Small Reviews

A LIBRARY book for me! This was the first of my ordered haul to try to counter the ever-increasing expense and lack of book space in my house. I went searching to see if Howey had written anything I'd missed, and it turned out he had. Initially I wasn't sure whether or not I'd read this, as the idea of it blurred into 'Dust' and 'Sand' (two other books from him), but indeed it was a whole new story. It does however follow directly from the events of Sand, which I had read but all the way back in 2014, and no amount of searching for a synopsis fully made me feel like I was remembering enough or getting the full benefit. (Guess what's now next up on my reading pile after digging it out of the depths of a bookshelf...)

It follows an ensemble cast centred around two families on opposite sides of a conflict, who unsurprisingly all end up coming together for a big finale. I remember really enjoying the 'sand diver' concept and pseudoscience from the first book, and there's a lot more of that here, plus generally some really interesting world building about the sand and the different societies and attitudes. I'm looking forward to filling in the gaps with bits I'd not remembered from the first book, and I hope that one day there may be a Sand Chronicles book 3.

This book grew on me in the last half, but overall I wanted to like it more than I did. It's a very clever book, one of detailed, non-hand-holding world building with a lot of local dialect terms and interesting progressive concepts for the time it was written, but the first half is basically setup. It has the Envoy ('alien' main character) in his role interacting with various natives of Winter, and for a long time I didn't really understand where the plot was going... until it all starts going wrong for the protagonist and we get more of a sense of direction and pacing. Ultimately it had quite a predictable ending, but also one that made sense within the plot. I can see why it's very highly regarded as a book, I just didn't love it sadly.

Another bit of Japanese-inspired fantasy, but unlike the Watchmaker of Filigree Street and follow up, this one was disappointing. It was billed as a 'Ghibli-esque' adventure, but in reality was just utterly saccharine levels of interactions and dialogue between the (very superficial) main characters. The world and plot just felt like a series of ideas loosely stiched together, and I just never felt invested or like any of it mattered.

For a book so focused on Japan and Japanese culture, it was also very jarring and notable that at the start of one of the chapters there was a Japanese proverb which was just... wrong. Written in both kanji/hiragana and the phonetic romaji version, there were errors in the proverb and the phonetic version not matching up. It's not a major thing, and most readers would never notice at all, but for me it just added to the air of superficiality.

"一杯目人を酒飲む二杯目は酒酒を飲み三杯は酒人を飲む Ippai-me wa hito sake o nomi, nihai-me wa sake sake o nomi, sanbai-me wa sake hito o nomu." (mistakes not my own)

This was a bit of a journey of a read. Unusually for me, I stopped reading part-way through and switched to Murderbot, because I was just finding it a bit slow and unengaging and needed something a bit more comforting. The beginning just didn't grab me, both in terms of writing style generally and the plot, and I was a bit worried it'd be a kind of 2/5 read that I may not actually finish. I'd not read anything by the author before, and I'm not sure what's their style vs what's intentionally written in a bit of a jarring and clunky way because of how the main character is.

On putting down Murderbot I took this up again, and slowly it started to connect a bit more. I went through a moment where it felt a bit like when I read Ninefox Gambit, which didn't fully click with me but then I really liked the sequels. The premise of arcspace and its... challenges... is actually very interesting (even if - light spoilers - it never actually gets fully explained or resolved). There had been a lot of care put into the details about the different societies and cultures, with them all having very clear, fully-fleshed out personalities and uniqueness. I really enjoyed this side of the book, and on learning more about the others, it did put some of the earlier Shine backstory slowness into some better context.

That said, there's a lot of what felt to me somewhat unnecessary extra details around the edges, and a good chunk of the book feels like episodic, particularly with jumping forward considerable chunks of time. One chapter ends "and that was how I met X and Y" (paraphrasing) to set up the next one, which feels like they should be consequential, but end up as a (literally) very short lived interaction. There's quite a bit of that around the edges of the main threads, and whilst it all comes together quite rapidly right at the end, it never quite got to the "wow" stage.

So, the good: interesting concepts overall, some nice details around cultures and settings, great characterisation, a story that was interesting once it got going. But set against some slow and somewhat clunky writing in parts (a chapter almost all in caps was also not fun to read on a practical level), pacing being a bit off, some unsatisfying open threads that could have done with a bit more payoff.

I still have regrets from watching that one series of the TV show, and I feel like I'm going to moan about it polluting my character imagination forever now. Anyway. The book.

I hadn't Murderbotted since September last year, so again obviously I've forgotten some details of what happened in the last book, but actually it wasn't too bad this time. This one has some key crossovers with previous other important characters and plot points though, so note to future me that it's worth keeping that in mind.

