The Missing of Clairdelune

Christelle Dabos

Book 2 of The Mirror Visitor Quartet

Ophelia is on the Pole, and is presented at court. Yet she clearly has not found love with her betrothed, and the majority of her time is spent staying alive on this strange ark. It is particularly difficult since the dominant power here is illusion, and her fiance is the treasurer (basically hated by everyone). Add to this the fact that she is getting anonymous death threats from GOD and several high profile Pole citizens are disappearing. Fantastic.

4 stars (out of 4)

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

Becky Chambers

Book 4 of the Wayfarers series

Chambers continues to impress with this final entry in the series. She has created a multi-species universe and is exceptionally adept at using this universe to illuminate the lives we live here on earth. The setting for this story is Gora, a lifeless, rocky planet with no redeeming quality other than it's location at a jump-point crossroads. It is that freeway stopover in central New Mexico with gas stations, a minimart and a motel 6. Three guests have pulled in to a local habitat/rest stop when there is a catastrophic satellite avalanche event that prevents all planetary launch/landings and all communication. So forced short-term down time for the visitors. In the habitat are the owner and her kid (both Laru - a snuffleuffugous type creature in my mind), an Aeluon (communicates via color), a Quelin (short segmented and shelled bug like creature) and an Akarak (a methane breathing tree dweller). As these complete strangers interact and converse, Chambers has created a setting to discuss colonization, war and pacifism, the meaning of home, immigration, gender development, all while exploring the mechanism of dialogue and discourse among disagreeing sentients. Must read...

4 stars (out of 4)

A Winter's Promise

Christelle Dabos

Book 1 of The Mirror Visitor Quartet

Ophelia is a reader. She lives on the ark Anima, has Artemis as her family spirit and is a typical loner. In this world created by Dabos, the earth has ruptured and all life is now living on a series of floating land chunks called arks. There are 21 major arks (each with a family spirit, aka immortal family ancestor) and a few score minor arks. As a reader, Ophelia can see/know the history of any object she touches. Or more specifically, she can know the "life" of that object and see everyone who has touched it in its life. So she wears gloves. As a loner, she is not interested in marriage, but the ruling matchmakers on her ark have arranged for her to marry a man of status from the Pole ark. She goes, and finds a world she is not prepared for. 

This is a fabulous world, and I find it interesting to think about how science fiction worlds vary from international authors (this is a French work translated to English). This story is not about colonization and military, but about court intrigue. It is about power and class and history. Maybe it is me succumbing to stereotype, but this seems very French. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Kris Longknife: Bold

Mike Shepard

Having been relieved from the front (protecting against the BEM), Kris is thrown back into the political fire of Longknife v Peterwald. In fact, the family squabbles in the Peterwald clan have initiated a civil war in the Greenfield planets that could be catastrophic to the human arm of the galaxy. Only Kris has the political capital with all the parties to envision a solution. Of course, there are assassins who think different. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Unrelenting

Mike Shepard

As the admiral protecting Alwa from the BEM, it seems hopeless. Yes, she is getting additional military capability from the United Sentients. But the BEM can also just lob very fast rocks through the jump points and hope one of them hits. Time to go on the offensive. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Tenacious

Mike Shepard

The BEM homeworld is found but on the way to explore, Kris has to deal with some mutineers, and help negotiate a peace between factions of a new alien species (cats... yes cats) who are also in danger of annihilation. Nothing is ever easy.

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Defender

Mike Shepard

Once again a legitimate sailor in the chain of command of the Navy, Kris is assigned to find the BEM homeworld. If they can be found, they can be beat before they destroy another world. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Furious

Mike Shepard

Having discovered the BEM, and stopped them (at least some of them) from destroying an entire planet, Kris finds herself charged with warcrimes. Since both the civilian and the military leadership that she answers to is led by her family, they can't really show favorites. So for the time being, she becomes a fugitive -- but still protects the galaxy while doing it.

