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When the tech platforms promised a future of "connection," they were lying. They said their …
I guess expecting the Anarchist's Cookbook of Adversarial Interoperability would be a bit much, but I did feel like it was lacking any real practical solutions to Big Tech's rampant monopolization.
Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and …
An overview of a very specific group that were influenced by pirate immigrants. It's... fine. Cool from a historical point of view, but the argument that they influenced the Enlightenment is based purely on the fact that “pirates were cool.”
Aboard Null Boundary, a giant starship thousands of years old, four survivors of an ancient …
The Nanotech Succession books get stronger with each installment. This final book, and the prequel to the Inverted Frontier (the first two of which I actually read before this) is by far the best. A really inventive, weird, and though provoking book. For a story that spans such stretches of both space and time, it is at its core a story of a small group of travelers learning about each other, and the messed-up shit that has happened to their home and their species.
I guess this just isn't my thing, but I do get tired of these weird power fantasy books pretty quickly. I made it though this one, but I don't have any interested in the rest of the series.
Kai-Enna is the Witch King, though he hasn’t always been, and he hasn’t even always …
The only other books by Martha Wells that I've read are the Murderbot Diaries, so it's pretty hard for me not to view it through that lens.
Which is unfair on the book, because it is entirely its own thing.
But also carries a lot of Murderbot DNA.
There's the conversational style, the same exasperated, hyper-confident protagonist with a prickly exterior but a heart of gold...
But Kai is also more openly vulnerable, more open with his friends and much more DTF.
Plot-wise it suffers from the same issues I have with the MBDs. The overarching story wasn't compelling, I don't really understand the stakes or the politics, at least not for the bulk of the book. So it was hard to get invested. But it doesn't matter because the whole thing is really just a framework to hang the individual set pieces on and, man, Wells is amazing on …
The only other books by Martha Wells that I've read are the Murderbot Diaries, so it's pretty hard for me not to view it through that lens.
Which is unfair on the book, because it is entirely its own thing.
But also carries a lot of Murderbot DNA.
There's the conversational style, the same exasperated, hyper-confident protagonist with a prickly exterior but a heart of gold...
But Kai is also more openly vulnerable, more open with his friends and much more DTF.
Plot-wise it suffers from the same issues I have with the MBDs. The overarching story wasn't compelling, I don't really understand the stakes or the politics, at least not for the bulk of the book. So it was hard to get invested. But it doesn't matter because the whole thing is really just a framework to hang the individual set pieces on and, man, Wells is amazing on the small scale.
The action is so good. Well's writes in such a cinematic way that I am immediately sucked into the scene. And they feed into each other so well, with the split past/present back story meaning that you are always left in the middle of some cliffhanger or important event even during the downtime.
The setting is also really interesting, the magic system is weird, but usually clearly conveyed, and the world is... well it's a mess. Dealing with the fallout from the magical equivalent of a nuclear war.
Overall, the most basic comparison is the strongest though. This is an incredibly compelling book, that I can see myself re-reading many times.
Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever …
Well, I have to wait a few months for more Murderbot, but this was a great story. I'm going to go stand facing the wall for a bit now...
This is a fantasy heist novel, where a band of thieves attempt to overthrow an …
I can't say I wasn't entertained, but somehow I wasn't 100% sold. The characters were relatable, and I liked the general comradery of the main characters.
It was a good change from my usual fare, even though the magic system (which was cool) felt a bit too much like science fiction with it's many rules and identifiable patterns.
My favourite thing about Logan's writing is how she contrasts the soft edges of the fantastical with hard reality. This is not "magical realism", but a heartbreaking and down to earth love story, but there are cracks where the magic leaks out, which makes it all the more powerful.
I haven't been so compelled to read since a teenager. Murderbot sucked me in completely.
It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. …
Finished book 1 and went straight into book 2. Murderbot just keeps on coming, and I ain't gonna get in its way!
SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris …
Hey, just cos this one took me an extra day to read doesn't mean I liked it any less. Murderbot, keeps breaking my heart.