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Binti tells the story of a young Himba girl, a master harmonizer and creator of astrolabs, who gets accepted to Oomza University. Despite everyone advising against it, she decides to go to the university and becomes one of the few of her people to leave their desert home and Earth.

I liked the way the Himba culture is an integral part of a science fiction story. I can't really judge the accuracy of the description, but the idea is nice. Similarly, meditation by mathematics plays well into the sci-fi theme.

However, the actual plot is too straight-forward and the behavior of people just does not seem to match reality. The theme of acceptance and forgiveness is tainted by a heavy vibe of Stockholm's syndrome.


The Meduse kill dozens of people, one of them - Okwu - threatens to kill Binti multiple times, but at the drop of a hat it becomes Binti's best friend? Despite the Meduse massacring future students, it's the professors that ask for forgiveness? And it's up to only them to decide how to react to the Meduse attacking a ship? The description of the Meduse seems very black and white: maniacal killers but full of honor, and the people seem to be fine with that.

Also, the idea of otjize - red clay and flower oils - having almost magical healing abilities for the Meduse seems a bit too fantastic and seems akin to alternative medicine. There's not even an inkling of a plausible scientific explanation for that, and the slightest possibility for creating one disappears when Binti makes more otjize that works just as well, even though it's on a different planet, from different kind of clay and different oils.

A fun little fantasy story about a boy who becomes possessed by a demon. Completely by accident, and maybe possession is too strong a word - it's more like cohabiting a body. Since receiving demons is usually reserved for the high and mighty of a specific Order, having a powerful being inside a good-natured peasant lordling causes some headache to the local authorities - and definitely some amusement for the reader.

Penric's Demon is a straight-forward fantasy story with a fun setting. The plot isn't too complicated but there's plenty of action and character development to draw the reader inside the world and care about the main characters. Overall, the story is positively positive.

Penric's Demon happens in a world where some other stories of Bujold are situated, and knowing them might help getting tuned for some of the aspects of the story. I didn't have any problems adjusting to it, though, so maybe it would just add a familiarity to the reading. This definitely makes me want to read the other books, too.

Seveneves is a hard scifi novel that is plainly apocalyptic - and post-apocalyptic - and it's happy to admit so right from the start. The setting is breathtaking: by some cosmic accident, the Moon is split into seven parts, and after a while it becomes clear that this means the clock is ticking. Time of humanity on Earth is at and end, and there's a hard deadline for enacting plans to save the mankind.

There are three distinct parts in the novel: preparing for apocalypse, the apocalypse itself, and the final part of post-apocalyptic vision. The first two parts happen in near future, and Stephenson does a fine job in describing technology that is almost completely believable from the current standpoint. To make things easier - or harder, depending on whether you like it or not - the book dumps the reader with huge amounts of information about orbital mechanics, zero gravity, astronomy, gene technology, robotics... and chains.

Some nitpicking, though: the genetics of the story seem very simplistic, and manipulating the genome is described as a simple job - that simplicity is actually, in some ways, a basic tenet of the whole survival of the species.

The humankind's struggle is told from the point of view of a few persons, working mostly in the orbit. The speed at which everything happens is breathtaking, and it's hard to put the book down once you start reading it.

At some point towards the end of the second part of the book, the writer starts to distance the reader - and himself - from the main characters. There's more data dump, the point of view becomes neutral instead of focusing on single persons. At the end of the part we move back to personal view, but it's not enough to make the reader care about the characters.

The third, post-apocalyptic part of the book is enjoyable science fiction that presents several ideas that are plausible if not downright probable. It's practically another book - there's a plot that depends on the first parts of the book, but it probably could be read separately with minor modifications.

The biggest problem is that Stephenson leaves a lot of things open in the first two parts, and then gives us a separate third part where he tries to touch on all of those things. 900 pages is not enough for that, and in the end, I'm left wanting more.

Make no mistake: this is an excellent book. At the same time, though, it is one that screams for sequels, and the sequel could've started at least 300 pages before the end of Seveneves.

I first read A Princess of Mars about 30 years ago. It's easy to see why I rated it highly back then - for a ten-year-old, it had just enough technology and awe and plenty of adventure and swashbuckling.

