He Who Fights With Monsters 8 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think Jason has a sneaking suspicion that he may not be entirely mortal anymore.

I mean, aside from dying multiple times, no longer being human, being able to slam people around with just his aura, or being a freaking monarch of a domain and having a consecrated temple devoted to Knight Rider that can imprison cult leaders and torture them with Baywatch memorabilia.

Though, to be perfectly honest, you don't have to lose your mortality to do the last bit. I think that's just a perk of being awfully weird.

Fortunately, it's not an exclusive trait!


The novel is awfully fascinating, too, on the god-encroaching territory. Too much power, too many bad choices, and everyone is leery. Including the gods that keep popping into his life.

Fun stuff.

View all my reviews

He Who Fights With Monsters 7 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one hit me in the feels. Coming back home (to another world, not Earth where he ACTUALLY came from) was the best thing that could happen to him.

Except that people are shit everywhere.

The powerful still play games and they're never nice ones.

And nobody ever tries to understand where others are coming from. Like a returning world-savior coming back from the dead, having undergone a dozen soul-scouring experiences, who just wanted to get back to something light and normal and soul-healing--being forced in stupid regal politics out of none of his doing. And throwing him into the shit without realizing just WHAT they had grabbed.


What was healing about this book?

Friends. Trust. Faith. They made this book everything.

I love it.

View all my reviews

I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For what is VERY much a novel of its time, 1970, with free love, challenging normal family relationships, being accepting of all kinds of LGBTQ setups, or even freedom for age limitations (December/May relationships), it's a book that really ought to feel right at home with modern audiences.

Indeed, for a good 3/4 of the novel, it really would be. Just get beyond the first quarter of the novel and fly right into the whole SF true sex change (old man's brain in a young woman's body, trying to deal with social/sexual situations), and it pretty much flies. It's fun, free love, sex, and especially love, love, love transcending all boundaries. And I don't mean true love or monogamous love, but freedom to love.

It's a wild ride just so long as you place the novel in exactly its right place and time.



But in modern time? LOOOOL. I almost quit it over the opening sequences of the dirty old men oggling the young woman who, even though she was perfectly happy with it all, still felt... ugly and dirty because so many modern examples shows it to BE ugly and dirty. But this IS a character novel and taking it all on the cases presented here, it's actually rather sweet and accepting and it becomes a clever and honestly interesting take and condemnation of closed-mindedness all across the board.

Trans politics through the easy SF lens? Yep. All sexual politics m/f f/f m/m and everything else inbetween, challenging critics and readers through that easy SF lens? Absolutely. It's bold and fearless.

There's a LOT to love about this novel. It's also easy to condemn for the sheer creepiness of a few aspects.

Would I recommend this to anyone without this caveat? No. But with it? It's honestly worthwhile. Just problematic. :)

View all my reviews

He Who Fights with Monsters 6 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an appropriate time to quote a line from another property. "Earth--what a shithole."

It's encapsulated quite nicely in this volume.

Of course, when your home is a dumpling slowly being suffused with much too much soup, to the point where it'll frankly dissolve if it takes a single more iota of broth, you can't really judge much on the niceties, like how fine the bowl is or what kind of utensil you use.

This is just a nice way of saying the ends justify the means and the shit's already gone in the drink. But hey, we LIVE here. We know.

Or rather, we live in a non-magickified version of the shithole, but the underlying concept is the same.

I just wish we had our own hero trying to unsoupify the wonton. Alas.

View all my reviews

A Glimmer of Death by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So.

The good:

When it finally gets to the mystery of the magical ***** and its resolution, it's pretty decent. I'm invested and I feel inordinately happy to have something like this in the novel that resembles the previous private investigations/royal intrigue/fae novels that had been coming out so many years ago.

The bad:

It took a LONG time to get through all the toddler and fashion nonsense at the beginning. It took an even longer time to get through all the narrative-foreplay-less sex scenes that felt so horribly gratuitous I felt like I was plopped directly into the worst polyamorous-political nonsense cribbed right from the Anita Blake series complete with cribbed-reused-plundered plotlines from that series as well.

And it took SO DAMN LONG to move past it.

To be very honest, I was reminded of the very worst nonsense I wished never happened in the Blake series. Of course, I kept coming back because when the magic stuff and the fighting stuff and the plot stuff finally kicks in (when it isn't sex), it's pretty great. But this one?

