John Scalzi seems to write two types of books. One is epic war space battles. The other is humorous sci-fi/fantasy. Starter Villain is the humorous type. 

 

Our main character is a bit down on his luck. He lost his job as a journalist. He is divorced. He moved back home to take care of his father, who passed away. All he has left are some half siblings that resent him because he was the “other” family and because he is making it so they can’t sell the house. 

 

But then his uncle dies, a billionaire that stayed away after a fight with his father at his mothers funeral. But the billionaire uncle didn’t make his fortune from parking lots, he was a villain. And our MC just inherited the family business. 

 

Starter Villain is the perfect combination of humor and hard hitting reality to keep you reading. I flew through the book enjoying it all. I especially appreciated the found family aspect. And the ending was perfection. 

 

Starter Villain is a perfect sci-fi read even for those who do not typically read science fiction. 

I picked this up when I first received it and read 50% through the book before I put it back down. I honestly only finished it in an attempt to increase my arc percentage. I love non-fiction books. I love learning facts and hearing arguments and I am especially interested in the impact of sugar because I do not think it gets enough attention.

However, Sugar by James Galvin is boring and repetitive. The most impactful parts of the books are the connection between sugar and slavery, and seeing Galvin's other books it makes sense that this is a topic that he has researched extensively. However, once we reach past this point the arguments are week and not well backed up. For example, Galvin makes the claim that sugar causes obesity and that this is not just a modern issue. He then backs up this claim by writing two full pages of offensive words used to call people who are overweight. Not only should this never have been included it does nothing to back up his argument, and any argument does need to be proven. The rest of the book is similar with a lot of fat shaming thrown in and victim blaming mixed in. 

The Mom Group is literary fiction that may also be classified as women’s fiction. It is told in first person POV which limits us to the emotions of the main character…all the emotions. We all have parts of ourself that we like more than other parts and that is true of our main character.

At times I sat on the sidelines while she made some incredibly rash decisions. I wanted to be the bff asking her if that is really what she wanted to do. But I always emphasized with her. And the character growth was exceptional.

The plot was slow at times, we are following someone’s day to day live which is not always live action. Yet even in the slower parts I was fully vested. Oh the gaslighting. I had to read through the end to see what was happening hoping she didn’t get played by the author. 

While all might not be well…the ending was perfect. It made sense and was kind of cathartic to be honest. 

I stick a lot to sci-fi and fantasy but it is nice to break away and this was an exceptional break from my own reading routine. I related to the main character a lot more than I expected. I had a similar journey as hers for very different reasons and I appreciated watching her grow. I highly recommend The Mom Group. Go check it out!

I wanted to love this book. It sounded interesting, and I already had a good history with the author’s writing. It was a hyped book even for the arc, and it should have been true bookish love. 

 

Except, the more I sit with this book, the more I find wrong with it. It is also going to be very hard to write this review spoiler free. But I will do it - if you want more specifics, then please reach out. I would be happy to give you spoiler examples. 

 

The premise of the world is that you can jump into different bodies. Then bodies become more husks and less attachment. This fell flat for me on multiple levels. People were attached, and yet there was still no trauma. People should have been able to jump bodies to stop from being killed…and yet…Then the entire society was built on an individual number. We have that now (at least in the US). It is called a social security number - and how well does that work out for us? In order for that to work, you would have to keep giving out your number to so many people to verify it, making it even less secure. It just wouldn’t hold up for any real security. 

 

When people jump, the color of their eyes stay the same. So you can tell if someone has been invaded if their eye color changes. Especially if there are very rare eye colors like yellow - which only royalty have. How does this work? No idea. But it is supposed to be a constant. And herein lies a massive plot hole - one that I can’t even hint out without spoilers. But once you read the book, come back and read this rule and then thing through the characters and see if you spot the MASSIVE unexplained plot hole. 

 

Also, the ending was both extremely predictable as well as one massive set of confusion to set up for book two. Like it was just decided at the last second not to make it a stand-alone. If it had been a stand-alone, I probably would have liked it better. 

 

There are also random present tense changes that I only hope were caught before publication and some other writing areas that should have been fixed, and I hope were. 

 

If you can ignore all of that, the book is fine. I also completely understand why people DNF’ed it early. I honestly don’t know what to rate this book, so I don’t think I will. 

Flight & Anchor is a prequel novella to one of my favorite books - Firebreaker. The novella follows two major figures in the original novel. While it is a prequel, do not read it first. Firebreaker provides much needed world building that the novella does not have. 

 

In Flight & Anchor the characters are children (superhuman children, but still children) and because of this the narration is more passive than would normally be used. I think this decision worked because when it became important the time turned back to active. 

 

This novella was a great edition to the world and I really enjoyed it. However, I’m not sure it would stand on its own without the original novel. But it isn’t supposed to, so it works. So if you haven’t, go read Firebreaker then pick up this novella. 

I love this book. This is an alternate reality Dr. Who fan service. I honestly thought that it would be a great nod to Dr. Who, a cute fun read. And it is. But it is also so much more. 

 

The story is complex with rich characters that both encompass the style of Dr. Who but also expand in their own way. There are nods to the way aliens are perceived but then it goes beyond to where I was left completely shocked by the turn of events. 

 

It is queer, specifically looking at gender beyond what biological parts a person was regenerated with. And as someone had to point out to me it has the Aro/Ace flag right on the cover. How could I not love it? 

 

While the book does not get into politics and historical (politically at least) events on earth, it also does not ignore them. Society is called out for what it is when it is. Although, science fiction fandom is more integral to the plot and I found myself transported to the first Star Trek convention. In my soul it felt like I was really there and I cannot tell you how much joy that gave me. 

 

If you like Dr. Who, TOS Star Trek, and/or queer sci-fi then pick up this book. If you like none of those I still say you should read it - because those are all very epic things.