Difference between revisions of "Newest Science Fiction Reviews"

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search
 
(242 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]
+
[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{adsense2}}
+
{{Frontpage
__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
+
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
{{newreview
+
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|title=The Box of Red Brocade (Chronoptika)
+
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|author=Catherine Fisher
+
|rating=5
|rating=4.5
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|genre=Teens
+
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
|summary=Ok. Let's catch you up. Jake's father is still lost in time. Venn's wife is still dead. Summer, the Queen of the Shee, still hasn't made Venn her husband. Sarah still hasn't prevented the destruction of the future by Janus. And the Scarred Man still hasn't done, well, whatever it is that he's trying to do. The Chronoptika, a mirror made of black obsidian and a time travel device, connects Jake, Venn, Sarah and the rest, but they all want different things from it. Can they all be satisfied? It doesn't look likely.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444912631</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frighteningOf 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 theoristI needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.
|title=Familiar
 
|author=J Robert Lennon
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Is there a greater change in the life of a middle-aged woman than the death of her teenage son? Elisa might have thought not, having been forced to bury fifteen year old Silas, and try and move on with her husband Derek and the year-older son, SamBut a greater change occurs on the way back from her annual, solo pilgrimage to his grave – something very weird happens to the universeShe pops from one car to another, from under a cloudless sky to a slightly greyer one – and from her self as Elisa to a world where people call her Lisa, where she is plumper, in a different job, stiil married to Derek in the same home – but still the mother of two young men…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689473</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=Phoenix
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|author=SF Said
+
|rating=5
|rating=4.5
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|summary=Lucky thinks he is a normal Human boy. But one night, he dreams that the stars are singing to him and he can feel a mysterious power rising within him. When he wakes, his bedclothes are scorched. And when his mother finds out, Lucky's world is turned upside down and he finds himself on an alien spaceship, on the run, and in the middle of a warzone. Everything Lucky has been brought up to believe is being tested. The war between Human and Axxa is raging, so why does Lucky's mother trust alien renegades more than she does humans? Where is his father? What are the secrets his mother has kept from him all his life?
+
|isbn= 0356522776
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>038561814X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1803816759
|author=Stephen P Kiernan
+
|title=The Unravelling
|title=The Curiosity
+
|author=Will Gibson
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Microbiologist Kate Philo is a member of an Arctic expedition sent to locate life forms frozen in ice flows.  Striking it lucky, she and the team find a human whom they reanimate once they get him back to their American lab. However new life brings new challenges. The man died over a century earlier and much has changed. The press is now omnipotent, his 'resurrection' offends religious fundamentalists and scientific ethics never saw this problem coming.  To Kate, though, he's not a problem. He's Jeremiah, afraid, bewildered and in need of an ally.
+
|summary=It's 2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the 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 now runs everything, making life easier for many, and riots start to spread. Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. In the aftermath of the rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the only one trying to save Suki - Dylan, a British superfan and tech nerd, is also on the case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848548753</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B0CP95J1CG
|title=All Our Yesterdays
+
|title=Of Ghosts & Broken Promises
|author=Cristin Terrill
+
|author=Mark Lingane
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Em and Finn are being held prisoner by the Doctor. They never see each other but are able to communicate through the cell wall. This is a blessing but also a curse: they can each hear the interrogations and torture meted out to the other. Neither talks but how much can they take? And then Em finds a note hidden in her cell. It's from her future self and it tells of fourteen escapes. And fourteen failed trips back to the past to try to put things right. There's only one way left. Em must kill someone she loves.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408835193</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Mitch Benn
 
