Fleet of Knives, by Gareth Powell

This is just barely 3 stars for me. It's big in scope but small in imagination. The ethical dilemma at the heart of the book (the genocide of a particularly advanced species) is a good starting point, and the protagonist, the Carnivore class ship Trouble Dog, is appropriately conflicted. But how it's brought off is not particularly inspiring. Most of the metaphors are 20th century British, and slide in without comment, though on one occasion we do see Ona Sudak (another main character, implementer of the genocide, then poet, then back to implement another one) explain her familiarity with those metaphors as a fascination with history. FTL ships are built and last for generations--and all of them have inscrutable Druff (an alien species) engineers.

So as space opera it sort of works, except when it aspires to something higher. If you're looking for some time-killing candy, the book is fine--it never drags and the POV changes keep it kind of fresh. But if you like to stretch a little, look for something else.

My Goodreads Review

Empress of Forever, by Max Gladstone

This book started out like it might be some kind of near future commentary on a more authoritarian United States, as so many stories have been for awhile. Then our protagonist (Vivian Lao) gets yanked out of that picture and thrust into another universe that feels like the very far future, where we have something called the Cloud that is kind of like an IT Cloud, in that all the information in it is available everywhere, all at once. And we have an Empress ruling over all of the civilized part, saving it from a more wild part by destroying it, maybe.

The book repays thinking about it after you read it. The story line is a bit tired and familiar, as the Guardians of the Galaxy comparison suggests. But the plot twists lead it in very interesting directions. The ultimate point is an exploration of friendship and connection--and the point is not very subtly made.

Overall I'm glad I read it, even though a lot of the ground is familiar. There's enough good stuff going on to make it entertaining and worth the read.

My Goodreads Review

Wanderers, by Chuck Wendig

 Reading this book was like being at a bad diner, where they burn your french fries so they give you extra to make up for it. It was both bad and long. Some reviewers say it had potential, but given how it was written I don't see where.

Not that the writing was bad. It was competent, other than being twice as long as necessary--maybe more. It was just so basic. I am sympathetic to where Wendig is coming from, but when I read something that reinforces my point of view I want to learn something. Literally nothing new here. Evil Trump-analog politician tears at the political fabric (he might as well have just used Donald Trump) while a white supremacist rapist militia leader (yep, there's a graphic man-rape scene) hobnobs with powerful right-wing leaders. A weak-willed pastor that loses his faith. Cardboard characters all (Shana, sister of the first Wanderer, comes closest to being human but Wendig just can't quite pull it off). Oh, and to top it off we have an artificial intelligence engaged in finding the cause of the disease that causes wandering, and another world-ending plague happening at the same time (Is the AI involved? What do you think? Gawd.)

It is probably too late for most who would consider it, but you really don't have to read this book. Just imagine the end of the world from the perspective of MSNBC and you pretty much have it. It got nominated for a Locus award. Don't know what they were thinking...and I want three weeks of reading life back.

My Goodreads Review

Ancestral Night, by Elizabeth Bear

Well...Ancestral Night is a decent book. I cannot say better. It ticks all the boxes--a premise that facilitates galactic adventure (the Alcubierre-White drive) that she leverages in the plot, some decent characterization, and lesbian sexual tension that I think comes closer to what sexual aggression between women would be like than anything else I have read. But it was a long and kind of hard slog. Our protagonist (Haimey) has a complex history that is slowly revealed--she has been highly regulated with personality overlays. She is a true fan of galactic government and prosocial behavior in the form of the Synarche. She has an engineering mind that lends itself to hard SF.

You would think it would be nominated for the major awards with this kind of pedigree. But I'm not surprised it wasn't. It's good, but not quite good enough for that company. What is the lack? Editing, maybe? We are treated to a lot of semi-preachy soul searching from Haimey. And her nemesis, Zayna Farweather, is kind of a cartoon. Somewhat self-consciously so, since she is a pirate and they embrace the lifestyle almost to the point of saying "Arrr...". A major subplot is the tension and psychological combat of Haimey and Farweather, but Farweather is too much of a cutout and Haimey spends most of it talking to herself.

There's a lot of room for sequels--inscrutable aliens and codes written into the structure of the universe itself leave a good work space. But it is a work of competency more than anything. I am happy enough to have read it.

