Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

This book was the perfect mood read at the perfect time.  I loved it!  The basic premise is that a bunch of ex-military have "escaped" their cult to open a restaurant called The Last Chance at the edge of the universe on a station called TwiceFar.  A culinary critic is coming to judge their restaurant and the crew is hoping this meal leads to better things.  Of course doom ensues and adventure (however unwanted) awaits.

This book was an excellent blend of character-driven moments and action.  It is funny and thoughtful and just plain wonderful.  I can't really get into the plot because I think it be better to go in blind.  However here be a hint of things ye can find.  A diverse crew, eggplant, ghosts, potential prophecy, banter, evil space pirates (Arrr!), awesome sounding meals, magic (science?), politics, found family, and other shenanigans.

While I loved the plot, the characters were the hit for me.  The highlight of course is the bio ship, You Sexy Thing (Arrrrrr!).  How can ye not love the sentient ship?  Niko Larson, former Admiral and leader of the gang is the main point of view for most of the novel but other crew members get some time too.  I love the many types of people and how they live and interact.

Do be aware that this book is not all light fluff.  Murder, torture, and other things exist too.  Evil pirates indeed.  But this book worked for me on all levels and I highly recommend it.  It can be a standalone but I hope there will be more.  Arrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank ye Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Ahoy there mateys! I wanted a yarn about a killer she-pirate who took no prisoners and got all the gold. Getting yerself kidnapped on purpose to find a secret treasure map - crafty and awesome. Too bad Alosa was one of the worst pirates ever. She certainly had a high opinion of her own ruthlessness but couldn't help but complain about her poor clothes and dirt on her cell floor. Boo hoo hoo. And then her insta lust was the last straw. Simpering and angsty and just plain ridiculous. I listened to about half of this. ALL of the pirates in this were a disgrace to the Code. If I met Alosa I would run her through. Pirate? Bah. Lying landlubber telling a tall tale that weren't good. Too bad I spent some of me own loot to buy this disgrace of a story. Avoid like the plague. Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Though I try to post no spoilers, this be for book two so proceed at yer own peril.  Here be me honest musings . . .

It was lovely to dive back into this world.  Lin, the bone shard emperor of the title, remains me favourite character by far.  Her life has been upended and trouble is on the horizon.  Lin decides to travel the islands to consolidate power while trying to overcome her father's horrible legacy.

With her is Jovis the smuggler.  While I loved him in book one, I kinda hated him in book two.  He makes bad choices, lies, and doesn't communicate.  I quickly disliked reading his points of view.  I do not appreciate how Lin and Jovis relate to one another.  I also hated Sand's points of view because her theme of vengeance at all cost got old real quick.  While I didn't like those two, I enjoyed Phalue and Ranami more than in the first book.

This book really did feel like a middle book with the set up for the big conflict to come.  That said, I still love the world building and there were some surprises in store.  Mephi remains a highlight especially with his teenager attitude.  Thrana rocks too.  I ended up finding Gio's backstory excellent.  Ayesh was a fun addition.

While I have gripes, the book was engaging and good entertainment.  I am very much looking forward to how the politics will resolve.  But mostly I just want more Mephi, Thrana, and their new friends.  Arrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Orbit Books!

Ahoy there me mateys! Here I take a second look at a previously enjoyed novel and give me crew me second reflections, as it were, upon visitin’ it again . . .

It’s Sci-Fi Month!! I know that me blog focuses on sci-fi (and fantasy) but I am always happy to promote more books. So what better why to celebrate the month by starting out with a reread of one of me favourite books of all time? I absolutely love the Imperial Radch series. The first book in the series won the following awards:

Hugo Award for Best Novel (2014), Nebula Award for Best Novel (2013), Locus Award for Best First Novel (2014), Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel (2014), British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel (2013), Philip K. Dick Award Nominee (2013), John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee (2014), The Kitschies for Golden Tentacle (Debut) (2013), James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List (2013), Seiun Award 星雲賞 for Best Foreign Novel (2016)

How is that for a list? The series involves Breq who used to be the artificial intelligence of the starship, The Justice of Toren. In addition to being the ship, she also had control of thousands of human soldiers. The catch is that she has lost control of everything except one human body. She is out for revenge.

