Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Obligatory reference to Dungeon Crawler Carl here, since it's the same author--BUT this isn't a LitRPG.

This is, quite simply, a fantastic SF with multiple takes on AI, Colonialism, Corporatism, and simply just LIVING. A lot of these topics are more than topical and even heartbreaking in the way that any mirror to reality can be.

*cough*g-za*cough*g-cide.

But more importantly, we spend a lot of time with these New Sonora farmers and their youthful stupidities and it just feels REAL, especially the rock band stuff, their dreams, their messed up romances, and the sheer, nasty reality that hits them. And even after it all becomes tragic and war devastates everything they'd known, they fight. A true underdog situation that had me on the edge of my seat to the end.

Even with Roger helping them out.

I'll admit I've read a number of books quite like this, but this one in particular hit me in the feels. It's the happiness, the strive to be better, to just LIVE that was the best part of it. Oh, the tactics and the mechs and the explosions and insults were fantastic, mind you, but it was the softer stuff that brought me to tears even at the very last page.

Very, very good SF.

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Degenerate by Matt Casamassina
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOL this book has some twists and turns in it. Good ones. Strange ones. Cosmic horror and more.

Right off the bat, however, it reads like it could be a mystery-thriller, quietly transforming into revenge-horror, becoming almost UF in its buddy-fiction hi-jinx, before turning right around and surprising us in a very Nick Cutter/Gone World/Dark City way. Which is, by now, becoming something of a genre in itself. What do we call it, if not cosmic horror? It's a very specific KIND of cosmic horror, anyway. It's rather hard-SF.


So, YEAH, this ostensible HORROR is all those things with a little romance thrown in the mix as well. And superhero action.

And as long as you are going into this book with proper expectations--EXPECT ANYTHING--it's a wild, creative ride. It's an author having an awful lot of fun.

I recommend it wholeheartedly--with these caveats.

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After the Fall by Edward Ashton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting novel. Billed as humor, it definitely has satire at its core. Post-humanity being slaves for an overwhelming alien race, gaslit into believing it's lesser on its own planet, growing up treated as utterly disposable, worse than pets... very funny. Really funny IF our heroes are genuinely bumbling idiots.

And for the most part, they ARE.

No spoilers, but this is a pretty wild, satirical ride. And definitely not relatable in today's climate. Not at all. *wink, wink*

I think I'm going to check out more books by this author.

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The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 12 by Noret Flood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What pretty much amounts to an extended prep session and goodbye to Earth (renamed for the Nexus, not destroyed--yet), this novel is nevertheless fun and full of great worldbuilding. Literal worldbuilding. Glorious and extensive worldbuilding. And quite a bit of old-character progression and wrap-ups to make us feel good about sending Randidly off into the great bloody unknown of the core of the Nexus itself.

It was quite fun. :)



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Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-Read 1/31/26:

I took out my old copy and took my own sweet damn time to read and revel in this book again. I wondered if I had changed again so much inside that I might have gotten an entirely new damn take on the novel.

And guess what? I have.

I focused on the SHARP satire and point-by-point criticism of 1950's America, and by some extent, the whole world. Skewering politicians is easy. Skewering social mores, nudity taboos, and ESPECIALLY religion of all stripes, this book rightly took off after it was published in 1961 to become a word-of-mouth cult favorite that rightly became a kind of anthem and dog-eared darling of the late '60s counterculture.

You Grok me? Well, it may be safe to assume that all the alternate religiosity curiosities of the time leading up to the counterculture, the spiritualism, the very wholesome idea that you are god, I am god, we are god, might have come directly from this. And even if it just plugged into the zeitgeist, it still plugged in. And all the while, it had heart, spoke truth, WHILE skewering the living shit out of our world at the time.

And you know what? It still skewers.

We need a little love and light in our lives. Of course, we need power and strength to PROTECT those who could bring that love and light into our lives--and that's where this is pretty good SF, let alone being a great stranger in a strange land kind of story. :)

Well, let's just agree that we need an ultimate kind of compassion and understanding on par with what Mike's got to even REACH that point.

Jubal's fun and all and a great stand-in for Heinlein's irascible, old-man's "get off my lawn" self, but this is the first time in a long time reading this novel that I came back to feeling more in tune with Mike, himself.

