Difference between revisions of "Newest Science Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Christopher Paolini
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|title= To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
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|rating= 5
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|genre= Science Fiction
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|summary= On the moon of a distant gas giant, Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping with the efforts to make the planet habitable to human life. However, a discovery of an ancient alien bunker under the moon's surface leaves her bonded with a strange alien entity. After the entity bonded to her loses control and kills half the staff of the research station, the United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to take Kira in for examination. Things go from bad to worse when the Extenuating Circumstances is attacked and destroyed by an alien ship, and she has to flee to the 61 Cygnus star system. She is revived aboard the freighter Wallfish, crewed by Captain Falconi and a rag-tag bunch of misfits, and the news is grim. The same aliens that destroyed the Extenuating Circumstances are now wreaking havoc across all of human-occupied space, and only a mythical weapon known as the Staff of Blue can stop them. As the death toll climbs and more players are introduced into this war, Kira slowly begins to realise that she may have had a greater hand in the conflict than she could've possibly imagined…
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|isbn=1529046505
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Laura Lam and Elizabeth May
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|title= Seven Devils
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|rating= 4
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|genre= Science Fiction
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|summary= Eris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, a resistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to inherit in her past life as Princess Discordia, whom everyone believed has been dead for years. Clo, an ace pilot for the Novantae, has a mission: hijack a Tholosian spacecraft to gather information vital to the war effort. Although she's less than pleased to discover that her former friend Eris is her partner on this mission. Things get more interesting as the mission commences; aboard the ship are three defectors with a secret that could potentially cripple the Empire. Eris's brother Damocles, the runner-up heir to the Empire, is plotting to disrupt peace talks between Tholos and the last of the free alien species. It's a race against time as the rebels move to put a stop Damocles' plans, with millions of lives hanging in the balance…
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|isbn=1473231140
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)
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|title=A Life Without End
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|rating=4
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|genre=Literary Fiction
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|summary=I looked at the calendar the other week, and disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, yet another one.  It won't be one of the major numbers, but the time when I have the same number as Heinz varieties looms on the horizon.  And then a few of the big 0-numbers, and if all goes well, I'll be an OBE.  (Which of course stands for Over Bloody Eighty.)  Now if that's the extent of my mid-life crisis, I guess I have to be happy.  Our author here doesn't use that exact phrase, but he might be said to be living one.  Determined to find out how to prolong life for as long as he wants – he would like to see 400 – he hops right into bed with the assistant to the first geneticist he interviews, and they end up with a child, which is at least a way of continuing the life of his genes, and a motive to keep on going.  But how can he get to not flick the 'final way out' switch, especially when foie gras tastes so nice?
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|isbn=1642860670
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Adrian Tchaikovsky
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|title= The Doors of Eden
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|rating= 4.5
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|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary= Wow – this novel is gigantic, in every sense of the word. "Epic" is a word that's thrown around a lot these days, but if a book ever earned the name it's this one. It's a doorstopper full of big ideas, and at times it almost felt too big for my brain.
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|isbn=1509865888
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=B0867X8NW7
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|title=Access Point
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|author=T R Gabbay
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|rating=4
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|genre=Thrillers
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|summary=When we first meet Ula Mishkin she's having something of a professional success: using a device of her own invention she's helped a man who has been blind for decades to see an image of a hummingbird.  She's thirty-six years old and her life is about to change radically as, cycling home, she's involved in an accident with a bus.  It's two years before we meet her again and in the meantime, she's spent 392 days in a coma and now walks with a stick.  A professional colleague persuades Ula that she should let out a spare bedroom to bring in some income.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= M R Carey
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|title= The Book of Koli
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|rating= 4
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|genre= Science Fiction
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|summary=  ''The Book of Koli'' is the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy, titled ''The Rampart Trilogy'', by M.R. Carey. The novel is set in a world where nature has turned against humans. Trees move as fast as animals to crush their prey and then soak up their blood. Humans have eked out a small existence in isolated villages. They are primitive except for their reverence of 'old tech'. This is technology from the old world that seems to only work for certain chosen people. However, Koli, a young woodsmith, uncovers a secret about this technology that will upend his life and take him on a perilous journey.
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|isbn=0316477532
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Kirsty Applebaum
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|title= Troofriend
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|rating= 4.5
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|genre= Confident Readers
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|summary= Are you tired of your child's classmates constantly being horrible to them? Do you want your child to have some positive experiences with people? Introducing the new Jenson & Jenson Troofriend 560 Mark IV android! These state-of-the-art machines are capable of emulating the full range of human emotions without lying, stealing or bullying. They're the perfect companion for any child! Any mention that these androids are beginning to develop real human feelings are just unsubstantiated rumours and have absolutely no basis in reality…right?
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|isbn=1788003470
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= N K Jemisin
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|title= The City We Became
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|rating= 4
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|genre= Science Fiction
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|summary= New York is being born, the city has reached critical mass and has matured into a living almost-breathing entity and is ready to make it's way out into the world. Before it can be established, an ancient evil appears to attempt to destroy it just as it destroyed Atlantis and other forgotten places. The city is not alone through the birthing process, people who embody the values are selected to become the living embodiment of the city, some cities have one, some have twelve and New York has six. Together these human-embodiments must defeat the woman in white and save New York from very real destruction. But these are five different boroughs which don't always see eye to eye, it's a personality clash on an epic scale and unity is both critical and not remotely guaranteed.
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|isbn=0356512665
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Cixin Liu
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|title=Death's End
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|rating=5
