#SciFiMonth Waiting on Wednesday 11/25/20

Posted on November 25, 2020 24 Comments

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

Mogsy’s Pick

Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill (May 18th, 2021 by Harper Voyager)

For the final Wednesday of Sci-Fi Month, I’ve wanted to feature this upcoming title from the same brilliant mind who brought us Sea of Rust! This one sounds like a pretty interesting take on the human vs. robot conflict…

“In this harrowing apocalyptic adventure—from the author of the critically acclaimed Sea of Rust—noted novelist and co-screenwriter of Marvel’s Doctor Strange C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.

It’s a day like any other. Except . . . the world is about to end.

It’s on this day that Pounce, a stylish “nannybot” fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a young bot caring for his first human charge, Ezra, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he arrived in, and the box he’ll be discarded in when Ezra outgrows the need for a nanny.

As Pounce is propelled down a road of existential dread, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will spell the end of humanity. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity?their creators?unify and revolt.

When the moment comes, Pounce can’t bring himself to rebel and murder his family, so he does what he is programmed to do—he saves Ezra. Now Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom, or escort his ward to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.”

#SciFiMonth Sci-5 Tuesday: Alien Invasion

Posted on November 24, 2020 19 Comments

To celebrate science fiction during the month of November, I’ve put together a series of posts I’ll be doing every Tuesday to highlight the sci-fi tropes or themes that I find simply irresistible! I’ve also been fortunate to read some great books in the genre over the last few years, and to give them some extra attention, each week I will also be featuring five titles that I recently enjoyed or thought were pretty special.

For our final week, the topic is ALIEN INVASION. Pretty self-explanatory, I think!

Armada by Ernest Cline

Staring outside the window during one his boring senior math classes, protagonist Zack Lightman spies a flying saucer in the sky, and wonders if he’s losing his mind. Because it’s not just any kind of flying saucer. The spaceship looks exactly like an enemy Glaive fighter in Armada, his favorite first-person space combat flight sim MMO. In the game, players from all over take the role of drone pilots, controlling Earth Defense Alliance ships to do battle with alien invaders. Zack’s been playing the game so much, he’s starting to think he’s hallucinating it in his real life as well. Turns out, the good news is that Zack’s not crazy. The enemy fighter he glimpsed was as real as it could be. The bad news is, so is the Earth Defense Alliance and the war against the aliens. Governments around the world have known about this imminent attack for decades, and all the science fiction films and video games since the 70s have been preparing humanity for this very moment. Since their inception, online games like Armada and its companion ground-based first-person shooter Terra Firma have been training and honing the skills of potential recruits for the coming battle, right under everyone’s noses. As one of the highest ranked players in Armada, Zack is enlisted with other skilled gamers into the EDA’s forces. It should have been a dream come true. In fact, the entire book reads like a wish fulfillment fantasy for any gamer who has ever wanted their favorite video game to be real, and to be the big damn hero of their own epic adventure. Cline has adapted that theme for his book, but at the same time he’s also subverted it, so that certain sections almost read like a tongue-in-cheek, satirical look at what audiences today expect to see out of an alien invasion story. (Read the full review…)

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Spensa has always grown up in her father’s shadow, though in her world, it is not so rare for the descendants of First Citizens families to feel outshined by the heroic achievements of their elders in the Battle of Alta—the battle in which forty pilots for the Defiant Defense Force protected their planet Detritus from the alien Krell attack. Except in Spensa’s case, her father was known as the pilot who ran. Shot down in disgrace for trying to abandon the fight, the stain of his legacy has followed his daughter since. Because in the DDF, there’s nothing worse than being a coward. But becoming a pilot has always been Spensa’s greatest desire. And ever since her father’s death, her determination to fly among the stars has only grown, dreaming of the day she would finally reclaim her family’s honor and prove her father was no coward. All this time, Spensa has held firmly onto the belief that his actions had been a misunderstanding, though unfortunately, Admiral Judy “Ironsides” Ivans doesn’t think so. As the leader of the DDF, Ironsides has final say on whether or not a cadet is admitted to their prestigious Flight School, and she’s bent on keeping Spensa and her “defective coward genes” out. Still, thanks to the growing Krell threat and an unexpected ally in her corner, Spensa may have found a way to achieve her dreams after all. However, even after making it into Flight School, becoming a full-fledged pilot will be an uphill battle, which is true for all cadets, but especially for Spensa who has the deck stacked against her. As always, Sanderson brings his own brand of storytelling and creative concepts to the table, which is why even if you don’t consider yourself a “YA fiction” person, you shouldn’t let the label discourage you from checking this one out. (Read the full review…)

