Researcher and educator from Sydney, Australia. You’ll usually find me on the forgotten parts of the web.
My ratings ★ Not recommended ★★ Not for me, but may be okay for you? ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good, recommended ★★★★★ Exceptional, couldn't put it down
This link opens in a pop-up window
Not as engaging or imaginative as the first, it mostly served to tie up plot points and intrigue. I've begun the third book but in many ways it seems unneeded? Perhaps McLeod will explore new ideas in it.
Mega-City One, 2143 AD. Home to over 160 million citizens, this urban hell is situated …
He's not the cautionary tale we deserve, but he's the one we need.
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
That was a lot. I'll need time to process it.
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
Content warning Slight allusions to general plot directions
What a strange book to be reading when a close family member dies. An extended rumination on loss and grief, from many perspectives. I found it almost too much to pick up again.
But suddenly a shift. New worlds may be possible. An interesting book.
When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find …
Just didn't gel with this one. I think the pacing and characterisation is wasn't for me, but might be for you.
A beautiful, soulful book. The ephemera included gave me a real sense of who Woody was as a person and what he stood for. A loving book about a genuine icon.
Fourth book in the Dune series. Takes place 3500 years after the events of the …
Yeah, that was as strange as I remember but also, soemhow, vastly more boring. The endless lectures!
Fourth book in the Dune series. Takes place 3500 years after the events of the …
Yeah, now we're into the genuinely weird shit - and not necessarily in a good way.
The science fiction masterpiece continues in the "major event,"( Los Angeles Times) Children of Dune. …
Book 3, here we go. I remember some of this from reading it 30 years ago, let's see if it's as weird as I recall.
Peer pressure from November Kelly
I was quite intrigued to revisit the Revelation Space universe. This rambling, largely pointless story felt tired. The characterisation was thin throughout. The ending was disappointing for its lack of resolution. A real shame.
Interesting to revisit this setting after so many years. I wonder what an older, more jaded version of me will make of it.
A follow-up to the Hugo Award-nominated Blindsight, Echopraxia is set in a 22nd-century world transformed …
I continued on to this after reading Blindsight, because even though I didn't love it I had some enduring questions. An error on my part. There were more deliberate ambiguities than plot points in this book.
I won't provide a plot précis. This has some compelling concepts and big ideas, but was frankly a mess. Characters' motivations remain inexplicable even at the end of the book.
Amusingly this AMA with the author seems to boil down to "you're reading it wrong". Authors, please get over yourselves.
This deepened my appreciation of Woody and my understanding of his life and work. The inclusion of handwritten work, photos and ephemera was beautiful and makes the reader feel connected to him as a person in a way that sterile words on a page can't.
Blindsight is a hard science fiction novel by Canadian writer Peter Watts, published by Tor …
The ideas are compelling, and the inclusion of recreated vampires is a weird but interesting diversion. There's no emotional core though. In some ways that's by design - the primary narrative POV is of someone who's had significant, personality-destroying psychosurgery. I found myself asking why should I care about any of this throughout.