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|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary= If I'd been paying more attention when I picked this book up, I would have put it back on the shelf.  Not because I didn't want to read it, but because I'd have figured out that it was the final part of a trilogy. Coming in part way through a saga is never the easiest thing to do and it's particularly true in science fiction because without knowing the back-story there are not just people whose names mean nothing to you (when it's assumed they will) but there are whole concepts that you won't understand.  This latter is particularly true of Cixin Liu's work – his range is phenomenal.  George R R Martin, who knows a thing or two about world-creation, described it as ''a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, conspiracy theory and cosmology''.  All of that and more.
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|isbn=1784971650
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Andy Briggs
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|title=Ctrl+S
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|rating=5
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|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary= In the near future, life's pretty good. Climate change has been brought under control, the bee population has been brought back from near-extinction, and 3D printing has made things cheaper and quicker than ever before. But the biggest triumph has got to be SPACE, a simulated world that has the ability to mimic emotions as well as images. But, as with every technology, there is the potential for it to be abused. Every day, people are being kidnapped, plugged into SPACE and have their emotions and feelings harvested for the richest and sickest members of society. And now Theo's mum has gone missing. As he follows the trail left by her, he uncovers a vast conspiracy that would use any means necessary to stop him from finding out where his mum has gone...
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|isbn=1409184641
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Stephen Baxter
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|title= World Engines: Destroyer
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|rating= 4
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|genre= Science Fiction
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|summary= The last thing Colonel Reid Malenfant remembers is his Space Shuttle crashing - until he wakes up in the mid-24th Century, on an Earth massively depopulated and patiently waiting for the coming apocalypse. Suffering from severe culture shock, he tries to adjust to this new world. But all of this is changed when he receives a message from his wife Emma...who died on a mission to Phobos all the way back in 2004. As it slowly dawns on him that their timelines don't match up, he resolves to find a way to Phobos. But, this new society doesn't believe in space travel and no-one is willing to help him, until he meets a driven young woman who desperately wants to explore as much as he does...
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|isbn=1473223172
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=168369094X
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|title=William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future!
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|author=Ian Doescher
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Humour
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|summary=A long time ago, in a publishing house far away, [[:Category:Ian Doescher|someone]] thought it wonderfully wacky to rewrite the story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a clever way they seemed perfectly suited.  It was then duly repeated for all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, and clearly someone's buffing their quills ready for Episode Nine, the title of which became public knowledge the day before I write.  In the hiatus, however, the effort has been made to see if the same shtick works with other texts, and to riff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambs.  And could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the Future, with its tales of time travel, bullying, and parent/child strife like no other?
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=194927201X
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|title=Lakes of Mars
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|author=Merritt Graves
 +
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Science Fiction
 +
|summary=After his entire family is killed in a shuttle crash, one that he was piloting no less, Aaron Sheridan enlists in the Martian Fleet, fully expecting to die in the ongoing Rim War. Instead, he winds up on Corinth Station, the Fleet's command school. At first, he is apathetic towards the brutality and scheming of the students and staff, but after standing up for his only friend, he becomes a target for the dreaded Caelus Erik, the most feared cadet on Corinth. Scared that any further actions will put others on his flight team at risk, Aaron shuts himself off from everyone. But, when he discovers that the staff on Corinth have a motive other than training officers, he begins to realise that risking his all might be the safest thing he can do...
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1949272028
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|title=Sunlight 24
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|author=Merritt Graves
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Science Fiction
 +
|summary=In 2031, genetic engineering and robotics is changing the world at an unprecedented rate, with a regimen known as Revision making people stronger, faster and smarter than ever before. Baseline humanity is slowly being rendered obsolete, with people like 16-year-old Dorian Waters being left by the wayside as these new superhumans dominate the workforce. Without Revision, Dorian can't go to University and can't get a job. And so begins Dorian's slow spiral of self-destruction, robbing houses with his best friend Ethan to pay for his Revision, all the time desperately trying to keep this activity secret from his family. But, with his psychopathic brother already suspicious of him and the police gaining ground, Dorian slowly begins to realise that he's going to have to risk everything to stay ahead...
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1447281357
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|title=Salvation Lost
 +
|author=Peter F Hamilton
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Science Fiction
 +
|summary=Humanity is at a turning point. After Feriton Kane's investigation uncovers the supposedly benign Olyix's plan to harvest humanity in the name of their god, the entire human race prepares to fight back. But when the Olyix's harvesting ships appear and start heading towards Earth, and Olyix-derived technology begins preparing them for transportation, humanity realises that they are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Some people to flee, taking to the stars in an effort to hide from their aggressors, even though only a small percentage of humanity would survive. But others choose to fight them head-on. As humanity comes face-to-face with the largest ever threat to their existence, old grudges will have to be put aside to focus on obliterating this enemy. Even if it means planning for a future that none of them will ever live to see...
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0356512223
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|title=Velocity Weapon
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|author=Megan E O'Keefe
 +
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Science Fiction
 +
|summary=After her gunship is destroyed in a battle, Sanda Greeve expects to wake up in a friendly medical ward, fully healed and ready to get back into the fight. However, instead, she wakes up a quarter of a millenia later, missing a leg, aboard an enemy starship called The Light of Berossus (or "Bero", as the starship's rather grumpy AI prefers to call himself). Bero tells Sanda that the war is long over and that the entire population of the system is dead. The only option, it seems, is to travel to the nearest star system. But, as the starship makes preparations for its decades-long voyage across the stars, it becomes clear to Sanda that something else is going on...
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0751568228
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|title=Across the Void
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|author=S K Vaughn
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary=Sea epics? So 20th century. Try a space epic.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1529014484
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|title=Exhalation
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|author=Ted Chiang
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Science Fiction
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|summary=Over the past twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. If you haven't then take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.
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}}
  