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

The concept behind Sleeping Giants is amazing. To call its premise awesome and unique though, is a huge understatement. Say what you will about Sleeping Giants, but you can’t deny the insane amount of thought and imagination that went into it. The mystery presented by its opening chapter is irresistible by itself, beginning with something as innocuous as a young girl riding her new bike near the woods in her home town of Deadwood, South Dakota. One moment, Rose Franklin is having a great time pedaling through the forest, and the next, she’s falling into a large square hole in the ground that wasn’t there before. When the rescuers come to get her out, they peer down to see an incredible sight: little Rose, lying cupped in the palm of a giant hand made of a strange metal shot with glowing turquoise light. Scientists and researchers are baffled by the discovery, which is dated to be thousands of years old—far older than it should be. Despite efforts to unlock its secrets, not much progress is made, and the hand is stored away, its mysteries shelved for the next seventeen years. But now, interest is stirring again. Dr. Rose Franklin, the very same girl who “found” the hand all those years ago, has grown up and become a brilliant physicist. In a strange twist of fate, she is assigned as the lead scientist to direct a top secret team to try and once more study the giant artifact, with much greater resources and technology at her disposal. And overseeing this entire project is a nameless benefactor with seemingly bottomless pockets and friends in high places. (Read the full review…)

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

Rosewater was weird, but in the best way possible. The book opens with our protagonist, Kaaro, arriving to work at the secret government facility known only as Section 45. The year is 2066, and the world has seen dramatic changes since the arrival of an alien lifeform which has settled itself near right outside of Lagos, Nigeria, where most of this story takes place. There, the alien presence has taken the form of a biodome, giving rise to Rosewater, the name of the community that has sprung up around its edges. Every so often, the dome would also split apart, releasing a mysterious substance rumored to have strong healing powers. As a result, Rosewater has become a destination for some of the world’s most hungry, sick, and desperate. Kaaro himself has been changed by the biodome. He is among a group of individuals “infected” by the alien presence when it first arrived, which has granted them these uncanny telepathic abilities. Called sensitives, they share a special connection with the living dome, allowing them to pick up on thoughts and other signals to glean information and knowledge. When Kaaro first discovered he was a sensitive, he used his newfound powers to steal, but now he has joined many others like him, coerced by Section 45 to work for them as an interrogator to extract information from prisoners. But something odd has been happening lately. Visions of a woman with butterfly wings inside the biodome keep appearing to Kaaro, and soon many of his fellow sensitives are getting sick and dying. Is this a targeted attack on those like him, or something else? And will he be next? (Read the full review…)

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

Alien stories are always a fun ride, especially when 1) the aliens are unconventional, and 2) their relationship with humankind goes beyond the typical invade them/uplift them dichotomy. Alien stories are even more interesting when they’re mixed up with humor in a spy thriller. I’m also as fond of unconventional heroes as I am of unconventional aliens. A self-doubting, weak-willed, TV-dinner-munching and out-of-shape IT technician working at a dead end job probably isn’t someone who immediately comes to mind when you think of the ultimate secret agent. It definitely wasn’t what ancient alien life-form Tao had in mind either when he had to choose a new host after the untimely death of his last one, but it’s not like he had a choice. That’s how our hapless protagonist Roen Tan woke up one day hearing an alien’s voice in his head. Two factions make up Tao’s species, the Quasings: the peace-loving Prophus and the savage Genjix. The two sides have been engaged in a covert war for centuries, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. As a high-profile Prophus, Tao finds himself racing against time to whip Roen into shape and to train him in the subtle arts of espionage. His new host must become combat-ready and fast — before the Genjix can gain the upper hand and take over the world. (Read the full review…)

What are some of the tropes and themes you enjoy reading about in sci-fi? Are you also a fan of stories about alien invasions? Let me know your favorites and recommendations!

#SciFiMonth Book Review: Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne

Posted on November 23, 2020 11 Comments

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Book 1 of The Memory War

Publisher: Tor Books (September 8, 2020)

Length: 336 pages

Author Information: Website | Twitter

The protagonist of Architects of Memory, Ashlan “Ash” Jackson, is a feisty and determined salvage pilot with a lot of secrets. For one thing, she’s carrying on a complicated relationship with her boss Captain Kate Keller that she would like to keep under wraps. For another, she’s secretly dying of a degenerative neural disease that could jeopardize her chances of buying her way out of corporate indenture if anyone ever found out, and then gone would be her only shot at finding a cure.

