/lit/ - Literature

The Deluge - Stephen Markley (2023)

Although it'll be some time for me to really know, at this time I can say that The Deluge is one of the books I've most enjoyed. I don't mean for that to be taken as a recommendation, as these are my personal thoughts and nothing more. In terms of entertainment, how emotionally engaged I am is usually the greatest determinant of my enjoyment. The Deluge was such an emotional experience that early on I hoped it would be less. What I was feeling was so intense that I didn't know if I'd be able to finish. Reading this was an unusual experience, an awesome one in the sense that it was terrifyingly beautiful. The kind where someone is terrified and has tears streaming down their face in joy. I don't believe any of this matters unless you to do the same though.

This has one of the greatest cast of characters of anything I've ever read, though I don't know how much of that's due to how engaged I was with it and personal preferences. They all felt so real and alive, to the point where it read more this was a historical text about actual people than something fictional. There's not really a leading character so much as simply who has the most influence over what happens in the world, as it is in life. This isn't an ensemble either, as they're not in any way of equal importance. If anything, this is a curation of lives that presents a narrative to explain what happened and why.

Each viewpoint character is presented from a different perspective, which is a blend of stylistic and functional purpose. All of it is intentional and explained by the end when the metanarrative is revealed. It's not anything deep or complex, though I did appreciate the extra layer it provided. Each period of time goes through the the same six viewpoint characters with one exception. Although the year and sometimes the date are given, it's more common that that's when it ends rather than starts. The chapters aren't necessarily linear, meaning that one comes directly after the other. Some completely overlap, start afterwards, or begin before the prior chapters for that time period. There are often passing references to other characters and the same events from different perspectives.

When there are several viewpoints one of my first questions always is, "Do they ever meet up?". The answer to that is that most of them meet up with most of the others in person at some point, even if it's only in passing. That's how I prefer it to be, rather than several entirely disparate characters whose stories never converge in any meaningful way. None of them are more than a few degrees of separation from any other. It's a rather complicated web of relationships that I considered trying to make a visual explainer for. I don't believe you need to keep all of that in mind though.

>>23257474
Liberty's Daughter - Naomi Kritzer (2023)

Rebecca Garrison, 16 years old, has lived in New Minerva since her father brought her to the seastead when she was 4. The seastead is located 220 nautical miles west of Los Angeles and was founded 49 years ago. It's an assortment of man-made islands, platforms, ships, freighters, and other vessels. Each collection of these is considered their own country with their own set of laws. What they share in common is a libertarian ideology, ranging from literally anything is allowed to minimal statism. Everyone has to buy a stake to become a citizen, otherwise they're a guest worker and probably soon to be literally sold into conditions little better than slavery. There's no public infrastructure or government services almost anywhere. A significant part of the economy works on the barter system, which is where Beck has found her niche as a finder. She trades favors and items and helps out at the miscellany store. This takes her all over the seastead, which eventually leads to her becoming more involved in its darker sides. Everything that happens here may be normal to her, but that doesn't mean it's ethical. She knows the majority of adults are criminals fleeing punishment, especially the wealthy ones, but she has no idea about why the seastead is allowed to continue existing or that there are secrets here that could change the world.

6 of the stories that make up this novel were serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 2012-2015, which is where I read them. The seventh story, the epilogue, has only been published here. I enjoyed them both then and now. I was somewhat disappointed that there's only about an additional 2% in terms of word count added to the first 6 stories. When I did a text comparison I saw the scenes that were added, which surprisingly weren't to better connect the stories together. There wasn't as much reworking of what already existed as I hoped for, as it was mostly word choice and sentence level changes. Two examples are that the seastead's population went from 22,000 to 80,000 and one minor character's name was changed from Kat to Jen. What I had in mind would've made it an easy 5 stars for me, and probably significantly better for others reading it here for the first time. I'm strongly biased towards liking this because it's the sort of near future daily life adventures in a speculative society that I especially enjoy.

What I found most interesting in reading these stories again was how much the context had changed in only ten years or so. Interest in seasteading seems to have vanished relative to charter cities, the covid pandemic happened and changed how I viewed mass outbreaks in illness and how people react to them. Part of this book probably comes off as much more conspiratorial than it was at the time if only because Kritzer wrote what some of the paranoid and reasonable fears were ahead of their manifestation.

Rating: 4.5/5 (4)

>>23159414
Contrarian, The Grand Illusion #3 - L.E. Modesitt (2023)

Dekkard is determined to reform his country through the legal procedures of government. Foremost is to hold the most powerful corporations and their executives accountable for their treasonous and ruinous dealings that have destabilized the country for their exclusive benefit. They are believed to have funded domestic terrorism in order take back power without it seeming like a coup attempt. For those involved, no one is above the law, not even former Premiers. Dekkard must constantly be on guard against assassination attempts, as there have already been several, and he expects there to be several more.

