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: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

This is the 2nd book in the original Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. It's been a long time since I read these, but I'm making my way slowly through them again. Here is the blurb from the Kindle version:

Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire. Three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

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: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

La Belle Sauvage is the first of The Book of Dust, a separate trilogy set in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe. I enjoyed the first series so I figured I'd give this one a try. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

Malcolm Polstead is the kind of boy who notices everything but is not much noticed himself. And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy...

Malcolm's father runs an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his daemon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, but during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm catches wind of something new: intrigue.

He finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust--and the spy it was intended for finds him.

When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, Malcolm sees suspicious characters everywhere; Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; an Egyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl--just a baby--named Lyra.

Lyra is the kind of person who draws people in like magnets. And Malcolm will brave any danger, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through the storm.

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: Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson

Isles of the Emberdark is a Cosmere novel by Brandon Sanderson. This was offered as part of a Kickstarter I backed and I've heard it referred to as the 5th of the Secret Projects, a series of books he wrote during the COVID lockdown years. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

The Ones Above are starting to grow impatient and want to build an installation to breed and collect Aviar on one of First of the Sun's islands. Vathi and Dusk are trying to figure out how to delay their progress and are also dealing with people from another world, likely Roshar. Dusk realizes that the people of First of the Sun are hopelessly outmatched and decides to go through Patji's Eye, the perpendicularity on the island Patji, to try to enlist help.

Read on for my mostly spoiler-free review.