Tag: Space Opera

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers

Posted on July 15, 2024 by - Book Review

Typically I kick off my book reviews with a quick synopsis of the plot, the major characters, and a teaser into what to expect. This book, much like the others that Ms. Chambers has written, is different.

As someone who reads a whole hell of a lot of hard sci-fi as well as (probably) too much grimdark, there arises the need, sometimes, for palette cleansers: books that have impact, but don’t really provide a lot of stress on the reader while also remaining incredibly engaging. Kudos to Ms. Chambers for being a master of the genre.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet starts out the story of Rosemary Harper. She’s a tad wrapped in intrigue, and, seemingly, attempting to escape a life into a new one of semi-anonymity. She joins the crew of the Wayfarer and gets thrown into a wildly unique, but calm group of crew members who also seem to operate as a defacto family while crazily boring wormholes through space to link distant planets to the galactic core.

Yes, all of the characters in this book are incredibly important, but I feel like it would be a disservice to the readers of this review to take away the small joy of being introduced to each one.

The thing I found most interesting about this book was the way each crew member deals with stressful situations and/or conflict. There are definitely some interesting quandaries in this book, and some very unique philosophies, politics, and moralities in play.

This is wildly simplistic, but I saw each little roadblock as a guided meditation. Every snapshot was going to have a nice little wrap-up, and a lesson learned. It’s just refreshing.

Now I’m on to book two in the series, and wondering if I maybe should space these out a bit to maximize the soothing effect.

Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga #6) by Pierce Brown

Posted on September 8, 2023 by - Book Review

Howler #1 (Mr. Brown) is a sadistic psychopath, an emotional puppet master, and a genius storyteller. Once again we have been thrown into the tumultuous world of the Society and, boy oh boy, this is one hell of a ride.

If you haven’t read the previous five books, don’t even think about starting with this one. Go back and suffer like all the rest of us.

Light Bringer brings a slightly different approach to the series. By now, things have gotten beyond serious, and Dark Age left us all in quite an interesting place. Volsung Fá and the Ascomanni are a serious threat along with all of the regular cast of power-thirsty warlords, and a large chunk of the Republic aren’t even sure if their savior, Darrow (and Sevro, by extension), is even alive.

I do have to say that a swath of the first part of Light Bringer was rather slow compared to what we are used to, but quite necessary. This book, more than the others, sets more of the political intrigue and process up as we are rounding the corner to the end of the series. Lysander is back and has machinations on where he fits into the political sphere: especially considering his fiancee, Atalantia au Grimmus, seems to be trying to kill him at every step.

I’m not going to spoil this one, but there is a little bit of something for all the typical Red Rising fans, and a whole lot of material that will be debated until Red God comes out. And, boy howdy, there is a ton of controversy scattered throughout.

Victories Greater Than Death (Unstoppable #1) by Charlie Jane Anders

Posted on May 26, 2021 by - Book Review

I cannot get over this book. I picked it up because Ms. Anders has some serious Sci-Fi chops, the premise sounded interesting, and, duhhh, it’s YA Space Opera. What I got, however, was unlike anything I have ever read.

The basic story is that our protagonist, Tina Mains, is not just the typical teenager. She contains a interplanetary rescue beacon in her chest and is fully aware that, some day, it will be activated and her destiny as an alien disguised as a human will be unveiled.

As you can imagine, the time arrives and it is so much bigger than Tina could have anticipated. It turns out that Tina is the disguised copy of the galactic legend Captain Thaoh Argentian, and the Royal Fleet is relying on restoring Captain Argentian to help save the galaxy. Naturally, things don’t go as planned and Tina is really just turned into “Space Wikipedia.”

The very real threat, however, is not stopping, so Tina, her best friend Rachel, and an incredible crew of various alien races now have to figure out a mysterious puzzle and beat the horrible Compassion to gaining potential god-like powers.

There were several things about Victories Greater Than Death that struck me. First off, I’m not sure I have read a work that was so incredibly inclusive and sensitive to, well, just about everything. I understood, from the acknowledgements, that Ms. Anders employed a crew of sensitivity readers, and that is incredibly apparent. Even in the face of some pretty harsh speciesism, the story manages to be incredibly respectful.

The second thing that struck me was the incredible thought given to the people and places of Victories Greater Than Death. Alien races are presented with history and character/physiological traits that are oft referenced and really fine-tune the characters in a deft and refined way. Where many authors use an aside to describe alien morphology, Ms. Anders weaves these traits into the presentation of inter-character conversations.

Thirdly, was the action description. I have mentioned before how in awe I am of authors who can orchestrate battles where nothing seems to get lost in the telling, and Ms. Anders is a total natural. There is some serious action in Victories Greater Than Death, and it is presented in white-knuckled, amazingly detailed glory. This is a writing trait that I absolutely adore.

Lastly, for YA, Victories Greater Than Death tackles some seriously heavy subjects without getting preachy or letting the emotional themes detract from the greater story. In fact, it is these themes that really help propel the story as well as bond the reader with the characters. This is literary magic not often wielded well.

The one thing that I’m disappointed in is that I am now going to have to wait FOREVER for Unstoppable #2 to come out.

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

Posted on May 11, 2021 by - Book Review

Persephone Station by [Stina Leicht]

Space Opera is a genre that has been around for almost one-hundred years. In this century of epic space battles and the triumph over good and evil — of which I read a lot — I have finally found a story that had a super-unique approach, and that is the total gem that is Ms. Leicht’s Persephone Station.

Billing this novel as Feminist Science Fiction is incredibly apt, but I feel it does not fully encompass the level of unique inclusion presented.

Persephone Station is the story of Rosie, bar owner in the singular town of West Brynner on the seriously backwater planet of Persephone. Rosie’s Monk’s Bar caters to a wide variety of regular clients, but it is in the back room where the action happens: where the elite criminal class mingles with the sorts of folks who wish to procure services from them.

Rosie has a unique tie to the planet of Persephone and it is this tie that predicates the involvement of our other main protagonist: Angel de la Reza. Angel is an ex-marine who gathered up a rag-tag group of ex-military, some mercs and a damn good sniper to handle jobs coming out of the Monk’s Bar skirting around the Serrao-Orlov Corporation who recently obtained ownership of the planet.

What happens next pits Angel and Rosie — on different fronts — up against the incredible machine that is Serrao-Orlov in a frantic effort to protect both their own necks and the secrets hidden on Persephone.

This book was just a blast to read. I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop, but I got a definite Kelly’s Heroes and Magnificent Seven vibe from it. Angel’s team does not mess around when it comes to the job, but the amazing banter and personality quirks are what really make this story so remarkable.

It’s the nuance and the slow unfolding of both the story and the backstories of the characters that I enjoyed the most in this work of Ms. Leicht’s. Hell, even the ship computer systems were a delight to read.

Persephone Station is one of those books that is going to end up on a lot of “best of 2021” lists, and I really wouldn’t surprise if it ended up on the nomination lists for the Hugos or the Lammys.

It’s an amazingly entertaining journey that I heartily recommend. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.