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Move on to [[Newest Short Story Reviews]]
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===[[XX by Angela Chadwick]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:LGBT Fiction|LGBT Fiction]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Angela Chadwick's debut novel explores the possibility of two women being able to produce a baby girl through a process called Ovum-to-Ovum fertilisation. It centres around Rosie and Jules who take part in the first ever clinical trial that would allow them to have a child of their own without the need for a sperm donor or any other male intervention. What follows is a story that shows the harshness and at times disgraceful behaviour of the media, and the general public, when faced with a controversial technique that could lead to the demise of men. [[XX by Angela Chadwick|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Rosewater by Tade Thompson]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry and the helpless - people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumoured healing powers. Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn't care to again - but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realisation about a horrifying future. [[Rosewater by Tade Thompson|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Imagine a world in which death was no longer something to fear but something to aspire to. After discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, the Big Smoke for the recently deceased. In 1938 the British Empire is caught up in a race against Soviet spies and dealing with a mole buried deep in the heart of Summerland. When Rachel White, an ambitious SIS agent, becomes suspicious about the potential rogue agent, she must decide how far she is willing to go and how much she is willing to risk to uncover the truth. [[Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Europe – 1963. The world is used to the constant tensions between the West and Russia, with the Cold War a seemingly never ending threat in the lives of everyday people. What they don't know however, is that the real cold war is fought on the borders of this world, far from prying eyes at the edges of the light. British Intelligence agent Christopher Winter is forced to flee London when an assassination attempt goes horribly wrong, and is forced into a tense, unwelcome alliance with the lethal Karina Lazarova. As the threats rise, Christopher finds himself caught in a quest for centuries old hidden knowledge – an occult secret that will give instant supremacy to whichever nation possesses it. Racing against the enemy, Christopher is taken from ruins in Bavaria through to the haunted Hungarian border, all in search of something unholy – born of the power of white fire and black glass. It's a world of treachery, blood and magic. A world at war in the dark. [[The War in the Dark by Nick Setchfield|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Ascension by Victor Dixen]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Six girls, six boys. Each in the two separate bays of a single spaceship. They have six minutes each week to seduce and to make their choices, under the unblinking eye of the on-board cameras. They are the contenders in the Genesis programme, the world's craziest speed-dating show ever, aimed at creating the first human colony on Mars. Leonor, an 18 year old orphan, is one of the chosen ones. She has signed up for glory. She has signed up for love. She has signed up for a one-way ticket. Even if the dream turns to a nightmare, it is too late for regrets.  [[Ascension by Victor Dixen|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Empire of Silence (Sun Eater) by Christopher Ruocchio]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Hadrian Marlowe sits in the distant future writing the true account of his life to add context to a tale everyone in the Empire knows already. ''Empire of Silence'' is a hero's quest but it is made clear from the start that it will not end that way. We are millennia in the future, Earth has been lost and great houses rule portions of a vast empire. Hadrian Marlowe is set to inherit one of the great houses but following some terrible news he decides upon a new path instead. [[Empire of Silence (Sun Eater) by Christopher Ruocchio|Full Review]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]
 
