The Red Threads of Fortune, by J. Y. Yang

The Red Threads of Fortune by J.Y.  Yang

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'll second all those who say to read The Black Tides of Heaven first. Though the events are loosely connected temporally, all the world building happens in the first book. The world is still involved, we have the magic-using Protectorate vs. the technological Machinists, and both are making progress. But that dynamic is only lightly explored and is peripheral to this story. It's really all about the relationships. Mother to child, husband and wife, and non-binary lovers all get an interesting treatment. Many reviews focus on the non-binary relationship between Mokoya and Rider, and it is in front, but what makes it interesting for me is the way Yang is able to set it with other, more familiar relationships that allow us cis-gendered readers a way to bridge in. I am partial to big-picture social and technical stories so maybe was not as interested in this, but it's still good. I began to tire a bit of Mokoya's getting in her own way, but that's real too. It just feels to me like if the author allowed herself double the pages she could actually double the depth, and we'd have something really special.



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Compulsory, by Martha Wells

Compulsory is a story from the Murderbot Diaries, the first of which was All Systems Red.  The story is very consistent--our angsty teenage Murderbot defies its programming and inclinations to be more humane than allowed, and saves the humans it is charged mostly to protect from each other.  It's a decent story, I'm just still cheesed by how All Systems Red managed to win an award while neither of Sarah Pinsker's excellent, thoughtful SF stories got a smell.  Anyway, if you like All Systems Red you will want to read this.

Maximum Outflow, by Adam Rogers

Maximum Outflow is one of the true dystopian stories in the Wired Magazine Future of Work series.  The protagonist is a maintainer in a closed post-apocalyptic environment--a terrarium, as one of the characters puts it.  He isn't thought to be very bright, but he is plenty observant and notices a very minor imbalance that threatens to kill everyone.  It's a very exciting and well-told story, possibly an award contender.

The Branch, by Eugene Lim

The author of The Branch is a librarian, and the conceit of the library as a central experience is very much the focus here.  You go there for answers, for therapy, for a religious experience, to disconnect.  Nice try, and I think libraries will actually continue to be relevant in a way like this but less over the top.  But this is a bit overdone.

The Third Petal, by Nisi Shawl

The protagonist in The Third Petal is trying to organize an alternative mutual aid community, and the government is having none of it.  They have created the Antitrust Authority, a nationwide police force tasked with monitoring social arrangements, and hers is no good.

The invasiveness is believable enough, but it needs more motivation than a short tale like this can provide.  Interesting structure for the protagonist's positive approach, however, which is where the title comes from.

The Farm, by Charlie Jane Anders

The protagonist in The Farm is a writer.  He is tasked with writing a news story in such a way that it doesn't trigger a critical mass of artificial personalities in an artificial crowd hosted by an AI.  I had never thought of this, and it's highly plausible.  And it is quite possible for it to be set up in such a way as to frustrate a real author.  But AIs are already capable of writing the stories, so I think the author here is superfluous and the dialog could all be inside a machine.

Placebo, by Charles Yu

The machines do all the doctoring.  Our protagonist is a "doctor" hired to provide bedside manor.  His actions are strictly prescribed by what the client pays for.

I see this happening.  At some point in the not too distant future computers will be more consistent diagnosticians than actual doctors, as long as they have data.  For most conditions it doesn't even take AI.  Bedside manor will be provided in a more clever and better way though, most likely with someone posing as a nurse (or a real one, they will be harder to automate).

The Trustless, by Ken Liu

The Trustless centers on de-skilled legal work--law clerking, lawyering, even adjudication.  The protagonist does work just above AI level on smart contracts--automatic execution once conditions are met, so no issues with fulfillment.  But it's pretty menial work, and there are plenty in the same boat.  The effect of the gig work is to push people apart, making everyone think they are alone fighting to stay afloat.  Any chance of pulling together?

Understated but affecting, it's a pretty good Ken Liu piece.

Real Girls, by Laurie Penny

This is the first in a series of short stories that appeared in the Wired Magazine January 2018 issue on work.  They are paywalled.

Real Girls starts with a protagonist with a newly minted degree in English, a lot of debt, and no direction.  Good recipe for desperation.  His girlfriend is ready to give up on him.  Thus he ends up with a gig as a "robot" girlfriend for someone 8 hours away.  The girlfriend is supposed to be a chatbot, but they aren't good enough at it so the company hires text actors.  He's making some money, and his girlfriend is getting interested again--but he can't quite bear things staying just the same.

It's a nice story but not too intense or engaging.  The ending is kind of not motivated by the rest of the story.

The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I might have read "The Concrete Jungle" 14 years ago but I don't recall it. In the end I enjoyed both of the stories, but overall I can handle Stross pretty well. I love hard, full-on geeky SF and he scratches that itch here. The afterword is very helpful for those of us that like to analyze writing in these reviews. He draws parallels between his work and others that treat mathematics as magic, or as a connection to other universes.

The series is humorous, but it's both dry and dark. There's a certain density to his writing that means I wouldn't read all seven of these in a row. The contrast of dreary government bureaucracy and utterly insane saving-the-world-from-monsters stuff is interesting but eventually gets wearing. I think he's trying to convey that Bob Howard gets a lot of satisfaction from his job even though it's painful on so many levels--perhaps because of that.

I've read other stories in the series and while they actually stand alone OK, they make much more sense now that I've read the first one. Not sure when I'll follow through on the rest, but I'll be willing to do it at some point.



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Children of Thorns, Children of Water, by Aliette de Bodard

Children of Thorns, Children of Water by Aliette de Bodard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Children of Thorns, Children of Water is an interesting story and adds more depth to the Dominion of the Fallen universe. The baking element really does add an interesting twist. Whether it's enough to keep me going--not sure, I think I'm just a bit worn on Great House feuds, and beasties in the walls aren't quite enough to save them. Oh well.



