themselves that they would just work hard to get a high number and be a great success, but every system that creates winners, by necessity, has to create losers.   There’s only ever 100% of the pie and if the top 1% take 50% of that pie then what exactly will be left for the bottom percentages after all the middle people have had their slice?   Changing the system so that you have a different 1% is not going to ever solve the problem.

The world is full of people who think they can solve the problem called Homo sapiens, but the reality is that Homo sapiens can’t be fixed.   The problem called Homo sapiens will only be solved when Homo sapiens becomes extinct.

In the meanwhile we have to endure this death-by-a-thousand-cuts inflicted upon us by the top 1% and their sycophants.   Hopefully not too much longer until we arrive at Armageddon.

So yeah, good story, let’s hope it doesn’t become too prophetic for most of our sakes.

The next book in Yudhanjaya’s timeline is Deep Ocean Blues.

Yudhanjaya’s Page

#scifi #yudhanjayawijeratne

The Salvage Crew — Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

By 5t4n5

The Salvage Crew -- Yudhanjaya WijeratneThe big evil corporation sends an AI controlled drop ship with 3 humans to grab some salvage from a colony ship that crashed onto a planet.

The planet is supposed to be unclaimed by others, uninhabited and safe for the humans and drop ship.   But as with most evil corporations, the truth isn’t exactly on the menu when they want to recruit people for the job.

So the AI ends up with 3 humans that the AI is supposed to look after and control, but who have other ideas, especially when things don’t go according to plan.

At the heart of the story is Yudhanjaya’s favourite theme of literary AI’s/machines, and what happens when two AI’s evolved enough to be poets meet each other and how they deal with the meat puppets that are problematic for their way of communicating.

All in all, another fine story from Yudhanjaya, and if you haven’t got around to reading any of his work yet, i do humbly suggest you give it a try, you may be rather pleased to discover a wonderful talent in a quirky corner of sci-fi hitherto not explored much.

I did like snippets like this:

Humans react to shock in all sorts of unexpected ways.   Hysteria and numbness are the most common patterns.   Given a world that terrifies them, people either scream at it or stop caring.   But there are other patterns. Anna seems to have gone through her scrubbing phase into what we call hypercompetence—adopting a set of behaviors that [or so the human thinks] will give them the greatest chance of survival.   Some of the most famous survivalists in known space, for example—Wolf Bjorn, Dana Jayawardana—all had some deep, traumatic incident in their childhood that turned them into the kind of mad person that will happily land on a desert planet with no tools except their own fingernails and proceed to survive there for six months while making a reality-TV show out of it.

This story is followed up by Odysseus, which is set in the same universe.

Yudhanjaya’s Page

#scifi #yudhanjayawijeratne

Madame Burova — Ruth Hogan

By 5t4n5

Madame Burova -- Ruth HoganI was rather excited to get Ruth’s latest book.   But it had a lot to live up to after the first three books: did it manage it?

Yes.

Just like the previous three books, we’re treated to a wonderful set of diverse characters and taken on a roller coaster rides of highs and lows, finishing with a most excellent bittersweet ending.

As to the story, it becomes pretty obvious to anyone paying attention who Billies’ mother is, the cheque gave it away.   And i did think i knew who the father was about the same time, but i realised i was wrong and picked the right one about 80% in.   It certainly didn’t ruin it because the characters were so wonderful and it was still totally enjoyable to see how everything plays out, how Billie finds out and then how everyone reacts to the truth when it finally arrives.

Ruth has such a great way of telling a wonderful story.   If you haven’t tried any of her books yet, do so soon.

Please Ruth, never stop writing.

Ruth’s Page

#lgbtq #ruthhogan