Difference between revisions of "Newest Science Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Science Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Science Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Walter M Miller Jr
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|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
|title= Dark Benediction
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|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|rating= 5
+
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|genre= Science Fiction
+
|rating=5
|summary= Walter M. Miller Jr is rightly placed among the science fiction giants H.G. Wells, Michael Moorcock, and Philip K. Dick in the ''Masterworks'' series, a large selection of genre-defining writers and works at the centre of what is now such a popular and diverse range of literatures, films, and television productions. Miller is considered one of the finest science fiction writers of the 1950s, and in ''Dark Benediction'', fourteen of this author's best short stories are brought together in one collection.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473211948</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby and Kevin Moffett
 
|title=The Silent History
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Well, they kept this quiet – for reasons that will become obvious.  A couple of years ago people in America were giving birth to problematic kidsThey (the children) were soon found to be unnaturally quiet – perhaps crying with hunger or pain, but never even trying to 'ooga-wooga' their way into their parents' heartsThey were later found to be completely unable to speak, they could not read and indeed they could not understand anything said to them, or shown them, as an instruction.  They were physically unable to parse anything as language, and were in a silent world of their own.  But right about now they and we are combining worlds – schools are being set up, and funds are being made available, and people are coming down on the endless divide as to whether they are just problematic, disabled – or even the blessedIn a couple of years, however, the problems the virus that is causing these people to be born with will be shown to be a major problem – and that is before the kids themselves change.  For they will be able to switch their mental abilities much like a blind man can hear more than the average, and will be able to comprehend body and facial language much more coherently than anyone else. Throughout this timeline, however, people will be working hard to try and study the problem, and put it right – if indeed 'right' is the correct word…
+
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959286X</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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 lifetimeI'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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kieran Shea
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=Koko the Mighty
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Many people have dreamed of packing up their old jobs and opening a B&B or hotel with their partner somewhere in a picturesque holiday destination.  You may just deserve this new life, but running a hotel is not easy, especially when it is on a pleasure island known for its indiscriminate violence and hedonism.  Koko Martsteller had her last hotel/brothel blown up, but after a series of extraordinary events she has a new hostelry and a new partner.  It's a shame then that nothing is ever easy for Koko.
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|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781168628</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= 0356522776
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Rob Boffard
 
|title=Tracer
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=Just because the Earth has been destroyed does not mean that humans are now extinct.  As a bunch, humans are resourceful, so rather than sit on a dying Earth we all pack our bags and get a place on the orbiting station called New Earth.  However, after a couple of hundred years the old space station is starting to feel a little cramped and appears to be falling to pieces. What is the common link to both Earth and New Earth being destroyed?  Perhaps it is time someone did something about these pesky humans who ruin everything.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356505138</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lev Rosen
+
|isbn=1803816759
|title=Depth
+
|title=The Unravelling
 +
|author=Will Gibson
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=The private investigator genre is a great one. Not because they all feel pretty similar so that picking one up is like slipping on a pair of comfortable slippers, but because you can put a PI anywhere – even the future.  Writing about a New York that is partially underwater could be done in many ways; action, cerebral, but why not use an investigator for hire?  Mixing a solid crime story with an intriguing glance at the future is sure to be a winner, but you better put on your best trench coat as you are going to get wet.
+
|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>1783298634</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=A L Kennedy
+
|isbn=B0CP95J1CG
|title=Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse
+
|title=Of Ghosts & Broken Promises
|rating=4
+
|author=Mark Lingane
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=If, for some unearthly reason, you should follow the world of golf and hear of a bunker that's 'lethal' or 'a killer trap', point the speaker in the direction of a sand pit on the 13th at the Fetch Brothers Golf Spa Hotel.  For it really is lethal – something under it will suck you down, handspan by handspan, anaesthetising you and making you incapable of crying out. David Agnew knows this, and uses it as a handy way to get rid of people he doesn't like.  Elsewhere at Fetch there is a completely inept character – I needn't specify, as he's inept at everything – who's heartily smitten by Bryony, the hard-done-by receptionist.  There is a grandma who it would appear is losing all memory, beyond for her beloved octopuses, two young children who are very wrong indeed, in lots of ways, and there's also a strangely metallic taste about the air in the place.  A perfect site for the Fourth Doctor to pop up in, then – until a psychic attack leaves him with little opportunity to put the ageless problems to rights…
+
|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>1849908265</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Robert Brockway
 
|title= The Unnoticeables
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Paranormal
 
|summary= Carey is a punk living in New York City, 1977. Sick of watching his friends be abducted and killed, he doesn’t care about the rumours of strange monsters and supernatural happenings – all he wants to do is drink beer and kick ass. In the present day, Kaitlyn is in Hollywood. A stuntwoman, she has a missing best friend, has just escaped an attempt on her life, and an angel is waiting outside her door. The survival of the human race lies in the hands of Carey and Kaitlyn. We are, all of us, well and truly screwed…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783297972</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Jo Walton
 