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The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I just read this one, considering whether to read the series. I read books nominated for major awards, and de Bodard gets nominated a lot. And while she uses a variety of settings--Southeast Asia, Central
America, France, spaceships--the structure of the setting seems to end up very similar. We have feudal Houses vying for control of a space and culture. In this one, it seems like a lot of reviewers got frustrated with de Bodard for presuming that we understand how the characters would sacrifice for a Great House, rather than building that understanding. As far as I can tell it's just how she rolls.

I enjoyed this book more than most of hers, actually. The writing is engaging and flows well. But it's the same old stuff. Made worse by the fact that this Great House stuff is a Thing now, and it seems like most of the award nominees structure their narratives around sparring feudal houses. I actually think the characters have potential to drive the plot further. But please tell us a new story!



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Waiting On a Bright Moon, by J. Y. Yang

Waiting on a Bright Moon by J.Y.  Yang

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this on the TOR website. It just didn't evoke any particular feelings for me. The second person perspective was somewhat forced. The most generous interpretation I can come up with for the overall tone of the story is that we're watching (or, since it's second person, being) someone who has detached herself emotionally in order to deal with the disappointments of her life and her current status. That could have been conveyed by third person better, and allowed for more of the warmth later in the story to come in. It's nice, but not super memorable.



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Waiting on a Bright Moon

In Calabria, by Peter S. Beagle

In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Like a lot of people, I liked this book but didn't love it. The writing is beautiful, and Calabria is a fun setting for a story, but it feels just a slight bit remote and I'm not sure I came away feeling more intensely about the setting. As for the unicorn, and the relationship to Bianchi--also beautiful, also a little remote, perhaps intentionally so. I remember reading reading The Last Unicorn more than 40 years ago, and while it also felt that way at the start, it got more intense as it went along and I still remember its ending very well. I'm glad I read it, equally glad I get to return it to the library. It has a good home there.



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City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This series is a rare combination--great world building and great characterization. Really rare to get both. General Turyin Mulaghesh is both a war criminal and a hero, and RJB actually manages to fit all of this into one skin in the book. Similar with Sigrud Je Harkvaaldsen, they are two peas in a pod as far as their history goes but very dissimilar in personality.

The world building goes forward here but it takes more of a back seat to characterization. I very much appreciated how hard Jackson worked to make war a human reality--that it is fought by humans and those humans who are soldiers pay a terrible cost even if they are victorious.

I was a little sad when this book ended, which is exactly as it should be. You know you've enjoyed a book when you find you will miss the characters. I hope to pick up City of Miracles soon, to see how this all ends.



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Cloudbound, by Fran Wilde

Cloudbound by Fran Wilde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In this installment of The Bone Universe we get a change of POV (from Kirit to her brother Nate), and of perspective. Nate is a more reflective and big-picture thinker than Kirit, which shows in his attraction to politics and able players. The book centers on how he and Kirit will try to save their home from his perspective.

We get a nice expansion of the Bone Universe, in an expected but interesting way. (view spoiler)[They literally do live on the back of something you could legitimately call a giant turtle. Wryly funny. (hide spoiler)] We get a more thorough introduction to the ecosystem, and Wilde does a good job of showing how delicately balanced their environment is.

But I have to say I didn't like it as much as the first one, since the world is now familiar. Others have said the plot is not quite dramatic enough for YA, nor intricate enough for adult SF, and I agree. Many like the writing style, but it is wearing on me. Very short sentences that don't flow make it a more challenging read than it needs to be. This one falls victim to the "middle of the trilogy" syndrome, where it's just difficult to keep the momentum going.

The third book is nominated for awards, so I'm looking forward to that one.



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Spoonbenders, by Daryl Gregory

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have read one other book by Daryl Gregory, "We Are All Completely Fine". That one was more revelatory for me as I had not read a book with a character with borderline personality disorder. The characters here are a bit more stock--Teddy, a con artist/mobster and his family of psychics. The children (as adults in the book) are kind of stock mob kids (wanting to distance themselves, but not really able to), but the real good stuff is in the details. You really got to know all the characters as the book goes on (except for the mother and most powerful psychic Maureen McKinnon, who remained an enigma throughout). Some other reviewers think he's played a bit safe here, and I would have to agree, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment. Reading this book is like getting to spend time with family--people who irritate and let you down, but in the end stick by you and support you with love. Good stuff.



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The Hermit of Houston, by Samuel R. Delany

Reading this story reminded me of when I read "Dhalgren", I think around 1972.  I was confused most of the time, but managed to hang on and follow it.  Delany has not changed that much.  Lots of sex, and many references to familiar things, but in a very unfamiliar setting that might or might not be post-apocalyptic.  In this case I'm leaning toward post-apocalyptic.  It's good to see him writing again, but hard to get into it unless you're a fan from way back.

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The Stone In the Skull, by Elizabeth Bear

The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm only giving this book 3 stars, but it's a strong 3 stars. As others have said, this is pretty much stage setting for the next couple of books in the trilogy. The characters are all pretty thoroughly fascinating and have a lot of range. The Gage is a sort of classic "gentle giant" type, and it will be interesting to see where Bear takes him. The Dead Man is also a classic type, more the stolid samurai. Both have outlived their original purpose. Their search and their dialogues about it can get a bit self-conscious at times, but overall they are worth reading. We have two women rulers, very similar in their solid devotion to duty, but one is on the way to a drug addiction and the other is transgender. Lots of possibilities here.

I usually don't read books in a universe out of order, even if they are supposedly independent, and think I should have done so here as well. The characters are supposedly mostly new, but I think the setting would make more sense with the earlier trilogy behind it.