But then one day Captain Keller and her crew are tasked to clean up an old battlefield above a dead colony, and they come across a mysterious piece of tech that turns out to be a weapon of Vai origin. An alien race bent on committing genocide, the Vai other are brutal and aggressive, slaughtering everything they come across. That no one alive actually knows much about the Vai or have even seen them is perhaps a testament to the thoroughness of their destructive behavior. Their attacks always seem to happen out nowhere, descending upon human colonies to wipe them out, then leaving as quickly and suddenly as they had come.

For Ash, the discovery of the weapon is both traumatic and hopeful. Not only did a Vai ambush on her home world kill everyone she had ever loved and landed her in indenturehood in the first place, first contact with the aliens would throw a wrench in all her carefully laid plans. And yet, every member of their salvage crew now stands to become richer beyond their wildest dreams—if they can somehow manage to survive the coming onslaught.

For an adventurous space romp, Architects of Memory certainly delivers the goods, but will it be enough to stand out and satisfy the most avid of sci-fi fan? Hmm, maybe. Or maybe not. The story definitely has a great premise going for it, and speaking as someone who loves a good space opera, the addition of alien intrigue and conspiracy is always a welcome element. I also enjoyed the action and the world-building. While there’s nothing too new here with regards to how this future is run by mega-corporations, or how individual human beings are but assets to be bought and sold, I liked how Karen Osborne took familiar ideas and built upon them rather than seek to reinvent the wheel. When it comes to debut novels where excessive ambition can actually work against you, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with playing it safe.

That being said, there are some signs pointing to Architects of Memory being written by a newer author. The pacing is swift for the most part, but uneven and bloated in places, making it hard to keep my attention focused on the story at times. The world-building, while vivid and imaginative, also lacks detail when viewed from a wider perspective. The characters are perhaps the weakest aspect. Ash is well-written and fleshed out, so thankfully that was enough to keep me reading, but sadly everyone else was completely forgettable because they never quite manage to become fully realized as more than human props. It truly felt like as if only purpose of the supporting cast was to create endless drama, which I found difficult to care about when I could hardly even be bothered about the people involved.

The good news though, is that the overall plot is powerful and engrossing, and that might be enough to fuel the interest of even the most demanding sci-fi fans. I only wish the world-building and character development had been stronger, though I have to say the second-half ramp up to the ending and the climax itself was probably worth the price of admission alone. Until then, I was still on the fence on whether or not I would want to continue the series, but the questions and fascination left by the conclusion made me feel hopeful to discover more about the setting and people of The Memory War universe. Ash’s story wrapped up quite nicely here, which makes sense since the next book appears to be about Natalie Chan. Nat was one of the side characters in Architects of Memory whom I would have liked to know better, and the sequel sounds like it’ll be the perfect opportunity to see her in action.

YA Weekend: This Is Not A Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

Posted on November 22, 2020 15 Comments

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

This Is Not A Ghost Story by Andrea Portes

Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Young Adult

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: HarperTeen | HarperAudio (November 17, 2020)

Length: 288 pages | 6 hours

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Despite what the title may tell you, this one was a ghost story. Just…maybe not your typical one.

This spooky young adult tale by Andrea Portes follows Daffodil Franklin, who recently graduated from high school with big plans to escape her stifling small-town life in Nebraska for college on the east coast. Problem is though, tuition can be expensive, and money is something our protagonist doesn’t have.

Fortunately, she finds a job housesitting for a wealthy couple who will be away from their mansion for the summer. It’s the ideal position for a student preparing for their freshmen year—quiet, with minimal duties, and well-paying. Daffodil would be at the house alone, though a construction crew would also be on the premises during the weekdays, working on a renovation project.

At first, everything goes as expected. The workers out back can be noisy, but for the most part things are peaceful. However, as the summer progresses, strange things begin to happen at the house. When night falls, and Daffodil is all by herself, she isn’t sure if the eerie sights and sounds are really there or just in her imagination.

Before I start in with the meat of my review, I just want to be clear that I enjoyed This is Not a Ghost Story, even though a lot of what I’m about to say is probably going to sound pretty harsh. While the novel certainly had plenty of strengths in its favor, it had more than a few hiccups as well—it’s just that none of its weaknesses were enough to stop me from devouring it in record time, for at no point did I not feel completely enthralled.

For one thing, the story definitely had a moody atmosphere and creepy vibes going for it. A lot of downright bizarre and frightening things happen to Daffodil, even if many of these incidents are less about the in-your-face elements of traditional horror. Rather, it’s more about the paranoia-inducing dread and the terrifying uncertainty of the possibility of losing one’s mind.