My Goodreads Review

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine

My whole approach to reading this book was shaped by the dedication--"to anyone who finds themselves falling in love with a culture that is swallowing theirs". We have an ambassador from a tiny nation (space station), not even a Tuvalu to America, trying to save it from being swallowed and digested by a huge empire. Even though it's already happening through cultural exchange. And Teixcalaan is beautifully crafted to play the part--an incredible façade of high culture and wealth. A place where official business is conducted in poetry. Obviously the author is a poet, and a literary person, since the book is suffused with inside baseball commentary on the literary worthiness of state pronouncements.

It is also spot on in the high handedness of upper class Teixcalaan citizens (we only briefly meet any other kind). The Lsel ambassador is a "barbarian", and all complements on their intellect are backhanded. We get brief glimpses of the brutality of the empire, but mostly we get the glitter.

Teixcalaan culture is sort of Aztec, but the approach is British. The empire expands and brings its own version of "white man's burden" to the colonies. This is only hinted at, since the protagonist is from a still (but not for long) independent state. The ambassador has studied them and knows the very literary way in which Teixcalaan views the universe (or world, or city--in Teixcalaan, the words are all the same and only understood in context).

It's a fascinating read, and the relationships between the characters are special and well-drawn. Being around such literate folks makes us feel good and smart ourselves. It will be interesting to see where he takes this.

My Goodreads Review

Omphalos, by Ted Chiang

Omphalos was nominated for the Hugo for Best Novelette this year.  At first it's hard to tell where the story is going, as it is done in the form of prayers.  But it is soon apparent why the scientist author is devoted--this is a small universe where the act of creation is readily apparent in the fossil record and in the stars.  The earliest trees have solid cores.  Cliffs with exposed sediment layers have solid granite not far beneath.  What is science like in a world like this?  Basically an exposition of God's ideas.  

But the people of earth are human, and have human conceits.  They believe they are the pinnacle of creation and the center of the universe.  But what if one of those incontrovertible facts is that we are not, in fact, in the center?  

Another truly amazing read.  It seems like everything Chiang writes gets nominated for multiple awards.  In fact I think this is true, because he is not particularly prolific.  He seems to write when he has something to say, and not otherwise.  Always worth it.

Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom, by Ted Chiang

 Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom is one of the original stories in Ted Chiang's Exhalation collection, and was nominated for a Hugo for Best Novella this year.  My very favorite thing about all of Chiang's stories is that in each one he takes on the biggest of topics--some aspect of the meaning of life.  I can't think of one that couldn't be a sermon (in a somewhat liberal, intellectual church).  The driver is a speculation that is sometimes possible, sometimes not, but always grounded in reality.  In this story the driver is a device that forces a quantum choice, causing possibilities to diverge, then showing you yourself living in that alternate possibility.  What would we use that for?  What would it teach us?  Well, we'd exploit it for money, but also use it for connection, for collaboration, and for science.  In the protagonist, Nat, we see someone who has gone down a difficult road but is trying to make better choices, and trying to find reasons to do so.  My favorite idea is that of making choices that influence our future alternate selves--each positive choice makes it easier for those alternate versions to make positive choices as well.  Made my day.

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Rosewater, by Tade Thompson

Rosewater is not a perfect book, but it is the kind of book where the imperfections actually make it better. Look elsewhere for the plot summary. I want to talk about the world and character building, both of which were fascinating.

First of all, Thompson's scientific premise of the effects of the alien he calls Wormwood was very effective and convincing. The concept of a planet-wide bacterial infection that allows some people to read thoughts is convincing on two levels--it makes sense in and of itself, and then you realize it is probably just our poor metaphor for what is really going on.

But what really sets the stage is our protagonist, Kaaro. Kaaro is an anti-hero and (as others have noted) an unreliable narrator, which makes trying to figure out what is going on in this world through his eyes even more interesting. Kaaro does not spare himself from moral outrage--he is a thief and something of a scoundrel by his own telling. I see just a little bit of the protagonist from Camus' The Stranger in Kaaro. He seems disconnected and distanced from his own behavior and emotions, and so does not understand why he does what he does.

The bouncing around the timeline that the story does usually works, but sometimes got me a bit lost. I was motivated to try to keep up. Thompson is good at distributing little tidbits about Nigerian culture as explanation for a particular behavior without doing lots of exposition.

The ending has lots of possibilities for new directions for the series. It does not appear that he is going to tell the same story again. I am definitely going to read the rest.