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Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am with many others in liking Raven Stratagem much better than Ninefox Gambit. It could be that I'm just a bit more used to his highly tongue-in-cheek style, but this book is just a lot more focused and less hinky. Granted, the ideas are still a stretch and it is challenging to read in places, but really it is better all the way through. I especially loved the ending, there's a definite sense of progress but he's got a lot of possible directions to take the series. Shuos Jedao is a character he can wring a lot of side stories out of. Calendrical technologies are still central to the story and not very clear, so I'm hoping he can do more with how calendar observances enable advanced technology. But this time he really centers the experiences of people in high places and lower ones trying to get by in an empire that is becoming increasingly dysfunctional. I was only mildly enthused about reading this one after Ninefox Gambit, but I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.


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Walkaway, by Cory Doctorow

Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a book of ideas, in some ways a throwback to older science fiction in that the ideas are front and center, and the characters are mostly mouthpieces for them. I do not think of this as a bad thing, and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It made me think all the way through. Yes, the premise is a bit contrived, that cheap fabrication and smart design render both ownership and expertise somewhat optional (though he has to take the latter back a bit in the second half of the book, as we get immortality and warfare). But he's not the first person to imagine post-scarcity communalism, the idea that we will have more than enough for everyone if we stop hoarding. I'm thinking of B. F. Skinner's Walden II. Yes it's preachy, because what you are getting is Doctorow's analysis of current events and a prediction about how it would go if a critical mass of people started to try some really radical solutions. It's possible he didn't spend enough time motivating the dystopia--the system has become even more transparently rigged than it is now, we have company towns and indenture making a comeback. My main critique would be that he set it too far in the future. We could be doing this in 30 years. Not a perfect novel, but the story often grabbed me so I think it worked.



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Come See the Living Dryad, by Theodora Goss

Come See the Living Dryad by Theodora Goss

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is one of those SF stories that justifies the name Speculative Fiction, rather than science fiction or fantasy. It's based on a real condition a real person, but not as depicted in the story. The back-and-forth between the present and the past is handled pretty well. I couldn't quite give it four stars just based on feeling--it feels sort of ephemeral or not quite satisfying, like a tasty broth without quite enough body. That's a pretty non-specific critique, but it's how I felt at the end. Overall it was a good read, and probably worth its nomination for a Locus award.



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Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Overall I liked this book, but I have to say that other reviewers have made me consider some problematic aspects of it. I'm not going to change my impression, but there's a lot to think about, and much of it is troubling.

As a novel, it's pretty sophisticated. We have four points of view--Jack the pharmaceutical pirate (with a submarine!), Eliaz the law enforcement agent with a twisted conscience, his partner bot Paladin, and Med the lab bot. All pretty well represented. The story flows along really well, and stays open right to the end.

The characters are troubling, sometimes within the story and sometimes because of how they are presented. Eliaz and Paladin are pretty cold blooded killers, even as they develop a sexual relationship. That's got its own issues, and offends some LGBT readers. I can see it. (view spoiler)[Paladin starts off as a He, because it is a combat robot with obvious weaponry and armor. Eliaz develops an attraction to it for exactly this reason. Eliaz later finds out that Paladin's human brain (something of an accessory) is female, and imposes the female pronoun on Paladin. Paladin goes along with this. We have an interesting exploration of Paladin's inner monologue on whether he (now she) has any choice but to go along. (hide spoiler)]

I believe that the author is trying to say some important things about gender and sexuality, but there's a more dominating aspect of the inevitability of social decay that makes the style actually get in the way of these points. This is very much a millennial voice--the best that the characters fighting a highly rigged system can hope for is a partial, temporary pushback. Corporatism crushes pretty much all of the relationship stories, and I believe this is deliberate.

Great as a library read. More problematic as a purchase, but I'm overall glad I read it. There's a lot going on.



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The Lamentation of Their Women, by Kai Ashante Wilson

The Lamentation of Their Women by Kai Ashante Wilson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


OK, so I'm not exactly sure what to say here. I think the Goodreads summary is misleading--the Devil never appears in the story, and it's the protagonist 'Nisha who tells us that the weapons in the story are from the Prince of Darkness (that phrase also does not appear). It's an extremely well written revenge fantasy, with the deliciousness of the violence front and center and the way the Devil will twist it and the price to be paid later in the background. Probably gets the Sad Puppies and the rest of the Fox News crowd all in a twist, but it was nominated for the Locus Award rather than the Hugo, so may not be on their radar. Good stuff, actually, in its horrific way--Wilson is making it as clear as he can how we got to where we are.



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Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Seanan McGuire is a seriously prolific author, and I kind of thought with the first book in this series (Every Heart a Doorway) that that showed a bit. The Wayward Children universe is a rather structured set of alternate universes, in the way that YA fiction often works. But in this prequel covering the story of Jack and Jill, McGuire spends only a little time toward the end explicating the doors to these places and their themes. Most of it digs into the character of the Moors (the place), and how the characters of the girls fit the place (or have their corners rounded off or sharpened to fit). The Moors itself is an archetype, but the girls get fully fleshed out, and a lot of their behavior in the previous book becomes easier to understand (Ms. Wilson hints at it). I think the series is growing, and I'll be reasonably happy reading the next one.



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Persephone of the Crows, by Karen Joy Fowler

Persephone of the Crows was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Award.  Not too long to read, it was quite entertaining but it seems more like the first chapter of a book, with a few bits tacked on, than an independent story.  The scene is set with a charming sequence where Polly's family is visiting another family, linked by their father's work and friendship.  The dads mainly get together to drink.  Polly is playing with Isabelle, who has seen a fairy.  Polly does not believe in such things.  Things go downhill when Isabelle's father shows everyone an erotic painting with his wife as the model. 

It's a standard setup, and would no doubt go someplace interesting, but where it does in fact go is told only in a few brief, interspersed paragraphs.  I imagine it as something Fowler started many years ago, and does not actually intend to pursue, but thought it worth getting out there.  Since it got an award nomination she is right.