 
 
What happens when Utopia is achieved? When everyone is linked neurologically to everyone else and people vote on each minor decision so every aspect of life is truly democratic? Everyone knows everything and everyone decides everything so what can possibly go wrong? Except people are dying, melting to be precise, and no one knows how, or why, or who could be next. In such a circumstance who can be trusted to solve this crime and do so without spreading panic? What if the only people who can be trusted have already let you down once before? [[Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[The Beasts of Electra Drive by Rohan Quine]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
 
 
 
Meet Jaymi. He's a world-class video games designer, and fresh to a new mansion in the Hollywood Hills on the basis of some recent success. But he's seen the future and he doesn't like it. His current employers, able to bring any amount of class, skill and culture to the world of gameplay, are beset on appealing to the most lunkheaded and lowest common denominators instead. Indeed, their next big thing will change the world for the worse – it will be a massively disturbing environment, where people progress through the world of the entity by spreading fake news about anyone and everyone else on the planet, whether they're playing along or not, and by getting kind of prestige points on spoiling and shaming anything beyond a user-accepted, algorithm-designed, status quo. With a much more Reithian approach, Jaymi goes freelance, and sets up a way of restoring the balance with a launch of his own, where aspects of his more humanitarian mind are played out by avatars of him in the game. He sees this as a way to improve society and get his own back – but the chance of getting revenge more quickly comes about when those avatars leave their encoded background, and become fully playable characters in reality… [[The Beasts of Electra Drive by Rohan Quine|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]
 
 
 
