D: Heavy Water by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a wild ride. I loved seeing Aurora again for a vast portion of this novel, but surprisingly enough, I really grew to love Owen, too.

But you know what really stands out for this, and Stephenson books in general? Brilliant attention to details. Rigorous attention to history. Crafty and genuinely crazy plotting. Nerdy nods to not just science, science history, but literature itself.

I'm frankly amazed how a book like this can be an interesting travelogue novel pre-WWII, with lots of adventure and insight... only to become a huge Hemingway nod that made me think almost entirely of For Whom the Bell Tolls... to a crazy romance that made me love the dynamic even though I kept wondering why the HELL Aurora fell for this guy. I mean, it's funny, and I GET it, but if I were him, I'd be wondering why the hell she fell for him, too. :)

But best of all, I love how it THEN turned into one hell of an espionage novel that's all about the D. Not about the scientists surrounding the creation of the nuclear bomb, directly, but about the feet-on-the-ground spycraft that secures the necessary medium to pull it off. Deuterium oxide, baby. Deuterium oxide.

I feel like I learned a lot even while I was immensely entertained. Highly recommended.

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The Infinite Extent by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dude! THIS guy again? What the hell do we have to do to get rid of an immortal AI with an outmoded political agenda, anyway?

OH. Red-tape him. Ding ding ding! Muahahahahaha And no, I'm not talking about Bob. Bob has some issues, it's true, but that's why he has himself. And himself. And himself. And what's WITH all these biologicals, anyway? Maybe it IS time for a happy divorce. Let the monkeys, or at least, the pre-post-monkeys, get on with messing up their lives however they want. Sheesh.

Wait, am I just reviewing my reactions to this book? But what about the book? Solid continuation of the Bobbiverse and perhaps slightly better than the previous one. Minus THAT GUY. AGAIN. I think the singularity needs a bit of love. At least neighbors are knocking at last.



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Empire by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The great: Road tripping across a continent during the middle ages along the famous Silk Road, visiting and defeating every empire along the way with a rag-tag stranded army after a disastrous teleportation spell and trying to make his way home the hard way. Hello steep hoards, terra cotta army, Ottoman empire.

The so-so. Tons of action and troop movement and a spattering of other doppelganger improvements, which is great, but even meat needs the spice of interpersonal stuff, and that's pretty much missing in this book. It's also the end of the series. So everything IS wrapped up nicely, and it's pretty damn epic, but even tho I'm happy, I'm also a bit sad that we didn't also have a massive gathering of people I care about surrounding him at the end, warts and all. These are all simply commanders. Alas. But there's a reason why the novel is called Empire.

And it's a pretty damn epic one, LitRPG alternate history style. Great stuff!

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Player Manager by Ted Steel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What if a famous soccer video game became a novel? Well, yep. Instant stats, skills to buy with XP earned by watching games, using tactics, etc., but still a story about a kid with love for the game but low confidence, a bad job, and nothing more than the love (and the system).

It's pretty decent, but not fantastic. Above average, entertaining for exactly what it is, and that's football. Or soccer for you yanks. A description of this yells out to Ted Lasso, but it just doesn't have the same heart as that. But that's okay. It's a fun start.

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World Walker by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one is pretty much a book establishing a beachhead on a vampire world with a few encounters plus a whole lot of catching up with peeps he's been neglecting. I won't say it wasn't entertaining, because it was, but for the amount of true meat it actually has, I think I would have preferred a novel twice as long with some actual inroads on the planet. I like good long books and a slow burn is fine as long as something epic happens at the end.

This one just happens to be a loose thread coming back to get snipped. Which is fine. But it's not that epic. Alas.

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He Who Fights with Monsters 13 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well worth the wait. I absolutely adore a good consolidation, personal healing, get your shit together book between massive conflicts. I especially love a book of conflict that pits your sense of rightness against the full ongoing idiocy of a whole planet. You know, Earth. And just because Jason is not a god, but kinda has those qualities, it doesn't mean there's no drama. And I cherish every single happy moment... because the stakes are STILL as high as they've ever been.

The gods are coming. Earth is not prepared. Cannot, frankly, be prepared, and Jason has been set up. Set up hard.

The end of this book gave me massive shivers. So yeah, it's a great book. I can't wait for the next.

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Monsters of Ohio by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scalzi always kills it. Or rather, he doesn't kill unnecessarily. Or rather, he kills but he's fundamentally incapable of actually truly harming his fellow peeps in Ohio. Or maybe he is, but at least in NOVEL form he just goes all cryptid on the folks and carries off a truly neat commentary on how we really shouldn't be dicks.

I mean, seriously. Stop it. Just don't be a dick. Explosions might happen. Haven't you people taken sex-ed courses? Oh, wait, all the funding got cut. Oh, well, you're bound to figure out the facts of cryptid life sooner or later. May as well be in this book. Enjoy your tentacles.

Seriously tho, what did those poor Ohio people do to deserve Scalzi? They really ought to thank him.

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