Provenance, by Ann Leckie

Provenance by Ann Leckie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At first I had trouble getting going with this novel. The setup is lighter and feels less ultimately important than the Ancillary trilogy--everything is smaller in scale. Hwae just feels like a less serious civilization than the Radch. Because it is, as it turns out. The protagonist, Ingray Aughskold, is maybe from an earlier but very authentic brand of female protagonist--she is not a brute, she doubts herself a lot, and makes mistakes. But she has excellent instincts.

The culture of Hwae feels very homey. The emphasis on "vestiges" rolls together souvenirs, artifacts and religious relics. It's a defining cultural affectation.

And that's what eventually grew on me about the book, and made it get better as it went along. The book wears its heart on its sleeve. All the characters are deeply motivated by forms of basic decency, even the less good ones. This theme is part of the Ancillary series as well, especially expressed through the Justice of Toren, but here it's front and center.

In the end, I liked the book very much. But if she revisits this world I hope she relies a little less on sentiment to drive the story.



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Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've just gotten around to reading Borne (partly because I do most of my reading from libraries, and the wait for this work was really long). It seems like most of the rest of the universe has reviewed it already. But I'll second the others that see this work as a rich and demanding read. You have to work at a VanderMeer novel. But I've read Finch, and the Southern Reach trilogy--VanderMeer is continuing to change as an author, and I was less put off and more intrigued by this book than the others. The characters suffer desperately, sometimes extravagantly, but the protagonist is incredibly whole and powerful, even when she is dealing with huge gaps in her history. I enjoy how VanderMeer juxtaposes the detailed descriptions of the difficulty of Rachel and Wick (the main supporting character)'s lives with throwaways about how long they have been at it (many years). It's a dystopia, but collapse is slow, and never quite final.

I enjoyed it all the way through and I'm not surprised that VanderMeer is breaking out in popular culture, though "Annihilation" is not likely to be my kind of movie. A strong 4 stars.



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The Worshipful Society of Glovers, by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Worshipful Society of Glovers is a well-executed morality tale, with the magic drivers being gloves and brownies.  The protagonist is a journeyman glover closing in on master status, but his financial and home position is precarious--in addition to having only just enough money to buy into the necessary training, his sister has severe and life-threatening epilepsy that distracts him.  Temptation presents in the form of black-market gloves, a pair of which are used to push him over the edge.

What Kowal does well here is to present the moral dilemma starkly but with nuance.  Could all the possible choices be bad?  Fun to read, and a worthy award nominee (in this case the Locus awards).

Seven Surrenders, by Ada Palmer

Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


So I found Too Like the Lightning a hard slog through the first half of the book, but in the second half it picked up enough for me to actually enjoy it and give it 4 stars. I find all the dense language distracting--it might be fine for the 19th century but I don't think modern authors bring it off all that well. I never finished Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle for not being able to get past that writing.

But to the topic at hand. I just finished Seven Surrenders, and this time I can't forgive Ada Palmer. I worked my way through the first half of the book, remembering the reward in the second. And indeed there was a shift halfway through. This time, what do we get? A batch of big reveals, heavily and I guess intentionally theatrical, one after the other. It's all a grand conspiracy by the great families. Oh, and our earthly Gods too.

I don't know, I don't know. We are 300 years into a utopia that started 300 years past our current time. Flying car networks managed by humans? Seems like that would have been necessary 500 years in the past of this book, but not in its current context. But mostly it's just never been very clear to me how we get from where we are to the society this book depicts. And if we're not meant to need that, then what makes us care about these people? These over-the-top caricatures?

It seems like a lot of folks are really looking for this sort of thing, and loving it. If you like your writing dense and florid, this may work better for you. For me, two weeks was way too long to spend for this payoff.



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The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So this is my first time reading Kameron Hurley. Now I'll know what to expect--you do literally have to set your stomach for it, much like reading Jeff Vandermeer novels. It is SF with a lot of horror mixed in. And it got off to a somewhat slow start for me, as the two major protagonists (Zan and Jayd) that drive the narrative are very similar, even though they say they are very different. I think that is deliberate on Hurley's part and shows some very layered writing. But Zan and Jayd are very stilted, while some of the other characters in the book (told through Zan and Jayd) seem to have actual differences.

But enough self-referential character development stuff. This novel is packed with ideas. Organic world-ships are not a new thing, but the way Hurley reveals their scale is really good stuff. There's an archetype Hero's Journey in it that is the best part of the book, but you have to get through almost half of the book to see it.

Persistence paid off and in the end I liked, but did not love, the book. Promising but just a bit too stiff and rough around the edges to be excellent.



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Luna: New Moon, by Ian McDonald

New Moon by Ian McDonald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One thing for sure, this book will not bore you. A page turner all the way through. Many good action scenes, maybe not quite as good on the sex scenes, but it's definitely a solid thriller that will get your adrenaline humming.

Some good points: Finding alternate sexuality in a book is really easy these days, in fact it's pretty much the default. McDonald's lunar society finds a way to make it feel deliberate and natural at the same time--everyone is pretty much full-on horny for everyone else all the time. This feels natural because it's consistent with lunar culture, every aspect is intense. Believable maybe--a good story grounding, definitely. I was able to round up to four stars because of this. There are a few genuine cultural moments as well, in particular the description of the Long Run.

Problems: The appeal begins and ends with the storytelling, the story itself is well worn. I am reading the award winners this year, and picked this up as a catch-up for Wolf Moon, which is nominated for a Locus award. Does everyone have to write about Great Family rivalries? John Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire, Yoon Ha Lee's Raven Stratagem, Fonda Lee's Jade City--I could go on and on. Basically everything by Aliette De Bodard. Yes, it's always been a popular story framework, but is it truly the ONLY one? I may be an outlier because, while I enjoy the Song of Ice and Fire, I'm not blinded by it. Goodness.

Other reviewers have mentioned the poor production quality of the book. There are definitely enough errors to be distracting, almost causing me to lower the rating to 3 stars. Not quite.



