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Storm Story by Llinos Cathryn Thomas
Quote: For a while, we just slept or ate or told stories when it wasn't too loud. The only way to know time was passing was by how hungry we got.
First-person tale with a nameless narrator, who seems very young. Dark times, with a hint of a light at the end of the erm… storm on a water-logged world.

Girls Who Read Austen by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Quote: All Scylla wanted from a college roommate was someone who wasn't too messy or too tidy. Maybe, if she was really lucky, she might get someone she could hang out with.
Scylla’s an absolute monster. But she’s a monster who reads books.

Upside the Head by Marissa Lingen
Quote: The sweetest patient we have and the most law-abiding cop I've ever met got into a fight in the patients' lounge today.
Hmmm… I didn’t really understand the point of this story.

Bethany, Bethany by Lizbeth Myles
Quote: There was a strangeness about Beth, but it was a strangeness that only Emily noticed.
Nice little story about two sisters, one of whom is adopted.

Seaview on Mars by Katie Rathfelder
Quote: Lulu lives in a world where restaurants are a possibility; a world where food is relatively plentiful and people might go somewhere to eat, just because they can.
Having lived on Mars and raised two children to adulthood, Miyu and her wife are ready to retire. I loved this heartwarming story so much. I’m really hoping Rathfelder develops a longer story in this world.

A Hundred and Seventy Storms by Aliette de Bodard
I adore de Bodard’s writing — her elaborate world-building, her intricate characters. But I’m not sure that lends itself easily to short stories. There’s too much I didn’t understand. It left me needing more, which is different than wanting more.

Low Energy Economy by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Quote: But then all of our experiences are, when you get down to it, just in our head. That's how experience works.
Tobler is a contract claim-staker. He’s been crammed into a tiny shop for hundreds of years. Doing this work is a one-way trip — but at least the company will look after his family. Sort of a cyberpunk tale — sort of a micro space opera. I really enjoyed this one.

Four by Freya Marske
Quote: 'Then what?' Felicity demands.
Molly shrugs, aware of the smallness of her offerings. 'Donate money. Donate your time. Organise. March.'
Molly and Tahlia move into a house Molly inherited from her grandmother. I’m not really sure what I just read, but it was an enjoyable ride.

St Anselm-by-the-Riverside by Iona Datt Sharma
Quote: For all Audrey was content with where life had taken her, there was a small voice in the back of her head that wondered if … she'd just turned out unlovable.
Audrey is a nurse in a hospital that isn’t Guy’s. She’s happy with her life — but then she meets new people. I thought I knew what was going on in this story, but it threw me for a loop. A lovely story.

This Is New Gehesran Calling by Rebecca Fraimow
Quote: This is New Gehesran calling, so don't change the channel, because we're bringing you the freshest tunes, hottest issues, furious debates.
This story was tough — too much background, way too many characters, and not enough details. I like the writing; I was fascinated by the world in which it exists. What I saw of the many characters, I liked. It was just too much in too few pages.

Of a Female Stranger by Jeannelle M. Ferreira
Quote: What'll you have me say, that I fished you up, I dragged you, I stole you from Lady Death? Met is more polite, is it not?
Theo reinvented herself after she was the lone survivor of a deadly shipwreck. And then she meets an enigmatic stranger.

Love, Your Flatmate by Stephanie Burgis
Quote: I understand that you didn't actually believe there would be a lockdown when you agreed to let your friend's daughter stay at my flat for just a week.
Emmeline is frustrated by her inhuman houseguest — and rightfully so. Maxi is equally frustrated by Emmeline. Can they find common ground?

4.5 stars

In a world where women are 'discouraged' from professional careers, where climate change is rapidly making the Earth uninhabitable, five women conspire to steal a spaceship.

This book is not without its flaws, sure. For one thing: character motivation. Valerie has a clear and believable motivation for her actions. The other four? I don't know. What were they hoping to achieve? Why go to all that trouble just to be the first to set foot on the newly discovered Cavendish if you know you're going to be caught and arrested and probably executed for your crime? How would it benefit you or humanity?

For another, Valerie's transformation from hero (not the hero, but a hero none the less)… to cold-blooded killer was a bit too sharp of a turn to be entirely believable.

And yet… For all that, this is a hell of a book. The world Lam has created is both entirely believable and utterly terrifying. The characters are (for the most part) deeply human – flawed yet brilliant, fascinating yet realistic. And the story itself is a gripping, compelling read.

This book... Where do I start?

It took me two months to read this book. I'm not a fast reader, but that's slow even by my standards. Please don't assume I read slowly because it was boring. And it's not as if it's hard science fiction, wherein I need to spend hours trying to understand the science being flung around all willy-nilly. It's not actually that science-intense.

Oh, but it is intense. Dense. Rich.

One time I bought a bottle of stout that was so exquisitely intense in its flavour (not to mention its alcohol content) that I couldn't drink more than a 100 mL at a time. This book is like that beer.

In the far future, Yasira is a physicist in charge of a new power reactor on a space station. Only instead of producing power like it's meant to, it tears a hole in the fabric of the universe. Some people escape, but many die. The space station is destroyed. And then the angel Akavi (working for the AI God Nemesis) comes for Yasira. She's guilty of unknowingly committing heresy, but because the one the Gods really want is Yasira's former mentor, Evianna, Akavi makes her an offer. Instead of killing her, she can work for them to help take town Evianna.

It's all very complicated and convoluted and wonderful. I think I'm doing a terrible job of explaining it, but I just don't have the words.

Earth Abides has long been one of my all-time favourites. Until I listened to the audiobook this week. And, oh dear, am I conflicted about this book now.

I've always been aware of (and annoyed by) the sexism and the racism and the capital punishment. But somehow for me, the strength of the story outweighed the (ahem) uneducated aspects. Alas, not so this time around.

This book is told in two threads. The primary thread follows Ish, an academic and intellectual, who finds himself amongst the last survivors of a great pandemic. The secondary thread follows the earth itself and the changes that play out following the loss of humanity (to a significant extent).

The secondary thread is, in my opinion, the most interesting one. The environmental, geographic, and biological changes are fascinating. The insight into what we would now call PTSD and survivor's guilt makes for compelling reading.

The primary thread is underpinned by a white supremacist, heteronormative, misogynistic thread. The storytelling is masterful and the (white male) characters are well fleshed out and interesting. The female lead, Em, is a black woman. She's also quite a good character and, while Ish and Em's relationship would have been seen as shocking and progressive at the time of publication, it's sort of implied that she's some sort of exception to blackness rather than simply because she's a good person.

Also, the descent into hunter-gatherer society over the course of the book just seems so avoidable and unnecessary. Why don't they try harder to retain knowledge and instil it in the next generations?

There's a lot to love about this book – and unfortunately, a lot to hate too.

Maybe revisiting old favourites isn't always a brilliant plan.