Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always …
Translation State Review
3 stars
It's a good book. I found the exposition a little hurried (took a while to remember who's who), but the story is engaging and fast paced.
The "accept everyone as they are" message of the book is very heavy handed at times. And it's a departure from the brutal and ruthless "real life", even within Raadch space.
All in all, a very decent "feel good" book, and certainly not a waste of time. It reminds me of the Wayfarers series, or Swords and Lattes. If you're looking for depth, look elsewhere.
If the first book was decent, and the second one okay, this one is a disappointment.
In many places it feels like the author knew what they wanted to happen, but had the wrong characters to do it. The whole Grotta storyline could really have been cut out start to finish (from book one) and the whole trilogy would have been much better for it.
Unfortunately, both of the other stories really take a plunge, especially in the events just before and during the final battle. Everyone suddenly has super powers, but they act as lobotomized puppets, because their ideas do not make any sense. On the other hand, the super powers, hastily introduced in this volume, have the weirdest limitations. Yet our characters are able to understand, interact, and manipulate them immediately. It's hard to buy...
Entertaining and fast paced. Not a hard sci-fi. A perfectly serviceable second installment in a trilogy. No major surprises, some dumb character actions, but at least it gets called out within the book. If you liked the first book, and are keen to see where the characters go next, it's worth it.
Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the …
Velocity Weapon
3 stars
Velocity Weapon is quite a fun book. The world is built well, the two main characters are fun, even though the villains and supporting characters are a little one dimensional. The major plot twist midway through the book is really well done, I didn't expect that to happen at all - which is why it gets three stars and not two.
Unfortunately, the third storyline feels completely pointless, with some exposition chapters feeling like listening to a conversation between Dumb and Dumber about world politics. That, and the other two storylines beginning to dragg on a little, means the book is borderline boring in places. One then inevitably starts to pick at the contrivances in the story while the characters are running around in circles.
While I think the book is ultimately forgettable, it's a perfectly good, relaxing, mostly action packed sci-fi, and I will probably read the second one …
Velocity Weapon is quite a fun book. The world is built well, the two main characters are fun, even though the villains and supporting characters are a little one dimensional. The major plot twist midway through the book is really well done, I didn't expect that to happen at all - which is why it gets three stars and not two.
Unfortunately, the third storyline feels completely pointless, with some exposition chapters feeling like listening to a conversation between Dumb and Dumber about world politics. That, and the other two storylines beginning to dragg on a little, means the book is borderline boring in places. One then inevitably starts to pick at the contrivances in the story while the characters are running around in circles.
While I think the book is ultimately forgettable, it's a perfectly good, relaxing, mostly action packed sci-fi, and I will probably read the second one in the series.
Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.
Sure, there …
Fast-paced and entertaining
4 stars
It's a really fun book, well-paced, with a lot of entertaining characters, a story full of social commentary, and some dead-pan humour. I'd probably compare it to Prattchet, with jokes that are much less tired, anchored in a soft sci-fi setting instead of fantasy. My minor gripe with how contrived some of the story felt was ultimately addressed by the story itself, which felt nice.
Why not 5 stars? Well, I do wonder how some of the references are going to age - it is likely neither Spotify nor Zoom will be around in 20 years. Also, just like with Prattchet, it's really just a social commentary and not really a critique: the set-up is there just to poke fun at and expose how ridiculous our society is, but unlike in Scalzi's Interdependency books, there's little in-depth discussion of the issues, as almost everyone is on the same page.
I really liked the first half of the book or so. The environment was cool. The science felt really well researched - which is not a surprise given Robinson's scientific chops. The characters really felt different from one another, and their backstories helped flesh them out, as well as avoid the necessary exposition sound like an info dump. Especially the first chapters of Frank, Maya, and Nadia brought very different perspectives and made me connect with the main characters.
Unfortunately, from the Michel chapter - which to me, with no qualification in the field whatsoever, sounded like plain drivel - the book takes a nosedive. John's chapter is just mindless wandering, and any sense of urgency evaporates right there and then thanks to huge McGuffin. In Frank's chapter, the big question mark from his first chapter gets basically completely ignored, and while the pacing picks up, the storyline takes a …
I really liked the first half of the book or so. The environment was cool. The science felt really well researched - which is not a surprise given Robinson's scientific chops. The characters really felt different from one another, and their backstories helped flesh them out, as well as avoid the necessary exposition sound like an info dump. Especially the first chapters of Frank, Maya, and Nadia brought very different perspectives and made me connect with the main characters.
Unfortunately, from the Michel chapter - which to me, with no qualification in the field whatsoever, sounded like plain drivel - the book takes a nosedive. John's chapter is just mindless wandering, and any sense of urgency evaporates right there and then thanks to huge McGuffin. In Frank's chapter, the big question mark from his first chapter gets basically completely ignored, and while the pacing picks up, the storyline takes a hard turn towards open political critique instead of the hard sci-fi from the first half of the book. Nadia's chapter is more mindless wandering, with what feels like 100s of pages of exposition, spent confirming something the reader already knows. Finally, the end is here, but it's unsatisfying, partially thanks to the PoV character being so at odds with such a happy ending, and the whole storyline being extremely contrived. Since it's the first book in a three part series, I understand why an ending fitting the depressing mood wouldn't work, but it also means I don't think I'll read the other two.
From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration …
Review of The Terraformers
2 stars
I found this a little disappointing, especially as the book starts off well. The worldbuilding in the first section is good, but the pacing is quite contrived, and there is little suspense as the Checkhov's gun gets fired almost immediately every time.
The second and third section remind me of Gardens of the Moon, where the author also decided that the first batch of characters is not that interesting and we ought to start "from scratch". Unfortunately, the story is also full of filler: a lot of walking, a lot of smut, a lot of what feels like completely predictable and forced romance. The politics discussed in the book are very one sided. The cool ideas from the first part (being able to figure out what's happening via sensors in the surroundings) are borderline forgotten in the second or third part.
And living trains? Come on, what's next, uplifted dolphins?
From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration …
Review of The Terraformers
2 stars
I found this a little disappointing, especially as the book starts off well. The worldbuilding in the first section is good, but the pacing is quite contrived, and there is little suspense as the Checkhov's gun gets fired almost immediately every time.
The second and third section remind me of Gardens of the Moon, where the author also decided that the first batch of characters is not that interesting and we ought to start "from scratch". Unfortunately, the story is also full of filler: a lot of walking, a lot of smut, a lot of what feels like completely predictable and forced romance. The politics discussed in the book are very one sided. The cool ideas from the first part (being able to figure out what's happening via sensors in the surroundings) are borderline forgotten in the second or third part.
And living trains? Come on, what's next, uplifted dolphins?