Now I first read this back before I had a blog. This reread was (I think) me fourth of the novel. I continue to love the world building and character of Breq. On me other reads I was more focused on Breq’s history and plotting. This time I focused a lot more on Seivarden Vendaai’s story for some reason. Seivarden lost their ship and then was in status for a thousand years. Breq was at one point an officer on The Justice of Toren. I loved watching Seivarden change as a person in terms of dealing with their past, changing previously held viewpoints, and just becoming a better person. The novel is told from Breq’s point of view but I loved all of Breq’s thoughts about Seivarden.

On this read I also focused more on little details like Breq’s music choices, the memorial pins, and the many ideas around gender. This musical elements in this book were enhanced by an author interview that wasn’t in the first version of the book that I read. I enjoyed learning about how choral music influenced the writing. I still get a little hung up on the Anaander Mianaai ramifications at the end of the book despite the many reads but I don’t care because it still be awesome.

If ye haven’t read this series, I highly recommend it. I am likely going to reread the other books in this series soon because it has been too darn long. Arrrr!

Also Matey Nikki recently revisited this novel as well. It is a comfort read for her too. She said:

“This has somehow become a comfort read for me, and it’s hard to explain why. It’s clever, of course: it’s so very clever, with the slow unfolding of the dual-timeline narrative, with the pronouns, with the various bits of worldbuilding that make up a whole lived-in universe. It’s a beautiful exploration of how you might shackle powerful AIs, and also of how identity might fracture and change when you spread yourself through hundreds of bodies across an empire so large you can’t keep them all in immediate contact with one another, and also of various moral decisions to do with colonialism and empire, but also the right thing to do step by step and day by day.”

Ahoy there mateys. I always seem to like this author’s ideas and not his writing style. I tried to listen to this one on audiobook and only made it halfway. The story was evocative and the pain, anger, and racism was palpable. The mix of fantasy and sci-fi and the time jumps in the story lessened the appeal for me. Though really this book is not written for me as the intended audience.

Ahoy there mateys! I heard great things about this grimdark trilogy and decided to give it a whirl. Sadly I abandoned ship 2/3 of the way through book one. Part of this was the formatting of the ebook I was reading where the end of sentences kept getting chopped off. But at first I wasn't letting it stop me. But really, in the end, the problem was that I kept putting it down and not having the urge to pick it back up. I liked some of the concepts of the books and several characters but the story felt disjointed. The bad guys were flat. The plot felt oversimplified. There were too many point of views. And the world building did not make sense. Not for me. Moving on. Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I wanted to read this book ever since I saw the wonderful cover. I requested it from NetGalley as an eArc and was denied.  And then I kept forgetting about this book (Hardy har har!).  But no matter, I have finally managed to read this and I am glad that I did.

This book has been described as a Jane Austen inspired YA fantasy involving a magical book.  It certainly has pride & prejudice and emma vibes.  The author is German and so I was also interested in it because I love reading translated books for the different perspectives.

This book follows Emma who attends the boarding school where her father be the headmaster.  She is determined to take charge of her destiny and make the most of the upcoming school year.  Then she finds a magic book that makes things she writes come true.  So she of course uses it and it's a bit of a mess.

I really did enjoy reading this even though not everything worked for me.  I liked Emma and her friendships with the other girls at school.  I liked the magic book itself, how it worked, and the mysteries that needed to be solved.  There were secret tunnels which are always awesome.  I loved many of the Austen-esque vibes.  The ending also worked very well for me.

I did not like that the students at the school seemed to have no real oversight and the education seemed more like a joke.  There were an awful lot of parties, sweets, and sneaking out at this boarding school.  Not all of those things are bad but just seemed unrealistic.  Also the two boy visitors (and love interests) just ran amuck doing whatever, wherever.  Unrealistic for two 18 to 20-ish year old boys to have that much freedom in a school dang it!  Did not like the kinda creepy Darcy and Emma relationship.  And Emma's father let her run wild and get away with everything.  Loving aye but a horrible parent.  Not a fan.  And of course I guessed the villain early on.

I know that be a lot of problems but this was a quick read and there was a lot of fun in it.  I rolled me eyeballs quite a bit but was engrossed and had to know how it ended.  So no regrets from me and I would pick up some of the author's other works.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! Oops!  This was the 11th book of 2021 and I thought I had reviewed it.  It was a solid read and the first part of the duology.  There are two main characters.  One is Charlie, a ranger on an ecologically preserved planet.  The other is Nona, who grew up on a space station. There is a light romance subplot that I didn't mind.  There are also AI who were banished from society but thrived instead of dying out.  The AI are back in "civilized" space.  The conflict is interesting as are the characters and how the AI are described.  I will be reading the second half. Arrr!