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[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]==Science fiction==__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Iain M BanksAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=The Hydrogen SonataAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=45

|summary=It's 25 years since Iain M Banks introduced us 'Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to the utopian come.''Culture I've heard it said that ' series of sci fi adventure books and technology'is what happens after you'The Hydrogen Sonata'' is the 13th in the seriesre eighteen. One thing Banks does particularly well is to make his books completely accessible as stand alones Well, explaining the concept afresh each time without going over old ground for long time fans, of which I must confess that there are many. In many ways, this is a good introduction for those who have yet to discover the joys of this excellent series because it's far been more linear than somea few decades of technology in my lifetime. He sometimes leaves even hardened I've kept up reasonably well with what'Culture'' addicts struggling s advantageous to work out whatme but I's going on m left with alternative realities before bringing them together, but therethe feeling that it's little all getting away from me. Some of that hereit is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501507</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kevin J AndersonSylvie Cathrall|title=The Martian WarA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=3.5

|summary=Suppose H G Wells was not simply There are few greater joys than a skilled writer with a spectacular imagination, but was in fact centrally involved in book which lives up to a fantastical adventure which formed the basis for several of his most successful novelscompelling premise. Kevin J Anderson has supposed exactly And this in his latest novel 'The Martian War'. Real historical figures such as Percival Lowell and T H Huxley share centre stage with famous Wellsian characters like Dr Moreau and Mr Cavor in a story that borrows elements from 'War of the Worlds', 'The First Men in the Moon', 'The Island is one of Doctor Moreau' and 'The Invisible Man'them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781161720</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Cobley1803816759|title=The Ascendant StarsUnravelling|author=Will Gibson

|summary=It''Space Opera has never been in more capable hands'' s 2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the Guardian quote wealthy and peaceful New York City. Joe longs for a bit of adventure and to get stuck into some really gritty crime detection. But then something goes horribly wrong with the AI system that concludes the blurb now runs everything, making life easier for thismany, and riots start to spread. Finally, Cobley's wrap up part Joe gets to do some real policing. In the aftermath of the ''Humanity's Fire'' trilogy that started with [[Seeds of Earth (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|Seeds of Earth]] rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and continued through [[The Orphaned Worlds (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|The Orphaned Worlds]]Joe is assigned to bring her home. ItJoe isn's hard t the only one trying to disagreesave Suki - Dylan, a British superfan and tech nerd, but it's is also hard to get away – on this evidence – from the fact that Space Opera might be closer to Soap than Classical, when case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or was it comes to opera classification.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496367</amazonuk>hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter HellerB0CP95J1CG|title=The Dog StarsOf Ghosts & Broken Promises|author=Mark Lingane

|genre=General Science Fiction|summary=We are in North America in a near but post-Apocalyptic future. Those few humans to survive a pandemic have to be treated as carriers, and/or armed and desperate, and so are particularly of note to military-minded survivalist Bangley. And climate and eco-problems have killed off many common species, something closer to narrator HigRonan's heart, as not entirely sure why he's a more placid, huntin', shootin' and fishin' guy. These two solitary men are an unlikely partnership, but both look out for each other in complementary ways. Bangley has his watch-tower, while Hig takes off in his Cessna decides to get away from it all, and his flights act as a first line of defense. But is it all life could be, for Hig and his dog and Bangley? What is Hig still go to make of the last inviting contact he heard on party but his plane's radio - even if that was three years ago? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755392590</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sam Thompson|title=Communion Town|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Communion Town – one city but it may as well be many as each person's perception of it interest is coloured piqued by their experiences within the way itarrived. Each chapter introduces us And it seems like a good opportunity to a different story, a different viewpoint get out of his room and therefore, practically away from the online activities he makes a different cityliving at. Starting with So he makes his way there, dodging the ominous, creepy story buses that make up most of Nicolas, through stories encapsulating such themes as recaptured friendship, murder the traffic and an enigmatic take on the life of a private investigator, we start to piece together watching the nature of Communion Townlocal energy storage indicator lights.Should be enough power.Hopefully. or do we?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007454767</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon DenmanK P O'Donnell|title=ConnectedThe Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)