I'm kinda sad I came back to Merry.

View all my reviews

He Who Fights with Monsters 5 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a weird one to review. It's not bad at all, but on reflection, it's just an on-Earth battle-fest with tragedy against reality eating vampires showing us that we're underwhelmed a good half of the time and utterly outclassed the rest.

It makes for good drama and a solid ongoing read, but there's a real lack of character building compared to the previous novel.

Of course, read together, it's hardly noticeable. Everything runs smoothly, and long, and fun.

So really, no complaints. :) Can't wait to squash these blood drinkers, though.

View all my reviews

He Who Fights with Monsters 4 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one kinda hit me out of left field and no mistake. I knew it could always be a possibility, but this kind of thing rarely happens in a fantasy series. I usually ALWAYS see it in MilSF novels because that's when the victorious troops always seem to come back to Earth only to find it all messed up and now they have to use all their prodigious skills to clean up other's messes.

In fantasy novels, being the strange returner USUALLY doesn't happen until much later.

In this case, it's a strong balance between not being supremely OP and yet still having a comfortable time of it anyway.

Australia didn't know what hit it. :)

Very, very enjoyable.

View all my reviews

He Who Fights with Monsters 3 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A big turning point in this novel. It starts out innocuous. More team building, rehabbing Jason's reputation, getting stronger on a road trip, but it gets insane and the big baddie is challenged FAR earlier than intended. Again.

That's the thing about road trips. They sometimes end disastrously.

And that's why I think this one seriously elevates the series for the first time. It was really good before. Now it's starting to get deep.

View all my reviews

He Who Fights with Monsters 2 by Shirtaloon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid and enjoyable, this LitRPG has veered into a solid team-building exercise with characters we got to know individually in the first book. Nothing too unusual happened here except the expected political hiccups, demotions, quests, and puzzles.

The best part is the team-building, of course. Very character-centric. And Jason is truly a character. He probably should have been strangled in his crib. And his team would likely agree with me.



View all my reviews

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

There ought to be a non-standard warning attached to this title.

Monsters are far from everything Jason fights. Indeed, this is a much more social Isekai than I thought it would be. I frankly assumed it'd be a solo progression based on what little I gleaned from it, but no. This displaced Australian is a true people person, which seems to be quite at odds with his whole doom/apocalypse DoT Sin-Eater build.

I guess it helps being an all-rounded kind of guy who can fire up a barbie while making his enemies rot from the inside as they run at you. Fun times!

To be perfectly honest, I thought this was a fairly average LitRPG for the first half, and was pleasantly surprised by the new directions by the second. Worth holding onto. I'm going to jump into the next right away.

View all my reviews

Uncapped: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Adventure by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to admit, there were some genuinely punny moments in this book. Just punny enough to make me want to youthenize myself. Oh, truly, rejuvenation has never been so... deadly. Or, at least, to my dad-sense.

And now that we've well moved on from those damn dwarves and we're jumping up and down world lines with summononed-coffee-addled impunity, I'm truly vibing to this. And being a true completionist seems to be truly in our grasp.

And I find it continually hilarious that the system keeps TRYING to give him so many new skills which he must constantly decline. Or that he is OWED so much cosmic karma debt that trying to get it repaid would destroy him utterly a thousand times over. It's truly hilarious.

And this last achievement... has really blown off my hat. I can't wait to see where it goes now. There's still new robes to don. Anger to be had against him.

This LitRPG has had its ups and downs, but it's back in fine form.



View all my reviews

All The Skills: Book 6: A Deck-Building LitRPG by Honour Rae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cleanup of a massive outbreak of scourge, consolidating his new clan, becoming beast with all his legendary cards, and generally just getting better with ALL the skills, this continuation is, quite frankly, more of the same. Big plot progression, let alone minor plot progression, either passes by without much hassle, or is so minor as to be negligible.

Good thing all other things are going to hell, or there'd be no story.

All told, still a fun read.

View all my reviews

Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The good: It reads like an interesting post-UF fiction that really leans into the idea of "You're never truly dead until nobody remembers you" and specifically the consequences of artists who dearly want to be immortalized.

