Machine Vendetta — Alastair Reynolds

Machine Vendetta -- Alastair ReynoldsAnother Prefect Dreyfus story from the glitter band, which we’ve been waiting a while for, but it was worth the wait.

For me, one of the best bits of the whole Revelation Space series are the stories within Yellowstone and the Glitter Band, and this story didn’t disappoint.

Alastair at his very best.

And lets all hope that there’ll be a few more Yellowstone and the Glitter Band stories to come still.

Next up in the Revelation Space series it’s Diamond Dogs.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #revelationspace #alastairreynolds

The Vital Abyss — James S. A. Corey

The Vital Abyss -- James S. A. CoreyAnother side story, this time concerning the prisoners that the Belters captured from the original Protogen project in Leviathon Wakes.

All the prisoners have been put into one large room and are continuously watched over from above by the Belters who guard them.   For them, after their crimes, there is no future, nothing at all, beyond the walls of this room.

And then, one day, or night, the man from Mars turns up and begins to offer hope, if only to one of them, but which one will it be?

A really good novella, that can be read as soon as the Belters have taken them prisoner, or anytime thereafter.

Next up in the series is Cibola Burn.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

Abaddon’s Gate — James S. A. Corey

Abaddon's Gate -- James S. A. CoreyI didn’t find this book as good as the previous ones, which i put down to a character thing.

Too much christian waffle: i live in hope that by the time Hominids are travelling the whole solar system we’ll have gotten over this all the organised religion thing and seen it for what it truly is.   I found it beyond tragic that people were still clinging to this twaddle.

And i also found Clarissa just tedious and annoying: like a lot of spoiled rich brats that i’ve known in my life.   I really don’t like reading about them and having to endure their thinking.

Still, it has it’s good parts, which do balance the few crap characters and religiosity out and offer some redemption (pun intended) for those expecting something better.

I’ve now dived straight into The Vital Abyss, which is much better and more like what i expect from this series.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

The Girl and the Moon — Mark Lawrence

The Girl and the Moon -- Mark LawrenceAnd so we’re back in the corridor, at Sweet Mercy, where it all began in the original trilogy.

Once again, i felt that dragging tedious feeling i had with the previous books in this trilogy, except this time it wasn’t due to plodding over the ice.   This time it mostly came down to this never ending cat and mouse game with Seus and Eular, both of which aren’t very exciting baddies and don’t exactly get one excited.   In fact they just continued to disappoint me with the fact that they keep not dying when that’s all i wanted them to do from about 50% in, just so we could get it all over with.

Ok, i have to admit that i read the whole trilogy all the way through, so it couldn’t have been that bad.   But, it definitely could have been a lot better and lot lot lot faster paced.

Anyways, it’s all over now and i can go and read some other more exciting things.

Mark’s Page

#fantasy #marklawrence

Caliban’s War — James S. A. Corey

Caliban's War -- James S. A. CoreyThe second full length novel in “The Expanse” series.   And what a novel it is.

The protomolecule has now taken over Venus and while it is now the most watched and analysed thing in the solar system, no one has any idea what is going on beneath Venus’ clouds.

Meanwhile, on Ganymede, a space monster attacks a whole load of UN and Martian marines, and leaves only one alive.   Then all hell breaks loose between Earth and Mars and Ganymede gets laid to waste.

And while all this is going on someone is kidnapping children with a rare immune disorder.

And so the stage is set for a super long read.

All our favourite characters from the first series are back, and a few more really good new characters are thrown into the mix.

Super good, great writing, all round awesome sci-fi.

Next up is Gods of Risk.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

Leviathan Wakes — James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes -- James S. A. CoreyAfter a few little novellas it’s been a joy to get into some real long distance reading: it’s a rather large book!

Great characters, superbly well written, non stop action, excellent dialogue (both internal and external); i really can’t fault this book.

Do remember to have a little break during this to read The Last Flight of the Cassandra.

And now i have the second huge tome, Caliban’s War, to dive straight into.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

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

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

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