Head On

John Scalzi

A follow up, of sorts, to Lock In, we are about 1 year later and FBI detectives Shane and Vann are still partners and still on the job. Recall that Shane is a Haden, a human who has contracted a disease that completely immobilizes their body, but not their brain. These Hadens have neural network hardware implanted in their brain that allows them to remote operate humanoid robots (Threeps) and participate in the physical world. The political/social culture in this novel opens with a new major sports league based on Hadens (i.e. their threeps) competing on a football-like field where the goal is to decapitate an opposing player and score with the head. At the same time, massive government subsidies to help Hadens with affording all this expensive access to the world is ending. And then a journeyman Haden athlete dies on the field (which shouldn't be able to happen) followed by a suicide, an arson, a murder-suicide, and assassination, etc. Special Agents Shane and Vann are on the job. I love the technology, the ethical gray areas, and the buddy cop dynamic that thread through the entire story. Keep them coming.

4 stars (out of 4)

Victory Conditions

Elizabeth Moon
Book 5 of Vatta's War series

In this final chapter, everything gets wrapped. Ky gets her fleet and the battle and war are taken to Nexus, the planet where all interstellar communication is controlled. Rafe is there on planet, Ky is coming in hot after the pirates, Stella is managing the 'behind-the-lines' subterfuge, and Aunt Grace is already next level. Overall, this is a quality ending to a great storyline and storytelling. In hindsight, I liked the hints (but not in-your-face integration) of AI and augmented humans (humods), the subtle quality science (some rules are broken, but not all of them and the ones that aren't are plot essential), and the (unfortunately) non-standard role for women who don't necessarily want to grow up to be parents. Well done Elizabeth Moon.

4 stars (out of 4)

A Darkness More than Night

Michael Connelly

Book 7 in the Harry Bosch Series

This felt like a departure, of sorts, from the Bosch formula. The first part of the book didn't really even include Bosch, except in an ancillary way. Instead, we are introduced to former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb, who now lives the retired life on Catalina Island. We are treated to his backstory, and how he now gets involved with a potential serial killer case as a consultant, brought to him courtesy of the LA County sheriff. Turns out the murder is connected to Bosch since the crime scene has lots of explicit "clues" left behind that point directly to the painter Heironymous Bosch, thereby implicating Harry. And Harry is in court testifying against a Hollywood producer bigwig who is also a serial murderer... hmmm, any connection?

I didn't really feel the connection with McCaleb or his detective-ing style, so didn't really like the story as much as the others that focus on Bosch and his neurosis. Just enough to get me to finish I guess.

2 stars (out of 4)

Command Decision

Elizabeth Moon
Book 4 of Vatta's War series

The war gets real. Ky sets up Space Defense Force and sets out really get serious about her job. Cousin Stella has remained on Cascadia at the new Vatta Ltd. headquarters to run the transport business and Ky has with her some other privateers and a few ships from Bissonet set on revenge. Of course, nothing goes quite right, and yet it all works out in the end. Moon continues to mix the storylines between space battles, planetary political intrigue, and silly eccentricities that come about with the mixing of alien cultures. And the pure brilliance of dealing well with time and space continues to impress. Looking forward to wrapping it all up.

4 stars (out of 4)

Engaging the Enemy

Elizabeth Moon
Book 3 of Vatta's War series

Now with a couple of ships, Ky Vatta begins to develop plans to rid the galaxy of the pirate horde that plagues her family and her business. But she is still a trader, so these plans evolve while traveling to different planets to make some money. At one point, she is at Cascadia when another Vatta transport ship arrives, and challenges her identity. There is bad history between Captain Fuhrman and Ky, and this time it leads to a local trial. I love that the distinguishing cultural characteristic of the Cascadians is politeness. So distinguishing that rudeness is a death penalty offense. Who would have thought... After all the conflict, Ky leaves Cascadia with 3 ships under her control, and a plan for reviving the company and stopping the pirates. Oh, and the Bissonet system has just been taken over by the pirates.

4 stars (out of 4)

Marque and Reprisal

Elizabeth Moon
Book 2 of Vatta's War series

Ky Vatta survived an attack in her about-to-be-junked cargo hauler and begins to discover her talents as a spacer. With much of the intersteller communication network sabotaged, she is making decisions as best she can. Her cousin Stella has arrived in Sabine with a package containing her fathers command level implant (all the company data as CEO) and the two cousins are basically it for Vatta Ltd. Stella also brings a letter of marque from the Slotter Key government authorizing Ky to be a privateer (sort of a legal pirate) to protect shipping lanes. Ky is basically in the middle of an internal struggle: is she a cargo hauler or a fighter. But while hauling cargo, they encounter family reject and pirate Osman Vatta, and the choice is made for her. And in the end, Ky now has a cargo hauler and an armed escort ship. It looks like the pattern for the books in the series is one major conflict per book that wraps up a major part of the story, and clearly moves the plot forward, but doesn't finish. And it doesn't feel like stalling (as middle books often do in series). The story here is big enough for the entire series.

4 stars (out of 4)

Trading in Danger

Elizabeth Moon
Book 1 of Vatta's War series

Ky Vatta is a cadet in Spaceforce Academy, the system defense force for the Slotter Key system. And a member of the Vatta family, one of the largest and most respected interstellar shipping companies in the galaxy. Then she is kicked out of the Academy, and her father (Vatta Ltd. CEO) sends her as captain on a voyage with an old cargo hull on its way to the scrap yard, mostly to keep her out of the public eye for a year or so. Along the way, her life is turned on its head as the company, her family and her first voyage are all attacked. Now she is one of the only people in the family who can begin to sort things out.

This is in many ways a typical space opera. But there are a few things that make this quality sci-fi. Moon doesn't live only in space. There are great storylines on planet, with airplanes, and cars and trains and buildings that seem remarkably "normal". This fits a world where FTL travel happens, but not after hover cars, etc. Moon has created a world that doesn't ignore the realities of the vastness of space even with FTL travel. FTL jump points are out of the solar systems where they must be to avoid collisions with mass. So after jumps, insystem travel often takes weeks. And insystem communication still has lag (sometimes hours) based on the size of the systems. Which means that breaking FTL travel doesn't mean you have to break everything. And Moon has created a world where the protagonist is a woman, and there are strong women characters, but the world is not about strong women, it is about characters. Many are introduced and well into the story line before their gender is revealed. Quincy from engineering and Lee the pilot... male? female? we don't really know for quite some time because it really isn't relevant to the story.

I hope the whole series holds up
4 stars (out of 4)