Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

While I haven't read Andy Weir's work before, I was familiar with The Martian thanks to the movie and hearing that Project Hail Mary was going to be turned to one I figured I'd read the book before watching it. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

RYLAND GRACE is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

This is the 4th book in The Expanse series. Just continuing my read of the books and comparing them to the TV series. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule. 

But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. Both sides will stop at nothing to defend what's theirs, but soon a terrible disease strikes and only Holden - with help from the ghostly Detective Miller - can find the cure.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

This is the 3rd book in The Expanse series. I watched the TV series first but have been meaning to get through all the books at some point.

 Here is the Goodreads blurb:

For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artefact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Translation State by Ann Leckie

It's been a while since I read a book by Ann Leckie and I remember enjoying Ancillary Justice very much. I probably should reread it since it's been a decade since I first read it. This book isn't a sequel, but it is set in the universe and we get to see some of the ramifications of the original trilogy at least indirectly. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

The mystery of a missing translator sets three lives on a collision course that will have a ripple effect across the stars in this powerful new novel by award-winning author Ann Leckie.

Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". It's the type of behavior that results in elimination.

But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots--or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.

As a Conclave of the various species approaches--and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line--the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.

Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a standalone story set in Leckie's celebrated Imperial Radch universe.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

This is the first book of The Expanse series, which is very well regarded among sci-fi fans. I recently watched the TV show, which is surprisingly good, and decided to go back and read the series. I had read the first and second novels, but stopped along time ago. With an upcoming RPG videogame by Owlcat Studios, this seemed like a good time to brush up on the books. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

James S.A. Corey delivers compelling SF that ranks with the best in the field. In Leviathan Wakes, ice miner Jim Holden is making a haul from the rings of Saturn when he and his crew encounter an abandoned ship, the Scopuli. Uncovering a terrifying secret, Jim bears the weight of impending catastrophe. At the same time, a detective has been hired by well-heeled parents to find a missing girl, and the investigator’s search leads him right to the Scopuli.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Dispossessed is a major book in the science fiction community, having won multiple awards and being highly regarded. I had, for whatever reason, never actually read it, though I've read other of Ursula Le Guin's books. So after hearing about it recently at work I decided to go ahead and give it a read.

Anarres, Shevek’s homeland, is a bleak moon settled by an anarchic utopian civilization, where there is no government, and everyone, at least nominally, is a revolutionary. It has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—defined by warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to unify the two civilizations. In the face of great hostility, outright threats, and the pain of separation from his family, he makes an unprecedented trip to Urras. Greater than any concern for his own wellbeing is the belief that the walls of hatred, distrust, and philosophic division between his planet and the rest of the civilized universe must be torn down. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and explore differences in customs and cultures, determined to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.

To visit Urras—to learn, to teach, to share—will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. Almost immediately upon his arrival, he finds not the egotistical philistines he expected, but an intelligent, complex people who warmly welcome him. But soon the ambitious scientist and his gift is seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Some time ago, a YouTuber I follow, Elle Cordova, started an online book club with I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. While I didn't explicitly join it at the time as I was reading something else, I realized that I hadn't actually read I, Robot. I've read some of Asimov's other robot stories, like The Caves of Steel as well as the Foundation series, and watched movies like the one made from I, Robot and The Bicentennial Man. So I'm familiar with Asimov, just probably missing a lot of his shorter books. Regardless, I decided to pick this up and see what it was all about. Because this is a series of short stories I'll forgo my usual format and just write a few paragraphs on it.

Book Review: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

I had read Rendezvous with Rama a long time ago, but I've been in a bit of a sci-fi reading phase and wanted to re-read it. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

An all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts given the task of exploring the hollow cylindrical ship are able to decipher some, but definitely not all, of the extraterrestrial vehicle's puzzles. From the ubiquitous trilateral symmetry of its structures to its cylindrical sea and machine-island, Rama's secrets are strange evidence of an advanced civilization. But who, and where, are the Ramans, and what do they want with humans? Perhaps the answer lies with the busily working biots, or the sealed-off buildings, or the inaccessible "southern" half of the enormous cylinder. Rama's unsolved mysteries are tantalizing indeed. Rendezvous with Rama is fast moving, fascinating, and a must-read for science fiction fans. Clarke collaborated with Gentry Lee in writing several Rama sequels, beginning with Rama II.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is the third book that started with Children of Time. It continues shortly after the prior one, Children of Ruin, left off and is another take of terraforming efforts gone wrong and the subsequent events as the descendants of humanity rediscover them. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost.

Then strangers appear. They possess unparalleled knowledge and thrilling technology – and they've arrived from another world to help humanity’s colonies. But not all is as it seems, and the price of the strangers' help may be the colony itself.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is the sequel to Children of Time and I just had to read it after enjoying that one so much. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Thousands of years ago, Earth's terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life -- but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity's great empire fell, and the program's decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth. But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.

