Martha Wells
SecUnit is on the surface of a planet, doing his SecUnit thing protecting his humans. On this planet, his humans are trying to negotiate with colonists to help them with planet ownership, trying to remove infected alien technology and not kill humans from the corporation trying to kidnap colonists and press them into slavery. All of this while trying to hold off a mental breakdown in his "squishy bits". This continues to be one of my favorite series of all time.
4 stars (out of 4)
Max Barry
This is a sci-fi-ish book, if linguistics is considered science. Maybe just magical realism. The setting is a world where someone has figured out that the way sounds are processed in the brain (which neural pathways fire, which hormones are produced, etc.) can actually be weaponized and used to lower a persons defenses and become "extremely persuasive". This very much has Babel vibes in terms of how language is used. While Babel was primarily bringing a subtext of colonization, Lexicon is talking about personal power and corruption. It is into this world Emily is recruited off the Venice Beach hustle circuit and finds herself learning to be quite powerful, as well as to be wary of others in the organization. Ultimately, power and corruption are the guiding forces that drive this plot and Emily and her beau become pawns/catalysts at various points in the story. I actually appreciated the time jumps in the story telling, alternating between present and past to provide a backstory snippet just in time to understand what is next, without revealing the entire history. Engaging, with a fascinating interpretation of language processing.
4 stars (out of 4)
Percival Everett
A retelling of Huck Finn from the perspective of Jim. The fist half of this book is pretty parallel to the Huck Finn adventures (at least according to my memory of having read that book decades ago). The second half is new material based on when Huck and Jim are separated. I listened to the audio version of this book and I think that is probably the way to go. One of the most striking ideas was the amount of langauge based code-switching that Jim/James does as he interacts with whites and slaves. Striking largely based on the massive confusion expressed by the white characters when Jim didn't speak "slave". The reader was able to communicate these language switches in a way that I am pretty sure would have been lost to me were I reading the text. Although this is fiction, it felt remarkably biographical, and reminded me frequently of the Harriet Jacobs/Linda Brent autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Highly recommend.
4 stars (out of 4)
Naomi Alderman
More near future than is comfortable. The names have been changed to feign innocence, but basically Meta, Google, Amazon, etc. rule the world. They have their algorithms tuned for addiction and consumption. The owners all have their bolt holes for when the apocalypse happens. What they don't know is that there are still people who care. So there is a secret cabal working against the corp's with a master subterfuge plan. One of the best plot devices is the part of the plan when the algorithms are slightly modified to encourage collaboration instead of division. If only...
In the near future, apocalyptic, tech dystopia genre, this is pretty good.
4 stars (out of 4)
P.W. Singer and August Cole
FBI Agent Keegan from the Washington DC field office is a former special ops marine and all around bad-ass. Part of her expertise in the marines was bot-wrangler. As we are all increasingly aware, the wrong prompt into your AI will result in gibberish. And when the prompts to your war-bot have life or death consequences, you get good at it. So as an agent, Keegan is assigned a Tactical Autonomous Mobility System (TAMS), a new generation bi-pedal bot with sensors galore and a still learning neural architecture. Her assignment is to train it. In the real world she is also in the midst of an investigation of several anomalous computer events, and a political climate of basically "us vs them" in terms of humans/bots. What could possibly go wrong. An engaging story that gets the pacing right and has a few cut-outs where Keegan gets to geek out with the TAMS handler about the philosophy of sentience and human/bot interactions. Short answer: Human/bot interactions are complex.
4 stars (out of 4)
S.B. Divya
Set in the mid-century future where machine technology has advanced to the point where most things are operated by Weak AI (WAI), indicating intelligence but not self-awareness. Individual privacy is nearly non-existent, individuals all carry their own "swarm" of video transmitting bots/drones, everyone has an electronic tip-jar where their public feeds can earn micropayments from viewers. Think 'likes' with cash attached. Since everything is public and recorded, murder and crime is almost non-existent. Nano-meds are prevalent and people (in order to keep up with the bot workforce) regularly take flow (to enhance neural function) or zips (to enhance muscle function). Our protagonist (Welga Ramirez) is a former special forces, now private security lives on these zips (has a genetic allergy to flow) and is outstanding at her job. But when a terrorist organization calling itself "The Machinehood" actually murders several biotech billionaires, calling for equitable treatment of all AI, Welga finds herself in the middle of the investigation. Great story/plot line and a strong treatment of the questions related to machine/human interaction that will necessarily be rising in our world in the next 20 years. Well done and worth the read.
