Shards of Earth, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Well--I just finished Cat Rambo's You Sexy Thing, and had commented on how many times the "tightly bonded crew of an old but trusty ship" thing has been done, and it's done again here. But I'm really glad I read it, as that crew is compelling. Actually it's mostly the protagonist, Idris Telemmier, that is compelling. He's been altered beyond understanding by a process that allows one to navigate deep space and potentially interact with the book's nemesis, the Architects. It has cost him his ability to sleep, and to age as well. He is simultaneously frail as a kitten and far stronger than anyone around him. The other characters, though they get their space, are really a supporting cast. The universe of the Architects is a desperate one--they are constructs of godlike power, nearly invincible, and bent on the destruction of humanity, and they're doing well at it. Idris is one of a handful of people with the capability to do anything more than slow them down a little, and the enormity of that weight is very aptly conveyed. The book starts off a bit slowly but really comes along as the stakes of the situation become clear. I think it could be a pretty good movie adaptation, as centered as it is on a lead character.

My Goodreads Review

You Sexy Thing, by Cat Rambo

This is a good bit of space opera. I have to say that the first thing that struck me was that it isn't super original--the tightly bonded crew of a small spaceship thing is done, and done, and done. Making some of the characters aliens isn't quite working here as the aliens have recognizably human personalities. So I end up stacking it up against a series like The Expanse (which I'm also reading) and the character development just isn't the same. Good, not great. I do look forward to the day when characters with same-sex relationships aren't automatically boxed as LGBTQ+ explorations. Mostly these are people having relationships, and they happen to be with the same sex or with aliens, but I do think Rambo brings some depth here. Captain Niko's relationships get beyond sexuality into attachment in a way that you don't usually find with SF.

The Holy Hive Mind universe that the crew inhabits is a deadly serious place. Niko's nemesis, the pirate Tubal Last, is a deeply disturbed, capable and fanatical enemy. Their personal battle exacts massive costs on both sides. This is set in a book that just isn't that heavy--they enlist the title character (a biologically constructed self-aware ship) by teaching it to cook. I think I'm agreeing with reviewers that say this book isn't sure what it wants to be.

The book does not say it is the start of a series but there's a lot of world-building here so it seems safe to say that it is. Maybe the world will decide what it is, and allow Cat Rambo to write it.

My Goodreads Review

We Are Satellites, by Sarah Pinsker

I am a huge fan of Sarah Pinsker's work. Her novella "And Then There Were (N-one)" is one of the most clever and entertaining things I've read, and I took a lot away from it. "Song For a New Day" is terrifyingly prescient.

The scale of this book is about the same, and I liked it a lot, but I have to say it just doesn't quite measure up to my favorites. We have a very interesting speculation that ties a technical advance to a social change--a company invents a device that stimulates the brain in a specific way, allowing people to multitask and be more productive. And they advertise that they have it with a blue LED on their temple. Pretty soon if you don't have one you're left behind.

The real driver of the story is the family--two moms, a son and a daughter (the daughter is neurodivergent--seizures--and cannot get a Pilot). They all get a lot of attention and build the story together, so that by the time the book is over you know these people. The moments of tension and tenderness are perfectly balanced, so that even with their significant flaws you can't help but love them. The book is worth reading for that.

The plot feels like we've been there before--brain controlling devices aren't super new. In fact they're going commercial next year. There is some plot tension around whether or not the parent company (Balkenhol) is aware that someone's Pilot has been disconnected. Umm...there's an app to control your Pilot, and the home screen gives a big old error message if you disconnect it. You really think Balkenhol doesn't know? More plot tension around whether they have exact records of the brain activity they are enhancing/controlling. Of Course They Do. And users willingly traded that information for the advantages. That could have been a believable plot driver.

When I said it felt like we've been there before, it's because we really have--with cell phones. They went from curiosity to advantage to necessity in 10-15 years. If you don't have a smart phone now you are at a disadvantage, and it's considered rude not to carry one so that people can find and communicate with you at all times. Some refuse, and I wonder if someone who will not carry a phone is employable beyond a menial job? And they're pretty good at tracking us. So the plot in this story is dressed-up nonfiction. Pinsker could have written a history of the smart phone.

I struggled with whether to round this up to a four. I think not. It's beautifully executed but the world has passed it by.

