Wanderlustby Ann Aguirre320pp (Paperback)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 5/5Goodreads Rating: 4.34/5 Wanderlust, which just came out this past Tuesday, is the second book in Ann Aguirre’s Jax series following her debut novel Grimspace. Grimspace did have the distinction of being the most entertaining, easy to get into and most difficult to put down book I had read this year – at least until I read Wanderlust, which I liked even better. Fair warning for those who haven’t read Grimspace […]

Before They Are Hangedby Joe Abercrombie539pp (Paperback)My Rating: 7/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.24/5Goodreads Rating: 4.34/5 Joe Abercrombie’s Before They Are Hanged is the middle book in his First Law trilogy, following The Blade Itself and preceding Last Argument of Kings (which has an official US launch date of Sept. 23, but is already available from some outlets). Much like The Blade Itself, Hanged is a book that I enjoyed reading for reasons I don’t entirely understand. When viewed separately its […]

Use of Weaponsby Iain M. Banks512pp (Trade Paperback)My Rating: 8.5/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.1/5Good Reads Rating: 4.23/5 The Culture novels by Scottish science fiction writer Iain M. Banks are stand alone stories taking place within the titular universe, an egalitarian interplanetary utopia in which capitalism, disease, and (to an extent) even death no longer pose a problem to humanity. Although each book has a different storyline with a separate set of characters, it is often recommended that The Player of […]

Crystal Rainby Tobias Buckell384pp (Paperback)My Rating: 4/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.86/5Good Reads Rating: 3.62/5 Crystal Rain, Tobias Buckell’s debut novel, is the first book in a series of stand-alone space operas set in the same universe (if it has a series name, I can’t find it on Buckell’s site or Amazon). It is followed by Ragamuffin, which was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2007, and Sly Mongoose, which just came out a few days ago. These books seem to […]

Young Milesby Lois McMaster Bujold864pp (Paperback)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.32/5Good Reads Rating: 4.17/5 Young Miles is an omnibus containing three stories in the “Miles Vorkosigan” series by Lois McMaster Bujold — the novel The Warrior’s Apprentice, the Hugo award winning novella “The Mountains of Mourning” and the Hugo award winning novel The Vor Game. Although the books in this series are self-contained and not written in any particular order, these three are compiled in chronological order and come […]

Whiskey and Waterby Elizabeth Bear448pp (Trade Paperback)My Rating: 8/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.89/5Good Reads Rating: 3.82/5 Whiskey and Water is the second book in Elizabeth Bear’s urban fantasy series “The Promethean Age.” It takes place a few years after the end of Blood and Iron, the first book in the series, which should be read before this one. The next two books in the series, Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth (to be released in just a few days […]