Changes

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=LibriomancerAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Jim C HinesBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=FantasyScience Fiction|summary=Pulp fantasy may be frowned upon by some who believe that novels should be ''Opening up new ways of thinking about emotions, inner journeys and despair. Fantasy and science fiction can have all these the shape of things as well, but they can also be fun, entertaining and laser pistols. ‘Libriomancer’ by Jim C Hines is a great example. It is a book that follows Isaac Vainio, a Libriomancer who has the power to draw magic from bookscome. He must use this gift to good effect when one day, whilst sitting comfortably cataloguing, he is attacked by three vampires. Does that sound fun to you? If so, read on; if not, this may not be the book for you.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953456</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=Snowpiercer Vol.2 - The Explorers|author=Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette|rating=4.5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=All of humankind I've heard it said that 'technology' is living on a single trainwhat happens after you're eighteen. Oh sorryWell, as this is the sequel, make I must confess that two trainsthere have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. Launched on the same tracks as the original Snowpiercer, I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but clearly at a slight remove, was a second mile-long behemoth of a train, designed I'm left with the latest high tech to be completely self-sustaining as feeling that it travelled ceaselessly on the tracks encircling a frozen Earth, waiting for the time the world was inhabitable once more's all getting away from me. But the high tech on board, complete with lemon farms, and differing qualities Some of virtual holidays depending on cost and class of customer, has not put paid to one aspect of society – and in fact the sole aspect of society not featured in [[Snowpiercer Vol.1 it is - The Escape by Jacques Lob and Jeanfrankly -Marc Rochette|the first book]] – religionquite frightening. Some people are fearing the end timeOf course, when I could research the Icebreaker crashes into possibilities and the original Snowpiercer. Some believe probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're duped into talking about or the whole train idea, latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and are who could deliver information in fact on a spacecraftway I could understand. Some people know something else – the rare few explorers who get to go outside the train into the world beyond, and see glimpses of what came before…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782761365</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mark LinganeSylvie Cathrall|title=Tesla 1A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=4.5|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=Sebastian has lost both his parents. His father died of a mysterious wasting disease whereas his mother is just... well... lost. The only thing he has he has to remember his mother by is There are few greater joys than a note telling him to go to the mysterious Steam Academy. However, first he has book which lives up to find his way there in a futuristic Australia without widespread technology but with dangerous cyborg warriorscompelling premise. What's worse, despite fighting humans in general for thousands And this is one of years, the cyborgs now seem to have turned their attention and energy to killing Sebastian in particularthem. What's he done to deserve that? More to the point, whatever he's done, how can he survive?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0992377951</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1803816759|title=Snowpiercer Vol.1 - The EscapeUnravelling|author=Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc RochetteWill Gibson

|genre=Graphic NovelsScience Fiction|summary=All of humankind It's 2038 and Joe is living on a single trainbored 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. I know British commuters feel But then something goes horribly wrong with the AI system that way at timesnow runs everything, but this is a much different circumstance – it is a train miles longmaking life easier for many, running non-stop as a self-contained unit across tracks circling a desolately frozen Earthand riots start to spread. Finally, moving on endlessly until, perhaps Joe gets to do some time in real policing. In the distant future, aftermath of the planet can recover from the cataclysm that froze itrioting global pop star Suki is kidnapped and Joe is assigned to bring her home. ItJoe isn's certainly been going on long enough for it t the only one trying to have save Suki - Dylan, a culture – a hierarchical society from the rich British superfan and leisured classes near the fronttech nerd, through is also on the orgiasts, past case. What went wrong? Did the useful carriages set aside for producing food, to the underclass at the end. Itsystem fail or was it hacked? And how is Suki'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>kidnapping connected?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0CP95J1CG|title=God's WarOf Ghosts & Broken Promises|author=Kameron HurleyMark Lingane|rating=34.5

|summary=People who do Ronan's not like the genre love entirely sure why he decides to go to lump all Science Fiction into the same pile – massive space ships and stuff. That party but his interest is just not piqued by the caseway it arrived. It can range And it seems like a good opportunity to get out of his room and away from subtle alternative versions of our own Earththe online activities he makes a living at. So he makes his way there, to Space Sagas set around dodging the orbit buses that make up most of a distant planetthe traffic and watching the local energy storage indicator lights. Where sci fi gets its bad reputation from is when complex ideas are not explained clearly Should be enough for the readerpower. 'God’s War: Bel Dame Apocrypha' by Kameron Hurley is one such book; a novel crammed with some great ideas, but also moments of strange confusionHopefully.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091952786</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Channel BlueK P O'Donnell|authortitle=Jay MartelThe Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)