My Goodreads Review

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark

 I liked this story, perhaps more than the star rating will suggest. It's a good solid tale in a world with incredible promise. Inspector Nasr and his protege Onsi are reasonably engaging fellows, and there's a feel-good subplot on women's suffrage in Egypt included. The story is small in scope (a single haunt of a single tram car) rather than the world-threatening event of the first story, and there's a certain self-consciousness about that reflected in it. I just have to say that I was just a little disappointed that, having my appetite whetted by the highly flavorful Fatma el-Sha’arawi, I had to settle for the somewhat more bready Nasr and Onsi for the subsequent course. But the world itself will keep me and others coming back.

My Goodreads Review

A Dead Djinn In Cairo, by P. Djèlí Clark

I read this to prepare for reading The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Am glad I did, because the story is a great introduction to this world. A universe that combines humanity adjusting to magical beings with Cairo as the most influential city in the world, and Egypt as a great power, has all kinds of great possibilities, and I think the era setting (right after the Gilded Age) is a great choice as well. Perhaps this world will not have a Great Depression. The story is fine, it's a good detective tale and introduces the protagonist (Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi) very well, though it's a bit predictable. Definitely makes you want more, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.  

My Goodreads Review

The Future of Another Time Line, by Annalee Newitz

So this is a pretty straightforward time travel story, meant to use time travel as a way to talk about our present. Which it does, very effectively. The main point of the book is a feminist vs. misogynist time travel edit-the-past war, and it stays logically true to what time travel would accomplish, but with a very interesting twist that in this telling, everyone has known through most of human history that time travel is possible. The premise is a side note to the main story, but brings up some interesting points Newitz kind of throws in along the way. The time travel machines no longer have an interface--worn away over geologic time--but are usable anyway by tapping on the rocks they appear to be. Travelers have gone back far enough to see the interface, and it has lights and buttons. Yet there is a discussion about whether they are made or a natural phenomenon. It seems obvious that they are made, but should it be? I think if I were living with something like this I would entertain the natural hypothesis, without any other evidence of other intelligence involvement. It's a lot like Intelligent Design.

The main story is a very 201- telling of a time edit battle, which serves as a platform to talk about feminism, lesbianism, and the lengths one can go to in defending an idea. It ticks all the boxes, from White Supremacy to moralism to abusive fathers. It's well done, but been done. The plot twists are worthy ones. A self-conscious time travel story is rarely explored territory--most of the others I know of are one-off events or secret societies. One very large exception would be the Terminator series, where it's invented and seems to be generally known about at the end of the future human-AI war. So overall, I'm glad I read it.

Goodreads Review

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

I'm really starting to dislike time travel stories, because this is pretty much how you have to tell them. They aren't "stories" because stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. Time travel stories have no end. So the description of how a time war would work is pretty right on. And it's good to have an accurate framework to hang your "story" (narrative, tale, whatever) on.

The book is a love story, unapologetically so. Some are reading this as LGBTQ+, but the relationship between Red and Blue is not in any way sexual--it is agapic, if anything. The love is fueled by the highly cryptic means by which they communicate--letters as patterns in feathers, burning paper, flavors, etc. The descriptions of the form the letters take is probably my favorite part of the book.

That said, in order to truly enjoy it you have to enjoy romance of this sort. While I value it, it doesn't excite me the way a good space opera does. It was an interesting read, and well executed, but in the end just OK for me.

Goodreads Review

The Deep, by Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes

This is about a 3.6 rounded up. My opinion improved as I read some of the supporting material, and understood this as an origin myth. It reads like one and the protagonist is imperfect in the way that godlike originators often are. So many heroes are unflinching, or have misgivings but no real weaknesses. Yetu is sensitive and struggles under the pressure of being the Historian, and even runs away from her problems.

The pain of the Middle Passage is central to this book but is not extensively dwelled upon, though there are a few graphic descriptions. The writing style actually reminds me of Nnedi Okorafor, in that it is very direct and can seem a little stiff. It's a fine story, especially as an origin myth. Am glad I read it. 

Goodreads Review

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow

As this book got rolling, I really began to enjoy it. The prose is a bit self-conscious, but January Scaller is a fine protagonist, at the end truly grounded in herself and very honest with the reader all the way through. The plot twists nicely and the story thoroughly explores how hard it is to go against one's instincts, and against someone you love and loves you, even if you must. I am glad I read it.

But I do have my misgivings. Seanan McGuire has been doing a YA series on magical doors that lead to fantastic places and appear to only certain people, and that series has been up for most of the same awards. The style of prose is even similar, kind of flowing and self-conscious in the same way. Maybe I have had enough of Doors? Possibly I have even had enough of people who have decided, against all evidence, to believe in magical things. We have a lot of that going on right now and it has gotten us nowhere good.  

