Roolipelaaja, seikkailuharrastaja, spefi-kirjailija
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"She answered the Emperor's call.
She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.
In victory, her world …
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian …
At first I thought this was just your average ponderous sci-fi/fantasy epic, the kind that tends to bore me. Then Gideon began to speak and suddenly the story turned into a real delight. Somehow the main character's resentful teenage stupidity elevated the book from dull into hilarious.
It's been a while since I've read anything so uncompromisingly violent and brutal. This is a compliment! If I'm reading a horror story, I like it to be rough and merciless, and the Loop certainly fit the bill.
Johana Gustawsson: Block 46 (2017)
In Falkenberg, Sweden, the mutilated body of talented young jewelry designer Linnea Blix is found in a snow-swept marina. In …
Akin to the mafia families of The Godfather, the families of the five Dragons who control the rich resources of …
Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror – the …
If I say "Groundhog Day meets Agatha Christie", I'm sure I'm not the first ... but that's a remarkably accurate description. It's like 8 whodunnits stuffed into a single book, and the accomplishment is pretty incredible. This is a story I'll remember for quite a while.
At eighteen, Jaele’s life is shattered when her family is murdered by a band of Raiders, members of a long-accursed …
Dark forces gather in the Malazan Empire as Empress Laseen, malevolent ruler, turns her attention …
What a troublesome book. On one hand, it did have huge scope and imagination, but on the other hand it kept me at arm's length from its characters and left me feeling pretty cold. This is clockwork epic fantasy -- perfectly thought-out but somewhat soulless, or maybe a Michael Bay vision of same -- huge spectacle, but as a reader I didn't really care.
It took me three hundred pages to find something to actually interesting. I had the same problem with Black Company, which I read is a major inspiration here. Even so, I think I might be interested in finding out if the sequels have any more emotion.
It's 1963, and riots and sabotage plague the space program. The climate change caused by …
Still an excellent hard sci-fi story, but this one had annoyances the previous installments didn't. The viewpoint character for this one spouts way too much macho bullshit for my taste. Also, even though sexism and racism always were right at the front of the Lady Astronaut stories, the gender war here seems relentless and really tiresome. Also one of my least favourite tropes "I'm not going to tell my loved one(s) things to protect them" rears its ugly head; one of the reasons I enjoyed The Calculating Stars was its utter refusal to deploy poor communication as a plot point.
Despite occasionally grinding my teeth at the points mentioned above, this is still a very good, very hard science fiction story about living on the Moon. The plot is effective yet non-convoluted, and when things get nasty, you really feel the blows. Definitely recommended.