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The Martian Obelisk, by Linda Nagata

The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This story was well and clearly told, and I found it easy to sympathize with the protagonists. Maybe a little too easy. It sounds very much like Nagata follows the same news I do, and took everything I (we) are afraid of, and convinced is going to happen, and put it in as the backdrop for a short story. Very compelling, and depressing. Others have said it is a bit derivative, but really, what story isn't? I liked it the best of all the Hugo short story entries this year, and hope it wins.



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The Secret Life of Bots, by Suzanne Palmer

The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is an enjoyable little novelette. It's a bit standard for a Hugo win, but it will contend. Highly humanized robots have always been a thing, and they definitely are this year (see All Systems Red and Fandom for Robots). Sometimes I think about wanting to see a story from a more uniquely "robotic" perspective, but then again, we are creating them so I guess it's a good bet that they will end up with our personalities. Anyway, it's worth the time to read.



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The Stone Sky, by N. K. Jemisin

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jemisin is a big thinker and an autobiographical writer (the latter in this series, at least). I really enjoy big ideas, so this story was appealing. It didn't blow me away as it has some readers, but it's a worthy conclusion to the series. And as I have found over the years, that's no mean thing. Concluding a series effectively is incredibly hard.

I learned a lot from reading the afterword. Jemisin became a full-time writer during the writing of this book, and that shows despite the fact that she had a lot of external challenges. She is focusing on refining her style. For me, some of those edges show, in the way Hoa tells Essun's story. Throughout the series I sometimes had trouble keeping track of her identity with all the name (and truly, identity) changes. One thing that comes up persistently, and is always a challenge for writers who work at her scale, is how to convey the action. It's meant to be more visual, with lots of CG effects and breathless, strained, exclamatory dialog. I really could see this being a big-budget movie, but in print there's a bit of a struggle.

These are pretty minor points. The story speaks to us, in our time, about our history and how we restrain people with unknown power through fear. In the end the story is grand enough to fulfill its scope. Jemisin did an effective job of conveying how the earth had come to its present pass, and awesome is an accurate word for it.



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The Black Tides of Heaven, by J. Y. Yang

The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y.  Yang

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There's a lot packed into this little book. The magical system, Slack, is interesting in itself (though we don't really learn much about it besides the fact that it is difficult to master). I think there's some significance in how it's named that may become more apparent later. It's also not a completely fantastic world--technology progresses, and things that can be done in Slack might also be accomplished without magic. This gives the relationships and the politics a more grounded feel.

All this is illustrated, rather than described, through the relationship of Akeha and Mokoya, twins who at the start have yet to declare their sexuality. The author is non-binary, which may account for why the non-binary nature of children and sexuality as a choice feel very natural, and contribute to the Otherness of the work as a reflection of ourselves.

Since it's part of a series I expect that all this is going to get filled in a bit. I think it will be worth it.



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River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The one good thing about this story is hippos. Introducing African wildlife to the U.S. is a thing, and Gailey gives us some good background on how this got considered. Hippos as potentially dangerous beasts that are a challenge to domesticate but repay the effort is pretty cool, and a great driver of the book. But that's about all there is to it. The characters are forced into two molds--roles in an Old West outlaw gang (explained, and deliberate) and also into modern sex and gender roles (not explained, though with more development it could have been illustrated).

The book has the feel of a YA novel but doesn't work as one--there's a lot of violence, including some very sad stuff. The plot is pulled off well enough around these forced characters, but it's necessarily uncomplicated in a short work. There's a couple of big gaps:

1) Gailey explains in the introduction that she has taken the real interest in hippo imports back about 60 years to set it in the old west. Trying to imagine some steampunk or Wild Wild West type technology to get the hippos to the Americas would have added a lot, but she chose not to.

2) The gender roles could have worked if Gailey had gone more in for this story as alternate history--where those gender roles are known and out but still marginalized. It sort of makes sense that these characters would be criminals in the Old West, because what else would they be in that society? Instead it just feels like modern liberal sensibilities are picked up and dropped into a Western setting. Not really helpful.

But 3 stars and yay for hippos.



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Extracurricular Activites, by Yoon Ha Lee

Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This prequel centers around Shuos Jedao when he was alive, early in his career. It's a lot more madcap than I remember the novel to have been, and much more action-oriented. There's a lot of fun in here, but I still found it very disjointed and hard to read in places. Somebody else mentioned the hair thing--yes, it's frustrating not to know what was up with that. I have not read The Raven Stratagem yet, but plan to, hopefully it gets more coherent as the series goes along.



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Clearly Lettered In a Mostly Stable Hand, by Fran Wilde

Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I just finished this story, and read all the reviews below to see if there was something I missed. If so, the rest of us did too. If there isn't some kind of a reveal that any of us can figure out, then it's just a series of disturbing little vignettes. Fran Wilde is a better writer than that, at least in her novels, so I'm willing to give more of the benefit of the doubt once I find out what all this is a metaphor for, but so far it eludes me.



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Carnival Nine, by Caroline Yoachim

Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Clockwork universes are a great plot device, as they simplify the workings of that universe so that they can be exposed. Yoachim's clockwork dolls have a very simple economy based around carnivals that proceed along the tracks. They have no doubt who their Maker is, as that Maker winds their mainsprings every day. Otherwise, it's a story of our lives, translated into this clockwork universe. So it's 100% predictable, but suspense is not the point. We get a new perspective on what it means to care.

Thing is, it's a nice story and well written, but for me not super engaging. I do think it has a decent shot at an award.



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Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience, by Rebecca Roanhorse

Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


So we have a story by an authentic Native American, about a character who is an authentic Native American, but has a job as a VR immersive experience lead doing a kind of "therapy" as an "Indian". This story works better if you've read more about the experiences of Native Americans and people of color outside of the story, and can identify with it in that way. There's a lot of potential depth and ideas to explore about "passing", and what Native Americans have to do to get by in a White world. (view spoiler)[ In the end, we have a White guy who absorbs the protagonist's stories through the pretense of friendship, then ends up taking both his job and his girlfriend by being a better "Indian" than the Native American. And it's absolutely unsurprising, since the construct being marketed is for White consumption. (hide spoiler)] Subtle and wry. I wish Roanhorse well in her writing career.



