Miscellaneous Thoughts14 Comments

Fun for Monday: 3 Bookish Things

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Right, let’s get this year’s tag count up, shall we? I found this tag over at Zeezee’s and she got it from Kristin Kraves Books. I’ve mentioned before that Zeezee is my go-to-gal for tags and she has an awesome Long List of Book Tags here that you can view either as a straight list, or organised by theme, which is just perfect. Thank you, Zeezee, for being so very, very fabulous! So without further ado, let’s talk about bookish things. In threes.   3 Read-Once-and-Loved Authors Octavia E Butler. Wow. Maryam the Curious SFF Reader and I recently did a … Continue reading Fun for Monday: 3 Bookish Things

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Lady Mechanika: The Lost Boys of West Abbey by M M Chen, Joe Benitez, Martin Montiel & Peter Steigerwald

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Considering this is a fairly short and straightforward episode in the continuing Lady Mechanika series I had a ton of fun with it. We’re back in Mechanika City and Nika, Mr Lewis and the wonderful Winifred (who I was chuffed to see back and now consider a fixture) are investigating the deaths of a number of street children. We are also introduced to the rather delectable Inspector Singh and while (thankfully) there’s no suggestions of romance between him and Nika, they do look awfully pretty together on the page *sigh*. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to say much about this very slim … Continue reading Lady Mechanika: The Lost Boys of West Abbey by M M Chen, Joe Benitez, Martin Montiel & Peter Steigerwald

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Fun for Monday: The Get to Know the Sci-Fi Reader Tag

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Maryam the Curious SFF Reader found this tag over on the booktube channel BooksWithEmilyFox and answered the questions for SciFi Month back in November last year. I wasn’t able to squeeze it in back then, so the All Systems Read mini-event is the perfect excuse to do this now. Because Yay for tags!     What is the first science fiction you read? I read both The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and Eva by Peter Dickinson when I was about eight years old, and then Moonwind by Louise Lawrence when I was about ten. I’m pretty sure they were the … Continue reading Fun for Monday: The Get to Know the Sci-Fi Reader Tag

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The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

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  WARNING: SPOILERS! Well, I cried at the end, so there goes my argument that this wasn’t a particularly feely story. Before I get going, a quick nod to Scalzi for some of the awesome ship names. A few of my especial favourites being the Tell Me Another One, the Yes Sir, That’s My Baby and the No, Sir, I Don’t Mean Maybe, the The Princess is in Another Castle and the That’s Just Your Opinion, Sir. Nearly every time a new ship was introduced I enjoyed a little chuckle over its name. Anyhow, moving on … This was a … Continue reading The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

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The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS My only half-hearted complaint about The Collapsing Empire was that I didn’t feel the reader was given time to become emotionally attached to anyone as the story zipped along, and yet here I am at the end of the second book caring plenty about what has happened to Cardenia and Kiva, and about what their ultimate fates are likely to be. So it seems, whether I noticed it or not, that Scalzi gave me enough in that first book to form a connection with these two awesome ladies at least. Whether it’s because of this increased feeling … Continue reading The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

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The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

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Humanity has moved out into the universe, lost Earth and formed the Interdependency. We now live mostly on space habitats and lifeless planets, scattered across space and joined only by the Flow – the bit of science that allows space travel to happen in weeks and months instead of decades and centuries. The theory behind the Interdependency is that all pockets of humanity survive by relying upon one another, and so various guilds hold monopolies on different products like, say, citrus fruits, a particular breed of animal and all its associated products, or weapons manufacture, just to give three examples … Continue reading The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

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All Systems Read: I have plans!

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  Next week, over the bank holiday weekend (2nd to 5th April), I’ll be taking part in the All Systems Read mini event, a readathon of all things sci-fi about which you can find out more from imyril over at There’s Always Room For One More. And I am absolutely in the mood for some science fiction at the moment, although I’m still leaning towards the light and comforting (which is making for less interesting posts, but a happier healthy me at present, so #sorrynotsorry). Here’s what I’m planning to read and post about:   John Scalzi’s Interdependency trilogy has … Continue reading All Systems Read: I have plans!

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Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

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SPOILER WARNING: While I have tried to keep SPOILERS to a minimum for book one of this series, The Diviners, some spoilery-ness has been unavoidable. Tread carefully.   At the end of The Diviners, in a typical Evie move, our pretty Miss O’Neil announced to the newspapers that she was a Diviner able to ‘read’ objects belonging to other people. In this second installment of Bray’s series, Evie now takes a backseat so that we can become better acquainted with some of the other characters who have displayed unusual powers and abilities – some of which are a lot less … Continue reading Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

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Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones

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A curse bound with three Powers. Three young siblings. Three Gifts. Three types of magic. Three groups of people unable to see what they have in common. As in all of the books of hers that I’ve read Diana Wynne Jones’ plays with multiple story threads in her standalone novel Power of Three, only pulling them all together to show the pattern at the very end. It’s a trick she pulls off beautifully every time and one of the things that brings me back to her books again and again. Three peoples live on the Moors: the Lymen, the Dorig … Continue reading Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones

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Read-along: Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey (week 6)

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It’s the end. Some plans come to fruition and some are thwarted, Phèdre keeps her vow to the goddess Asherat, Joscelin reminds us all of just how badass he can be and Melisande is faced yet again. Middle books are notoriously difficult to get right and maybe I’m side-eyeing some of Carey’s decisions in this final week’s reading, but ultimately I’m satisfied, and quite pleased to meet Phèdre’s official consort. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the end of Kushiel’s Chosen using the prompts provided by Lisa of Dear Geek Place. Links to other readers’ responses can be found … Continue reading Read-along: Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey (week 6)