|title=Terra
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Terra is different from everyone else on Fnrr and not only because she has vowels in her name. You see, Terra isn’t actually from Fnrr.  Her adoptive father (Lbbp, a Fnrrn scientist) rescued her from her parents, the Bradshaws, on the planet Rrth in a moment of unthinking philanthropy. If only he'd done a little more thinking and little less philanthropy…
+
|summary= Ronan's not entirely sure why he decides to go to the party but his interest is piqued by the way it arrived. And it seems like a good opportunity to get out of his room and away from the online activities he makes a living at. So he makes his way there, dodging the buses that make up most of the traffic and watching the local energy storage indicator lights. Should be enough power. Hopefully.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575132086</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=K P O'Donnell
|author=Marie Harbon
+
|title=The Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)
|title=Seven Point Eight: The First Chronicle
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Following several main characters - scientist Paul, businessman Max, remote viewer Tahra and mystery woman Ava - across two time frames spanning the 1940s to the present day, ''Seven Point Eight'' blends science fiction and fantasy in a sprawling, absorbing, diffuse novel that will attract fans of both genres.
+
|summary=VL-15, a prototype robot, is desperate to understand who she is. Unfortunately, before she could find any answers, the world ended, consumed in an apocalyptic war between the nations of Drexel and Renada. Over half-a-century later, civilisation is starting to rebuild. Dr Amelia Wong is determined to continue her father's legacy, building a world where machines and humans can live together in harmony, but internal frictions and external enemies might bring it all crashing down again. Craig Anderson, leader of a group of salvagers called the Exhumers, has his entire life turned upside down when he unearths a prototype combat robot: none other than VL-15 herself. Even after being buried for 65 years, her determination hasn't diminished in the slightest, and no errant machine, no savage human tribe and not even Drexel's ravaged ecosystem will stop her on her quest for answers…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B005IBYKC0</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B0CKRYFRZM
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ioanna Bourazopoulou and Yannis Panas (Translator)
 
|title=What Lot's Wife Saw
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary= It's been over 20 years since The Overflow came, flooding half of Europe. Around the same time Violet Salt, a new multi-functional mineral, appeared, its production now governed globally by the mysterious, all-powerful Consortium.  Meanwhile back in Europe The Colony, a haven for those escaping floods and indeed justice, is ruled by Governor Bera and six officials, the 'Purple Stars'.  All seems to be well in a despotic, lawless way until the six wake up to the realisation that the Governor has died mysteriously in the night.  The Consortium needs answers so choose the greatest crossword compiler of the age, Phileas Book, to investigate, whether he wants to or not.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845025474</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dan Wells
 
|title=Fragments
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=I didn't have much hope for this book - the middle book in a series tends to be filler, and as [[Partials by Dan Wells|Partials]] was so brilliant, I though it was going to be hard to top. I was very wrong. This book is mind-blowing.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007465238</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Marlen Haushofer
 
|title=The Wall
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=
 
One morning our protagonist awakens to a world in which she appears to be the sole living human inhabitant. A mysterious transparent wall has been erected around a large area in the Austrian mountains where our narrator has been holidaying, a wall that is unbreakable and through which she can see that the world outside has come to a complete standstill. Our narrator is faced with living in total isolation and forced to learn how to survive.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373114</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=R J Anderson
 
|title=Quicksilver
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Before I say anything else, I ''must'' warn you. ''Quicksilver'' is billed as a companion novel to [[Ultraviolet by R J Anderson|Ultraviolet]] with the implication that you could read either first. You can't. You mustn't. So if you haven't read ''Ultraviolet'', go no further.
 
 
 
''Quicksilver'' picks up where [[Ultraviolet by R J Anderson|Ultraviolet]] left off. But this time, synaesthete Alison is left behind and the story is told from the point of view of Tori
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408316285</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Emily Tesh
|author=Ian Tregillis
+
|title=Some Desperate Glory
|title=Necessary Evil: The Milkweed Triptych: Book Three
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Raybould Marsh has been sent back from the 1960s to the Second World War to avert end of the world while saving the life of baby Agnes.  At least that's what he thinks he's doing it for.  He's armed with a plan but, even if his friend and warlock Sir William Beauclerk and his own younger self help, there are unforeseen disadvantages in dabbling with time.  And then of course there's the seer and ex-Nazi experiment, Gretel.  Is she mad, bad or just has a funny way of showing her philanthropic side?  We're all about to find out…
+
|summary=''While Earth's children live, the enemy shall fear us''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>035650171X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=SJ Griffin
 