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Daring

Mike Shepard

Finally Kris is sent on a mission to discover the BEM that the Itchee were fearing. And it is good she was "sent" since she was probably going anyway. Taking her small fleet on a recon-only trip, she uses Nelly's newfound ability to travel further and faster with the fuzzy jump points. What they find is truly disturbing. Should she start a war immediately? Or should she turn and run, getting the info back Wardhaven?

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Redoutable

Mike Shepard

Before she can go herself to seek out the new BEM (Bug Eyed Monsters), Kris is sent back to the rim to continue her pirate hunt. She is now commander of a small fleet. What she finds is more human trafficking and piracy that leads to planet sized famine. She fixes it... even though it is really a Peterwald problem. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Undaunted

Mike Shepard

Meeting actual Itchee, the bitter sworn alien enemy of the Itchee war of the last generation is novel. It is the first meeting since the war armistice. And Kris Longknife is the initial contact. The message brought by the Itchee suggests that a bigger, badder alien is starting to encroach on Itchee territory (which means that humanity is in reach). Kris delivers the Itchee back to Wardhaven personally to make sure the message gets to the right people. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Intrepid

Mike Shepard

Kris has been formally assigned as a pirate hunter on the outer rim. Keeping trading routes open is key to the new United Sentients group of planets who are politically opposed by Greenfield (owned and operated by the Peterwald's). In the process of this pirate hunting, Kris solves a few problems and finds that she is being setup as the obvious assassin of the Peterwald family head. When she heads this off, they will owe her big time... won't they?

3 stars (out of 4) 

Valor's Trial

Tanya Huff

Book 4 in the Valor sequence

Torin Kerr is now even more famous, and is happy to just join her old company as a regular old Gunny on a regular old Marine Corps engagement. But right at the beginning of the battle, she suddenly finds herself waking up in an underground tunnel, and then finds that it is some sort of prison camp where she encounters a few hundred other Marines. Of course, Kerr leads a small team on a jail break and when everything is its most strange, it gets stranger - cue the organic plastic alien. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Kris Longknife: Audacious

Mike Shepard

Now a semi-fixture on the rim, it seems that one of the planets in her orbit is the site of a power struggle. When Kris and her crew intervene, not everything is as it seems. While helping out the locals, she continues to encounter galactic political opposition to her being alive, in the form of assassination attempts. Don't worry, she survives...

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Resolute

Kris Longknife is sent to Chance, a backwater planet needing a space station coordinator. While there, she captures pirates and survives more assassination attempts. We are also more and more impressed with Nelly, Kris AI personal computer who seems to be growing her own legend. Having integrated some alien technology (the same aliens who built the jump points), Nelly is seeing things no-one else is seeing. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Defiant

Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife is back home on Wardhaven, and the Navy is looking for a job for her where she can stay out of the limelight and just do her job. While waiting for orders, we find the entirety of the fleet traveling to a nearby star to scare off some pirates. Seems like the Society of Humanity (a 600 something confederation of planets) is starting to politically disintegrate, with isolationists holding sway. While all this is happening, four massive supercruisers enter the Wardhaven system, demanding immediate surrender. Longknife becomes the commander in chief of the local volunteer defense force to take on the impossible odds. The legend continues to grow...

In the space battles, this is a pretty good sci-fi treatment of how space battles might happen, with time and speed and space completely different than a land based or even air based battle. But pretty good is not excellent. See The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell for excellent. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Deserter

Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife takes some leave to go searching for a friend who is missing. When she arrives on the planet Turantic, she finds that she has been drawn there to set up an assassination attempt. Apparently there is bad blood with the Peterwald family that just won't go away. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

Kris Longknife: Mutineer

Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife is a freshly minted officer in the Navy. But her family is wealthy beyond compare (great grandpa an industrial titan), politically connected (dad is the PM of a planet), and militarily connected (two grandpa generals). The family is universally known as "those damn longknifes". Kris is put through the ringer in this first book in the series as she leads a naval drop team on a hostage rescue mission (where she is almost killed), gets assigned to a humanitarian mission on a flooded planet (where she is almost killed), and then is tasked as offensive weapons officer on her naval warship (where she is almost killed). See the pattern. I will be curious to see where this series goes. It is typically slotted in the space opera / military sci-fi genre, but it seems more like galactic political theater. Stay tuned...

