Goliath, by Tochi Onyebuchi

Wow what a tough book to read. In the end I am glad I persevered, but I think the book would have had more impact if there was more of a narrative. Some refer to it as nonlinear, and that it is, but also the various threads don't really converge. Along the way are some amazing expositions of the continued devolution of how race works in America. The summary I find misleading. Yes the main characters in the book are stackers, collecting bricks for souvenirs for whites who have fled earth, but most of the focus is on what the work does to their bodies, combined with the enforced toxicity of the environment. The extended diversion in the third book gives another view of America in this time, but if it actually connects back to the main line I don't know where.

A narrative did start to come out for me as I worked through the book and thought about it. There is a path that is sequenced in time, and on it the space colonists seem to get tired of being away, particularly after some progress is made in how to live on a toxic Earth. They begin to return and commit the same crimes they did in order to leave. There are pieces of the book that really bring the message home, but they aren't separable from the whole thing, which challenges the reader and sometimes does not reward perseverance. Recognizing the authors and events described as history will make you feel good about other work you have read. Did I like it? No, not really. Did I appreciate it? In the end, yes.

My Yelp Review 

Leviathan Falls, by James S. A. Corey

I've read several fantasy and science fiction series in my time, though only a few are as ambitious as this one. The absolute hardest thing to do is end them well. Many don't even try, they just let them tail off (looking at you, George R. R. Martin and Song of Ice and Fire. Tolkien too) or rush the ending. Leviathan Falls brought this incredible series to a satisfying conclusion, exactly when it was done. The crew of the Rocinante had gone from a tight group of people who worked really well together to a team that was infatuated with each other--and the authors manage to convey that the characters KNEW it. Brilliant. All the elements were brought together to get across that sense of impending doom. No soap opera here, it was very clear that things were coming to a head and that everyone was sacrificing themselves, all they had, and all their loved ones and followers to make it work.

The Expanse was a great series for making the reader feel like a very small part of a sweeping history, and Leviathan Falls managed to scale that up an order of magnitude. A Jupiter-sized diamond containing all the knowledge of the Ring Gate builders? Really works to convey the scope of their accomplishments.

In the end it all comes down to James Holden, and individual decisions that he makes. That sacrifice trope has been done a lot, but it still works here. He grew the most out of all the characters, and that was set up from the beginning--it was foreordained that the man with "no inner life" would acquire one. I feel like I know them all.

In my view this is the defining work in Space Opera. The speculation is amazing and the storytelling is perfect. For me it does not break new ground, but it is the very best example of all that has gone before in that genre.

My Goodreads Review

Auberon, by James S. A. Corey

I read the other novellas and short stories in the Expanse series mostly because I'm an obsessive completionist. But you would definitely miss some things about the Expanse if you skipped them. Strange Dogs introduced Cortazar, who of course becomes very central. I don't think this book will introduce a character of that scale since the series is almost done, but it is an essential moral commentary on how people and systems would work at that scale. We've had Winston Duarte *thinking* he understood that problem, and creating a system where absolute control delivers healthy and satisfactory lives for most people. But absolute moral codes don't survive contact with reality, and boy is the ending a zinger of a way to deliver that. The outcome is in some ways telegraphed, but you really understand more about this universe by reading this novella. Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank really know how to write together.

My Goodreads Review

Tiamat's Wrath, by James S. A. Corey

 I don't give out a whole lot of five star reviews. This book earns it in part based on all that leads up to it. All of the characters are incredibly real, and that realism rubs off on Teresa Duarte, whom we don't know nearly as well.

Hard for me to say anything previous reviewers have not. The main characters have an incredibly intense relationship, and the authors ride right on the edge of having the intensity spill over into sappiness. There are a lot of authors trying to do this kind of book or series now, but this is the one they have to live up to for sheer entertainment value. I don't know if there's any one aspect where The Expanse is the best of its kind, but it's so close to the top in all of them that it's my favorite in 50 years of reading SF. I loved Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series, but this one edges it out and I can't think of any other extended series that comes close.

Now comes the hard part--the ending. So many series in fantasy and science fiction come to an unsatisfying end. But I think they're going to pull this off.

My Goodreads Review

Laughter Among the Trees, by Suzan Palumbo

Laughter Among the Trees is a Nebula short story finalist.  Horror story, lost child coming back to haunt the living trope.  Good execution probably, since horror is not as much my thing I may not fully appreciate it.

Unknown Number by Blue Neustifter

I think it's kind of interesting that a Twitter thread gets a Hugo nomination, but that's what makes it special. As a story it's a well-explored trope--the letter, phone call, etc. from someone who seems to know a lot about you that only you know. Those get harder to do now because there's so much of our lives that is surveilled and recorded. So it was fun to chase this down and read it in the thread, but as a story, well, it's fiction I guess. The author wrote it the way she did because she is against others trying to monetize her work.

My Goodreads Review

Tangles, by Seanan McGuire

Like a lot of others, I think Tangles is OK for what it is, which is a story especially written for Magic: The Gathering lore. McGuire is a competent writer and can bring the story off. I'm kind of assuming that the explaining about the roles of the characters is to make them fit in the MtG world. So I'm not sure how it got on the Hugo list, though it's a great thing for MtG fans.

My Goodreads Review