An ultimate INFP if I've ever read one.



Original Review

This one transformed and cemented me as a young adult, totally screwing me up and enlightening me at the same time, showing me that living in a crazy christian culture doesn't mean I have to stay there, or that great imagery can be used soooooo damn subversively. :)

And above or below that, it was a fantastic tale of striving for wisdom, learning that semantics MEANS something, and that I can be blown away by the fact that so much philosophy and striving and understanding, (read Grok,) could be thrown into one single novel and still be a wild tale.

So why all the hate, Ya'll? Oh good ole' Jubal is a stand-in for Heinlein's soapbox tendencies, sure, but he's also a wild character in the sense that he is what he is. He loves women, but says awful things, but on the other hand, these women respect him enough to throw him in the pool and blow raspberries at him, too. As we all should, today, to all men who act as a Mad Man from 1962, all heavy-drinking, heavy-opinions, and "apparently" sexist. But no one really believes that about him when they get to know him. He's a good man and a loudmouth author and all his other progressive ideas like equality between the sexes are SHOWN to us, repeatedly and repeatedly, by actions and deeds and a closer look at all the philosophies. It's the difference between expression and reality. He expresses as the time allows, but in reality he supports everyone. That's Jubal for you.

But he's not even the main character, just the most loud one.

Mike is. He's an alien, yo, born of man but raised by Martians with heavy-ass psychic powers, yo. And he's innocent of mankind, too.

This is his story. Who tries to capitalize on the man who owns Mars, who protects him, how he learns to adapt and later to understand us crazy humans, and what he does with his gifts.

The novel could be an indictment of modern times, a brew-on of absurdity when it comes to religion and religious thinking, a wildly prescient vision of the sexual liberation movement just a few years down the road, (or perhaps the seminal novel that informed the sixties love movements,) or it could be a wonderful shout-out to us all to start trying to UNDERSTAND one another, for grok's sake.

So I think it's wonderfully delicious. You know. To say that Heinlein is a sexist reactionary? When he, like, is the spirit of the sixties? Huh, water-brother? You Grok?

This is easily one of my favorite, if not my most favorite Heinlein, not just because it got into my soul when I was a kid, but because it's just one of those works that lives and breathes and still brings a big smile to my face. :) Oh, and it's one of my top 100 works of all time and it won the Hugo of '62, not that anyone really cares, because it just SPEAKS to so many people. :)

That's controversy for you. :)

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The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 11 by Noret Flood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vacation time!

Sorta.

I mean, returning to the Earth to somehow convince the entire planet that it needs to train up hard or be left in the dust of the rest of the universe doesn't QUITE sound relaxing. And massive training regimens that tear your body apart is KINDA relaxing-adjacent. Right?

But it was fun revisiting the changed Earth and so many of the characters we'd gotten to know over the series. And funnily enough, most of the big leaps forward are all leaps backward into memories. Funny, right? Still, a great callback to all that came before.



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The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 10 by Noret Flood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Definitely a more well-balanced LitRPG with character progress well-beyond the skills-and-class leveling. Indeed, it's surprising how many cool characters that actually MEAN something take the front-and-center even over a huge-scale war in the Nether and the fight against the Nether King himself.

I really couldn't tear my eyes from the pages. Even stayed up late to see what happens.

Great fun! VERY satisfying.



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Twelve Months by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a special kind of book. Not because it doesn't have action (It definitely does) or that it isn't full of great snark (it does) or that it's brimming with plot and great characters (they're here and still in full, continued development), but because this isn't a novel about any of that.

Sure, it's UF, it's DRESDEN after all, but it's also something a hellofalot more important.

Healing.

It's a novel about healing. And it really comes from the heart. It made me burst into tears several times.

But wait, isn't this supposed to be a novel of adventure and magic and great heroism against impossible odds and damn, didn't that last novel just blow up Chicago?

Well, yeah. That's kinda the point. It takes TIME to heal. It also takes a bit of soul-searching, tears, and learning how to LIVE again.

It's a novel about pulling yourself out of depression just as much as it is about rebuilding a destroyed city.