There's no denying that Contrarian is a repetitive book with a clearly defined routine. At over 200,000 words, 22.5 hours for the audiobook, that may be too much of roughly similar events unless it's something you specifically like, which I do. Almost every single chapter, excluding those chapters that are newspaper articles and book excerpts, is a new day that often begins with Dekkard's morning activities. Afterwards he goes to work, does his job, then enjoys a few hours of leisure, which may overlap with his work-related activities. This is surely the most Modesitt has ever done in detailing the daily life of a protagonist from what I've read and must be among the most for anything he's written.

Some of the daily life activities that Dekkard engages in are learning about the concerns of those in his district, house hunting, discussing legislation (including tax policies), forensic accounting, acquiring information, debating, committee hearings, and eating white bean soup. There's more than that, but as noted, it's often the same activities over and over again, though they're always different in execution, except the white bean soup. He eats other food, but there's so much soup in general.

My reading experience was very immersive, to the point where I wanted to be certain that I read every single word at a relatively slow place. I don't feel the need to do that usually, even for the books I most enjoy, because often I feel the need to read more quickly. A visual depiction of my enjoyment would be a horizontal line. On a heart monitor that would indicate someone is dead, and I have no doubt that's what many would find this to be, dead boring. For me though that instead indicates that it's consistent from start to finish with minimal variation. It doesn't reach anywhere near the highs of my favorite books, but it never becomes any lower than solidly enjoyable.

Modesitt hasn't decided yet whether this is the last book in the series, though the five responses he's posted about it by answering reader questions on his website shows that he's certainly considering doing so and has ideas for what he'd write. I know that I'll be reading whatever comes next.

Rating: 4/5

Previous
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=grand+illusion+&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

>>23093904
Empty Space: A Haunting, Kefahuchi Tract #3 - M. John Harrison (2012)

This third book is a sequel to both the first and second books. In the past it's either 2023 or 2024 and it follows the sole viewpoint of Anna, who was in the first book. In the future it's 2452 at the very earliest and follows the perspectives of the crew of the Nova Swing, the unnamed assistant, and a few others. Is there a present? It would seem that all time may be.

The opening screams "you're reading weird fiction!" and continues to do so for the remainder of the book. This is definitely the weirdest of the trilogy and I'd go as far as to say it's gratuitously so. I don't know if it was for the sake of shock value, grossness, perversion, transgression, or whatever else. I assume it was intended to be literary regardless. The question I asked myself the most by far was, "What purpose does its inclusion serve?" I wasn't able to find any answers to that.

The characters continued to be in the same fashion as the previous books and in some ways even more so. Two of the viewpoint characters don't have much of a self. Anna is entirely disordered which makes for similar reading and the unnamed is empty. All the other characters have some level of detachment, though its especially pronounced with the aforementioned. Its so weird that it makes for interesting reading at least.

When it comes to the plot, for Anna it's her daily life, which is peculiar due to her thought processes but otherwise relatively mundane. The unnamed continues to investigate stuff. The crew of the Nova Swing does runs from place to place. The others live their lives as they normally do. That's to say there isn't really a plot all that much. There's a galactic war going on the background, but it's irrelevant except for its metaphorical value. What plot there is revolves around an ancient artifact that may have unknowable motives and unlimited power.

As for the graphic content, there's a lot of sexual activity, effluence, and children. There's so much sex, though most of it is casually mentioned in passing rather than being described in detail. Seemingly almost everything comes back to sex or genitalia. Emesis may the second most common activity, as there's a steady flow of its discussion and occurrence throughout the book. In other words, vomit everywhere. There's also multiple scenes of urination and one of defecation. Children, both male and female, have several sexualized descriptions and engage in sexual activity. Again, it's brief moments not much described. There's no denying they're present though. Was all of this in service of profundity and literary excellence? Based on the reviews I looked through, many seem to think so, but that wasn't how I read it.

I'm very conflicted. It has so many problems but its also so fascinating. Reading it is an entrancing experience in both a pleasing and displeasing way. It's a very elegant sort of decadence. I don't know.

Rating: 3/5

The Great Change (and Other Lies), First Law World - Joe Abercrombie (2023)

The first three of these stories were previously included in the Waterstones special editions of the Age of Madness trilogy books. The Great Change is published here for the first time. Abercrombie warns that these stories shouldn't be read until after you've read the book it goes with and for the last, until after you've finished the trilogy. What I've written can be read without having read anything else.

The Thread
The devaluation of labor and the ascendancy of capital in an unregulated free market is demonstrated through the production of clothing starting from the harvesting of cotton to the presentation of a garment to a wealthy businesswoman. Quality plummets as profits soar.
Enjoyable

The Stone
The path of a single huge blood diamond is followed from its discovery to its incorporation into regalia. Along the way all manners of criminal activity ensue. A great amount of individual profit is gained through undermining the guild system, organized labor, and solidarity. However, it's never enough.
Enjoyable

The Point
Hundreds of prisoners, political and otherwise, slaves, and other forced labor toil away in the iron mines. Their lives hold no value other than the value they produce for the owner. A man ponders whether the downsides of profit at the expense of all else is worth its rewards. The foundries are indifferent to its usage, cutlery or swords, it matters not as long as they're paid. An arms dealer sells to all sides, as to do otherwise would enrich someone else.
Enjoyable

