Category: science fiction

The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths (Mystery / Historical Fiction / Science Fiction)

Number two in Griffiths’ latest series which is part science fiction (because: time travel), part mystery (because: dead bodies), and part literary / historical fiction ( because: plenty of character development, some romance, and action in historical climes!). Ali Dawson is a detective that investigates cold cases. Really cold as in Victorian England, using secret time travel technology. With the time travel physicist “stuck” in the past, there has been a definite kibosh put on time traveling until she is returned. But when a suicide is somehow linked to a medium who appears to know something about the whole deal, and a mysterious perpetrator stirs up trouble, Ali decides to go back anyway. Pretty entertaining, some great descriptions of Victorian life (and dress), and intriguing, individualistic characters. While we have closure by the end, definitely get the feeling number three is not long behind…

The People’s Library by Veronica G. Henry (speculative Fiction)

Writing: 3.5/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5

An ambitious, somewhat dystopic, but certainly thought-provoking piece of speculative fiction, The People’s Library follows Echo London, a dedicated librarian whose job, like many others, has been replaced with AI. She’s lucky, though — she has been given a position in a virtual library where people check out virtual replicas of great minds to converse with, rather than books to read. Once that would have been anathema to London, but she finds herself drawn to the “virtus” as they are called, and becomes far more involved with them than with the flesh and blood people in her community. The action becomes intense with anti-tech rebels attacking the library, invisible puppet masters trying to bring about the next evolutionary step for humanity, and virtual AI beings that appear to have the capacity to suffer. This brings up many ethical dilemmas, and I admit that it wasn’t always obvious to me what the right answers should be, or even what the author thought the right answers should be.

The book explores some of my favorite science fiction questions: the nature of consciousness, the possibility of human-AI pairing, the evolution of the human species. While I’ve read quite a few stories that dabble in these areas, I did think this one captured more of a modern sensibility. The author is known for her African American fantasy, and I liked the African and African American slant the book took in its characters, designs, and references to Black history (e.g. one of the virtual beings was Jesse Cooper, one of the first Black enlisted men who were admitted to Naval officer training in 1944). Also some great Black literary references such as Helen Oyemi’s Icarus girl. I didn’t particularly enjoy some of the plot devices used — I never like plots that depend on one super-powerful and manipulative “bad guy,” and I didn’t really grok the mechanism that allowed the good guys to get out of a bad situation, but I did think the teaser at the end was a good way to leave us thinking about the book rather than simply feeling good about closure. Trying not to give away any of the plot and still let you know what you’re in for!

Worth reading.

Constituent Service by John  Scalzi (Science Fiction)

A short (152 pages) offering from master humorist and speculator John Scalzi about what it would be like to be the Community Liaison in an alien majority district. Fresh graduate Ashley Perrin is human, unlike most of the constituents she serves in the role. The variety of aliens with their shapes (one looks like a potted plant), sounds, behaviors, and preferences are legion and … somehow actually believable? I don’t know how Scalzi does that, but I’m happy he does. Our protagonist is calm, cool, collected and chock full of witty ripostes. I loved that I got to laugh out loud often — a lovely palate cleanser in a lot of bleak reading I seem to be doing these days. The action takes place over a few days. All of the various complaints Ashley handles in her first week at the office pipeline into one extra-terrestrial powder keg with some brilliant just-in-time intervention. The whole thing was (literally) a blast, with quite a charming ending.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 30th, 2025.

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead (Middle Grade Fiction)

Nathan has known from an early age that he and his parents are from another planet and that they are part of a secret experiment whose parameters are unclear. But things are starting to go wrong — some of the other alien families are disappearing, his family is being called back to the mothership, and his parents are looking pretty worried. What happens next is one twist after another in this absolutely satisfying middle grade science fiction story.

I love Rebecca Stead. She has that rare ability to write about topics with depth and make them equally accessible and appealing to both children and adults. Her books are all well-written (Newberry Award winner), weird in the best possible way, and never even close to trite or formulaic. The blurb likens it to A Wrinkle in Time and — as a long time and HUGE Wrinkle fan — I can lend my expert agreement! It’s a coming-of-age book about a young boy who is put into a very difficult situation and manages to be a hero because he can’t bear to not do the right thing regardless of the possible cost. There are no insipid moral messages (I’m sorry but “being kind” will not solve most real problems!), but there is plenty of (young boy) reflection, confusion, and eventual understanding to help grow a child into the adult they want to be. This is the kind of book that will both entertain and educate a young audience. And it was fun for this (much older) audience, too.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 16th, 2025.

The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Sci Fi)

Another fun Scalzi book — they don’t come any other way! Starts off fast and keeps up the pace. Plenty of humorous snark coupled with characters of strong principles who don’t shy away from getting into the tangle and making (good) things happen. Some pretty cool aliens with thought-provoking characteristics and some explorations of the kind of physics that might be uncovered when a superior race has had millenia to develop really advanced technology. I liked the fact that a lot of the story focussed on getting different species with wildly different characteristics and values to get along with each other. Humans were not the easiest. This is book seven in the Old Man’s War universe and I had to look up a few character and plot points that I didn’t remember (it’s been over a decade and how many brain cells can I keep devoted to the plot of every book I’ve read??). However, you can easily enjoy this book without having read the others.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 16th, 2025.

Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty (Sci Fi / Mystery)

The third in Lafferty’s Midsolar Murder series starring Mallory Viridian — one of the few human inhabitants of a sentient space station. Human murders tend to occur when Mallory is around (the reason explained in book one or two), which is why she made such an extreme relocation. Turns out that Mal is very good at *solving* the murders that occur and that provides a nice story to show off the fantastically quirky world Lafferty has created teeming with creative alien cultures, sentient mechanisms, and the “fun” everyone has trying to get along.

Each book adds more to the world — while I would recommend reading books one and two first, the author does a decent job of giving you the info you might need if you don’t. In this installment, a one-of-a-kind ship is making its way to the station with massive holodeck like capabilities and the physical embodiment of the entire Internet (including fan fiction sites — this is important!). And it is carrying … a mystery fan convention. What could go wrong?

I like Lafferty’s world building — more focus on alien cultures than alien tech which I find much more interesting. The mystery is a nice excuse to roam around meeting strange beings. I really like the bonding between sentient ships and stations with (often human) hosts. Plenty of action, but not the super stressful kind. Lots of fun to read — I always look forward to the next one, and I’m happy to say that she writes quickly!

Thank you to Ace and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 1st, 2025.

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (Science Fiction)

A surprisingly engaging sci fi story about an anthropologist sent to a planet that is host to a terrifying virus that kills all men and most women. A guinea pig for a new vaccine which should prevent her from catching it, Marghe gets to the planet and quickly leaves the tightly guarded military post in order to meet the natives who have somehow survived the virus and inexplicably managed to procreate in the absence of any men.

There is plenty of action and the “secrets” of this world are slowly revealed. There is a bad “Company” who cares far more about profits than people, but happily (for me) the Company really only appears as necessary to nudge the plot a bit. Far more focus on the evolving culture of the planet and its all female inhabitants.

The author mentioned in her notes that she was sick of books that generalized males or females to be all of one kind — aggressive males, nurturing females blah blah blah. She wanted to create an all female culture that had as many variations among its populace as it would have with two sexes. She did a great job. I appreciated how this all female world evolved without having to have any anger at or fighting with men. They just were irrelevant to the story.

I’m surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did —I think the character and culture centric nature of the speculation is what did it. I really do get bored with pure action 🙂

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji (SF / Mystery)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Story: 4/5

Part (very weird) murder mystery, part speculative fiction and a wow ending — Esperance is an evolving surprise from start to finish.
Ethan Karol is the Chicago PD detective trying to solve the seemingly inexplicable murder of a father and son, found drowned in seawater next to a large (also dead) fish on the 20th floor of a fashionable apartment building. Meanwhile, Abidemi Eniola is roaming the streets of Bristol (England), dressed in 30s attire, speaking in a weird accent, and full of technological trickery that is beyond anything her accidental sidekick, Hollie, has even considered possible. And both Karol and Eniola appear to be trying to track down a very specific, long ago sea captain…

All the characters are fun to read and slowly learn about. Character insight comes through action and behavior more than any kind of introspection. Themes of racism, justice, and intergenerational trauma are core to the story, but (IMHO) serve primarily as background motivation for what is an intense, action filled set of pages. In truth, a little more action than I usually care for, but so well-written and full of surprising twists I didn’t even have time to complain (to myself).

I’ve read all four of Oyebanji’s books in the last four months and they have all been written (or at least published) in the last three years. This is promising! Two books are straight up mysteries (not cozies, but also not too thrilling for me) and two are SciFi Crime / Mystery. Author has exactly the kind of interesting bio that leads to creative plots and unusual characters. I’ll be keeping an eye out for all his new, apparently rapidly produced(!), works.

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on May 25th, 2025.

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune (Sci Fi)

Aliens (non traditional, portrayed with depth), conspiracy theories, cults, and secret government facilities populate this action packed speculative fiction story with a lovely (and at times quite steamy) gay romance slowly percolating through. Beautifully woven themes of loneliness, love, grief and recovery suffuse the narrative. This is my third Klune book — each was completely different from the others, and all were creative in the way I found old style sci-fi to be, yet firmly rooted in the character development and personal experience that draws me to fiction. He has a very natural writing style — I get hooked at the very beginning and completely forget that I’m reading a book. More like I’m sitting in a comfy room listening to a storyteller bind me with sparkly spells.

In his own words, Klune is “gay as balls” and this is clearly reflected in the books he writes. I’ve never been drawn to specifically LGBQ+ fiction as it isn’t something I’m drawn to, but I like his matter-of-fact fiction where characters are individuals that continue personal development throughout the story, and increase my exposure to human experience significantly. Some of the (quite detailed) sex scenes took me a bit by surprise but I definitely learned a lot! As a complete aside, I did enjoy the little digs at veganism. I often feel surrounded by vegans, and it’s refreshing to hear someone unashamedly express a love for bacon and the superiority of meat over a lentil stew. 🙂

My only complaint is about the pace — I found the beginning a little too slow. It felt like the characters were repeating, rather than developing. Once I hit the 35% mark, the pace stepped up to something that worked a lot better for me. In other words, skim if you have to to get to where things start really moving.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 4th, 2025

Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty (SciFi)

An entertaining sequel to Station Eternity which was one of my favorite reads last year.

In truth, while I enjoyed this book, and appreciated the twists and the personal development of some favorite characters, it was a little disappointing when compared with book number one (or Lafferty’s other offering Six Wakes). No new alien cultures to explore, new characters (all human) whom I already can’t remember, and a basic mystery that kept me reading, but didn’t have any shocking twists. It was fine and I’ll probably read the next one when (if) it comes out, but I hope Lafferty will get back to the (IMHO) really good stuff in her next release.