Tag: #scifi

Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie

By 5t4n5

The final episode in the Imperial Radch Trilogy, and quite a good page turner it was.

We;re still at the space station and planet system but “She” has turned up, and it’s one of those “She’s” that really doesn’t like Breq.

So all kinds of chaos and fun ensues with some great new characters thrown in to spice things up.

I did feel the ending was a bit lacking, as in it didn’t finish the trilogy off neatly, leaving lots of openings for further stories — which is a good thing because there’s four more books in this universe to read next.   Hopefully we’ll get to find out what happens next during one of those stories.

So that’s exactly what i’m going to do now, start reading those four stories, beginning with Night’s Slow Poison.

Bye for now.

Ann’s Page

#scifi #annleckie

Ancillary Sword — Ann Leckie

By 5t4n5

Ancillary Sword -- Ann LeckieI just finished this second book in the trilogy, and it was good.

The story has evolved and now the Lord of the Radche is at open war with herself with Breq, our favourite ancillary, caught in between her various parts.

And so it’s off to another planet and a space station for more wonderful shenanigans within this fantastic universe that Ann has created for us all to enjoy immensely.

If you’re into sci-fi and you haven’t started reading this series already then just drop whatever you’re reading and pick this up instead, you won’t be disappointed.

I’m now diving straight into the third book, Ancillary Mercy.

Bye for now.

Ann’s Page

#scifi #annleckie

Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie

By 5t4n5

Ancillary Justice -- Ann LeckieThis is a super good read.   An AI spaceship’s mind ends up in the body of one person named Breq, one of its ancillaries.   The AI mind is out for a bit of revenge after its spaceship, all it’s crew and the rest of its ancillaries are destroyed.

Really well written with a great protagonist, it’s a real page turner.

But don’t just take my word for it being a great story: Ancillary Justice won the following awards:

Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year, 2014.
British Science Fiction Association BSFA Award for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel from the World Science Fiction Society, 2014.
Kitschies Golden Tentacle for best debut novel, 2013.
Locus Award for Best First Novel, 2014.
Nebula Award for Best Novel from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2013.
Seiun Award for Best Translated Novel, 2016.

The novel was also nominated for the following awards:

Finalist for the Compton Crook Award for best first science fiction/fantasy/horror novel from the Baltimore Science Fiction Society.
Named to the James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List, for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.
Shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award for distinguished original science fiction paperback.

It does kind of remind me of Murderbot by Martha Wells, so if you liked those books you’ll probably like this, and vice versa.

And now i’m diving straight into Ancillary Sword:   #excited

Bye for now.

Ann’s Page

#scifi #annleckie

The Counselor — Robin Sloan

By 5t4n5

The Counselor -- Robin SloanA look to the future when everyone has access to talk therapy with a counselor, for their whole lives.

But the only way this has become possible is because everyone’s free lifelong counselor is an AI.

And how does the counselor council the terminally ill who can stay alive on life support equipment for decades?

An interesting view of the future of health care, which isn’t too far fetched when we consider that health care providers are already putting chat bots in old people’s homes to talk to them and old people are already heavily medicated and looked after for decades to keep them alive without any real quality of life.

Another interesting little story from Robin.

Bye for now.

Robin’s Page

#scifi #robinsloan

The Red Scholar’s Wake — Aliette de Bodard

By 5t4n5

The Red Scholar's Wake -- Aliette de BodardIt had certainly been a while since i read any Xuya stories when i finally got this in my Kindle’s memory bank, but i soon fell back into the universe like i’d never been away.

‘The Red Scholar is dead.’   So begins the story.   And left behind in her wake is her wife, the mindship Rice Fish.

The Red Scholar was the head of the Red Banner of the pirates and Rice Fish wants to stake her claim as banner head, but to do so she needs to find out who arranged the death of her wife.   In order to do so she enlists the help of a captured scavenger, Xich Si.   And so begins a story of intrigue, deception, betrayals, love, and all kinds of crazy pirates’ political machinations.

Super good stuff, as are all the Xuya Stories i’ve read.

Next in the Xuya universe is A Fire Born of Exile.

Bye for now.

Aliette’s Page

#5t4n5 #fantasy #scifi #aliettedebodard

The Art of Possible — Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

By 5t4n5

The Art of Possible -- Yudhanjaya WijeratneAvailable in the anthology Kalicalypse

An interesting little story about the coming apocalypse and how the world is mired in policy and nothing is more important than following the policy.

At least that what i got from it.

Like all of Yudhanjaya’s stories, it’s interesting and enjoyable.

Bye for now.

Yudhanjaya’s Page

#scifi #yudhanjayawijeratne

Detonation Boulevard — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Detonation Boulevard -- Alastair ReynoldsAlastair is back with one of his great little stories.

This time Alastair has conjured up a racing league where the races circumnavigate small moons and such within the solar system.   This is about one race, the race around Io, one of Jupiter’s moons.   Super geologically active, you’d have to be insane to be racing around this.   It kind of reminds me of all the old stories of early motor racing, before actual race tracks and before the FIA came along and sanitized everything.

So if you like a good motor racing story, or like Alastair’s short fiction, you’ll enjoy this one.

Now i go back to eagerly awaiting Alastair’s next book.

Bye for now.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Quantum Shift — Joseph R. Lallo

By 5t4n5

Quantum Shift -- Joseph R. LalloFairly good, but this series is getting rather repetitive.   I really think Joseph needs to go off on a different tangent with this story line.   Lex really doesn’t need to be saving every universe in existence in every story, surely there’s something else he’d rather be doing?

I like the crazy Karter stuff with lots of Ma, just not saving the universes every time Lex gets in a space ship.

Bye for now.

Joseph’s Page

#scifi #josephrlallo