spaceships

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Started: 9/6/22
Finished: 9/17/22

I can’t say I liked this book. A lot of the first half was too dryly written, a little too academic. It makes perfect sense why it was that way – I mean, it takes a long time for spiders to evolve to the level of intelligence necessary for a first person point of view to be viable – but it means I didn’t really get drawn in. The problems to be solved and their eventual solutions were interesting and unusual, and maybe I’ll read the sequel, but it’s not jumping to the top of my TBR list.

Also, giant sentient spiders. No, thank you.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Leave a Comment

Started: 9/22/21
Finished: 9/30/21

By the time I started this one, I didn’t remember anything about it except that it was highly recommended by Jo Walton, and I’m hit or miss on her recommendations. I was expecting something literary or dense, but I was pleasantly surprised to find somewhat hard SF with beautiful imagery. Totally literary, totally genre, and really good. The core story, which takes a bit to get to, is emotional and riveting. Good stuff.

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

Leave a Comment

Started: 7/28/21
Finished: 8/6/2021

I know it’s hard to believe, but there are books by Anne McCaffrey I haven’t read. Not many, but still. And maybe there was a reason I hadn’t read this one. I’ve come across the brain/brawn ship thing in the Crystal Singer series, so I was familiar with the premise, but this was clearly a novel that had been put together from multiple short stories, and I just (I feel like I’m betraying Anne McCaffrey!) didn’t love it. The relationships feel dated in a way that makes me afraid to go back and re-read the early Pern books.

Stars Uncharted and Stars Beyond by S.K. Dunstall

Leave a Comment

Started: 5/6/21
Finished: 5/25/21

I loved the Linesman series so much that I jumped at these when I saw my library had them. I didn’t love these two books quite as much, but I still really enjoyed the story. Found family, spaceships, mysteries, a ragtag crew on the run – all good stuff.

Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sønderby

Leave a Comment

Started: 9/30/19
Gave up: 10/1/19

This book is supposed to be a) very good and b) a very good portrayal of an autistic person, from an autistic person’s point of view, written by an autistic person.  It may very well be both of those things (all of those things?), but I got lost in the science fiction parts of it.  Too many characters, too similar to each other (at least in the beginning), and WAY too many different aliens not differentiated from each other.  And you KNOW I’m all about aliens.  I gave up.

Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton

2 Comments

Started: 8/23/19
Finished: 9/14/19

I gave up on a different Peter F. Hamilton book a couple of years ago, but Erik convinced me to give the author another try.  It started out good – I laughed, but then I got bogged down in some details.  Part of the problem is most likely me.  I’m too tired to read more than a paragraph at a time.

Update: The focus shifted to a completely different set of characters in a completely different situation, and that part of the plot caught my attention.  And THEN I saw how the two sections worked together, and I found myself enjoying the characters and plot in the first section again, so whew.  It all came together for me, and I did really like the book.  The sequel is on my list.

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Leave a Comment

Started: 6/22/19
Finished: 7/1/19

Book 3 in the Wayfarers series.  This was a NICE story, but I had a hard time getting into it at first.  I enjoyed it, and I wholeheartedly recommend it (the whole series), but I don’t think it’s Hugo-worthy (this book is nominated, as is the series).

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

2 Comments

Started: 6/7/19
Finished: 6/15/19

This one keeps popping up in my recommendations, usually described as being like Firefly, and I finally got a copy in this year’s Hugo voter’s packet (the 3rd book and the series have been nominated).  I can say that yes, it IS like Firefly (not as much shooting), and I enjoyed it very much.  It’s light and fun, much lighter than what I’ve been reading lately, so that was a pleasant surprise.  It’s not heavy on plot – there’s an episodic feel to it which probably also led to the Firefly comparisons, but it’s nice.