Changes

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Snowpiercer Vol.1 - The EscapeAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Jacques Lob Benjamin Greenaway and Jean-Marc RochetteStephen Oram (Editors)|rating=45|genre=Graphic NovelsScience Fiction|summary=All ''Opening up new ways of humankind is living on a single train. I know British commuters feel that way at times, but this is a much different circumstance – it is a train miles long, running non-stop as a self-contained unit across tracks circling a desolately frozen Earth, moving on endlessly until, perhaps some time in thinking about the distant future, the planet can recover from the cataclysm that froze itshape of things to come. It's certainly been going on long enough for it to have a culture – a hierarchical society from the rich and leisured classes near the front, through the orgiasts, past the useful carriages set aside for producing food, to the underclass at the end. It's all set in its routine, set in motion. But there are two fishes out of water – a man from the rear who escaped, and a middle-class woman working with civil rights campaigners.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782761330</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=GodI've heard it said that 'technology's War|author=Kameron Hurley|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=People who do not like the genre love to lump all Science Fiction into the same pile – massive space ships and stuff. That is just not the casewhat happens after you're eighteen. It can range from subtle alternative versions of our own EarthWell, to Space Sagas set around the orbit I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of a distant planettechnology in my lifetime. Where sci fi gets its bad reputation 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 when complex ideas are not explained clearly enough for the reader- frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'God’s War: Bel Dame Apocrypham reading someone who knows what they' by Kameron Hurley is one such book; re talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a novel crammed with some great ideas, but also moments of strange confusionway I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091952786</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Channel BlueSylvie Cathrall|authortitle=Jay MartelA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=3.5

|summary=What if the planet you called home wasn’t just There are few greater joys than a random blob in the universe, orbiting a far off star. What if the things that happened on it weren’t entirely down to chance or fate or whatever you want to call it. What if, actually, life on Earth was less random and more, well, scheduled than you might like to admit. Someone book which lives up there, calling the shots, deciding when to send in ‘natural’ disasters, influencing how things work, people behave, countries are run. Not a God, mind, but something far crazier: a television executivecompelling premise. Earth And this is the reality show to end all reality shows, and while its inhabitants have no clue every second one of their lives is being watched and edited, that doesn’t stop them behaving in a way that keeps the viewers highly entertained.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781855803</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1803816759|title=Plastic JesusThe Unravelling|author=Wayne SimmonsWill Gibson|rating=34

|summary=Johnny Lyon It's 2038 and Joe is a computer coding expert spiralling out of control following bored cop policing the death of his loverwealthy and peaceful New York City. Johnny’s colleague Sarah convinces their boss Garcon that he needs Johnny Joe longs for a project bit of adventure and to get stuck into some really gritty crime detection. But then something goes horribly wrong with the AI system that is perfect now runs everything, making life easier for him (creating a virtual reality Jesus) many, and just might help him riots start to concentrate on something other than his lossspread. Finally, Joe gets to do some real policing. They embark on a project with potentially monumental impact within a world In the aftermath of degradation the rioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and violence in Joe is assigned to bring her home. Joe isn't the only one trying to save Suki - Dylan, a city ruled over by organised crime king pin Paul McBrideBritish superfan and tech nerd, is also on the case. Many storylines collide as What went wrong? Did the project effects more people than Johnny realises.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773630</amazonuk>system fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki's kidnapping connected?

 {{newreview|title=Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories|author=Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott and others|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=It's basic knowledge that Doctor Who has changed a lot since first being seen fifty years ago – and I don't mean the title character, but the nature of the programme. It has gone from black and white, and cheaply produced, and declared disposable, to being an essential part of the BBC, full-gloss digital, and accessed in all manner of ways. So with the celebratory programme still ringing in our ears, and leaving people pressing a red button to see a programme about three Doctors, er, pressing a red button, we turn to other aspects of the birthday bonanza. Such as this book, which has also mutated in its much shorter lifespan, from being a loose collection of eleven short e-book novellas written by the blazing lights of YA writing, to a huge and brilliant paperback collecting everything within one set of covers.Frontpage|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141348941</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewB0CP95J1CG|title=Rags and BonesOf Ghosts & Broken Promises|author=Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt (Editors)Mark Lingane

