Author: Scott

The 99% Invisible City by Mars & Kohlstedt is a great collection of short articles (most 2 pages or less), revealing details about cities, buildings, foundations, and particularly what’s hidden below. A great overview of many interesting topics.

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher (Dresden 16). A tense book, showing the consequences of Harry’s allegiances, with an excellent curve ball near the beginning that makes life even more complicated. Tough choices, consequences continue.

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files 17) — Focused and relentless; slow starting with several twists and dramatic and consequential developments. Some cursing the author in good ways, lots of tough developments. Harry’s quite unmoored by the end.

After Hastings by Steven Silver (3/5). A fascinating “What If” for Harold defeating William in 1066. I was surprised by division within England at the time. Sadly, it was harder to empathize with the main characters due to their alien sounding names.

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, Book 2) is another solid fantasy book… just very long. All three stories overlap by the middle (a huge plus), and the world changes dramatically by the end. But couldn’t face book 3– not up for 1200 more pages yet.

Matt Yglesais One Billion Americans was a good, relatively fast read. The premise is assumed (that American’s aren’t willing to slide in importance), but it does align with our rhetoric. Given the goal, it’s a lot of well marshaled facts and interesting anecdotes. It pivots in part 3 somewhat unsuccessfully to the specifics of local governance and land use. It’s presented as a continuation of the previous theme, but I’d have rather had the extra attention paid to finishing the federal element–that’s plenty hard.

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (4/5). This was a much better book to get into Cordelia’s story and the universe. Interesting worlds at both ends (Beta and Barrayar), with the complicated drawbacks of societies.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (5/5). A wonderful exploration of Teixcalaan through Malit’s eyes. A straightforward ambassadorial post gets loaded up with intrigue and shifting alliances, plus delightful tech.

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear (4/5). As claimed, it’s big idea fiction — about a future built around incredible self-governance and struggles about autonomy. Haimey is delightfully complex, with layers and layers of revelation. And universe altering stakes.

A Murder of Mages by Marshall Ryan Maresca (3/5). Well written and a great enlightenment-ish low fantasy w/ great POV characters. Minox Welling’s precision, logic and annoyances are deftly drawn, while Satrine faces impossible choices and performs exceptionally.

Dune by Frank Herbert. (3/5) I vaguely remembered it as okay, but I’d also read it in late high school or college and thought I’d appreciate it more now. Interesting worldbuilding and pretty good characters.

The Nickle Boys by Colin Whitehead (5/5). A truly moving book, with a few great subtle touches. Incredible characterization; a few nights I couldn’t read it because I spent the previous night raging at injustice instead of sleeping.

Let’s Play (webcomic by Mongie). A sweet, interestingly drafted romance comic. Very slice of life among the soap opera set. Very enjoyable; I binged the backlog in week.

Open Borders: The science and ethics of immigration by Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith. (4/5) A nicely drawn, interesting look at the arguments for and against more — or even radically more– immigration. Some of it seems like “spherical chickens”, but the arguments are clear and worked through well.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons (4/5). A reread; it’s been quite a while since I read it last. This first book details a series of very interesting characters; it’s told mostly in flashback frames, with a bit of forward action before and after each character’s story.

The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (4/5). The plot moves forward, building on the momentum imparted by the Consul’s tale that ended the previous book. The viewpoint expands further out, beyond our cast questing for the Time Tombs.