It goes well beyond just musicians, of course, but this is where we stand in the first book. Strata being social-archeological, if that isn't clear. :)

I also really love the whole philosophical discussion going on here between old-school art, being forgotten or supplanted or twisted, becoming the staunch old-guard, versus the rebellion, the one that brings in the fresh. And how so much of that can be twisted the other way.

Subtext on writing is there, too. What is cribbed, what is riffed, what is stolen, but it's buried fairly deep behind the music. Art problems are art problems and I enjoy this kind of thing.

The so-so: the spark just isn't that strong? At least, when I read about artists inspiring awe, I would rather have it SHOWN with something truly inspiring and impressive in the text, in a way that is actually surprising. Not just "he sang and the audience was awestruck". I need to be lead to true awe, too, and I'm an easy customer. I WANT to be awe'd.

This book was not awesome. It could have been. The premise is damn good. The particulars, the music history, real history, and the discussion is genuine and neat. But the execution needed to SHINE.

View all my reviews

The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 13: A LitRPG Adventure by Noret Flood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Definitely still one of my favorite LitRPGs. In the Nexus, running into a ton of politics while being a drill sergeant to a bunch of monsters who just aren't monstrous enough for this realm, is really funny when you consider just how much of a monster he is now. Planet destroying OP is kinda small, after all.

But what I really loved in this book was the special training session for himself. More of an escape that turns into a massive time dilation as if he's in a black hole that then turned into a "f it, I'm going to ghost myself by training so hard and after years of effort alone in this hellscape I'll arrive back home with only a missing week".

Yeah. Them's beast tactics.

Fun payoff, too, especially with WHAT he's training.

My only complaint is where it ended. I kinda wanted a rather big showdown with a few asshats. Next time, I guess.


View all my reviews

Preaching to the Choir by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half way through, I was reminded of Charles Stross and a very excellent short story he wrote. And so it turns out, Tchaikovsky admits to a conversation with Stross at a previous time.

This is far from a condemnation. This is high praise, for the concept behind this particular novella is excellent. And creepy. And deliciously evil. :)

No spoilers. It's very much an American butting romantic heads with aristocracy story. And more. Muahahahahaha

View all my reviews

The Dark Healer #4 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, it's getting slightly better with a much bigger quest and some travel and more idiots to trounce along the way. But this is not high-brow. Just your normal super-powerful noble magician toying around with modern idiots.

I have to wonder if it's worth continuing, even with the bigger corruption quest.

View all my reviews

The Dark Healer #3 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The slow progression of story is what really stands out here. Which is kinda sad, really. Clan dominance, being OP and only slightly hiding it, training the young to be better necromancers--it's all pretty obvious.

Unfortunately, the underlying expectation of a bigger story isn't really there. At most, it's a gotcha of someone finally recognizing your name from history books. Which isn't that huge.

I think I'll try another book and hope it picks up from there.

View all my reviews

The Dark Healer #2 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's an okay story. Nothing too special about it except it has all the Godfather vibes with old magical families trying to bring this upstart (ha) down. But clan building time was still fun, so hey.

At this point, I'm losing a little interest. The beginning was better. I'll continue on a bit and see.

View all my reviews

The Dark Healer #1 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simple concept, easy story. Necromantic lord wakes up after a thousand years to arrive in modernity and completely dominates. Oh, and electricity is corruption and healing people of the effects of that corruption makes them all feel better. And btw, the worst corrupted people in the modern age are douchebags.

See? Simple concept, easy story. Kill people, others feel great, and we get that fine old noblesse oblige feeling for killing the fake nobles.

Truly, I find nothing objectionable about it. It's a true eat the rich scenario--just as long as we ignore this dude being the biggest and baddest of all the baddies. After all, he's hot and it's super easy to get rich with this scheme.

I told you, right? The story is EASY. Like, it writes itself. lol


View all my reviews

When Wizards Follow Fools by Andrew Rowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been enjoying all these books for exactly the same reason. It's nerdy. Artificing, hacking magic to get the right effects to trounce your enemies, and a bit of light adventure within a grand story arc. But mostly, because it's nerdy and hyper-focused on getting stronger by hacking the rules and using a bit of elbow grease.

This one is no different than the rest. And honestly, that's exactly what I want. Comfort food with smart components and a bit of social awkwardness to go along with brilliant battle scenes showing off all that early preparation.