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a man called William Shakespeare, who was able to create a series of dramatic histories full of machinations most foul, rulers most evil and rebellious heroes and heroines most sturdy.  You may or may not have noticed the cinematic version of his original stage play for ''The Force Doth Awaken'', but here at last we get the actual script, complete with annoying-in-different-ways-to-before droids anew, returning heroes from elsewhere in his oeuvre, and people keeping it in the family til it hurts.  And if you need further encouragement, don't forget his audience only demanded three parts of Henry VI – here the series is so popular we're on to part seven – surely making this over twice as good… [[William Shakespeare's the Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh by Ian Doescher|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Living in 2017 has me longing to live in some sort of futuristic Utopia, in a world of free thinking and no major crime. Perhaps in a Space Station high above the Earth were the greatest minds have travelled so that they can build a vessel that will send the next generations of humans to populate new planets. You know that as soon as you arrive it will be the same old problems. You can't really have a Utopia with people in it, can you? [[Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Water & Glass by Abi Curtis]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Dystopian Fiction|Dystopian Fiction]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Something has happened, something very nasty and on a submarine a pregnant elephant is one of only a handful of animals living below the waves. We follow Nerissa Crane, a vet, as she remembers recent events, looks after the animals and falls into a world of intrigue.
 
 
 
It is difficult to properly review this book without giving too much away. There will be mild spoilers throughout this right from the start but I will try to avoid the main ones. [[Water & Glass by Abi Curtis|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams by Philip K Dick]]===
 
 
 
 
 
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[[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]]
 
 
 
Philip K Dick's stories were originally published in the 50s, but they are more present than past. On the big screen ''Blade Runner 2049'' relaunched the Dick-inspired cult classic to reviews of pure praise; and on slightly smaller screens, Channel 4 has adapted the author's short stories for TV. Startlingly, Dick's current relevance reaches beyond fiction and into the factual: his topics from intrusive advertising and loss of privacy to the increasing machination of society are all headline material in today's news. It is as if half a century after their inception, Dick's electric dreams are becoming reality. [[Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams by Philip K Dick|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Goss_600.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785942719?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785942719]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Children's Rhymes and Verse|Children's Rhymes and Verse]], [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]]
 
 
 
Consider the Doctor. Just how many birthday and Christmas gifts must he have to hand out each year, were he to keep in touch with even half of his companions? He would certainly need a few novelty gifts for some of them, say, for example, whimsical books of verse that pithily encapsulate the life of a Time Lord and that of some of his friends and enemies. As luck would have it, he has the space in his TARDIS to stock up in advance, so my advice to him – sorry, her – would be to pop along to his local Earth-based book emporium and get himself ready. And if you're working on a shorter timescale, with a shorter lifespan, and thinking perhaps just one gift season ahead, well my advice is pretty much the same. [[Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse (Dr Who) by James Goss and Russell T Davies|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Ghosts of Empire by George Mann]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Taking on a band of undead Mummies will take it out of the best of us and a holiday may be needed. If you are from New York there are not many other cities worldwide that could impress you, but London is one of them. Surely, a nice visit to England, far from the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, will help you to relax. It is not as if Russian Tsarists are on the loose with magical powers or the events are conspiring to raise the sleeping power of Albion from its slumber. Is it? [[Ghosts of Empire by George Mann|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Artemis by Andy Weir]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Welcome to Artemis, the first city on the moon. A powerhouse for the rich and a once in a lifetime trip for earth tourists, and also a place a small community of citizens call home. Jazz Bashara is one such citizen. She came to Artemis with her father aged six, it's the only place she's ever known but she wouldn't say she's flourishing. In fact, the phrase most often used to describe Jazz is a waste of talent. Jazz lives in the low end of town, sleeping on a bunk, using a shared bathroom, which is all she can afford through her job as a porter. However, Jazz dreams above all else of being rich and to this end, she has set up a side business of illegal smuggling activity. When one of Jazz's regular clients wants her to step up from petty criminal to major criminal for a handsome reward, it is just too tempting to refuse. What Jazz doesn't know is all the facts behind what she is being asked to do. [[Artemis by Andy Weir|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[My Name is Sam by Wes Stuart]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Who is the real enemy? This is the question which confronts Sam, the champion of the Sereia in their cosmos-spanning war with the Gibbus, and the main character in this story. Sam is an unimposing boy who has no past and no memory of who he is, yet he possesses extraordinary abilities. He is also Earth's last hope for salvation from the Gibbus who, in seven days, will destroy the planet and everyone on it. This is not his choice however: that is the decision of the alien Sereia, his mentors and guides, as he is forced to confront this hazardous task. They have their own reasons for wanting Earth to be saved, but are too weak to challenge the Gibbus themselves. In their search for a human champion they find the unlikely and ill-prepared young boy, Sam – but this child is not quite as he appears… [[My Name is Sam by Wes Stuart|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Have you ever watched the Terminator movies or some similar 'Robo-geddon' franchise and wondered what would have happened if the robots had actually won? Well wonder no more, because Sea of Rust hinges on that exact premise; a world where the robots have wiped out every living thing from planet earth. Only artificial life remains; there is no trace of organic matter anywhere, since the robot uprising that devastated the planet. Now two huge mainframes compete for world domination: CISSUS and VIRGIL. They capture robots and turn them into drones; uploading their minds into a hive consciousness. The few remaining bots are called 'freebots,' and inhabit a desert called the Sea of Rust, where they do what they can to survive, including cannibalising other bots for spare parts. [[Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Austral by Paul McAuley]]===
 