|summary=Ronan''Parasite'' is the first part of the Parasitology series and if s not entirely sure why he decides to go to the quality of this book party but his interest is anything to go piqued by the next is going to be highly sought afterway it arrived. It puts us several years into the future, in And it seems like a time where medicine has made massive leaps forward good opportunity to get out of his room and where humans no longer take medication, suffer away from allergies, or even catch the common coldonline activities he makes a living at. These medical advancements are all thanks to SymboGen and So he makes his way there, dodging the invention buses that make up most of their intestinal shield, which is a genetically engineered tapeworm designed to monitor your body’s functions the traffic and correct abnormalitieswatching the local energy storage indicator lights. Should be enough power. Hopefully.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501922</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=ConquestK P O'Donnell|authortitle=John Connolly and Jennifer RidyardThe Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)|rating=3.5

|summary=The Earth has been invaded by the IllyriVL-15, a vaguely humanoid race far in advance of humankindprototype robot, is desperate to understand who were able to conquer the planet gently by proving how futile it would be to resistshe is. They are keen to ensure Unfortunately, before she could find any answers, the human race remains compliantworld ended, but are mostly keen to avoid bloodshedconsumed in an apocalyptic war between the nations of Drexel and Renada. Humankind, howeverOver half-a-century later, civilisation is not a race starting to take conquest lying downrebuild. There Dr Amelia Wong is determined to continue her father's legacy, building a very active resistanceworld where machines and humans can live together in harmony, particularly in Scotlandbut internal frictions and external enemies might bring it all crashing down again. Craig Anderson, where the Scots come out leader of a group of salvagers called the Highlands to strike on 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 Illyri garrisons slightest, and no errant machine, no savage human tribe and power bases in cities like Edinburgh.not even Drexel's ravaged ecosystem will stop her on her quest for answers…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>147220963X</amazonuk>B0CKRYFRZM

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Box of Red Brocade (Chronoptika)Emily Tesh|authortitle=Catherine FisherSome Desperate Glory

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=Ok. Let's catch you up. Jake's father is still lost in time. VennWhile Earth's wife is still dead. Summer, the Queen of the Sheechildren live, still hasn't made Venn her husband. Sarah still hasn't prevented the destruction of the future by Janus. And the Scarred Man still hasnenemy shall fear us'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|title=Familiar|author=J Robert Lennon|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Is there a greater change in Following the life destruction of the Earth, amongst a middle-aged woman than the death rare number of her teenage son? Elisa might have thought notsurvivors, having Kyr has been forced to bury fifteen year old Silas, and try and move raised on with her husband Derek and Gaea Station – the year-older son, Sam. But a greater change occurs on home of the way back from her annual, solo pilgrimage to his grave last scraps of humanity – something very weird happens and trained relentlessly to avenge her people and the universeworld that should have been hers. She pops from one car to another, from under a cloudless sky to a slightly greyer one – and from All her self as Elisa to a world where people call her Lisalife, where she is plumper, has been conditioned to fall in a different jobline, stiil married to Derek in the same home – but still the mother of two young men…fulfil her duty and ensure that humanity perseveres.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846689473</amazonuk>0356521834

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=PhoenixM R Carey|authortitle=SF SaidInfinity Gate|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersScience Fiction|summary=Lucky thinks he is I'm annoyingly picky when it comes to science fiction. Not because it's a normal Human boygenre I dislike – nothing of the sort. But one night, he dreams that the stars My standards are singing high precisely because it's a hard genre to him get right – and he can feel a mysterious power rising within him. When he wakes, his bedclothes are scorched. And when his mother finds outit's bad, Luckyit's world is turned upside down and he finds himself on an alien spaceship, on often terrible. But the run, and in the middle premise of Infinity Gate had me hooked. A concept this intriguing felt like a warzonehigh-stakes gamble: if it was done well, it'd be fantastic. Everything Lucky has been brought So this is where I sum up to believe is being testedthat premise. 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? |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>038561814X</amazonuk>0356518043

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stephen P KiernanMichael Grothaus|title=The CuriosityBeautiful Shining People

|genre=Science Literary Fiction|summary=Microbiologist Kate Philo is a member of an Arctic expedition sent to locate life forms frozen in ice flows. Striking ''But fearing something and having it lucky, she and the team find a human whom they reanimate once they get him back come to their American lab. However new life brings new challenges. The man died over a century earlier and much has changedpass are two different things. The press is now omnipotent, his And I'resurrection' offends religious fundamentalists and scientific ethics m willing to bet most of what we fear will never saw this problem cominghappen, or we can take steps to change it. To Kate, though, he's not a problem. He's Jeremiah, afraid, bewildered and in need of an ally.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848548753</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=All Our Yesterdays|author=Cristin Terrill|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Em ''Beautiful Shining People'' revolves around the question of identity and Finn are being held prisoner by the Doctoracceptance. They never see each other but are able Of what it means to communicate through the cell wallbe human. This Of what is real and what is a blessing but also a curse: they can each hear the interrogations artificial, and torture meted out to whether 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 development 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 lovestechnology is exciting or frightening. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408835193</amazonuk>191458564X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mitch Benn1739593901|title=Terra22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=4.5

