Small Reviews

I'm way behind in writing this, and can't remember exactly when I finished this, but it was around this time. This was a book lent to me by my aunt, via my mum, after they both visited Japan for the first time this year. I'm not really one for youtubers and hadn't watched any content by the author before, so went into this completely cold in terms of his personal journey. And it was ok. It obviously made me nostalgic for Japan, and there were some nice enough stories, but overall not something that I'd recommend unless you were a fan of his and wanted to hear a but more.

Entirely unintentionally, but fittingly, I finished this book on the Transgender Day of Rememberence (this is a book which follows the journey of a trans woman, and is also written by a transgender author). The plot, whilst being deeply human and touching at its core, is also one that includes violin culture, demons, magic powers, aliens, stargates, and sentient AI, all smushed into details of day to day life, restaurants and delicious menu items in a US town. It's clearly one of those books that definitely isn't for everyone! I enjoyed it, the story was fun and engaging whilst having depth and meaning through Katrina's story, but it also wasn't perfect, and had a fair amount of clunkiness in different ways.

This was a chunky book which managed to keep my attention throughout. It's action packed – at some points I felt a bit too action packed and relentlessly paced, but I really enjoy the author's writing and the character development. If I'd read this purely as part of the Lady Astronaut series, I would have really enjoyed it. As it was, I really enjoyed it, but there's a "but". A few months ago I read another book by the same author. Also set in space. Also a mystery. Also featuring a priviledged white woman who has personal trauma and disability. They're not the same, but there was enough overlap for it to stick in my mind and be somewhat distracting somehow. Still, I really enjoyed seeing some of the 'other' characters apart from Elma be brought to life from this series, the story was fun, and it all wrapped up pretty nicely.

I'd read and loved the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie, which, when I think back to what was going on at the time, is a terrifyingly long time ago now. I remember broad strokes about those books, but I'd very much like to re-read them now after having read this one. I find Leckie's writing style very easy to read, the characters are easy to get on board with, and I really enjoyed finding out a bit more about some of the races/factions that were less well detailed in the previous books. I felt there was a bit too much heavy-handed, almost teenage angst when it came to two primary characters, *and another gripe was the far-too-murderbot-esque use of a TV show as a plot device. But overall it was forgivable and this was a nice addition to the context of the universe.

*this is very much forgiven because of the quote I found here about it being a direct homage.

Thinking back over the plot of this book, it was pretty... ok very...bleak! There's a lot of difficult topics, the sometimes unexpected death of quite a lot of characters (they're at it again!), a character with mental health challenges, violence, living as prisoners and all that comes with that... and that's without basically losing an entire planet. But as with The Expanse, there's an ensemble cast who all find solace in each other, and who you grow to know more about as the book goes on. Similarly to the Expanse, it jumps from the perspective of different characters, so you get a nice bit of variety in the stories. There's a load of action, the worldbuilding is great, and there's clearly enough interesting plotlines to keep us readers busy in future.

I flew through this hefty book, and really enjoyed it all. My main issue was it was a hardback (I bloody hate hardbacks), but will definitely look forward to more. I just hope I don't forget all of the nuances in between now and whenever the next one will be out.

This one really kicked up a notch, and was pretty action packed. It had some of the same clunkiness as before, but overall felt better paced and was a pretty satisfying ending, mostly tying up the threads. I liked the way the story was told with The Root, with the way that Binti came to terms with her new identity(ies), and by the end of all of this she was a character I could really get behind.

I did however struggle a bit with a score for this, because whilst I really enjoyed it, I also didn't feel like it was an absolute classic. It'll probably fade away over time from my brain. So I've gone for 4, but really it was more 3.75 when compared to the previous book.

This is a book that I feel compelled to talk to people about. I've made three recommendations about it already, and have been tempted to buy some copies and leave it in places where people who it could resonate with may find it. I came across it through Bec, who wrote this incredibly powerful review. I'd been procrastinating on starting a new book, it sounded like it would resonate, and so I picked it up. And despite it being non-fiction, I was hooked.

This is an unashamedly opinionated, feminist book, which whilst it goes out of its ways to be inclusive, is firmly rooted in the author's experiences. Except those experiences resonate SO much with me, and seemingly with tons of other people. It put into words things I'd felt, and helped me to see someone else sharing the same things.

The author comes from a background of nature, and some of her writing is a bit too flowery for me. But it's also beautiful, impactful, and articulate.