4 stars (out of 4)
John Scalzi
Jamie was recently layed off by his prick, tech-startup CEO boss in New York. His resulting food delivery job connects him with an old school friend who offers him a job with a large animal conservation NGO. He is pretty secretive about it and for good reason. When Jamie gets to his first travel stint, he finds that the travel is to a parallel universe earth that has evolved to support Kaiju. So fun.
4 stars (out of 4)
Katherine Addison
Set in the same world as The Goblin Emperor, but really only the protagonist Tharu carries over. Tharu is a Witness for the Dead, meaning if he touches a dead body soon after death he can get a sense of the last thoughts. Comes in very helpful for solving murders and settling contested wills, etc. In many ways, aside from this fact, Addison has written a very traditional police procedural, with a few cases chased down and the reader wondering how (or if) they will tie together. At the same time he has to deal with the politics of his office and the ongoing evaluation of his call as a Witness. My only complaint is the bombardment of names and vocab in the first two chapters. I understand the fun of creating names when creating a world, but even after wading through, I still couldn't tell who was whom. The good thing is it didn't really spoil or inhibit the novel.
4 stars (out of 4)
Naomi Novik
Magical Fantasy at its best with a distinct Polish perspective. Agnieszka is a young woman from the local village near The Wood. The Dragon is the most powerful sorcerer in the land and he lives in the tower at the edge of the valley, protecting everyone from the corruption and evil of The Wood. And once every decade he comes into the village to conscript a young girl to serve as his maid and servant. In Agnieszka's year, it is clear who will be chosen...her best friend Kasia. Until she isn't, and Agnieszka is picked. So begins the journey to discovering her own magical abilities and finding what actually is going on in the Wood.
4 stars (out of 4)
Seth Dickinson
The Masquerade Book 1
Baru Cormorant is a mathematical savant who happens to be discovering her talents as one of the conquered teens of the reigning empire known as The Masquerade. With her island country crushed by war and disease, with one of her fathers disappeared for "unhygenic practice", with a boundless drive for justice and revenge, Baru goes all in with the Empire -- to break it from the inside. The only question is whether she will lose herself in the process. Can you actually defeat empire? This is the question that keeps surfacing is a variety of contexts. The world that Dickinson creates is astounding. The character Baru is such a dominant force in this world that all the other characters simultaneously pale in comparison and do their job filling in the colors around her to make a vibrant full story. In the end, this is a straight up political thriller that happens to be set in a non-magical, fantasy world. Love it.
4 stars (out of 4)
P. Djèlí Clark
Set in early 1900's Egypt in a world where the Djinn are a normal part of life and contributors to human society. So much so that Egypt is now a world power and part of the negotiating team trying to prevent a war in Europe. Along with Djinn come evil Djinn, and therefore a government agency to track and manage the spiritual realm. Agent Fatma is one the few women agents and she leads the charge to save the world from some Djinn changing the balance of power with the intent of destroying humanity. I really do love the Sherlock Holmes vibe from an eastern perspective. Love it.
4 stars (out of 4)
Nicole Kornher-Stace
Pure Cyberpunk excellence with definite Snowcrash vibes. Set in a 22nd century world where New Liberty is a megacity created "inland" to avoid the massive climate change flooding that destroyed most existing cities. New Liberty is the primary front of the war between the two remaining corporations, Stellaxis (which owns all water) and Greenleaf (which controls all agriculture). In this world, Mallory is a war orphan who spends her time in the virtual game world chasing kills and trying to develop a following for her stream as her primary source of income. The game world is really a hyper-realistic simulation of real world (or at least that is what Stellaxis says), and much of the commerce related to the game is centered around the vat-grown SecOps superheroes who fight to protect Stellaxis citizens from the super-mech that Greenleaf operates in the war. As a Sci-Fi commentary on corporate greed gone wild, it is on the nose. Mallory becomes the catalyst for an opening of awareness and the possibility for change. What is perhaps missing here is the same thing that is missing in society. From the perspective of the narrative, Stellaxis has always existed, and as an entity of its own we don't really find any individual to fault. What I would love to see in a SciFi expose of corporations is some discussion/exploration of how to notice and prevent the scenario before it gets to the point of "too far gone". Maybe that is boring and just a political science dissertation? Maybe the prequel Flight and Anchor will get at some of this?