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Fandom for Robots, by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked the story. I'm just not sure I'd even call it speculative. Maybe alternate history, since it involves a one-off sentient robot from 1954. IRL, bots produce somewhat above average fan fiction, and have been for several years. Basically Computron is a self-training AI--it consumes a data set and then starts producing answers, which are refined by a trainer. It's 2018, we have those now.



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All Systems Red, by Martha Wells

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a fun read, not really a jaw dropper but nice as a setup in a series. Our protagonist is a SecUnit, a cyborg construct intended to provide security for an exploration crew. It hacks itself to have free will, and when we pick up it has humanized itself by watching 35,000 hours of entertainment vids. So it does not think of itself as human, and maintains a distance that reminds me a bit of autism. But it definitely has feelings, opinions about the entertainment it watches, etc.

The plot is pretty standard and a bit thin--really all of it is, though it has potential. There are three more books in the series, so some who read this will know where it goes--but I'd be interested in how these Units are made (it reminds me strongly of Robocop, like there's an ex-person in there). Right now the plot isn't engaging enough for me to want to read more. Really, it's a YA novelette, and readers down to 11-12 would enjoy it.

In my estimation this is about a 3.6, rounding up.



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Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is nominated for a Nebula, but the SF element is barely there at all. One of the characters uses it to make an appointment on time. What it really is, is lesbian erotic fiction/romance. And for that, it's pretty good. But short--I wouldn't say we had time to get to know the characters. The plot elements around Haskell's lurid pre-code horror magazine cover art are interesting, it's easy to believe the character in that space. Overall I enjoyed it, though it's not really my thing.



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Jade City, by Fonda Lee

Jade City by Fonda Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Fonda Lee says this is her first adult novel, and the YA roots show just a little bit. But there's very little not to like about the book. As a writer she has mastered the art, and knows how to structure and tell a compelling story.

The setting is Asian, but the flavor is mild beyond the names. It could be set anywhere that clans dominate socially, which is at some point almost anywhere at all (except maybe America). The geography is entirely made up, but culturally it's earth. Reminds me of another Nebula nominee this year, Amberlough.

Like Amberlough, it took me a bit to get into this one. At times the emotions are described rather than depicted, which is where those YA roots show. But the characterization really carries the book. I got invested enough to feel for all of them. Most folks are giving it a 4 or 5 (with the predictable clinkers), but I can't give it more than a 3 because I've read this book before, many times. It's very enjoyable as a clan and family action novel, and you won't feel like you want that part of your life back if you read it. So go for it.



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Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's very difficult to do a good SF mystery because the author has to create the setting of what is possible, and then set up the mystery itself. It's very tempting to create technological "cheats" to resolve the mystery. Lafferty doesn't fall for this--mostly.

I readily concur with the Nebula and Hugo nominations--it's a solid book. Probably not a winner, but definitely a contender. The pacing is great, it kept me eagerly reading the entire time, from the opening gory mess through to the end. The reveals of each character's capabilities are timed pretty well and pull you along.

I don't want to do a plot summary, you can read the rest of the reviews for that. My quibbles are spoilers, so I'll put them behind the spoiler wall:

[Lafferty successfully holds off magic solutions until the very end, where one might think they don't matter anymore. Lafferty sets up the solution with mind maps--complete representations of a person's personality and memories, that can be downloaded to a person's clone--or others, as it turns out. Maria Arena, the super brain hacker, is able to edit these maps to both insert and delete obvious or subtle personality traits. But it apparently has all one's DNA as well. This to me implies that a mind map is a model that can be read from, and written to, the brain, but leaves the DNA part confusing. I mean, you can load a mind map into a brain, but how do you edit the existing DNA as part of the same process? Not explained and not sensible.

But then a piece of the ending involves a super-advanced food printer that can determine one's preferred foods from a spit sample. It apparently does that by making a mind map. The DNA I understand, but recreating memories from a spit sample does not jive with how memories actually form in the brain. They aren't encoded in DNA. Magic alert. (hide spoiler)]

It's still a very good book, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

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The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard In the Yard), by Matthew Kressel

The Last Novelist by Matthew Kressel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's possible to do more in a short story, but not a lot. The Last Novelist is a very emotional piece of work, I really enjoyed reading about an eccentric author at the end of his life finding friendship and inspiration with a young girl. It's all very well handled. The eponymous novelist might have been sad or angry about the disappearance of print books, but I didn't end up reading it that way--more that he was simply an eccentric person who liked to create books from end to end.

I'm not sure that books would disappear from a universe such as this one, where technology enables the creation of such things (view spoiler)[in the story there is a fabricator called a Maker that can pretty much make anything, and makes the author's old fashioned linotype printing press. No knowledge would really be lost (hide spoiler)]. They will always be valued as art objects, at least as long as art objects are valued.



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Wind Will Rove, by Sarah Pinsker

Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sarah Pinsker has two strong pieces up for awards this year. And Then There Were (N-1) is perhaps the more imaginative of the two, but Wind Will Rove is emotionally powerful.

The story itself is about preservation of memory. The protagonist is a teacher of history on a generation ship heading for a distant star. Early on in the voyage, a disgruntled IT tech erased all their cultural history from the ship databases. The physical survival of the ship was not in doubt, but the loss of the history panicked people and nearly ended the mission anyway. They became hyperconscious of the past, and attempted to preserve as much of their history through their own memories as possible.