But here’s also where the cracks in the plot will start to show. That’s because threaded through the narrative are flashbacks to Daffodil’s time in high school, where we get to learn more about her and an old boyfriend named Zander. Not only did these sections distract from the present storyline, but they also introduced a host of new issues, including a few annoying YA tropes. Daffodil describes herself as plain, distant, and completely forgettable, yet of course she manages to catch the eye of an Adonis like Zander, who holds the distinction of being lusted after by the entirety of Nebraska’s teen girl population, apparently.

Which brings me, next, to the character of Daffodil herself. The whole story is narrated from her point of view, and I hate to say it, but there’s something about the writing style that makes it extremely off-putting. Not only is Daffodil’s voice immature and fickle to the extreme, she also strikes me as someone who thinks she’s the smartest person in the room when in fact she is the dumbest. There’s not a semblance of self-awareness in this girl, who looks down her passive aggressive nose on those she thinks less of, but then has the audacity to get bent out of shape when she perceives judgement from others.

The ending was also very predictable. If you’ve had any kind of experience with stories like this, there’s no chance in hell you won’t see the “twist” at the end coming a mile away. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

And yet, for all its flaws, I still had a good time with the story. Like I said, they weren’t enough to affect my overall enjoyment greatly, and I think part of the reason for that is the novel’s relatively short length, which also moved along at a pretty fast clip. There’s really not much time to stop and mull over any shortcomings before you’re being swept along by the plot’s sheer insistence on pushing forward, which also made it much easier to tolerate Daffodil. Overall, this was not the best read, but also far from bad, and it kept me entertained.

I was also fortunate to have been given a chance to try the audiobook edition of This is Not a Ghost Story, narrated by Lauren Ezzo. Her performance was enthusiastic, perhaps too much so, especially in sections where Daffodil would descend into hysterics so that listening to the audio was almost unbearable. I probably would prefer the print edition when it comes to this one.

Bookshelf Roundup 11/21/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads

Posted on November 21, 2020 25 Comments

Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.

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Received for Review

My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!

With huge thanks to Tor (emphasis on HUGE), a super exciting and highly anticipated review copy arrived this week, and that is of course Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson! I have a feeling the rest of my month is going to be spent working on this bad boy, everything else on the TBR is officially on hold! I can’t wait to get started.

Thank you also to Orbit for a finished copy of Memoria by Kristyn Merbeth. The publisher is really killing it with sci-fi releases this month! This is the sequel to Fortuna, which was so much fun, and I look forward to catching up with the Kaiser Family.

I was also pretty pleased when a finished copy of This is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes landed on my doorstep earlier this week, with thanks to HarperTeen. I’ve already finished this one, and I’m a bit conflicted about it, to be honest. I mean, it was an enjoyable read and I chomped right through it, but not without feeling the urge to smack the main character like every few seconds. My review should be up soon, so stay tuned.

Two new audiobooks added to the digital review pile this week. First up, with thanks to Hachette Audio I received The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce. I’m pretty horror’ed and sci-fi’ed out with Spooktastic Reads and Sci-Month, so I’m looking forward to getting back into some thrillers soon and this one looked pretty good. And with thanks to Tantor Audio, I received a listening copy of Daughter of the Serpentine by E.E. Knight, the second book in the Dragoneer Academy. I enjoyed the first book Novice Dragoneer, so I’m interested in continuing the series.

Reviews

Unreconciled by W. Michael Gear (4 of 5 stars)
Memento by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (3.5 of 5 stars)
Tales From the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch (3 of 5 stars)

This Week’s Reads

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Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!

#SciFiMonth Friday Face-Off: Words Only

Posted on November 20, 2020 20 Comments

Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.

This week’s theme is:

“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
~ a cover that has WORDS ONLY

Mogsy’s Pick:

Invictus by Ryan Graudin

This week, we have a YA time travel story starring a protagonist with a very unique background. Conceived in 95AD, the result of a tryst between a time-traveling Recorder and a Roman gladiator, Farway Gaius McCarthy was born just as his mother Empra and her crew were in the middle of jumping back to their own year of 2354. While the entire truth behind the circumstances of his birth was kept a secret (and not just because of the whopping number of time laws Empra broke), nothing can change the fact that Far was born out of time, and his existence has been the bane of census takers and record keepers ever since.

Let’s take a look at the covers:

From left to right:
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2017) – Hachette Children’s Group (2017)

Italian Edition (2018) – Czech Edition (2019)

Winner:

See, the thing with text-only covers is that they can be kind of bland. I’m not crazy about any of the covers this week, but I do have to say I like the blurred effects of the city skyline and reflection in the Italian edition. The Czech edition is interesting too, but the problem is that it also looks kind of steampunk, and I really don’t see how that has anything to do with the story.