|title= The Just City
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Dystopian Fiction
 
|summary=Urged on by her brother Apollo, goddess Pallas Athene founds the Just City of Atlantis – a city based on Plato’s republic. Filling it with an assortments of adults collected from throughout time, as well as ten thousand ten year olds, (one of whom is a disguised Apollo). Whilst the city flourishes, the arrival of Socrates may prove to be a fly in the ointment…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472150767</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Mike Brooks
 
|title=Dark Run
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=For any sane person Space is not a place you would want to go. Yes, there is the great unknown, planets to visit and the potential to meet alien life, but all that sits between you and the endless void is a few inches of metal – no thank you. To make things even worse, the future of space travel also appears to have pirates, terrorism and petty bureaucracy. I think I will stick to getting my astronaut-based thrills vicariously through the medium of the novel.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091956641</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Scott K Andrews
 
|title= Timebomb
 
|rating=4
 
|genre= Science Fiction
 
|summary= In 2141, Yojana Patel throws herself off a skyscraper. She never hits the ground. In 1640, Dora Predennick discovers a badly burnt woman. When she reaches out to comfort her, she’s flung through time. And on a rainy day in our time, Kaz Cecka sneaks into the ruins of Sweetclover hall in search of a dry spot to sleep. Instead he finds a frightened housemaid from the time of Charles I, and an angry girl from the future. Thrown into a war that spans millennia, the three must harness powers in order to escape deadly villains, and stay one step ahead of a fanatical army…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444752081</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Harry Harrison
+
|author=K P O'Donnell
|title=Bill, the Galactic Hero
+
|title=The Vital Link (A Spark in the Ashes)
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Meet Bill.  He's a simple farmer – well, he ''is'' taking a correspondence course in being a Technical Fertiliser Operator – but fate has something else in store. And so does the mechanised, technological, industrial military, which needs several billion grunts to fight the Chingers, in mankind's first inter-galactic war. Still, at least he gets medals just for signing up. After that it's all downhill, and the likes of Petty Chief Officer Deathwish Drang can only make that a straight line down. Really, what hope is there?
+
|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>147320531X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B0CKRYFRZM
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Chris Beckett
+
|author=Emily Tesh
|title=Mother of Eden
+
|title=Some Desperate Glory
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Chris Beckett writes page-turning science fiction with deep theological implications. I almost never read sci-fi, but in 2012 I devoured ''Dark Eden'', admiring it so much that I chose it as Greenbelt Festival's Big Read that year. Anyone approaching this sequel without knowledge of the first book will inevitably be a mite confused, so a synopsis of the first book may come in handy. Six generations ago a pair of astronauts, Angela (Gela) and Tommy, landed on the planet Eden and became matriarch and patriarch of a new race of primitive humans. A young leader, John Redlantern, rose up within the group, determined to free his people from their limited worldview by demythologizing their foundational story. Through events that mirror those in Genesis and Exodus, Beckett presents an intriguing counterpoint to the ways Jews and Christians relate to the biblical narrative.
+
|summary=''While Earth's children live, the enemy shall fear us''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00V2JSTW4</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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.
 +
|isbn=0356521834
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=William C Dietz
+
|author=M R Carey
|title=Deadeye
+
|title=Infinity Gate
|rating=2.5
+
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|summary=In the world of urban fantasy it seems easy to come up with a great concept and then find yourself with no story to fill it.  How about this for an idea?  The future America is almost destroyed when a virus wipes out half the population, of those that survive half have remained human, the other half have become mutants.  Someone needs to police this new status quo, so detectives are still on the beat, catching killers and kidnappers.  Sounds like a great idea, just don’t forget the story.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329874X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Kirsty Logan
 
|title= The Gracekeepers
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= General Fiction
 
|summary= In a future in which the sea has flooded the world, Callanish is a gracekeeper – administering shoreside burials and sending the dead to rest in the depths of the ocean. The solitary life of tending watery graves serving as penance for a long-ago mistake. Meanwhile, North is a circus performer – living with a flouting troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers and trainers, and with only a bear for a friend. An offshore storm leads to a chance meeting between North and Callanish – and a chance to change both of their lives.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846559162</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jon A Davidson
 