4 stars (out of 4)
Alexander London
Book 3 of the Battle Dragons series
Abel and his family have been exiled to Glassblowers Gulch, a backwater mining town a few hours out in the desert. G2 is decidedly *not* the big city. Only a couple dragons are around, owned by the sheriff. Brother Silas is working as a deputy sheriff and Abel is almost immediately thrust into the hot seat when a local girl begs him to care for a baby Wyvern she hatched (so illegal). So he does, and finds that the local attitude is corrupt and abusive. Can't have that. So Abel and his new dragon take on the world. I love how each dragon has really had a distinct personality, and that a big part of the relationship building has been Abel learning how to work with his new friend. A playful romp through gangster-corrupt-politics and breaking the chains of colonial imperialism.
4 stars (out of 4)
Alexander London
Book 2 of the Battle Dragons series
Having set free a few battle dragons, showing up and angering each of the three criminal gangs in the city and the city secret police, Abel and Roa are now returning to school for their 8th grade year. Part of the deal to keep them out of jail in the last installment was that they now snitch to the cops. And Abel's first undercover assignment is to find out who is doing illegal bio-engineering experiments on dragons. And the way to do that is to get challenged to participate in an illegal dragon street-race. All the same characters, but alliances are shifting, new dragon relationships are forming and Abel and his friends and family are all solidifying their understanding of imperialism, slavery and corruption. They just do it while Abel is racing through the city at 100's of mph on a dragon. How could it get any better.
4 stars (out of 4)
Alexander London
Book 1 of the Battle Dragons series
This is a modern world. Our protagonist Abel is a 7th grade student who lives on the 90th floor of his building. Most buildings are 200+ stories, and the city has tens of millions living there. It is a pretty high tech place (holographic billboards, cell phones, etc. But all transportation and heavy labor is accomplished via dragon. Need a school bus? Strap some seats on to a long wing dragon. Abel is a middling student (failed his dragon academy entrance exam), but his friend Roa is a prodigy, taking college classes at night in dragon veterinarianism. Abel and Roa quickly get pulled into the city underbelly as Abel finds he has bonded with Karak - a Sunrise Reaper battle dragon. And he is expected to battle on behalf of one of the 3 local gangs. London has created an effective mixture of tech and fantasy. He is illuminating coming of age issues for middle school kids at the same time as the social inequity that comes from the struggle for power at all costs. And Abel as the clear eyed, idealist who can push for a better world is the perfect protagonist.
4 stars (out of 4)
Katherine Addison
A nice fantasy world full of hints of magic, a cyberpunk feel (castles, moats, hydrogen airships), and basically two races (elves and goblins). Maia is the 4th son of the current elven emperor. Since his mother was a goblin, he has been banished to exile, his father not wanting any memory of his "poor decision". But when the emperor's airship blows up killing all aboard (including son's 1-3) Maia is suddenly the Emperor. In this world, we follow Maia as he navigates treacherous politics of court, religious and racial discrimination, royal expectations and a murder mystery. It is a fun evolution of a young man (goblin/elf) and maybe one of the most satisfying royal court intrigue stories I've read.
4 stars (out of 4)
Ann Leckie
In the world of the Imperial Radch Trilogy
It has been 5 years since I read the original trilogy and it is still in my memory in broad strokes. The details, not so much. This is a story the provides new insight into the Presger, specifically about one "feral" Presger and the effort to bring them back into the community. I love the expression of multi-species interactions and the matter of fact way that Leckie sets up interactions and at the same time exposes speciesism, privilege and colonial snobbery. Glad I read it.
4 stars (out of 4)
Martha Wells
Raksura Series - Book 5
In the series finale, the weapon was discovered, and then stolen. Moon and Stone pursue, half-breeds support, and Jade follows. More interactions with the groundlings, which Moon excels at. Stone and Jade have serious PTS after the end of the last episode, and Moon can't figure out what is going on (he was on the other side of the rock. Not really a spoiler, but in the end everything works out. The journey is amazing. Kudos to Wells for an outstanding world and series.
4 stars (out of 4)
Martha Wells
Raksura Series - Book 4
Having successfully sealed the Siren in its prison, and come to a working arrangement with his birth court, Moon is expecting to live a normal, uneventful life. But then everyone has the same nightmare at the same time, the Fell invade the Reaches. Then some groundlings come with a story about a powerful weapon. Moon et. al. travel with the groundlings to *again* save the world. My only complaint here is that this is part 1 of a 2 part series (completed in Book 5), which was a departure for Wells. Small complaint :)
4 stars (out of 4)
