Ryan

This was a fantastic end to a fantastic trilogy. The Night Masquerade synthesizes the themes raised in the first two novellas, bringing them together in an unexpected and fascinating manner. The Binti series has been a great story about home, identity, and how we can define those things in the prescence of challenges to them.

This was a beautiful little read about a young African woman who travels the stars to visit university, and some of the dangers she faces along the way. It set a lot of interesting groundwork for a larger story; Binti's a fascinating character, and the aliens she meets on her journey occupy a lot of familiar trope space but still have a unique spin on them. The only downside to this novella is it's far too short - this seems more like a prologue than an actual full story. Thankfully it's part of a series, so we'll get to see more of Binti's journeys later on.

Another fun entry into the Torin Kerr series (I know Goodreads is calling it “Peacekeeper #2”, but it's really the seventh book in the overall series). The action scenes in this one were a little more sedate than in the previous books, but the major themes were presented interestingly. The idea peace as something that has to be actively defended is an important one, as is the look at how we treat (or ought to treat) soldiers after the war has ended.

This was a simple, clean, classic sort of cyberpunk novella updated with a lot of more modern cultural sensibilities. Fun read if you've read the classics in the genre and are looking for something to scratch the same itch.

This tale of family, magic, and the ways we get enmeshed with both was so beautiful and so tragic that I don't think I can adequately talk about it without doing it a disservice.

Green Lantern works best when it's trying to be a cop story rather than a superhero story. And the best cop stories, as anyone knows, are buddy cop stories. So logically, Green Lantern as buddy cop story pretty much has to be great.

Beyond that simple formula, the characters involved are actually what make this thing great. Simon Baz has every reason to hate authority, and seeing him have to manage his bitterness while also representing authority is fascinating. His partner, Jessica Cruz, is agoraphobic and struggles with anxiety - and she's expected to police the galaxy with a magic ring fueled by willpower. Both are arguably the last people you would expect to be Green Lantern - and seeing them struggle with that, and fight consistently against those aspects of themselves makes for a fascinating story.

If there were any disappointments here, it's that the villian of the book doesn't live up to these great characters, so the main story feels a bit of a squash. And, to go from the buddy cop dynamic, both characters are basically Riggs - there's no Murtaugh to provide balance against the impulsive rookies. These are minor complaints, though.

This was luxuriously and beautifully written. I've never read anything by GGK before, but I can absolutely see why he has the reputation that he has, based on this. Each sentence, each paragraph was an absolute treat.

Beyond the writing style, the story itself was absolutely worth reading. Three different religious groups struggling to coexist in an approximation of Spain during the time of Moorish occupation, and the novel follows the political and social conflicts that that kind of coexistence would imply. The characters that we follow come from a wide variety of social positions within that society, and seeing them interact was fascinating and informative. I loved every page of this book.

I read this without realizing it was actually part seven of a nine-part series. That was probably a mistake; as a result, it took a long time for me to grok who the characters were and what was going on. That aside, Czerneda's prose is impeccable as always, and the concepts and conflicts facing the Clan are interesting enough.

The Beautiful Ones is a beautiful, engaging historical romance that interweaves interesting characters and fantastical elements into a lovely narrative. Silvia Moreno-Garcia blends the supernatural world of telekinetics with a courtship romance and family politics to create one of the most enjoyable stories I've read all year.

The characters in this novel are nicely well-realized and deep. The love triangle at the heart of the novel's conflict feels real and passionate, while also being understandable and complex. Each of the characters feels complete in their own right, has understandable motivations and desires, even when certain ones are presented in a villainous role.

The setting of the story in belle époque Paris was a lovely touch as well. Not only is it an interesting period that is sometimes underrepresented in fiction, but it also serves as a perfect metaphor for the heart of Nina and Valerié's relationship. Moreno-Garcia's use and description of setting in this way was masterful, and blending the historical elements with the supernatural elements of telekinesis gives the story a unique feel.

Simple but beautiful fable.

An interesting introduction to a type of investing (DRiP) that I had no idea existed. The concept behind it seems to check out (buy stock, automatically re-invest the dividends to buy more stock), but I don't know enough about investing to know if it really is an actionable strategy. Foster is very enthusiastically exuberant about it, which makes me a little doubtful of it - at times I felt like I was getting a sales pitch instead of information (despite him not actually trying to sell anything).

One of JRR Tolkien's goals when creating his stories was to create a uniquely English mythology. In a way, I would say that what Gaiman has accomplished with American Gods is an equivalent version of that for the modern nationstates that make up the American continents. In the process, as well, he manages to tell a story that's exciting, engaging, funny, and thoughtful.

I've always felt that one of the most essential parts of a good Superman story is his need to surround himself with family, and how that family gives him strength. This volume - where Superman and his wife Lois try to help their son Jon with his developing powers - tells that story very well.

The superhero-y bits with the Eradicator attacking Jon for not being “perfectly” Kryptonian provide a nice thematic counterpoint to that family story as well.