My Goodreads Review

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Like a lot of other folks, when I started this book I kind of struggled with it. The formal setup, combined with over-the-top frenemy rhetoric (which never lets up but makes more sense later) and some unfortunate teen-speak made me sad. But it takes a lot to make me DNF once I start, so I persisted. And for me, I think it picked up before the 300 page mark. The author is very good at action scenes, and leads up to them in promising ways, so I began to get motivated. By the end I had trouble breaking off to go to bed, so all that is good. We get a great development of the relationship between Gideon and Harrow, and the ending is an excellent twist. You sort of see it coming, but *how* it's done is great.

There is some button pushing that is probably more natural than it sounded to me. Gideon presents as female, and describes both viewing hotness and being hot, so there is a lesbian element. But she has bulging muscles and a masculine approach to fighting, so sort of gender dysphoric too.  There is a brief mention that she is a person of color (a "ginger").

It pretty much reads as a YA novel--most of the characters are teens, and the action centers on them. It is highly structured (9 houses, the naming conventions) in the way YA fiction often is. I ran from that stuff as an actual teen, but am able to see the value in the plot more now. I am definitely glad I persisted and read the whole thing. Came away very entertained. Three stars is because I am a hard grader.



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The City In the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I'm going along with many others here saying that this is in many respects a well-written book, but not a great one. Might be a dearth of candidates for the Hugo, or maybe they need to continue to look farther afield. People trying to survive on an alien, tidally locked planet are not a new thing, but there's a lot of room for experimenting there and Anders does some things really well.

There are some things about it I liked that other reviewers may have missed. The Gelet (natives) are a decently strong presence in the book, and toward the end of the book are revealed to have a lot more going on than meets the eye. They are performing great feats of semi-natural geoengineering to keep the planet habitable. And they have incredible communication talents. These speculations should be enough to keep most of us SF fans happy.

The central characters, Sophie and Bianca, are there to demonstrate the complex pitfalls of blind, stupid love. Interestingly, not really romantic love, something more of a Platonic crush. Sophie makes bad choice after bad choice to keep her hope of a relationship with Bianca alive, and Bianca uses her mercilessly. These kinds of relationships are frustrating to read, and can color one's whole opinion of the book even when they are successfully depicted.

The surrounding plot, though, just kind of bumps along, and while there are some exciting moments it's not enough to forgive the frustrating, one-sided relationship. I am glad I made it through, and overall I would say I enjoyed it, but it's not great.



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Gods of Jade and Shadow, by Sylvia Garcia-Moreno

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510722-gods-of-jade-and-shadow" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Gods of Jade and Shadow" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543268579l/36510722._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510722-gods-of-jade-and-shadow">Gods of Jade and Shadow</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4088550.Silvia_Moreno_Garcia">Silvia Moreno-Garcia</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3404295082">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This book has its good moments, but overall I just couldn't get into it. The story is entirely familiar--Hero's Journey meets Love Story. I have now spoiled the plot. Our protagonists, the god Hun-Kame and Cassiopeia Tun, end up as stereotypes--something the author kind of lets us in on, telling us that gods cannot have the complex inner lives that people can. <br /><br />What should have been a strong point was the setting--Mexico in the 1920's was in a fascinating phase of post-colonial cultural imitation of Europe. They had their own interpretations of all the American and European trends and fashions of the time. We were promised a look at these, but a look was all we got--a bit of fashion commentary, some broad cultural brush strokes. There was so much potential here that didn't get realized. Instead, the narrative focuses on the growing humanity of Hun-Kame and the solidifying of Cassiopeia's personality. Very nice, but done a million times--it needed that fresh period staging.<br /><br />What was a strong point was the relationship between Cassiopeia and Martin, her cousin, heir to the well-off Leyva household. He was the villain, but Moreno-Garcia skillfully portrays him as a clueless, privileged oaf who cannot understand why his "overtures" (occasional politeness when ordering her about, rather than belligerence) are not better received. Very timely. Not enough to really save it for me.
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Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seanan McGuire is a very prolific author, and sometimes that shows in her books--all well written, some come off formulaic. The beginning of Middlegame seems like it's going to go that way. Then it takes an incredible left turn and you get a set of characters that have more depth and complexity than it seems like real humans can have, even. I spread my reading out over several nights, and this book kept me up past bedtime several times.