 
 
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]]
 
 
 
Austral has no doubts about who she is.  Her birth was, as she puts it, ''a political act.  Conceived in a laboratory dish by direct injection of sperm into an egg.  I was customised by a suite of targeted genes…''  She was, as the jargon of her world has it ''edited''.  She is, as a result, a Husky.  A human modified to withstand the cold temperatures of the Antarctic continent.  Those temperatures are still hard for un-modified humans to survive in, but maybe not for much longer.  This is a world in which the threats of global warming went unheeded…a world in which the ice has retreated and continues to retreat…a world in which the harshest of environments is being opened up for exploitation. [[Austral by Paul McAuley|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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Revision as of 10:57, 15 September 2020

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Review of

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

5star.jpg Science Fiction

On the moon of a distant gas giant, Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping with the efforts to make the planet habitable to human life. However, a discovery of an ancient alien bunker under the moon's surface leaves her bonded with a strange alien entity. After the entity bonded to her loses control and kills half the staff of the research station, the United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to take Kira in for examination. Things go from bad to worse when the Extenuating Circumstances is attacked and destroyed by an alien ship, and she has to flee to the 61 Cygnus star system. She is revived aboard the freighter Wallfish, crewed by Captain Falconi and a rag-tag bunch of misfits, and the news is grim. The same aliens that destroyed the Extenuating Circumstances are now wreaking havoc across all of human-occupied space, and only a mythical weapon known as the Staff of Blue can stop them. As the death toll climbs and more players are introduced into this war, Kira slowly begins to realise that she may have had a greater hand in the conflict than she could've possibly imagined… Full Review

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Review of

Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May

4star.jpg Science Fiction

Eris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, a resistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to inherit in her past life as Princess Discordia, whom everyone believed has been dead for years. Clo, an ace pilot for the Novantae, has a mission: hijack a Tholosian spacecraft to gather information vital to the war effort. Although she's less than pleased to discover that her former friend Eris is her partner on this mission. Things get more interesting as the mission commences; aboard the ship are three defectors with a secret that could potentially cripple the Empire. Eris's brother Damocles, the runner-up heir to the Empire, is plotting to disrupt peace talks between Tholos and the last of the free alien species. It's a race against time as the rebels move to put a stop Damocles' plans, with millions of lives hanging in the balance… Full Review

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Review of

A Life Without End by Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

I looked at the calendar the other week, and disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, yet another one. It won't be one of the major numbers, but the time when I have the same number as Heinz varieties looms on the horizon. And then a few of the big 0-numbers, and if all goes well, I'll be an OBE. (Which of course stands for Over Bloody Eighty.) Now if that's the extent of my mid-life crisis, I guess I have to be happy. Our author here doesn't use that exact phrase, but he might be said to be living one. Determined to find out how to prolong life for as long as he wants – he would like to see 400 – he hops right into bed with the assistant to the first geneticist he interviews, and they end up with a child, which is at least a way of continuing the life of his genes, and a motive to keep on going. But how can he get to not flick the 'final way out' switch, especially when foie gras tastes so nice? Full Review