|genre=General Science Fiction|summary=DougVL-15, a maths and computing undergraduate at Essex Universityprototype robot, is desperate to understand who she is. Unfortunately, before she could find any answers, has just pulled the most amazing girl. So he's not really that interested world ended, consumed in an apocalyptic war between the file nations of fractals research best friend Kal has just sent himDrexel and Renada. But while Doug and Cindy are busily getting it onOver half-a-century later, something has gone horribly wrong for Kal and Doug emerges from afternoon delight civilisation is starting to the horrific discovery that his friend has committed suiciderebuild. Miles away in the countryside, Peter Dr Amelia Wong is attending his brotherdetermined to continue her father's funeral. Martin was legacy, building a musician world where machines and humans can live together in harmony, but not a tortured artist internal frictions and external enemies might bring it seems inconceivable that he too would take all crashing down again. Craig Anderson, leader of a group of salvagers called the Exhumers, has his own entire lifeturned upside down when he unearths a prototype combat robot: none other than VL-15 herself. But Even after being buried for 65 years, her determination hasn't diminished in the tripslightest, for Peterand no errant machine, is more than a family obligation - itno savage human tribe and not even Drexel's the chance of a break from a stale marriage and an opportunity to indulge in some guilty proximity to his newly-bereaved sister-in-law. ravaged ecosystem will stop her on her quest for answers…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B0089YQPI0</amazonuk>B0CKRYFRZM

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ted KosmatkaEmily Tesh|title=The GamesSome Desperate Glory

|summary=It's the near future and the Olympics go on, but not without changes. A new event has been added to those that we'd recognise: genetically engineered gladiatorial combat. This is no holds barred competition, with one rule: each countryWhile Earth's gladiator must be devoid of any human DNA. Indeedchildren live, America is so good that their team has won all the last three gamesenemy shall fear us' golds, thanks to geneticist Dr Silas Williams, but this year is different. This year he has nothing to do with the design; someone sent a single design criterion to an experimental intelligence computer. (You just know that was a bad idea day don't you?) The design criteria is just one sentence, just words, but words can be misunderstood and misunderstanding can be devastating for more than just genetically manufactured gladiators.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781164142</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=David Brin|title=Existence|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=We are Following the destruction of the Earth, amongst a few decades further into rare number of survivors, Kyr has been raised on Gaea Station – the 21st Century at home of the start last scraps of this sci-fi novel. The humanity – and trained relentlessly to avenge her people and the world is buckling under climate change, and over-populationthat should have been hers. Those with enough funds are completely wired into a virtual worldAll her life, but wherever they live out their existence things are going she has been conditioned to be changedfall in line, when a space-based labourer, clearing space junk from orbit, finds an alien artifact containing contact with various races in a sort of memory bank cum virtual reality. Where are the aliens that had previously been so silent while we sought for them with our Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence? What is the purpose to fulfil her duty and message behind this capsule? And who can be sure ensure that this alleged First Contact was actually the first?humanity perseveres.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356501728</amazonuk>0356521834

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kim Stanley RobinsonM R Carey|title=2312Infinity Gate|rating=45

|summary=I'Intellectually engaged…intensely humane… exuberantly speculativem annoyingly picky when it comes to science fiction. Not because it' was Iain M Banks' blurb for ''2312''. So who am s a genre I to disagree with one of the current masters dislike – nothing of the sort. My standards are high precisely because it's a hard genre? No-one. Just an ordinary reader. And actuallyto get right – and when it's bad, the more I think about the less I do – actually – as such – disagree. Banksit' phrases are true and accurates often terrible. They're just not But the whole story. Not for premise of Infinity Gate had me anywayhooked. For A concept this intriguing felt like a reader, as opposed to another writerhigh-stakes gamble: if it was done well, the book is much more difficult than that. ''Publishers Weekly'' called it ''challenging'' and d be fantastic. So this is where I sum up that's much nearer the markpremise.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841499978</amazonuk>0356518043

