Tracker by C.J. Cherryh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm extremely happy to be returning to space again. Not that I didn't love the politics and the deadly action and the assassination attempts down below, but it's been a long time since we went back to space. Objectively, it's only been a year, but in that time there's been a civil war and the space station has been dealing with troublesome refugees from another space station that had gotten itself into some deep trouble with some very strange aliens.

And guess who's come to the Atevi homeworld, knock-knock-knocking on the door?

Ah, well, just imagine a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off and you're describing mostly the humans, including those in control of the space station.

Enter DIPLOMACY. Yes, diplomacy as a superpower. It's a thing.

It's a very geeky thing that I absolutely love. Add a bit of math, a lot of politics coming from so many sides, names and situations that have been developing for a truly wonderful run of 16 books, and the start of a new story-arc mini-trilogy, and I'm super-happy. It's always like coming home. Like coming home to a million old dysfunctional friends with ebony skin, who think in math and believe all humans are little tiny children.

But best of all, we're getting back to space! And Cajeri's human friends have just been gifted percieved powers among the rabble on the space station? Holy crap. And aliens are coming? Holy crap.

And we've got conspiracy, diplomacy, hacking, space-battle, and tea? Oh, yeah, Cherryh's on my wavelength. :)

I can't wait to see where this new trilogy takes us! :)

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The Long Walk by Richard Bachman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's really fascinating to go back and read books you thought you really understood as a kid, and diving into Bachman nee King writing a disturbing dystopian YA really fits the bill for the whole mind-blowing thing. :)

Yeah. Dystopian YA SF.

He gives credit right in the book and all types of other places for cribbing from Shirley Jackson, especially the whole Lottery vibe, but what modern readers will probably latch onto is just how much the Hunger Games is cribbed off of King. :) (Also Battle Royalle, but let's get serious here. 1979 horrorshow master over the Japanese title that comes out just a few years before Hunger Games sounds a little more plausible.)

I could almost see the president pontificating, too, but there was nothing quite like that. Just the excitement and homey feel of a few states' worth of country and town folk gawking on the side of the road as they thrill to the idea that they might see a shotgun blast to a teenager's head if they falter on their very long walk.

It's pretty sick. It's all too plausible, too. We've got a whole nation full of psychopaths supporting each other and holding up a grand ideal of killing off 99 out of a hundred kids from sheer exhaustion, wounds, or even Charley Horses. You slow down, you die. Make it a marathon for five days. Have cheering girls and having to take a dump for a crowd as you walk. Get to know your own mortality. Figure out that a con is no less a con if everyone's being conned at the same time.

Honestly, I loved this book more now than I did then. I thought it was properly horrific and shocking and all, making me think more about boot camp and war preparedness in general and the insanity surrounding it... but this time I enjoyed the idea of pretending it might be a modern mature video game we could play as either the walkers or the dire guards with rifles that kept pace with the kids and gave them three warnings, three minutes, before the bullet entered the skull.

I was just thinking how much headshots would count. It's all about the headshots. And killing tons of kids, of course. It would be a real mind trip to play that game. Rather sick, too. But I think it might be a very popular one for the angry high-schooler crowd. :)

Too cool, regardless. The novel seems to start slow and very mild, but like the proverbial frog in the pot, we all get boiled alive. :) Great stuff.


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The Unmentionables by Lance Carbuncle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bizarro fiction! Gotta love bizarro fiction.

On the one hand, we've got a pretty fun and funny coming of age YA replete with bullies, bullying, stink fingers, and wildly inappropriate multiple mentioning of unmentionables. The characters are top notch underdogs against the world and so many of the names are brilliant and paint great pictures. Hello, Mister Manlove! (Coach) or the Spanish Teacher Mr. French. :)

We're treated to so much careful buildup and dark humor, and then *wham* the book takes the truly bizarre turn we expect in bizarro fiction.