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Review of

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

Wow – this novel is gigantic, in every sense of the word. "Epic" is a word that's thrown around a lot these days, but if a book ever earned the name it's this one. It's a doorstopper full of big ideas, and at times it almost felt too big for my brain. Full Review

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Review of

Access Point by T R Gabbay

4star.jpg Thrillers

When we first meet Ula Mishkin she's having something of a professional success: using a device of her own invention she's helped a man who has been blind for decades to see an image of a hummingbird. She's thirty-six years old and her life is about to change radically as, cycling home, she's involved in an accident with a bus. It's two years before we meet her again and in the meantime, she's spent 392 days in a coma and now walks with a stick. A professional colleague persuades Ula that she should let out a spare bedroom to bring in some income. Full Review

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Review of

The Book of Koli by M R Carey

4star.jpg Science Fiction

The Book of Koli is the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy, titled The Rampart Trilogy, by M.R. Carey. The novel is set in a world where nature has turned against humans. Trees move as fast as animals to crush their prey and then soak up their blood. Humans have eked out a small existence in isolated villages. They are primitive except for their reverence of 'old tech'. This is technology from the old world that seems to only work for certain chosen people. However, Koli, a young woodsmith, uncovers a secret about this technology that will upend his life and take him on a perilous journey. Full Review

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Review of

Troofriend by Kirsty Applebaum

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Are you tired of your child's classmates constantly being horrible to them? Do you want your child to have some positive experiences with people? Introducing the new Jenson & Jenson Troofriend 560 Mark IV android! These state-of-the-art machines are capable of emulating the full range of human emotions without lying, stealing or bullying. They're the perfect companion for any child! Any mention that these androids are beginning to develop real human feelings are just unsubstantiated rumours and have absolutely no basis in reality…right? Full Review

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Review of

The City We Became by N K Jemisin

4star.jpg Science Fiction

New York is being born, the city has reached critical mass and has matured into a living almost-breathing entity and is ready to make it's way out into the world. Before it can be established, an ancient evil appears to attempt to destroy it just as it destroyed Atlantis and other forgotten places. The city is not alone through the birthing process, people who embody the values are selected to become the living embodiment of the city, some cities have one, some have twelve and New York has six. Together these human-embodiments must defeat the woman in white and save New York from very real destruction. But these are five different boroughs which don't always see eye to eye, it's a personality clash on an epic scale and unity is both critical and not remotely guaranteed. Full Review

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Review of

Death's End by Cixin Liu

5star.jpg Science Fiction

If I'd been paying more attention when I picked this book up, I would have put it back on the shelf. Not because I didn't want to read it, but because I'd have figured out that it was the final part of a trilogy. Coming in part way through a saga is never the easiest thing to do and it's particularly true in science fiction because without knowing the back-story there are not just people whose names mean nothing to you (when it's assumed they will) but there are whole concepts that you won't understand. This latter is particularly true of Cixin Liu's work – his range is phenomenal. George R R Martin, who knows a thing or two about world-creation, described it as a unique blend of scientific and philosophical speculation, conspiracy theory and cosmology. All of that and more. Full Review

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Review of

Ctrl+S by Andy Briggs

5star.jpg Science Fiction

In the near future, life's pretty good. Climate change has been brought under control, the bee population has been brought back from near-extinction, and 3D printing has made things cheaper and quicker than ever before. But the biggest triumph has got to be SPACE, a simulated world that has the ability to mimic emotions as well as images. But, as with every technology, there is the potential for it to be abused. Every day, people are being kidnapped, plugged into SPACE and have their emotions and feelings harvested for the richest and sickest members of society. And now Theo's mum has gone missing. As he follows the trail left by her, he uncovers a vast conspiracy that would use any means necessary to stop him from finding out where his mum has gone... Full Review

