Queer, geek, NW England, no longer late-30s.
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Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, the Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning Binti trilogy, the story of one extraordinary …
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
Re-reading for #wsf book club
At last am starting to re-read the Liveship Traders trilogy... This is probably my favourite of the series. So many great characters and storylines and a book input down and stopped reading once because if I stopped reading the thing about to happen would definitely not happen.
Alien meets Midsommar in this chilling debut adult novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White about identity, survival, and transformation …
The legendary Keanu Reeves and inimitable writer China Miéville team up on this genre-bending epic …
Content warning Some slight spoilers
I got this when it came out and it has sat on my to-read pile all that time as something slightly shinier or slightly more pressing was chosen and...
It's definitely a book. I finished it. I didn't want to hurl it across a room.
But I wasn't excited by it.
Roz Kaveney's Rhapsody of Blood did it better.
The Old Guard (first movie) did it better.
Angels in America did it better (the theme of movement Vs stillness which is more a dénouement in this).
I finished it but it didn't have anything I felt any sense of excitement or wonder over...
Award-winning author Ken Liu returns with his first scifi thriller in a brand-new series following …
So, I have loved everything I've read from Ken Lui but this... Didn't do it for me.
I would hesitate to call it sci-fi - it was a thriller which is a genre I'm not entirely au fait with and that was why I was less than impressed...
The sci-fi elements felt oddly split - the idea that AI would only work in domain-specific areas rings true (for the near future setting it's building), but other aspects felt fantastical and abilities pulled out the backside when needed (her multi-form drone thing)
Add to that a main character who seems able to do anything technical -hardware engineering, adapting tech, software) with a high degree of competence and who has built their general purpose AI assistant who can cope with multiple domains seemingly better than any other AI out there... Just... Meh
But don't let this put you …
So, I have loved everything I've read from Ken Lui but this... Didn't do it for me.
I would hesitate to call it sci-fi - it was a thriller which is a genre I'm not entirely au fait with and that was why I was less than impressed...
The sci-fi elements felt oddly split - the idea that AI would only work in domain-specific areas rings true (for the near future setting it's building), but other aspects felt fantastical and abilities pulled out the backside when needed (her multi-form drone thing)
Add to that a main character who seems able to do anything technical -hardware engineering, adapting tech, software) with a high degree of competence and who has built their general purpose AI assistant who can cope with multiple domains seemingly better than any other AI out there... Just... Meh
But don't let this put you off the Dandelion Dynasty series or his shorts or the TV show Pantheon (based on some of his short stories)
Reading for #MCRSF...
The book cover, blurb and quotes (Richard Morgan - eurgh) do not fill me with confidence... Nor does the opening note about this being an omnibus edition and how that works...
And "Notes and References for..." Oh dear... Is it going to be one of those books...
Reading for #MCRSF...
The book cover, blurb and quotes (Richard Morgan - eurgh) do not fill me with confidence... Nor does the opening note about this being an omnibus edition and how that works...
And "Notes and References for..." Oh dear... Is it going to be one of those books...
Howl's Moving Castle is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published …
This is my first time reading Diane Wynne Jones and... It's alright... So far...
I can't help but compare it to Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea: both are books of magic and fantasy aimed at children of around 9-12, but Le Guin and Wynne Jones seem to have very different approaches to what "for children" means. Le Guin for children is not to be dismissed even as an adult, but Wynne Jones for children feels more childish? Le Guin seems to be "fiction is a safe way of introducing these concepts openly" while Wynne Jones seems to be "fiction must be safe by only hinting at things"..?
This is my first time reading Diane Wynne Jones and... It's alright... So far...
I can't help but compare it to Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea: both are books of magic and fantasy aimed at children of around 9-12, but Le Guin and Wynne Jones seem to have very different approaches to what "for children" means. Le Guin for children is not to be dismissed even as an adult, but Wynne Jones for children feels more childish? Le Guin seems to be "fiction is a safe way of introducing these concepts openly" while Wynne Jones seems to be "fiction must be safe by only hinting at things"..?
Well, I gave it nearly 300 pages of my life and...
This got chosen for publication?
This got a significant marketing budget?
This got optioned for TV?
From a worldfailing perspective, the author seems to confuse Alchemy with Necromancy and (some uses of) The Skill from Realm of the Elderlings.
They then throw in a breeding programme straight out of Gilead but tries to make it romantic...
But yeah, there is using darkness to examine and explore ideas and then there's... Whatever the hell this is.
Well, I gave it nearly 300 pages of my life and...
This got chosen for publication?
This got a significant marketing budget?
This got optioned for TV?
From a worldfailing perspective, the author seems to confuse Alchemy with Necromancy and (some uses of) The Skill from Realm of the Elderlings.
They then throw in a breeding programme straight out of Gilead but tries to make it romantic...
But yeah, there is using darkness to examine and explore ideas and then there's... Whatever the hell this is.
From an extraordinary new voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer trilogy, …
And breathe.
What and end to a series. The first book packed so much in plot wise it was non-stop. This one feels so much slower in comparison, but oh god, so good.
Unexpected tear in my eye as Fitz, Fool and Nighteyes work together to pull Skill and Wit into something wonderful.
And this is just the start...
From an extraordinary new voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer trilogy, …
We dream of carving our dragon.
"The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds. Except that they're really …
I didn't get very far in before I gave up. Unlikable characters, too much suspension of disbelief... just awful
I didn't get very far in before I gave up. Unlikable characters, too much suspension of disbelief... just awful
"The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds. Except that they're really …
For #mcrsf