Some are simply depressed by the story, thinking it either didn't make a point or the point was too obvious. They would be rewarded by trying again. Yes, the rebellious children are kind of silly. They usually are. What adults who actually care about them do is try to reconcile with an eye to having them learn something from the rebellion, and keep their original ideas. Pinsker's protagonist is trying to do this, and on the face of it this is a harder road than simply kicking the kid's ass and telling him to get with the program. The just-barely-spoken acknowledgement here is that whatever tactics are used to reconcile the discontented have to work for seven or more generations without a break. Simple oppression is more likely to get you another disgruntled IT worker. And you can never plug all the holes.

The story illustrates the importance of memory in spite of, and eventually because of, its imperfections. Faulty memory begets evolutionary creativity, which is just as important as sui generis creativity, even if the young have not figured that out yet. Or the old.

Great stuff, and she could sweep the Hugos and Nebulas for both novella and novelette this year.



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Weaponized Math, by Jonathan Brazee

Weaponized Math is in The Expanding Universe Anthology, vol. 3.  I think it's a Sad Puppy entry for the Nebulas.  It's pretty much a war story, with minor tweaks to transport it slightly into the future and to another planet.  I think it could be set in a dry area of South America pretty easily.  The protagonist is a female sniper, who has killed gunmen from long range and thus earned the title Hunter of Gunmen.  The story describes the battle and weapons in detail satisfying for a military fiction fan.  The guy has been there and knows how battle goes.  But it's really not particularly speculative.  2 stars.

Dirty Old Town, by Richard Bowes

Dirty Old Town is in F & SF, May 2017.  It's a story a lot like Dust Devil on a Quiet Street, in that it feels very autobiographical but it isn't, quite.  The settings are real, but the TV series described is not. 

The story concerns a childhood--well "frenemy" oversimplifies.  A boy he feared and fought but knew personally becomes an actual friend and lover in adulthood (still complicated).  The guy is a journeyman actor, and wants to produce a story about Bowes' grandfather.  There is a bit of magic involved, in that the protagonist can use an incantation to get inside another person's head and feel what they are feeling.

It's really a very good story, makes you feel quite fine about spending the time to read it.  It's also too complex to describe briefly, and is probably worthy of some deeper criticism.  I can't link to it as it is paywalled, but if you get a chance to read it you should.  I give it four stars.

Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time, by K. M. Szpara

Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K.M. Szpara

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a vampire story, and so many of those have been done already that just mentioning them feels tired. As an exercise in transgender, liminal erotic fiction it's a bit more successful. Lots of unexpected turns. As a description of hurdles trans people overcome, it's a bit better. So it doesn't feel like a groundbreaking story, but it's well told and brings a unique perspective. I would say it's a contender, but probably not a winner, in the Nebula and Hugo awards.



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Original Story

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, by Theodora Goss

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


If you're going to do a Victorian mashup novel in 2018, after so so many of them have been done, it needs some kind of special sauce to make it stand out. This book was fine, but the special sauce was supposed to be the interjections. Those would have been good if they hadn't ended up being trivial--either semi-spoilers or absolutely pure character development without moving the plot. It read OK, and some reviewers really seem to like it, but I don't know for whom it would really hit the mark--maybe YA readers who have seen kids' versions of the original stories as movies. The Athena Club has lots of adventures and there's lots of girl power, but it's a pretty light snack of a book. All the characters have potential, though, so possibly future books that maybe focus on one character more will be better? I don't know.

For a more interesting kind of interjection, try Ship of Theseus by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst. Not sure how that one would work on a Kindle though.



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Amberlough, by Laura Elena Donnelly

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this one since it is nominated for a Nebula award. As a story, the book is excellent. It doesn't grab you immediately but does it soon enough. The story is pretty straightforward in terms of good vs. evil, but has a lot of poignancy. You really get to know and like the sympathetic characters--they are very complex and fully human. Through them you get to know what Amberlough is like as a place--I imagine it as some kind of cross between New York City and New Orleans. Flawed and corrupt, but the interstices allow all kinds of people to thrive.

It's speculative fiction, I guess, but mostly what is speculative about it is that it doesn't conform to Earth's boundaries. Gedda is definitely in Europe somewhere, and it operates a lot like the European Union. The Ospies aren't overt Nazis, they are more like the authoritarian parties and rulers currently on the ascendance in the world. All the culture is European, right down to port bars. Nothing fantastical about it. Us, in a different place.

It's probably a contender, and definitely a really good first novel, but probably won't win the Nebula. Still, I enjoyed reading it and would read more of Donnelly.



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A Human Stain, by Kelly Robson

A Human Stain by Kelly Robson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this because it is nominated for a Nebula. But horror is not so much my thing. It's appropriately ghastly and weird. There's a very nicely executed turning point. Ew Gross! A good one for horror.



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Original Source

The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, let me say this...I liked the book. I did not love the book. The only other novel-length Scalzi title I have read is Redshirts, which I absolutely loved. This one is witty, as all Scalzi stories are, but it's a setup for a longer series and it started to feel forced. It definitely was forced, at the end. The acknowledgements explain this--he was late with the book, totally distracted by election politics. If he wants to write any more he's going to have to seal himself in a media-proof room. This is an OK novel that can be forgiven, and it's even making some long lists for awards, but I don't think his fans will let him get by with this again.



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The Old Dispensation, by Lavie Tidhar

The Old Dispensation by Lavie Tidhar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In this story Tidhar posits a universe that becomes a new home for Jews. It is, however, also populated by beings, including monstrous ones, that threaten them. To counter these threats they have created their own modified beings, even though this appears to go against some tenants of the faith. Thus the dispensation.

I didn't think much of this story at all until, like others here, I read the comments at the end. They are a fascinating discussion of the Jewish nature of the story. Unless you're familiar with Jewish culture you will need a lot of reference material, and then your impression will depend very much on your sources. As a story it's just OK, but set in context it's very thought provoking and interesting.



