science fiction author
I read the first book in this trilogy a year ago. I read Sword over the summer and just finished Mercy in the last few days. I kept meaning to write about this book but life has been very busy, and that business, unfortunately, has colored my perception and enjoyment of this series. I really wanted to like these two book as much as the first one but I did not. I found the first…
I am really behind on my reading log and as such I am not going to be able to do a very good job with these two books. I’m classifying these books as “hard SF” because it seems very realistic. No FTL, no “magic” science, and an interesting extrapolation of observed plant biology in outer space. I listened to these two mostly on my walks to and from work during the month of October and…
I listened to both of these books over approximately the last month. They were riveting. The series seems complete but I would absolutely love to read another book in this universe. So interesting, so many ideas and thoughts. The basics of the story is that there is a galactic empire, the Teixcalaan, and there is an independent station (Lsel… so weird to see that in print after only hearing the word) who is concerned about…
While I liked Ancestral Night, this book didn’t do as much for me. It is set in the same universe as (and slightly after) the previous book, and one character from that book makes a brief, mostly off-stage appearance. I do like this hodgepodge galaxy of alien syster races in a galaxy spanning Synarche that have all uplifted themselves from pre-advanced technology almost-annihilation events (such as humans who almost killed themselves off with global warming…
I have only read some of the epic, galaxy spanning space opera novels by Reynolds, so when I was looking for an audio book for a road trip, this author was not what I was expecting. However, coming in at about 4.5 hours, it was perfect for my weekend getaway road trip. This climate fiction work was published in 2019 and is about 175 pages. Reading the description, I knew that it was climate and…
This is a time travel novel for people who don’t like time travel novels, apparently. My wife, who is not a huge SFF fan and also really doesn’t like time travel books* somehow acquired this book from a friend. I read it while she listened to it, and she loved it. The basic premise of this novel is pretty cool and unique to my experience; time machines have been on earth for millions of years,…
A lot can happen in a year. This is a magical book. It says so right at the beginning, where the now-adult author and narrator of the book talks about the magic of childhood, and how important it is to hang on to that magic–not to let it go. The book chronicles a year in the life of Corey, a 12-year-old boy growing up in a small town in rural Alabama in 1964. The first…
I have been very busy for the last 10 days and haven’t had a chance to blog this book that I finished about a week ago. This was an interesting read. I didn’t know the gender of the main POV character until about half-way through the book. It didn’t matter, and I think that was a choice by the author. I also liked how the tech is described in just enough detail that you know…
I wanted to read outside my normal genre and this is one of my wife’s favorite books. She found her old copy and I brought it on a flight. It has been a LONG time since I read a book in one siting, but I read the book from start to finish between Phoenix and Boston. Even if I hadn’t been trapped on a plane, I would have had a hard time putting this one…
After struggling so much with my last read, I rewarded myself with a book that I knew I was going to like, and wow, did this one deliver for me. Interestingly, one of my complaints about The Two Body Problem was the diverse cast of characters and the complex plot structure. Yet, in Ancillary Justice, there is a sentient starship who divides herself into multiple “ancillaries” to run the ship, a complex plot involving a…