Absolutely recommended for anyone in the parenting space, or generally for anyone who wants to understand better what people going through that journey are experiencing.

I really enjoyed the first two Lady Astronaut series by the author, and found them very easy reading so bought this for a long transatlantic flight to the US West coast as a light read. I spent most of my time on the plane with this, and finished it off in some jetlagged moments after arriving. Like her previous books, my main criticism was the sheer cringe of the romantic writing. Sadly this is set around a couple on honeymoon, so there's a fair amount of it. That aside though, I found myself liking it more and more as I went along. Whilst it didn't connect with me in the same way as her previous books, I thought the fluffiness of the space cruise ship, the fun of the murder mystery, plus the important topic of PTSD and the main character's personal journey were all great. Not a classic, but incredibly enjoyable nonetheless.

I could remember the broad brush strokes of the first book, but had to read some summaries to remember most details as it'd been ages (Dec 22) when I read the first one. As before, I really liked the character and the world, and it's a story with heart. However I didn't think the story was very strong. I'm actually writing this late, in August, and I'm already struggling to remember bits. There was also some clunkiness in the writing, notably in the family reunion party. Despite that, again, I'm keen to read the end of the trilogy and will try to pick it up before too much time passes.

A 'work book', this tells the story of Clearview AI and facial recognition technology, and in my head is called "All Your Face Are Belong To Us" (but I'm not the only one – warning, Twitter link 🥴).

It was an interesting tale, as well as giving some great insight into the technicalities of how the field has grown up, but in a very accessible way. That said, it took me ages to finish, again suffering from non-fictionitis and not being driven to keep going. And it also felt a bit formulaic at times, often starting chapters with introducing the new main character, giving an (often negatively physically portrayed) description of them, before diving into their role.

A fitting end to the Nexus trilogy, this one picked up after I was less connected to the second. The ensemble cast is still fairly big, but you're much more invested in everyone at this point, and things keep moving forward at every stage. The underlying political tensions are obviously very familiar, but even more so in an election year. Maybe I was just used to the author's style at this point, but looking back this book also feels a lot less clunky in places than the first one did. It all wraps up satisfyingly, and with a nice epilogue to boot.

This was a birthday present bought for me because apparently it would be up my street, and so once again I went into a book knowing absolutely nothing beyond the blurb. This one is "A thrillingly told queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you", and yes, it was indeed very much up my street. There's some interesting character arcs for basically almost everyone, the core cultural setting has layers and depth, and the human/alien dynamics were also nicely thought through. I really enjoyed the way that Emily wrote it, and would definitely be keen to read more from her in the future.

Wah. I was so looking forward to coming back into Murderbot world – something that I've truly loved experiencing – but this was just a bit of a let down. It was enjoyable enough, a short and easy read, and I still very much love Murderbot and ART and the world. But. Hmm.

The first and biggest issue was that this isn't a 'new' story, it takes over directly from the end of the current-day storyline and is unapologetic and actually quite unhelpful with that. And what I mean by that is that the latest of the timeline was occurring in Murderbot 5, Network Effect, which was originally published in 2020 but which I read in January 2022. After that book-wise was Murderbot 6, Fugitive Telemetry, published April 2021 (I finished it 8 days after Network Effect), but in this the plot jumps back in time to before the events of book 5. So when it's come to this latest one, my memory was years out of date, and I hadn't even read the books when they were first published. I read a synopsis, I could remember the main plot points, but honestly I was so fuzzy on who everyone was, why I should care about them, what their characteristics were etc, plus all the nuances of how events had played out any Murderbot was so traumatised. This book doesn't explain anything really, and it's written as if you're picking it up immediately on the back of book 5 and will understand it all in that context. So for me that introduced a real gap in connection, but I'm curious to know if I'd feel differently after re-reading 5 (which I utterly loved).

That said, I don't think the story was very strong in this book generally. Murderbot is learning to deal with their mental health and isn't in a great place for various reasons, which was an interesting development. But the story about the colony just lacked much depth or interest for me outside of AdaCol2, and possibly this would have been better as the first half of another longer book. I still love you, Murderbot, but this wasn't my favourite.

It took me absolutely ages to get through this one. It's a fairly chunky book at 624 pages, but for some reason I didn't find it quite as captivating as the last one. It's more of the same action action action, but the cast expands out even more and there were several storylines to follow, which meant that you spend a lot of time on things happening in parallel rather than everything moving forward. It wasn't a slog to read, but it did get a bit samey. I'll finish the trilogy for sure, but I'm not desperate to do so as my next read.

