Archive for the ‘Reviews of books’ Category
To Trade the Stars
{4.5/5} “The Hoveny… had spread itself that far and possibly farther before its interstellar empire collapsed — around the same time Humans were four-footed shrews. Study of the Hoveny Complex was one of the most highly funded fields of research among Trade Pact cultures, given that newer species were determined not to repeat whatever mistakes […]
Ties of Power
{4.5/5} “There was, I granted grudgingly, reason for the Clan to be so desperate, to act with such disregard for individuals. It was at the root of every being’s existence: to have a living future. That, as Morgan would say, did not make it right. There had to be other choices, better methods. Some costs […]
A Thousand Words for Stranger
{4.5/5} “You have touched the M’hir. Part of our unconscious selves is always there, mingling on some level with all other living Clan, as the air on your ship moves in and out of all our bodies. The M’hir is inseparable from the Clan; it gives us abilities and strengths your species needs machines to […]
The Expert System’s Champion
{5/5} “Suddenly the Bandage-Men were fighting their beasts and taking their outcasts. And passing word from one village to another, and though that seemed the least of what we do, ten years has shown me it’s actually the biggest change of all. As the Order grows and prospers, villages will become more and more used […]
The Expert System’s Brother
{5/5} “We are cast out, all of us… See what that means? No lawgiver will come save you. No community will step in to provide for you or protect you, save that which we make together. Leave me and starve, if you will… Or stay with me and obey me, for to me is given […]
The Terraformers
{5/5} “The ancient order of environmental engineers and first responders traced their lineage all the way back to the Farm Revolutions that ended the Anthropocene on Earth, and started the calendar system people still used today. According to old Handbook lore, the Trickster Squad — Sky, Beaver, Muskrat, and Wasakeejack — founded the Environmental Rescue […]
Behold the Ape
{4.5/5} “Somehow Isaac got a script into the hands of H.G. Wells himself, who wrote back, ‘…Because you’re aiming to distress Nigel and Desmond Rowen, I’ll see you the rights for a pittance — my way of thumbing my nose at their grandfather, who routinely tormented my old teacher, Thomas Henry Huxley. However, you must […]
Acts of Violet
{4.5/5} “I’ve been immersed in the purgatory of my sister’s disappearance for the last decade. I think about her every… day. But since I prefer to avoid big emotional displays, I get criticized for not caring enough about her absence (mostly by people I don’t know, sometimes by the one I gave birth to). It’s […]
Untethered Sky
{5/5} “All I’d ever wished for was to become a ruhker and hunt manticores, and now that I’d achieved that goal, I wanted to become a better ruhker, someone as skilled as Darius, as accomplished and respected as the most senior members of the mews. I had no desire to attend royal feasts or go […]
Chaos Terminal
{4.5/5} “She had been served a plate of green leafy vegetables and was glad to finally have a salad, only to realize the greens were a shield so that the real, caterpillar-like creatures, would feel safe and not try to run off the plate immediately. When Mallory had tried to eat the greens, the waitstaff […]