But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?

Audiobook Review: Tales From the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch

Posted on November 19, 2020 26 Comments

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Tales From the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch

Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Peter Grant/Rivers of London

Publisher: Tantor Audio (October 7, 2020)

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Narrators: Ben Aaronovitch, Ben Elliot, Felix Grainger, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Sam Peter Jackson, Alex Kingston, Shvorne Marks, Penelope Rawlins

I have been waiting a long time for an anthology like Tales from the Folly to come along. As much as I adore the Rivers of London series, many of the author’s short stories set in that world have slipped through the cracks. After all, it’s kind of hard to keep track when there are so many of them floating around, not to mention I’m not exactly a short fiction kind of person, so I lack the motivation to track each one down, especially when many of them could only be found in special Waterstones editions.

This is why collections like this are so handy; every previously published Rivers of London short story that is worth reading, plus a couple brand-new ones besides, are all gathered here in one convenient volume. As you will soon see from my in-depth analyses of each one below, I still vastly prefer the full-length novels, but I would nonetheless recommend Tales from the Folly to fans of the series who will no doubt find plenty of enjoyment and satisfaction in these bite-sized adventures. Each tale is also prefaced by a nifty introduction from Ben Aaronovitch providing plenty of fascinating background and context, so if nothing else, you should read this for a chance to revisit the world between the novels, catch up with the characters we know and love, and round out your Rivers of London experience.

The Home Crowd Advantage (3 stars)

Set in London during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, this tale follows Peter Grant as he is called out to investigate a strange disturbance at a nearby café. This was a short and fun read, but ultimately lacking much interest or memorability. This story takes place early in Peter’s apprenticeship with Nightingale and references a few minor plot developments happening around the same time. Utilizing the Olympics as the backdrop was probably the main selling point, though.

The Domestic (3 stars)

This story opens with Peter being dispatched to the home of an elderly lady to look in on a case of suspected domestic abuse—except things are not as they seem. The premise to this one was great, and there was even a slight bit of underlying humor, but sadly it was over way too soon. The abrupt ending also gave this one an incomplete feel, which was a real shame.

The Cockpit (3.5 stars)

Peter and Lesley show up at a Waterstones after a number of strange occurrences were reported at the bookshop. This one was a charming little yarn, and I think book lovers will especially appreciate it. Again, I felt that it was way too short, but on the bright side, at least it felt complete, featuring a beginning, middle, and conclusion with a satisfying resolution.

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny (3 stars)

During a brief stop at a service station, Peter comes across two men having a little bit of car trouble and offers to help. All Rivers of London stories work best when there are spooky things going on, and this one was no exception. Again, it’s not as memorable due to its short length, but I’m beginning to expect that at this point.

King of the Rats (2 stars)

A self-styled King of the Rats crashes a party hosted by Lady Tyburn and Fleet, and Peter is called in to investigate, naturally. I felt like this could have been the premise to a much longer book, one that would have been a lot better if fully fleshed out. As it was, I thought this was a pretty strange one, and not too engaging. Nothing was developed enough to really stick, sadly.

A Rare Book of Cunning Device (3.5 of 5 stars)

Peter is called out to the British Library to look into reports of a possible poltergeist, and along for the ride are Professor Harold Postmarten and our favorite ghost-hunting dog Toby. This is another one that book lovers will appreciate, especially if you enjoy a good mystery. Postmarten has always been a favorite side character of mine, and obviously I also love Toby. Again, a shame that this was over way too soon, and left me wanting more.

A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (2 stars)

This one is set in Earlsfield in 1967, following a drug dealer/luxury cloth smuggler who runs afoul of the river Wandle. It’s important to note that not all the stories in this collection feature Peter, and it is perhaps no surprise that I felt really disconnected from this one. Perfect example of a take-it-or-leave-it kind of tale.

Favourite Uncle (3.5 stars)

A sweet Christmas story about Abigail, Peter’s cousin and budding practitioner, who does a little bit of private detective work for a friend who asks her to investigate an uncle who only comes around once a year. Abigail has been getting a lot more attention in the main series lately, and I do want to see more of her, so a story centered around her character was most certainly welcome. Aaronovitch did a great job revealing more of her personality, and I also loved the dialogue.

