A longish while without a post. I had one written in May, but managed to delete the draft and in a genius move, discovered I didn’t back it up.
Across The Finish Line
Ghost Mine (Tech Ghost Book One), Ben Wolf. Fresh worker meat arrives at a distant mine pulling incomparably valuable mineral wealth from beneath the planet’s hostile surface. But the weather isn’t all that’s bad at ACM-1134. Ok, enough blurbing. This is a decent sci-fi adventure. It’s not the most vivid writing, but the beginning and end are very strong and there are a couple of pleasing twists.
Read-again factor: Uh. So about that...
The Sleeping Gods, Ralph Kern. A box set of two, which is nice for a change — although more should be on the way. This was pretty standard stuff, entertaining without being too daring. Mankind goes out, knocks on a door (so to speak) which it shouldn’t have, and consequences ensue. For the price, this was an entertaining, undemanding read.
Read-again factor: Unlikely.
Empire of Ashes, Ben Hale. From the review I posted at Goodreads: Calling this "epic" seems a bit over the top, but if the rest of the series keeps up with this it'll be true.
Hale has created a hugely ambitious setting -- a galaxy-spanning empire with breathtaking technology, effectively immortal rulers, a ruthless warrior race, and an uncountable number of humans, ever single one of whom is a slave. Thankfully, he didn't skimp on also developing the main characters, who gain in complexity as they go on. The three main characters in particular are, generally, very interesting.
The one area where I thought this could have been better developed--and the one star off--was in the plot. Without going into spoiler territory, the story develops unevenly. There are some moments where there are genuine twists, but at other points the book's evolution is telegraphed well in advance. Empire of Ashes brims with unexpected detail and nuances, but isn't always subtle.
There are also some small discontinuities that tended to break my immersion -- the major one being, ok, if the ruling kreys are so advanced, why do they need so many slaves? They apparently have machines that do many of their functions, so why go to the expense? Pets? Also, I found it implausible that the two top species have effectively been "perfected" but their technology somehow can't untangle the flawed human genome.
These are minor quibbles, though. On the whole, this was a great, fun read. I'd look forward to getting my hands on the follow-on books.
I had no idea there was a category for “Genetic Engineering Science Fiction” but good for him for getting this to #3…
Interstellar Gunrunner, James Wolyanik. From the review I posted at Goodreads: Bodhi Drezek is an interstellar arms merchant, abusive employer, and serial liar. And those, as the joke goes, are his good qualities.
He’s also in deep financial trouble. Peace is threatening to break out, and as his cash flow dries up the underworld figures who he owes money threaten to break pieces of him. Maybe predictably, the “simple” job he’s sent out to do at the beginning, under the hostile eye of a business partner he doesn’t want, turns out to be…complicated.
It would be overdoing it to say that this is the story of Bodhi's inner struggle to be a better human being, or that we get to watch as love pushes him to transcend his dark past. There is some of that, though, and it's pleasing to see that what could have been a flat sci fi spin on "Lord of War" goes at least a few millimeters deep into Bodhi (to be fair, a few millimeters may be all the depth he has...)
Bodhi’s also the perfect (and sometimes quite funny) model of an unreliable narrator. Nothing he says is ever quite the truth—but he has a dry sense of humor that’s endearing. The is a well-written and smoothly-scripted book with an engaging story line. The plot is not ground-breaking, but Wolanyk writes crisply and well.
Richards & Klein, Guy Haley. From the review I posted at Goodreads: This is a rich and nuanced re-issue of two novels which have nothing to do with a certain game-based franchise. It shows a sometimes whimsical, sometimes funny, sometimes serious side of Haley, as we follow a cyborg and an AI through a suspenseful mix of action and mystery. The heros are stuggling to avoid the proverbial end of the world as we know it. The plot twists and turns entertainingly, the writing is solid and the main characters, especially Otto, get some good development as it goes along.
My only complaint is that Haley occasionally overdoes it—the tactical nuke in particular was overkill and I gave up trying to follow the logic of how the AIs and virtual reality worlds interacted with each other. This lent the climax of the book a bit of a deus ex machina quality. By which I mean, I got what happened but not quite how we got there. And the cover: if there were an award for the least interesting cover on the most interesting book, this would win hands-down.