|title=The Vanguard
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
 
|summary=Sorcha Blades and her four closest friends do the best they can with what they have. Living in a post-apocalyptic world, they are from the wrong side of the tracks. Unable to live easy and glittering lives like the elite, they scam and forage and hack their way to some degree of comfort and still manage to avoid the - very unpleasant - state security apparatus for the most part. Not that there's much state left for the security apparatus to protect.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00904MC30</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
Following the destruction of the Earth, amongst a rare number of survivors, Kyr has been raised on Gaea Station – the home of the last scraps of humanity – and trained relentlessly to avenge her people and the world that should have been hers. All her life, she has been conditioned to fall in line, to fulfil her duty and ensure that humanity perseveres.
|author=Janine Southard
+
|isbn=0356521834
|title=Queen & Commander (A Hive Queen Novel)
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=In Rhiannon's world, your entire future depends on your final school test results. Everyone is classified according to personality type and entry to any career or university depends upon your personality type. It's impossible to cheat the test... unless you're Rhiannon. Rhiannon should really be a Perceiver. But all her life she has wanted her own hive. And to achieve this, she must test as a Queen or Commander. And this she does. The only person to ever have manipulated the test. Rhiannon's future is set: leadership training, followed by a choice of Devoted to serve her, followed by command of a prestigious space ship and hive.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00BRM30SE</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=M R Carey
|author=Ian Tregillis
+
|title=Infinity Gate
|title=The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych)
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary= England 1963: The war is over, Hitler defeated and the Russians (Britain's ally) retain most of mainland Europe. The Briton in the street believes that it was Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain that saved the nation but ex-naval intelligence officer Raybould 'Pip' Marsh and his former friend Lord William Beauclerk know differently. The nation was saved by warlocks like Lord Will, the same warlocks that are now being murdered. However, fighting over, Pip and Will are both war-weary and want to be left alone but the Secret Intelligence Service has other ideas. For the Nazi experimental 'willpower' children are now adult and assembling in England, still equipped with the super powers of their childhood.  This means Will and Pip have old scores to settle and greater evils waiting to be faced… Yes… ''those'' greater evils are back.
+
|summary= I'm annoyingly picky when it comes to science fiction. Not because it's a genre I dislike – nothing of the sort. My standards are high precisely because it's a hard genre to get right – and when it's bad, it's often terrible. But the premise of Infinity Gate had me hooked. A concept this intriguing felt like a high-stakes gamble: if it was done well, it'd be fantastic. So this is where I sum up that premise.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501701</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356518043
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author= Michael Grothaus
 +
|title=Beautiful Shining People
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= ''But fearing something and having it come to pass are two different things. And I'm willing to bet most of what we fear will never happen, or we can take steps to change it.''
  
{{newreview
+
''Beautiful Shining People'' revolves around the question of identity and acceptance. Of what it means to be human. Of what is real and what is artificial, and whether the development of technology is exciting or frightening.
|author=Mark Lingane
+
|isbn=191458564X
|title=Beyond Belief
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=Joshua Richards isn't the most successful PI; clients aren't exactly lining up around the block but he lives in hope that one day his luck will change… and it does. Within a couple of weeks he has a sudden plethora of enquirers; the bad news is that none of them seem to live long enough to pay him. Meanwhile elsewhere, the Engine powering the world (literally) is dying, although the populous is blissfully oblivious. Is there a connection? Joshua Richards doesn't know, but there seems to be a huge part of himself he's not acquainted with either… at least not yet.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0987478605</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1739593901
|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
+
|title=22 Ideas About The Future
|title=Girl genius: Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess
+
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Nobody said that life on the road with a travelling show would be easy, but Master Payne’s Circus of Adventure seems to face more hazards than most. Firstly, there are those giant battle clanks lurking in the forest, waiting to reduce unsuspecting travellers to cinders. There are also prowling gangs of eerie Geisterdamen, or 'spider riders', with their ghostly glowing eyes and long hair. Nearby towns could be inhabited by revenants; misshapen zombie humans infected by Slaver Wasps, hungrily on the lookout for their next victim. But when a mysterious girl called Agatha and her talking cat join the troupe, that’s when the real danger begins...
+
|summary=''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781166498</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
I've got a couple of confessions to makeI'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book.  There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engagedThen there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building.  It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidentalSo, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories?  Well, I loved it.  
|author=Christopher Brookmyre
 
