Werewolves? Yes. There were.

Well, that was horrible

Humanity is extinct, the race of intelligent bears who replaced them fell victim to a brian-eating virus and now their old slaves are the dominant species. Strange ights in remote places and fanciful stories about alien visitors are spreading, but is it really a First contact situation or just the rise of a dangerous new cult?

Excellent post-anthropocene novel about life going on in the long term. The audio book narration is a bit flat

After the collapse of a corporate drive to colonise Mars, an array of misfits, romantics and roughnecks eke out a living on the hostile planet, impeded and obstructed by the remnants of the corporation. Centring around the comings and goings of the characters at an eccentric family-run bar, this is full of charm and excitement and soap-opera famly dramatics.

As a thriller and as satire it's as savage as ever. Pity about the squicky romance.

At base, Parker's a primitve animal of a person, but in this one he's unusually savge and driven by emotions, mostly rage and a desire for payback, that he doesn't really understand. That doesn't stop him killing a bunch of folks and threatening a few men and women - Stark does not hold back, he's an abusive asshole - but the tight plotting that goes on to characterise the series is there as well as indications of the cool machine that's Parker's more usual state. 

Though I was enjoying it thoroughly I was giving this book the side-eye because I find it hard to accept that any fiction set in the near future will not be dominated by climate change. Then as I realised what the book was doing, the rationale became apparent. Just as removing the book from the current setting does away with the distractions of current dominating personalities and issues in order to examine the fundamental problems of information and democracy, so too does sidelining what is sure to be a major concern for any political process in the century to come in order to avoid distorting the books central concerns. In one throaway paragraph near the end one of the main characters stops playing a popular game in disgust because the main villain has been changed to resemble a populiast figure mired in scandal - so much for the utility of culture in dealing with political problems, which is perhaps ironic in a science fiction novel. 

Anyway, it's been a while since I've read a science fiction novel so throoughly centred on political process - Bruce Sterling's Distraction and Interface, co-authored by Neal Stephenson are all I can think of - and it really is amazing how much thrills and drama can be wring from wonkish folk wrangling data and trends. there's the odd chase and the retaking of an office block, but it's all about the election in a future system where democracy has been broken down to areas of 100,000 people, or centenals, each one goverened by its own govrnement, whichever group has the most centenals is the Supermajority. It's a new system, going into its second election of a ten-year cycle, managed by Information, a neutral body that disseminates data and counts votes and oversees campaiging. 

Ken works for Polcy1st, a wonkish group, slipping into centenals to guage the likelihood of turning them Policy1st's way. Mishima works for Information, running security and general troubleshooting. Seperately they start to hear rumblings o f dodgy goings-on in ceratin dominant groups, and together, if they can somehow manage to trust each other, they can prevent the whole system becoing corrupted. Through an earthquake, an information blackout and a contentious election, they commit to the drudgery of monitoring yrends and keeping the data flowing, and somehow, it's exciting and readable and even important - just the right balance of idealism and disillusionment (and enthusiams and burnout) to keep the non-glamorous work of keeping democracy working to explore the central issues of our political systems without being jaded or cynical.

Can't believe I don't have a review of this here already. Creepy serial killer, secret hidden tribe conspiracy thriller packed with atmosphere and suspense. Dead parents, puzzling clues, dreadful secrets, a missing girl, an obsessed ex-detective, a dedicated FBI agent, a loyal friend, and a pack of utter monsters, elevated by Marshall's excellent prose. 

A massive, gothic, crumbling empire, families striving for immortality and power, pairs of necromancers and cavaliers strive to uncover the secrets of the lictors while bodies pile up and secrets unfold. Gideon, a bg ball of attitude, and Harrowhawk, a big ball of ambition, hate each other, but must work together to uncover the murderer, the secrets, and fight for survival. The diaogue is absolutely hilarious, the action gruesome, the world weird and and dark. 

The most gorgeous beautiful achingly magical thing I've read in ages. A true piece of comfort and wonder.