The SCIFI Reader

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, I liked this one but nowhere near as much as the first two. My first impression was that there was too much going on. Book two switched perspective in each subsequent chapter, back and forth between two of the main characters. This story switches around between five or six perspectives and sometimes pretty quickly at the start. I honestly couldn't keep up. I think it eventually stepped down to three main stories but I have to admit that I was still a little lost. So, you'll find some of my review to be fairly vague, and perhaps even mistaken on some of the details. One of the threads seems to follow Captain Ashby's family, they hear the news of his previously told misadventures (from book one) but past their introduction that isn't really an important part of their story. There's another thread about a couple of youngsters trying to get laid. And then anoth...

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers My rating: 5 of 5 stars As it turns out, all of the positive criticisms that you've heard about this book are true. I enthusiastically enjoy reading book reviews but I generally expect to have a very different experience than others readers report having. In this case there were many moments in the story which exactly fit with what I'd heard before starting. Firstly, the generally positive outlook stays firm even through the dire situations that this crew face. I loved that. It's not necessarily that I'm tired of dreary, miserable narratives (unlike many other readers who appear to have had quite enough of that), it was more that it seemed like a fresh and welcome perspective to me. I had also read that this series has much in common with Star Trek and I found that to be delightfully true. In particular many of the social issues presented reminded me of Star Trek and especially ...

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers My rating: 5 of 5 stars This story is just wonderful. The dialogue and the internal monologues contained loads of relatable content as we journeyed with both an AI and a recently freed slave gaining their independence. After the next quote, I'm going to SPOIL the end of book #1 and the first few chapters of this story, you have been warned ⚠️ turn back now if you want to avoid those. "Life is terrifying. None of us have a rule book. None of us know what we’re doing here. So, the easiest way to stare reality in the face and not utterly lose your shit is to believe that you have control over it." At the end of book one Lovey experiences a system reboot to the default operating settings; her personality is lost along with her memories and the biggest casualty is her relationship with Jenks. Since one of the two threads in this book will follow what happens to Lovey after that change, you might e...

The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm a dog person, so cats are instinctively the enemy. I tend to avoid stories (and jokes and memes and puns and etc...) about cats. Hence, this is decidedly a bad place for me to start reading Cordwainer Smith. I liked this set up, despite the cats, but I still thought the narrative was plain. Apparently, there's much more to this short story than I would have noticed on my own. Which is one of my favourite things about our Science Fiction Book Club. I enjoyed reading what others got out of this story more than I enjoyed the story. For me, it felt like reading a description about this story was near enough to the same experience as reading the story. Perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more, then, if I hadn't read anything it before starting. Too late now for me, but perhaps not for you, which is why this review says practically nothing of worth. It seems that this story ...

The Institute by Stephen King My rating: 4 of 5 stars Not bad at all. This is only my second King read and it was much better than the first, which was 'Cycle of the Werewolf', (hey, even when I was into horror and vampires I never really got into werewolves). The blurb is apt, so you should read that for the general idea. Here's my short review: 0 - 10%: Boring 10 - 50%: Interesting 50 - 90%: A captivating thrill ride 90 - 100%: Late exposition, which would have worked much better if it came before the climax. Here's the longer version: At the start we meet a bloke called Tim and we follow him around while he kicks some asses in a little country town somewhere in the US. He's a cool dude, a real smooth cat, but I couldn't figure out his connection to the main story. He'll reappear much later, so I guess it was nice to meet him before the shit hit the fan. "Her name was Marjorie Kellerman, and she ran the Brunswick li...

A Good Heretic by Becky Chambers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Mas has a few heretical questions for her mother, thankfully they are happy to answer, but they warn not to ask such questions at school and especially not around the priests. I think none of the info covered here is new to the series and you can consider this short story a series introduction, however I'm starting here so I can't confirm that. At a certain age Mas' people, the Sianat, are infected, a process in which they become plural by taking on a host, called a Whisperer, and in doing so they acquire a mathematical prowess that allows them to understand the fundamental nature of the universe. Or something like that View all my reviews

Lightspeed Magazine: Issue 143, April 2022 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a super short review for the super short story 'Advice from the Civil Temporal Defense League' by Sandra McDonald, which I read for book club, SFBC on fb. This was mostly just silly. A list of DOs and DONTs and a few things to watch out for when encountering temporal bandits. Apparently full of references that I missed, I found it to be a rather bland read overall. I listened to this on the Lightning Speed podcast and the narration by Judy Young was pretty good though. View all my reviews