I bought this as a holiday read primarily because I'd taken Redshirts by the same author on my last long haul flight, which turned out to be the perfect level of brain fluff that I needed. This was exactly the same. In the end notes the author describes the book as a "pop song" and that fits perfectly.

It's a very easy read, although at times it did grate on me a bit that every single character has exactly the same, wise-cracking, sarcastic banter as everyone else in the book. It leaves the cast feeling very one dimensional and interchangeable for the most part, with zero emotional investment. But when you're on a 15 hour flight with a toddler squidged in next to you, that's sometimes what you need.

All in all this is a pretty satisfying conclusion to the trilogy and wraps things up pretty nicely. There's much more of the original gang here, and for me was a nicer balance between the S1 crew and the others. A lot of crappy stuff happens, it's not all happy happy (which wouldn't have fit the series anyway), but it's very well paced and again a very enjoyable read.

I'm so, so glad that these books held up to my memories, and thoroughly enjoyed the re-read. Definitely one of my favourite series ever, and I look forward to another reading at some point.

As with Wool, I vividly remember exactly where I was when I originally read this. I remember how jarring but also exciting it was to learn more about the "why" of it all – what had led up to the silos, how they fit in, and a bit about the tech behind it all. Outside of that, I only remembered fragments throughout my re-read this time.

I really enjoyed having more in the Wool universe and continuing the story (which is still great), but a combination of much less of Jules and her gang coupled by some quite unlikeable characters in the from the historical elements made me generally less invested in their stories. But still a great read and a very enjoyable addition, just not up there with the first.

It was with some trepidation that I finally stopped putting off watching the Silo TV series. I was curious about the adaptation, but my hesitation went beyond my usual nit picking of whether people did a good job bringing it to life. I have such vivid, important, and personal memories of my first read of Wool, even though it was 10 (ten!) years ago, and the book had stuck with me ever since as a bit of a symbol. On starting to watch the TV series (which is ok so far, but seems to be deviating on several fronts) I had an overwhelming urge to read the book again, I think to make sure that I reinforced my original thoughts and feelings to stop them getting overwritten by TV visuals.

I absolutely flew though the book over just a few days, helped by a horrible cold and time off work. I was surprised at the balance of how I'd remembered so much, but forgotten enough of the nuances that it felt like an exciting read all over again. Some parts of what I now realise fall into the next book were mixed up in my memories, and I really enjoyed reliving it all and detangling the story back to its pure form. And it's just such a great story. I remember my genuine shock of the book starting out detailing the life of a key character, and then taking a turn I really didn't expect. The pacing, the way the mysteries slowly get unravelled, the action, the main character, the way the descriptions of the environment made it all so alive in my head for so long. I love this book, and I'm glad that the re-read didn't lessen any of my experiences.

This was a recommendation from a colleague, and I found it a very enjoyable read. It's action, action, action, and whilst some of it is written in a very masculine and unsubtle way (there's several instances of variations on "her nipples were hard through her wet top/getting out of the shower; it was the most erotic thing Kade had ever seen"), it kind of works in a very popcorny movie way. The characters are a bit cliched but actually memorable, even some of the smaller roles, and the science and concept are quite interesting in themselves. I've switched over to another series because I was ill and that was already in the house, but I'm keen to read the rest of the trilogy. One warning: there's various references to and depictions of sexual abuse, and also graphic violence.

I had the pleasure of meeting the author when I spoke at an event with her waaay back in 2013, and I've had this book on my reading list for ages. I always struggle a bit with reading "work books" because quite frankly I'd rather be reading about spaceships, but this was actually a really good read. Plenty of very practical advice and examples, and a blunt but honest way of writing that I appreciated for not over romanticising the topic. I can see myself going back to this as a reference, and also pointing others in its direction too.

Another book inherited from my husband's ADHD-bought-but-not-read pile so I didn't know anything about it in advance, but it was a solid read to kick off the year. Pluto immediately became my favourite planet (I believe) when it was downgraded (gotta support the underdog), and this book did feel like a bit of a love letter to it.

Story-wise there were layers of different plot angles going on, and actually even the bit-part characters had enough depth. I really enjoyed how both Lucian and Nou were written. I also liked the imagery and descriptions of the Plutonian landscape, and how it would potentially change with terraforming. The book isn't a classic, and I don't think it'll be super memorable for me, but nonetheless still a fun read.