Despite that though, this is a pretty standalone extraction-based scenario. It didn't grab me or feel too unique at first, as we've already had 'Murderbot does extraction', and at a couple of points I found myself thinking "I'm still really enjoying reading this and I love Murderbot as much as ever... but would it be better to have fewer, stronger stories, or a clear end point?". The answer is probably no, as long as there are more I will keep reading them because I'm a sucker for this stuff, but equally this definitely isn't the strongest book. The stakes do get upped towards the end, and there are as always some pretty cool set pieces, plus we get to know even more of the overall cast of people in SecUnit's life. But definitely not up there in the top tier.

I went straight into the sequel (thanks also to my husband for the free book) and immediately enjoyed being back in the world. The main characters move to a new area and we see a bit more of their personalities and complexities emerge, plus get to find out some more world building about the Empire and all the bioscience stuff that goes on. In terms of the mystery it's kind of similar to the first book – starting off with a new tricky murder to figure out, which rapidly expands into a much more complex case. Throughout there are again some reveals and new developments that help you feel like you're making progress, although I would say that I found this plot slightly more predictable in terms of big moments. The ending in particular I had suspected was coming, but it still all played out in quite a satisfying way.

I was so pleased to find out that there's a third book serendipitously coming out soon so I don't have to wait and forget everything (this seems to keep happening, yay), so even though it'll be in hardback (boo) I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that too.

Crashing through books at the moment, in advance of finishing my last one I tried to sort through my backlog list and catch up on award nominees to see what may come next. One of the ones that popped up was the sequel to this, which sounded interesting but I wasn't sure that murder mystery was quite the vibe I was after. On checking with my husband to see if he'd previously bought a totally different book that had popped up and sounded familiar, he brought out this, the sequel, and another book. As he'd actually got through the physical book (a rare occurrance!) and there were two right here I thought I'd give it a shot and I'm glad I did!

I really liked the idea of the world – one where people live under the Empire, and take up roles based on a mix of aptitude tests and assorted grafts which change things like sense of smell, strength, or in one of the main character's case, an ability to engrave (remember) absolutely everything, permanently. The biology and plant manipulation (e.g. to build buildings... or be used as murder weapons...) was interesting, as was the constant looming threats of leviathans that hang over the region; apparently the source of a lot of the scientific advancements as well as potential doom. I also like books with references, and this starts with a map and a list of titles.

I really liked the characters too, who were a fun mix of sweary and dgaf, and uptight and diligent (but also blending well with the former). The mystery rolled along at a very good pace, with plenty of smaller reveals and insights helping it feel understandable and like things were progressing, and whilst there were no jaw dropping revelations it all felt very satisfying. I'm going straight into the next one and will be interested to see how the dynamics continue to play out.

A chunky read which I got through pretty quickly thanks to some hot days indoors and pregnancy-related insomnia.

I really liked the world building and the different details when describing Hell (whilst also leaving some of it still to interpretation), but whilst it was apt for the characters I wasn't fully on board with all of the intellectualising, philosophising, and mathematising. The two (three?) main characters were nicely fleshed out, and I did enjoy the balance of the present time being interspersed with flashbacks to learn more about them. Obviously they (on the most part) are incredibly flawed, and there were some slightly uncomfortable but very real parts of the story around power, coercion, misogyny, and self worth. I've thankfully not been deep in academia enough to directly relate to a lot of it in that setting, but in terms of other settings like working in tech it's still apt.

Ultimately despite some of the heavier themes it was still a fun, engaging, and creative read, and definitely helped me get through some long nights without ever feeling like a slog!

This one fluctuated between a 2.5 at the start and a 3 by the end but could have gone either way for me. I'm familiar with but haven't read the BRZRKR series, and maybe I'd have got more out of it if I had, but overall this just left me a bit cold. There were some interesting parts, particularly from the perspective of various companions who'd spent time with the main character over the years, but overall the story felt pretty weak and a bit disjointed. Too many threads, but not enough of a strong core to bring them all back together. It does however get bonus points for what I could only interpret as a 'sad keanu' meme reference at the start of the book where the main character (who is obviously played by Keanu) sits on a bench with his elbows on his knees.

I really wish that more sequels included some kind of synopsis or overview. I didn't need it because I flew through them, but the Watchmaker of Filigree series did this very well. Why am I starting with this? Well, because this is another sequel where I read the first one 5 years ago and whilst (even with some online help) I could vaguely remember details and characters, I didn't get the emotional connection that I may have if I'd read them concurrently. Take Manny for example – we get an explanation for his amnesia from book 1, which probably should have been more impactful than it was. Some of the other characters felt very forgettable and backgroundy, and I couldn't remember whether I'd got to know them better before.

I just looked up my (very short, I'd only started doing them!) review from the first book which didn't tell me much, but seemed to have similar levels of enjoyment overall. Not my favourite by Jemesin, but an ok read generally.

