What I've been reading...
Oct 11, 2024
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
A thrilling ride, with humour at every opportunity, talking cats, and weird developments throughout.
Sep 28, 2024
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
A thrilling ride, with humour at every opportunity, talking cats, and weird developments throughout.
Sep 12, 2024
The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal by Jodie Taylor
It can't be read as a standalone novel, and the author assumes readers will be able to fill in the blanks from general knowledge of the other two series.
Aug 1, 2024
Hello America by J.G. Ballard
If this wasn't the inspiration for a bunch of video games, I'm surprised.
Jun 1, 2024
Nov 5, 2023
The Peripheral by William Gibson
A clever whodunnit spanning two timelines and an alternative universe.
Oct 23, 2023
Feb 26, 2022
The Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Aloysius XL Pendergast is an Albino FBI agent with hidden depths. He's ex special forces; a practictioner of Voodoo variants; he's insanely rich; a great white hunter; he works alone and is able to pick and choose which cases he takes. He's a Buddhist monk, who can see into the past and visualise events from centuries earlier.
Jan 13, 2022
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel is an exhortation to relish the present, and enjoy the world we live in now - because you never know when it will disappear in a cloud of flu virus.
Dec 7, 2021
Rebel Code: Linux And The Open Source Revolution by Glyn Moody
For a rare change, I've actually done a book review over on The Crow. I gave Rebel Code: Linux And The Open Source Revolution by Glyn Moody 4.5/5 arguing that it ended too soon. But it's a history book and history books have to end sometime.
Sep 18, 2021
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Most of the action is set in the 1990s Liverpool and on the Wirral, and as I am a native of such parts, it's fun to read about places I know and love. The action at Thurstaston is particularly satisfying.
Aug 22, 2021
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Rose tinted view of humanity working together to solve societal and climate change issues - depressingly unrealistic.
Jul 12, 2021
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky is solid soviet sci fi.
If you ever pondered on humanity's place in the universe and suspected that as a species and a planet, we are insignificant dots on the asshole of creation, Roadside Picnic is the book for you.
Jul 7, 2021
China by Edward Rutherford.
Compared to Edward Rutherford's other works, this was a bit of a disappointment.
Jun 29, 2021
Mid-lich Crisis by Steve Thomas.
I finished Mid-Lich Crisis, but i was close to abandoning it several times. 4/10.
May 30, 2021
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.
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The characters are well rounded, the dialogue and the situations are entertaining, and the action is well written. as I say, wholesome as heck. You should read the Murderbot diaries right now..
May 4, 2021
Doctorow and Stross team up for surreal antics in Rapture of The Nerds.
There aren't any deep ethical, moral, or existential questions, despite deep ethical, moral, and existential questions being the core of the plotline. It's slapstick, it's opera, it's a comedy of errors with a confused protagonist, and it's glorious.
Apr 28, 2021
Homeland and Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow - a teen novel grows up.
Little Brother mostly concerned itself with the evils that government departments do in the name of your security. Homeland and Attack surface are more concerned with the evils that corporations do in the name of money, and the potential for zero oversight, unaccountable badness when they integrate with the public sector. No surprises there - unbridled capitalism is evil. We all knew that already.
Apr 12, 2021
Apr 8, 2021
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab is a dark-ish Beauty and The Beast
The heroine is your typical, spirited independent woman in 17th century rural France - she loves to draw, she loves to read, she loves her dad, and she doesn't need no man. Think Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Her antagonist is the physical embodiment of darkness (in the form a sexy man named Luc), with whom our lead character makes a pact - her soul in exchange for living independently forever.
Apr 7, 2021
Shadow Captain and Bone silence by Alastair Reynolds - finishing up the Revenger series.
The universe is still the Spanish Main in space, and that the sisters are still adventuring on the cosmic high seas. The stakes were high in Revenger, but they're even higher now.
Mar 17, 2021
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds.
In the grim darkness of the far future, everyone talks like a pirate. Revenger, by Alastair Reynolds, is a classic high seas adventure with ships, mainsail, pirates, treasure, and villains. But in space.
Mar 11, 2021
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
A wild ride through wartime Barcelona. Heroes, villains, lovers and friends. Shocks! Jump scares!
Mar 1, 2021
Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross.
Fast paced, addictive and funny - let down by the chief bad guy being a 'sexual deviant' - always a lazy signifier shortcut.