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New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book has a solid near-future premise. Robinson is ultimately an optimist (more on that later) and comes to this book to portray New York City as the very special place that it (believes it) is, having made a very difficult adjustment to a 50-foot sea level rise. This is happening all around the world but the story consciously sticks to NYC.

Some reviewers have problems with the characterizations but I really didn't. They are not as strong as some KSR books but I found their voices recognizable and reasonable (except maybe for Amelia Black, the ditzy animal activist cloud star. KSR does not have a way to get into the head of this kind of person).

Mostly this book seems to do what so many other SF novels do--set their time at some relatively far future, but project technology and social ideas only a short way ahead. Example: Franklin Garr, one of the main characters, is a high-finance trader. As we speak this job is being automated out of existence. The future already belongs more to the quants than this book says it will 120 years from now.

This really should be New York 2040. Sea level rise might not be 50 feet, but it doesn't need to be to create the disruption described in the book, and the rest of it is not really a stretch for the present day. It never develops real strength in speculation beyond climate, and sort of breaks down into utopianism as it goes along. It starts to ask for people not to behave like people. We like to think this has happened before (say, with the US "founding fathers") but they were much more complex and flawed characters than our heroes here.

In 2312 Robinson avoided that short-range thinking I mention above. His society had truly progressed. This novel is pretty much today, only warmer. His predictions about our future may come true (one can hope), but if they do it's going to be a lot sooner than depicted here.



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And Then There were (N-One), by Sarah Pinsker

And Then There Were by Sarah Pinsker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This story is the most clever take I've seen yet using the encountering-yourself-on-multiple-timelines/universes trope. It is an incredible piece of autobiography--she explores multiple versions of herself meeting herself--at a SarahCon! Too good.

The story itself is personal and gets appropriately meta, but never really weird--it's pretty apparent Sarah Pinsker imagines herself as an acutely normal person. But maybe not, the boundaries of differentiation of Sarah Pinskers is actually explained in the story. It's fascinatingly self-complete. I don't give out five stars very often, this is only the third time, but if this story isn't on multiple award ballots then the awards are messed up.



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Probably Still the Chosen One, by Kelly Barnhill

Probably Still the Chosen One by Kelly Barnhill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was really quite a lot of fun to read. Barnhill manages to swing back and forth between this being a true alternate reality and something just in the protagonist Corinna's imagination. There's something very mature about the way the story unfolds. At first, as an eleven year old, she's thrilled at the attention and being special. As the story proceeds she becomes wiser and examines events critically. The image at the end of her with her four children, scuttling through the tunnel under the sink, is just precious. Am absolutely glad I read it.



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The Massacre of Mankind, by Stephen F. Baxter

The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read the original a long time ago, but it wasn't one of my first SF reads. I was at a point where I could take into account the time and style in which it was written. Baxter replicates that style pretty effectively, from a different point of view, so in that sense the book is successful.

It's also a reasonably interesting read. I was encouraged to persevere to the end. But I have to say it didn't really grab me. I could put it down at any point. Others have mentioned the basically unlikable nature of the protagonist--she was drawn as a good and honorable person with a pretty strong sense of judgment. She is very hard on the original narrator, Walter Jenkins, mostly for the crime of being a limited human, though he did make use of his fame to influence events and opened himself to it. All very subtle stuff.

The book is very thoroughly researched and seems to be internally consistent. Baxter really does capture Wells' style very effectively, so perhaps the best I can say is that it doesn't age so well. I'm glad I read it but the rating is the best I can do.



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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have my ups and downs with Neal Stephenson. I couldn't finish the Baroque Cycle, but I seem to have enjoyed Seveneves more than most. Seveneves may have had some stiff dialog but it was full of ideas. This book has one idea. Which is spun into a plot that goes on for 750 pages. If it could somehow have been concentrated down to about half that length (and I think it could have been) it would be an award contender. As is, not sure.

I liked the book and never got tired of reading it as I went along. I think what struck me that perhaps did not stand out to others is the sort of "dated" feel of it. The characters are standard-issue types from maybe 10 years or so ago, with no self-consciousness so it can't be intentional. Tristan is a kind of stiff hero type, and Melisande slips into sexy damsel mode a little too easily. You can almost see the consideration of the movie possibilities of a time travel method that causes travelers to become naked.

(view spoiler)[This turns out to be the first book in a series. Even though I liked it, it's hard to imagine me coming back to this. (hide spoiler)]



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Void Star, by Zachary Mason

Void Star by Zachary Mason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Void Star is an excellent if imperfect read. Many of the reviews compare it to work by William Gibson or Neal Stephenson, and I agree fully. The descriptions are rich, the world is sprawling, and the storytelling skates on the edge of getting out of hand. That last may be where the comparison starts to break down--in this book the plot always seems to be getting closer to spinning out of control than in Gibson or Stephenson's work, even though the plot itself is pretty simple--big powerful oligarch is trying to steal plucky protagonist Irina's memories, and also live forever. Stop him. Mason describes larger forces (rogue AIs) at play so there's the possibility of more here, but for this book that's it.

The jacket blurb is somewhat misleading. Irina may not be wealthy like the oligarchs, but she certainly plays in their league. I never thought of her as an underdog in the fight, though perhaps not quite an equal to Cromwell. The other protagonists (Kern the favela dweller and Thales the mathematician/political scion) get their due in the narrative but they are support players.

I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it highly. The span of the story is challenging and fun.



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Gods of Risk, by James S. A. Corey

Gods of Risk by James S.A. Corey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm catching up this series and am something of a completist, so I'm reading the novellas, but so far they don't seem to add that much. In this one the protagonist is a pretty unlikeable teenage boy, the nephew of Bobbie Draper, superhero of Caliban's War. Bobbie ends up being central to the story, but not so much so until near the very end. What we get is the view of a pretty self-centered teen as we get indicators over their news feeds that their society is going to hell. It's decently written and I guess I am not going to demand the time back, but you could skip it if you are less obsessive than I am.



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