Oh, also worth noting that this is probably the most 'woke' book I've read in a long time, and that's saying something considering I read a lot of queer, non-white, lefty leaning stuff! It's unashamedly opinionated, political multicultural, gay/trans, and the only baddies are coded white, which was no problem for me but just flagging as a note for anyone else reading as I can imagine some people hating it because of that 😆

This read was a recommendation after I asked some people in my circles for any advice on starting a Trustee position, and it was a good one. The book is packed with a full range of considerations, but is very practical. On finishing it I had a large number of page ears folded and bits underlined, ready to come back to when I need it (and I'm sure I will).

My score's ok but a bit lower, mostly because it's still a slog to get through work books rather than fiction, but in terms of a primer on the topic this one is great.

I had a different book on my fiction pile and fully intended to swap over and start that one, but in the end I decided to continue my run by this author and I'm glad I did. This one directly (with a bit of a gap) continues the story of the two main characters from the first book, although this one is almost entirely set in 1880s Japan. Some of the characters and details are pulled directly from history, other more fantastical elements are decidedly made up. Thaniel's Japanese ability in the timescales was similarly wildly on the fictional side!

I enjoyed this one even more than the first one, mostly because there's quite a few mysteries and tension, and I genuinely wasn't sure how it was all going to play out. In some ways there are a lot of themes and similarities between The Mars House and this, and between the two stories (counting this arc of two books as one) I'm definitely now a fan of the author's writing.

After finishing my last book, I had a problem. I was dragging that one out, but even then I had to wait a few days for a new book I thought was coming on pre-order... except it turns out that I'd completely missed the part of the release date that said 2027 😩

After being book deprived for a few days, I decided to pick this one up off the back of enjoying The Mars House. In the author bio I'd seen that Natasha had spent some time in Japan learning language and researching this book, so figured it would be up my street in that way too.

I really enjoy the author's writing style in general, and the way the book wrapped itself up was satisfyingly done. However unlike The Mars House this one floundered a bit in the middle for me. It was still enjoyable, but I wasn't really sure where it was going. What started out as a bit of a whodunnit mystery, also totally dropped off the radar riiiiight until the end where there was an underwhelming reveal. It get it, it wasn't the point of the book at all, but all this to say that this definitely felt a bit more clunky than my last read.

I'd got another book lined up, but I've just found out that there's a sequel to this, set 5 years later. I'll definitely be adding that one into my reading list... although let me just check the year of release!

I really loved this book, and wasn't expecting to like it that much. I picked it up from my reading list, so it must have had a recommendation from someone to get on there in the first place, and it seemed like an easy read. It was, but I found this being a real page turner with a great world building and some interesting characters, and I found it way more engaging than I was expecting from the blurb alone.

There's themes of environmental destruction, anti-immigration, disability, a society that's decided to remove the concept of gender, politics, violence, and more, but coupled with ballet and complex interpersonal relationships. I really liked the depth of the main characters, and the only reason I didn't give this a 5 was purely because some of the "big reveals" I could see a mile off, to the point where it felt a bit daft that nobody else in the book did. That said, how it all played out and was explained was still satisfying enough, and I found myself trying to ration getting to the end.

Just a really great story, good characters, and enjoyable writing that flowed very well for me.

This was a birthday present, and from the description (sci-fi but horror, scary is not really my thing) it wasn't a book I would have chosen for myself. The blurb does describe it as "something something people who like Becky Chambers" (I do), but that is not a comparison I'd make in the slightest.

Anyway, it's hard to put anything here without spoilers, so if you're not future me, consider yourself potentially spoiled. The author bio talks about how they are interested in death, and there is a lot of death here, to the point where it does reiterate the feeling of futility but also gets a bit repetitive. Maybe I've read too many sci-fi books but the 'murder mystery' element was absolutely obvious riiiiight from the start, and didn't work very well (everyone kept walking around in stupid situations). Outside of that though, I did enjoy a lot of the more interesting relationship-focused content. Iris and his AI was interesting, particularly getting some of the backstory (would have enjoyed more of that and less ship murder). Iris and a person who have an emerging relationship was also pretty well done, and I liked the end section of the book for its, well, humanity.

At the end I noticed that this is to be part of a series, and whilst this book has only just come out and I'll inevitably forget way too much by the next one, as long as it's not a rehash of the same kind of concept I would consider picking it up.

A paraplegic Black author finds success writing a beloved sci-fi novel about a humanoid robot and a bodiless one, plus all of her personal drama along the way.

Given so much of the context of this book and commentary on critique, it feels a bit weird writing a review, even a personal one. But I really, really liked this book. It was 400+ pages long so there was time for depth, but the characters, the stories, the cultural references, and the fact that there were basically two books plus interviews jammed in were all really impressive. I'd enjoyed Nnedi's writing in Binti, but the length of this book let everything breathe in a really great way. In contrast to my previous read, the ending of this was open-ended, contained a big twist I didn't see coming, and yet was still satisfying. I really liked Zelu in all her messy glory, and I suspect I'll re-read this at some point in the future to try to see it with different eyes having got to the finish.