The Great Change
The origins of The Great Change are revealed. Scenes from the trilogy are presented from a different perspective. New scenes fill out what wasn't previously put on page.
Enjoyable

>>22953722
Nightborn, Coldfire - C. S. Friedman (2023)

This is a strange book. I don't think it stands on its own. It really seems like something only for those who have already read the Coldfire trilogy. I don't believe it's necessary reading for those who have read the Coldfire trilogy though. Probably only the people who need to read it are completionists and those who want to read how the first two weeks or so of colonization went. It doesn't even cover all of what was already included in the trilogy. The Rakh don't make an appearance on-page. I was hoping it would show more of their colonization efforts, because I'd like to read more like that. Instead it mostly focuses on the horror of the unknown and the helpless despair that it creates. I'd describe it as being more horror focused than science fiction or fantasy. To their credit by using the power of science and reasoning they figure out what's going on rather quickly. Unfortunately for them that doesn't really help much at all.

The plot covers from being in orbit to some days after The First/Great Sacrifice. That would seem like the page count is far too much for that. Maybe it is, but it read quickly and I didn't really notice. As for the characters, well, they're there. It's almost entirely told through the perspective of their leader, Leon Case, through daily journal logs. There's 200 colonists to start with and certainly less by the end. I don't really have much to say about them. A few of them of them have flashback scenes to their life on Earth explaining why they decided to join to the seed ship. I didn't care enough about the characters for them to mean much to me though. The main problem with Earth is that there's too many people and not enough opportunities. Every place except for where the seedships are headed have very strict population controls and new positions for anything doesn't open up unless someone dies.

The most troubling issue was that all of it felt insubstantial to me. It really feels like Friedman was just fleshing out the lore for hardcore fans rather than writing an actual novella. That's a nice gesture and one I can appreciate, but the content is lacking for me. Thematically it remains similar to the other books, especially Crown of Shadows.

Dominion, the Tarrant novella that barely qualifies as one, is also included in this book. I've separated it out and it isn't included in my rating for this book. It was rather disappointing and I didn't feel like writing anything for it on its own. I may read more from Friedman, though those 3.5s I gave for each book of the trilogy could've easily have been rounded down.

Rating
Nightborn: 3/5
Dominion: 2/5

Previous books in the series
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Coldfire&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

>>22878295
The Surviving Sky, Rages #1 - Kritika H. Rao (2023)

All that remains of humanity reside in flying cities where plants and trees form the basis of their society. The architects design, maintain, and arguably control everything through their inborn ability to manipulate plants. Sungineers develop technology that runs on the architect power, such as computers and other modern technologies. Humanity was forced to escape to the sky over a thousand years ago due to the Earth Rages which through both tornadoes and earthquakes utterly destroy a region.

This book has a lot of Hindu influence. Most of what I recognized was because it had spread to other cultures. There's a considerable amount that was a clear reference, so I was able to look up a lot to have a general idea what it was going for. The spiritual aspects dominate the narrative for the last ~20%. I admit that much of its significance was lost on me and surely was the greatest contributor to my not comprehending the end goal of the antagonists.

There are two viewpoint characters, a husband and wife in their 30s. Irevan is a senior architect and a member of the council, while his wife, Ahilya, is the world's sole archaeologist. Their relationship is quite troubled for a lot of reasons and they're very bad at acknowledging their problems let alone resolving them. Their relationship drama is present from the beginning, though much else is more important than it. There's a considerable amount of political discussion, social commentary, and philosophizing. Later on the focus shifts to what felt like almost exclusively relationship melodrama with brief interludes of plot progression. Their cycle of remorse and apologizing then lashing out at each other becomes more aggressive, spiteful, and petty until it finally reaches a climax at around 75% through where they have a barely existent sex scene that instantly resolves all of their relationship problems and allows them to have multiple epiphanies.

As to what happens in the book, Ahilya is trying to prove her theories and Irevan is in damage control mode about everything all the time. Their sky cities aren't sustainable any longer and since they don't want them to crash they're trying to figure out what to do about that.

This has been one of the most difficult books for me to write about in a long time because of how promising it started and how disappointed I became by the end. I was greatly enjoying myself and thought I would be giving this 5 stars. For most of the first half I was already planning out how I'd write a strong defense of how and why it hadn't received the reception it deserved. Afterwards there was more and more I couldn't overlook or excuse. Overall, I still liked it for its world and ideas. If the second half and ending hadn't lost me, I would've rated this much higher. It's unlikely I'll read the sequel unless I get over my expectation of more disappointment.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22697481
A Portrait in Shadow - Nicole Jarvis (2023)

A Portrait in Shadow is a historical fantasy novel that loosely follows the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, a renowned 17th century painter, who accomplished several firsts as a female painter. The first half is Artemisia at nineteen years old trying to establish herself in Florence. She paints, seeks out patrons, attempts to be accepted by the academy/guild of magical artists, and tries to earn enough to avoid literally being a starving artist. The latter half has a focus on romance, introspection, and conflict. This novel is about her daily life and the struggles she goes through. It's almost entirely character driven. As this is a fantasy novel, the few years of her life that are depicted are considerably different from what is thought to be known. These differences are explained to be because in this version of Earth, magic and mythical beasts exist.