3 stars (out of 4) 

The Truth of Valor

Tanya Huff

Book 5 in the Valor sequence

The war is "over" and ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is throwing in her lot with Salvage Operator Craig Ryder. It is definitely a learning curve joining civilian life, but when salvage operators are getting killed by pirates, Kerr knows exactly what to do. This is a good standalone book in the world Huff has created, pulling just enough on the familiar characters to allow us to jump into the action, but applying the characters to a new scenario. In the end, [spoiler alert] pirates defeated and a small opening left for more books in the series. 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Heart of Valor

Tanya Huff

Book 3 in the Valor sequence

Torin Kerr is now one of the most famous marines around. Having singlehandedly brought the Silsviss into the Confederation, and escaped an organic plastic alien being, everybody has heard about her. She has also been promoted to Gunnery Sergeant, and is immediately tasked with a personal security posting. An old friend asked for her to accompany him as he joins a class of cadets through their final training tests. He is going solely as an observer to test out some new organic plastic prosthetics that have been used in an arm he just regrew. (See the foreshadowing - organic plastic prosthetic). Again, all new characters, and again, everything goes wrong. It is up to Kerr to impose her Gunnery Sergeant will upon the universe to keep her people alive. 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Better Part of Valor

Tanya Huff

Book 2 in the Valor sequence

Torin Kerr is tasked by the general that she nearly killed at the end of the last book, to lead a recon mission to investigate an unknown alien spaceship. This ship was accidentally found by a salvage operator and, upon viewing, becomes affectionately known as The Big Yellow. Once on board, there are no life signs, but the ship itself seems to be throwing up road blocks. In fact, Kerr's recon team is fighting a deck by deck battle to get to an escape hatch just to get off the ship. 

This book feels entirely episodic - unrelated to the prior other than the world that was created. Otherwise, only Kerr is a consistent character and we are introduced to an entire new cast otherwise. Quite fun. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Valor's Choice

Tanya Huff

Another series in the Space Opera/Military Sci-Fi genre that I discovered from the Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers anthology. Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is the protagonist for this 5 book series. The world that Huff has created is a Galactic Confederation consisting of many species, most of whom refuse to fight. So the Confederation has allowed Humans, Krai and di'Taykan species into the Confederation since they are historically violent, with a condition that they fight any wars. So Kerr is in this Confederate Marine Corps, fighting against "the Others". For the first book, Kerr is assigned with her unit to be a ceremonial protective detail supporting the negotiations with a new species (a fourth battle species - the Silsviss) to enter the Confederation. Turns out, not all is as it seems and Kerr gets to show how good she is at her job. 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Victorious

Jack Campbell

In this series ending volume, Geary has returned The Lost Fleet home, navigates the political landscape of popularity and power that comes with it, and convinces the politicians to send him back out immediately to "end the war". Along the way, he (of course) does that and then engages the alien threat in a way that settles the issue while allowing for a whole new series (good job Campbell). I appreciate that this is not just an epilogue for the series, but really a full fledged story in and of itself, while still bringing closure to a set of characters and a world that have developed quite nicely. If you are into military Sci-Fi and Space Opera, highly recommend the series.

4 stars (out of 4)

Genesis Fleet: Triumphant

Jack Campbell

Volume 3 of The Genesis Fleet - Geary extends his legend as a space jockey who can win naval battles, and uses his legend to convince others (or more likely make others believe that they have had the good ideas) to pursue pirates and rogue states in order to make a safe area for living and for commerce. It is the beginning of the Alliance and a nice touch is an epilogue jump to the Jack Geary of The Lost Fleet reflecting on the connections between the Genesis Fleet characters and his own contemporaries. In all, an excellent prequel sequence that stands on its own.