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Garth NixMichael Grothaus|title=A Confusion of PrincesBeautiful Shining People

|genre=TeensLiterary Fiction|summary=Meet Khemri. One of the universe's chosen, he has been selected as a Prince, giving him biological enhancements, mental connection to priests 'But fearing something and having it come to aid his psychic ability, and so much morepass are two different things. It has also probably led And I'm willing to the death bet most of his parentswhat we fear will never happen, and meant he is alone except for a very close bodyguard, but - at least he is in the running or we can take steps to become Emperor, and thus almost godlike. But in a world where you can have everything - including more than one chance at living - change it might still be wise to think more about what you wish for...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007298358</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Paolo Bacigalupi|title=The Drowned Cities|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=The best thing about Paolo Bacigalupi's latest young adult novel is that you almost certainly wouldn't realise it was intended for a younger audience unless someone pointed it out to you. Beautiful Shining People''The Drowned Cities'' may lack revolves around the sex, swearing question of identity and amoral protagonists of his award-winning adult novel '[[The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi|The Windup Girl]], but acceptance. Of what it has all the needle-sharp descriptionmeans to be human. Of what is real and what is artificial, complex world-building and brilliant characters that have rapidly made a name for Bacigalupi as one whether the development of this centuries preeminent science-fiction writerstechnology is exciting or frightening.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907411119</amazonuk>191458564X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mike Lancaster1739593901|title=1.4|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Peter Vincent lives a privileged life. His father is a world-renowned scientist and fully expects his son to follow in his footsteps. But Peter has other ideas. He wants to study literature. Although he enjoys gaming and social networking, he's uncomfortable about spending too much time on 22 Ideas About The Link, a system which connects the minds of every individual on the planet. So when he meets Strakerite Alpha, he is immediately attracted to her. Peter's father hates the Strakerites, who believe that human evolution depends on regular upgrades from alien aggressors. So when Alpha contacts Peter to tell him that people are disappearing, he is more than willing to help. Together, they will uncover a conspiracy to hide the clock ticking down to the next upgrade... |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405258187</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFuture|author=Dan Wells|title=PartialsBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

|summary=Rachel's world is in a state of decay. Her house is falling apart, her boyfriend has left her and civilization has crumbled in the wake of plague and extreme climate change. Her only friend, Stephanie, is separated from Rachel by the now insurmountable barrier of the Atlantic Ocean, their communication dependent on an increasingly unreliable satellite connecting their phones. At Stephanie's prompting Rachel gives her number to local trader Noah, who promises to callOur future will be more complex than we expected. Instead the number falls into the hands of the mysterious and sinister Jez Whiteflying cars, initiating a disturbing game of cat we got night-vision killer drones and mouse, where the line between stalker and victim becomes blurred as Rachel finally decides automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to take control of her lifetrack grandma.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908434120</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Ken MacLeod|title=Intrusion|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Pregnant Hope doesnI't want ve got a couple of confessions to make. I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to take the Fix, book. There's got to be a genetic cure-all pill that corrects the DNA of an unborn child and protects it from all sorts of diseasesvery compelling hook to keep me engaged. Hope Then there's husband Hugh doesnscience fiction: far too often it't really understand her objections to s the technology which takes centre stage along with the Fix world- in factbuilding. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, Hope never really articulates them at all what did I think of a book of twenty- but supports her right to choosetwo science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499390</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=David KowalskiMark Lingane|title=The Company of the DeadGalaxy

|summary=A man stands on Spark, who is an elite pilot with the Space Academy, barely makes it through a ship checking battle alive. His co-pilot was not so fortunate. Waking from a coma that an iceberg has been missed. The year is 1912lasted years, the ship is the Titanic he remembers little and the man is a time-traveller hoping in no physical shape to change historyresume his duties. History But Earth is in fact changed as under threat and he must. Returned by his superiors to the space station, he finds himself amid a result of his meddlinglast ditch attempt to save humanity - and not just from the alien threats against it, but not in a good wayalso from its own sins against itself.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857686666</amazonuk>B09X3NZ76W