|summary=Terra is different from everyone else on Fnrr and not only because she has vowels in her name''Our future will be more complex than we expected. You seeInstead of flying cars, Terra isn’t actually from Fnrrwe got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma. 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…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575132086</amazonuk>}}'

{{newreview|author=Marie Harbon|title=Seven Point Eight: The First Chronicle|rating=3I've got a couple of confessions to make.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Following several main characters - scientist Paul, businessman Max, remote viewer Tahra I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and mystery woman Ava - across two time frames spanning the 1940s then forget to return to the present day, book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there'Seven Point Eights science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It' blends 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 and fantasy in a sprawlingshort stories? Well, absorbing, diffuse novel that will attract fans of both genresI loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B005IBYKC0</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ioanna Bourazopoulou and Yannis Panas (Translator)Mark Lingane|title=What Lot's Wife SawGalaxy

|summary= It's been over 20 years since The Overflow cameSpark, flooding half of Europe. Around who is an elite pilot with the same time Violet SaltSpace Academy, barely makes it through a new multibattle alive. His co-functional mineral, appeared, its production now governed globally by the mysterious, all-powerful Consortiumpilot was not so fortunate. 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 Waking from a despotic, lawless way until the six wake up to the realisation coma 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 investigatelasted years, 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, remembers little 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 no physical shape to be the sole living human inhabitantresume his duties. A mysterious transparent wall has been erected around a large area in the Austrian mountains where our narrator has been holidaying, a wall that But Earth is unbreakable under threat and through which she can see that the world outside has come to a complete standstillhe must. Our narrator is faced with living in total isolation and forced Returned by his superiors 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 elsethe space station, I ''must'' warn you. ''Quicksilver'' is billed as he finds himself amid a companion novel last ditch attempt to [[Ultraviolet by R J Anderson|Ultraviolet]] with save humanity - and not just from the implication that you could read either first. You can't. You mustn't. So if you haven't read ''Ultraviolet''alien threats against it, go no furtherbut also from its own sins against itself. ''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|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408316285</amazonuk>B09X3NZ76W

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ian TregillisTade Thompson|title=Necessary Evil: The Milkweed Triptych: Book ThreeFar From the Light of Heaven

|summary=Raybould Marsh has been sent back from Michelle 'Shell' Campion is fulfilling her lifelong dream of going to space. As first officer aboard the 1960s to sleeper ship Ragtime, bound for the Second World War to avert end world of Bloodroot, she will essentially be a babysitter for the world while saving ship's AI captain. However, when she wakes up at the life end of her trip to find dozens of baby Agnes. At least thather passengers butchered and the Ragtime's what he thinks heAI almost non-responsive, she begins to realise that her first mission won's doing t be going as smoothly as she hoped it forwould. He's armed with a plan butDown on Bloodroot, even if his friend and warlock Sir William Beauclerk disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and his own younger self help, there android partner Salvo are unforeseen disadvantages in dabbling with timesent up to discover exactly what went wrong on the Ragtime. And then Meanwhile, former astronaut and friend of course thereShell'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 seer politicking and ex-Nazi experiment, Gretelbureaucracy of Space Station Lagos. Is she madWhat the five of them discover on the Ragtime has ramifications not just for Bloodroot, bad or just has a funny way but potentially the entirety of showing her philanthropic side? We're all about to find out…human space…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>035650171X</amazonuk>0356514323

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=SJ GriffinClaire North|title=The VanguardNotes from the Burning Age

|summary=In RhiannonAt its core '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 Notes From the test... unless youBurning Age''re Rhiannon. Rhiannon should really be by Claire North is a Perceiver. But all her life she has wanted her own hivespy thriller, with as many double crosses, interrogations and night time escapes as Le Carre or Fleming. And to achieve thisHowever, she must test as with the best novels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that of a Queen new and timely genre, cli-fi, or Commanderclimate change fiction. And this she does. The only person North's novel tells of a world devastated by climate change where humans have been forced to ever have manipulated start anew and live alongside nature without any of the test. Rhiannon's future is setmodern and corrupting "luxuries" (read: leadership trainingfossil fuels, followed by a choice weapons of Devoted to serve hermass destruction, followed by command of intensive farming). There is a prestigious space ship growing unhappiness with this limiting world, and hiveone group, the Brotherhood, aims to master these processes no matter the cost to the Earth. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B00BRM30SE</amazonuk>0356514757

