Reviews and Comments

This time we venture far into his past when he had just gotten his accounting degree and discovered Silicon Valley. A lot of Martin learning about who he is, who he wants to be, what and who he likes and how to be the person he wants to be. Fun side characters and interesting explorations of the startup bubble, San Francisco and interesting people along the way. Highly recommended if you’ve enjoyed the other ones. (And if you haven’t read them yet I STRONGLY recommend adding Red Team Blues to your reading list immediately!)

We find our heroine just landed on Mars with the 2nd mission, and naturally, nothing goes quite according to plan, both due to machinations from Earth and also from within the mission crew…

This (for me) was one of the better of the series. Kowal always packs a ton of social/political awareness stuff into her books and sometimes it can be frustrating because it really doesn't actually fit very well. In this case, it did fit well and didn't overwhelm the plot or characters as I've seen it do in past Lady Astronaut novels, so that was a huge plus.

In the end, this was a very enjoyable read overall and recommended.

They do not hit the same as Tony Hillerman's books and this one really got to me. The writing is just so bad comparatively and it's frustrating reading them. The secondary story is actually kind of important in that it highlights the use of Native Americans in association with scammers, but still. I just think I'm done.

3.5 stars. I liked it quite well, but it's a little simplistic in some ways? At least it made a hell of a lot more sense than the movie though! (Which makes sense since I believe the director of the movie is the same guy who did Snowpiercer and just wanted to ram the message home even more in this movie than his previous one.

Oddly, this book reminds me a lot of another nominee, The Tainted Cup. They are both about an alien biology that is a lot more fecund and transformative than ours. But while the world of The Tainted Cup is more controlled, this one is fully uncontrolled alien biology and scientists (and prisoner slaves) have been sent to unravel it while simultaneously needing to justify the political order at home somehow. It is both frustrating and frighteningly plausible given the direction politics in China have gone.

At any rate, a lot of fascinating science, plausible politics and decently well-drawn characters make for a very good read with a lot to think about afterwards. Recommended.

I’m only knocking a star because to some degree it feels like pretty familiar ground but regardless what is here is very well written and a strong story. A woman trying to get ahead in her civil service career in the Britain ends up transferring from languages to a secret project that turns out to be being a handler for time traveler yanked from the past where he would have died on an expedition.

The relationships are great and fully realized especially and the story is pretty interesting even if it goes a little hand-wavey on the time travel and consequences bits. Would recommend.

In a weird Empire whose basis is genetic change wrought by titan’s blood and uniting to hold back these same monstrous titans as they try and migrate out of the sea annually, Ana and Din are a Sherlock and Watson pair, sent to solve crimes and dispense justice across the Empire.

This story sees them actually outside the Empire itself, where the titans’ blood is extracted, delving into an incomprehensible crime whose ramifications gradually become Empire-threatening if the criminal is left unchecked.

Absolutely great stuff, and even better than the first in the series in some ways. And the afterword by the author shows just how intentionally he has tackled certain subjects, which is also extremely impressive. I loved every word of it and hope he has a 3rd story in him of equal caliber!