|title=Bedlam
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=Ross Baker is a wage slave at Neurosphere, writing computer code for a new brain scanning systemHis girlfriend, Carol, is not happy about the hours he puts into his job, thinking he's being played for a fool by doing extra work for no recognitionRoss thinks they're about to break up, but soon discovers their relationship is about to move to a level he was too busy to anticipateAfter a rough morning, he agrees to have his brain scanned in one of the trial machines.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356502139</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Mark Lingane
|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
+
|title=Galaxy
|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Airship City
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=Agatha Clay has had a bad day. Waking up late was just the beginning. She got mugged in a dark alley on her way to university and her precious locket was stolen. Things did not get any better when she arrived at the university. When demonstrating her latest mechanical design, it malfunctioned and exploded in front of her instructor. Then, without warning, the faculty had an impromptu inspection by Baron Wulfenbach, the ruthless dictator who controls most of the continent. By the time the day was through, the university had been reduced to a pile of rubble and her beloved mentor killed. And then,of course, she had ''those'' blinding headaches to deal with.  But if today was bad, tomorrow is set to be even worse...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781166471</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Iain M Banks
 
|title=The Hydrogen Sonata
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=It's 25 years since Iain M Banks introduced us to the utopian ''Culture'' series of sci fi adventure books and ''The Hydrogen Sonata'' is the 13th in the series. One thing Banks does particularly well is to make his books completely accessible as stand alones, explaining the concept afresh each time without going over old ground for long time fans, of which 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 more linear than some. He sometimes leaves even hardened ''Culture'' addicts struggling to work out what's going on with alternative realities before bringing them together, but there's little of that here.
+
|summary=Spark, who is an elite pilot with the Space Academy, barely makes it through a battle alive. His co-pilot was not so fortunate. Waking from a coma that lasted years, he remembers little and is in no physical shape to resume his duties. But Earth is under threat and he must. Returned by his superiors to the space station, he finds himself amid a last ditch attempt to save humanity - and not just from the alien threats against it, but also from its own sins against itself.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501507</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B09X3NZ76W
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Tade Thompson
|author=Kevin J Anderson
+
|title=Far From the Light of Heaven
|title=The Martian War
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Suppose H G Wells was not simply a skilled writer with a spectacular imagination, but was in fact centrally involved in a fantastical adventure which formed the basis for several of his most successful novels. Kevin J Anderson has supposed exactly 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 of Doctor Moreau' and 'The Invisible Man'.
+
|summary=Michelle '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, she will essentially be a babysitter for the ship's AI captain. However, when she wakes up at the end of her trip to find dozens of her passengers butchered and the Ragtime's AI almost non-responsive, she begins to realise that her first mission won't be going as smoothly as she hoped it would. Down on Bloodroot, disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and his android partner Salvo are sent up to discover exactly what went wrong on the Ragtime. Meanwhile, former astronaut and friend of Shell's father Lawrence Biz takes a shuttle to Bloodroot, half-alien daughter in tow, to see 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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781161720</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356514323
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Claire North
|author=Michael Cobley
+
|title=Notes from the Burning Age
|title=The Ascendant Stars
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Space Opera has never been in more capable hands'' is the Guardian quote that concludes the blurb for this, Cobley's wrap up part of the ''Humanity's Fire'' trilogy that started with [[Seeds of Earth (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|Seeds of Earth]] and continued through [[The Orphaned Worlds (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|The Orphaned Worlds]]. It's hard to disagree, but it's also hard to get away – on this evidence – from the fact that Space Opera might be closer to Soap than Classical, when it comes to opera classification.
+
|summary=At its core ''Notes From the Burning Age'' by Claire North is a spy thriller, with as many double crosses, interrogations and night time escapes as Le Carre or Fleming. However, as with the best novels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that of a new and timely genre, cli-fi, or climate change fiction. North's novel 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). There is a growing unhappiness with this limiting world, and one group, the Brotherhood, aims to master these processes no matter the cost to the Earth.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496367</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356514757
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Peter Heller
 