And I very much appreciate it. Deeply.

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The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anamnesis.

An interesting conceit for a time travel novel, but carefully interwoven with a ton of great Greek history and persons of that special philosophical era. The mirroring in this book is actually rather cool.

It's even cooler for those of us who DO love the ancient Greeks or the possibility that their philosophy might lend itself into a carefully constructed time-travel novel.

That being said, it's a great idea and it's mostly pulled off. In the ways I take exception to, it may not even be important to regular readers, but for me... the needs of characterization rather overruled some of the worldbuilding logic here. The fact that C NEEDED to have the balance of the T's, the fact that H NEEDED the balance of E, or even the littlest details of breath being tied to thought, the way the Greeks believed, are all subtle details in the storytelling that MAY have been better spelled out to the reader... but definitely rewards the scholar.

It's clever. But if you aren't picking up all these little details, the plot sometimes, or even often, seems strange.

Not the Deed bit. That's pretty clear. And I even rather heartily approve of the basic idea changing the tide of all history for the better.

I don't know. It simultaneously feels like it lacks something and is complete as it is. And who knows? Maybe that's the point. The balance between gods and man, the balance between societal pressures and the very nature of your world, the balance of life and death.

It IS all here in the novel. It's damn clever.

Perhaps the rest needs to be simply experienced. Not as a pure mind, but as a mind with a bitter belly. :)

I recommend this. If for nothing but the Greeks. But for the Greeks, it truly shines. Oh, and enjoy the time travel. :)

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A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Decent horror. Generational fun as horror. It sounds like it hits just about right, no? Well, learning about your own family is always fun for bloody gardening, friendly vultures, and other doilies.

Kingfisher rocks.

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Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm utterly gobsmacked. It feels like it's been a long time since I've read a book I was so ambivalent about for the first half, only to be riveted harder than so many others... and then to break down into tears by the end.

I mean, sweet...

Let me explain. This series, for me, is one of the more difficult series I've read. Not because it's THAT hard in comparison to some of the most sprawling of Epic Fantasies out there, with a huge cast of strange-sounding characters, factions, cities, terms, etc., but because practically EVERY character is hugely flawed, has massive turning points, over and over again, and the whole thing is just so damn AMBITIOUS. And glorious. But before it gets to the glorious bits, it's also depressing and disturbing as all hell because these wonderful characters are ALL pretty much on the wrong side of things. They're all working for the baddies. They're ALL baddies. There's no good ones.

It's exhausting. Painful. And even when they wake up and do something RIGHT, it's almost never even remotely enough. And yet, huge things DO happen and change everything and doing the right thing never pays off IMMEDIATELY. It's heartbreaking and REAL at the same time.

And now, as painful as this book is, I've got this horrible little desire to own all the books in hardcover and start reading it again from the start. For sheer wickedness and misery of it.

For the wickedness and misery.

*chokes a sob*

Damn.

What a damned book. Just wow.

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The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 9 by Noret Flood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The fact I keep coming back to this series is a testament to its staying power. There's something awesomely seductive about an endless cycle of growth, consolidation, more growth, more consolidation, and even more growth. LitRPGs have that in spades. And this particular book proves that even if you can become something of a god, using images as reality-warping constructs of power in addition to classes and fates, you're still at the whim of even greater core-consuming powers.

And this book is yet another cycle in overcoming impossible odds on the edge of our reality. This time, without his body's help. Just a separated image. I think this was rather neat.



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The Red Knight by Miles Cameron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To be perfectly honest, I didn't think this was a bad epic fantasy.

It was solid throughout. A bit of grimdark, lots of grounded characters and PoVs in a martial medieval setting that is on our Earth, but with Fae-like creatures or goblins to round out the magical aspects.

But even though it IS solid and I particularly liked the last third of this long novel, it is slow-going and doesn't have any particularly original or rich grab that makes it stand out from the many, many similar kinds of works out there. It's spectacularly center-of-the-road.

Decent for entertainment's sake, and I really enjoyed the later half, but it took a while to get there and I was frankly wondering if anything truly interesting might happen at all.

It's absolutely workman-like writing, however. No complaints on the quality. It reminds me of all the greats. It just happens to come rather late to the scene.

