John Hamm
This just didn't seem as good as “Project Hail Mary” to me. I enjoyed reading through the story but was not necessarily sucked in. The random info dumps of the MC doing math or some other science facts just took me away from the story. For me, personally, the MC was also hard to take seriously as he just treated the day to day situations he was in with off-handed jokes. It was, however, a decent read!
A great follow up! I found myself invested in the characters more. It also explained the questions I was left with in the first one. I wonder if my favorite character would align with what borough I'd like the most.
It was amazing to me that Jemisin said she didn't mean for this duology to have anything to do with alluding to COVID or other current events and it just sort of ‘happened' that way.
Working my way through this series on audiobook is definitely a fun way to commute to and from work.
A standout for me from this novella was ART! I loved Murderbot's perception and comments about ART. They were a great addition of a character.
I can't tell if there is something about the writing style that feels off or maybe it is the narrator but something keeps me from absolutely loving the series as much as I thought I would.
Infomocracy started out making me think there would be a lot to this book. There were a lot of characters, futuristic political ideas being introduced, and a cyberpunk sense of the setting. However most of the book I was left wondering where the plot was or when events would be introduced that would cause things to get more exciting. I thought this might be because it was a trilogy so there would be a lot of build up in the first book to a long conflict in the later two. This did not seem the case as it appears this could be a standalone and didn't seem like it was setup for a sequel which left me a little confused. I will probably still read the next book in the trilogy to at least see if something is going to carry over.
Overall an average read.
(the narrator on the audiobook was excellent though!)
Vengeful is an exciting second entry in the Villains series. It carries the same comic book style characters and plot in a full length novel. Schwab sure knows how to build up to a great climax! Vengeful was a very fun read that introduced awesome new villains. It's as good as it gets for this style, it just doesn't have enough depth for me to consider it 5 stars.
I could probably consume thousands of pages of this story! Which is good because I saw a TikTok from Yarros that there will at least be 5 books in this series.
I loved the dragons and other fantasy aspects to this book. The school was killer! The plot was so fast paced that it felt like a couple books in one. The writing kept me engaged and was enjoyable. There were a lot of cool twists and plot points that made the read super fun!
I normally just happen to not read books with steamy romance in them so that was new to me. There was a lot of lusting and thirst that I just am not used to reading. I still am digesting how I felt about it.
The book as a whole was good but I felt it lacked some originality. The fantasy aspects were all things I've read before put in one spot and the romance felt predictable and a little cliche. It still all worked, don't get me wrong, but it would have been nice to have some outside of the box stuff. I think the world building was good too, but there were parts that were just thrown at you by the main character and it was a lot to remember all at once with no context.
Overall a solid 4 star read.
I don't think I can pick just one quote from this book and put it at the top of my review as the whole novella is next to poetry. After my first read of this (and there will be more), I can say it is one of my favorite books I've read.
The sci-fi aspects of this book that were touched upon were explained just enough to make sense and leave the rest to the imagination. The romance of the book felt exactly the same as well. This felt like a modern day Shakespeare story and there were so many lines that I read and then re-read because of how profound it felt.
An easy 5 star read!
I really enjoyed this edition. The stories in it are a bit darker than the previous one but I would say are more moving as a whole. Some standouts for me were “...Your Little Light” and “Vast and Trunkless Legs of Stone”. I look forward to reading more by these authors as well as more editions of Clarkesworlde.
‘Life is terrifying. None of us have a rule book. None of us know what we're doing here. So the easiest way to stare reality in the face an not utterly lose you s*** is to believe that you have control over it”
I pretty much love everything Becky Chambers writes so this being a 5-star read is not a surprise for me. An AI in human form is something I haven't read yet surprisingly (although the Ann Leckie series that does this is on my list). “A Closed and Common Orbit” had more conflict than the other books I've read by Chambers but it was still a cozy sci-fi nonetheless. If you are interested in reading a cozy sci-fi about an AI in a human body you actually do not have to read the first book in the series to read this one, although I recommend that one too! There are some nice twists in this novel too which is a nice addition as I don't recall any in the first one or in the Monk and Robot series.
I really look forward to reading the next one in the series!
“The comfort of it was sweeter than her kisses had been, and that was very sweet indeed.”
A sci-fi/mystery/romance all rolled up in a ~160 page novella. If you are a fan of “Even Though I Knew the End” like I was you will like this story. Pleiti and Mossa team up on Jupiter's colony to solve a murder while trying to figure out how it pieces back together with Pleiti's profession as a “Classicist” (studying Earth as the Classic in this case). Reading about the Jupiter colony was just as interesting as the story for me. While it was like the novella mentioned earlier it did not feel as full as it and the romance seemed like it was missing some life. Overall a good read.
An excellent follow up to The Poppy War. I will leave out a synopsis of the story as it might spoil the first one. Kuang gave more detail to the characters from the original as well as introducing a whole new set of people that were a nice metaphor towards the real world. I know she mirrored The Poppy War to China during WWII and after realizing that it enhanced this series quite a bit. I can't wait to read the final installment. I would highly recommend this series and R.F. Kuang as an author to anyone!