The trope of soul mates finding each other through remote presence is worked really well here. Roger and Dodger are the embodiment of Math and Language, and they complete each other. The book weaves the plot and their growth together seamlessly, one couldn't happen without the other. And then halfway through the book we get Erin, another embodiment with equal depth. Really amazing work.

The plot underneath is sort of ordinary, and that's fine. Alchemy is real (and sort of like magic), and several famous figures (Twain, Baum, etc.) have been working on it. The (self-proclaimed, and there's a lot of this) best alchemist in history was a woman ahead of her time, and wrote a fantasy primer on it disguised as children's literature. Her constructed protege (just like Frankenstein's monster, so I guess he was an alchemist too), James Reed, aims to complete her work. And this is why I can't give it a full 5 stars--the villains (Reed and his construct assistant Leigh Barrow) are both cardboard characters--over the top embodiments of evil. Comic book speech bubbles couldn't save them. So they are foils for the real stars. Also the ending involves what I think of as literary cheating, but endings are hard, particularly so for such a sweeping work.

Hands down the best thing I have read from McGuire, and it shows what she can really do. I hope she'll go for this level of quality over quantity all the time.


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The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Oof. This book is a tough read. Page after page of blood and gore spattering the protagonist and the pages. Slowly dawning realization of the uselessness of the awfulness--very slowly. Beginning with an over-the-top awful boot camp through the fatigue and drudgery of the end game, this one just beats the reader up.

All the hammering becomes something of a disguise for the story. Because a story does emerge. The technology core of the story is pretty much like a very early version of Star Trek's transporter, much less safe to use and prone to errors like materializing inside of something or all stirred up. (view spoiler)[Also, as it turns out, a time travel device (hide spoiler)]. As it emerges, you realize it's a story that's been told many times, but the reveal is very artfully hidden and done well. In the end I'm not sorry I read it, but also not sure it was worth it. Goodness. Oof.



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In An Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Seanan McGuire is a prolific author, and sometimes that shows with the Wayward Children books. They are very well done but just a tad structured and formulaic, this one more than the others perhaps. Could be because the theme of the Goblin Market is all about rules for living together in a very structured way, but then again this series has a lot of that theme. The protagonist, Lundy, is for me not really a sympathetic character--she has formed her defenses well and found a way to live in our world, but this new one opens new possibilities for her. The themes are the usual ones from YA--friendship and growth--but it starts to get interesting just at the end, where the source of the Market's structure becomes more clear. But then we get the sad ending. I'm thinking Lundy will appear in future installations of this series, either devoted to her or as a strong side character. There's room for more development of the Goblin Market.



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To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book is a departure from the Wayfarers series, so bringing a fresh eye to it helps. But I second what one reviewer said below--it's like reading non-fiction about a fantasy place. I think that's what the author was going for, and she succeeded.

There's a lot of exposition in this book, including an exposition on why there's so much exposition. In a way it never ends. The glory of science, including its not-so-glamorous parts, is what is supposed to carry the book along.

I liked it OK, though as hard SF it stayed somewhat superficial. There was drama but it didn't feel artificial. The crew got along super-well, diverse in various ways that seemed to intentionally complement each other.

But it seemed like much of the point of the mission was to be an inspiration to a planet trying to recover from the worst of climate change. That was definitely on the mind of the narrator. And yet there was very little of that inspiration or action in the story. And the ending, while it has a certain likelihood, seemed kind of random.

Decent book, Hugo nomination for best novella, can't see it winning.



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Emergency Skin, by N. K. Jemisin

Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I agree with the people that thought this book was a bit obvious for Jemisin. It also obviously triggered some white fragility among some reviewers. But behind the overt moral lesson were some very interesting speculative elements. The central one is in the title itself--the value of having your own skin. Skin is pretty amazing stuff--it's the largest organ in the body, produces all kinds of valuable hormones, and conveys vital information. Its surface area is our largest interface with the world. What incredible control you would have over people if you took away their skin and replaced it with an artificial container! This doesn't become clear until the end of the story, and understanding it is a big part of figuring out the reveal. Of course it is spoken directly by one of the characters, but still...processing the implications of that makes the story that much better. Excellent story.



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Blood Is Another Word for Hunger, by Rivers Solomon

Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a decent story, but only just a little interesting, and that interest is around how Harrow mixes and stirs hard and soft traits in men and women, and husbands and wives (any combination seems to be possible, though all the characters are cis-gendered). Rebellion against a society continually at war is very thoroughly done, but also very timely, so am not sorry I read it. It's a Hugo nominee for 2019, and will contend.