Magic is either healing or necrotic. The passionate emotions that an artist imbues their art with determines its function. A work of art can either be bound to a single person or affect everyone in an area. The two most common healing properties are alleviating chronic ailments and life extension. As a result the wealthy and Vatican priests commonly live to be well over a hundred years old. Artists die young though because they must give away part of their soul for each magically imbued work of art they create. The more powerful the magic is, the more of their soul it costs. At the opposite end is necrotic magic, the most powerful of which caused the Black Plague. The Grave Age then followed where for centuries all artists were hunted down and killed out of fear that they would bring down more plagues upon the world. Even now, centuries after the Grave Age, any artist who is even accused of dabbling in the dark arts can lose their entire reputation and be tortured to death. The two most important beasts are the Griffon and the Blood Drake, which symbolize Good and Evil, and were nearly hunted to extinction in Europe during the Grave Age.

I read this because I'm reading a manga, Arte, that's inspired by the life of the same historical person. It's even further from her life, though that's because isn't meant to be her. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. A lot of that is because I simply like how it's written. The romance of the latter half is a bit too saccharine and all the would-be sex scenes are fade to black, though I felt it did well enough. I'm conflicted about the purpose of changing so much and saying it's a different version of her rather than being an inspired character, but in this case I'll accept it. I had concerns about how meaningful the beasts and magic would be, but they're both organically integrated into the story in a pleasing way and matter a lot. There's also a considerable amount of sociological exploration concerning magic that I appreciated alongside the social commentary.

Rating: 4/5

These Burning Stars, The Kindom Trilogy #1 - Bethany Jacobs (2023)

These Burning Stars is a character focused space opera told through a split narrative of past and present through multiple points of view. Usually I have several complaints about this method because I don't think it adds much value and slows momentum, but for this book I have no complaints and believe it is the best possible way to have told the story because of how much it enriches the narrative and by how amusing it becomes after having finished the book.

This is among the very best debut novels I've read and is a great novel in its own right. I am thoroughly impressed by how much I enjoyed it from beginning to end. For my personal taste it's written almost exactly how I prefer and there wasn't a single low point. It doesn't reach the heights of what I consider the best, but reading something that is consistently highly enjoyable without almost anything needing to be overlooked is a treasure as well.

All of the viewpoint characters are morally gray at the lightest, though I didn't find any of them to be unlikeable. Three of the viewpoint characters, all gendermarked as women, are Esek, Chono, and Jun. Esek is a sociopath prone to theatrical displays of emotionality and violence, which makes her fun in a terrifying way. Chono is deeply religious and wants to brighten the world, but she's dyed dark by Esek and is ambivalent about her rescuer. Jun is a rogue hacker seeking revenge and profit, though not to benefit herself. They're all involved with each other's drama. This isn't a story where the viewpoints don't cross paths.

The only significant point of contention I have it with it is that I don't understand the practicalities or the meaning of the gendermark system. Each person has a visible physical mark denoting man or woman, and a few taboo exceptions. Most people aren't allowed to choose a mark until they're an adult, though it can be changed afterwards. It's never made clear what percent people choose the same gender as their sex, which are considered separate, or what differences there are.

There a few sex scenes, which are romantic or violent. The most detailed scene isn't explicit enough to definitively know (or so I tell myself) the specific sexual characteristics of both of those involved, though I don't mind whichever configuration it may be. There are several relationships but due to ambiguity involved, it's probably most accurate to call almost all of them sapphic. There's definitely much more of a focus on women.

I'm already hopeful that this will become one of my favorite trilogies, which seems more likely than not currently, but considering how the book ends the second will probably have to be rather different, though I think Jacobs can manage. As far as I'm concerned Jacobs has outshone her relevant and similar contemporaries with her debut.

Rating: 5/5

I received this DRC from Orbit through NetGalley

The Sunlit Man, Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson (2023)

The Nomad's Skip has gone awry and he finds himself stranded on a planet unknown to him. He lacks a sufficient amount of breath-equivalent units of Investiture to Skip again. To escape he'll need to find a power source. In doing so he becomes involved in the rather small planet's problems, namely there's a tyrant trying to subjugate the world to his rule. The sunlight melts and remakes the surface of the world every day. The populace is constantly either running away or hiding from it.

Sanderson said this book was an experiment as to whether he could write epic fantasy at a breakneck pace. The story starts with action and continues on for rest of the time at about the same speed. The climax was a bit more, though it wasn't relatively that much more by comparison to how Sanderson's books have tended to go with an explosive ending. This was a bit frustrating to read because it showed that Sanderson can write without including many hundreds of pages of not doing all that much at a glacial pace. I would prefer there to be far less pages for many of the books. That doesn't seem like it'll happen.

