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Linesman by S.K. Dunstall

A solid and intriguing book; fast paced and far more mystical than I was expecting a book at space engineers to be. The book does a good job of getting us to root for our strange duck engineer, Ean Lambert.

The story begins as a solid everyman hero, Ean, is overworked and backlogged. Ean’s contract is transferred, and in his new role he’s a fish out of water. It’s a tense situation. His new employer is charismatic, which we see reflected both in Ean’s actions (his quick comfort in her presence despite good reason to be mistrustful, and everyone else who comes in contact with her.

Soon Ean’s bumbling through the things a traditional action hero or military type would breeze through. His background becomes more important, worked subtly into the story, explaining why he’s so out of step with his peers. After action, he’s wrung out but usually called on to fix things–it’s never quiet afterward.

As the story goes on, the other characters begin to look to Ean for unusual approaches, and his singing the lines begins to become the multi-tool that makes him incredibly dangerous–and incredibly valuable in his own right.

I liked Ean’s story quite a bit. A second POV was provided: Jordan Rossi, a traditional linesman, but advanced to high up the hierarchy. There are bits of Jordan that we despise, some that we admire, but he’s the stolid fighter to Ean’s flashy bard. He gets things done (in the story, with political influence and his own skill), and gives us a viewpoint character who isn’t Ean to really see how disruptive Ean’s advancements are. He proves secondary in “grabbyness” and interest throughout, but it’s a valuable perspective.

I’m interested in Book 2, Alliance, which just came out. Well done!

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Clarkesworld 112

Clarkesworld ISSUE 112, JANUARY 2016.
(I’ll post it now and just update it as I read the stories.)

Quick notes on the stories:
The Algorithms of Value by ROBERT REED was an odd and interesting post scarcity story. Parchment is our POV character; over the course of the story, it turns out that she is rich, somewhat famous, and partially responsible for the state of the world. It’s a world of tremendous abundance, at least in terms of material goods. It’s quirky and offbeat, with flickering reflections about modern marriage.

The Abduction of Europa by E. CATHERINE TOBLER. The story gets off to a strong, engaging start, with a solid grounding… and odd asides about Europa and Zeus of myth. It’s a weird world; the struggle to survive it blends into odd hallucinations and dreams, successfully conveyed by the author. It was interesting, but the characters didn’t grow on me much.

Extraction Request by RICH LARSON

Everybody Loves Charles by BAO SHU

The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale by ROBERT SILVERBERG

Old Paint by MEGAN LINDHOLM

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A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias

A solid book; it’s about scientists exploring an alien world. The science part feels right–there are restrictions that the chafe at, genuine engagement and questions, and resignation to do the best the can, despite the restrictions.

The Sholen begin as an off screen constraint… their rules are the impediment to good science, for understandable reasons. Then we start getting POV chapters from them, and we realize how thin their justification is. They are well built as alien but comprehensible; their politics aren’t fully explained, but they are politics as we’d understand them. The Sholen’s intrusion into the base, after the accident, kicks up a hornet’s nest. Some of the petty and strange behavior of the scientists until then make sense with the new context.

When things go wrong, there’s a solid cultural explanation behind the ratcheting escalation. It’s well done; missteps and misinterpretations grounded in their own understanding of social agreements lead to subtle warfare–but both sides are divided. It’s really well done.

He built an interesting universe; I suspect that I’d enjoy following these characters as they deal with the aftermath of their actions and the repercussions on both societies. I’d also be interested in stories of other characters elsewhere, wrestling under the same constraints–and navigating the changes that Ilmatar’s conflict will have on Human-Sholen relations everywhere.

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Shades of Grey by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge

I like this book, the sequel to Black and White, too… just not as much.

The focus of this book is much less on Jet and Iridium. The book still alternates between current action and flashbacks, but the flashbacks are not to young Jet and Iridium, but to their parents–and not just their parents, but the whole alpha-team of their parent’s day. It’s a good change for getting more world building and explanations into the story, but gives up the strong focus on Jet and Iridium that made the first book such a pleasure.

So the crisis Iridium triggered at the end of Black and White is the heart of “now”; dealing with it is exhausting, but Jet and Iridium grow and step into new leadership roles. It’s a fine “adulthood and accepting the burdens of responsibility” story, but it’s much shorter than the previous book. The alternate era story is interesting and good worldbuilding–it’s nice context for both books–but no character gets enough time to make them truly sing. (Luster is much better formed by the end of the flashbacks; his final “then” scene with Night does a great job of defining them both.)

I think this book was the end of their partnership in exploring this world. If they resumed, the story going forward would be significantly different due to Jet and Iridium’s new relationship and roles. Done well, I’d enjoy more stories.

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Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge

An interesting future that’s almost a hundred years away, but still feels in most ways like the world of today.

The story follows two POV characters, Iridium and Jet, from their admission the Academy. They’re Extrahumans. The investigation of how Extrahumans came to be and what they mean is a big part of the book’s exploration.

The story is mostly of the pair of them in their late teens and early 20s, as they wind up on different paths. The world building is interesting, but so are the way their characters develop. There is a lot of behind the scenes manipulation to unsnarl, and Night’s heel turn at the end is weird–though perhaps appropriately so.