4 stars (out of 4)

Genesis Fleet: Ascendant

Jack Campbell

Volume 2 of The Genesis Fleet - Geary is pulled back into space battle and makes a few decisions that save a neighboring star system (Kosatka) from the aggressors. This is also the introduction to the "ground battle" on Kosatka and the feeling here is very much like the world building that happens in the Red Mars trilogy. Lots of politics and thinking about what it means to set up a brand new society. Of course, this telling is centered on the military conflict, with the culture building just an strong undercurrent. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Genesis Fleet: Vanguard

Jack Campbell

While waiting for the last volume of The Lost Fleet to show up at at my library, I started the Genesis trilogy. Here we are treated to a story of the beginning of the Alliance as settlers move away from Earth and out the arms of the galaxy. Campbell does a great job sprinkling little easter eggs of people names (the ancestors) and places from Lost Fleet and providing a context for Geary's mindset in that series. Vanguard follows Rob Geary as he settles on the new planet Glenlyon, and gets drawn into protection of the fledgling planet colony from nearby pirate systems. Same stuff I love about The Lost Fleet I love about this. Quality storytelling and a well developed world and characters.

4 stars (out of 4)

Record of a Spaceborn Few

Becky Chambers

Book 3 of the Wayfarers series

Set in the same world as the ...small angry planet, this story takes place right at the end of that timeline, but in a different part of space. We are set in the Exodan Fleet, which is the group of homestead ships that left Earth generations ago when the Earth was final abandoned as a destroyed ecosystem. There isn't a single protagonist, and the 6 stories that Chambers bounces us between really aren't intertwined. At about half-way through, I nearly gave up,  not finding "excitement" in the story. But stick with it my friend. It helps to realize that this is not a traditional space opera. Instead, it is an anthropological telling of what it means to be an Exodan, a people who has lived for generations without a home. As I wrote that, I probably now need to re-read this with an eye to how it might mirror the biblical exodus story???  What I did appreciate is the reflection on imperialism, colonialism and violence. There is a really good sequence discussing identity and value for both the colonizer and the colonized and the role that violence plays for both individuals and cultures. Once again, Chambers has shown us outstanding science fiction that asks us to think about who we are and why we are. 

4 stars (out of 4)

When we cease to understand the world

Benjamin Labatut

A historical fiction offering that provides a storytelling version of some historically significant discoveries and findings. Labatut gives us insight to the people, including all of their angst, like Schroedinger, Heisenberg, Haber and Grothendieck. I hadn't heard of the latter two, but their work is both beautiful (development of the color Prussian Blue) and tragic (gas chamber gas). It is not a "fun" read, but definitely recommend as insight to the process of development and unintended impact that every scientist/engineer should at least have on their mind.

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Relentless

Jack Campbell

Geary and the fleet are only a few jumps from home but the alien intervention gets more complicated. As do the internal mutinous politics in the fleet and the supply issues. It is not clear how this will all play out... well, it kind of is since there is another book after this. But I sure do enjoy the journey.

4 stars (out of 4)

Empire of Gold

S.A. Chakraborty

Book 3 of The Daevabad Trilogy

Finally this becomes a fantasy epic. For the first time, we are following 3 different storylines that are enticing. The pacing is perfect. When we are switched to a new storyline, we are ready and each switch pushes all three stories forward. We get enough origin history to finally understand character motivation and everything resolves. The basic plot summary follows Ali and Nahri as they find a way to return to Daevabad and rescue the city. There is a cost for every character as they choose redemption, either for themselves or for their people or their city. But there is also payoff in these choices. This final volume is so good that I fully recommend the entire series. 

4 stars (out of 4) 

Infomacracy

Malka Older

Book One of the Centenal Cycle

Set in a near future world where global politics has dramatically changed. Political organization is based on 100,000 person Centenals who vote each decade for a government. No longer are governments based on geography, so a city like Tokyo with millions of people will be represented by 20 different sovereign governments. There are over 3,000 registered governments globally, and the government that wins the most Centenals is considered the "super-majority" government that comes with some additional legislating power. To make all of this work, Information is a global organization that makes all data available to all people. It is a non-partisan, transparent NGO (probably akin to the GAO in the US). The plot of the book takes place during the 3rd election, and follows our protagonists Ken (a campaign worker for Policy1st) and Marissa (an 'operative' for Information). Suffice it to say the election does not go as smoothly as everyone hopes, and there are still rogue individuals and governments who have a hunger for power. This is the kind of book that an only be recommended based on the strength of the series, but a good start.