This quick read was on course for 4+ right up until the end, where it kind of fell down in a bit of an unsatisfying fever dream. The premise was intriguing: a murder mystery set within a beautiful, AI 'haunted' house that only one person could enter, and who had an alibi. The characters, including the AI itself, were built up rapidly and were interesting on their own and together. I flew though it, really enjoying the setting and the writing. But then ultimately the end comes, there's a couple of kind of explanations, but a lot is left as very open threads... unsatisfyingly so. This is a memorable book that I think will stay with me, and I really wanted to score higher, but I just wished I'd closed it thinking "wow!" rather than being a bit disappointed.

I feel a bit bad about this review, as the book was shared with me by a friend/ex-colleague, although he did present it with something like "I'm not sure I liked this book" so I guess it's also to be expected! It's also partly the reason why the book, and its semi-sequel had sat on my pile of unread books for 5 months.

Alien stuff happens on Earth, an eclectic mix of people are sent off after them to do... something, and obviously it all turns out badly. There are also vampires, for some reason. It felt very, very slow to me, not great storytelling, and not a lot actually happens until quite late on in the book. The 'hard science' wasn't too much of a slog, but what I did find clunky was that the book is peppered with half-explanations, some of which you come to understand, but some you don't. Yes, imagination is a thing too, but overall it felt gappy and untintentionally vague rather than deliberately encouraging reader creativity.

The characters were pretty much all awful, and in particular there's an assault at one point which just felt unnecessary. I get the hypothetical reasoning behind it, but much of the book was people being awful to each other (and to aliens unnecessarily) with some 'justification', and it all just left me cold. I had a few bouts of night insomnia during reading this, and never did I experience "just one more chapter", more "ok I can sleep now".

I was given another book at the same time, Echopraxia, which is a "sidequel" to this one. Needless to say I've ordered some other books rather than starting that one.

The end of the trilogy, and whilst I had high hopes it didn't quite live up to the previous one in terms of enjoyment for me. Some of that was due to the even darker turn things take – the book opens with (and has repeated references to) child sexual abuse and trafficing, and there's points in the book with references to rape, dying from cancer, and a baby gets shot up badly. It's again very dark stuff, and definitely not a series I'd recommend to anyone too young.

That said, the main reason I enjoyed it less was that at some point everything starts going wrong, and just stays wrong, which totally changes the flow of the plot. You end up going from rescue/escapes, to capture, to more, and it gets a bit repetitive and a bit of a slog when heavily leaning into the "we're all doomed" prophecy. The ending itself also felt a bit cheap and like a waste. It didn't exactly invalidate the reading experience, but I definitely feel like it could have been done in a more effective way.

Overall I really enjoyed the series, and I've found them to be really good reads. But definitely not one to go into without content warnings, and this certainly isn't a happy way to wrap up the trilogy!

This was my favourite book in the series. We get some more children with very different backgrounds introduced, a mission into the jungle, medical issues, and a new baddie.

The animals feature even more in this one, with whole sections dedicated to their perspectives, which can sometimes go on a bit long. There's again a lot of death and nasty things happening, so it's not an entirely happy read, but again really quite captivating and easy to get through.

I've procrastinated on this book for a long time. It was a read I picked up from my office's book exchange before I left, so I'd probably had it since August. At the time I picked it up for a fluffy train read (genius teenagers with abilities, nature), but then the YA perception actually ended up putting me off it when I was struggling to pick up books.

Although this has been labelled online as YA, the whole series is pretty bloody dark. The opening chapter deals with the attempted murder of a young child, and there's a lot of that level of thing. There are a lot of characters, but they're all individual and really well done. The plot is captivating and flows well, and it was a really engaging read. I enjoyed how the animals also get their own perspective, although again you need to be ok with animal death. The themes of ethics, natural world/climate change, religion, relationships, and technology crop up throughout. And whilst this wasn't my favourite book in the series I immediately bought the next one as I was enjoying the world.

This is one of those mythical books I semi-guiltily felt like I should have read a long time ago, because it's a "work book" disguised as a novel. Should I have read it a long time ago? Meh, maybe, and I may have learnt a bit more from it had I done so...but I may also have picked up some bad habits. The story is ok, the concepts it shares are relatable and recognisable, but the writing and characters are not great. The culture in the company is undoubtedly toxic on so many levels, and whilst the book's trying to share a lot of wisdom, I feel it inadvertently ends up pushing other messages too through some blind spots. My litmus test is usually "do I want to read more in the series?" and in this instance I'll probably skip it.