|summary=What if VL-15, a prototype robot, is desperate to understand who she is. Unfortunately, before she could find any answers, the planet you called home wasn’t just a random blob world ended, consumed in an apocalyptic war between the universenations of Drexel and Renada. Over half-a-century later, orbiting a far off starcivilisation is starting to rebuild. What if the things that happened on it weren’t entirely down Dr Amelia Wong is determined to chance or fate or whatever you want to call it. What ifcontinue her father's legacy, actuallybuilding a world where machines and humans can live together in harmony, life on Earth was less random but internal frictions and more, well, scheduled than you external enemies might like to admitbring it all crashing down again. Someone up thereCraig Anderson, calling leader of a group of salvagers called the shotsExhumers, deciding has his entire life turned upside down when to send in ‘natural’ disasters, influencing how things work, people behave, countries are run. Not he unearths a God, mind, but something far crazierprototype combat robot: a television executivenone other than VL-15 herself. Earth is Even after being buried for 65 years, her determination hasn't diminished in the reality show to end all reality showsslightest, and while its inhabitants have no clue every second of their lives is being watched errant machine, no savage human tribe and edited, that doesn’t not even Drexel's ravaged ecosystem will stop them behaving in a way that keeps the viewers highly entertained.her on her quest for answers…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781855803</amazonuk>B0CKRYFRZM

{{newreview|title=Plastic Jesus|author=Wayne Simmons|rating=3|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Johnny Lyon is Following the destruction of the Earth, amongst a computer coding expert spiralling out rare number of control following survivors, Kyr has been raised on Gaea Station – the death home of his lover. Johnny’s colleague Sarah convinces their boss Garcon that he needs Johnny for a project that is perfect for him (creating a virtual reality Jesus) the last scraps of humanity – and just might help him trained relentlessly to concentrate on something other than his lossavenge her people and the world that should have been hers. They embark on a project with potentially monumental impact within a world of degradation All her life, she has been conditioned to fall in line, to fulfil her duty and violence in a city ruled over by organised crime king pin Paul McBride. Many storylines collide as the project effects more people than Johnny realisesensure that humanity perseveres.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907773630</amazonuk>0356521834

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 StoriesM R Carey|authortitle=Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott and othersInfinity Gate

|genre=Confident ReadersScience Fiction|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, m annoyingly picky when it comes to being an essential part of the BBC, full-gloss digital, and accessed in all manner of waysscience fiction. So with the celebratory programme still ringing in our ears, and leaving people pressing Not because it's a red button to see a programme about three Doctors, er, pressing a red button, we turn to other aspects genre I dislike – nothing of the birthday bonanzasort. Such as this book, which has also mutated in its much shorter lifespan, from being My standards are high precisely because it's a loose collection of eleven short e-book novellas written by the blazing lights of YA writing, hard genre to a huge get right – and brilliant paperback collecting everything within one set of covers.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141348941</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Rags and Bones|author=Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=Anthologies|summary=Some of todaywhen it's top authors have come together to retell classic tales - from fairy stories to Victorian-era fiction. As usual with this kind of anthologybad, it's often terrible. But the premise of Infinity Gate had me hooked. A concept this intriguing felt like a fairly hithigh-or-miss affairstakes gamble: if it was done well, but the hits here are so strong that theyit're well worth picking d be fantastic. So this is where I sum up the book forthat premise. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1472210522</amazonuk>0356518043

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Time Traveller's AlmanacMichael Grothaus|authortitle=Anne VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeerBeautiful Shining People

|genre=AnthologiesLiterary Fiction|summary=From H.G Wells to ''Doctor Who'', there is But fearing something about a good time-travel story that has the power to ignite the imagination in a way unique and having it come to the genrepass are two different things. Perhaps it is due And I'm willing to the fact that when dealing with the subject bet most of time travelwhat we fear will never happen, literally or we can take steps to change it.''anything is possible''. Well, almost anything...apart from going back in time and killing your Grandfather, which we know would cause an almighty paradox and probably destroy the universe.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781853908</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=Parasite|author=Mira Grant|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''ParasiteBeautiful Shining People'' is revolves around the first part question of the Parasitology series identity and if the quality of this book is anything to go by the next is going acceptance. Of what it means to be highly sought afterhuman. It puts us several years into the future, in a time where medicine has made massive leaps forward Of what is real and where humans no longer take medication, suffer from allergieswhat is artificial, or even catch the common cold. These medical advancements are all thanks to SymboGen and whether the invention development of their intestinal shield, which technology is a genetically engineered tapeworm designed to monitor your body’s functions and correct abnormalitiesexciting or frightening.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356501922</amazonuk>191458564X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1739593901|title=Conquest22 Ideas About The Future|author=John Connolly Benjamin Greenaway and Jennifer RidyardStephen Oram (Editors)