Minor complaints, though, about an otherwise a fun and entertaining read. I'd love to read more.
Richards & Klein: Ghost, Guy Haley. A prequel to Richards & Klein, explaining how they got their “pimsim” (post-mortem simulation?) receptionist. Short, but nice structure and a vivid story around loss and a change of fortune.
Nemesis Worm: A Richards & Klein Investigation, Guy Haley. Another in the series, this sees Richards potentially on the hook for a series of murders; further investigation turns up a threat to humanity which needs quick and decisive settling. A short but well-written and satisfying story.
Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory, Martha Wells. Advertised as Volume 4.5 of the well-received and popular Murderbot Diaries series, Wells has spun a short story from the point of view of Dr. Mensah. I thought this was less engaging than the longer entries in the series. Although set in the milieu and timeline of the other stories, I had some difficulty sorting out the “why” of the story. This is a marked departure from the other entries, which were difficult to put down.
Read again factor: If more carefully tuned, I would love more short stories to stay sated between longer releases.
The Gods of HP Lovecraft, Aaron J. French, Ed. This anthology has each deity (12 of them) in the Lovecraft universe; each gets a story by a different author, linked to a short description of the creature’s place in the cosmos. I downloaded this because Martha Wells had written a story for it, but stayed for the others. Generally done to a very high standard, I enjoyed this even though I have a somewhat passing acquaintance with Lovecraft’s work.
Read again factor: Worth sacrificing a few cultists to read again.
Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries Book 6), Martha Wells. Murderbot gets involved in a mystery! Although prevented by the rules of engagement from going full-on kinetic, the galaxy’s favorite sentient security apparatus takes a break from watching his video feed to help track down the identity of a body found on his world’s local space station. Full of jaundiced but hugely fun internal dialog, this is another strong entry in Wells’ well-received series. It builds to a satisfying and dramatic finish, while further fleshing out our protagonist.
Read again factor: I can’t wait.
The Salvage Crew, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne. This is a hugely-ambitious book, with a story that starts from a relatively basic propostion—a sort of interstellar tow & wrecking crew with a trusty AI leader out for some routine salvage—quickly turns into a much more complex and challenging proposition. Wijeratne largely kept me with him as the story unspooled, although there were moments when I wondered where this all was going.
Read again factor: It would be like a good salvaged part from a scrapped car.
Blood & Steel, Josh Hayes, Devon Ford. During this period, various mailing lists kept me supplied with many low- or no-cost space opera novels/series, of which this was one. Amusingly, Aethon Books spelled “steel” with three e’s on the cover of the Kindle version, but it got better from there. Heading out to relieve and reinforce the first group of colonists sent to a promising world, our heroes find that all is not well. An interesting premise, good pacing and a satisfying story are slightly marred by cookie-cutter character development and somewhat flat dialog. The story takes an abrupt turn at the end, just when you think it’s safe—will we read on?
Read again factor: On the fence about this.
The Wayward Children Series, Seanan McGuire
Beneath the Sugar Sky
Come Tumbling Down
In An Absent Dream
Down Among The Sticks And Bones
Every Heart A Doorway
These were definitely not my usual jam. They were enjoyable enough to read all the way through. I got these from some sort of Tor.com give away, although I balked hard at shelling out $10.99 each for the sixth and seventh volumes on Amazon. McGuire weaves an interesting, surprisingly intricate set of stories about a school for children who’ve gone down the proverbial rabbit hole but been spit back up into the mundane world. Her characters are vivid and distinct, and each volume highlights the travails of a new person, unique milieu and often-devilishly hard dilemmas. My favorite among them was the disturbing but vivid and oddly compelling take on Jack and Jill, who do a little more than go down the hill…
Read again factor: Free was too little, but $10.99 is way too much; no thanks.
Hell’s Horizon, Richard Fox, Johnathan Brazee. Fox and Brazee are accomplished (and also/or just “prolific” depending on your taste in fiction and expectations) writers of military science fiction. This is a tough space to compete in (Get it—tough space?) Many authors are churning out functionally identical hordes of barely-differentiated super-soliders—most of them some flavor of “space marine”—who fight against largely generic enemies, human and otherwise. Standing out in a sea of these clones is a difficult task, but Fox and Brazee take it and pull it off in a satisfying and well-written story which pits two very different men against each other on the battlefields of a planet best described as “a green hell.” We get to follow the adventures of each, but more importantly, the inner stresses and conflicts each seeks to overcome while plotting to kill the other. The end is a bit of a surprise, but well-written and tightly thought out.