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Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funnily enough, I see all these low ratings and I just don't get it. I feel like I read a different book than them.

It's very Chinese in flavor and execution, and that shouldn't be a surprise, considering. But more, it's like that version of Contact--with some cool high-tech political and personal infighting that lead to actual character growth. A bunch of power-hungry introverts learn to work together, plus we get a whole interesting anti-Dark Forest take of first contact.

Honestly, it felt pretty refreshing. I'd LOVE to see more aliens in fiction do things for the sake of their ideals. You know, like so many artists and scientists do now. Rather than the whole might-makes-right shtick we've got going on now everywhere else.

Alas.

A little hope in SF isn't going amiss with me. Far from it.


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Jitterbug by Gareth L. Powell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'll tell you what this book feels like.

It's a highly accessible and easygoing space romp with the Firefly feel with some very streamlined Expanse tidbits. Some very streamlined bits--but many of the GREAT bits.

At first, I just felt like I was starting up a great novel-nod to Cowboy Bebop, only to realize it had a lot more in common with Firefly right up to the point that we went all Expanse-y with the politics and the BDOs. But unlike Expanse, it gets RIGHT to the point with the huge space opera stuff and just comes across and a fast-paced romp that never takes itself too seriously.

Now, the end and all the events leading right up to the end may be a bit divisive among the readers, but I'm of the mind that sometimes we all need to go big or get the f out. Hit all those cool SF points and nod at many of the more recent greats while we're at it. Dark Forest stuff. Big tech. Even some Interstellar stuff.

I mean, why the hell not? If we're just aiming for some big, sometimes downright goofy fun, this has it all. And I admit it. I'm a sucker for the kind of loopy stuff we do get. It was almost late Heinlein in impact.

Fun stuff. Don't take it too seriously. But definitely fun.

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Galactic Patrol by E.E. "Doc" Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well now, look at the big brain on THAT one!

Truly, this is the biggest, baddest space opera trash out there. Total B-Movie stuff that inspired ALL the greats, be it Flash Gordon, Han Solo, Hal Jordon, and so many more! When men were real men and enormous brains with a few small appendages were real enormous brains with a few small appendages.

And yes, villains ARE perfectly willing to stop killing you in order to monologue.

Classic stuff. Popular enough to be imitated endlessly.

And it's so goofy it's fun. :)

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Defiance of the Fall 16: A LitRPG Adventure by TheFirstDefier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I want to love this. I really do. I mean, what it does really well is kinda mind-blowing:

Cultivation on a scale that reads like pre-godlike buddhism and endless reincarnation from the level of Trump to the Enlightened One himself. And every book is a bewildering display from broken soul foundations to world-shattering power displays to infiltrating new areas to plunder for more godlike powers to eat and use.

Which is fantastic.

But you know what I'm missing?

Story. Just people having actual real conversations and plots being progressed and setbacks that aren't directly tied to one's Foundation.

Other than that, I'm good. But that missing bit is kinda HUGE.

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The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The "What happens after" book.

After what? After the incarnations of city burroughs, whole damn cities with attitude find themselves aware. This is the go and fight off lovecraftian city-killers in the multiverse kind of book.

Pretty fun. Very sassy.

But honestly? I wanted to like it more than I actually did. The whole City becoming Mayor bit was funny--and not so much. The concepts throughout the novel really shine. I'm 100% behind that.

It did wander a bit, but I think that's the nature of any city.

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Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Honestly, I was pretty down with this in the first half. Total B-Movie feature creature style. But then it had the twist that will become abundantly clear almost immediately and I was like, Hey, that's unusual in the usual way, but just how far can it be taken?

Yes, I know, it can be taken very, very far. And in this one? It is.

I WANT to like that fact. But almost immediately, my reaction settles in and it just says... "This is tedious".

But why? Probably because the MC simply doesn't have many redeeming features. His rationale aside. And even that is extremely iffy.

So while this IS pretty short, it's also pretty un-fun. Which is sad because I've liked just about everything else Mr. Jones has written.

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ソードアート・オンライン 19: ムーン・クレイドル [Sōdo āto onrain 19: Mūn Kureidoru] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simultaneously a huge step forward (in time) and a huge step back.