|summary=The Earth has been invaded by the Illyri, a vaguely humanoid race far in advance of humankind, who were able to conquer the planet gently by proving how futile it would ''Our future will be to resistmore complex than we expected. They are keen to ensure the human race remains compliantInstead of flying cars, but are mostly keen to avoid bloodshed. Humankind, however, is not a race to take conquest lying down. There is a very active resistance, particularly in Scotland, where the Scots come out of the Highlands we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to strike on the Illyri garrisons and power bases in cities like Edinburghtrack grandma.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147220963X</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=The Box I've got a couple of Red Brocade (Chronoptika)|author=Catherine Fisher|rating=4confessions to make.5|genre=Teens|summary=Ok 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. Let There's catch you upgot to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Jake Then there's father is still lost in time. Vennscience fiction: far too often it's wife is still dead. Summer, the Queen of technology which takes centre stage along with the Shee, still hasn't made Venn her husbandworld-building. Sarah still hasn It't prevented s human beings who fascinate me: the destruction of technology and the future by Janusworld scape are purely incidental. And the Scarred Man still hasn't done, well, whatever it is that he's trying to do. The Chronoptika So, what did I think of a mirror made book of black obsidian and a time travel device, connects Jake, Venn, Sarah and the resttwenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, but they all want different things from I loved 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 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, Sam. But a greater change occurs on the way back from her annual, solo pilgrimage to his grave – something very weird happens to the universe. She 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>}} {{newreview|title=Phoenix|author=SF Said|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|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? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>038561814X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stephen P KiernanMark Lingane|title=The CuriosityGalaxy

|summary=Microbiologist Kate Philo Spark, who is a member of an Arctic expedition sent to locate life forms frozen in ice flows. Striking elite pilot with the Space Academy, barely makes it lucky, she and the team find through a human whom they reanimate once they get him back to their American labbattle alive. However new life brings new challengesHis co-pilot was not so fortunate. The man died over Waking from a century earlier coma that lasted years, he remembers little and much has changedis in no physical shape to resume his duties. The press But Earth is now omnipotent, his 'resurrection' offends religious fundamentalists under threat and scientific ethics never saw this problem cominghe must. To Kate, thoughReturned by his superiors to the space station, he's finds himself amid a last ditch attempt to save humanity - and not a problem. He's Jeremiahjust from the alien threats against it, afraid, bewildered and in need of an allybut also from its own sins against itself.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848548753</amazonuk>B09X3NZ76W

 {{newreview|title=All Our YesterdaysFrontpage|author=Cristin TerrillTade Thompson|rating=4|genre=Teens|summarytitle=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 Far From 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 Light 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=TerraHeaven

|summary=Terra Michelle 'Shell' Campion is different from everyone else on Fnrr and not only because she has vowels in fulfilling her namelifelong dream of going to space. You seeAs first officer aboard the sleeper ship Ragtime, Terra isn’t actually from Fnrr. Her adoptive father (Lbbpbound for the world of Bloodroot, she will essentially be a Fnrrn scientist) rescued her from her parents, babysitter for the Bradshawsship's AI captain. However, on when she wakes up at the planet Rrth in a moment end of her trip to find dozens of unthinking philanthropy. If only heher passengers butchered and the Ragtime'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=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Following several main characters s AI almost non- scientist Paulresponsive, businessman Maxshe begins to realise that her first mission won't be going as smoothly as she hoped it would. Down on Bloodroot, remote viewer Tahra disgraced investigator Rasheed Fin and mystery woman Ava - across two time frames spanning the 1940s his android partner Salvo are sent up to discover exactly what went wrong on the present dayRagtime. Meanwhile, former astronaut and friend of Shell''Seven Point Eight'' blends science fiction and fantasy s father Lawrence Biz takes a shuttle to Bloodroot, half-alien daughter in a sprawlingtow, absorbingto see why the Ragtime has gone quiet, diffuse novel that will attract fans leaving behind the politicking and bureaucracy of both genresSpace Station Lagos.What the five of them discover on the Ragtime has ramifications not just for Bloodroot, but potentially the entirety of human space…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B005IBYKC0</amazonuk>0356514323

