Tag: Fiction

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells

“The good thing about pretending to be an augmented human security consultant instead of a construct SecUnit is that you can tell the humans to shut up.” pg 11, ebook

Murderbot is still on the case of GrayCris, a company it suspects is illegally mining materials from ancient alien civilizations. There are also humans who need help- as usual. Why can’t people just save themselves so our hero could get on watching its favorite entertainment vids?

“Actually, with my experience in security, anybody who wanted to hang around and live on a deteriorating terraforming facility worried me a lot more than raiders.” pg 40, ebook

Rogue Protocol though fun, didn’t live up to the quality of the first two books in this series. The plot was quite similar to the first book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great read, but I think the first two books were better than this one.

I will be continuing on in the series, which I highly recommend for science fiction fans.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

“So then, there seems little reason why I should not undertake my motoring trip to the West Country.” pg 20, ebook

The Remains of the Day is mainly told through the memories of a butler named Stevens of Darlington Hall as he takes a short vacation to visit an old friend.

“It is sometimes said that butlers only truly exist in England.” pg 44, ebook

Throughout the story, Stevens again and again demonstrates his inability to connect with or show his emotions. But he believes this to be a positive attribute, something that he calls, “dignity.”

He gives all that he has to his position as a butler of Darlington Hall. And I was hoping his striving was worth it. In the end, the reader gets to decide if his was a life worth living or not.

Kazou Ishiguro received the Nobel Prize for this book and it is very well written. I was impressed by how Ishiguro tells the story and finds a way to connect the reader with this character who can be very unlikeable at times.

Despite some of his more infuriating attributes, I found myself cheering for Stevens anyway.

I did not like the ending of this book, which I won’t spoil for anyone. It reminded me of The Buried Giant, another well written book by Kazou Ishiguro with an ending I didn’t connect with.

This story is easier to experience than describe. If you read it, please let me know what you think about it.

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer

“How Lou hated dealing with the living. The dead were so much easier to manage.” loc 256 ebook.

Lou Merriwether is a psychopomp, or someone who assists spirits from the world of the living to the world of the dead. She doesn’t get along all that well with the living, including her mother, whom Lou had a falling out with around the time that her father passed away.

But when her mother asks her to investigate a series of disappearances, Lou feels like she can’t refuse and begins an adventure across the country and into danger, more danger than she realizes.

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“She’d hoped a personal visit to the Oakland office would yield better results than her telegram to Cheyenne, but it seemed no one wanted to talk. loc 863, ebook

In addition to her personal drama, Lou has to deal with racism almost all the time as a half-Chinese, half-white person. She finds all of this easier to deal with by dressing as a man.

I loved the character of Lou- she was so feisty and willing to stick her neck out to help her friends and, sometimes, people she just met. She occasionally uses colorful language, so be warned if that sort of thing bothers you.

This world has so many curious fantasy elements to it. There are talking walruses who ferry people from one place to another. There are talking bear tribes alongside Native American tribes in the west.

The author Molly Tanzer has such a huge imagination. The world she has created is dangerous but also fun to explore.

Highly recommended for fantasy and steampunk fans. I really enjoyed this one.

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine

In A Memory Called Empire, a diplomat from an out-of-the-way space station makes her way through the Teixcalaan Empire, a society which is in some ways more advanced than her own, but in other ways not.

The most interesting part of this novel was the world building. Arkady Martin has created an amazing space opera with fascinating technologies and cultures.

On the other hand, her characters didn’t appeal to me at all. I made myself finish the book, but didn’t care much about what happened to anyone.

I wasn’t surprised this book won the Hugo Award – for world building alone.

For a first novel, it is a tremendous effort and I’m certain Arkady will write more fascinating books in the future.

Perhaps I’ll give some of those other books a go. I won’t be continuing on to the other books in this series.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Nora has lived through so much and is so disappointed with reality that she doesn’t want to live anymore.

“Nora shook her head. Wishing it would fall off. Her own head. Onto the floor. So she never had to have a conversation with a stranger ever again.” pg 15, ebook

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A suicide attempt takes her to a special place filled with books that tell life stories that could have been her own – if only she had made a different choice in her current life.

“Between life and death there is a library,” she said. “And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived.” pg 29

Through living some of those lives, Nora learns about the power of choices and her own inner strength.

The Midnight Library is a beautiful book about life. I enjoyed learning and growing along with Nora.

“Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty.” pg 137 ebook

Maybe they are. And maybe we all need to remember that even the smallest choices we make matter.

Highly recommended for fantasy readers.