But honestly? I have no issues with it. We got most of the forward in the end of book 18 but this one has a great fill-in for the time in the other world that we skipped.

In other words, more adventure.

Who can say no to more adventure? Not me!

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ソードアート・オンライン 18: アリシゼーション・ラスティング [Sōdo āto onrain 18: Arishizēshon Rasutingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely worth the wait. Of course, the last near half-dozen books could have realistically been called a single story, but that doesn't change the fact that the story is pretty damn great.

What an end of an arc! Epic battles on two sides of the real life divide. And perhaps best of all, the wrap up was both sweet and delicious... and heartwarming. No spoilers, but there's a lot of great stuff here. Satisfying.

And the hints for what is to come? I'm totally down for it. No end in sight!

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The Universe Box by Michael Swanwick


Short stories:

Starlight Express -- (5*) Haunting. Visceral, ghostly, and above all, rich in worldbuilding and future speculation. I'm sure it'll stick with me for some time.

The Last Days of Old Night -- (4*) A delightful retelling of old fairy tales, but with hardcore fantasy, rather SFish flare that's all Swanwick. Very entertaining.

The Year of the Three Monarchs -- (3*) Very Conan fantasy/allegory about living by, dying by swords.

Ghost Ships -- (4*) A self-proclaimed autobiographical story, down-to-earth and reflective for a ghost story.

The White Leopard -- (5*) Cool VR/Drone, but the connections with others gave it heart. Only then to twist a knife in by the end. Wicked.

Dragon Slayer -- (4*) Timey-Wimey fantasy done right.

The Warm Equations -- (4*) Disaster and friendship. But mostly about friendship.

Requiem for a White Rabbit -- (5*) DARK. So many great facets to this story, and each slams.

Dreadnought -- (5*) This one snuck up on me GOOD and kicked my ass. Loved, loved it. Wildly great characters.

Grandmother Dimetrodon -- (3*) I really wanted to like this more, but for the premise. It may be true, and the setting is interesting and strange, but the whole story just sat wrong to me.

The Star-Bear -- (4*) Reads like a love story to a literary friend. But very Russian, either way. :)

Nirvana Or Bust -- (4*) Change. Death, change, and synthesis. I rather liked this one.

Reservoir Ice -- (5*) Truly excellent time travel story. And extremely messy.

Artificial People -- (5*) People are people. What a damning sentiment.

Huginn And Muninn -- (5*) A proper send off for Alice Sheldon, her imagination, and a what-if about her suicide. Very creative.

Cloud -- (3*) More of a standard story without fantastical elements. Didn't really grab me.

Timothy: An Oral History -- (5*) Truly a fantastic story, stand out on all levels. No men. Just women in the world. :) Enter the only man... :)

Annie Without Crow -- (5*) Gods of Romance and Trickery up to their grand glories. Yet again.

The Universe Box -- (4*) Heist-like god wonkiness messing with them damn mortals again. And it's fun. Very fun.


Overall, I love this collection of short stories by Swanwick. I might even go as far to say that he's one of the best short fiction writers, period. The craft screams on page. I wouldn't miss it for the world, if I were you.

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ソードアート・オンライン 17: アリシゼーション・アウェイクニング [Sōdo āto onrain 17: Arishizēshon Aueikingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent story, tons of action, consequence, and especially its use of characters. All of the history from the 17 novels is coming into play here.

Can't help but be excited. :)

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ソードアート・オンライン 16: アリシゼーション・エクスプローディング [Sōdo āto onrain 16: Arishizēshon Ekusupurōdingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was right. Not just one, but two wars are breaking out. And a couple of metaphorical ones, too.

I'm SO glad some of the characters from before are getting into the fight again. As much as I've grown to love all the new ones, it's really satisfying to see it all come together again.



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ソードアート・オンライン 15: アリシゼーション・インベーディング [Sōdo āto onrain 15: Arishizēshon Inbēdingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lot of consequences here. Massive consequences to the real world and especially this world. The Administrator's demise is hardly the worst part. Between the game's upcoming stress test and new baddies rising up on the other side and our MC's curse... things couldn't look bleaker.