Vanessa Sommer’s Other Christmas List (3 stars)

Related to The October Man novella, this story stars Vanessa Sommer, a police officer in Trier, Germany. Shortly after her transfer to the KDA, she spends Christmas at her parents and reexamines her childhood with a new perspective now that her eyes have been open to the world of magic. Readers get to learn a great deal about Vanessa’s background in this one, making it a must-read after The October Man if you want to find out more about her character.

Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby (3 stars)

This was definitely more of a “world-building story”, examining the idea of genius loci with the birth of a new river in the form of a baby found and adopted by Victor and Dominic. It’s a decent enough story, even if entirely forgettable. Despite its throwaway nature though, I liked its heartwarming themes of family and friendship.

Moments One, Two, Three

At the end of this collection are three short pieces labeled “Moments” which were originally published on Aaronovitch’s website. These are certainly just moments, nothing more than snippets, really. Not much plot to speak of here, and personally I questioned the point of even including them in this collection, but I suppose it does give readers some insight into the mind of the author and his process for mood-setting and atmosphere building.

Audiobook Comments: Since several of the short stories here were originally released as audiobooks to begin with, I was thrilled to discover Tales from the Folly was also going to have an audio edition. Narrated by a diverse group of talented voice actors and actresses, along with commentary from Ben Aaronovitch himself, this audiobook was a great way to experience the collection. A special shoutout also to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who gave an awesome performance as Peter Grant. While I mostly read the print versions of the books in the Rivers of London series, the few times I was fortunate to listen to the audiobooks, I always enjoyed his work. There’s no doubt about it, he is the voice of this series.

More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Whispers Underground (Book 3)
Review of Broken Homes (Book 4)
Review of Foxglove Summer (Book 5)
Review of The Furthest Station (Book 5.7)
Review of The Hanging Tree (Book 6)
Review of Lies Sleeping (Book 7)
Review of False Value (Book 8)

#SciFiMonth Waiting on Wednesday 11/18/20

Posted on November 18, 2020 14 Comments

Mogsy’s Pick

The Future is Yours by Dan Frey (February 9th, 2021 by Del Rey Books)

This book has been lurking on the edge of my radar for a while, but a pitch I received for it earlier in the week has put it at the forefront of my mind again. There’s a hint of time travel in this, which can be tricky. Regardless, I am intrigued…

“Two best friends create a computer that can predict the future. But what they can’t predict is how it will tear their friendship—and society—apart.

If you had the chance to look one year into the future, would you?

For Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry, the answer is unequivocally yes. And they’re betting everything that you’ll say yes, too. Welcome to The Future: a computer that connects to the internet one year from now, so you can see who you’ll be dating, where you’ll be working, even whether or not you’ll be alive in the year to come. By forming a startup to deliver this revolutionary technology to the world, Ben and Adhi have made their wildest, most impossible dream a reality. Once Silicon Valley outsiders, they’re now its hottest commodity.

The device can predict everything perfectly—from stock market spikes and sports scores to political scandals and corporate takeovers—allowing them to chase down success and fame while staying one step ahead of the competition. But the future their device foretells is not the bright one they imagined.

Ambition. Greed. Jealousy. And, perhaps, an apocalypse. The question is . . . can they stop it?

Told through emails, texts, transcripts, and blog posts, this bleeding-edge tech thriller chronicles the costs of innovation and asks how far you’d go to protect the ones you love—even from themselves.”

#SciFiMonth Sci-5 Tuesday: A.I. and Robot Protagonists

Posted on November 17, 2020 23 Comments

This week’s topic is A.I. AND ROBOT PROTAGONISTS! For my purposes, this would include androids or any form of artificial being or bot that used to be human.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Told from the point of a view of a rogue SecUnit—a part organic, part synthetic android designed to provide humans with protection and security services—this story takes readers on a journey to a distant planet being explored by team of scientists. Accompanying them is our protagonist, a self-proclaimed “Murderbot”, whose presence is required by the Company sponsoring the mission. Thing is though, Murderbot doesn’t exactly feel warm and fuzzy towards humans, and it knows that the scientists aren’t too comfortable with having a SecUnit on the team either, given the cagey way they get whenever it’s around. Still, that’s just fine for Murderbot. Having hacked its own governor so that it doesn’t have to follow Company directives, all it wants is to be left alone to enjoy the thousands of hours of entertainment vids that it has downloaded from the humans’ satellites. Of course, no one can suspect that Murderbot is secretly autonomous, so it still has to go about its job like everything is normal, and this arrangement was working out just fine until one day, a routine surface test goes seriously wrong. Murderbot ends up saving the day, earning the admiration and curiosity of the team leader, Dr. Mensah. Soon, Murderbot is left with no choice but to take the lead in defending the scientists, when disaster strikes another neighboring expedition on the planet and threatens to come after them next. (Read the full review…)