3 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Valiant

Jack Campbell

Geary dives back to the scene of a loss and mops up. The fleet is limping along, needing supply and for the first time, detractors are starting to actively resist his leadership. And the alien theory is gaining steam.  The battle science in this installment is particularly good, albeit a bit drawn out. And the discussion of how effective the AI is based on Geary not matching the patterns of the last 100 years is fascinating. Can't wait to get full alien involvement... 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Courageous

 Jack Campbell

In this installment, Geary leads the fleet back toward Alliance space, trying to get to a system with a hypernet gate they might be able to use. They are still one step ahead of the Syndicate and sowing seeds of discontent with the civilians (simply by not wholesale murdering them). They run into a massive roadblock while trying to take a hypernet gate, and are starting to suspect alien influence. After a big loss, do they retreat, or continue to attack? 

4 stars (out of 4)

The Lost Fleet: Fearless

Jack Campbell

John Geary continues to lead his fleet trying to get back to Alliance territory. He is teaching the military how to be disciplined again, teaching new tactics and dealing with internal strife as rival captains question his every move. In the end, his legend keeps growing as he keeps winning battles (here he helps destroy a Syndicate shipbuilding system) in this military science fiction. I particularly like the battle story telling as we are treating battles of massive distances accurately. The biggest skill that Geary has is that he can direct a battle with "time-late" information. That is, what he is seeing is "old information" since distances are so big. His fleet is spread across portions of a light hour, so he can't give real-time instructions. That strategic barrier alone, treated well, makes this series worth reading. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers

edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

A collection of short stories in military science fiction and space opera. Normally I don't like short stories so much, but these are all solicited by authors with established series. And the stories are prequels, back stories or interstitials that illuminate the worlds they have created. The fact that a short story is backed by a world allowed me to dive in and enjoy. And leads me to hunt out some of these series. Of particular interest are 

• The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell
• Crimes against Humanity by Susan R Mathews
• The Lensmen by EE Doc Smith
• The Confederation Series by Tanya Huff
• Kangaroo series by Curtis C Chen
• The Liaden universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
• The Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepherd

4 stars (out of 4)

Kingdom of Copper

S.A. Chakraborty

Book 2 of The Daevabad Trilogy

A fantasy story set in the east, with eastern mythology. I was not quite as much in love with this 2nd book. It took some work to get through. The political background was more confusing than needed and I really only found myself interested in one plot thread. Like any good fantasy epic, there were 3-5 concurrent threads interwoven. In the end (about 2/3 through) it picked up steam again, focused on the Ali-Nahri storyline that was most interesting and set the stage for a potentially interesting final volume. The plot here continues to follow Nahri as one of the last remaining Daeva healers as she is politically wed to the emir, in love with the emir's brother (but also hates him for having killed her bodyguard). Add to this the fact that the bodyguard (Dara) is not dead but returned to life as an ifrit warrior controlled by Nahri's thought dead mom who really only has deadly revenge on her mind. Oh, and the racial-political tensions in the city are at an all time high. 

3 stars (out of 4) 

The Lost Fleet: Dauntless

Jack Campbell

John Geary is a captain in the Alliance Navy. He is rescued from his life pod, only to find that he has been floating in the pod is suspension for 100 years. During that time, the battle that he was just fighting in turns out to have been the initial battle of a 100 year war, and that he has become a legend (Black Jack Geary) for his heroism. Cut to the present and Geary is thrust into the role of fleet commander for the alliance fleet that is deep behind enemy lines and trying to get home. But the tactics of the "modern navy" make no sense to him. And he must reform the fleet while fighting and running. Really fun opening book in this Lost Fleet series.

