It was dark and a little depressing, but with a good end.
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2024 Reading Goal
60% complete! Alex has read 15 of 25 books.
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Alex rated Chanur's Venture (Chanur): 4 stars
Alex rated The Pride of Chanur (Alliance-Union Universe): 3 stars
The Pride of Chanur (Alliance-Union Universe) by C.J. Cherryh
No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was …
Alex rated The Terraformers: 2 stars
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration of the future.
Destry's life …
Alex reviewed Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey
Alex rated Marooned in Realtime: 4 stars
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
From the back cover:
"In The Peace War Vernor Vinge introduced the technology of bobbles, creating spheres where time stands …
Alex rated The Peace War: 3 stars
The Peace War by Vernor Vinge
First in a quintessential hard-science fiction adventure, Hugo Award-winning author Vernor Vinge's The Peace War follows a scientist determined to …
Alex rated 50 Years of Text Games: 2 stars
50 Years of Text Games by Aaron A. Reed
50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon is an extensively researched book chronicling the first half-century …
Alex reviewed A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Perfect winter book
5 stars
Sometimes it felt like a Cold war story complete with the capitalistic Good Guys, the mind ruling Bad Guys and the hint of mutually assured destruction or whatever. Then for the space twist: throw in some sentient spiders, weird astronomy and some trully brutal characters that makes you sick (without having to go into gory details, Vinge sure knows how to make a story pretty fucking dark) and you got an emotionally tough story on the cover.
Despite this, I was deeply hooked like never before! Usually there's some side story that makes you groan and cause a little struggle with a book, but here I was completely engulfed in each and every page, every side story engaging and contributing to the overall story. I've never had this strong engagement with a book before and I can't really articulate why. I guess my mind and mood was in a winter …
Sometimes it felt like a Cold war story complete with the capitalistic Good Guys, the mind ruling Bad Guys and the hint of mutually assured destruction or whatever. Then for the space twist: throw in some sentient spiders, weird astronomy and some trully brutal characters that makes you sick (without having to go into gory details, Vinge sure knows how to make a story pretty fucking dark) and you got an emotionally tough story on the cover.
Despite this, I was deeply hooked like never before! Usually there's some side story that makes you groan and cause a little struggle with a book, but here I was completely engulfed in each and every page, every side story engaging and contributing to the overall story. I've never had this strong engagement with a book before and I can't really articulate why. I guess my mind and mood was in a winter state that fitted well with this kind of book at this time?
Anyway, I loved following the technological progression of the spiders, learning of the "legendary origins" of the Cheng Ho traders was interesting and I hated the sadistic Emergents. Thumbs up.
Alex quoted A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
So high, so low, so many things to know.
Alex reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
The beginning of a better story
4 stars
This book was a lot better than the previous, where the "protagonist" just kept messing around and picking fights. The guy is still an ass and the banter is still fun too, but now there was actually a story with a purpose, complete with a heroic journey and self sacrifices. Even the aliens got a lot more character and a justified purpose.
I also appreciated how the overall tone was less depressing, with less brooding about death and failed colonies. There's still some of that left of course but things are finally starting to look better for this little colony!
Hyvää!
4 stars
This was a great smörgåsbord of stories in one book, mixing fantasy, scifi, horror and more. One thing the stories had in common was an emphasis on nature, one way or another and in various degrees, with hints of the Finnish culture, giving an overall nice and cosy feeling. I also had to look up more works from some of the authors.
However, I put away the book without finishing the last story as I can't stand streams of consciousness or whatever you call it.
Alex reviewed Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Expendable humans
3 stars
It's a weird and grotesque idea. And the book itself was a bit dark and depressing, especially the antagonist, but I still enjoyed the story. There's some "fun" scenes, like playing rock-paper-scissors above the black hole of death or the clones having a sex party, where you end up thinking; what the fuck?
Alex reviewed Accelerando by Charles Stross
Crazy
The book is heavy with technobabble that's quite dated by now, as others have already mentioned. I didn't even manage to read through the first story before having to give up. Sad, as it looked like this book got some interesting ideas.
Might give it a new go in the future if I find the patience to handle the crazy.