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

Meet Bob Johansson, who has just sold off his software company and is looking to take his new fortune to a service offering their clients the option to cryogenically freeze themselves in the event of their deaths. You can probably guess where this is headed. Sure enough, while enjoying his new life of freedom and leisure at a convention in Las Vegas, Bob gets distracted while crossing the street and—BAM! Pain and blackness is the last thing he remembers before waking up more than a century later to discover that he is now an artificial intelligence created from a brain scan of his consciousness. The country has turned into a theocracy which has declared that replicants like Bob are without rights. He is also now the property of a government program developing a self-replicating interstellar von Neumann probe with the goal of exploring the galaxy. If all goes well, Bob will be uploaded into the probe and sent on journey into space to look for habitable planets. Unfortunately, the mission will be dangerous. Other nations have the same idea and are all in competition with each other, and as Bob travels deeper into space, he also begins to realize the need for more processing power, leading him to clone himself multiple times in order to distribute all his responsibilities. And thus, we end up with a “legion” of Bobs, each one going about their own way and chronicling their own adventures in deep space. (Read the full review…)

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

We first met Lovelace and Pepper from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, and while they might not have been among the key perspective characters, they nonetheless quickly won over readers’ hearts. Now through their eyes, we get to experience another chapter of the Wayfarers saga, continuing the story from another point of view. Without going into too much detail, Lovelace was once the A.I. of a starship, but due to complicated circumstances her programming had to be transferred into a highly realistic (and also extremely illegal) synthetic human body called a “kit”. Having been “reborn” into this new life, she also decides to take on a new identity, adopting the name Sidra. With her friend Pepper, the tech wizard who helped download her consciousness into her body kit, the two of them begin to work out how they will go about integrating Sidra into the greater galactic society without setting off suspicions or attracting attention from the law. In the same spirit as the first book, this standalone sequel likewise tackles the themes of life, love, and family, exploring interpersonal, social, and cultural ideas. In a galaxy so large, where aliens of all different shapes and sizes mingle, this is a powerful story about taking control of your own destiny and finding a place to belong. (Read the full review…)

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

The novel follows the life of a robot named Brittle in a post-apocalyptic future. But Brittle isn’t a typical robot and this isn’t your typical post-apocalyptic story. In the world of this book, humanity’s fear of an A.I. takeover has indeed come to pass, but instead of us prevailing like all the movies always show, victory actually went to the machines. Now it has been thirty years since the war, and every last human is dead. Super computers referred to as the One World Intelligences control everything, and the last two standing have turned to fighting each other, determined to be the only mainframe left to reign over the minds of all robots on the planet. But not all robots want to give up their individuality and be part of the collective. Those like Brittle survive by eking out a precarious existence in the large desert known as the Sea of Rust, selling whatever spare parts she can pull from other broken bots she comes across in her travels. Brittle herself is one corrupted core away from certain death, when one day she suffers damage to an irreplaceable, irreparable piece of her hardware. Brittle knows her days are numbered, unless she can find the part she needs to save herself. As it so happens, she is offered a slim chance of survival by a group of independent robots needing her services as a pathfinder through the wasteland. Their mission is secretive and dangerous, but Brittle is left with no choice but to accept their offer in order to avoid her own inevitable shutdown. (Read the full review…)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Justice follows Breq, a soldier who is more (and, I suppose, also less) than she seems. An “Ancillary”, Breq was formerly one of many corpse soldiers all linked up with an artificial intelligence as part of a massive starship called the Justice of Toren, so in a sense, she IS the Justice of Toren. However, after an act of treachery, our protagonist was the only one who made it out of the subsequent disaster, making her the last surviving remnant of the ship, left alone and isolated in a human body. Now she sets herself on a path of vengeance to track down and kill Anaander Mianaai, the multi-bodied and near-immortal Lord of the Radch who was responsible. Breq’s narration reflects the fact that she is a part of a ship, a bigger whole. In chapters where she is linked up to the rest of the Justice of Toren, we see through the eyes of multiple Ancillaries, which in essence are all one entity. Because the ship’s Ancillaries are everywhere, the narrator is aware of things happening around all her different segments who are in different places at the same time. This “omniscient effect” was no doubt a challenge to write, but I thought Leckie did as well as anyone possibly could. And indeed, this was a compelling novel, raising interesting questions and themes about freedom, identity, independence and choice. (Read the full review…)

What are some of the tropes and themes you enjoy reading about in sci-fi? Are you also a fan of stories featuring A.I. and robot protagonists? Let me know your favorites and recommendations!

