Archive for the ‘Reviews of books’ Category
The Doors of Eden
{5/5} “There were places you did not go casually that could transform you or vanish you away. There were valleys where monsters might brush your elbow, from the other side of a divide incomprehensible to the human mind. There were clawed tracks that led off in directions they had no name for, into impossible distances […]
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds III
{5/5} “When the bad memories rear up, I check to see if they have any relevance to my present circumstances. If they do, I learn whatever lesson they have to teach me. If they don’t, I summon happy thoughts and overwhelm the sadness, drowning my sorrows in joy.” (from “Dorian’s Diary”) Star Trek: Strange New […]
The Raven Tower
{4.5/5} “The office of Raven’s Lease offered many privileges and a share (along with the Council of the Directions) in the rule of Iraden, as well as the rule of Ard Vusktia across the strait. But there was a price: two days after the death of the Raven’s Instrument — the bird embodying the god […]
Ninefox Gambit
{4.5/5} “She was looking out of the window as they arced into the sky, so she saw the waiting Kel bannermoth drop two bombs, neat and precise, on the site they had just left. A day’s worth of hard battle and the entire objective rendered irrelevant by high explosives. She kept watching until the explosions’ […]
VOY String Theory: Evolution
{4.5/5} “While most of these hotshots around here act all blasé about rearranging planetary systems and making stars go nova, the truth is, simple games of chance entertain them endlessly. I’ve seen Q at the slots for days, shoveling in their chips and pulling the handle to see if the primordial DNA combinations the box […]
VOY String Theory: Fusion
{4.5/5} “Chakotay was not at all surprised to see that in the space of a breath, the jovial woman who had just lingered lovingly over a child’s drawing was gone and in her place stood the most determined leader to ever right point on a Federation vessel. Sometimes he thought they had survived this long […]
Every Heart a Doorway
{4.5/5} “Most of us are here because we want to be able to open our doors at will, at least at first. Sometimes the desire goes away. Sometimes the door comes back. Sometimes we just have to learn to deal with being exiles in our home countries.” Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, published […]
VOY String Theory: Cohesion
{4.5/5} “‘You would retain your individuality, Lieutenant, not become a member of the collective. You couldn’t because there is no collective here.’ Seven of Nine stopped then and considered, realizing she was not being completely accurate. ‘Actually, that is not true: we would be the collective — a collective of two.’” Star Trek: Voyager — […]
Silver in the Wood
{4.5/5} “At once slow deep green rolled over him. He took a breath, and another, smelling old rotting leaves and healthy growth and autumn light. He felt almost as though he could have planted his feet and become a tree himself, a strong oak reaching up to the sky, brother of the old oak who […]
Lent
{5/5} “On Maundy Thursday he washed the feet of all his brothers and all the poor who crowded into the pilgrim hall for bread. He has been out and about through the four quarters of Florence, learning the narrows mazes of the streets, giving comfort to the sick and dying with his own hands, whoever […]