The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well now. I guess I had some high hopes for this book or something. I'm not saying it's bad, but it wasn't quite as interesting as I hoped it'd be. It's a throwback to old treasure hunting with mildly ominous magical artifacts as the goal. With a slightly uninteresting villain.

And as a kid, I used to stay up late watching Friday the 13th, the TV series. I loved the hell out of that, and that was definitely as a stupid kid from a stupid kid's PoV, and yet, the memories of THAT was probably two times better than what we get here.

It's probably just a me thing. I guess I wanted to be more than minorly, just slightly entertained.

And perhaps I am just expecting a bit too much out of magical realism. The realism should ground it, but the magic should massively elevate it. In this case, the realism is just a bit aggravating and the magic is rather ho-hum.

Sorry. It's me, not you.

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Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I waffle between 4 and 5 stars on this one, but probably not for the usual reasons.

This 1982 book is RATHER fascinating in that it feels almost like a homage to PKD and it could ABSOLUTELY live comfortably in the world of Cyberpunk 2077 while also being a solid SF exploring the nature of humanity and isolation and belonging while Friday is a literal Courier who is happy to do a little or a lot of wetwork as she travels the Earth and several times off-planet.

It's a true SF in that it's a fiction of ideas as well as a techie adventure, and it's obvious as hell that Heinlein was giving a massive nod to all his SF peers and their wives in his dedication. But beyond that, it's a careful and glorious cyberpunk novel right at the cusp of the true cyberpunk revolution.

So why would I waffle on stars? Because the old man Heinlein is super sexed up, and while that's not a problem in general, and indeed, it's true for ALL the later works, there IS one single point of fact that's just... shit, man. Friday, herself doesn't define rape in a normal way. As in, violence. She just lets it roll off her as a part of doing business, which, to be fair, is usually deadly. I can understand it her position, but it just irks the hell out of me. I guess my morals and ethics are getting the better of me. If I were Friday, I would never be so forgiving after being raped, or be so philosophical. It's not just a variation on swinging, after all.

But this IS a character choice, after all, and probably a position of Ginny's mindset (RAH's red-headed wife) that he was happy to incorporate. But without that kind of context, a cold read of the text could seem a bit weird.

Or perhaps it's all just me. Most femme fatale characters are truly flexible when it comes to these kinds of things, and my girl Friday is absolutely one of those.

Great novel, either way.

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The Primal Hunter 15 by Zogarth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Everything I wanted at this particular moment. Done with the mini-arc of the locked-off universe? Clear winners? Clear losers? Check. Now, let's knock on some doors and start up some of that other unfinished business with a certain god of hunters.

Hell, yes.

Diplomatic mission, tons of powerful peeps with good-will and an unhealthy obsession in other's sex lives? Hell, yes.

And as icing on that particular cake, we get what this series is really known for, hunts and battles and even more battles, skill-ups, levels, and monsters well above Jake's pay grade? All in a private hunting reserve of the very god of Life, itself? For fun?

Again, hell, yes.

It doesn't promise anything more than it gives, and it keeps on giving exactly what we want. Power fantasy. Friendships. Being on an equal footing, or at least the beginnings of an equal footing, with primordial gods?

Yes, please. Fun stuff.

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The Frozen Realm by Mark Arrows
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm gonna be honest. The first 3/4 was somewhat annoying because I expected a LitRPG that was mostly SF with some F elements set in a vastly changed frozen Earth with even more vast underground areas.

And we DO see some of that setting, of course, and it's good.

But the grand majority that I read comes off as a hardscrabble deep post-apoc survival SF with ancient relic knights and one kid with serious daddy issues. Most of which he works out WITH his daddy in the text.

Let me be clear that this isn't a deal breaker, but being billed as an adventure and especially as a LitRPG, there are a few elements we tend to expect, such as one overwhelming advantage that actually lets our poor MC survive in a unique way against all odds. And this, unfortunately, doesn't really show up until MUCH later. Just being saved by his dad and wishing he could be allowed to study the ruins and parse out the engineering didn't quite satisfy me.

Later, it all gets some of that, and I'm happy to continue on, but my complaint is the lack of a real heroic hook until FAR into the novel.

But it did get there eventually. And the backstory is now pretty cool. It made me work for it. But damn, I'm glad that bit's done. :)


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Carpet Diem by Justin Lee Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Missing that old Good Omens vibe? A little tongue-in-cheek comedy-adventure?

This ain't bad for that itch. Different kind of story, absolutely, with lots of rhymes, sexy humor, and a likable recluse-turned-hero.

Light fun.

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The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this one was a winner. It's not often you see a crafty disabled dragon learning to trust a human to bring him back to health, join the army, learn some secrets, and help his human get some action. All while having snarky conversations with yourself, or at least your other personalities living in your multiple heads.

It's billed as a cozy fantasy and it definitely is, but it also gears up in the second half of the novel to fighting and dealing with some rather big issues. (Plotwise, if not character-wise.)

All in all, it reads a little annoyingly in the beginning, but once we get into human society, I found it awfully comfortable and amusing. It flows well. And when the jig is up, it's interesting how the changes keep coming.

Definitely worth the read if you want some cozy dragon fiction.

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Ascension by Nicholas Binge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to love this novel simply because it tries to do so damn much. All at once, it tries to be a mystery a-la Vandermeer's Area X, a hard SF a-la Bear's Tangents, a big-scope mind exercise like Reynolds is wont to do, and, interestingly, a thin-air experiment in mountain climbing and time dilation.

It has ALL the elements that I'd classify as a rip-roaring good time. And, for the most part, it pulls it off.

Where I stumbled a little was in the characters' pathos. It should have been fine, honestly, but I was perhaps a bit annoyed with the length of time spend on the past when I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe that's just a me thing, but I found myself wanting more and more of the present and a progression of the plot, or perhaps something really surprising to come along and jar everything loose once again.

It does happen. And I really did enjoy this book, but it still kept it from truly flowing well for me. It was close, however.


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