Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lynn McGuire Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: Highlights and Lowlights - April 2025 Date: Mon, 5 May 2025 14:34:56 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 143 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 05 May 2025 21:34:56 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="fe7fc4c45bfa54166962083c93eed93e"; logging-data="1262166"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19pnWw/vhmeiM13vMJJ1yIp2K1EPpl/eCQ=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:IOJTKtdvvDZCohoanTY9pOPuibE= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US On 5/5/2025 2:15 PM, Tony Nance wrote: > > Highlights and Lowlights - April 2025 > > Books are rated using a very primitive rating system: > “+” are good, and more “+” are better > “-” are not good, and more “-” are worse > > I’m happy to answer questions about anything here. > > Highlight & Lowlight: > Kind of middle-of-the-road quality all month long. Nothing sticks out in > either direction. > > April 2025 > ( ++ 1/2 ) Bookshops & Bonedust - Baldree [Legends & Lattes #2 (but it’s > a prequel)] > ( ++ - ) The Reefs of Space - Pohl & Williamson [Starchild Trilogy #1] > ( ++ - ) Shards of Glass - Sagara [Academia Chronicles #1] > ( ++ ) The Warden - Daniel M Ford > ( + 1/2 ) Planets of Adventure - Leinster [ed. by Flint & Gordon] > ( ++ 1/2 ) Sanctuary - Ilona Andrews [Roman Chronicles #1] > ( ++ 1/2 ) Chimera’s Fall - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #16] > ( +++ - ) On the Steel Breeze - Reynolds [Poseidon’s Children #2] > > Now Reading: > Long work - Mickey 7 - Ashton > Collection - A Liaden Constellation 1 - Lee & Miller > > =========================================== > April 2025 > ( ++ 1/2 ) Bookshops & Bonedust - Baldree [Legends & Lattes #2 (but it’s > a prequel)] > I’m not generally fond of prequels, but this one worked pretty well. > This is very much in the same vein and tone as the first one (Legends & > Lattes). We join orc mercenary Viv toward the end of her very first > mission with Rackam’s outfit, where her inexperience and bravado get her > severely injured. Rackam & co continue pursuit of the evil necromancer, > but have to leave Viv behind in sleepy seaside town of Murk while she > heals. They promise to return for her after the mission is completed. > While Viv heals and recovers, she makes acquaintances and has positive > impact on the community. Viv is an interesting character, and I’ll read > #3 at some point. > > ( ++ - ) The Reefs of Space - Pohl & Williamson [Starchild Trilogy #1] > Holds up surprisingly well for being 60+ years old. But it is clearly > 60+ years old. Solar-system-based, dystopian a la’ Orwell’s 1984, > complete with a surveillance state run by a Machine which orders > everyone to follow The Plan. (Fyi, these capitalized nouns are from the > authors, not me.) For the reader, the plot and settings carry the day, > as the book is populated by one-dimensional stock characters. The > protagonist is a mathematician who has become a Risk to the state, and > as such, he is fitted with an exploding collar. Like all collared > individuals, it will be detonated if he has too many Unplanned Thoughts. > Special for him, though, it will also be detonated if he doesn’t invent > the Jetless Drive, which only requires him to violate Newton’s Third > Law. Bummer dude. > I already finished reading #2 a few days ago, and will read the third/ > final book at some point. > > ( ++ - ) Shards of Glass - Sagara [Academia Chronicles #1] > This is set in the Elantra Universe, with many shared characters and > settings, and runs parallel to — even slightly intertwined with — > Kaylin’s saga. The focus is on prized student Robin in the Academia, > which is now run by the dragon Lannagaros, the former Arkon. This was > fine, but not nearly as good as all the other Elantra stuff I’ve read. I > don’t know why this one didn’t click for me, though I will say that I’m > not very interested in Robin’s human family and caste court issues. I > don’t know if I’ll read #2 or not. Probably. Maybe. > > ( ++ ) The Warden - Daniel M Ford > This is a series-starter, and the 2nd & 3rd are also published. Aelis is > a city-born-and-bred noble who has just graduated near the top of her > class from the Lyceum (a prestigious college of magic). To her deep > dismay, she has been assigned as a Warden to Lone Pine and its > surrounding environs, which is pretty much the most rural place in the > empire, as well as the most distant from the city and college. This > place is r-e-m-o-t-e. As we see Aelis and the villagers adapt to each > other, she starts to uncover some true dangers to both Lone Pine and the > entire Empire.  