Started: 9/1/23
Finished: 9/15/23
A trilogy of well done space military mysteries, likable main characters, really good narrator for the audiobooks. I flew through these and then emailed the author because I thought he did these so well. Dad would have liked them, I think.
Started: 8/25/23
Gave up: 8/27/23
I wanted to like this, but it didn’t grab me enough to push through. A teenager who never really fit in finds out she’s part (or all? I don’t remember) alien, gets picked up by hopefully the good guys (aliens), rescues some other misfits, and I assume they save the universe, but I didn’t get that far.
Started: 6/8/23
Finished: 6/28/23
One of John’s friends recommended this to me, and I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I would have liked as much if I hadn’t listened to the audiobook. The narrator, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, is the same actor who reads the Rivers of London books, and he’s SO GOOD. Just so good.
Started: 4/1/23
Finished: 4/12/23
According to my notes, I read this book, but I have no memory of it. Really. I’m borrowing it again to refresh my memory.
Oh, there it is. Yeah, the mechanics of this far-future, alien planet, super-all-powerful (except not) gods book didn’t speak to me. But I finished it! I’m just not interested in continuing the series.
Started: 2/26/23
Finished: 3/5/23
Man, I love a good love story in space. Good people who are good and want to do good. Yay!
Started: 8/26/22
Finished: 8/28/22
Sequel to Sisters of the Vast Black, we continue the adventures of our nuns who live in a living space ship, but now they’re on the run.
Started: 12/4/21
Finished: 12/6/21
Nuns in space! Their spaceship is alive, which is kinda weird, kinda gross. I picture it like a giant whale.
Started: 11/17/21
Finished: 11/17/21
A retelling of Hansel and Gretel where the kids are sentient machines in space, and the witch is a larger sentient machine. Fascinatingly weird, like the author (whose Hugo winner speech was about slime molds).
Started: 10/28/21
Finished: 10/28/21
I read this one several years ago, cried, emailed the author. I read it again, cried, almost emailed the author. Good story, and I love that she was inspired to write the Lady Astronaut series.
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.
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.
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.
Started: 10/11/20
Finished: 10/15/20
This is the end of the Linesman trilogy, which I thoroughly enjoyed in a very low-stakes kind of way. And I want more. This author (who is actually two sisters writing together under a pen name – I can’t even imagine) has written two other books, which I plan to read, but I want more Ean please.
Started: 9/19/20
Finished: 10/1/20
Second in the Linesman trilogy. After two meh books, I deserved a sure thing. Still good, even though I feel like not a lot happened, plot-wise. I like the characters, so I’m okay with that.
Started: 8/30/20
Finished: 9/9/20
Spaceships and FTL travel and psychic powers, oh my! It’s the first book of a trilogy that feels like it was written 30 years ago but only came out about five years ago. That’s not a dig – I really enjoyed it. While I was reading it, I felt like I did when I read books in middle and high school. It’s partly the subject matter and partly the style and the lack of awareness of current events. The characters are diverse and interesting without any point being made about it. Except that they exist without making any points about it, which is a point in itself.
Started: 8/15/20
Finished: 8/22/20
I wanted to love this book because I loved the one before it, but I was SO confused by it. It seemed to be rewriting the first book in flashback, with different characters and different events, and while that does get explained, it was confusing, not gripping. And then at around 70%, it got 1000 times more fun for me, for reasons I will not explain because spoilers, but that wasn’t enough. And then it ended, and what? I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand the world this series is set in. I love the character of Gideon from the first book, and I really feel for Harrow in both books, and I WILL read the third book because I just have to know, but I was disappointed not to love this one as much as the first.
Started: 7/8/20
Finished: 7/12/20
Astronauts doing science! Science fiction, but heavy on the science, and oh so optimistic.
Started: 7/5/20
Gave up: 7/5/20
13-year-old goes to space to rescue her older brother, and I am not in the mood. The writing is good, the premise is good, but the formatting on my Kindle is atrocious (it’s a converted PDF), and the mind of this 13-year-old is not as comfortable to live in as the mind of the 12-year-old wizard was (from my last book). I’d like to come back to this later, but I’m not going to finish it in time for Hugo voting.
Started: 3/19/20
Finished: 3/26/20
I LOVED this book. It’s super-weird, but the main character is hilarious (I laughed a LOT and had to force myself to stop reading parts out loud to John), and I LOVED it. So excited to read the next one when it comes out (THIS SUMMER!!). Queer necromancers in space. With swords. And hilarity. And death (because necromancers). Also lots of drama – despite the funny character, it is NOT a comedy. I got this from the library, but I need to own it. And re-read it.
Started: 2/18/20
Finished: 2/26/20
Second book in the Nyxia trilogy, and while I still enjoyed it, I have some major problems with the aliens. I mean, they’re fine, but they’re written as humans on another planet – hardly any differences, barely even cultural ones. Doesn’t feel well thought out.