As it is, this whole novella serves as a massive laid groundwork for a lot to come, no less the heroic return of a fallen hero.

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A Hole in the Sky by Peter F. Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would say it's a solid YA SF--assuming you haven't read MANY others just like it.

Unfortunately, between the breaking-down generational starship, tight resource terrors, AI, and adventure through the history and architecture of the ship, it reads like an old-school regular adventure.

I don't think it's bad, but it doesn't break any new ground or pass gracefully into originality.

BUT, it feeling exactly like a YA, that may be a benefit, not a detriment.

It doesn't quite do it for me, however. It was OKAY.

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ソードアート・オンライン14:アリシゼーション・ユナイティング [Sōdo āto onrain 14: Arishizēshon Yunaitingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm pretty sure this completes the current arc. Top of the tower vs the biggest bad in this world. :)

Of course, it's tragic, too, and hints at even greater tragedies on the other side at the end.

What a cliffhanger!

Really fun stuff.

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ソードアート・オンライン13:アリシゼーション・ディバイディング [Sōdo āto onrain 13:Arishizēshon Dibaidingu] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is basically a straight continuation of the tower-climb, complete with more battles, reversals, and gains. All said, it's more of a middle scene in a grand adventure than a full novel.

Not that it isn't entertaining as all hell, because it is.



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Hearthspace by Stephen Baxter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, honestly, I thought this would have been a more breathtaking take on colony shipping, especially with a plug like what we get in the blurb. Completely altering the way she thinks about everything, etc.

And to be fair, it IS there, in the text. Hearthspace itself is pretty fascinating. Multi-universal exploration of space, of space itself AND alt-universes--a very Baxterian trope we've seen with his Manifold series.

But in this particular book, I can't say whether it's an awfully our-world-reflective story, or whether it's almost cartoonishly set with its focus squarely on fascism. And, like I said, it's rather too on the nose.

You'd think an interstellar civilization could get things moving a bit better without mass-scale slavery. But it IS audacious enough to be plausible. Especially when the goal is just power and looting without thinking about sustainability or long term anything.

Ahem.

No, no, it's not relevant today.

But that brings me back to my rating. Why so low? Because it's practically all just fighting the man from inside the belly of the beast, with just a FEW small parts that fulfill the promise of the blurb.

It could have been so much more.



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Vigil by George Saunders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, the good:

It's a stream of consciousness wild ride that reminds me of all modernist fiction--rambling and detailed and seemingly chaotic as hell, but always with a purpose, a line through which all passes.

Hell, I was reminded quite a bit of Mitchell's Bone Clocks as I read this. I even wanted to expect something more science-fictiony to come out of it. Imagine my consternation if, upon wanting to read this BECAUSE it was supposed to be speculative fiction, it turned out to be just another "oh, look, dead people judging other soon-to-be-dead people, don't you feel regret now" book.

The bad:

You might have guessed it already.


A Christmas Carol without Christmas.

Ah, alas, but I should be fair about this: the text IS a chaotic and fascinating ride, overflowing with cliches strapped to a whip. It WAS entertaining. It just wasn't a book that broke any boundaries. At all.

I suspect this book might suffer from high expectations.


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Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 232 by Neil Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Stars You Can't See by Looking Directly" by Samantha Murray - (5*) I'm a sucker for end of the world baby stories when they don't go gentle. Think Darwin's Children. Now draw lines in the sand. *shiver*

"Down We Go Gently" by M. L. Clark - (4*) Crazy weird deep spacecraft wonkiness. I likey.

"Donor Unknown" by Nika Murphy - (4*) Odd how an android painting heist mystery really turns into something completely different. :)

"Je Ne Regrette Rien" by James Patrick Kelly - (4*) Food and a balanced (not feel-good) look at robotics (anthropomorphism). Nuanced, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

"Tomorrow's Beautiful Dream" by Ju Chu - (5*) A very chilling dystopian nightmare of ultra-efficiency. Right at home in any cyberpunk portfolio. Soon to be our reality. Again.

"The Desolate Order of the Head in the Water" by A. W. Prihandita - (4*) Almost reminds me of an old impressionist work, but revolving around AI takeover.