|title=The Dog Stars
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General 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 Hig's heart, as 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 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 to make of the last inviting contact he heard on 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 is coloured by their experiences within it.  Each chapter introduces us to a different story, a different viewpoint and therefore, practically a different city.  Starting with the ominous, creepy story of Nicolas, through stories encapsulating such themes as recaptured friendship, murder and an enigmatic take on the life of a private investigator, we start to piece together the nature of Communion Town... or do we?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007454767</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Adrian Tchaikovsky
|author=Simon Denman
+
|title= Shards of Earth
|title=Connected
+
|rating= 4
|rating=3.5
+
|genre= Science Fiction
|genre=General Fiction
+
|summary= Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by the moon-sized aliens known as the Architects. Humanity is scattered, constantly fleeing as world after world falls to the architect's reshaping. Then, just when they had the human race on the run, the Architects vanished. And so, the memories of the war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and fight among themselves. Idris Telemmier, a man genetically engineered to try and communicate with the Architects, does not want to be remembered. But, when he and the crew of the salvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, suddenly he is thrust back into the spotlight. As he and his allies bounce from star system to star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, he slowly begins to realise that the real war is only just getting started…
|summary=Doug, a maths and computing undergraduate at Essex University, has just pulled the most amazing girl. So he's not really that interested in the file of fractals research best friend Kal has just sent him. But while Doug and Cindy are busily getting it on, something has gone horribly wrong for Kal and Doug emerges from afternoon delight to the horrific discovery that his friend has committed suicide. Miles away in the countryside, Peter is attending his brother's funeral. Martin was a musician but not a tortured artist and it seems inconceivable that he too would take his own life. But the trip, for Peter, is more than a family obligation - it'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.
+
|isbn=1529051886
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B0089YQPI0</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Terry Miles
|author=Ted Kosmatka
+
|title=Rabbits
|title=The Games
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|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 country's gladiator must be devoid of any human DNA. Indeed, America is so good that their team has won all the last three games' 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.
+
|summary=Welcome to the world of The Game. Or should that be the game, for while it ought to be capitalised to high heaven, it never leaves lower case throughout this book. It's 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, this is the game of life for a 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 bezzies are trying to be historians of the game, and have studied amongst many things the most unique of high score boards, for the lists of who has successfully won the game are in the most peculiar places, and are still very short. However this time it's different. This time the game seems the most dangerous, nay lethal, the most broken it's ever been – morally and otherwise. 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 only to find out that the line between observing and learning about the game, and playing it, is a very thin one indeed...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781164142</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529016932
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=C J Carey
|author=David Brin
+
|title=Widowland
|title=Existence
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=It's April 1953, and Adolf Hitler's schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a 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 certainly didn't happen as we know it, and we are now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on ''the mainland''.  But this is most certainly a different Britain, for Nazi-styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has 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 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 task of 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 so they just get a hefty tweak towards the party line before they're stamped ready for reprint.  That is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit.
 +
|isbn=152941198X
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Everina Maxwell
 +
|title=Winter's Orbit
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=We are a few decades further into the 21st Century at the start of this sci-fi novel. The world is buckling under climate change, and over-population. Those with enough funds are completely wired into a virtual world, but wherever they live out their existence things are going to be changed, 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 and message behind this capsule?  And who can be sure that this alleged First Contact was actually the first?
+
|summary= Prince Kiem is a famous political disappointment. He's outgoing, carefree, and has gotten into many drunken scandals over the past few years. So when an important political alliance is to be arranged – one that is supposed to prevent an interplanetary war – no one expects him to be chosen for the role. Least of all him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501728</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356515885
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Rob Winters
|author=Kim Stanley Robinson
+
|title=His Name Was Wren
|title=2312
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Science Fiction
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary='Intellectually engaged…intensely humane… exuberantly speculative' was Iain M Banks' blurb for ''2312''.  So who am I to disagree with one of the current masters of the genre?
+
|summary=In September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, near the village of HurstwickIt came down hard, taking the spire of the village church with it, destroying a stone shack, and leaving a wide trail through the wood, but no trace of what it actually wasGerman secret weapon was the local gossip, but there should have been an explosion and a crater, and there were neither of those things.
 