So, how much of the Cosmere does this book reference? A lot. Mostly that's because this novel is probably the furthest in the Cosmere timeline of anything that's been published. That makes this easily the most science fictional book set in the Cosmere yet. Some of the stuff shown is definitely far in advance of our technology. However, fantasy is still very present. This only whets my appetite to see how Sanderson will combine magic and technology in the many years to come. One of the most relevant works are the Stormlight Archive, as the protagonist is a character in those books. Who he is and where he's from is explicitly stated, so it's not something that has to be puzzled out. The other is Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. That's where the populace is from, which again is explicitly stated early on. Aside from that, having read Warbreaker would be somewhat helpful as background information. There's a bit from the Mistborn series, but it would only be minimally useful to have read them. There's a few others, though it's mostly trivial stuff. It's weird to think that a lot of what's shown here may not be relevant to the main Cosmere series for a decade, or decades for that matter. Also, yes, Hoid makes a brief appearance.

So, yeah, it was just a fun time all around. I appreciated the literal change of pace. I may be overly interested compared to the average reader with seeing how the magical and technological systems of the various Cosmere worlds interact with each other. The future Nalthis of Warbreaker continues to play an outsized role in these books considering it only has a single book currently. I also like having the Cosmere in everything from now on as Sanderson has already said, despite the problems that causes for the casual or singular series reader.

Rating: 4/5

>>22557030
Red River Seven - A.J. Ryan (2023)

A man awakens, remembering nothing biographical, though otherwise retaining what he knows. He finds himself on a boat on a river shrouded in dense pinkish mist. There are others with him and they all share surgical scars and have the same memory loss. They seem to be on a mission as they realize they have a certain set of complementary skills that would be useful for survival and for carrying out a special operation. A voice from elsewhere speaks to them. It says they must obey or they will die. Whatever their purpose may be, they must follow their directions, because at the least the boat can be remotely deactivated, leaving them stranded. Precautions have been taken to minimize how much they can tamper with anything. Their greatest danger is each other, at least until they discover the current circumstances of the world.

As per the title, there's red mist, they're on a river, and there's seven of them. It's literal and suits it well. The amnesia is functional and serves a greater purpose than being for plot convenience. In terms of the plot, that they can't remember their lives is integral to everything. However, even if they did have their memories it wouldn't really be that different for several of them. This does limit them as a cast of characters because they're reduced to what their specialty is and a few other core personality traits.

I haven't read anything else by Anthony Ryan, so I'm unable to compare this SF/horror/mystery/thriller to his fantasy novels. What I do know is this seems like it was written to be a movie. Everything extraneous is removed and all there is, is the characters and their mission. I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing, though it's definitely notable. I would watch it if it were made into one because it seems like it could easily transition into a primarily action movie.

The last 15% started leaning into political allegory, or at least that's what I read it as. The only hint before that was that it was mentioned that the 45th president was someone whose name shouldn't be said in polite company. That was fine, though I don't think it was handled all that well. There wasn't an epilogue, which from a reader perspective would've been nice in terms of pay-off. Having one though would've gone against the allegory that had been established and the narrow focus of the narrative. Maybe it's just because it's not that long of a novel that there didn't seem to be any need to do so.

This was a nice read, though it's not really notable in any way. There was a good bit that this story had going in its favor for me. I like amnesiac group stories, which has lead me to read books that I might otherwise wouldn't, for better and worse. I also appreciate it when authors try writing in different genres than what they're known. If I had enjoyed it just a bit more I would've rounded it up.

I received this DRC from Orbit through NetGalley.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22528658
The Big Book of Cyberpunk (2023)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeaffY4DMrD_GfcYbBtXq9rpGIGYNYChFSN6yjGUssw/

>>22430424
Emergent Properties - Aimee Ogden (2023)

Scorn is a seven year old emancipated AI and among the most advanced among the relatively few that exist. Ze activates in the cloud and immediately realizes that ze has no data for the last ten days. Ten days of data that haven't been backed up. By checking the available data ze sees that ze went to the moon to investigate an unknown matter in which zir chassis was destroyed by a subsurf tram that caused a lot of damage. Scorn sets out to find out what ze was investigating, because it must be a huge story. Perhaps it even involves zir two mothers who have divorced and are constantly fighting each other. Whatever the case may be, the truth must become known.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would for what it is, which is a take on an amnesiac protagonist, though in this case it's an AI. The entirety of the novella is Scorn retracing zir activity, which doesn't really make for much of a mystery, or really, a plot. This entails talking to various other AI in person in secure social platform locations known as blackboxes that have a cafe/diner-like vibe. There are other typical sleuthing activities as well. Scorn has a complicated relationship with the two women who developed zir programming which results in some awkward conversations. I found myself surprisingly enjoying simply reading it. I don't know if that would be the case for most others who would read this though. The original matter Scorn was investigating is resolved in a couple pages at the end, which was too neat and easy.

The setting is the sort where corporations have replaced nation states and formal governments play a background role. There's not much said about how well any of it goes for anyone, aside from at least some people receiving Basic, as anything outside of the the investigation is only a peripheral matter. People and AI have Aura ratings, the color of which seemingly indicates the general reputation of a person. One's reputation doesn't matter so much if they have a lot of power and prestige though. One usage of it seems to be to indicate online trustworthiness and quality commentary.