"Space is Deep" by Seth Chambers - (4*) Ah, the problems of living in space. Rather grounded for a story.


Out of all these stories, I really enjoyed John Chu's. The others are just fine, but "Tomorrow's Beautiful Dream" was chilling.

Not a bad month but there have been better.

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ソードアート・オンライン12: アリシゼーション・ライジング by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a solid step-up for the action. For all the missing action in middle books, we get a great correction. It's especially good since we're not certain of the outcome.

Stakes: the whole world and all its people. The twist: the mindset you go out with.

I can't fault this at all. It's very beautiful. :)



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ソードアート・オンライン11: アリシゼーション・ターニング by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is fully transformed into a genuine LitRPG in the way the genre is known, today. Focus on worldbuilding, gaming the system, and survival.

Quite fun. Of course, we have to break a few things, like the schooling and training montages, but it sure as hell propels the plot forward. :)

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Proxima Dreaming by Brandon Q. Morris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm of two minds with this final book in the trilogy. First, I was very invested in exploration, etc, so when it turned into a PoV with an alien mindset that seemed too familiar with us, or being about an AI vs AI thriller surrounding base survival for the humans, I was a bit Meh.

After all, I wanted to have truly alien aliens and exploration, discovery, etc.

On the other hand, it was still pretty entertaining and the end was pretty cool. So I went from meh to alright. Not too bad. A decent SF to be read strictly for a bit of escapism.

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Proxima Dying by Brandon Q. Morris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beginnings are the best time. But that being said, middle books are still progression. And here we learn ever more about Proxima, it's deadly mystery, and the kids' own (as well as the mission's) dark past.

Pretty standard, story-wise. Nothing even close to unique. BUT, it's well-done and quite entertaining, and I appreciate it for exactly that.

SF exploration is and should be a thing we still have in our heads. Endlessly trawling the depths of our own depravity shouldn't be everything we get. :)



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Proxima Rising by Brandon Q. Morris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know, honestly, I really appreciate all old-school SF adventure/exploration tales. Especially when they just KNOW their job and do it extremely well. Bring out that sense of awe and wonder and danger, throw in a little intrigue, but really stick to the landing.

It's not something we get much of anymore. So, I rather loved it.

It's half of Bobbiverse, and half Interstellar. Maybe not quite as wonderful as either, alone, but very entertaining and nerdy anyway.

I especially love the awe. :)



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Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wayward Children series is as strong as ever. And this time, we return to the halls of the dead.

I think I have the most fond memories of this realm. Very interesting. But no more spoilers. Fun stuff.

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How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Yeah. So. This one really didn't connect with me. I mean, Mr. Beast doing a reality TV show contest on Survival Island, only it goes really bad with deep dark mystery island stuff a-la cults. Yeah. Well. Practically none of that sparks me as original or not over-done in today's entertainment.

When books need to steal from youtube and decades of reality tv and a smidge of Jonestown, you know we're scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Otherwise, the writing was okay. I simply had a hard time caring.

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Lady of Fire by Pirateaba
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can say this 100% every single time now: I cannot get over how much I love this series and how excited I am to get to read it. It's christmas and my birthday all at the same time, and on top of that, I read it slower because I never want it to end.

For how long the books are, and this one is just as heart-stoppingly long as the others, it's unique in that I never ever ever want it to stop.

So many characters at this point. So many gorgeous stories. So much current history. So much EMOTION.

I was just laughing with my family about just how crazy it is to have a single little scene where an ancient and impossibly powerful dragon is complaining about just how stupid Shrek is while refusing to stop watching it. And require commentary.

I couldn't stop chortling... not because the scene was funny in concept, and it is, but because of ALL the other things that had to happen FIRST for it to hit QUITE this hard.

That's the genius of this work. And I love it. Love, love, love.

And that's just a tiny little sliver. So much happens in just this book and it's world-wide and amazing in scope, with wars, a whole pirate section, medical drama with body-stealing friends, sex drama, and most of all---friendship.

And while all that's happening, we even get Soccer. And a little troublemaking inn-keeper telling the most powerful king in all the world to "stuff his face" on live TV. And he loves it. *shakes head*

I can't recommend this series enough. It's just too good on way too many levels.



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