My Goodreads Review

Persepolis Rising, by James S. A. Corey

I'm coming back to this series after a long hiatus, and this one's been out for seven years. Spoiler - the Laconian empire falls! Not yet though, in this novel it's just getting wound up. I would have to say, maybe with the hindsight of knowing how the series continues, that Corey kind of telegraphs that ending. Here you see the hubris of Duarte rising, right through to the end where his powers increase even as the empire has fallen somewhat short of its goals.

I am reading more for the fun of the story and the characters at this point. And they have had so much run time together that they are family, like Proust novels or something. Holden has evolved in these books, because he had to--from a "man with no inner life" to a man still driven by honor but with everyone around him pretty much convinced that it's quirky. I saw a blurb for the next book refer to Holden as "Mephistophelian", which is a long trip from where he started.

The social setting of the book might be more like the Roman Empire than current times, but really the series is Space Opera all the way, and does not try for deep philosophy. It just keeps you reading. Am going to do my best to catch the series all the way up.

My Goodreads Review

Plague Birds, by Jason Sanford

This is a very classic YA novel. The dialog and the very light touch with the sex scenes take me back to when I was 14. At that time I tended to avoid them, I wanted the more ambiguous material, and really I still feel the same way. It's well plotted, Sanford doesn't give his direction away much, so very good on suspense. But the characters are in the end pretty simple people, with very definite roles to play, so they kind of run on rails--a very YA thing. And while the plot is good and complex, it doesn't seem to bear much relationship to today. CRISPR gene editing is indeed a thing, and might be the next advance leading to social breakdown, but it really doesn't look like we'll need that. Since overly gene-edited creatures and humans are the driver of the plot, and supposedly at least 10,000 years have gone by since the major collapse occurred, I just couldn't connect with these folks much. I wish them luck, I guess.

My Goodreads Review

Noor, by Nnedi Okorafor

I've read the Binti series by Okorafor, and I'd say in this one that she is getting better as a writer (particularly in speculation) but the plot may not live up to her skills. AO is a woman with severe disabilities and has chosen heavy assistive body modifications to be able to live a normal life. This puts her into an oppressed category, and drives the story. Her Nigeria is a dystopian place pretty directly extrapolated from today--corporate exploitation and disinformation are her major obstacles. Ultimate Corporation is pretty much Nigerian Amazon.

I'm beginning to see the rationale for how Okorafor names her advanced technologies--an "anti-ajej" is a device for excluding sand from your immediate vicinity in a sandstorm. In traditional SF spaces you'd call it a force field, but that brings to mind a lot of colonial-military SF imagery that she avoids with her terminology.

An interesting take with this book and Who Fears Death (the first of hers I read) is that they both feature protagonists that are deeply unwanted babies. In Who Fears Death it is directly stated that the mother would never consider abortion, but not in Noor. Instead the parents pray for her death in the womb and later publicly denounce her augmentation and her association with Fulani herdsman DNA. It's an argument against abortion but sort of for it at the same time.

The ending is disappointing, either through not enough explanation or understanding. I'd call this one a case of growing pains.

Hummingbird Salamander, by Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer as an author takes some getting used to. His books are very dark, with a lot of inevitable degradation and characters struggling through deeply depressing and weird settings. I came to appreciate the Southern Reach trilogy and had some hopes for this one. And they were somewhat fulfilled.

Jane Smith, the oversize security consultant, is an unreliable narrator and unlikeable protagonist. Reading those books can be a brutal experience, though they also give space to be really great. Can't say this quite makes it. But I found her to be a very interesting person, a basically brutal woman (with reasons for her brutality) moving through a brutal world. She sometimes tries to care for others (like her assistant or her daughter) but doesn't really have her heart in it. Why she fixates on Silvina the climate terrorist (and savior maybe?) is not too clear--it doesn't relate to her work or life, though her relation of the news shows she is concerned. Maybe that was supposed to be enough.

The world of this book is pretty much ours, and very foreseeably dystopian. I think this might have been a mistake, making this basically an extrapolation of our world and simplifying some of the deep Weirdness of the shroom books and Southern Reach. It is more accessible, but the motivations still don't quite make enough sense to drive all this. And yet, given what is happening, her actions make a lot of sense.

Hard to say I enjoyed this book, but it really did engage me. With a little more "why" for Jane personally it would have worked for me.

My Goodreads Review