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=SD CrockettTade Thompson|title=After Far From the SnowLight of Heaven

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=On a near future EarthMichelle 'Shell' Campion is fulfilling her lifelong dream of going to space. As first officer aboard the sleeper ship Ragtime, bound for the world of Bloodroot, Willo lives with his family in an isolated community without technology. His parents remember she will essentially be a time when there were machines but all this has changed. Now therebabysitter for the ship's only enough petrol for the sinister government trucksAI captain. One day Willo finds himself totally aloneHowever, his parents missing, presumed taken. Armed with his fatherwhen she wakes up at the end of her trip to find dozens of her passengers butchered and the Ragtime's cryptic sayings and his only friendAI almost non-responsive, (a dogshe begins to realise that her first mission won's skull that speaks through t be going as smoothly as she hoped it would. Down on Bloodroot, disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and his imagination) Willo leaves all that's familiar in order android partner Salvo are sent up to find his loved onesdiscover exactly what went wrong on the Ragtime. The unknown is a ruthless place filled with Stealers Meanwhile, former astronaut and starvation but therefriend of Shell's escape from what he needs father Lawrence Biz takes a shuttle to Bloodroot, half-alien daughter in tow, to dosee why the Ragtime has gone quiet, leaving behind the politicking and bureaucracy of Space Station Lagos.What the five of them discover on the Ragtime has ramifications not just for Bloodroot, but potentially the entirety of human space…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230759351</amazonuk>0356514323

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Walter Jon WilliamsClaire North|title=The Fourth WallNotes from the Burning Age

|summary=Sean Makin was At its core ''Notes From the Burning Age'' by Claire North is a cutespy thriller, much demanded child actorwith as many double crosses, interrogations and night time escapes as Le Carre or Fleming. Then he grew up and the cute became creepy However, as with the baby face best novels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that had made him famous remained (due to of a physical condition) but was unsuited to an adultnew and timely genre, cli-fi, or climate change fiction. North's bodynovel tells of a world devastated by climate change where humans have been forced to start anew and live alongside nature without any of the modern and corrupting "luxuries" (read: fossil fuels, weapons of mass destruction, intensive farming). So There is a growing unhappiness with this limiting world, and one group, the demand dried up and Sean tries Brotherhood, aims to come master these processes no matter the cost to terms with his change the Earth.|isbn=0356514757}}{{Frontpage|author= Adrian Tchaikovsky|title= Shards of fortunes Earth|rating= 4|genre= Science Fiction|summary= Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by writing a 'how the moon-sized aliens known as the Architects. Humanity is scattered, constantly fleeing as world after world falls to actthe architect' blogs reshaping. Then, just when they had the human race on the run, the Architects vanished. And so, intoxicating substances the memories of the war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and appearances on fight among themselves. Idris Telemmier, a reality celebrity martial arts fight showman genetically engineered to try and communicate with the Architects, does not want to be remembered. One dayBut, whilst being beaten up for when he and the cameras in a wrestling ring full crew of cottage cheesethe salvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, suddenly he realises is thrust back into the depths spotlight. As he and his allies bounce from star system to which star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, he's sunk. Something has slowly begins to change! Luckily change soon arrives in realise that the form of 'Alternate Reality' magnate, Dagmar Shaw.real war is only just getting started…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841498254</amazonuk>1529051886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Philip PalmerTerry Miles|title=ArtemisRabbits

|summary=With every novelWelcome to the world of The Game. Or should that be the game, Philip Palmer is going from strength for while it ought to be capitalised to strengthhigh heaven, it never leaves lower case throughout this book. IIt've not always enjoyed his writing styles also called Rabbits, although only as a slangy term for it – as far as anyone knows, it has no official title, no official source, no hard and fast structure, and to the average person no obvious entry point. A bit like the game of life then. Yes, but his eye this is the game of life for a story is wonderful certain tribe of people – the fan of the conspiracy, the computer game, the hack from the darkest of webs. People like our hero, K, named like that in the least Kafkaesque manner possible. K and his imagination is seemingly endless. Every time I open one bezzies are trying to be historians of the game, and have studied amongst many things the most unique of his novelshigh score boards, I wonder when he will find for the limits lists of his inventiveness who has successfully won the game are in the most peculiar places, and are still very short. However this time it's never that different. This timethe game seems the most dangerous, nay lethal, the most broken it's ever been – morally and otherwise. ''Artemis'Unfortunately for K, in trying to sort out what the game is doing, if it' s even being played, and how his loved ones might be kept safe, he is no exception only to find out that rulethe line between observing and learning about the game, and playing it, is a very thin one indeed...|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841499455</amazonuk>1529016932

