Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Martha Wells’ endearingly grumpy cyborg Security Unit Murderbot returns with a vengeance in Rogue Protocol (2018), the third novella in the MURDERBOT DIARIES series. In Rogue Protocol, Murderbot heads off to Milu, a deserted terraforming facility in space, to investigate the past of a murky group called GrayCris, which we originally met in the first book in this series, the Nebula award-winning All Systems Red.
April 5th, 2021. Tadiana Jones, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4.5 | Martha Wells | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! (1998), by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson, has been on my TBR list for years and, thanks to Tantor Media, which just released the first audio edition, it has finally landed in my audiobook player. As I anticipated, this collection of stories about the cute fuzzy aliens known as the Hoka, were really entertaining.
The Hoka are creatures that look like large teddy bears and they’re known throughout the universe as being “the most imaginative race of beings in known space.” They have a fascination with human culture and they love to mimic it,
April 2nd, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Gordon R. Dickson, Poul Anderson | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
The illicit adventures of Murderbot continue in Artificial Condition (2018), the terrific sequel to Martha Wells’ 2017 Nebula award-winning novella, All Systems Red. Murderbot, a deeply introverted cyborg security unit, or SecUnit, who previously hacked the governor software that forced obedience to human commands, has illegally gone off the grid, eschewing the safety of a mostly-free life with a sympathetic owner in order to travel on its own. Disguising itself as an augmented human,
April 2nd, 2021. Tadiana Jones, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 5 | Martha Wells | Locus Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart
When she was a small child, Remy was rescued from death by a chaplain who oversees the monks on a submarine called Leviathan. They carry the world’s last nuclear missile and their mission is to wait, protecting the missile, until God tells them it’s time to deploy it against the wicked Earth on judgement day.
Remy’s job is to sing in the choir of eunuchs, a crucial role that keeps up morale. Her voice will remain high because she’s a girl (a secret that only the chaplain knows),
April 1st, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Andrew Kelly Stewart | Audio, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The narrator of All Systems Red (2017), the 2017 Nebula award-winning novella by Martha Wells, is a once-nameless cyborg security unit or SecUnit that has given itself the name Murderbot (for reasons disclosed midway through the story). Using its own unprecedented and highly unauthorized initiative, Murderbot has hacked the governor module software that controls its actions and obligates it to be obedient. But instead of going on a killing spree, as one might expect given the name it adopted,
March 30th, 2021. Tadiana Jones, Kat Hooper and Jana Nyman´s rating: 4 | Martha Wells | Audio, Locus Award, Nebula Award, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
A Hole in the Sky by Peter F. Hamilton
Hazel, who’s 16, lives on a huge starship called Daedalus. It left Earth around 900 years ago with plans to terraform a new habitable planet. But when they arrived, they found a nearly sentient species that they didn’t want to disturb, so they decided to try another planet. A few decades later, citizens who were disgruntled about that decision mutinied and, in the battle, much of their knowledge and technology was destroyed.
Now, 500 years later, most of the people of Daedalus live in separate primitive farming communities where they work hard to eke out an existence.
March 25th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Peter F. Hamilton | Audio | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh
Tantor Audio recently released two of C.J. Cherryh’s stand-alone ALLIANCE-UNION novels, Merchanter’s Luck and Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983), together under the title Alliance Space. I’m reviewing the novels separately since that’s the way they were originally published and can still be purchased. However, I love that you can get them both in one Kindle edition or one 22-hour long audiobook!
March 17th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | C.J. Cherryh | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
Merchanter’s Luck by C.J. Cherryh
Tantor Audio has recently released two of C.J. Cherryh’s ALLIANCE-UNION novels, Merchanter’s Luck (1982) and Forty Thousand in Gehenna, together under the title Alliance Space. I’m going to review the novels separately since that’s the way they were originally published and can still be purchased. However, I love that you can get them both in one Kindle edition or one 22-hour long audiobook!
March 12th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | C.J. Cherryh | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
E.J. Beaton’s The Councillor (2020) is a political fantasy whose smooth prose carries one smartly if slowly through the well-worn grooves of the genre. And therein one can see both the novel’s strengths and its weaknesses, which together result in a solid if somewhat overly long and overly familiar story.
Lysande Prior — commoner, orphan, and scholar — has risen to become advisor and friend to the warrior Queen Sarelin, who recently put down a nearly-successful attempt by the White Queen to restore elemental magic users (a currently persecuted minority group) to their former ruling position in Elira.
March 11th, 2021. Bill Capossere and Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | E.J. Beaton | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Call of the Bone Ships by R.J. Barker
Call of the Bone Ships (2020) is the second book in R.J. Barker’s TIDE CHILD trilogy. The first book, The Bone Ships, introduced Joron Twiner, first mate to a tough and effective sea captain named Lucky Meas. Sailing and politics collide when their disreputable ship Tide Child was assigned to find and protect the last of a valuable but possibly extinct sea dragon species.
March 3rd, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | R.J. Barker | Audio | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…
It's hardly a private conversation, Becky. You're welcome to add your 2 cents anytime!
If the state of the arts puzzles you, and you wonder why so many novels are "retellings" and formulaic rework,…
I picked my copy up last week and I can't wait to finish my current book and get started! I…