Jimmy Brewster

The Employees by Olga Ravn is a science fiction novel that takes place on a ship that has discovered mysterious objects on a distant planet. The crew is made up of humans and humanoid robots. The story is told through the perspective of recorded workplace interviews. I wanted to read this novel for several reasons: it's international science fiction and it's included on many anti-work fiction lists. It's also worth noting that this story was inspired partly by an art exhibit Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present by artist Lea Guldditte Hestelund.

As mentioned, the entire story is told from snippets of workplace interviews. The presentation combined with the dark story that is unfolding highlights the absurdity of many office workplaces. The reader only gets the interviewee's answers to unknown questions. There is not any dialogue from the interviewers nor scenes to fill in the gaps between interviews. The interviews are simply numbered and there is nothing identifying each respondent. It creates a surreal reading experience as compared to more traditional science fiction novels.

As someone who enjoys interesting writing techniques and open-ended stories, I really enjoyed this novel. I appreciate that it is a very quick read and conveys an interesting story combined with a philosophical exploration of humanity and work. I would recommend this novel to people who are a fan of Ursula Le Guin or Jeff Vandermeer (especially Dead Astronauts) or if you are looking for something unusual.

I wanted to read Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky because I have previously read the first two books in the series.

If you have read the previous books, the themes of this novel will be nothing new. There is philosophical introspection regarding what it means to be sentient, alive, and an individual. There is an element of antifascism explored through an us versus them situation. I enjoyed the overall addition to the bigger story which began in the first book of the series.

I think the biggest difference was the bulk of this story takes place in a near-fantasy setting of magical realism using unreliable points of view. Although previous novels from this series have been disjointed in time, I have not found those as difficult to follow as Children of Memory. I was not fully sure of what was going on until the conclusion. Even elements of the conclusion had to be read twice to sort out the rest of the story.

This has been the least enjoyable entry of the series so far. I do not think the near-fantasy magical-realism worked as well as the author intended. The description of this story piqued my interest; but the actual execution left me dissatisfied and somewhat bored. I think there could have been at least 100 pages edited out of this novel.

That being said, if you have enjoyed the previous novels, you will still like this one as well. If you enjoy Ursula Le Guin, you will probably enjoy this series. However, unlike Le Guin's Hanish series, you should start at the beginning with Children of Time, as these novels do not stand alone very well.

I wanted to read Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky because I read the first book, Children of Time, and the teaser at the end hooked me into wanting to continue the series.

Many of the aspects I enjoyed from the previous novel were also present in this one. It is a space-based story that spans a huge swath of time. After discovering a signal at the end of the first novel, a crew of Humans and Portiids travel together to discover the source. The novel flashes between time perspectives frequently. The bulk of the story takes place immediately following the first novel. However, chapters containing the history of the newly discovered planets are interspersed throughout the novel.

Much of the novel is spent on overcoming communications barriers. Much like the first one, the novel is a what-if scenario involving beings who communicate and behave in ways different from the human perspective. I always enjoy thinking about sentience and life outside of the human perspective which is one reason the series has drawn me into it.

There is an element of antifascism throughout the novel. Overcoming communication barriers and learning to empathize despite great differences is antifascist. Additionally, after seeing the Humans and Portiids overcome those barriers in the first novel, we get to see them work together as comrades building a stronger society together. Each character contributes according to their abilities, and they are respected as valuable members of the crew.

Other than the story itself, I enjoy Tchaikovsky's writing. I can tell that it draws heavily from his knowledge of zoology and psychology. I think people who enjoy James S.A. Corey's Expanse Series or Isaac Asimov will like these novels.

Having previously read the first 3 books in this series, I was extremely grateful to Orbit for providing me with an ARC for Children of Strife.

After my mixed feelings about the third novel in the series, this one returns to more of what I enjoyed in the first two novels. There is a new planet discovered by Kern’s people. It is a world which was terraformed by some of the worst capitalists left on Earth at the time of the apocalypse. We are also finally introduced to a sentient mantis shrimp, something which was hinted at in the first novel of the series. For the most part, the majority of the characters are non-human people. In typical Children-style, the story unfolds from three different perspectives in time, culminating in the “present day” post-Children of Time era.

As with the other novels in this series, the themes of personhood, community, and celebrating differences are all present. These themes combined with the post-scarcity future created by Kern and the Portiids in the first novel creates a hopeful antifascist vision that I look for in science fiction.

If you have read the previous novels, you will enjoy this one. If you enjoy Star Trek or Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, I recommend picking up the first book, Children of Time, and giving this series a read.

I wanted to read Exodus: The Helium Sea by Peter F. Hamilton because I have heard of this author but never read anything by him before this.

This novel is the second part of a two-part book series which sets the stage for an upcoming videogame called Exodus. The story is set 40,000 years in the future. There are several factions vying for control of the empire and known galaxy. The cast of characters includes basic humans, as well as Celestials, which are decedents of the original colonizers who have physically modified themselves into immortal super beings.

This book is long. There is a glossary of characters, places, and other details which takes up nearly 100 pages before the story even starts. The bulk of the 752-page book is world building. The author does a fantastic job of creating an extremely in-depth history, economy, and political system. While reading the book, it piqued my interest in the video game.

Unfortunately, I found the plot to be straightforward and the characters were shallow. Additionally, there were so many characters and locations it was impossible to keep track of it all, even with the glossary. The perspective changes regularly and there are 6 or 7 different perspectives from which the story unfolds.

Overall, I would only recommend this to readers who really want deep world building rather than a story or if you find yourself needing more content after playing the video game.