 {{newreview|author=Marissa Meyer|title=The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=This Cinderella does not have to sweep the grate and clean the dishes - she has to mend maglev vehicle tracks. This Cinders does not leave her shoe behind when invited to the ball, she has her entire foot fall off. This Cinder does not live in a realm of fairy queens and pumpkin carriages, but New Beijing, a massive city of just two and a half million, due to the Fourth World War. She's a cyborg - hence the foot, but she's still owned by a crotchety bigot of a step-mother, with two step-sisters. And this is a very different world, where a global plague is going to be brought too close to home...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141340134</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Philip PalmerC J Carey|title=Hell ShipWidowland

|summary=It'It cans April 1953, and Adolf Hitler't be s schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a coincidence bit, and watching over the sanctioned return to the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen Wallis. For yes, Britain caved in the lead-up to the World War Two that Stepford women certainly didn't happen as we know it, and we are all now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on ''the way they aremainland' says Bobbie, Joanna Eberhart's only friend in Stepford. Joanna But this is most certainly a different Britain, for Nazi-styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has recently come put all of that gender into a caste system, ranging from high-brow office bigwigs to the drudges, and beyond those, right on down to live the childless, the husbandless and the widows. Female literacy is actively discouraged. And in this puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, is employed with the idyllic suburban town task of Stepford with her husband bowdlerising classical literature to take all encouragement for female emancipation out of it – after all, not every book can be banned, and not every story excised immediately from British civilisation, and two childrenso they just get a hefty tweak towards the party line before they're stamped ready for reprint. She That is an independent woman with her own part-time career as a photographerjob, at least, is intelligentuntil the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, liberated and has a keen interest in feminismwith their potential to spoil Hitler's visit. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1849015899</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=James S A CoreyEverina Maxwell|title=Leviathan WakesWinter's Orbit|rating=45

|summary=Humanity Prince Kiem is a famous political disappointment. He's outgoing, carefree, and has managed to venture gotten into many drunken scandals over the solar system and colonise Mars, various moons and some asteroids and stations in the (asteroid) Belt between Mars and Jupiterpast few years. Those inhabiting the Belt have evolved So when an important political alliance is to be significantly thinner and elongated compared arranged – one that is supposed to prevent an interplanetary war – no one expects him to Earthers and Martians, due be chosen for the low gravity in which they live; their difference in appearance and a difference in attitude form the basis for a lot role. Least of the tension and uneasy relationships in the novelall him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841499889</amazonuk>0356515885

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jeff SomersRob Winters|title=The Final EvolutionHis Name Was Wren

|genre=Science FictionConfident Readers|summary=Don't assume too much when starting this book. CertainlyIn September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, do not assume you can jump straight into this series at this, part five - start much nearer [[The Electric Church by Jeff Somers|near the beginning]], as I didvillage of Hurstwick. Don't assume It came down hard, taking the first person narrative means spire of the narrator survivesvillage church with it, for this is destroying a world of cyborgsstone shack, and psychic human intelligences stored in robot hardware, and more. Don't assume leaving a wide trail through the lulling opening chapters herald a simple revenge actionerwood, as Avery Cates lives in a tangled web but no trace of vengeful villains, and nothing is very straightforwardwhat it actually was. And don't assume German secret weapon was the unremarkable opening is from local gossip, but there should have been an author low on ideas, for when Cates is proven to be the one man to save the world, we find it suitably meaty, explosion and grippinga crater, despite that old saw - and it's a rich nightmare there were neither of post-apocalypse for him to be saving, as well..those things.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841499439</amazonuk>B08KGVNVNB