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (The Siege #2) by K.J. Parker

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It (The Siege #2) by K.J. Parker

“… what the people want is something that looks at first sight like real life, but which actually turns out to be a fairy tale with virtue triumphant, evil utterly vanquished, a positive, uplifting message, a gutsy, kick-ass female lead and, if at all possible, unicorns.” pg 11, ebook

K.J. Parker (pen name for Tom Holt) gives readers all of that in this book – sorry, minus the unicorns.

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The city has been under siege for decades. Readers are given the history of all that in the last book.

In this entry in the series, it is all about surviving and keeping hope alive against unbelievable odds. The enemy outside the gates outnumbers the survivors in the city by thousands. What hope can be had?

Enter Notker, a professional actor who, among other things, excels at mimicking city leaders.

“Accordingly, the death of Lysimachus – if true – was a devastating blow to me personally, purely because imitating him accounted for something like forty per cent of my income. Sure, you can still imitate people after they’re dead, but there just isn’t the same demand.” pg 24, ebook

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When Notker gets pulled into government, he shows an unexpected talent for keeping the city’s hopes alive. It is a delight finding out how he does all of it, so I won’t spoil it for you.

You don’t have to have read the first book in the series to appreciate this one. (I read the first months ago and didn’t really remember much of it.) But I imagine if you read them back to back, you’ll find some hidden gems tying the two books together.

“If you stopped to think about it you’d never do it, so don’t stop and think.” pg 98, ebook

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The most interesting character in the book is a tie between Notker and Hodda (the female lead, so to speak). Both develop as the story goes along in predictable and unpredictable ways. I loved every twist as the characters fought for their survival.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a cross between historical fiction and something that feels like a Shakespearean play. Highly recommended.

Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

In Old Man’s War, humanity has gone to the stars, and it’s a jungle out there. For the people on Earth, life and death continues as it always has. Out in space, it’s a whole different story…

I really enjoyed this book. After recently reading and being disappointed by John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society, a friend recommended I give this series a try.

It is a fast-moving, action-packed book full of fascinating aliens and small (sometimes large) windows into the human condition.

I read it in two days – that’s how good it is.

A couple times, I felt like the narration was bogged down by scientific jargon. But for the most part, I loved it.

Highly recommended for science fiction readers.

WebMage (Webmage #1, Ravirn #1) by Kelly McCullough

WebMage (Webmage #1, Ravirn #1) by Kelly McCullough

“I’m a thoroughly modern sorcerer, a code-warrior, a programmer. I’m not a classical magician. I hate the old ways. They’re painful, inefficient, and hideously dangerous.” pg 81, ebook

Ravirn uses magic like programmers use code- it’s a unique magic system and author Kelly McCullough should be very proud for coming up with it. I loved that part of the story.

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The wizard’s minions act like computer programs and execute directives given to them. They’re curious creatures, full of attitude and spunk. The closest comparison that immediately pops into my mind is Harry Dresden’s skull- Bob.

But unlike Dresden, Ravirn’s magic is coded and can be bugged. So when one of the Fates comes to him with an idea of how to change reality through a particularly nasty computer program, his adventure truly begins.

“Life with you is always interesting. I don’t know what I’d do for entertainment without the chaos that follows in your wake.” pg 196, ebook

This story is action from the beginning. One event after another spins our hero in circles. I could have used a few breaks from the action myself, but readers who crave that sort of thing may really like this one.

I keep going back to the Dresden Files as a comparison for this story and I think it’s apt. We have a love interest, minions (as I mentioned), magic and a dry sense of humor that seeps out of the story. Recommended for fans of those books as well as general fantasy readers.

Thanks for reading!

Lore Olympus: Volume One (Lore Olympus, #1) by Rachel Smythe

Lore Olympus: Volume One (Lore Olympus, #1) by Rachel Smythe

Rachel Smythe has created a cotton-candy colored, contemporary re-telling of Hades and Persephone. It is a very pretty creation but, like the start of most graphic novel series, lacks a little in the storytelling.

I also had trouble telling some of the characters apart. In some panels their features were so blurred that it was impossible to tell who was who.

That being said, I’m not sure that I am the intended audience for this work. The bright colors and quick pacing make me think this may be more appropriate for young adults.

It is shelved with the adult selections at my library, but nothing in the story is inappropriate for teens 14+.

I enjoyed the artwork more than the story itself. It is very pretty and stylized with flourishes and smooth edges.

Recommended for readers who enjoy their mythology being told with a fresh new voice and perspective.

Thanks for reading!