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September 20

David and 10 other people liked Mogsy's review of They Lurk:

"3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2023/09/14/...

As you might know, while I’m not really one to pick up short story collections, I do try to make the odd exception for my favorite authors like Ronald Malfi. This is also not t" Read more of this review »

September 19

David is on page 105 of 180 of The Ophiuchi Hotline

The Ophiuchi Hotline
by John Varley

progress:

September 14

David and 110 other people liked Nataliya's review of The Spare Man:

"A locked spaceship murder mystery with an obscenely rich heiress on her honeymoon and chapters starting with cocktail recipes. A lot of money and glitz and alcohol, and rich people being rich. Yeah. It’s a beach read in space to which I’m apparently " Read more of this review »

David and 29 other people liked Phil's review of The Long Run:

"“The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life.”

If you are a fan of 80s cyberpunk, this series is pretty much a must. While Moran utilized a rather unconventional narrative format in Emerald Eyes, in The Long Run he switc" Read more of this review »

September 13

David and 17 other people liked mark monday's review of Nopalgarth (Nopalgarth, Son of the Tree, The Houses of Iszm):

"three short novels

Nopalgarth aka The Brains of Earth - 3 stars

humans unwittingly host invisible, transdimensional parasites that coil around our brains and control our emotions. the planet Ixax has decimated itself due to these parasites that have tr" Read more of this review »

August 31

David made a comment on his review of A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1)

" Thanks, Nataliya! "

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

rated a book it was amazing A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine (Goodreads Author)

read in August, 2023

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

From the onset of A Memory Called Empire, intrigue piqued my curiosity. How did the Lsel Station ambassador die? And what is so terrible about the Teixalaanli Empire that a Councilor on the station longs for a potentially ev 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

From the onset of A Memory Called Empire, intrigue piqued my curiosity. How did the Lsel Station ambassador die? And what is so terrible about the Teixalaanli Empire that a Councilor on the station longs for a potentially even more dangerous foe to step out of the shadows? And it continues throughout the story, answers leading to more questions, until the underlying issues of the moment are resolved at the end.

Mahit made for a good protagonist. I rooted for her and her budding cadre of allies as she sought out the answers to the questions that were linked to her survival and those of her home, Lsel Station. I liked her even though I didn't share her love for Teixcalaanli culture. That's not to say it wasn't interesting. The importance of poetry in their society from top to bottom (competitions at parties!) was intriguing without being too literary. Their naming conventions (a number coupled with an physical object) struck me as unique. And Mahit's need to point out the differences between her culture and Teixcalaanli, from facial expressions to vocal manners, revealed such subtle differences that I couldn't help but wonder if Martine was trying to draw Earthly comparisons. Anyway, I enjoyed Martine's world-building.

Action was limited, but the threat of violence was always present. In seeking answers into the death of her predecessor, she stuck her nose into places where it wasn't welcome. Were it not for the setting, one could easy mistake this story for a political thriller.

One element that made the book even better was the humor, dry as it was. In one instance, Mahit is attending a party for government functionaries where there was a poetry competition. Her liaison, Three Seagress, approaches her.

"Are you going to finish the drink?" asked Three Seagrass when the noise had died away.
"Yes. Why?"
"Because I am going to have to talk about Fourteen Spire's use of assonance for the rest of the evening, and you're going to have to listen, and we should both be slightly more inebriated."
"Oh," said Mahit. "When you put it like that..."

Mahit and Three Seagrass develop a friendship, but overhanging their relationship the whole time is the spectre of colonialism. Teixcalaanli citizens are taught to view everyone outside their borders as "barbarians", no matter their level of civilization. As Teixcalaan-phile Mahit constantly seeks out acceptance and camraderie among her contacts, she occasionally crashes into a wall that reminds her of this fact: She will never obtain what she seeks.

I really enjoyed this book. There was engaging world-building, dashes of humor, and enough intrigue and tension to ignore the lack of action. Looking forward to reading the next book. ...more

July 26

David made a comment on Phil’s review of Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse, #3)

" the authors are really horrible with female characters!

Really? I didn't get that. Well, don't read Benford then. ...more "

July 19

David made a comment on Nataliya’s status in System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)

" No doubt whatsoever. :) "

July 07

David made a comment on Phil’s review of The Pride of Chanur (Chanur, #1)

" I always meant to read this series, just never got round to it for some reason. Adding it to the TBR to remind myself. "