Category: Reviewed

The Last Flight of the Cassandra — James S. A. Corey

By 5t4n5

The Last Flight of the Cassandra -- James S. A. CoreyThis story occurs immediately after Holden makes his announcement that the ice hauler was destroyed and a piece of tech with a Mars stamp on it was discovered.

The Cassandra is flying hand to mouth already and they realise that with the coming price fluctuations they won’t be able to continue flying.   So they go off to an asteroid in a last attempt at turning a profit: finding something that could change everything for them.

A good little story that i would suggest reading as soon as the Holden announcement goes out, or, you could wait until the end of Leviathon Wakes and read it then.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

The Butcher of Anderson Station — James S. A. Corey

By 5t4n5

The Butcher of Anderson Station -- James S. A. CoreyAnother back story for one of the series main characters.   This time it’s Fred Johnson’s turn as we look back at the events of Anderson Station and how they shape his future self.

Next book in the series is Leviathon Wakes, and it’s a big, big long one: it might be a while before my next review.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

Signal to Noise — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Signal to Noise -- Alastair ReynoldsAvailable in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

Alastair wrote a love story: awwwwwww.

And . . . . . . it’s rather good.

Although . . . . . . i’m not really a fan of all this parallel universe nonsense, because it is nonsense, just like flat earth nonsense.

But . . . . . . done right, like Alastair can, you can find some good stories in a parallel universe as long as you ignore all the nonsense bits.

All that aside . . . . . . next up in Alastair’s bibliographic timeline is The Six Directions of Space, which i’ll be eagerly devouring in the next week or so.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Cardiff Afterlife — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Cardiff Afterlife -- Alastair ReynoldsAvailable in the collection, Zima Blue and Other Stories.

Oh dear, just when i thought it was safe to read Alastair again he had to go and start writing parallel universe nonsense stories once more.

Oh please someone assure me that this is the last of Alastair’s delusions that parallel universe stories are any good, or that the theory holds any water at all. Seriously, it’s just utter twaddle.

Anyway, next up in Alastair’s publishings will be Terminal World, let’s hope that isn’t more parallel stuff twaddle nonsense.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

The Book of Dreams — Nina George

By 5t4n5

The Book of Dreams -- Nina GeorgeThis was not what i was expecting.

Having read Nina’s previous two books and totally loved them, i just grabbed this with a quick glance at the cover art and title and set about reading it thinking i was going to have a similarly uplifting story about dreams.   Well that thought soon got put out to pasture.

Instead, we are taken into the intensive care ward of a coma hospital, and the dreams are those that people living in comas may, or may not, have.

Which does sound a little grim, but it turned out just as good, but in a rather different way, as Nina’s last two books: so well worth reading, all three of them.

And i already have Nina’s next book, The Little French Village of Book Lovers — Nina George, which i look forward to diving into in the not too distant future.

Bye for now.

Nina’s Page

#ninageorge

Before We Say Goodbye — Toshikazu Kawaguchi

By 5t4n5

Before We Say Goodbye -- Toshikazu KawaguchiThe fourth book from this rather enjoyable series: at least it had been rather enjoyable up to this book.   But i’m beginning to feel that Toshikazu is beginning to get a bit repetitive and the cafe is beginning to become a little stale.

I think that Toshikazu is simply rushing out books and not really making any effort to create something new and interesting, which is a shame.   I really feel that what this series needs is for Toshikazu to just put it down for a while and not come back to it until he has something new and interesting to bring to the cafe.

That’s my thoughts on the matter, it really doesn’t need to be ruined to meet a deadline, either with the publisher or with Toshikazu’s bank account.

Bye for now.

Toshikazu’s Page

#scifi #japan #toshikazukawaguchi

A Fire Born of Exile — Aliette de Bodard

By 5t4n5

A Fire Born of Exile -- Aliette de BodardAnother super good story from Aliette’s Xuya universe.   I’m thinking this is probably the longest one so far: it’ll certainly keep you occupied for a good while.

Our protagonist, and her mindship friend, have both come back from the dead (that’s the exile bit) hell set on revenge against those who executed them.   But revenge isn’t quite as straight forward as they would like it to be.

If you haven’t read any Xuya stories yet then get yourself over to Aliette’s “all things Xuya page” and find out where to start and what it’s all about.   Basically, it’s just really good sci-fi, from a really good writer, with a wonderful Asian flavour to it all.

Aliette’s Page

#scifi #aliettedebodard