Category: speculative fiction

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Sci Fi)

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

Loved this action filled science fiction story whose premise is the exploration of the ethical dilemmas present in a world that has the tech (and the desire) to clone people for (greatly) extended life. The book opens with a description of the International Law Regarding the Codicils to Govern the Existence of Clones which include a whole array of rules that don’t seem to make anybody particularly happy.

A crew of six has embarked on a journey to a new planet that will take hundreds of years. They carry with them thousands of cryogenically frozen humans and clones who will be wakened once they arrive. However, something must have gone drastically wrong because the opening scene sees all six awakening suddenly in gooey clone vats with no memory of the last 25 years and no understanding of why they are all dead. They are all “criminals” who have been promised full pardons and an erasure of all sins for completing the mission, but none of them have shared with each other what those sins were. Thus ensues a completely engrossing space opera of sorts as they work to try to figure out which of them attacked (and brutally killed) the others, who to trust, and exactly why they had been brought together in this way.

Includes some pretty rich cogitation on clones and AIs and how relationships, vengeance, jealousy, and general morality is impacted at both the individual and societal level. Clean writing and good characters (except for the super rich, super powerful, egoist who is the “bad guy” — those types never seem to have depth in fiction — probably because no author actually knows anybody like that to study, or because we don’t want our bad guys to have depth!)

Really enjoyed this. Now if I can only get the publisher to give me early access to her upcoming book, I will be one happy puppy!

Upgrade by Blake Crouch (Science Fiction)

Fascinating premise — that a human species-wide Upgrade through gene editing might be the only hope we have to prevent our extinction. Logan Ramsay — an agent for the Gene Protection Agency whose purpose is to stop all gene modification work after a disastrous effort led to the Great Starvation — finds himself slowly changing with vast improvements to his memory, physical strength and stamina, and compute power. His genome has been hacked and this may be a part of a bigger plan to be applied to all of humanity. But is this a good thing or a bad? And if bad, how can he stop it?

Very easy to read with the kind of clean prose that propels you forward with little awareness of actually reading the words. Plenty of action, but never (OK, not too much) of the endless fight scenes that bore me. A very good exploration of the philosophical questions about what is important for humanity, what cost would be worth it, and what kind of improvements really would “upgrade” the species for the better. I loved the experience of getting to inhabit (through the character) a brain that is so fast, so able to multitask, and has such perfect recall. It is a testament to the writer that I was not alway convinced that our protagonist had it right — I was drawn to the dark side! And the ending — which I obviously won’t give away — made me think. I’m not absolutely convinced by the conclusion but I’m still mulling it over.

I like this kind of science fiction which reminds me of the oldies — exploring where technology can take us, not irreparable doom and gloom, thinking the big thoughts. I’m embarrassed that I haven’t read any other Crouch novels and grateful to the friend who loaned it to me (where it sat in my TBR pile for six months before I gave it a shot).

Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (Science Fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 5/5 Characters: 4.5/5
Mallory Viridian appears to be cursed. Murders tend to occur whenever she is around. She solves them — quickly and well (much to the irritation of the local police) — but it would be much better if they didn’t happen in the first place! After the latest murder, wanting to be as far from perishable humans as she can get, she makes her way onto Eternity — a sentient space station — where bizarre coincidences tend to happen even more often.

The story is a great mix of action, cultural exploration, and personal growth with an impressive cast of characters (human and not, multi colored, of various sexual proclivities — checks all the right boxes but does not beat the point to death). One step further in the diversity collection — experiments with symbiotic pairings between beings becomes somewhat central to the plot(s). These include sentient hardware, hive minds, giant vegetarian rock people and the “moist races” like humans. Honestly the disgust felt by some of the aliens at the thought of all the “liquid” in humans just cracked me up. The plot often veers at crazy angles with multiple surprises, inducing a pleasurable ADD experience in me (I’m normally more of a linear planner type). Lots of banter and a very cool ending where countless loose end were tied up in highly satisfying ways.

I absolutely loved this book and can’t imagine how I missed it when it first came out. It’s my kind of science fiction — full of aliens, but with fully fleshed out (and imaginative) cultures and individual personalities (alienalities?). No all-hands-on-deck to kill the bug-eyed monsters thread!

