Local Heavens by K.M. Fajardo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think I wanted to love this much more than I actually did.

But then, I blame my love of the original Gatsby for my somewhat lagging enjoyment of this.

Don't get me wrong. It's got a neat hacker subplot and it has standard SF trappings for this brave new world, so I should have just fallen straight in love with it. Perhaps. But this might just be a case of just enjoying the idea of the juxtaposition of two genres and not an actual "oh my god I just got torn apart by the conversation" like I was with Fitzgerald.

Instead, it's mostly all about sex and genteel betrayal. And not so much about class, new money, crime, or obsession. Although all those aspects are here.

I think I'll just say it's pretty faithful to the original even while it expands on it.

But to me, less really was more. Alas.

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Grilled Armageddon by Dakota Krout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This feels like a grimdark LitRPG to me. The system is totally out to get everyone. Systematically. By the very rules of getting fed.

So, of course, cooking and having the ability to make clean food rather than resorting to cannibalism is really the only source of real power in this world. By design.

That being said, it IS pretty damn grimdark, despite the great puns and some of the other humor. Let's just call it an existential dark-humor book, shall we? With level-ups.

It is NOT a particularly feel-good book although I do like the characters. The fairly neutral and neutral evil characters. That cook. :)



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Navvy Dreams by H.M.H. Murray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good, sprawling space opera filled with hot space pilots, tragedy, intrigue, and all the seedy underbelly of the universe.

Honestly, this has a lot more going on under the hood than I usually see in space opera. Complicated plots, many characters, and even though the blurb is slightly misleading as to my expectations, the end product is, at its core, a big universe full of hard-survival.

It's pretty balanced, too, for storytelling. It's not light on wordbuilding and the characters are fairly fascinating. It makes me think of other long SF adventures, and it's a pretty comforting read because its familiarity.

I definitely recommend this for anyone hankering for a new space opera.

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A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great mystery. It has all the hallmarks of Watson and Holmes in a very fantasy setting, as usual, but firmly held in a great worldbuilding paradise.

Indeed, the cover for this book gives this particular story completely away, but it's still pretty damn tasteful for all that.

Dead girl, mysterious deaths, family politics, and a truly messed up psychological thriller. No more spoilers. But this was fascinating and quite good.

Bennett is always solid as hell.


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Fated Antagonist by RinoZ
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very long novel that accomplishes much, conquering, destroying, building, but more than anything else, there's a very important aspect that I can't get enough of: The ones who will not be named.

I can't stop chortling.

I can't stop thinking about applying this ... organization ... to our world.

I would eagerly ant-icipate this change. A wonderful cultural contamination. I know a few people I'd love to see get kidnapped. The fear on their faces. The hushed whispers everywhere else. And the tea. The haircuts. Muahahahahahahaha

I'm having a great time with this series.

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Antvance into the Unknown by RinoZ
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Third stratum? Exploration? It's just the demon realm, right? Should be relaxing. A little happy jaunt.

And since it's just Antony the ant with his pets and a rambunctious and curious little hatchling going along, (we're ignoring the silent and invisible honor guard,) there's no real risk to the COLONY if anything goes wrong.

Truly. If anything goes pear-shaped, it's all on the vacationeers. The consequences will all be on them.

No blowback to the COLONY.

Ahem.

By the way, if you're curious, I should point out that the direction of the blame implied here is purely ironical. The story happens to go an entirely different direction. Which makes it funny.

Strange, too, because Antony has NO concern about a queen's thwap.

This time.
Muahahahahaha.

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Enemy A[n]t the Gates by RinoZ
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Want a siege novel? You get a siege novel. A massive siege novel. The colony must defend against those damn armored beefcake humans and rockies.

Impressive prep, industry, of course. Lots of conflict and setbacks and balance in the story.

All told, a fun novel.

Was there much in the way of character development? Maybe a little. But no, not really.

Still, a fun middle-book LitRPG.

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