Read on for my mostly spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A while back I saw a BlueSky post from Reactor magazine that asked users what modern sci-fi books or series would likely become classics. Children of Time was one of them, and one that I hadn't already read. Coincidentally, I also noticed a friend of mind had recently reviewed it on Goodreads so I decided to give it a shot. Here's the official blurb:

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

Read on for my spoiler-free review (except for the species on the planet, which some blurbs also reveal).

Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I picked this up at a book store thinking I would finally read it. I had seen the movie version a long time ago and enjoyed that. Plus I'm a geek and fan of video games, science fiction, fantasy, books, anime, etc and was born in the 80s so I figured I would recognize a lot of the nostalgia hits this book is known for. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson

Defiant is the 4th novel in the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson. This is the epic conclusion to a series of young adult sci-fi novels Sanderson has been leading. There's even a secondary series that includes author Janci Patterson, though I haven't read those yet. Here is the book blurb:

Spensa made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to face with the Delvers, and finally got answers to the questions she’s had about her own strange Cytonic gifts.

The Superiority didn’t stop in it’s fight for galactic dominance while she was gone, though. Spensa’s team, Skyward Flight, was able to hold Winzik off, and even collect allies to help with the cause, but it’s only a matter of time until humanity–and the rest of the galaxy–falls.

Defeating them will require all the knowledge Spensa gathered while in the Nowhere. But being Cytonic is more complicated than she ever could have imagined. Now, Spensa must ask herself: how far is she willing to go for victory, if it means losing herself–and her friends–in the process.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells

System Collapse is the next novel installment in the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Walls coming immediately after Network Effect. Note that Fugitive Telemetry, which was released after Network Effect is more of a flashback novella rather than continuing the story chronologically. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin

When one of my friends left town, she left me a lot of varied books. This was one of them and I finally picked it up to read while waiting for Baldur's Gate 3 to release. It's an older title, from 1971, and has that classic sci-fi feel to it. Here's the Goodreads blurb for it:

A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity.

In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.

The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Book 2 of Sanderson's Kickstarter is here and it's an interesting deviation from this usual style. Here's the blurb:

A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?

As a novella, I'll forgo my usual format and just write out some impressions. More after the jump.

Book Review: Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes

I was recommended this book because it was about space travel and by a famous astronaut. I hadn't heard about it before, but the premise sounded interesting and figured I'd give it a try. It ended up being pretty good. Here's a short blurb:

Born the year of the Moon landing, Chris Terence spends his life fighting to return humanity to that pinnacle. An engineering student with dreams of spaceflight, he finds upon graduation that the United States no longer has need for astronauts. Years of bureaucratic meddling have reduced the space program to a shell of itself, and it will take the greatest scientific find in history to send humanity skyward once more. After years battling budget hawks, Chris finally gets his chance to walk on the Moon. While there, he finds evidence of an ancient alien civilization, the Tiberians, who visited Earth’s satellite eight thousand years before. Understanding what happened to those long-forgotten travelers will define the lives of Chris and his son, as they fight against all odds to unlock the secrets of the universe.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the third book in The Locked Tomb series. This has been highly anticipated by fans all around. The series merges science fiction, fantasy, horror, with a splash of comedy and romance. It is weird and engaging in so many odd ways. The blurb for this one is pretty unusual as well, though it gets the point across:

Her city is under siege.

The zombies are coming back.

And all Nona wants is a birthday party.

In many ways, Nona is like other people. She lives with her family, has a job at her local school, and loves walks on the beach and meeting new dogs. But Nona's not like other people. Six months ago she woke up in a stranger's body, and she's afraid she might have to give it back.

The whole city is falling to pieces. A monstrous blue sphere hangs on the horizon, ready to tear the planet apart. Blood of Eden forces have surrounded the last Cohort facility and wait for the Emperor Undying to come calling. Their leaders want Nona to be the weapon that will save them from the Nine Houses. Nona would prefer to live an ordinary life with the people she loves, with Pyrrha and Camilla and Palamedes, but she also knows that nothing lasts forever.

And each night, Nona dreams of a woman with a skull-painted face...

Read on for my spoiler-free review; spoilers for the prior books (Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth) may be present, though.

Book Review: A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark

A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark is a Hugo novel finalist and has gathered a bit of attention lately. I've been curious about it and seeing it so broadly praised decided to give it a read. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city - or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems....

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells

Network Effect is the 5th book in the Murderbot series and the first full length novel. I've been enjoying the series and reading them on and off between other books. Here's the blurb from Goodreads: 

I’m usually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are.

When Murderbot's human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.