Read again factor: I am mustering at my local drop pod right now for another shot at this.
Marines (Crimson Worlds Book 1), Jay Allen. I have graced Allen’s pages before, and found them generally fun—if not wildly distinct from other members of the genre. Allen sends the protagonist, Erik through the classic arc of fall, suffering and redemption. The book closes with him drifting into new and intense dangers, which presumably set up the rest of the—inevitably—extensive series. So far so good. No complaints about the story or book as such, other than that it’s a bit generic. The writing’s neither bad nor particularly vivid. Descriptions of combat get most of the writer’s calories, but the most interesting inflection points are off the battlefield and we don’t get to see much inner depth from the major players.
Read again factor: Putting this in the “economy of force” bin and moving on to more promising objectives.
Recruit (United Federation Marine Corps Book 1), Johnathan Brazee. I read a sort of side-story from this series, Rebel, earlier this year (reviewed here) and was interested in seeing how the more "mainline” part of the series went. To some extent, I’m still wondering. The story is okay, and our hero, Rick Lysander, gets into some interesting scrapes and develops the rudiments of a fleshed-out personality. No unusual, novel or unusually implausible plot twists, and the writing is decent if not inspired. I liked Brazee’s joint venture with Richard Fox, reviewed above, quite a bit more, though.
Read again factor: Maybe, kinda, sorta.
Sun Burn (An Edge of Ruin Prequel Novella), Justin Bell and Mike Kraus. Yeah, so ok. The President is taking Air Force one to Cheyenne Mountain just ahead of a massive solar event, and gets to the Denver area just a tad too late. Survivors of the plane crash quickly discover that being outside in the sunshine is a death sentence, and social mores don’t hold up well under the stress. A decent outing for what it is, although I have not been inspired to read the rest of the series.
Read again factor: I don’t have enough sunscreen.
The Fall of Valdek, P.L. Nealen. The Caractacan Brotherhood are space-going fighters for good, who are called to the defense of a planet menaced by the “Unity” and an advanced, apparently unstoppable army. The story combines plentiful combat with an overlay of politics, duty and the Bortherhood’s own shifting internal dynamics. First in (at least) a trilogy. Fairly standard stuff: heavy on fighting, moderate on character development and plot. Solid all the way around.
Read again factor: Um, so about those sequels…
From The Shadows: Villainous Tales of Dark Lords, Despots and Devils, Various. This anthology looks at villains from the villains’ point of view, trying to open up a different side of being bad. It starts strong with a hilarious look at what happens when an egocentric hero falls to a necromancer. Unfortunately the quality of the writing is uneven, and it was hard to stay engaged with all of the stories.
Read again factor: Buried, for good.
Parked And Took The Plates Off...
Dark (The Dark Trilogy, #1), Paul Arvidson. A quirky novel set in I’m not quite sure where (a cosmic-scale drainpipe?) peopled with quirky little folk. I found little or no traction with the story, and set it aside at 9%.
The Mongrel, Walt Robillard. This started off well, but I very quickly found that I had trouble maintaining focus on the story, which was choppy and inconsistent. The book tries to pull off the gradual reveal of what seemed like significant backstory during the action, with uneven results. Put down at 14% through.
Everything That’s Underneath: A Collection, Kristi DeMeester. This was an interesting collection of dark short stories by a talented writer. The common theme seems to be “dirt” — in a dark and supernatural way — and the prevalence of forces which are coming for us in the night. The downside was that the stories were very similar, and I felt it got repetitive. 60-some% finished.
The Red King (Wyrd #1), Nick Cole. This started off strong, with what I thought was an original take on zombie apocalypse. It quickly turned into a wild, comic book-esque collection of increasingly unlikely plot elements. The totally gratuitous tactical nuke broke my concentration on the story. Made it to 56%, though, so not like I didn’t give it a chance.
This is approximately how I felt after spending several hours reading this book…