4 stars (out of 4)

Waypoint Kangaroo

Curtis C Chen

Kangaroo is the codename of our protagonist. He has the natural ability to open a window into a parallel universe, and uses this to store things. This is particularly useful as a field operator for whatever he needs or for whatever he need to bring back. Chen has created a fascinating world and this is lighthearted space opera storytelling at its best. Kangaroo is sent on vacation to Mars while the home office is being audited. On this cruise, he encounters a conspiracy and a hijacking and a girl and ... well, just a little bit of everything. Clever story and fun. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Noor

Nnedi Okorafor

With Lagoon set in Lagos, Noor is set in the north (Abuja and into the desert). Far future Nigeria means that there is less direct "culture" here than near-future Lagoon and more likely remnants of culture to inform the story. A cybernetic woman (named OA) and a traditional herdsman (named DNA) are coincidentally thrown together in a series of traumatic events. They are on the run from the government, and more dangerously, from the Ultimate Corporation (imagine Amazon or Apple 30 years in the future). Each is learning how naive they were, and how much power they actually have to change the future of the country they love. The plot is thin and a bit too convenient, but it is a quick read and a not-so-unbelievable portrayal of "Ultimate Corporation". 

3 stars (out of 4)

A Closed and Common Orbit

Becky Chambers

Book 2 of the Wayfarers series

Set in the same world as the ...small angry planet we get the backstory on Pepper (the tech), and the next chapter for Pepper and Lovelace (the sentient AI). This is a 2 character story, with 2 supporting characters. And it is outstanding. Lovelace is an infant in many ways, learning to grow into a new body. Too smart and not smart enough, booksmart not streetsmart, etc. And damaged goods psychologically. So it makes all the sense in the world as we learn of Pepper's origin and how she also was raised by a ship AI, that these two are learning how to be people together. Chambers is a master craftswoman. 

4 stars (out of 4)

Lagoon

Nnedi Okorafor

I found this book on a list of fascinating near future sci-fi. Actually, on the list was Noor by Okorafor, but that wasn't available at my library. Glad I got this one. Set in modern day Lagos, Nigeria - alien first contact is made and the novel tells the story of the first week or so after first contact. The aliens are not violent, looking to colonize. But they are looking to move in and become part of the earth's biota. It is super fun to get a window into Lagos culture, as the story is really just a revelation of its priorities, lifestyle and social groups of the city. The situations that develop throughout the storytelling are dramatically different than stories you can imagine would be told if first contact with this particular species occurred in the west, or Asia, etc. The specific and particular culture of Lagos is what makes this novel fascinating. At the same time, even though the culture is so different than my own experience, this very fact lets me see what kinds of reactions are part of the human experience. 

4 stars (out of 4)

To Be Taught, if Fortunate

Becky Chambers

I was reminded of Chambers the other day and her Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet when I came across her stuff at Powell's. This little novella is another character story that probes what life is when traveling in space. Yes, the science is pretty good, but that just means we don't have to be distracted by silly-ness when exploring the reality of exploration. The characters here are 4 explorers who have been sent on a mission to explore 3 planets and a moon around a "nearby" red dwarf. The way the science works, the mission is 16 years (4 years per planet) with 28 years travel to earth each way, and a definite "return to earth" mission spec. It is just a glimpse, but the emotional stress and self awareness that comes along with a journey like this starts to peak out, which I think is what Chambers wanted. She really is worth reading.

3 stars (out of 4)

City of Brass

S.A. Chakraborty

Book 1 of The Daevabad Trilogy

A fantasy story set in the east, with eastern mythology. I loved it. With a traditional fantasy novel, the author can pull out elves and dwarves and assume that I have a basic understanding of the people, maybe adding their particular twist. In this case, no characters are known to me since this is the world of the Daeva (Djinn) where there are Marids and Peris and Ifrits and ??? All new to me, at least. Like traditional fantasy, this story follows a young (not yet acknowledged) hero on a journey with her mysterious benefactor as they are pursued by certain death. When they arrive at safety (the shielded City of Brass) not all is as safe as one would hope as the political machinations lead to a whole new set of dangers. I love that this is straight up, standard fantasy and completely new all at the same time.

4 stars (out of 4)