Tag: science fiction

Review: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

I’ve been recommending Chambers a lot lately, even to my husband who has pretty different science fiction tastes. This is surprising because I didn’t like Chambers’ first book, A Long Way to a Small, Dark Planet even though most people raved about it. I found it a bit contrived and self-conscious. But, in my eyes at…

Review: The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

I loved Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad, although now, nearly 12 years later, I didn’t remember much about the book. Maybe I should have reread it before reading the sequel, The Candy House, but instead I read it much like a stand-alone book. Maybe that’s why I had trouble connecting with it. Both…

The 2021 Nebula and Hugo Finalists for Science Fiction and Fantasy

The finalists for this year’s Nebula Award were announced on March 15, 2021.  The Nebula Awards are voted on by members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America which, according to its website, has over 1,500 members. I’ve read four of the six Nebula finalists for best novel, and I started but didn’t finish…

Review: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

I wasn’t sure I’d like this book at first.  I don’t love science fiction that focuses too much on technology at the expense of character development, and this book features a high-tech robot as a main character. I read it because I needed a winner of a Lambda Literary Award for the Reading Women challenge,…

Review: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

I love David Mitchell – I love how every book by him is more of an experience than just a read.  This book felt like a whirlwind, or a roller coaster.   It’s told in nine slightly-interlocking chapters.  At first the chapters feel very distinct – a character in one might bump into a character in…

Science Fiction and Fantasy Mini-Reviews: All Systems Red, Ms. Marvel, and Labyrinth Lost

Instead of reading the series I’m already into, I started three more series last month.  All worth checking out, but at the top of my list goes this novella: All Systems Red by Martha Wells The first novella in the Murderbot series, it’s won the Nebula Award, the Alex Award, and is a finalist for…

Review of After Atlas by Emma Newman

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while now, because I love the science fiction/detective genre, which combines two of my favorite kinds of stories.  After Atlas is about a detective, Carlos Moreno, who is actually an indentured servant to the government.  In Newman’s future world, everyone is chipped with an AI, privacy…