Perfect for fans of Ann Leckie or early Becky Chambers (the Monk & Robot series do nothing for me). The best news — book two is coming out shortly (November 7th), and if I’m lucky I’ll get an early copy!

Starling House by Alix E Harrow (Speculative Fiction)

Writing: 4.5/5 Plot: 3/5 Characters: 3/5
A haunted house in a dying town (the inaptly named “Eden”). Somehow bound up with snarly Beasts, the house attracts a new Warden to defend itself (and the town?) through the dreamworld whenever the current Warden dies or disappears. And yet somehow Opal — struggling to keep herself and younger brother going long enough to get out of Eden — finds herself attracted to the house and the strange, gaunt, and equally haunted Warden against her better judgement.
I’ve read and loved (5 star reviews) every Harrow book to date, but I admit to being a bit disappointed in this one. Wonderful writing, as always, and characters that I cared about, but the characters were all stereotypes — nicely drawn stereotypes, but stereotypes nonetheless. And the “bad guys” didn’t even have the depth of a decent stereotype. Additionally, the pace was quite slow and I felt like I had to read a lot of words before the story inched forward. I’m sure the extra prose added deeply depicted ambiance, but I grew impatient. It’s got all the feeling of a nice creepy horror story with a good ending, some recovery-style positive self-discovery, and an odd, but compelling, love story along the way.

Just a couple of quotes:
“It’s just that I had to work eight Entire hours with Lacey Matthews, the human equivalent of unsalted butter.“

“Mr. Cole is a nice man, but he doesn’t know what to do with people raised on the underside of the rules, where the world turns dark and lawless, where only the canny and cruel survive.”

“Even if it’s only a foolish old house with ambitions of sentience.”

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 October 31st, 2023

Wolfsong by TJ Klune (Speculative Fiction / Romance)

This about-to-be-reissued book is a story about community, self-esteem, and personal growth carefully hidden within a big action story about Werewolves and a special human who manages to join the pack in a surprising way.

The story is interesting and the writing good (I absolutely loved Klune’s “In the Lives of Puppets” which was just released). Wolfsong could be simply summed up as a gay “Twilight,” with more emotional depth. It’s action and gay romance (with a capital R). At first I felt like it was more of a YA book, but about 80% of the way in began some seriously explicit homosexual sex scenes. More explicit than I really needed — frankly I would have liked a little warning! The book was also (for my taste), too long and quite repetitive. On the other hand, if you love action and enjoy a little gay romance / porn, this might be a great book for you!

I did actually love the stereotype busting world of he-men (mechanics, warriors, werewolves) who like to cuddle like puppies in a pack, love ferociously, and explore their feelings — sometimes out loud. I enjoyed the characters a lot — I just wish they had managed to figure out a few pretty obvious things a little earlier.

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 July 4th, 2023

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna (Speculative Fiction)

This book is Delightful — light, funny, and well written. It’s sometimes startling what the quality of writing brings to a book. This story about the isolation, loneliness, and fear of prejudice of … Witches — could have wandered into trashy territory but instead it becomes meaningful, heart warming, and happy-making in Mandanna’s skilled hands.

Mika Moon is a Witch. Through an old curse (we learn more about this later) all Witches find themselves orphaned early in life, and Mika has been raised (by a series of nannies) to hide what she is out of fear. When she finds herself in a quirky (to say the least) group of people, hired to tutor not one but three young Witches, she struggles with understanding what it means to become part of real family. Just reading this story will relieve the reader of any remnants of loneliness s/he might feel — at least for the time it takes to get through the story.

Translation State by Ann Leckie (Science Fiction)

Translation State is a standalone story in the (beloved) universe of the Ancillary Justice series. You don’t need to have read those first, but they are wonderful, so if you haven’t — do so now! Leckie’s universe is populated by any number of richly delineated alien species along with numerous human based cultures, far flung across the universe. In this story, three completely unrelated characters are drawn together through a bizarre set of circumstances and manage to have an impact on the way things have always been done. Enae — the reluctant diplomat tasked with tracking down a fugitive from 200 years ago; Reet, an adopted mechanic who struggles with intense (and definitely unacceptable) urges that he doesn’t understand; and Qven, a juvenile form of a manufactured species designed to translate between humans and the mysterious Presgers — absolutely necessary to preserving the fragile peace between the two races.