I had fun, and I don't apologize for it. :)

View all my reviews

The Pilot by Will Wight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The chaotic good space opera just got a lot more chaotic neutral. Even the gray got a little bit muddy. But hell, what can you expect when family is involved, right?

Whole worlds dying, an entire civilization at risk, games designed by epic toys threatening galactic collapse? Nothing in comparison to revenge, right?

Right.

Being mad is boon. Ah, those mad pilots.

Fun stuff.

View all my reviews

The Knight by Will Wight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid, but perhaps I didn't quite like it as much as the first two. But mileage varies. Specifically, if you like the story of the ultra honorable warrior who whips out his gigantic magical gundam unit when it gets too dicey for his sword, then this is definitely for you.

Plenty of action and bigger action later, but I particularly loved the new additions of Zenith weapons.

Of course, never trust intelligent weapons, right? That's a thing. A thing that people ALWAYS TEND TO FORGET because, hey! SO POWERFUL. lol

Fun stuff.
Very Magic. Very SF. Very Huge.

Simple, light, adventurous fun.

View all my reviews

The Engineer by Will Wight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After book 1's impressive space opera setup, I had high hopes for the second book. Finding that engineer is super important, after all. And it really paid off.

Not only is she a mad scientist, but she's the main villain in a TON of protagonist's tales. A real thorn in their side. And being their maker, and all, there's tons of pathos, too. I almost want to say it's Dragonball Z Cell level mayhem. And maybe it's even worse.

Muahahahahaha

I'm so glad they're aiming for top-quality help.

View all my reviews

The Captain by Will Wight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know, I was a little cautious upon starting this. It just FELT like pulp SF schlock no matter how I looked at it.

And it absolutely f'n is.

It's not Star Wars. It's literally a collection of all the best, most OP magical tropes like collecting all the memories of re-lived lives, becoming versions of multiple arch-mages, and then setting off to right all the most horrible mistakes across the galaxy as an ultimate space-wizard--with the specific addition of a world-killing world-mind-powered intelligent spaceship that levels up based on the quality of the crew it... um... consumes.

So, yeah, adventure happens. On very, very schlocky scales. Legions of foes destroyed. Whole systems. And the captain and the ship still needs to find more crew.

Muahahahahahahaha

I admit I was a bit worried--at first.

But the balance of the narrative Force was maintained. :)

It absolutely helps that the author knows his genres and all the things he's borrowing and even nods at them as he makes one hell of cool SF pulp space opera his very own thing.

It's no high literature. But it IS very fun. OP fun. The good guys defeat the bad guys. Ahem. Reminds me of something someone said about how we should always fear the Hero. Heroes kill more than any villain ever could. :)

View all my reviews

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ok, so getting through this has left me a bit shell shocked.

The humor and the bonkers imagination is still going full force. (I'm looking at you, Satan's Water Slide, lovely Penelope, chicken tendies, and countless little f-d up details throughout the novel (or novels) that make every reader shake with either rage or chaotic glee.)

But this novel in particular has crossed the line from deep gallows humor and insane killer clown territory to a deep kneecap-chopping horror rage that can only end with utter and terrible destruction.

Mind you, I love myself some good horror, and it's even better when it's so twisted it just becomes funny, but Dinniman just went----overboard. Or rather, he's pushing all new envelopes. And those envelopes are made up of more than magical barely-sentient farts.

It's people. The true horror is people. So many people.

I feel it here, even more than all the previous books where we had to get used to genocide-for-entertainment on a universal scale. As they make it this far, it becomes ever more obvious just how f-d up it all is.

And I'm on Carl's side. Donut, too.

At this point, being an utter agent of chaos might be the sanest thing left.



Honestly, this book might just scar you. Be forewarned. It's great. It's also the world's last, greatest death-race that's part Mad Max, Deadpool, Joker, and karaoke. But I'm also tearing up.

We're getting really close to the end.



View all my reviews

Andy in the Apocalypse: A LitRPG Adventure by Plum Parrot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pitch-perfect progression fantasy. This LitRPG borrows beautifully from both settlement building and tower defense while giving that full Dungeon Crawler Carl vibe.

Maybe not with the absurdist elements, but definitely the system interference.

Suffice to say, I'm immediately drawn in and I'm here to stay. I can't wait for the next. But then, I've been devouring all of Plum Parrot's series and I feel the same way about Victor of Tuscon.

