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As an avid consumer of sci-fi and fantasy in all its forms, please allow me to say a few words about my favorite subject.
Category Archives: Book reviews
Flash review: The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch by Garth Nix
Highly energetic, outrageously ridiculous, and compellingly weird. This novelette, whose full name I will not repeat lest be accused of padding the word count of this review, hit me in all the right spots. It is easy flowing, features very … Continue reading
Book review: Relic by Alan Dean Foster
The most recent novel by Alan Dean Foster is quite a surprise. It reads like pastoral science fiction of old, while maintaining its own modern character. It’s slow and ponderous, with minimal action, yet endearing and insightful. It will please … Continue reading
Book review: The Genesis Fleet trilogy by Jack Campbell
Jack Campbell has built up one of the most successful military science fiction franchises, thanks to a few simple strategies. He kept the worldbuilding, character development and moral ambiguities at a minimum, and instead focused on the tactics of space … Continue reading
Flash review: Counting Casualties by Yoon Ha Lee
A space opera encompassing a galactic war, numerous planets and cultures destroyed, and a journey that takes several years, in a package of less than 5000 words. Yoon Ha Lee continues with her trend of creating enormous worlds, which are … Continue reading
Book review: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark
P. Djeli Clark is a master worldbuilder, and his Egypt of the 1910s is so far his most fleshed-out world. Haunting is one of three novellas set in this place, followed later by a novel. Many of his stories, including … Continue reading
Flash Review: The Difference Between Love and Time by Catherynne M. Valente
Valente has a penchant for quirky writing, but even so, this story ranks among her more extreme ones. And I mean it in a good way. This short, but endearing and funny novelette, highlights the author’s skill with words and … Continue reading
Book review: The City & the City by China Miéville
Given the choice between worldbuilding and good characters, I always pick the latter. But every rule has an exception, that The City & the City is just that. The worldbuilding here is absolutely perfect. It is unique, yet simple enough … Continue reading
Modern Classic: A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Very few books from the last quarter of a century were as influential as A Deepness in the Sky. Even fewer managed to upstage their already great predecessors in a truly grand manner. And while there are other titles spanning … Continue reading
Flash review: Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit by K. J. Parker
This fast-paced, amusing story is a pleasure to read. It combines an inventive world, a moral quandary that the author very efficiently and plausibly resolves, and characters that have a certain charm, be they the heroes or antagonists. The story … Continue reading
Flash review: Even If Such Ways Are Bad by Rich Larson
Rich Larson first popped up on my radar with Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man, a fast-paced biopunk story. I really enjoyed that story’s inventiveness, theme and the pacing. Unfortunately, his latest story lacks some of these elements and adds … Continue reading