Reading it now, though, also shows some basic flaws. The characters are paper-thin: John Carter is a gentleman from Virginia who's much loved by his distant relatives. Dejah Thoris is a swooning beauty whose only features seem to be her looks, aristocratic lineage and the pride that comes with it. Tars Tarkas is the only character who actually seems to develop over the storyline, all other Tharks - not to mention Warhoons - are just undeniably barbaric and often downright evil.

There's plenty of exposition, some of it regarding technology. Radium was pretty recent discovery when the book was originally published, and it shows: it's used in ammunition, pumps, engines... The most magical things are the "eighth and ninth ray of light" which are harnessed to provide atmosphere and antigravity.

It's also kind of hard to not read the Green Martians as native Americans - partly because Burroughs actually makes that comparison right at the beginning of the book. If you read it like that, the depiction of Tharks as barbaric, unemotional brutes who only value strength and relish in torturing their culturally superior Red Martian enemies comes out as horribly racist.

Of course, it's worth noting that this is a hundred years old book written by a veteran of late Indian Wars. That also at least partly explains the depiction of women (woman) as objects of desire who need to be protected.

It's also interesting to read about the Green Martians and how the way they value violence is considered as negative - while at the same time the romanticized Virginia gentleman is quite happy to answer bad behavior with punches, mow through a group of guards just to be able to speak to a woman, and indeed, be ready to kill the whole planet for the one woman the gentleman desires.

Having said all that... It's hard to not value the nostalgy of the book. It's part of my own youth, and it's still an action-packed adventure which provides simple problems with straight-forward solutions.

Another Locke Lamora adventure, another city, another heist. Terrorizing a new city is always a thrill, and Locke and Jean - with their new identities, naturally - are about to pull a big one. They are almost ready to spring the trap, when everything goes wrong, all wrong.

In other words, the adventures are new but the structure stays the same as in the previous book. The main character is as lovable as ever, Lynch's writing is as engrossing as ever and I thoroughly enjoyed every page of the book and couldn't wait to get back to reading it after every mandatory break.

Having said that, the novel could've been tighter. Even though I enjoyed the whole thing, the story probably would've been better if you had removed 200 pages from the middle and added them into the end. Now we have elaborate schemes, multiple sidesteps and finally a terrible rush to get everything nice and tidy by the end of the book. At least one of the sidesteps could've been a novella or even a novel of its own, now it seemed a bit half-baked.

All this still means that I'll be continuing with [b:The Republic of Thieves|2890090|The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406961069s/2890090.jpg|2916344] soon so that I'm ready for [b:The Thorn of Emberlain|8074907|The Thorn of Emberlain (Gentleman Bastard #4)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425482518s/8074907.jpg|12787416] when it's released next summer...

The last of the Imperial Radch trilogy begins where the second part ended. The Athoek system is in safe hands, threats against Breq neutralized, so life can return to normal.

Of course, when you're the last remnant of an AI ship, holding a position of Fleet Captain in Radch space, the normal is pretty damn strange. But still, the third book takes another turn and looks more closely at the mundane lives of the main characters. If Breq seemed like a superhuman in first and particularly in second book, the third book examines her distancing herself from her ship roots and becoming more human. Of course, it's also about war.

The two sides of the Lord of the Radch are fighting each other, and some of that fighting finds itself in Athoek. It's once again up to the Fleet Captain and the crew of the Mercy of Kalr to save the day.

Even though there are shades of darkness in the way Leckie tells the story, I found Ancillary Mercy to have a very positive outlook: there's no doubt everything will end well. The only real problem I could find with the book was that the ending seems a bit hasty - the story flows beautifully, but for once, there could've been more buildup for the grand finale.


Of course, considering how the book ends with philosophical pondering about endings not being truly endings, I suspect we'll hear more from Breq Mianaai in future. Which I completely agree with: I think the Radch Space is a fantastic universe and I'll happily read both sequels and prequels if ever such things get released.

Son of a family that has moved from Pakistan to the USA listens to tales of his grandfather. When his grandfather dies, evidence comes to light that all of those tales may not have been fiction.

The story begins with grandad's fairytales, which are, frankly speaking, not particularly enchanting. The story really picks up speed after the grandfather dies and mythology starts to mix in with the reality. This doesn't last, though: in the end the story switches to a new gear and the fantasm morphs, in places, into word sallad. It's not too bothersome, though.