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Daniel H WilsonMark Lingane|title=RobopocalypseNote to Self: An Education|rating=3.54

|summary=Rob In Kry's world, the discovery that human cells replace themselves every seven years results in a cascade of medical "advances": in 2030 it's found that radiation can return cells back to their regeneration state seven years before, in 2035 it's possible to cure cancerous tumours but with the side effect of erasing seven years of memory, by 2045 the cosmetics industry is out using the same technique to kill us all"de-age" their customers by seven years. In a society obsessed with image and youth, who needs memories?|isbn=B08LY8J4KS}} {{Frontpage|author= Christopher Paolini|title= To Sleep in a Sea of Stars|rating= 5|genre= Science Fiction|summary= On the moon of a distant gas giant, and Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is going helping with the efforts to make the planet habitable to take some beatinghuman life. He already has many advantagesHowever, and can adapt easily where he finds a fault in his plansdiscovery of an ancient alien bunker under the moon's surface leaves her bonded with a strange alien entity. He already has most After the entity bonded to her loses control and kills half the staff of us deadthe research station, or the United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to take Kira in concentration campsfor 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. Rob She is revived aboard the generic nickname for all robotfreighter Wallfish, crewed by Captain Falconi and a rag-kindtag bunch of misfits, and the news is grim. The same aliens that destroyed the Extenuating Circumstances are now wreaking havoc across all controlled by one supreme Artificial Intelligenceof human-occupied space, who is set on eradication and only a mythical weapon known as the Staff of our speciesBlue 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…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857204122</amazonuk>1529046505

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Back DatedLaura Lam and Elizabeth May|authortitle=Chris NiblockSeven Devils|rating=3.54|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Sci-fi writer Ray Flaxman returns home from Eris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, a weekend away with his fiancee with a dealine resistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to meet. But he finds his flat broken to into and trashed. Nothing of value inherit in her past life as Princess Discordia, whom everyone believed has been taken. So Ray suspects his stalker is to blamedead for years. Serena has been calling and writingClo, declaring her love an ace pilot for Ray and her urgent desire the Novantae, has a mission: hijack a Tholosian spacecraft to gather information vital to have his childthe war effort. But Ray has never met Although she's less than pleased to discover that her. Even so, he former friend Eris is keen to keep her partner on this mystery girl mission. Things get more interesting as the mission commences; aboard the ship are three defectors with a secret because his fiancee, Frankie, has huge jealousy issuesthat could potentially cripple the Empire. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>B004W0JR7G</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John Trevillian|title=The A-Men Return|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=ItEris's been several years since brother Damocles, the runner-up heir to the Phoenix Tower came down Empire, is plotting to disrupt peace talks between Tholos and the A-Men splitlast of the free alien species. Dead City is It's a shadow of its former self: an urban wasteland and race against time as the centre rebels move to put a stop Damocles' plans, with millions of lives hanging in the sort of gang warfare that finds and exploits drugs and hopelessness with a ruthless talent. balance…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184876619X</amazonuk>1473231140