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Review of

World Engines: Destroyer by Stephen Baxter

4star.jpg Science Fiction

The last thing Colonel Reid Malenfant remembers is his Space Shuttle crashing - until he wakes up in the mid-24th Century, on an Earth massively depopulated and patiently waiting for the coming apocalypse. Suffering from severe culture shock, he tries to adjust to this new world. But all of this is changed when he receives a message from his wife Emma...who died on a mission to Phobos all the way back in 2004. As it slowly dawns on him that their timelines don't match up, he resolves to find a way to Phobos. But, this new society doesn't believe in space travel and no-one is willing to help him, until he meets a driven young woman who desperately wants to explore as much as he does... Full Review

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Review of

William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher

4.5star.jpg Humour

A long time ago, in a publishing house far away, someone thought it wonderfully wacky to rewrite the story of Star Wars in Shakespearean pentameter, colliding two entirely different genres and styles in such a clever way they seemed perfectly suited. It was then duly repeated for all the other films in the main Star Wars cycle, and clearly someone's buffing their quills ready for Episode Nine, the title of which became public knowledge the day before I write. In the hiatus, however, the effort has been made to see if the same shtick works with other texts, and to riff on other seemingly unlikely source materials in iambs. And could we have anything more suitably unsuitable-seeming than Back to the Future, with its tales of time travel, bullying, and parent/child strife like no other? Full Review

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Review of

Lakes of Mars by Merritt Graves

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

After his entire family is killed in a shuttle crash, one that he was piloting no less, Aaron Sheridan enlists in the Martian Fleet, fully expecting to die in the ongoing Rim War. Instead, he winds up on Corinth Station, the Fleet's command school. At first, he is apathetic towards the brutality and scheming of the students and staff, but after standing up for his only friend, he becomes a target for the dreaded Caelus Erik, the most feared cadet on Corinth. Scared that any further actions will put others on his flight team at risk, Aaron shuts himself off from everyone. But, when he discovers that the staff on Corinth have a motive other than training officers, he begins to realise that risking his all might be the safest thing he can do... Full Review

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Review of

Sunlight 24 by Merritt Graves

4star.jpg Science Fiction

In 2031, genetic engineering and robotics is changing the world at an unprecedented rate, with a regimen known as Revision making people stronger, faster and smarter than ever before. Baseline humanity is slowly being rendered obsolete, with people like 16-year-old Dorian Waters being left by the wayside as these new superhumans dominate the workforce. Without Revision, Dorian can't go to University and can't get a job. And so begins Dorian's slow spiral of self-destruction, robbing houses with his best friend Ethan to pay for his Revision, all the time desperately trying to keep this activity secret from his family. But, with his psychopathic brother already suspicious of him and the police gaining ground, Dorian slowly begins to realise that he's going to have to risk everything to stay ahead... Full Review

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Review of

Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton

4star.jpg Science Fiction

Humanity is at a turning point. After Feriton Kane's investigation uncovers the supposedly benign Olyix's plan to harvest humanity in the name of their god, the entire human race prepares to fight back. But when the Olyix's harvesting ships appear and start heading towards Earth, and Olyix-derived technology begins preparing them for transportation, humanity realises that they are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. Some people to flee, taking to the stars in an effort to hide from their aggressors, even though only a small percentage of humanity would survive. But others choose to fight them head-on. As humanity comes face-to-face with the largest ever threat to their existence, old grudges will have to be put aside to focus on obliterating this enemy. Even if it means planning for a future that none of them will ever live to see... Full Review

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Review of

Velocity Weapon by Megan E O'Keefe

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

After her gunship is destroyed in a battle, Sanda Greeve expects to wake up in a friendly medical ward, fully healed and ready to get back into the fight. However, instead, she wakes up a quarter of a millenia later, missing a leg, aboard an enemy starship called The Light of Berossus (or "Bero", as the starship's rather grumpy AI prefers to call himself). Bero tells Sanda that the war is long over and that the entire population of the system is dead. The only option, it seems, is to travel to the nearest star system. But, as the starship makes preparations for its decades-long voyage across the stars, it becomes clear to Sanda that something else is going on... Full Review

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Review of

Across the Void by S K Vaughn

4star.jpg Science Fiction

Sea epics? So 20th century. Try a space epic. Full Review

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Review of

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

5star.jpg Science Fiction

Over the past twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. If you haven't then take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful. Full Review

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