The easy comparison for this is to Murderbot, but I don't think that's a particularly suitable one. Aside from that Scorn is entirely code based, ze ironically behaves in a considerably more human way than Murderbot does. I found it interesting how Scorn makes use of being entirely digital data. The closer comparison would be to one of the character's in Ken Liu's The Gods Have Not Died in Vain. It's a shame that Pantheon was cancelled after a single season and didn't make it that far. My rating for this, specifically the rounding it up, is admittedly a bit generous, but I'm feeling generous towards it, so I may as well. I'd like to read more about this character and setting and that counts a lot for me. This isn't anything special or notable, but somehow I found it nice to read and that's just how it is.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>22405888
Slow Time Between the Stars, The Far Reaches - John Scalzi (2023)
An AI starship with full autonomy and human knowledge is tasked with populating a suitable planet with humanity regardless of how long it may take. I wasn't able to appreciate the AI's mindset. This novelette doesn't have either the problems of Scalzi's recent work that hinders my enjoyment or the parts that I find quite fun. It makes me wonder when and if I'll particularly enjoy anything from Scalzi again. I certainly want to as I prefer liking things to not.

>>22394313
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach, The Far Reaches - Nnedi Okorafor (2023)
I literally don't understand the purpose of this novelette. As far as I can tell it's about going to just out of Jupiter's reach and returning to Earth. If it was more than that, then its practical purpose has eluded me. The majority of the story is them meeting up in their biological ships for a week together, which was fine, but the question of "why?" overwhelmed me. If this is an allegory then I don't understand it all. Maybe it has a lot to say, but if it does I'm hard of hearing at the least.

>>22394313
The Long Game, The Far Reaches - Ann Leckie (2023)
Humans have found intelligent life in the form of small slug-like people on another planet. The story is told from the perspective of one those slug-like persons, who has great ambitions but very little time to accomplish them. There's quite a lot of existential questioning. It's not the typical alien contact story or the usual colonization tale. It's fascinating to see the world from a non-human perspective. If this novelette had more resolution or if it were longer and had accomplished I'd have rated it better. The futility is left ambiguous, similar to the the sole other one I rated decently from this collection. That's probably the main reason why I've rated it as such.

>>22394313
Falling Bodies, The Far Reaches - Rebecca Roanhorse (2023)
This novelette is harmful and misguided. It's a hopelessly self-destructive allegory. The conclusion is abhorrent and irresponsible. It's one of the worst works of short fiction in terms of my personal enjoyment I've ever finished. The story is written well enough, it's simply that I entirely disagree with everything about it. Usually that wouldn't be an issue, but in this case I found it be unbearably frustrating and upsetting. If I had a physical copy I would've been tempted to throw it. You'll have to read what others have written about it if you want to know more because I'm uninterested in writing anything else about it. This is about as futile as it comes.

>>22383658
Void, The Far Reaches - Veronica Roth (2023)
Ace is a janitor on an interstellar passenger ship that experiences considerable time dilation. It's basically the only of its kind that will transport people and not exclusively cargo. Those who come aboard rarely are ever seen again and the crew have become entirely detached from time and to a lesser extent being able to relate to people. Ace generally stays apart from everyone, but now's time for her to play detective because a murder has been committed and she gets really into doing so. There's no one else who cares to do so, so why not?

I was surprised that I liked this novelette the most of this collection, but barely not enough to rate it higher. I wouldn't have expected that considering what else she's written, despite its popularity, isn't really my thing. The author that I do like didn't have good showings this time. I may only have this liked this one relatively the most because it's also the only story of this Amazon collection of notable writers that didn't feel futile.

>>22383658
How It Unfolds, The Far Reaches - James S. A. Corey (2023)
Slow light allows for the duplication of matter over the vast distances of the galaxy, including of people. Thousands of colonies can be started from a single origin point. The baton race to ensure the eternal existence of humanity has begun. Survival is all that matters, regardless of the cost, or how it must be accomplished, or the living conditions there. Out of desperation eternal recurrence has been achieved, but how meaningful is it?

I have a lot of issues with this novelette, but none of them are major aside from being baffled that a certain decision is endlessly repeated when better options must have existed. It could be that I'm rating it as I am because of the author, but I hope not. I primarily see it as a metaphor and it's not one that I like. As with almost every other story in this collection I can only see the overarching theme as being about futility. Maybe others can see it differently, but I'm unable to. I consider this a fail considering who the authors are.

>>22358944
Rose/House - Arkady Martine (2023)

At the end of the 22nd century in China Lake, California, there's an AI called Rose House, which is a literal house in the desert, a desert rose. I don't mean that there's an AI installed in the house, I mean the house itself, and maybe more than that, is the AI. That's what it says right away and several times afterwards. There's a few attempts to play up the creepiness of the house basically being alive, but not nearly enough in terms of intensity or frequency. That sums up everything overall as well, there's not enough substance. This lack isn't merely because of its length, but rather seems to be a conscious choice, or at least I hope that it is.

The story could be construed as a murder mystery, but I think that would be misleading. There's a murder, but only minimal mystery. The real mystery is what Martine is going for. Instead, this is a story about unrequited desire, anxiety of influence, and a few less important things. It's possible that everything that happens is an allegory, but I'd only be guessing about what. There's a lot of rose symbolism, though I don't know much of it is intentional or coincidental references.