 {{newreview|author=Stephen Mark Norman|title=Meklyan and the Fourth Piece of the Artefact|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Four billion years after our Sun has become a red giant and died, taking all life with it, there are still humans in the universe. How so? By man-made panspermia. When Earth's civilisation realised it couldn't master long distance space travel in sufficient time to avoid annihilation, it sent out DNA probes filled with bacteria far out into space, to planets in the temperate zones of solar systems; planets that could potentially sustain life. And on eight planets, sustain life they did. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956202713</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon Morden|title=Equations of Life|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=It's a book that is certainly not short of action. We are not told what the Armageddon event was, although aspects of it are hinted at. Perhaps that will become explained later in the series. What we do know is that it has wiped out Japan, Frederic Beigbeder and one of the first victims of the event in London appears to have been the Congestion Charge as it is now a heaving metropolis with gridlock traffic Frank Wynne (although this and the masses of people seem to mysteriously evaporate as the story unfoldstranslator).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184149948X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Paolo Bacigalupi|title=The Windup Girl|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Although only recently released in paperback in the UK, Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl has been gaining considerable critical acclaim across 'the pond'. Set in a future version of Thailand, it's an interesting take on the environmental meltdown scenario that has garnered it a couple of science fiction awards (the Hugo and Nebula awards) and was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by Time magazine. No less than three of the review extracts used by the publishers in this edition liken Bacigalupi to William Gibson. High praise indeed. Does it rise to these expectations?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500535</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=K S Turner|title=Chronicles of Fate and Choice: Tumultus|rating=3|genre=Fantasy|summary=This is the follow up to [[Before the Gods (Chronicles of Fate and Choice) by K S Turner|Before The Gods]], a debut novel lauded for bringing a breath of fresh air to the world of speculative fiction and one of Bookbag's [[Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2009|top picks of 2009]]. Tumultus is the second of the planned trilogy and I was looking forward to seeing how the author would really cut loose now that readers were already familiar with the Shaa-kutu and the story of their link to the origin of the human race.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956224210</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Tricia Sullivan|title=LightbornA Life Without End

|genre=Science Literary Fiction|summary=In an alternate but contemporary United StatesI looked at the calendar the other week, everyone uses Lightborn technologyand disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, or shineyet another one. It won't be one of the major numbers, but the time when I have the same number as it's nicknamed. Providing entertainment, education and self-knowledge, people live in Heinz varieties looms on the ultimate plugged-in societyhorizon. And then the Fall comes. Rogue AIs in the shine field around the city a few of Los Sombres start sending out bad shine and the adults all go loco big 0- becoming violent and murderousnumbers, or broken down and reduced to performing repetitive tasks over and over.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841494070</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Philip Palmer|title=Version 43|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Version 43 is a Galactic Copif all goes well, a cyborg law enforcement officer sent from Earth to tackle I'll be an unusual murder case in Lawless City, a sort of sci-fi Baltimore on the distant planet of BelladonnaOBE. He gets sidetracked from his original objective and decides to rid the planet (Which of its evil gang bosses while he's therecourse stands for Over Bloody Eighty. A huge war ensues in which all the bosses (and thousands of others) are killed, but it soon becomes apparent Now if that 's the true rulers extent of the planet are the dead eyed 'children' he has seen dining in the most expensive restaurantsmy mid-life crisis, the sinister 'ancien régime' I guess I have to be happy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499218</amazonuk>}} {{newreview| Our author=Margaret Atwood|title=The Handmaidhere doesn's Tale|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=In the near-future USA t use that they call Gileadexact phrase, society has changedbut he might be said to be living one. For 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 worse, of course. The population is dying outassistant to the first geneticist he interviews, and people who are capable of breeding the next generation are given they end up with a cherished status of Handmaid - gifted to any male of enough esteemchild, called which is at least a Commander, who balances way of continuing the household with life of his wife genes, and what is practically a walking wombmotive to keep on going. Other women But how can he get drudge work, or run horrid finishing schools for to not flick the Handmaids, or are packed off to what are reported to be polluted hellholes abroad, for laborious work for life. Men are restricted too - Handmaids are off-limits to everybody but their Commander, and those households are patrolled carefully by other eunuch types. It's up to our nameless narrator and main character, howeverfinal way out' switch, to show us just how cherished the status of Handmaid feels.especially when foie gras tastes so nice?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099511665</amazonuk>1642860670

{{newreview|author=Iain M Banks|title=Surface Detail|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=It is perhaps appropriate for a book that centres around the battle for the afterlife to begin this review with a confession: this was my first encounter with Iain M Banks' Culture series of science fiction novels. At first, I worried that this put me at a significant disadvantage as for the first 100 or so pages, I spend most of the time being completely confused about what was going Move on. However, as the strands started to come together, it became apparent that this is partly Banks' style and indeed it's one he uses in his non-science fiction books too. Keep going, it does come together.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498939</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Short Story Reviews]]