|title=System: With his face in the sun
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Wallace Blair, like everyone else, is used to the benefits of a life guided by The System. After all, The System knows best.  However he is somewhat dismayed when he wakes to a System message on his Commcuff informing him that his happy marriage is about to be dissolved and that's not his only concern.  After being sent to retrieve papers from his grandfather's house, Wallace reflects on how long it's been since he's seen the old man. Wallace decides to drop in on him but what should be a trip to an elderly care facility takes him down an unexpected path.
+
|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>1511491094</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356518043
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Melissa Landers
+
|author= Michael Grothaus
|title=Alienated
+
|title=Beautiful Shining People
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
+
|genre= Literary Fiction
|summary=Two years ago, aliens made contact. Now, Cara Sweeney has been chosen to host Aelyx, a L'eihr exchange student. The first exchange student. Cara gets a free ride to any college she chooses out of the deal, some excellent material for her blog, and a chance to be a part of history, helping in her own way to form an alliance between the two races.
+
|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.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1423185250</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
''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.
 +
|isbn=191458564X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Melissa Landers
+
|isbn=1739593901
|title=Invaded
+
|title=22 Ideas About The Future
 +
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
 
|summary= To save the alliance between Humans and the L'eihr, and save the planet from the deadly algae blooms that threaten to destroy all life, Cara and Aeylx have to persuade the L'eihr that Humans and L'eihr can peacefully co-exist.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1423169492</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ian Doescher
 
|title=William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Humour
 
|summary= Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of `Star Wars Episode 1' as only Shakespeare could have written it. 'Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies and doomed romance…all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with gorgeous illustrations. Hold on to your midichlorians: The plays the thing, wherein you'll catch the rise of Anakin!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594748063</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Adam Christopher
 
|title=The Machine Awakes
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=It is the nature of human beings to make life difficult for themselvesIf, as a race, you are fighting a war against a horde of Artificially Intelligent metal spiders, you don’t need the added grief of internal politicsIn the world of ‘‘The Spider Wars’’, the political situation has just exploded after a series of high profile assassinations.  Where are the bug hunters when you need themToo busy hunting hired killers instead!
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|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>1783292032</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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-buildingIt'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 storiesWell, I loved it.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Daryl Gregory
+
|author=Mark Lingane
|title=Harrison Squared
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|title=Galaxy
|rating=3
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=You should never judge a book by its cover, or an author from their back catalogue.  Whilst some writers will produce the same sort of adventure over and over again, with the same characters in the same world; others are more like a bag of literal allsorts. A novelist may produce one book that is a satirical and adult; just don’t assume that the next will be the same. In fact, this could be a book from the same publisher, with the same look and feel, but actually be a young adult novel in disguise…
+
|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>1783297646</amazonuk>
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|isbn=B09X3NZ76W
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ursula K Le Guin
+
|author=Tade Thompson
|title=The Word for World is Forest
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|title=Far From the Light of Heaven
|rating=3
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=There probably is an [[:Category:Ursula K Le Guin|Ursula K le Guin]] book for everyone. For fans of consummate, ageless fantasy, there are the first few Earthsea books, that I met as a child and still hold in high esteem.  For the feminist reader, there are much more recent novels that I would even baulk at putting on a genre shelf, so light are the sci-fi or fantastical trappings. But there are also classics of the former genre, too – hard sci-fi written at one of the past peaks of the form, and deemed timeless, as this current reprint suggests. These are sci-fi works that mean something – that shine a light on then-current thinking, or then-recent history or actions, but that are still designed to appeal to the hard-core genre fan. The example of ''The Word for World is Forest'' is one such, with an obvious nod to the Vietnam situation.  It's a shame then that for me, at the remove of 2015, it doesn't tick many more boxes, all told.
+
|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>1473205786</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356514323
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=George R R Martin and Lisa Tuttle
 
|title=Windhaven
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=As a huge fan of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', I love George RR Martin’s writing style and the vivid world and characters he created, and was interested to see what his other work might be like. Conversely, not being at all familiar with Lisa Tuttle, I was even more intrigued to read this book.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473208947</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Wingrove
+
|author=Claire North
|title=The Empire of Time
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|title=Notes from the Burning Age
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Otto Behr is a German agent, fighting his Russian counterparts across three millennia of history. With only remnants of the two nations remaining, Otto is forced to travel through time - changing brief moments in order to alter history forever. As the stakes grow ever higher - what will Otto be forced to do in order to end this war?
+
|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>0091956153</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356514757
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author= Adrian Tchaikovsky
 +
|title= Shards of Earth
 +
|rating= 4
 +
|genre= Science 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…
 +
|isbn=1529051886
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Mark Stay
+
|author=Terry Miles
|title=Robot Overlords
+
|title=Rabbits
|rating=2
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=In the not too distant future, an evil alien robot army has enslaved humanity (as evil robot armies so often do), fitting each person with a tracking implant that will ensure that they remain confined to their homes for the next seven years. Gigantic sentries roam the streets in search of lawbreakers and mankind is under constant surveillance. Confinement is making everyone stir-crazy and the brave few who try to outsmart their captors are incinerated on sight. The biggest mystery, however, is why the robots are here and what they want with humankind. Will they really leave, as promised, once the seven years are up? After all, robots never lie.
+
|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>1473204860</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1529016932
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=George Mann
+
|author=C J Carey
|title=Ghosts of War
+
|title=Widowland
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=In 1920's Manhattan, a lone hero patrols the streets and the skies, using his immense wealth and futuristic technology to keep evil at bay. However, at the start of ''Ghosts of War'', the Ghost is in mourning, following the tragic events that concluded [[Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann|Ghosts of Manhattan]], the first book in the series. Thankfully for the Ghost (and for the reader) -  Manhattan is under seige, and he has little time to lick his wounds. Mechanical winged beasts roam the skies, an alcoholic ex-lover is back on the scene, and a British spy may have to be dealt with in order to prevent a cold war turning hot...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783294140</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
 