A wonderful short fantasy with a splash of folklore. At just roughly 80 pages the read was packed with action, adventure, as well as great twists. It's absolutely amazing what the author packed into this short novella! I really enjoyed the theme of oppression by a ruling empire as well as the symbols and metaphors throughout the book that accompanied it. I am really glad to find out this will be a series and am excited to see how it will unfold and where the author will take this world he has created!
I was really excited to read this book after hearing all the great things about it. While I did really enjoy it I feel it fell short of my expectations; but that is because I expected a 5 star book.
I really enjoyed the prose of this book, the in depth/3D characters, and the symbolism/metaphors. While I did not necessarily ‘like' the characters themselves, I did like their flaws, fullness, and perspective. Zevin definitely can write very realistic characters. I love videogames and I really liked to hear their development of all their games and imagine what it would be like to play them, especially Icharo.
Where I feel it let me down was in the plot. While the plot was solid and moved at a fitting pace I feel that it was fairly predictable and a little dull. I think part of that can be attributed to the fact I am used to the typical SF/F plots that have speculative/unrealistic plot points in them, so I feel I should not knock it too much for being a realistic fiction.
Overall I enjoyed the character study as well as a peek into a fictional videogame world.
“Words and their meanings have weight in the world of matter, shaping and reshaping realities through a most ancient alchemy.”
A very solid fantasy read about January Scaller who is on a journey inspired by a strange book (accompanied by an awesome dog) . We get to see the story from the perspective of January as it is written in first person which lets us see her development as her journey unfolds. The villains were capital V, Villains; and our hero is very determined and won't let anything get in the way of reuniting true love.
I do wish the fantasy aspects of this book went into more depth and we could see more of what there is to offer. I also feel the “why” of how it worked could have been explained too. The story was also a bit linear, which is fine, but I would have liked to see some more twists and turns. However, this did not stop me from diving into this book for a very fun, exciting read.
This was my first Clarkesworld Magazine and it exceeded my expectations. The Bots story was spectacular and the short-story fiction was diverse and engaging. I particularly liked the sci-of-life story “Sensation and Sensibility. It gave off a really cozy vibe and was a would be existential scenario for droids. “Better Living Through Algorithms” was another one that stood out for me, and seemed like it was rather realistic of something that could legitimately happen. Overall I very much enjoyed this edition and look forward to many to come!
The poetic prose alone gives this book some stars! Spear is the tale of a cave dwelling girl's King Arthur-esque journey. It mixes the slow descriptive narrative scenes with fast paced action. It was a rather quick read, but still solid nonetheless. However, I feel there was something missing from the book that makes it the weaker of the Nebula finalists. I do wish her tale goes on more with other adventures though.
I have very mixed feelings about The Terraformers. The last section/timeline of the book would have made an excellent novella and was definitely my favorite part. However the middle section seemed to be a rather dull attempt at a Becky Chambers novel. The first section was somewhat in between the the other two so I feel like 3 stars is the most fitting.
I am glad I read the book and liked the sci-fi behind it. However I don't think it is one I'd read again as it was a tad boring and hard to get through (except for the last section).
A really neat YA read! The Nightland Express mixes Western with Fantasy for a unique experience. The story moves rather quickly alternating chapters between two main characters who, for the most part, are driving the same plot. Lee really sets up a special environment that made the Western United States feel magical. While I did like the characters and their development, I felt they needed fleshed out more. Overall a very nice, refreshing read.
I was really happy to learn after I finished this that it's going to be a trilogy, but I probably should have been able to figure that out by the title!
The Genesis of Misery reads as an epic mystic sci-fi. Even at the start of the book you can tell that the story will be a large affair. It is all driven by the destiny of the main character, Misery, and is constantly moving forward. Yang also uses what I would call an advanced set of pronouns for each character, which is very inclusive and I'm hopeful to see this trend continue in future books.
The biggest drawback of the book is I feel it doesn't explain the antagonists too well, I felt that could be fleshed out more. There are also a couple other things I would have liked fleshed out more but won't go into since it would include spoilers.
“Girl, every choice we make is a new tomorrow. Whole worlds waiting to be born”
Ring Shout puts a satisfying fantasy twist on dealing with racism. By that I mean it was gratifying to be able to read about killing racist summoned monsters. The book was jammed pack full of action with a very exciting climax. Clark narrates in the first person, to bring a lot of life to the main character. He does a great job of melding fantasy and horror, keeping me very engrossed in the book.
“She had the biggest heart, a tiny bit bruised and full of love. How she wound up with me, I'll never know, but she'd made the last two years an unending song”
An enticing book from start to finish. Even Though I Knew the End is a romantic fantasy noir novella that melds all those genres perfectly. Polk writes in the first person bringing Helen to life and giving the reader a wonderfully painted portrait of a bloomed romance.
I've been making my way through the Nebula finalists and much like the other ones I've read so far, this seems very deserving of a finalist status for the Novella category.
“Injustice and the desire for revenge age the body, but they keep the soul going halfway to forever”
Nettle & Bone is a wonderful adult fairy tale where a third born Princess takes serious matters into her own hands. Along the way she picks up allies that normally might be only seen in glimpses in other fairy tales. T. Kingfisher does a great job of fleshing out details of the story while still progressing the book at a good pace.
This book is a finalist for this year's Nebula award and for good reason!