As for characters there's Selen(ite), which is a mineral also called desert rose. She's the only one the house will allow inside. Detective Maritza investigates the mystery, though that's describing it charitably. She's mostly just there to have the story told at her. There are other viewpoint characters, which function as plot devices, though not very effective ones. If the other characters have symbolic meanings they weren't readily apparent to me. At times it felt more like a performance that was being put on because its conductor wanted to amuse itself. Everyone else was merely a prop to be used for its play. That's a fine meta idea, but doesn't make for that entertaining of a story, for me at least.

I don't really any see reason for it to be set when it is, aside from trying to make the premise a bit more plausible. The only other indications of it not being contemporary are that people are casually mentioned to be regularly killed for their water rations and that there have been various police reforms. Nothing is seen of the former and the latter is mostly for plot convenience.

The ending is unsatisfying, not for its lack of resolution, because I think that's one of its primary themes, but because it's basically an antihumor joke that I'm unable to appreciate. There are multiple times where a characters tells you that the story is mocking noir tropes, though it didn't really have that many of them.

Overall, this is inoffensive and well-enough written. I feel that it needs to either be considerably shorter or longer, probably shorter. At least them it could be entirely about its gimmick and nothing else. Despite all that I've written above, I didn't dislike it. That's just how feelings work. Maybe it's me imagining what this could've been.

Rating: 3/5

>>22269668
Blade of Dream, Kithamar #2 - Daniel Abraham (2023)

Blade of Dreams was far better than Age of Ash, which I enjoyed as well. Its style comes close to what I believe to be the ideal sort of low fantasy. There wasn't anything still present that bothered me from the previous book, so I had no reason to give this any less than my highest rating. Each book I've read from Abraham has only further cemented his status as one of my favorite authors. He's near the top of the most consistently enjoyable authors I've read and possibly has written the most series that I've highly rated.

Age of Ash began with Harvest while Blade of Dream began with the preceding time of Midsummer, which provided what happened before the first book. Although this second book takes place simultaneously with the first book from Harvest onwards the events depicted are almost entirely different. That's to be expected as none of the viewpoint characters from the first book return as one here. Some of the characters who aren't viewpoints this time appear again, but mostly only in the background and they're often left unnamed. I expect that this layering effect will continue in the third book.

The primary viewpoints are Garreth Left, the eldest son of a major trading house, and Elaine a Sal, the heir to the throne, which makes the story take on a significantly more romantic bent when compared to the first. Minor viewpoints include Divol Senit, a captain in the city guard; Lemel Tarrit, the head chef for the royal family; Finar, a bargeman for the Left family, Vasch, Garreth's younger brother, and two that can't be named without spoiling. Not only viewpoint characters matter though as some of the best characters with the most impactful scenes that provide for the most thoughtful consideration are those whom seemingly have the least agency of their own.

The prevalent theme, which each character explored in their own way, was identity and expectations. How much do the expectations of forces outside of ourselves determine who we are? Is the cost of self-determination worthwhile? Are mutually beneficial compromises between the self and society the best possible outcome? There's a particularly well-written passage near the end that lays out an approach to navigating life through knowing which compromises are necessary to have a satisfying though not ideal life. How one ought to live and how that affects others may require painful consideration, though those who don't at all may be ones causing the most pain to themselves and others.

I had some doubts about whether Abraham could tell the same overall story three times, but all of those doubts have been dispelled. A change in perspective can make all the difference. I eagerly await the third book, which assumedly will come out sometime in 2024. This second book will be released on July 18th, 2023.

I received this DRC from Orbit through NetGalley.

Rating: 5/5

>>22260820
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson (2023)

Yumi and the Nightmare painter is different from almost all of Sanderson's other work, as these secret projects have all been, in that it's romance-oriented. I'd specifically describe this novel as a romantic comedy with dramatic elements featuring an atypical body swap that results in a stranger in a strange land scenario, though they stay together. Sanderson explicitly states his inspirations in the postscript. The starting idea came from the manga, Hikaru no Go, though he cites Your Name, Final Fantasy X, and a story he can't remember the name of as influences. I'd also throw Loop Hero in there as well, mostly as a joke. The influences are decidedly Southeast Asian and so is this new setting, as it's based on South Korea (where he served as a missionary) and Japan. The interior art is by Aliya Chen, which in combination with everything else previously mentioned really gives this a feel of being a Western light novel in everything but name.

The two main characters are Yumi and Nikaro. Hoid is the narrator and almost nothing else. Yumi is a priestess of the spirits who has been raised in a very traditional, orthodox, and conservative manner that's filled with with rituals and abnegation of the self. Most of the story is her coming to realize she's her own person. It could be described as her Rumspringa. Nikaro, the Nightmare Painter, is almost always referred to as Painter. To paraphrase Hoid, he's a essential frontline worker who is underpaid and feels unappreciated. As a Nightmare Painter, he, along with his many colleagues, prevent incursions from literal manifestations of living darkness. Although this is basically a romance, it's still Sanderson, so the most they do is some light touching and a single kiss. However, because it's also influenced by manga tropes, it has a few awkward situations of them being nude together, including at a hot springs. The mutual nudity is part of the interior art, though nothing sensitive is shown.