So what happens when our main punching bag Greg gets ahold of the powers of a rift in reality and necromantic occult paraphernalia? You guessed it. Our bullied hero, along with his outcast friends carve up the town. Literally. With undead seahorse monsters, dead piggies that were once kept in embalming jars, an army of raccoons, and of deadheads and stoners that more than live up to their poor appellations. :)

Do you think this might be a catharsis thing? I do. :) A wildly bloody and gross catharsis thing. An anti-YA that still manages to be YA and lets us root for the necromancer. :)

Thanks to the author for the ARC! I'm very happy with the tale, and I'm still dark-chuckling. :)

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Points of Impact by Marko Kloos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am authentically impressed by this series. It's easily some of the very best milSF I've ever read. Why? Because the writing is super clear and manages to be both light and dark at the very same time. I love how humanity is portrayed as being people, with both sexes getting over the baggage we never seem to get over in RL, everyone focused on living amidst horror and devastation and death always being on the doorstep.

I appreciate this a lot. It gives us all hope. It gives a very solid reason why we ought to survive. That, and competence reigns even if the baddie aliens are bigger than life and they're completely inscrutable and hulking and have always refused to communicate with us.

Sure, it's a plot device focused on survival and forcing the rest of us to get over our crap, but again, I like that, too.

As for this book, I think it's even better than the battle for Mars. There's something really delicious about the new battlecruiser and rescuing a colony and going all out with the battle sequences is always a winner.

I'm surprised I'm actually saying this... but Go Humanity, Go! :)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, it's great fun! :)


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Chanur's Venture by C.J. Cherryh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my second read and I was hoping I'd enjoy it more this time. Unfortunately, no. It's not bad, but it lacks the sophistication and humor and therefore the bulk of the fun of her later works. It may be cool to see how much she improves over the years, or just treat this as a lesser novel with an alien-rich area of space. Above all, it's a merchantman kind of novel. Trade, cultural weirdness, and much enmity with certain species always getting in the way.

Of course, humans are the odd ones out.

And they're back! Or one is, and he's come bearing trade treaty! Enter greed, guilt, and more chase. :)

I think Cherryh is being a bit sly with the text, rewarding careful readers and turning everyone else (myself included) into chumps, however. She's not reinforcing big events with repetition, just slipping them in. :) It's great for her later series because she's got that skill down pat, but here? It tends to confuse or just reward later re-readers. Some re-readers. Me? I kinda wish I like the feel of this series more, but I don't.

I have started enjoying the deeper cultural aspects and oddities of all the aliens, however. The world-building is fun even if you can't hang a whole hat on it.

All in all, though, it reads with much action and adventure, which is kinda funny for aliens wrangling to get off space stations with their cargo intact and setting up back-door deals and alliances. But it's still fun for all that. :)

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Lines of Justice: Aždaja by Lee Sherred
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to the world of military... and later, law enforcement. Enter massively evil rapist/torturer/murder out of Kosovo and fast forward the same crap happening at home. Set up the military man growing older and now with an untreatable cancer, a vendetta against evil, and mix well.

The story is old, told many times, but it's still a perennial favorite. Cat and mouse. A focus on characterization, development, and especially the realism of gore and the military from an author who'd experienced it.

The novel is a very decent read and it's best praised for its level of detail. There is lots of action and angst and plenty of real human moments, too. I may not prefer this type of novel, but it turned out quite good. Definitely a crowd pleaser.

Thanks to the author for a review copy!

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Fields of Fire by Marko Kloos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite enjoyable Mil-SF, perfect for all you fans of competence porn. It's all about the light tone and the big guns despite all the losses we've incurred from the aliens.

But this time the battle is very close to home. Mars. Most of the action takes place right here where the hulking walkers and terraforming machines have put their beachhead.

Want nukes? Got nukes. It only starts at a family gathering, but you know how those things can turn out. That's why we made nukes to begin with. To take out all our aggressions AFTER the family gatherings. Duh.

Very solid read. Quite enjoyable, some of the very best MilSF I've read, towering pretty high on characters and tone and, of course, MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF COMPETENCY. Of course, we have to prop these up against all the incompetence, but that goes without saying. :)



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