All tagged science fiction
If you had asked me to list out my most anticipated books of 2021, The Galaxy, And The Ground Within certainly would have made the list. Becky Chambers’ previous Wayfarers books have been an utter delight, and have consistently made me cry at their emotional highpoints. I dove into this one almost immediately upon release, and I am pleased to say that the last Wayfarers book is just as good as its predecessors.
Hey look, it’s a sequel review! From before the hiatus! Well done, me. I actually debated whether or not I wanted to continue reading this series after Terminal Alliance. It wasn’t quite as funny as I expected, and while I liked the characters, there were a lot of other books clamoring for my attention. I ended up compromising and waiting until the paperback came out. Altogether, I’m pretty happy with my decision because this sequel is about as good as its predecessor.
Well, we’re here at last! The end of the Interdependency, the collapse of the empire. Let’s see how it all pans out.
I started rereading The Consuming Fire to get prepared for The Last Emperox, and I promptly realized that it came out during my hiatus. So here we are, putting up a review so there will be a nice, complete set for the Interdependency series.
One of my favorite scifi tropes is how aliens deal with humans, especially if we’re deemed threatening. I’ve seen variations ranging from funny to serious, and from the blurb, it looked like The Last Human dealt with this upfront, with some humor. Sign me up!
“Sociological science fiction” is a three-word phrase that goes straight to my core, as a former anthropology and sociology major. It probably would have been enough to get me to purchase this on its own, even if the description hadn’t sounded intriguing. But after finishing it, well. I have some very mixed feelings.
I originally bought The Collapsing Empire for my husband, who loves John Scalzi's books. But then I started hearing all the buzz about the book (including the Hugo nomination), and my husband vouched for it, so here we are.
Only Human was one of my most highly-anticipated novels of 2018. I found both Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods to be captivating, and I had high hopes that Neuvel would finish the trilogy in style. Final verdict? Mixed, but positive overall.
After a good experience with the Imperial Radch trilogy, I'm an easy sell for sentient spaceships as lead character. Consequently, it's not surprising that the description of Gareth Powell's Embers of War caused me to walk happily out of the bookstore.
So I spotted this one on a list of upcoming releases. I saw the words "sentient alien plants" and let out a loooooong sigh. Just...shut up and take my money.
Readers, it's time to go back to the world of The Expanse! I read Nemesis Games this month, and it's getting good, y'all.
Since I worked on a humorous book of my own last year, I've been actively seeking out humorous science fiction and fantasy. So when I stumbled upon Jim C. Hines' Terminal Alliance (book one of the Janitors of the Apocalpyse series, in case you were wondering), I couldn't resist the description.
It's been awhile since I've done any TV reviews, in part because I don't have a ton of time for TV watching these days. However, I've recently started rewatching my favorite show, Stargate SG-1, with my best friend Lamb who's never seen it. (GASP)
It's always nerve-wracking when a series you loved gets a sequel series. Will the sequel series live up to the first one? With Iron Gold, the answer is yes - though it's a radically different world we're now in.
Humor is a hard thing to write and write well, in part because you lose tone of voice and body language as means for conveying hilarity. Despite those limitations, Joe Zieja will make you laugh time and again in Communication Failure.
Guess what? I've finally watched season one of The Expanse.* You know, about the same time as I finished book four of the series. Which was, like all its predecessors, a really enjoyable ride.
This one kinda snuck up on me, seeing how I only recently finished the Imperial Radch series. I was able to go almost directly into Provenance, which is set in the same universe although not in the Radch itself. It's a very different animal, but it still bears Leckie's indelible stamp.
So Ancillary Mercy did...not quite go where I was expecting. But I still loved it, and it's an excellent conclusion to a strong, memorable series.
When you find yourself consistently picking up the same book every time you browse the shelves at your bookstore, eventually you buy it. This is the rule of the universe that I've just made up, and also why I ended up purchasing Dark Run, a fun space opera romp.
Ancillary Sword is one of those rare books that's very different from its predecessor and yet still an utterly enjoyable sequel - in fact, I think I might've enjoyed it more than Ancillary Justice.