It was a fun book and an interesting alternate future. I’ll read the sequel.

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Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley

The second book of the Worldbreaker Saga. This book adds a few new POV characters, including Kirana, the invasion’s leader.

There’s a lot less learning everything from scratch in this book, which made it an easier read. Similarly, the plots and actions by everyone seem much more straightforward. There’s some leveling; Zezili is back after her mauling and ready to kick butt. Roh (and new POV Luna) are engaged in arctic survival, Lilia is coming down off her end of book 1 high, with the impossible demanded of her.

Three of the new POV characters are rulers; Kirana for the invading empire, but also the king of Tordin and Saiduan’s power behind the throne. They are interesting people, all with tough choices to make. Time seems less compressed; the book covers about a year of the conflict, instead of only a few months.

By the end of the book, we’ve killed some of the POV characters, so we should be back to five-ish in the next (last?) book of the Saga. The strife is terrible, but feels less shockingly bloody than before. It read much faster than book 1; perhaps in part because I was fluent in the characters from just finishing the Mirror Empire.

The next book has some big plots to finish; I look forward to it!

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The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley (reread)

My first read and review was here: Quick reviews to catch up. The Mirror Empire: Worldbreaker Saga 1 by is an ambitious book grounded in multiple worlds shoved into violent collision.

We have a lot of appealing characters from several empires and social strata. Most of the characters with face time (POV chapters) are from the primary world; all are grounded in the primary world’s struggle. A time of change is upon us; the wandering satellite Oma is powering channelers of its own; the other three satellite’s devotees are mixed in their ability to handle Omajistas–and almost all expect another 20 to 100 years before they’ll have to deal with it.

By “change”, I mean that terrible destruction is predicted–last time, thousands of years ago, much of a continent was sunk into the sea and strange life poured over the land, permanently changing things. Like a lot of carnivorous plants and trees are everywhere now, requiring special protections for settlements.

There are fiveish major POV characters. We start with Lilia, who is immediately appealing–abandoned by her mother, she’s left to become a drudge at a monastery. While she had a lot of missteps, her story felt like a good coming of age tale. She’d make a good YA protagonist, though the world she’s trapped in is more relentlessly oppressive than most.

Taigan comes next. A bit of a helper, a bit villainous–the chapters of Taigan make you wonder if you’re supposed to root against them. Lots of interesting details come out, slowly–but you’re distracted by the interactions with Lilia most of the time and only come to understand what makes ’em tick later.

Ahkio’s story is political, revealing the complexities of Dhai as understood by adults. He’s deeply enmeshed with steering the country, and hard times won’t wait…

Roh’s story feels like an outgrowth of Lilia’s, since he starts at the temple with her, but soon he’s off to foreign lands–very foreign to him. He’s kept in the dark, mostly, which makes him a good viewpoint character for learning about the world beyond the temples and Dhai from a Dhai’s point of view.

Zezili flips us over the border to Dhai’s enemies, as they see themselves. She’s a successful and powerful general; from her eyes we see Dorinah. It’s a compelling, dark, realistic feeling matriarchy.

The overall plot is confusing, since none of the five are very clued in. But each figures out more and more about what’s really going on as the book progresses. No one has it easy; Lilia struggles across multiple worlds, striving and trying–she’s almost a perfect incarnation of perseverance. Her price–like everyone’s–is steep.

The book came much easier on reread. I was ready for confusing names and got to enjoy Taigan’s joke on the world from the start this time. The world is truly alien… which is a great reason to read this book. It’s not five heroes questing together against the dawn; it’s five messy, painful stories in a tough time.

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Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Supervillains came onto the scene about 10 years ago and remade the world. They run independent city states cared out of the remnants of the US (and probably throughout the world, but horizons have narrowed).

It’s a story of resistance and struggle against an overwhelming foe. How do you bring down a man who can’t be killed? Who has remade the ground for floors deep into solid steel? And how do you coordinate that while on the run from his allies and servants?

It’s fun YA, with a very likable protagonist. I’d strongly recommend it to anyone interested in good YA fiction.

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Windswept by Adam Rakunas

A nicely dystopian sci-fi future; it harnesses corporations’ flaws and projects them forward for an authentic feeling.

Padma’s an excellent character with a bit of mystery to her past. She’s solidly connected to the other people of Windswept, and has strong motivations and responsibilities that get her interacting with everyone in a more than plausible way. She’s also damaged by an experiment, and it’s interesting to learn how it came about in parallel to her world going to shit. Which, of course, it does from a few pages in.

I really like the truths about Windswept that are revealed, slowly but steadily. The plot has a lot of action, but not a lot of deadly violence, which feels right for a world so in need of people.

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Mystic by Jason Denzel

A good turning of age fantasy book, in a less glossy world. I liked the assumed privileges of the nobility (and their secret stressors), and the conflict with Pomella. The petty revenge of her Lady (and the surprising solidarity she found from her peers) felt like good world building.

Her relationships are strong and interesting, including her mistakes. I’d like to see how the story continues.