User Profile

Noisy Deadlines

noisydeadlines@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 7 months ago

Minimalist in progress, e-reader, introvert, nerdy, skeptic. I don't leave without my Kobo. I mainly read sci-fi/fantasy, with or without romance. Public Libraries are awesome! Mastodon: @noisydeadlines@writing.exchange

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Noisy Deadlines's books

Currently Reading

reviewed Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, #1)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children of Time (2016) 4 stars

Children of Time is a 2015 science fiction novel by author Adrian Tchaikovsky. The work …

Aliens and spiders

4 stars

Earth is dust, humans are looking for new planets to settle. Generation ships travelling for thousands of years, genetically engineered spiders, failed terraformed planets, first contact, a look into an alien society evolving through the years. Even though there are wars and the classic conflicts for power, I liked the optimistic ending.

S. B. Divya: Machinehood (EBook, 2021, Gallery / Saga Press) 4 stars

Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client …

Full of ideas and questions about artificial intelligence

No rating

This book is full on ideas and questions about artificial intelligence and how it can integrate with humans. It presents a future dominated by the gig economy, humans have to take advanced enhancement pills to compete with bots and weak AI's (WAI) in the labour force, people have online "tip jars" to receive money from other users that are watching their live social media feeds. It is a disturbing view of the future where there are swarms of nano cameras everywhere, watching and broadcasting everything you do to the internet. The main plot point is the conflict raised by a movement to defend WAI's and bots rights and end the inequality between humans and artificial intelligence. It also touches on the human+machine integration, and how that could change the world. It has lots of interesting ideas, it shows personal insights of the day to day lives of the characters, new …

reviewed Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger (Delightfully Deadly, #1)

Gail Carriger: Poison or Protect (EBook, 2016, GAIL CARRIGER LLC) 4 stars

Delightfully entertaining and cute

3 stars

A stand-alone romance novella set in Gail Carriger’s steampunk universe. Lady Preshea Villentia, a deadly, accomplished assassin, is hired for a job in a country house party. The plot is simple, so the story is self-contained, and the focus is the romance between Lady Villentia and Captain Gavin. Delightfully entertaining and cute.

reviewed Bringing down the Duke by Evie Dunmore (A League of Extraordinary Women, #1)

Evie Dunmore: Bringing down the Duke (EBook, 2019, Little, Brown Book Group Limited) 4 stars

Beautiful romance story with a strong female character

5 stars

I’m truly enjoying these historical romances with a modern twist. In this one the main character, Annabelle, is a bluestocking in 1879 studying in Oxford, who joins the suffragette movement. They are fighting to get the “Married Women’s Property Act” amended, so that women can keep their own property after marriage. Annabelle is tasked with getting the Duke of Montgomery to back the cause, and romance ensues! It has a rich plot with believable political background. Beautiful romance story with a strong female character.

Paul Loomans: Time Surfing (2018, Watkins Media Limited, Watkins Publishing, Watkins, Sharing Wisdom Since 1893) 3 stars

Lots of good ideas

3 stars

This book discusses how we can concentrate on doing our work intuitively. The approach suggests using to-do list as merely checklists to see if we are forgetting something. The author says he doesn’t even use lists anymore, unless he’s very busy. I liked the idea that we have to face the “gnawing rats”: all the things in our lives that we put off and which then start to “gnaw” at us. He suggests we visualize the next actions of what is worrying us, identifying what we find difficult or scary to make the solution real, and leave it to our intuition to carry out the task later. Also, lots of good ideas: do one thing at a time, give things your full attention (no multitasking), take short breaks often to recharge, practice mindfulness. Some of the ideas were familiar to me, but he manages to present them in a fresh …

Rowenna Miller: Torn (Paperback, 2018, Orbit) 4 stars

This was not the book I was looking for

2 stars

This was not the book I was looking for. The blurb mentions it is French Revolution-inspired in a fictional world with magic. The magic system is interesting: a few seamstresses can cast charms into their stitches, making charm protected garments. The protagonist, Sophie, is one of those expert seamstresses and has her own business. Her brother, Kristos, is a revolutionary that wants to overthrow the monarchy (hence the French Revolution inspiration). But the revolution didn’t seem convincing. It was a bit of a slow burn towards political revolution from the POV of someone who is connected to it (Sophie) but doesn’t really want to get involved. Sophie was so reactive and her lack of agency annoyed me at times. There was not enough texture in the story to make it a compelling revolution inspired story.

John Scalzi: The Ghost Brigades (Paperback, 2008, Tor) 4 stars

Intriguing Concepts: Returning to a Series I Love

No rating

Getting back to this series a few years after I read the first one. I enjoyed the thought experiment about transfer of consciousness and identity. It gets into these themes in an easy-to-understand way, and I had fun reading it. I want to read the next book, I think there are interesting things to be explored in this universe.

Jennifer L. Armentrout: The Crown of Gilded Bones (Paperback, 2021, Blue Box Press) 4 stars

Less dark

3 stars

I feel like this third could have closed the arc with the war between Solis and Atlantia, but the author leaves the conflict for the next book. I think I got enough of this world already, and this book reveals and explains Poppy's background, and we finally discover who she really is. The world building keeps on adding more creatures and beings that were supposedly legend, but they turn out to still exist. The good thing about this one is that there are some relaxing moments where Poppy and Casteel are just having a great time together and enjoying life a little. So it's less dark than the previous ones for a while. The ending is again shocking, but this time I didn't want to continue to next one just yet.