I feel like I'm eating very well. :)

View all my reviews

Master Alvin: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Seven by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now, while I can't say I liked this nearly as much as the rest of the Alvin Maker series, I can say that it has a lot going for it. Specifically, it remains true to the crunchy granola ideals it began with.

That is: true Christian ideals where you love your neighbor, help your neighbor, and protect your neighbor even if they are out to hurt you. It's good. Of course, when you get to Alvin by this point in the series, after he created the Crystal City and brought together all those with magical knacks to protect them from assholes who'd burn them for witches in frontier-era America, you know he's pretty beast. Almost godlike.

So now we have the conclusion of his legend, and I guess my only complaint is that it came so many years after the previous book.

I will specifically point out that there's nothing objectionable in this novel. The good guys protect the downtrodden and protect women, blacks, and anyone that is considered different. One can easily read into the text that those with knacks could very well be lgbtq, and how they are treated, and Alvin could be a true martyr for them.

Indeed, if one knew nothing of the author and just went by the novels, one might start raving about just how DECENT and GOOD all the messages are, and how interesting the story is, and how satisfying it turned out--even as a semi-tragedy.

But that's mythos for you. And I suppose I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the whole series because it truly was magical and a clever twist on historical fantasy. Seventh Son through Master Alvin was right up there for me along with Ender's Game.

For those who criticize, I just want to reiterate: separate the art from the artist. The art may have dropped off some, but the message is still true--irrespective of the artist.

View all my reviews

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well now. This was surprisingly pretty great. And while I don't know the actual science or biology nearly as well as this author seems to, I couldn't find anything wrong with any of it.

And that is terrifying.

Just to imagine getting swallowed by a sperm whale. Surviving.

Of course, there's a lot more story here, and it's a good horror in all the old traditions. As body horror, it ought to reign pretty supreme. Whose body, though? Muahahahahahaha

Definitely worth the read.

I definitely do NOT know how they'll adapt this to a movie where you can get all the internal stuff from the page onto the screen, but I'm pretty sure they'll get the other internals pretty well.

Don't eat before seeing this movie. I'm sure this will be reasonable advice.



View all my reviews

Couriers Outbound by Pirateaba
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite endless tale continues. And when I mean endless, it's merely a wish, because even though it's a truly enormous tale, with each book being huuuuugeeee, it's still one of the most enjoyable, heart-warming, edge-of-seat, anger-enducing, honorable, well-rounded, and amusing novels (or novel series) out there.

At least, I can't believe how invested I am in it. Or just how much sleep I'm willing to eschew in order to keep reading. Or how excited I am for each new novel. Or how invasive the thought is that I should want to start re-reading this monstrous series from the start again for the sheer joy of it.


In particular, I'd say that this novel and the one directly preceding it are heavily entwined, but that's not quite true. All of the characters have wonderfully huge story arcs that are epic and fantastic in their own rights and are heavily interwoven in each and every novel that comes out. It's impossible to separate them directly and I wouldn't want to, even if they generally have little to do with other arcs except as glancing blows. But that doesn't mean much when it builds such a huge amount of worldbuilding that lives and breathes and gives heart and beauty even to those who would be endless enemies to other characters.

The point is, it's all people. Even when they're different races. drakes, gnolls, stitch people, witches, insects, goblins, dragons, humans. Those from this world or from Earth. Each with their own load of baggage. And yet... strange, beautiful intersections between them all. Endlessly fascinating. And NOT derivative. :)

There's a reason why I love the series. And it's mostly due to its heart.

View all my reviews

William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even better than A New Hope, Shakespeare-style. Or rather, I guess my preference for Empire Strikes Back got the better of me here, too. :)

But either way, I love having a full dramatization, Shakespearian-style, of one of my favorite movies. It just WORKS. All the classic themes... and even the monsters get soliloquies. :)

So yummy. Pure pleasure.

View all my reviews

Crimson Alliance by James A. Hunter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm trying to decide whether I honestly like this LitRPG setup. It feels like a rather global and simplified massive multiplayer rpg now, with equally simple factions compared to some other rather impressive LitRPGs I've read.

The whole shadow realm magic system is okay, but not really that impressive, either. It's more on the level of World of Warcraft 1, but with Earth refugees making things unnecessarily difficult. You know, as usual.