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ioanna Bourazopoulou and Yannis Panas (Translator)Claire North|title=What Lot's Wife SawNotes from the Burning Age

|summary= ItAt its core 's been over 20 years since The Overflow came'Notes From the Burning Age'' by Claire North is a spy thriller, with as many double crosses, flooding half of Europeinterrogations and night time escapes as Le Carre or Fleming. Around However, as with the same time Violet Saltbest novels, it wears many masks and its most affecting one is that of a new multiand timely genre, cli-functional mineralfi, appeared, its production now governed globally 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 mysteriousmodern and corrupting "luxuries" (read: fossil fuels, all-powerful Consortiumweapons of mass destruction, intensive farming). Meanwhile back in Europe The Colony, There is a haven for those escaping floods and indeed justicegrowing unhappiness with this limiting world, is ruled by Governor Bera and six officialsone group, the 'Purple Stars'. All seems Brotherhood, aims to be well in a despotic, lawless way until master these processes no matter the six wake up cost 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 notEarth.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1845025474</amazonuk>0356514757

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dan WellsAdrian Tchaikovsky|title=FragmentsShards of Earth|rating=54|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=I didnEighty 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't have much hope for this book - s reshaping. Then, just when they had the human race on the run, the Architects vanished. And so, the memories of the middle book in war fades, heroes are forgotten, and humanity begins to fracture and fight among themselves. Idris Telemmier, a series tends 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 fillerrecent Architect activity, suddenly he is thrust back into the spotlight. As he and as [[Partials his allies bounce from star system to star system, chased by Dan Wells|Partials]] was so brilliantalien crime syndicates, human secret police and rich slavers, I though it was going he slowly begins to be hard to top. I was very wrong. This book realise that the real war is mind-blowing.only just getting started…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007465238</amazonuk>1529051886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Marlen HaushoferTerry Miles|title=The WallRabbits|rating=34.5

|summary=One morning our protagonist awakens Welcome to a the world in which she appears 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 sole living human inhabitantaverage person no obvious entry point. A mysterious transparent wall has been erected around bit like the game of life then. Yes, this is the game of life for a large area in certain tribe of people – the fan of the conspiracy, the computer game, the hack from the Austrian mountains where darkest of webs. People like our narrator has been holidayinghero, K, a wall named like that is unbreakable in the least Kafkaesque manner possible. K and his bezzies are trying to be historians of the game, and through which she can see that have studied amongst many things the most unique of high score boards, for the world outside lists of who has come 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 a complete standstill. Our narrator sort out what the game is faced with living in total isolation doing, if it's even being played, and forced to learn how his loved ones might be kept safe, he is only to survivefind out that the line between observing and learning about the game, and playing it, is a very thin one indeed... |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0704373114</amazonuk>1529016932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=R C J AndersonCarey|title=QuicksilverWidowland

|genre=TeensGeneral Fiction|summary=Before I say anything elseIt's April 1953, I and Adolf Hitler''must'' warn you. ''Quicksilver'' is billed as s schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a companion novel bit, and watching over the sanctioned return to [[Ultraviolet by R J Anderson|Ultraviolet]] the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen Wallis. For yes, Britain caved in the implication lead-up to the World War Two that you could read either first. You cancertainly didn't. You mustnhappen as we know it, and we are now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on 't. So if you haven't read ''Ultravioletthe 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, go no furtherthe husbandless and the widows. ''Quicksilver'' picks up where [[Ultraviolet by R J Anderson|Ultraviolet]] left off Female literacy is actively discouraged. But And in this timepuritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, synaesthete Alison is left behind 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 story party line before they're stamped ready for reprint. That is told from her job, at least, until the point first emerging signs of view of Torifemale protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408316285</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ian TregillisEverina Maxwell|title=Necessary Evil: The Milkweed Triptych: Book ThreeWinter's Orbit|rating=4.5

|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 forPrince Kiem is a famous political disappointment. He's armed with a plan butoutgoing, carefree, even if his friend and warlock Sir William Beauclerk and his own younger self help, there are unforeseen disadvantages in dabbling with timehas gotten into many drunken scandals over the past few years. And then of course there's 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 seer and ex-Nazi experiment, Gretelrole. Is she mad, bad or just has a funny way Least of showing her philanthropic side? We're all about to find out…him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>035650171X</amazonuk>0356515885

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=SJ GriffinRob Winters|title=The VanguardHis Name Was Wren

|genre=Dystopian FictionConfident Readers|summary=Sorcha Blades and her four closest friends do In September 1944 something came down in Oban Woods, near the village of Hurstwick. It came down hard, taking the spire of the best they can village church with what they have. Living in it, destroying a post-apocalyptic worldstone shack, they are from and leaving a wide trail through the wrong side wood, but no trace of the trackswhat it actually was. Unable to live easy and glittering lives like German secret weapon was the elitelocal gossip, they scam but there should have been an explosion and forage a crater, and hack their way to some degree there were neither 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 protectthose things. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B00904MC30</amazonuk>B08KGVNVNB