She’s an interesting character, and becomes surrounded > by interesting characters as well. Although I did not appreciate the > huge cliffhanger ending, I will read #2. > > ( + 1/2 ) Planets of Adventure - Leinster [ed. by Flint & Gordon] > The final 1/3 of this volume is 5 stand-alone stories (the first two > thirds being the books The Forgotten Planet and The Planet Explorer), > and they’re fine. Not great, not awful - fine. > > ( ++ 1/2) Sanctuary - Ilona Andrews [Roman Chronicles #1] > Novella-length, set in the Kate Daniels universe, and completely focused > on Roman, who is a Black Volhv (empowered rep/priest) of Chernobog, God > of Destruction, Darkness, and Death. (This does not mean God of Evil, by > the way - more like being the God of the Difficult Necessities of Life.) > Isolated on his 15 acres way out in the sticks, Roman finds a boy near > death just outside his small home. When the boy specifically asks for > sanctuary, Roman must comply. Shortly thereafter, some mercenaries come > to retrieve the boy. When they fail miserably, they hire some mages to > help. Things get very interesting when that fails as well. Roman is dour > and pessimistic, but also funny, and I will read the next one. > > ( ++ 1/2 ) Chimera’s Fall - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #16] > I believe this series narrowly avoided jumping the shark a couple books > ago, and this one is a pretty solid entry. This is completely a Roslyn > book, which is fine, but I miss Damien. Connor (the Ambassador to > Chimera) is a co-protagonist. Picking up immediately after the last > book, distant-system Chimera is awaiting the attack of the evil > devouring civilization that just rediscovered them, and Roslyn and Co > are coordinating with Mars and Chimera to evacuate the entire Chimera > system, because they know they can’t defeat the big-bads (at least not > yet). There are lots of political and military issues to navigate, and > of course the big-bads show up early. Looking forward to the next one. > > ( +++ - ) On the Steel Breeze - Reynolds [Poseidon’s Children #2] > Huge in scope - two intertwined plotlines, one on Earth, and one on a > massive colonizing voyage to a distant star. Protagonist Chiku Akinya > creates two clones with her memories, and all three have the ability to > periodically sync their experiences with each other. Chiku Yellow stays > on Earth, Chiku Green goes on the colonizing voyage, and Chiku Red goes > on a solo deep space mission to pursue great-grandmother Eunice in her > runaway starship. (No surprise, Reynolds does indeed address the problem > of staying in sync over relativistic distances.) Pretty fun read > overall, and I will read the third/final one. The minus is for two > combined issues: the prominence of a “homicidal AI” plot, and for the > utter stupidity of humans that shouldn’t take place in a Reynolds book.[1] > > Now Reading: > Long work - Mickey 7 - Ashton > Collection - A Liaden Constellation 1 - Lee & Miller > > Tony > [1] Re: utter stupidity: The colonization fleet — all huge “holoships”, > said fleet carrying billions of people — agree that they should over- > consume their fuel so they can get there 7-8 years faster, reasoning > that they’ll surely figure out the new physics and technology and plucky > know-how they need to slow down. Bonus: Some years later, there’s also > an authoritarian takeover that forbids both research and discussion of > this problem of slowing down. "Sanctuary" was much better than I hoped. Turns out that the life a Volhv Priest is fairly adventuresome. Lynn