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Do Not Look Back, My Lion, by Alix E. Harrow

Do Not Look Back, My Lion by Alix E. Harrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a decent story, but only just a little interesting, and that interest is around how Harrow mixes and stirs hard and soft traits in men and women, and husbands and wives (any combination seems to be possible, though all the characters are cis-gendered). Rebellion against a society continually at war is very thoroughly done, but also very timely, so am not sorry I read it. It's a Hugo nominee for 2019, and will contend.



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A Strange Uncertain Light, by G. V. Anderson

No link to this one, it's in F&SF and nominated for a Nebula for 2019.  This is kind of a throwback story--set in late Victorian England, post Great War.  We have two protagonists, one in the novelette's present, one in its past.  They are "chime children", born as the hour bells ring, and it is said they are special in various ways.  They both see specters.  The setting is classic British--a shabby mansion set among bogs and heather, two people with dark secrets married on a whim.  Ghosts.  It's well done but been done, many times.  A contender, not a winner.

For He Can Creep, by Siobhan Carroll

For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


For He Can Creep hits a soft spot for me as for many others, since it is a cat story. I am not sure cats are so fearless and proud as they are often portrayed--they are prey as well as predators, and wary that way. Ours are very comfortable souls, they might stalk bugs but their killer nature is mostly under control. But on to the story. Joffrey is indeed a proud cat soul, taking on demons on behalf of the sad denizens of an 18th century madhouse. He and his companions (Nighthunter Moppet is the true killing machine) take on Satan in a contest for the soul of Joffrey's owner.

It's a good story, fun to read, but very typical of a cat story. We cat lovers celebrate their nature and can be a bit blind to it. Definitely read it for the cats.



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His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light, by Mimi Mondal

His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light by Mimi Mondal

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a story that features a jinni (genie), but the jinni is not really the focus. Our protagonist is a trapeze artist from a primitive part of the country, succeeding in the circus by what he sees as the chance of his agility. He ends up as the leader of the trapeze troupe (throughout, it is clear that the man is truly humble about his abilities--the author somehow relates them without the character taking any special note of them), and entrusted with the jinni, who puts on a cheezy jinni drama that turns out be the most popular part of the show.

They run into trouble when they take in a fleeing Devadasi, a girl born as a gift to the local god. And gods are very present here, so that trouble is very direct.

It's a nice little story, the protagonist's humility and simplicity is very well done. A worthy Nebula 2019 nominee.



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The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye, by Sarah Pinsker

Sarah Pinsker writes an amazing range of stories, and all are enjoyable.  The thread linking them all is strong characters--you get the sense of the people in a story right away, and keep it.  So it is with The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye, the first one of hers that I have read in the horror space.  Zanna the author and Sal the assistant have a great relationship, in pretty colorful circumstances.  Zanna writes a series of detective novels where the investigator is in town just long enough to solve the murder mystery--much the way Zanna and Sal live.  And in the story we find out why.

Read this for masterful writing, this is how you do it.  4 stars

The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim

"This is a love story, the last in a series of moments when we meet"...a great opening and closing line for The Archronology of Love.  And it's a somewhat classic love story in that it is cis-gendered straight and romantic.  The speculative driver in the story is the Chronology, a creation of some sort that records and freezes each segment of time, and can be visited from the future but is destroyed to some extent in the process.  The metaphor to archaeology is thoroughly drawn--layers of earth are our version of the Chronology, and archaeologists destroy them in order to study and understand them, knowing that future archaeologists will rue their work. 

So it's a nice story, but the ending feels old fashioned (I won't give it away).  The overall effect is that it could have been written 40 years ago.  A good nominee for the Nebula but probably not a winner.

Give the Family My Love, by A. T. Greenblatt

Give the Family My Love is a familiar and fun subtype--the Library story.  The idea of a galactic collection of knowledge has sparked an incredibly complex and interesting literature.  There are many lists but I personally like how they feature in David Brin's Uplift series.

This version tracks our current environmental concerns.  The library is on an incredibly hostile world, with corrosive atmosphere.  Turns out it's the librarians' home world, post environmental apocalypse, and future earth is coming to be in the same boat.  Told as a series of communications to a frenemy mission controller, it's a fun read.  Strong 3 stars.