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ian TregillisAdrian Tchaikovsky|title=The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych)Shards of Earth|rating=54|genre=Science Fiction|summary= England 1963: The war Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed, warped into an unrecognisable shape by the moon-sized aliens known as the Architects. Humanity is overscattered, Hitler defeated and constantly fleeing as world after world falls to the Russians (Britainarchitect's ally) retain most of mainland Europereshaping. The Briton in Then, just when they had the street believes that it was Dunkirk and human race on the Battle of Britain that saved run, the nation but ex-naval intelligence officer Raybould 'Pip' Marsh and his former friend Lord William Beauclerk know differentlyArchitects vanished. The nation was saved by warlocks like Lord WillAnd so, the same warlocks that memories of the war fades, heroes are now being murderedforgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and fight among themselves. HoweverIdris Telemmier, fighting overa man genetically engineered to try and communicate with the Architects, Pip and Will are both war-weary and does not want to be left alone but remembered. But, when he and the Secret Intelligence Service has other ideas. For crew of the Nazi experimental 'willpower' children are now adult and assembling in Englandsalvage ship he calls home discover what appears to be recent Architect activity, still equipped with suddenly he is thrust back into the super powers of their childhoodspotlight. This means Will As he and Pip have old scores his allies bounce from star system to settle star system, chased by alien crime syndicates, human secret police and greater evils waiting rich slavers, he slowly begins to be faced… Yes… ''those'' greater evils are back.realise that the real war is only just getting started…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356501701</amazonuk>1529051886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mark LinganeTerry Miles|title=Beyond BeliefRabbits

|summary=Nobody said 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 on then. Yes, this is the road with game of life for a travelling show would be easycertain tribe of people – the fan of the conspiracy, the computer game, but Master Payne’s Circus the hack from the darkest of Adventure seems webs. People like our hero, K, named like that in the least Kafkaesque manner possible. K and his bezzies are trying to face more hazards than be historians of the game, and have studied amongst many things the most. Firstlyunique of high score boards, there for the lists of who has successfully won the game are those giant battle clanks lurking in the forestmost peculiar places, waiting to reduce unsuspecting travellers to cindersand are still very short. However this time it's different. There are also prowling gangs of eerie GeisterdamenThis time the game seems the most dangerous, nay lethal, or the most broken it'spider riderss ever been – morally and otherwise. Unfortunately for K, in trying to sort out what the game is doing, if it's even being played, with their ghostly glowing eyes and long hair. Nearby towns could how his loved ones might be inhabited by revenants; misshapen zombie humans infected by Slaver Waspskept safe, hungrily on he is only to find out that the lookout for their next victim. But when a mysterious girl called Agatha line between observing and her talking cat join learning about the troupegame, and playing it, that’s when the real danger beginsis a very thin one indeed...|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781166498</amazonuk>1529016932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Christopher BrookmyreC J Carey|title=BedlamWidowland|rating=3.54|genre=Science General Fiction|summary=Ross Baker 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 wage slave at Neurospheredifferent Britain, writing computer code for Nazi-styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has put all of that gender into a new brain scanning 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. His girlfriendAnd in this puritanical existence, our heroine, CarolRose 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 happy about every story excised immediately from British civilisation, and so they just get a hefty tweak towards the hours he puts into his job, thinking heparty line before they's being played re stamped ready for a fool by doing extra work for no recognitionreprint. Ross thinks they're about That is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to break uplight, but soon discovers with their relationship is about potential to move to a level he was too busy to anticipate. After a rough morning, he agrees to have his brain scanned in one of the trial machinesspoil Hitler's visit.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356502139</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja FoglioEverina Maxwell|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Airship CityWinter's Orbit

