Elizabeth Bonesteel – Llamafodder

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge. A cunningly told story about a strange land, with wild and weird magic, and organic responses to the dangerous and threatening magic. Kellen can unravel curses, while those who curse are feared and often wind up imprisoned for their own good. Friendship and balance wind up being critical – but not as straightforwardly as a “book for young adults” would lead you to expect.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. This was a reread, but it’d been long enough that many elements were familiar – but I only really anticipated the broad strokes of each of the three main POV stories. Kaladin’s story forms the backbone, but Shallan and Brightlord Dalinar Kholin have great stories in very different social strata. The minor characters around each (Dalinar’s sons, Shallan and Jasnah, and the members of each of Kaladin’s bands) are all brightly sketched and wonderfully revealed.

Breach of Containment by Elizabeth Bonesteel. The third book in the series; the stakes continue to spiral ever higher. Some new characters advance into focus, and the status quo continues to erode. Elena crosses back from PSI and gets sucked into a deep plot. Greg’s ship and crew change as they’re asked to do more and more, while the universe drifts out of control.

Alone with You in the Ether by Olive Blake. A compelling story of developing friendship, that drifts and grows into romance. A thorough look into two very charming and beyond quirky leads, delving into how people tick, solving abstract problems, math, and art. Fascinating and different.

A City on Mars by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith. This is non-fiction, but with humor and a light touch. It investigates the idea of space settlements, with wide detours into related elements – like antarctic bases, the laws of the deep sea, and the treaties covering outer space. They have a firm viewpoint (mostly that current enthusiasts skip over a lot of missing knowledge and legal constraints), but present all sides without stacking the deck obnoxiously.

Wild Oats & Fireweed by Ursula LeGuin

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

Serpent Bride by Sara Douglas

Twisted Citadel by Sara Douglas

The Cold Between and Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel

An interesting deep future, divided into three significant factions, and a number of colony worlds that think they’re more independent and self-sustaining than they really are.

It’s a tale of humanity divided – no on screen aliens, but some alien ruins do play a part. The three major factions are Central, PSI, and the syndicates.

We follow Commander Elena Shaw in both books; while we get other POV chapters and they’re often significant, they mostly round out Elena’s story. She serves aboard a Central Gov ship, which means that we’re mostly experiencing the universe from a Central POV.

PSI serves a big role in both books; local politics tangles the two groups together, and working their way through the accusations keeps Trey (our ex-PSI love interest) and Elena running together and sorting through decades of rumor and distance.

Central and PSI are both written as organizations of people as people, with factions and cross cutting interests, popular kids and those passed over and seething, keeping them from being one dimensional. [The third faction is mostly off screen and more inscrutable – the Syndicate – though they are foregrounded more in Remnants of Trust.]

The universe feels authentic, with lots of human touches — like all three factions existing largely to prop up colonies that constantly skate closer to collapse than their citizens can bear to understand; lots of wishful thinking and willful ignorance fills the colonies – but they’re not one-dimensional people sitting around waiting to be rescued either.

There’s also some love scenes; they begin early in The Cold Between, so you’ll quickly know if they’re to your taste, or more involved than you’re used to.

Becky Chambers is probably my favorite author, certainly my favorite that I’ve discovered within the last decade. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the sequel to A Psalm for the Wild Built, and continues to inspire. Both books were “delicious” in a way that made me pick it up and start reading it again the night after I finished my first read through.

Prayer is very much a book about friendship and obligation; the interaction between Dex and Mosscap is rich and layered and a beautiful way to muse about what we want out of life and our relationships.

If you want action and adventure, this is not the series for you. This is a world descended from an era that faced tremendous challenges, accepted them, and realigned their life to live sustainably and harmoniously. Even their sharpest edges and gravest worries feel like small beer in the 21st century… but what a beautiful approach to utopia they’ve created.

Dead Space by Kari Wallace is set a few centuries from now, in a more plausible and certainly more selfish future – one that’s easy to imagine that modern corporations have set us on the path to build.

Hester is a wage-slave police investigator for a corporation that she’s indebted to. She winds up elbowing her way into investigating the murder of a friend… who has their own secrets and discoveries that come to light as the investigation progresses. There are lots of twists and revelations that keep revealing new layers of the onion…