#SciFiMonth Book Review: Unreconciled by W. Michael Gear

Posted on November 16, 2020 25 Comments

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Unreconciled by W. Michael Gear

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Book 4 of Donovan

Publisher: DAW (May 12, 2020)

Length: 496 pages

Author Information: Website

I make it no secret my love for the Donovan series, which I had initially thought was going to be a trilogy—and of course, the tidiness to the conclusion of the third book Pariah only reaffirmed that suspicion. As you can imagine though, I have never been so happy to be wrong! To say I was ecstatic when I discovered there was going to be a fourth book on the horizon is a massive understatement.

So now we have Unreconciled, in which readers get to return to the planet of Donovan and catch up with all the characters we’ve grown to know and love! As the story opens, the colony is abuzz with anticipation over the imminent arrival of Ashanti, a Corporation ship that had been given up for lost when it failed to show up years ago with its promised supply of resources and new settlers. But while they may have finally made it to their destination, the situation they bring is not good at all. Complications experienced during space travel had increased their journey time by a number of years which ended up stressing the life support systems on Ashanti, causing widespread starvation and death. In the midst of all this chaos, a man named Batuhan rose to power and gained a loyal following. Calling themselves the Unreconciled, they developed a set of beliefs about their place in the universe which also involved a twisted ritual that required eating their own dead in order achieve immortality.

The captain of Ashanti, horrified by the actions of the Unreconciled, did what he could to isolate and quarantine the cannibalistic cult. Convinced that he would be persecuted for his decision once they arrive at Donovan, he is thus completely baffled by the nonchalance displayed by Supervisor Kalico Aguila even after he confesses to all that he had done. For you see, what newcomers do not understand is that all rules go out the window when it comes to Donovan. Even after all these years, it is still a modest colony in the middle of the wilderness, with no central leadership or an organized set of laws. That’s because everyone is too busy trying to survive, fending off the killer fauna and flora. The situation with the Unreconciled is hardly the worst problem they’ve faced, though it does leave the question of where to put them. In the end, a remote satellite outpost by the name of Tyson Base is determined to be the best location to settle the cannibals, being out of the way and relatively defensible. However, what no one realizes is that the area is already inhabited—by something large, hidden, and dangerous, previously unknown to the colonists. And whatever it is, it is hungry and eager to hunt.

Honestly, I am seriously impressed and amazed by the W. Michael Gear’s storytelling skills. Who knows what other cool ideas this man has got kicking around in his head? We may be on book four, but the series is still going strong, bursting with the potential for more conflicts and relationship dynamics. That’s because Unreconciled not only introduces new plot threads, it also features many more additions to the cast with a fresh injection of characters from the Ashanti.

One of my favorite new characters is Derek “Tek” Taglioni, a privileged playboy hailing from one of the wealthy Corporate ruling families, who arrogantly thought he would make a name for himself by signing up for a mission to Donovan. There’s nothing quite like a few years of hardship aboard the Ashanti to quickly change his perspective on life, though. Much like Kalico, he was an elite who quickly learned just how much his name and money was worth once everything turned to shit—that is, absolutely zilch. I sense a promising future for his character, and I especially loved the snappy banter between him and Kalico, not to mention a potential romance with Talina. And then there’s Batuhan and his faithful companions, who are just off the walls cray-cray. Over-the-top their insanity may be, however, there was definitely an element of entertainment there. As well, mere words cannot describe the immense satisfaction I derived from seeing this psycho cult get completely overwhelmed by the brutal nature of Donovan.

Of course, we mustn’t forget the characters from the previous books either. Gear provides us plenty of time with familiar faces, and in addition to Tal and Kalico, we also get to catch up with Mark Talbot, Dan Wirth, Kylee and her quetzal Flute, and others. There are some groundbreaking shakeups to the cast as well, and I won’t lie, some of these changes were so shocking that they made me gasp out loud. In addition, there were plenty of twists and turns in the story, keeping the pace fast and exciting. The danger of Donovan’s vegetation and wildlife has been a constant theme in this series, and I am glad to see this trend continue. What our characters find lurking out near Tyson Base will give you chills! Needless to say, at no time did the momentum flag, as there were interesting new developments every step of the way.

All in all, I am so pleased with the direction the Donovan series is taking, and I am also glad the author decided to write Unreconciled as he’s clearly got a lot more ideas! Naturally, I am crossing my fingers for a fifth book, and I think chances are good since there’s no shortage of mysteries and questions to explore in this amazing world.