science fiction author
the Martian — Andy Weir I read this book (about the first quarter of it) when it was still serialized on his website, and then about 8 or 9 years ago I read it. I remembered the basics of the plot. I saw the movie. I decided to reread it based on the recommendation of one of my writing group members. Honestly, I don’t remember why she suggested it but I think it was to…
This book was recommended to me on Twitter (by Elizabeth Bear who did a month of LGBTQIA+ book recommendations for Pride Month). I have attempted to read Le Guin before but have always struggled with the relatively dense prose, but I decided to give this book a try. I won’t lie, I had to force my way through it. I know a lot of recommendations out there say to not read books you aren’t enjoying…
Well, i finally finished the series. I enjoyed it all the way through but this last book went places I didn’t fully understand. So much so that I actually read a spoiler laden interview with the authors where they talked about the ending. I won’t give spoilers but basically the ending is mystical and incomprehensible on purpose. They hinted at it though out the whole book, with the ring builders and their enemies gaining a…
After a long hiatus… I started reading again. My real life has consumed me since about February and I haven’t done any pleasure reading since January. I checked this book out from the library in January, read about the first 3-4 chapters… and then nothing. Then 4 weeks ago I checked it out again, got another 3-4 chapters in, and then it was due so I had to renew it, and finally finished it today.…
The crew is back, and there is a new enemy that is actually the same as always: humanity. But this time the enemy is coming from beyond the ring gates. They have closed themselves off for 30+ years, and now are coming back to rule all of the 1300 systems. I was a bit shocked to find that this book took place 30 years in the future from the last one. A lot of the…
This is a novella that I preordered, it arrived several months ago, and it has just been sitting on my shelf since then. I have read several books by each of these authors previously so was quite looking forward to this one. I liked it. It reminded me very much (theme, not style plot or tone) of the Asimov novel “The End of Eternity,” which deals with stagnation of societies due to the creation of…
We’re back in the Expanse universe with book 5. This story was different from the others in the series in that James, Alex, Naomi and Amos split up and went their separate ways while the Rocinante is in dry dock for repairs. Amos heads back to Earth, specifically the city he grew up in, Baltimore. Alex heads to Mars to try to reconnect with his ex-wife. Naomi leaves James behind and tells him its best…
The head of a biotech company is under investigation for the use of his nanotechnology in a terrorist attack in Las Vegas. With nowhere to turn, his wife suggests they seek help as a last resort from an old friend. And then the mystery thickens. This is a near future hard SF book that has some surprising twists and turns–some of which I probably should have seen coming. This is not the type of SF…
This is book 3 in the Expanse series and it continues to follow James Holden and his crew as they travel around the solar system. There isn’t a lot I feel I can say about this book that you won’t find reading a review on Amazon, and I don’t want to give any spoilers. This series continues to be good quality hard SF and I really have enjoyed reading it. The authors are careful to…
I really enjoyed the first installment of the Expanse series so I was looking forward to this one and I was not disappointed. The book follows the same set of main characters from Leviathan Wakes, Holden, Amos, Naomi and Alex, and introduces/focuses on some additional characters, such as Bobbie, a Martian marine, Prax, a botanist on Ganymede, and Chrisjen Avasarala, a high ranking member of the UN. The switching between the four PoV characters (Holden,…
