The Quantum Dawn by Derek Künsken
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One caveat before I give a full review. I thought the opening, or perhaps even the first sixth of the novel was kinda rough. No great hooks and the only eye-catching things was the SF aspects and not the characters. And this is even after a much-appreciated recap of the first three books.

But after? Once it really gets going?

It just doesn't stop. It gets crazy good on the adventure side, trouncing even some of the best big-scope hard-SF out there. Reynolds and Brin on this level. And in some ways, when we get right into the really great imaginative stuff, it's pretty mind blowing. And that's AFTER we've got quantum analyses on the fly, religious AIs, water dog space pilots, quantum tunneling flora, and a huge ass chase through time that doesn't always follow (or even usually follow) causal patterns.

Indeed, this stuff goes non-linear early on, proving that things HAD to go a certain way because they were puzzling over the EFFECTS already accomplished and had to catch up to events after decoding it through racial alien DNA messages sent backward in time to warn of several future catastrophes that had to happen to force the correct effect. And if that isn't confusing enough, I spotted several MORE instances where this had to happen minus the alien DNA and all of a sudden the whole book sounds more like a sly refutation of religious determinism by positing the infallibility of the determinism in this cosmos.

And all the while, we STILL have to treat it like the mystery it so obviously is. And it's still crazy because we're STILL unable to see the whole picture. Right, Tesseract? Muahahahahahaha.

Did I mention this is a wonderfully nerdy book? So, yeah, forgive the front of it. You'll be in for one hell of a ride by the end. Even if there is no Bel. And even if the whole novel is fraught and tense.

It's still much more exciting than it has any right to be.

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Scion by James Islington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've generally had a some really good experience with fantasy authors trying their hands at SF, so this book was pretty much a no-brainer for me.

As it is, I won't say it's a ground-breaking story, but it IS very fast-paced and it has some twisty-twisty paths to keep us on our toes. Lots of tropes, easy to follow, easy to enjoy.

Like assassins? Clones? Shady shit? Old, irascible women and snarky OP dipshits? I'm sure you'll get along well with this novel.

If it's going to be a series, I don't see myself ignoring it. If it's a standalone, I might wind up feeling a bit disappointed. But as it is now? I would consider it a GOOD START. I'd love to have a good long story based on this.

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Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis by Yoshikazu Takeuchi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I figured it was about time I read the original light novel that inspired the fantastic anime of Perfect Blue, and I wasn't let down.

This is very much an interior-focused version, and I appreciate how it flenses the whole subgenre of stalker-horror. Half celebrity-abuse (or even just highlighting how all young people are abused for just wanting to be popular), and half an obsession/entitlement indictment, this particular story seems to be all too commonplace in real life. Give or take this skin bits, of course. But damn. Just look at us. Our whole society is sick as hell.

Just look at the fans.

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The Many by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These days, I tend to expect a hive-mind type of story to be either a horror the way propaganda wants me to hate socialism horror kind of way or something extremely mild the way propaganda wants me to love socialism kind of way.

What? Hive-mind is a METAPHOR? No way. Noooooo waaaayyyyyyy.

But yeah, I didn't mind this one. I mean, let's face it, the world is split between those who are willing to walk a mile in other's shoes and those who would never. Or it put it more succinctly, those who are willing to act on their empathy and those who won't.

This novel is frankly just an enormous almost-apocalyptic novel that moralizes that we should stop trying to trash everything.

Big damn surprise, right? Being nice to others is a GOOD thing? *shock* *awe* And yet, this gold standard seems to be getting further and further away.

I suppose I get why Neuvel wrote this novel. I suppose I even support it.

Just do that one thing to make the world a better place, no matter what it is. Damn right.

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Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I've grown old. Why? Because this book used to hit hard in my consciousness of social irony. Why? Because I grew up in a hardcore religious background that judged, judged, judged, and more than that, it had the context of religious cues that could turn a novel of hardship into a skewering indictment of social norms.

Back in '84, this probably would have ridden the full wave of religious backlash written as mainstream rebellion. Now? It tries to recall the old oppression, shower us with the logical and honestly moral rebellion against it, and tell us just how much idiocy we had been living in.

Which, in all honesty, I agree with.

Which makes this novel a real throwback simply because it sits on the far side of the fence.

Can I say how much I hate the swing of this pendulum? I'm sure I can, but I feel like most people won't really realize just how much religious zealotry can cause so much damn pain.

But then, here we are, Job. If you know, you know.

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Dissolution by Nicholas Binge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An easy, fun read about memory, time travel, and identity, while feeling like a crossed romance for old people.

And also a technothriller. Which is actually kinda funny when I put these two together. But it is what it is.

Honestly, I had a pretty good time with this. Very engaging. It dragged me in.

As I was reading it, I kept thinking about an old underrated time-travel movie called About Time. It doesn't match up 100%, but for great stretches, it kinda does. :)

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Ascension by RinoZ
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Still solid, but with one caveat: it's kinda all over the place and gormless in comparison to the previous four. Those were very solid with plot and direction. All of the books, including this one, has great progression at just the right pacing, but this is the one that seemed to flounder about.

Odd, that. It wasn't bad at all, but I'm comparing like-to-like.

Either way, I love the dead lands and the later battle against the Empire's golds. I can't wait to see where this LitRPG will go from here, or whether it's been written into a corner or not.

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