The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power, by Karen Osborne

In The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power a starship is bound for Paradise, but it is no paradise itself.  Heavily socially stratified, and the captaincy is maintained by a process of abstracting all bad memories from previous captains and giving them to a child of sin, and the good memories to the new captain.  The story is told from the perspective of the sin holder.  A good entry for the Nebula for 2019.

And Now His Lordship Is Laughing, by Shiv Ramdas

And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This story is from the time of the Bengal Famine of 1943, when Britain ran a scorched-earth "denial of rice" and other essentials campaign against the occupying Japanese. Over a million people died. The story focuses on a maker of jute dolls--special dolls that can act on their own. Horror ensues. It's a good story, worthy of nomination. Basically a revenge tale.



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Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island, by Nibedita Sen

In Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island, a Nebula nominee for short story in 2019, we get a word picture of the titular place told in the titular format.  This short, disconnected entry format is one we see more often now and I think it works well for a short story, where one is trying to convey an idea in a very few words.  This one is OK, I guess, they always go by so fast for me it's hard to know what to make of them.  But worth the brief stop.

A Catalog of Storms, by Fran Wilde

A Catalog of Storms is nominated for a Nebula this year.  Fran Wilde uses her Bone Universe literary understanding of wind and its emotional content for this story--really it's that understanding boiled down to its essence.  You control storms by naming them, just as you would emotions.  Sacrifice and hope are also here.  A fun little item to read.

How the Trick Is Done, by A. C. Wise

How the Trick Is Done is a nominee for a Nebula short story this year.  It is a fine little relationship story told as speculative fiction, sort of magical realism.  The Magician is a compelling figure, and 3 different people fall for him--his first assistant, his stage manager, and a girlfriend who is a Resurrectionist.  She stops him from dying when he is shot as part of his act.  The dynamics of these folks are the heart of the story.  Worth reading, but it seems very familiar.

Song For a New Day, by Sarah Pinsker

A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's pretty amazing that Sarah Pinsker wrote this before it became a documentary. OTOH, as predictions go it is not so difficult--mass shootings were our big concern when she wrote this, and it was widely acknowledged that a pandemic of some kind was going to happen in the near future. But the timing of my reading it is insanely on target, which made it sad to read even though the book itself is not a sad one. It's actually a very hopeful book, showing us how we might resist a relatively benevolent public-private partner dictatorship (I wonder if she deliberately substituted Wal-Mart for Amazon to make her universe slightly less parallel to ours?).

I tried to distance myself a bit from current events and appreciate it as well-written novel. Mostly unsuccessfully, but I still marvel at how deep and mature this book is. The characters are so real--Luce Cannon maybe moreso than Rosemary, but still both are great. Even the minor characters are real characters. Her generous view of human nature really comes through.

This book should go down as a marker of its time--if you want to understand how things are at the start of the second decade of the 21st century, read this. I hope this is the first of many Sarah Pinsker novels, we could see the field revive.



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Gamechanger, by L. X. Beckett

Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Gamechanger is a hopeful novel, in that it's post-apocalyptic--as in, we've had the apocalypse (Setback) then some very hard times (Clawback) and now we're making progress (Bounceback). Society is pretty advanced--no one is left behind, and there's resources to spare for a lot of playtime. So it's appropriate that the novel centers on a couple of immersive game stars, the sports heroes of their time.

The technology and overall tone are from William Gibson. Not sure where Star Trek comes in--maybe the hopefulness? But I have to agree with other reviewers that the actual plot is pretty haphazard. Rogue AI/space invader combined with villains escaped from the Setback. And it's somewhat unrealistically hopeful--all three phases occur within a human lifetime, so one of our older main characters remembers the whole progression. I don't think we'll fix our environment quite that fast. Our author has ideas and can create engaging characters, but there's not enough plot coherence behind them to really carry the story. I managed to finish and am glad, because it really picks up toward the end, but can see where some might not carry through.



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Golden State, by Ben H. Winters

Golden State by Ben H. Winters

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well the premise of this book is not the least bit subtle. The worship of Objective Truth is front, center, and all consuming through most of the book. Winters does an interesting job of showing how people navigate being in a world so committed to what is So, and rejecting the lies that (according to the Golden State) swallowed up the rest of the world. All the unsubtlety hits you over the head repeatedly--the Golden State is California, and its successful resistance to the politics of today has put it where it is now.