|summary=Agatha Clay has had Prince Kiem is a bad dayfamous political disappointment. Waking up late was just He's outgoing, carefree, and has gotten into many drunken scandals over the beginningpast few years. She got mugged in a dark alley on her way So when an important political alliance is to be arranged – one that is supposed to prevent an interplanetary war – no one expects him to university and her precious locket was stolen. Things did not get any better when she arrived at be chosen for the universityrole. When demonstrating her latest mechanical design, it malfunctioned and exploded in front Least of her instructorall him. Then, without warning|isbn=0356515885}}{{Frontpage|author=Rob Winters|title=His Name Was Wren|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=In September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, near the faculty had an impromptu inspection by Baron Wulfenbachvillage of Hurstwick. It came down hard, taking the ruthless dictator who controls most spire of the continent. By the time the day was throughvillage church with it, the university had been reduced to destroying a pile of rubble stone shack, and her beloved mentor killed. And thenleaving a wide trail through the wood,but no trace of course, she had ''those'' blinding headaches to deal withwhat it actually was. But if today German secret weapon was badthe local gossip, tomorrow is set to be even worse..but there should have been an explosion and a crater, and there were neither of those things.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781166471</amazonuk>B08KGVNVNB

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Iain M BanksMark Lingane|title=The Hydrogen SonataNote to Self: An Education

|summary=ItIn Kry's 25 world, the discovery that human cells replace themselves every seven years since Iain M Banks introduced us 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 utopian ''Culture'' series side effect of erasing seven years of sci fi adventure books and ''The Hydrogen Sonata'' memory, by 2045 the cosmetics industry is using the 13th same technique to "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 series. One thing Banks does particularly well moon of a distant gas giant, Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping with the efforts to make his books completely accessible as stand alonesthe 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, explaining the concept afresh each time without going over old ground United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to take Kira in for long time fansexamination. 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 which there misfits, and the news is grim. The same aliens that destroyed the Extenuating Circumstances are many. In many waysnow wreaking havoc across all of human-occupied space, this is and only a good introduction for those who have yet to discover mythical weapon known as the joys Staff of Blue can stop them. As the death toll climbs and more players are introduced into this excellent series because it's far more linear war, Kira slowly begins to realise that she may have had a greater hand in the conflict than some. He sometimes leaves even hardened she could''Culture'' addicts struggling to work out what's going on with alternative realities before bringing them together, but there's little of that here.ve possibly imagined…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356501507</amazonuk>1529046505

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kevin J AndersonLaura Lam and Elizabeth May|title=The Martian WarSeven Devils|rating=3.54|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Suppose H G Wells was not simply Eris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, a skilled writer with a spectacular imagination, but resistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to inherit in fact centrally involved 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 fantastical adventure which formed Tholosian spacecraft to gather information vital to the basis for several of his most successful novelswar effort. Kevin J Anderson has supposed exactly Although she's less than pleased to discover that her former friend Eris is her partner on this in his latest novel 'The Martian War'mission. Real historical figures such Things get more interesting as Percival Lowell and T H Huxley share centre stage the mission commences; aboard the ship are three defectors with famous Wellsian characters like Dr Moreau and Mr Cavor in a story secret that borrows elements from could potentially cripple the Empire. Eris'War s brother Damocles, the runner-up heir to the Empire, is plotting to disrupt peace talks between Tholos and the last of the Worldsfree alien species. It', 'The First Men in s a race against time as the Moonrebels move to put a stop Damocles'plans, 'The Island with millions of Doctor Moreau' and 'The Invisible Man'.lives hanging in the balance…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781161720</amazonuk>1473231140

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Michael CobleyFrederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)|title=The Ascendant StarsA Life Without End

|genre=Science Literary Fiction|summary=''Space Opera has never been in more capable hands'' is I looked at the Guardian quote that concludes calendar the blurb for other week, and disappointedly realised I have a birthday thisyear – I know, Cobleyyet another one. It won's wrap up part 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''Humanity's Fire'' trilogy ll be an OBE. (Which of course stands for Over Bloody Eighty.) Now if that started with [[Seeds of Earth (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|Seeds the extent of Earth]] and continued through [[The Orphaned Worlds (Humanity's Fire) by Michael Cobley|The Orphaned Worlds]]my mid-life crisis, I guess I have to be happy. It Our author here doesn's hard to disagreet use that exact phrase, but it's also hard he might be said to be living one. Determined to find out how to get away prolong life for as long as he wants – on this evidence he would like to see 400 – from he hops right into bed with the fact that Space Opera might be closer assistant to Soap than Classicalthe first geneticist he interviews, and they end up with a child, which is at least a way of continuing the life of his genes, when it comes and a motive to opera classificationkeep on going. But how can he get to not flick the 'final way out' switch, especially when foie gras tastes so nice?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1841496367</amazonuk>1642860670

{{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 Move on 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>}}[[Newest Short Story Reviews]]