Only four are left at the damaged Rubicon base, battling to survive as their technology breaks down around them. The rest of Rubicon's survivors have been enslaved elsewhere on Mars, mining diamonds for the tyrannical boss of New Dawn. (★★)
The first part of an epic fantasy trilogy, set during the beginning of the end of the world. (★★★★★)
An emotional space opera following a talented tech who was raised by an AI, and an AI now dealing with life in an artificial body. (★★★★★)
Next month it’s my dad’s birthday, and given his strong interest in mathematics and the fact he’s been studying Greek for three years, I’ve placed an order for Logicomix (the Greek edition) for him 😊 Shipping to Australia is expensive, but it just seems like the perfect gift!
It’s been so long since I’ve actually read a whole book at this point, I think because I started one I’m not really into, and I keep casting about for things to do that are not reading it. Time to start reading Becky Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit to break the cycle. 🚀
A couple of days ago I read Vylar Kaftan’s short story, The Weight of the Sunrise (read it for free on the author’s site!). Quite an interesting alt-history, where the Inca Empire rebounded after initial deadly outbreaks of smallpox and kept existing into the 18th century. The story concerns the arrival of a vaccine, and contrasts Incan society to US society at the time (with its rhetoric of freedom and brotherhood, but actual slavery and profiteering). ★★★★
The cast returns to Amberlough, now run-down and changed after years of Ospie rule. While the population clamours for collaborators like Cyril to be sent to the gallows, Lillian and Aristide launch separate schemes to try to keep him with his life. (★★★★)
In a far future dominated by corporations, one SecUnit – part organic, part machine – has hacked its governor unit to achieve autonomy, which it mostly uses to watch soap operas and slack off on work. (★★★★)
Fang Runin calls on the phoenix to help her defeat the warlords, the Hesperians, and the regime of her former classmate Nezha. (★★★)
Jessica Smith is a left-wing feminist who loves animals, books, gaming, and cooking; she’s also very interested in linguistics, history, technology and society.