+
|isbn=B08KGVNVNB
No-one.  Just an ordinary readerAnd actually, the more I think about the less I do – actually – as such – disagree. Banks' phrases are true and accurateThey're just not the whole story. Not for me anyway.
 
 
 
For a reader, as opposed to another writer, the book is much more difficult than that.  ''Publishers Weekly'' called it ''challenging'' and that's much nearer the mark.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841499978</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Mark Lingane
|author=Garth Nix
+
|title=Note to Self: An Education
|title=A Confusion of Princes
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Meet Khemri.  One of the universe's chosen, he has been selected as a Prince, giving him biological enhancements, mental connection to priests to aid his psychic ability, and so much more.  It has also probably led to the death of his parents, and meant he is alone except for a very close bodyguard, but - at least he is in the running to become Emperor, and thus almost godlike.  But in a world where you can have everything - including more than one chance at living - 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
 
|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. ''The Drowned Cities'' may lack the sex, swearing and amoral protagonists of his award-winning adult novel '[[The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi|The Windup Girl]], but it has all the needle-sharp description, complex world-building and brilliant characters that have rapidly made a name for Bacigalupi as one of this centuries preeminent science-fiction writers.
+
|summary= 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 using the same technique to "de-age" their customers by seven years. In a society obsessed with image and youth, who needs memories?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907411119</amazonuk>
+
|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, 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…
 +
|isbn=1529046505
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Laura Lam and Elizabeth May
|author=Mike Lancaster
+
|title= Seven Devils
|title=1.4
+
|rating= 4
|rating=4.5
+
|genre= Science Fiction
|genre=Teens
+
|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…
|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 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.
+
|isbn=1473231140
 
 
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>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)
|author=Dan Wells
+
|title=A Life Without End
|title=Partials
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Teens
+
|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?
|summary=Since the Break, no baby has lived longer than three days. Scientists have studied every baby to try and find a cure, but with no luck. The human race is on the verge of extinction after the Partials (genetically engineered soldiers who were made to fight for humans) turned on their makers and released the deadly virus that has wiped out most of the population. For those lucky to survive, they now spend their time trying to cure the virus that kills every baby.
+
|isbn=1642860670
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000746522X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Short Story Reviews]]
|author=Johan Harstad
 
|title=172 Hours On The Moon
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=It's 2018 and people at NASA want to go back to the moon. But no one's been there since the 70s, so with funding and public support limited, they need an angle. A draw. Something to get people all over the world buzzing. Their answer is a worldwide lottery to select three teens who can accompany the NASA team on their week long jaunt into space. The chance of a lifetime! An unforgettable, unrepeatable experience! An adventure that truly is out of this world!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907411518</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Matt Kindt
 
|title=Revolver
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Graphic Novels
 
|summary=Meet Sam.  He has a rather dull life, with a materialistic girlfriend, and a job in the arse-end of celebrity journalism and a boss he can't stand.  All of which is preferential to waking up and finding his home city under attack - munitions going off, skyscrapers burning and people falling from them.  He ends up fleeing with said editor, only to wake the next day back in this world.  He will indeed fall to being snatched from each reality in turn, at set times of day, forced to suffer consumerism in one, looting in another, basic pay raises here, producing Samizdat bare-bones journalism for survivors there.  But always with enough time to ask the important questions - how, and why?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1401222412</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 17:18, 25 March 2024