I have no idea of how this fits into the larger DC continuity, or if that word even has meaning anymore, but as a stand-alone story this was great.

This was a really interesting read! Fawcett was basically a real-life Indiana Jones, and his exploration of the Amazon makes for a great tale of obsession and intrigue.

This had a fun Kolchak, the Night Stalker sort of vibe. Police detectives investigating crimes committed by supernatural beings. A fun read.

I'm always a fan of the “and then there were none” trope. Threading this one through the lens of a social media site gives it a nice twist, and I'm interested to see where Williams goes next with it.

The Fenian raids are a fascinating and formative part of Canadian history, and I'm always amazed that I haven't read more about them. Unfortunately, this book is a very dry and academic take on the subject material, and bias toward the subject matter I had times staying interested in it at times.

I enjoyed this one significantly more than the other volumes. With the”mystery” of Thor's identity out of the way, Aaron can get back to telling interesting story about Thor and the Asgardians. The story becomes very Games of Thronesish, with the nine realms falling into war. It's a big, epic story, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

The good: The characterization of the new Thor is great. She's clearly and unambiguously heroic, and manages to avoid a lot of the “grim and gritty” qualities that too many superhero comics fall prey too.

The bad: A mystery isn't really a mystery if the answer is literally the first thing you think of when you hear the concept. Also, I'm confused by Aaron's conception of “worthiness”. The Odinson became unworthy because he gained knowledge about himself, I gather? Which is weird. I've always interpretted the worthiness of Mjolnir to be based on actions, rather than knowledge.

I'm not usually a fan of pre-modern DC, but this was charmingly endearing. Space police who become superheroes as a cover story, and who randomly can talk to birds? It probably shouldn't work but it absolutely does.

Also, I like the fact that Hawkwoman is presented as being an equal partner to Hawkman. It's not something you usually saw in this area.

The Martian was an absolutely fantastic read. Mark Watney is an engaging, interesting protagonist, who deals with existential terror of being alone on dead planet with wit and determination. Some might compare Weir's book to the works of Jack London or to Robinson Crusoe, but with the added element of having a more engaging protagonist. Regardless of comparisons, it's a tight, engaging, thrilling account of man vs nature that at times literally had me on the edge of my seat.
Reading this so shortly after Chris Hadfield's memoir, it really feels like Weir got the astronaut mentality down. Watney's willingness to admit error, his problem-solving focus, and his dark humour seem a little unusual if you're comparing him to the average person – but for an astronaut these qualities seem to fit perfectly.
Another thing I found interesting about the text was the way that Weir used mathematics as a tool to build tension in scenes. He'll start by having Watney calculate how much of something will kill him – acceptable CO2 levels in the atmosphere, say – and then track how they slowly rise to that point. It's a novel type of countdown clock to add to the tasks he has to complete, and while an actual countdown clock would no doubt seem cheesy, here it's an essential part of the plot.

I can appreciate what Darbyshire was going for here - satire that looks at the absurdity of capitalism, and capitalism's attempts to turn any criticism of it into a purchasable product - but nothing about the book ever really clicked for me.

Neil Gaiman was responsible for first getting me interested in Norse mythology, so I was very excited when I heard about this book. I'd read Thor comics from Marvel before that, but their Thor always seemed Arthurian, if not Olympian. Gaiman helped me to better understand characters like Loki and Odin, and the culture that spawned them.

In this volume, Gaiman goes back to the original stories of the Norse gods, retelling them in a folksy, campfire-story style that suits the material perfectly. The stories themselves can be rather epic and terrifying (as stories literally dealing with the creation and destruction of the universe are wont to be), and Gaiman's grandfatherly way of delivering the stories helps stop them from descending in to melodrama. Between the beginning and the end, we're also treated to a greatest hits of the mythology – Thor battling the giants of Jotunheim, Loki becoming mother to an eight-legged horse, betrothal through ankle admiration, and the battle over the apples of immortality. The stories are funny, exciting, and through reading them we can see why they are stories that have appealed to so many for so long.

Long story short – if you're someone who loves Norse mythology, you'll likely appreciate the care, respect, and love with which Gaiman retells these stories. On the other hand, if you're someone that can't tell Gleipnir from the Gunningagap, Gaiman provides an approachable and fun version of these classic tales.

Fun in a wacky, meta sort of way. PG plays an excellent straight-woman, and Harley was fun too, even if she's so desperate for the approval of her peers that it comes off as pathetic. The plot was a send-up of a lot of the issues surrounding sexism in sci-fi, and entertained as such.

This was an absolutely fantastic read. Not just for the insights into life on the ISS and how being an astronaut affected Hadfield's life, but also for the insights into the mentality that astronauts bring to problem solving and how they deal with the unexpected (which, as it turns out, is a large part of the job). This was not only a great informative read but I can see myself turning to its lessons when problems arise.