So far, it's just... kinda plain. I may give it one more try.

View all my reviews

Cataclysm by James A. Hunter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty standard LitRPG with a standard setup. Get online to escape a cataclysm, die, and be reborn. Find a class and level up. Quests.

While it isn't bad, it doesn't stand out much yet. Shadow skills. Very Skyrim-like. I just hope it gets better, story-wise, but it's not bad. Just average.

View all my reviews

Last of the First by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I generally look forward to these Saga of Recluse books for one thing in particular: Slow and Steady Rational Thought and Action. The characters almost always wind up being truly excellent individuals excelling where everyone else gets muddle-headed or mired in their old momentum.

It's REFRESHING to see rational people get ahead so easily. It warms my heart. And this one is no different from ANY of the others. Indeed, it feels almost exactly like all the others. How many characters started out from lowly beginnings only to learn to harness order magic or chaos magic, join the military, learn they have a knack, only to trounce over everyone and rise in the ranks only to trounce all the old guard magicians at their own game and come out on top?

Um, really, it's a massive trend. Massive. Anyway. I enjoyed this a LOT right until the point nearing the end where we just up and upended EVERYTHING. Or rather, the author did. As if it was just too much bother to do the slow build and slow grind as usual. And just... decapitate the progress.

I GUESS that's an end? Most of the previous books were set pieces so this kind of blowout is kinda expected and then it all wraps up for another look at another time period with another set of suspiciously similar MC's. But this was kinda special because we've stuck with THIS character for much longer than expected. And, indeed, after reaching the capitol and JUST NOW getting his bearings on the intrigues, I fully expected it to go on at least another book or two.

And you know what? I would have had a good time.
It's a COMFORTING read. They always had been.

So, I guess I'm just scratching my head. I hope the author is okay.


View all my reviews

Exo: A Novel by Colin Brush
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In a lot of ways, this is exactly the novel I get most excited to read when I'm hunting for SF. Big ideas intersecting with normal life, even if in unique settings such as across the solar system after an exodus from Earth.

I love this kind of thing. When the truly awe-some needs to be understood by normal people under a lot of hardship. And when the Caul is introduced... a hyperdimensional topography that tends to make people go mad or run into it or eventually commit suicide... it certainly seems to be something wicked.

I kept thinking to myself that this could easily have been a book by Reynolds. High class hard SF that isn't all space opera, but edging the boundaries of all that we actually know.

Later on, however, it kinda went away from that. Becoming a murder mystery was fun, of course, as was the whole weird religious angle that totally scans for humanity in truly odd situations like this, but I think there was a little too much emphasis on it and less on the story and the awe, which is what I was geared to enjoy from the start.



Not bad, mind you. And the conclusion was very Arthur C. Clarke. Either way, I'm going to keep a close eye on this author. I want more.

View all my reviews

The Regicide Report by Charles Stross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Laundry Files is now done.

I feel sad. But there is one thing that will outlast even several Lovecraftian Apocalypses: Bureaucracy.

Truly, the Excalibur sword of any math-based demon trying to tear a hole in reality or your mind or her Majesty the Queen. Red Tape is stronger than the Sword.

The humor is right in line with the core of the whole series, of course, but here's something I loved the most: a return to Bob and Mo. It's only fitting. The Eater of Souls and the Invisible Woman doing all they can for Queen and Country.

Very satisfying. And it's extremely interesting to see how the royalty always tend to need a bit more sunscreen in the end. Not surprising, of course, but you know how it goes. Needs must and all. No need to bring up regicide or anything. Think of the public relations nightmare!

I think it's a fine sendoff to an old-time favorite series. We even get a massive magical showdown, but those are always so paltry to the tape, in the end.



View all my reviews

Platform Decay by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Back to action and adventure and emotional damage.

That is its defining feature, after all. Robots and emotional damage.

At least this did have some pretty decent SF adventuring. Retrieval, hacking, escape, and decent atmosphere.

I won't say it's the best SF I've ever read, but it's entertaining enough.

View all my reviews

The Primal Hunter 14 by Zogarth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Decent ramp up and finale for the whole Yip of Yore war. A lot of random slow progression story bits steadily leading us forward, too.

But all in all? Pretty much a simple and unsurprising plot. Enjoyable as a cog in the overall structure, but nothing to write home about in the particulars.

View all my reviews