AllTomorrowsFutureCover.jpg

Review of

All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

5star.jpg Science Fiction

Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it 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. Full Review

0356522776.jpg

Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

1803816759.jpg

Review of

The Unravelling by Will Gibson

4star.jpg Science Fiction

It's 2038 and Joe is a bored cop policing the 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 now runs everything, making life easier for many, and riots start to spread. Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. In the aftermath of the rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the only one trying to save Suki - Dylan, a British superfan and tech nerd, is also on the case. What went wrong? Did the system fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected? Full Review

B0CP95J1CG.jpg

Review of

Of Ghosts & Broken Promises by Mark Lingane

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

Ronan's not entirely sure why he decides to go to the party but his interest is piqued by the way it arrived. And it seems like a good opportunity to get out of his room and away from the online activities he makes a living at. So he makes his way there, dodging the buses that make up most of the traffic and watching the local energy storage indicator lights. Should be enough power. Hopefully. Full Review

B0CKRYFRZM.jpg

Review of

The Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes) by K P O'Donnell

3.5star.jpg Science Fiction

VL-15, a prototype robot, is desperate to understand who she is. Unfortunately, before she could find any answers, the world ended, consumed in an apocalyptic war between the nations of Drexel and Renada. Over half-a-century later, civilisation is starting to rebuild. Dr Amelia Wong is determined to continue her father's legacy, building a world where machines and humans can live together in harmony, but internal frictions and external enemies might bring it all crashing down again. Craig Anderson, leader of a group of salvagers called the Exhumers, has his entire life turned upside down when he unearths a prototype combat robot: none other than VL-15 herself. Even after being buried for 65 years, her determination hasn't diminished in the slightest, and no errant machine, no savage human tribe and not even Drexel's ravaged ecosystem will stop her on her quest for answers… Full Review

0356521834.jpg

Review of

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

While Earth's children live, the enemy shall fear us

Following the destruction of the Earth, amongst a rare number of survivors, Kyr has been raised on Gaea Station – the home of the last scraps of humanity – and trained relentlessly to avenge her people and the world that should have been hers. All her life, she has been conditioned to fall in line, to fulfil her duty and ensure that humanity perseveres. Full Review

0356518043.jpg

Review of

Infinity Gate by M R Carey

5star.jpg Science Fiction

I'm annoyingly picky when it comes to science fiction. Not because it's a genre I dislike – nothing of the sort. My standards are high precisely because it's a hard genre to get right – and when it's bad, it's often terrible. But the premise of Infinity Gate had me hooked. A concept this intriguing felt like a high-stakes gamble: if it was done well, it'd be fantastic. So this is where I sum up that premise. Full Review

191458564X.jpg

Review of

Beautiful Shining People by Michael Grothaus

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

But fearing something and having it come to pass are two different things. And I'm willing to bet most of what we fear will never happen, or we can take steps to change it.

Beautiful Shining People revolves around the question of identity and acceptance. Of what it means to be human. Of what is real and what is artificial, and whether the development of technology is exciting or frightening. Full Review

1739593901.jpg

Review of

22 Ideas About The Future by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

5star.jpg Science Fiction

Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.