The focus is really on the main character: his girlfriend is left paper thin, and the same goes for his parents. Even his grandfather could use a bit of depth.

In the end, we have a story that has a hesitant start and a strong middle stretch. It mixes mythology with reality and even uses a pencil or two out of science fiction set of colors, but in the end, it falls flat with a predictable, although emotional ending.

Locke Lamora is a thief, an excellent con artist who runs his little brood of villains to relieve the nobility of its coins. A fantasy Robin Hood, if you will, but where Hood used his bow and arrow, Lamora relies exclusively on his wits. The underworld of Camorr is run by Capa. When a challenger, the Grey King, appears, Locke Lamora gets sucked into a power play he doesn't want to partake.

The book begins with an elaborate con which paints Locke as an almost too witty character that plans everything in advance, is always one step ahead and does it all with a smile on his face.

The story takes an abrupt turn to darker side when the power struggle between the Capa and the King begins in earnest. Locke finds himself mixed in both underground and elite politics, and it's really not a good place to be.

While the story progresses, we are offered with bried glimpses of the history of both characters and the surrounding world. These flashes are short enough to keep the focus on the main story but they provide both necessary information and welcome introduction to various aspects of Gentleman Bastards universe.

All in all, The Lies of Locke Lamora is an excellent read. Once the story got into full swing, it was hard to let go of the book. The main story ends in an obvious point to continue in next books (which already exist), and the multiple sidesteps, while not stealing the focus, still make me want to read a full novel, or at least a novelette, of the history of Camorr and the world beyond.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is an alternate reality novel where, after the WWII, Jews were relocated to Sitka, Alaska. The lead character is Meyer Landsman, a disillusioned but still occasionally brilliant policeman who wants to make a final effort in solving a case before the Sitka district becomes again an official part of The United States.

The alternate history gives the writer an opportunity to set his story into an environment which is familiar from old crime novels but in which almost all of the characters are Jewish. Other than that, though, the history has a limited role in the story; it obviously affects the story and is, in some ways, prominent as a plot device, but with minor tweaks the story could've been set in just about any small town.

Chabon uses the opportunity to fill the dialogue with Yiddish (?) vocabulary. Even though you get used to it, it still makes the novel a bit tedious to read - it may fit the characters but it doesn't really add to the story itself.

Having said that, though, the crime - a junkie Messiah getting shot in the middle of the night - is intriguing, and the plot thickens satisfactorily. Chabon knows how to create suspects, and he knows how to drop hints - but you'll probably notice them only after they get pointed out.

Continuing from where Ancillary Justice left off, Ancillary Sword doesn't dwell in the past; the story happens firmly in the current time (for the book, of course), and it sets Breq off to correct the wrongs made in the Raadch Empire.

Where the first book gave us a new idea, this book continues an established theme but it's much more heavily focused in one hand on political issues of the Empire (and, lets not kid ourselves, our world as well) and, on the other hand, the feelings and persons of the main characters. The story in itself is a bit more straight-forward - what with not having the flashbacks and because it happens mainly in a single solar system.

I had some minor gripes with the structure and the development of the book. While this is a second book of a series, Leckie seems to have made an effort so that it would also be readable as a stand-alone book. That may be successful, but having just read the Ancillary Justice, the beginning of this book has a tad too much of repetition. And, in the end, the book leaves perhaps more things open compared to the first book of the series.

The protagonist, Breq Mianaai, comes out as just and proper - a true white knight that had his dark moments described in first book and is now squeaky clean. He's also too omniscient; being able to see everything his soldiers see and even their emotional state, combined with his 2000 years of experience, makes him just a tiniest bit too supernaturally able. The first book gave as a ship that became human; I would've liked to see more of the human side. Maybe that'll come in the third book.

And, finally, those emotional states... Breq is continually angry, another person is miserable, third one anxious and uncertain, and those emotioanl states stay pretty much the same through the whole book but we don't really get a good reason for those.

Still, having said all that, I enjoyed this book tremendously. The action is sometimes slow but the world is wonderfully interesting, the story flows effortlessly and it continues to build a picture of both the main characters and the whole Empire in a way that made me devour the book.

The first book raised the bar high, and while Ancillary Sword doesn't quite reach the level of Ancillary Justice, these two are still by far the best books I've read so far in 2015.