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: Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

Wind and Truth is the 5th novel in The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderon. This series is a 10-book series, but told in two 5-book arcs. This makes it the novel the conclusion of the first arc of the story. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Dalinar Kholin has challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions, and the Knights Radiant and the nations of Roshar have a mere 10 days to prepare for the worst. The fate of the entire world—and the Cosmere at large—hangs in the balance.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson

I've been on a bit of a Sanderson binge lately, trying to re-read the Stormlight Archive books in time for Wind and Truth. Turns out, I had originally missed this novella, set between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War. I'm glad I got the chance to read it, since it offers some very interesting hints about the Cosmere. Here's the official blurb:

When a ghost ship is discovered, its crew presumed dead after trying to reach the storm-shrouded island Akina, Navani Kholin must send an expedition to make sure the island hasn't fallen into enemy hands. Knights Radiant who fly too near find their Stormlight suddenly drained, so the voyage must be by sea.

Shipowner Rysn Ftori lost the use of her legs but gained the companionship of Chiri-Chiri, a Stormlight-ingesting winged larkin, a species once thought extinct. Now Rysn's pet is ill, and any hope for Chiri-Chiri’s recovery can be found only at the ancestral home of the larkin: Akinah. With the help of Lopen, the formerly one-armed Windrunner, Rysn must accept Navani's quest and sail into the perilous storm from which no one has returned alive. If the crew cannot uncover the secrets of the hidden island city before the wrath of its ancient guardians falls upon them, the fate of Roshar and the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.

As a novella, I'll only give some brief thoughts after the jump.

Book Review: Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton

Spellbreaker is the third and final novel in the Spellwright series. It's probably my favorite of the three given all that happens alongside the setting. Here is the official blurb:

Leandra Weal has a bad habit of getting herself in dangerous situations.

While hunting neodemons in her role as Warden of Ixos, Leandra obtains a prophetic spell that provides a glimpse one day into her future. She discovers that she is doomed to murder someone she loves, soon, but not who.

Leandra’s quest to unravel the mystery of the murder-she-will-commit becomes more urgent when her chronic disease flares up and the Ixonian Archipelago is plagued by natural disasters, demon worshiping cults, and fierce political infighting. Everywhere she turns, Leandra finds herself amid conflict.

As chaos spreads across Ixos, Leandra and her troubled family – her misspelling wizard father Nicodemus Weal and dragon-of-a-mother Francesca DeVega – must race to uncover the shocking truth about a prophesied demonic invasion, human language, and their own identities–if they don't kill each other first.

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Spellbound by Blake Charlton

This is the second book in the Spellwright trilogy by Blake Charlton. This continues the story 10 years after the prior book with some new characters. Here's the Goodreads blurb:

Francesca DeVega is a healer in the city of Avel, composing magical sentences that close wounds and disspell curses. But when a newly dead patient sits up and tells her that she must flee the infirmary or face a fate worse than death, Francesca finds herself in the middle of a game she doesn't understand―one that ties her to the notorious rogue wizard Nicodemus Weal and brings her face-to-face with demons, demigods, and a man she hoped never to see again.

Ten years ago, Nico escaped Starhaven Academy, leaving behind his failed life, in which he was considered disabled and felt useless. Now, in Spellbound, he's starting fresh, using his newfound gifts in the dark Chthonic languages to pursue the emerald that holds his birthright. Unfortunately, he can't escape the chaos of his old life. His mentor suffers from an incurable curse, agents of the fabled Halcyon hunt him day and night, pieces of Francesca's story don't add up, and the prophesized War of Disjunction looms on the horizon.

Nico and Francesca don't know it yet, but they are going to have to fit together the pieces of an age-old puzzle and discover the demon's darkest secret….

Read on for my spoiler-free review.

Book Review: Spellwright by Blake Charlton

I picked up Spellwright by Blake Charlton when I got an alert it was on sale for just 75cents. This was an incredible price and while I could always just get it from the library, I decided to just buy it and give it a try. I had heard about it a long time ago and had it on my to-read list, just never high enough. Here is the Goodreads blurb:

The fresh, original first novel of a magical fantasy trilogy, about a dyslexic wizard who cannot spell his spells, yet is destined to contend with an ancient evil that threatens to destroy not only all the magic in the world, but all the people as well.

Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text . . . but he has always been dyslexic, and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation.

Yet he has always felt that he is destined to be something more than a failed wizard. When a powerful, ancient evil begins a campaign of murder and disruption, Nicodemus starts to have disturbing dreams that lead him to believe that his misspelling could be the result of a curse. But before he can discover the truth about himself, he is attacked by an evil that has already claimed the lives of fellow wizards and has cast suspicion on his mentor. He must flee for his own life if he's to find the true villain.

But more is at stake than his abilities. For the evil that has awakened is a power so dread and vast that if unleashed it will destroy Nicodemus... and the world.

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.