I love the way Leckie writes rich interior (alien) lives while simultaneously illustrating the complexity of multiple, variegated, worlds. I loved her description of the process for “raising” the translators — as alien as you can get and described from Qven’s very nuanced and real perspective. This story includes a fully fleshed out description of how to challenge cultural expectations when some aspects of the problem are (currently) immutable while others are simply rigidly accepted ways of doing things. The teasing apart of the situation and dawning awareness of what solutions are possible is brilliant and a skill that I wish would be more developed in us all.

As an aside, Leckie has a great time playing with pronouns. While occasionally single characters are referred to as “they” (which I hate), there are several other labels (sie, e, he, she) which I admit I couldn’t always differentiate but were meaningful to the characters — more importantly though, there was a wide range of pronouns which people sometimes had to correct but never got strident about.

Ann Leckie may well be my favorite current science fiction writer — in addition to writing engaging stories populated with realistic and diverse characters, she doesn’t insist on dwelling in constant dystopia and darkness as so many of today’s SF writers do.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 6th, 2023

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link (Spec Fiction / Stories)

A set of modern fairy tales with an urban twist. Grimm style — brothers on quests, rescue missions to the underworld, etc. — but with more contemporary elements — a talking white cat who manages a Colorado marijuana farm, a faithful and persistent gay lover who tracks his husband to Hell, a post apocalyptic world where corpses provide protection against the terrorizing creepies. Well-written and surprisingly classic in nature. A lot of recent books seem to be modernizing existing fairytales but this one is absolutely adding new items to the Canon.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 28th, 2023

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (Speculative Fiction — Audio Book)

Writing: 3/5 Characters: 3/5 Plot: 4/5

Mixed feelings about this one. A kind of combination of Hunger Games and Divergent. Six very powerful magicians (Medeans) — each with their own very particular kind of magic — are recruited to join the Alexandrian Society with power and secret knowledge offered to those who manage to be initiated. With one small hitch — one out of six will not be allowed to make it.

Pros: Some very interesting world building that blends philosophy, psychology, and a version of physics which embeds magic at its core. Really interesting description of reality and how it is perceived. Each of the six, with their own backstory and strength, adds a nice twisted spin to the way we think about things.

Cons: I found the characters and dialog pretty adolescent. Plenty of arrogance, and amused smirking, and competition as to who can adopt the most superior tone. Blah, blah, blah. Most are greedy for power for their own sake while I greatly prefer reading about people who are motivated by achievement and / or relationships.

And the biggest “con” of all: a complete cliff hanger at the end which I loathe.

So … entertaining for the most part, some cringeworthy and tedious introspection and sparring, and an irritating cliffhanger at the end. The second book just came out a couple of months ago, so if you’re interested, you won’t have to wait for the cliffhanger to be resolved. While I didn’t love it, this is a VERY popular title!

I listened to the audio book which had different (and good) readers for each of the six main characters as aligned with the chapter which centered on them.

Poster Girl by Veronica Roth (Speculative Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Plot: 4.5/5 Characters: 4.5/5

This concise description of the plot comes from Goodreads: Poster Girl is an adult dystopian and mystery novel about the imprisoned former face of a strict government regime and the task she’s given to buy her freedom. I’ll add to this that I don’t really think it is any more dystopian than our modern life is today and I wouldn’t call it a typical mystery per se, but the plot summary is accurate if not inspiring. Just read the book — it’s good!

Roth seems to have been born a skilled writer — she penned her first novel (Divergent) at 22 over her senior year winter break and in addition to be a runaway best seller, it was actually good (I read it)! Poster Girl is — as expected — completely gripping from start to finish. No tangents, no filler, perfectly structured plot. What I really liked was the major shift in the reader’s understanding of the situation that paralleled the (equally major) shift in the main character’s understanding. And in this particular case, that shift brings up an essential (to me) issue: at what point in someone’s life do they reach an understanding of their own sense of morality? And when should they be held accountable for that? We all go through a kind of conditioning (or brainwashing) when we are young — it’s called being raised and your parents, schools, and community all take part. What does it take to question and possibly overcome your conditioning? Why is it easier for some people than others?

A fast, engaging read with plenty of thought provocation and no long battle or chase scenes (those are so tedious!)