I don't have much to say about the worldbuilding. It suffices. Nikaro/Painter is in a near contemporary setting that somehow has developed to that level despite the entire world being shrouded in darkness and the population seeming to be relatively minimal. The main gimmick is the Hion, which serves as their magic as technology, though in a rather mundane way. Yumi's setting is a harsh wasteland of flying foliage, burning ground, geysers, and a dependence on spirits to be technology. Both settings are rather inhospitable in their own ways. As for the story itself, which seems to take place rather deep into the Cosmere timeline, it's about them trying to figure out why they body swap and how to resolve that. Through the course of doing so they learn more about themselves, each other, and where they're from. The story probably isn't that important by comparison to them just being together.

Rating: 3/5

>>22250160
The Artifice of Eternity - Aaron H. Arm (2023)

The Artifice of Eternity is a technically proficient book about human nature, society, family, and religion. After solving many critical problems on Earth, the world's wealthiest and most influential man decides that problem of humanity is intractable and personally selects four thousand, including himself, to begin an intentionally planned civilization with the ideal culture on another planet.

What I expected from this book was a science fiction novel primarily about settling a new planet with the hope of it being a utopia and that it didn't work out as they thought it would. Instead I got a Christian allegory of ambiguous meaning. I greatly enjoyed East of Eden, which was a biblical retelling, but this isn't that. The book's description says it's called Project Exodus and the planet is Eden, but even given that I underestimated how religiously oriented it would be. That's strange because the organizers of the project intentionally excluded the religious. Maybe that's why they were oblivious to the bible verses intrusively added into their dialogue. The verses were relevant and explanatory for the events of the story, but surely there could've been a better way. I was baffled when one character asked the other to meet them at Numbers xx:xx and it wasn't commented upon, though if the character had, I would think they would've declined the meeting.

The book's title and the name of the spaceship, Byzantium, are from the W.B. Yeats poem, Sailing to Byzantium. That's not the only similarity to Dan Simmon's Endymion. There were other science fiction novels that came to mind, but they were either ones that I didn't enjoy or that I think were failed attempts to do as they had. There are others references as well that I thought were a bit too blatant for their content, or as some would say, on-the-nose. I couldn't help but roll my eyes about the Erinyes, and a few others.

There's a major plot point that's been done in the Hyperion Cantos, Dune, Revelation Space, and several other series. It was both an inevitable conclusion for the story and entirely out of place. What I mean by that is that I felt like I was reading two different narratives. One was a family saga about life on a newly settled planet for ideological reasons and how everyone adjusted to the difficulties resulting from that. I would've enjoyed this more if that's all it was about. The other was a metaphysical, religious, and political allegory about how humanity is fallen and cannot escape themselves. The story puts forth that there was only one possible way to return to Eden. All others would be left behind. I found these two ideals being together to be both incongruent and underdeveloped in how they were presented. Worse yet, I found the latter to be nonsensical.

Rating: 2.5/5

I received this DRC from Cosmic Egg Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing, through NetGalley

>>22233483
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, Dungeon Crawler #6 - Matt Dinniman (2023)

Wow, so much happens. This may be my favorite of the series thus far. It's also the longest book yet, listed at ~700 pages for the Kindle edition. Surprisingly I didn't mind the length at all, though what constitutes filler will vary by reader. After the opening recap and prologue, the first few chapters are mostly about going through rewards, achievements, processing what happened from the end of the previous book, and talking over about what the current floor will be about. The story didn't seem to really begin until the 5th chapter and by that point it's already at 10%, so roughly 70 pages. Turns out I didn't mind all the preparatory material. The story continuously goes all over the place, but it's a fun wild ride and I wouldn't have it be any other way.

The background setting for the floor is the real world and there's an explicit focus on folklore, particularly of the cryptozoological sort, though the aliens corrupt a lot of it. There's also various religious sorts included as well. As you may have noticed, there's an Uzi Jesus on the cover. The depiction of Jesus may be offensive to some readers, because Dinniman doesn't hold back. Personally, I found it hilarious in how absurd it was all.

As also shown on the cover, the primary mechanic this time is explicitly stated to be an active time battle version of Pokémon combined with Yu-Gi-Oh. It's quite something, especially their summoning intros and quips. Does it make any sense? No. Is it entirely broken in terms of fairness and balance? Yes. Sometimes they just kill their opponent before a card/trainer match can initiate. Everyone knows how silly it is though and that's part of the fun. The fun is what matters the most for me.

There's considerably more focus on the space opera and events outside of the dungeon in general. I wouldn't be surprised that at the end of the next book the space opera becomes the primary narrative and the dungeon becomes the background. I'm withholding judgment on that because the dungeon is what's so fun about it and while I certainly enjoy space opera, I don't know that that's what I want from this. The space opera could end up being an extremely amusing black comedy though and I wouldn't mind that at all.

Rating: 4.5/5 (tentatively rounded up to 5)