|title=This Shattered World
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Stone-faced Captain Jubilee Chase is the best soldier on Avon, a planet in the midst of a rebellion, where the terraforming won’t take, and the mysterious Fury infects soldiers and turns them into mindless killers. Only Lee is immune, and she doesn’t understand why.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1423171039</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dave Bara
 
|title=Impulse
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Science Fiction
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In space, no one can hear you squirm and this is no bad thing if you happen to be Lt. Peter Cochrane, newly out of the Navy Academy he is put straight on the front line and is prone to as many mistakes as he is heroicsCochrane has no choice, the son of an Admiral; he is deemed the best choice to seek out an ancient enemy that has destroyed a starship full of Navy OfficersWhen you are only one of a few Officers left standing, you do what you can; even if this does involve blowing stuff up and falling in love.
+
|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 discouragedAnd 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 reprintThat is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091956412</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=152941198X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Daniel Suarez
+
|author=Everina Maxwell
|title=Influx
+
|title=Winter's Orbit
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Science Fiction
 
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=We are told to never judge a book by its cover and that certainly includes any quotes that should adorn the front. Since his debut novel, all the Daniel Suarez books I have read had a quote suggesting that he was the legitimate heir to Michael Crichton. To compare your work with one of the best techno thriller writers of all time is never going to be easy and time after time, Suarez fell short. That is until Influx, a book that finally puts Suarez in the same illustrious company as Crichton.
+
|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>0751557951</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356515885
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jo Walton
+
|author=Rob Winters
|title=What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading The Classics Of Science Fiction And Fantasy
+
|title=His Name Was Wren
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
|genre=Anthologies
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Jo Walton has published over ten books, several of which have been award winning. On top of that, she has a voracious appetite for books - both as a well respected writer of original fiction, but as a well respected reviewer too. Not only does she have time to do all that, but she also writes a regular column for Tor.com, on Science Fiction and Fantasy books, and it is these columns that a selection of which are collected here.
+
|summary=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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472111613</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B08KGVNVNB
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Victoria Aveyard
+
|author=Mark Lingane
|title=Red Queen
+
|title=Note to Self: An Education
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Mare is a Red - a race kept in lives of poverty and servitude by the Silvers, a race with wealth and mutant powers that allow them to live lives of luxury. Learning to survive amongst the slum like conditions that the Reds inhabit, Mare is swiftly thrown into the world of the Silvers - one that proves to be more dangerous than she had ever imagined, with treachery, plots and deadly games lurking round every corner.
+
|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>1409155846</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
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Peyton Marshall
+
|author= Laura Lam and Elizabeth May
|title=Goodhouse
+
|title= Seven Devils
|rating=3.5
+
|rating= 4
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
+
|genre= Science Fiction
|summary=There have been times in history when governments have thought they knew who the criminal underclass was. This did not lead to anything good under the Nazis and the same can be said of the Goodhouse regime. If we knew that certain genetics led to an increased chance of criminality, wouldn’t educating these people when they were young be a good thing?  Prevention is better than cure, but I am not sure if fascism is.
+
|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…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085752190X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1473231140
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
+
|author=Frederic Beigbeder and Frank Wynne (translator)
|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle
+
|title=A Life Without End
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Science Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle'' is the third novel in the Girl Genius series, adapted from the award-winning steampunk-style webcomic. Following the dramatic events of the previous two books, this volume sees Agatha returning to her family home in Mechanicsburg in order to claim her place as 'The Heterodyne'. She also needs to restore her war-damaged ancestral castle, which is in poor condition following a devastating attack by “The Other.” Of course, in the world of Girl Genius, nothing is straightforward and Agatha's mission is complicated by several things: the castle is a sadistic sentient being with a fractured personality; Agatha has a copy of her evil mother locked away inside her brain that could reappear at any moment AND a huge pink airship has just appeared in Mechanicsburg heralding the arrival of a fake Heterodyne heiress.
+
|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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178116651X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1642860670
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Short Story Reviews]]

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

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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