I'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 the book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it. Full Review

B09X3NZ76W.jpg

Review of

Galaxy by Mark Lingane

4star.jpg Science Fiction

Spark, who is an elite pilot with the Space Academy, barely makes it through a battle alive. His co-pilot was not so fortunate. Waking from a coma that lasted years, he remembers little and is in no physical shape to resume his duties. But Earth is under threat and he must. Returned by his superiors to the space station, he finds himself amid a last ditch attempt to save humanity - and not just from the alien threats against it, but also from its own sins against itself. Full Review

0356514323.jpg

Review of

Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

Michelle '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, she will essentially be a babysitter for the ship's AI captain. However, when she wakes up at the end of her trip to find dozens of her passengers butchered and the Ragtime's AI almost non-responsive, she begins to realise that her first mission won't be going as smoothly as she hoped it would. Down on Bloodroot, disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and his android partner Salvo are sent up to discover exactly what went wrong on the Ragtime. Meanwhile, former astronaut and friend of Shell's father Lawrence Biz takes a shuttle to Bloodroot, half-alien daughter in tow, to see 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… Full Review

0356514757.jpg

Review of

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

4star.jpg Science Fiction

At its core Notes From the Burning Age by Claire North is a spy thriller, with as many double crosses, interrogations and night time escapes as Le Carre or Fleming. However, as with the best novels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that of a new and timely genre, cli-fi, or climate change fiction. North's novel 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). There is a growing unhappiness with this limiting world, and one group, the Brotherhood, aims to master these processes no matter the cost to the Earth. Full Review

1529051886.jpg

Review of

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

4star.jpg Science Fiction

Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by the moon-sized aliens known as the Architects. Humanity is scattered, constantly fleeing as world after world falls to the architect's reshaping. Then, just when they had the human race on the run, the Architects vanished. And so, the memories of the war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and fight among themselves. Idris Telemmier, a man genetically engineered to try and communicate with the Architects, does not want to be remembered. But, when he and the crew of the salvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, suddenly he is thrust back into the spotlight. As he and his allies bounce from star system to star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, he slowly begins to realise that the real war is only just getting started… Full Review

1529016932.jpg

Review of

Rabbits by Terry Miles

4.5star.jpg Science Fiction

Welcome to the world of The Game. Or should that be the game, for while it ought to be capitalised to high heaven, it never leaves lower case throughout this book. It's 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, this is the game of life for a 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 bezzies are trying to be historians of the game, and have studied amongst many things the most unique of high score boards, for the lists of who has successfully won the game are in the most peculiar places, and are still very short. However this time it's different. This time the game seems the most dangerous, nay lethal, the most broken it's ever been – morally and otherwise. 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 only to find out that the line between observing and learning about the game, and playing it, is a very thin one indeed... Full Review

152941198X.jpg

Review of

Widowland by C J Carey

4star.jpg General Fiction

It's April 1953, and Adolf Hitler's schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a 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 certainly didn't happen as we know it, and we are now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on the mainland. But this is most certainly a different Britain, for Nazi-styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has 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 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 task of 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 so they just get a hefty tweak towards the party line before they're stamped ready for reprint. That is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit. Full Review

0356515885.jpg

Review of

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

5star.jpg Science Fiction

Prince Kiem is a famous political disappointment. He's outgoing, carefree, and has gotten into many drunken scandals over the past few years. So when an important political alliance is to be arranged – one that is supposed to prevent an interplanetary war – no one expects him to be chosen for the role. Least of all him. Full Review

B08KGVNVNB.jpg

Review of

His Name Was Wren by Rob Winters

4star.jpg Confident Readers

In September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, near the village of Hurstwick. It came down hard, taking the spire of the village church with it, destroying a stone shack, and leaving a wide trail through the wood, but no trace of what it actually was. German secret weapon was the local gossip, but there should have been an explosion and a crater, and there were neither of those things. Full Review

B08LY8J4KS.jpg

Review of

Note to Self: An Education by Mark Lingane

4star.jpg Science Fiction

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 using the same technique to "de-age" their customers by seven years. In a society obsessed with image and youth, who needs memories? Full Review

1529046505.jpg

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

1473231140.jpg

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

1642860670.jpg

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

Move on to Newest Short Story Reviews