But most of the novel is about Speculator (enforcer of Truth) Laszlo Ratestic, seen through his inner monologue. The character saved the novel for me, through its not-so-subtle plot twists and assertions. Laszlo lives in his more talented brother's shadow and is totally committed to that life. How he experiences that life, and the inevitable (because you can't miss it) disappointment it brings him, made it worth reading for me. Not going to go down as one of my all time favorites, but it didn't need to in order for me to think it is worth reading.



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Planetfall, by Emma Newman

Planetfall by Emma Newman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this one since I'm thinking about catching up the series. It didn't start off as a real grabber, so I understand some of the negative reviews, but after a few chapters I got into what the author was doing. The real meat of this story is protagonist Ren's (Renata Ghali) struggle with keeping a secret about the way the colony was founded, and what this costs her. The price she is paying gets ever more clear as it goes along. One of the better depictions of PTSD induced mental illness (in this case hoarding) that I have read. Some have been disappointed in the ending--I was not, because I expected it to lead up to more books. Interesting storytelling and well-set speculation. I wasn't sure if I would catch this one up but it's now in strong consideration.



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If Tomorrow Comes, by Nancy Kress

If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read a lot of the reviews, and I think I understand why this book isn't doing better--Kress refuses to give in anywhere in a time when that's what people expect. We have over-the-top Rangers who are nonetheless neither heroes nor villains--so our reviewers see heroes or villains because that is what they want. Some characters play to type, in a time when it is expected for them not to. Some characters do not play to type, and that is either too much or not enough.

Kress mostly walks this line successfully most of the time, but it's not a popular line. However I got a lot out of the story and am glad I read it. I do agree with other reviewers that the characters, while interesting, are not deeply engaging. Seems like most of them are at least partly unsympathetic--part of Kress's efforts to portray them as full and complex people. So, there's a lot of successful storytelling here that still doesn't quite make a thrilling book. Am not sure what to make of this, but I like the challenge of thinking about it.



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Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So I just now read this, 30 years after its first publication. I think it would work well as a book to recommend to someone younger--the humor mostly holds up and you get a kind of aside look at what technology was like in 1990. Cell phones were an anomaly, requiring antennas on top of the cars. Most people didn't have computers. Traffic was awful, just as today.

And it's a nice fun romp of a book, plenty of visual possibilities in it, so it's kind of hard to say why it didn't get made into a show sooner.

If you think of angels and demons representing Good and Evil, then this book will confuse you. Pratchett and Gaiman treat them more as representatives of different political parties--different public positions but working together on the side to keep things going. Of course that's in well-functioning democracies, of which there are fewer and fewer.

Definitely worth reading, then and now.



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Mother of Invention, by Nnedi Okorafor

Mother of Invention by Nnedi Okorafor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Our protagonist was the mistress of a wealthy man, and is kind of squatting in one of his smart homes, Obi 3. She has a severe allergy to periwinkle pollen, and a "pollen storm" is about to hit. She is also very pregnant. Though the affair is over, as long as she occupies the house he will not evict her. So she does not want to leave. Now what?

Okorafor has a very different take on hard SF that requires some work to appreciate, but it's definitely worth it. Her characters have a unique relationship to technology that is very rooted in African culture, so it's a great learning experience for white folks. This story deserved its Locus award nomination, I enjoyed it.



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Mother of Invention by Nnedi Okorafor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Our protagonist was the mistress of a wealthy man, and is kind of squatting in one of his smart homes, Obi 3. She has a severe allergy to periwinkle pollen, and a "pollen storm" is about to hit. She is also very pregnant. Though the affair is over, as long as she occupies the house he will not evict her. So she does not want to leave. Now what?

Okorafor has a very different take on hard SF that requires some work to appreciate, but it's definitely worth it. Her characters have a unique relationship to technology that is very rooted in African culture, so it's a great learning experience for white folks. This story deserved its Locus award nomination, I enjoyed it.



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The Starship and the Temple Cat, by Yoon Ha Lee

The Starship and the Temple Cat by Yoon Ha Lee

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This story is a tribute to the fealty of cats--odd for me, we own 3 and I believe their fealty to be much more ephemeral than what is depicted here. But the story itself is a nice fable, a good example of Lee's talent. I enjoyed it.



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Firelight, by Ursula K. Le Guin

Firelight is a short epilogue story from Earthsea.  Ged is at the end of his life, reflecting on the rewards that giving up his wizard powers brought to him.  Maybe easier to say, having had them for awhile.  It received a Locus nomination, which was more of a recognition for her whole body of work, I think--she passed away in 2018.  This story is representative of her work, though--very rich, and very jumpy.