 {{newreview|author=Janine Southard|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>}} {{newreview|author=Ian Tregillis|title=The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych)|rating=5|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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501701</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage

|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 Note to be a huge part of himself he's not acquainted with either… at least not yet. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0987478605</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio|title=Girl geniusSelf: Agatha H and the Clockwork PrincessAn Education|rating=54

|summary=Nobody said In Kry's world, the discovery that life on the road with human cells replace themselves every seven years results in a travelling show would be easycascade 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 Master Payne’s Circus with the side effect of erasing seven years of Adventure seems memory, by 2045 the cosmetics industry is using the same technique to face more hazards than most"de-age" their customers by seven years. FirstlyIn a society obsessed with image and youth, there are those giant battle clanks lurking 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 forestmoon of a distant gas giant, waiting Xenobiologist Kira Navárez is helping with the efforts to reduce unsuspecting travellers make the planet habitable to cindershuman life. There are also prowling gangs However, a discovery of eerie Geisterdamen, or an ancient alien bunker under the moon'spider riders', s surface leaves her bonded with their ghostly glowing eyes a strange alien entity. After the entity bonded to her loses control and long hairkills half the staff of the research station, the United Military Command cruiser Extenuating Circumstances arrives in the system to take Kira in for examination. Nearby towns could be inhabited by revenants; misshapen zombie humans infected Things go from bad to worse when the Extenuating Circumstances is attacked and destroyed by Slaver Waspsan alien ship, hungrily on and she has to flee to the lookout for their next victim61 Cygnus star system. But when She is revived aboard the freighter Wallfish, crewed by Captain Falconi and a mysterious girl called Agatha rag-tag bunch of misfits, and her talking cat join the troupenews is grim. The same aliens that destroyed the Extenuating Circumstances are now wreaking havoc across all of human-occupied space, that’s when and only a mythical weapon known as the Staff of Blue can stop them. As the real danger death toll climbs and more players are introduced into this war, Kira slowly begins...to realise that she may have had a greater hand in the conflict than she could've possibly imagined…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781166498</amazonuk>1529046505

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Christopher BrookmyreLaura Lam and Elizabeth May|title=BedlamSeven Devils|rating=3.54|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Ross Baker Eris is one of the foremost operatives of the Novantae, a wage slave at Neurosphereresistance movement fighting against the ruthlessly expansionist Tholosian Empire – an Empire she was destined to inherit in her past life as Princess Discordia, writing computer code whom everyone believed has been dead for a new brain scanning systemyears. His girlfriendClo, Carolan ace pilot for the Novantae, is not happy about has a mission: hijack a Tholosian spacecraft to gather information vital to the hours he puts into his job, thinking hewar effort. Although she's being played for 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 fool by doing extra work for no recognitionsecret that could potentially cripple the Empire. Ross thinks theyEris're about s brother Damocles, the runner-up heir to break upthe Empire, but soon discovers their relationship is about 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 level he was too busy to anticipate. After a rough morningstop Damocles' plans, he agrees to have his brain scanned with millions of lives hanging in one of the trial machines.balance…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0356502139</amazonuk>1473231140

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Phil Foglio Frederic Beigbeder and Kaja FoglioFrank Wynne (translator)|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Airship CityA Life Without End|rating=54|genre=Science Literary Fiction|summary=Agatha Clay has had a bad day. Waking up late was just I looked at 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 calendar the university. When demonstrating her latest mechanical designother week, it malfunctioned and exploded in front disappointedly realised I have a birthday this year – I know, yet another one. It won't be one of her instructor. Then, without warning, the faculty had an impromptu inspection by Baron Wulfenbachmajor numbers, the ruthless dictator who controls most of the continent. By but the time when I have the day was through, same number as Heinz varieties looms on the university had been reduced to horizon. And then a pile few of rubble the big 0-numbers, and her beloved mentor killedif all goes well, I'll be an OBE. And then, (Which of coursestands for Over Bloody Eighty.) Now if that's the extent of my mid-life crisis, she had I guess I have to be happy. Our author here doesn''those'' blinding headaches t use that exact phrase, but he might be said to deal withbe living one. But if today was badDetermined 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, tomorrow which is set at least a way of continuing the life of his genes, and a motive to be even worse..keep on going. But how can he get to not flick the 'final way out' switch, especially when foie gras tastes so nice?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781166471</amazonuk>1642860670

{{newreview|author=Iain M Banks|title=The Hydrogen Sonata|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=It's 25 years since Iain M Banks introduced us Move on 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356501507</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Short Story Reviews]]