TO SAIL BEYOND THE BOTNET by Suzanne Palmer. 21920 words, 72 pages, novella. My favourite little bot is back.
“I have been activated, therefore I have a purpose, Bot 9 thought. I have a purpose, therefore I serve.“
I laughed so much, my face is hurting. And this was so cute as well. The aliens— bad and good guys—were hilarious. Never mind convergent evolution. This is a lot more fun. 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖 with a 🍒 on top!
Bot 9 is awakened and something is amiss. It has been ejected into space and Ship is gone. It is alone. Well, not quite… Is it a thing in SF at the moment to explore aliens that communicate with other means than speech? Or has that always been a thing and I just missed it?
“They were flashing colors back and forth, along with a volley of whistles, hums, and vaguely flatulent squeaks. They took turns, providing further evidence for 9’s theory that the aliens used both visual and audio signals to communicate.“
Nice take on individual and group consiousness.
Playlist: Bouncy Birthday Moonwalk by Sunnie Spot & The Solar Flares
Can be read for free here. I decided to get the whole magazine though, to support Clarkesworld.
“Suzanne Palmer is a multiple Hugo Award-winning author whose work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and other magazines. She is currently at work on the fourth novel in her Finder Chronicles series, and thinking about what comes next for Bot 9.“
I added her first Finder novel to my TBR pile early in 2022. I guess I will have to read it soon, because I really like what I have read so far. I am happy for Bot 9 to stay in the world of novellas, I don‘t need a full-length novel…
The other day I picked three books from my shelf, decided for one of them and put the other two as nah-not-in-the-mood on my coffee table. Executive decision: putting them into my give-away-basket. Here is the second book that has to go:
In 2016 I read and loved a book, read two novellas from that world and then bought the sequel. But I was never in the mood. It‘s probably fun, but I am so done with historical and/or paranormal romance at the moment. Plus the very first sequence of the book was a sex scene of a lord and a whore. Sigh, really not in the mood.
Here is the book that I am tossing into my out-basket:
Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy’s door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .
Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.
From the book blurb
And here are my 2016 reviews of the novellas and the first full-length novel, in series order:
Entertaining prequel to Firelight, the first book in the Darkest London series. It revolves around Miri and Archer, same as Firelight. I would recommend reading Firelight first, as the prequel is quite spoilerish and would give too much away of the revelations in Firelight. Nice addition though, if you want to find out more about the time between Miri’s and Archers first meeting and their wedding.
Fairly well plotted, with alternating POVs. Some suspense, some sex. Pretty rudimentary world building, but then it’s fairly short. Probably a little hard to understand what is going on, without having read Firelight. Which I now want to re-read, as I have already forgotten quite a bit about Archer’s curse.
My Kindle edition contained previews of Firelight and Moonglow.
Beauty and the Beast? Or more Phantom of the Opera?
Historical romance in the vein of Regency romance, but set a little later. Let’s call it Gaslight romance…? With a dash of magic and some intrigue. Definitely not Steampunk, PNR or UF.
A girl with a fire-magic gift of some sort and a mysterious, tall stranger, wearing a mask and suffering from some disfigurement or curse… 10% into the book I was enjoying myself already and wanted to marry him myself.
Some romance tropes were not entirely avoided. The main characters falling into instant lust, lack of communication, mistrust… By the middle of the book I wanted to smack their heads together. There must be a better way to create tension and suspense in a novel than the main characters not talking to each other? It’s annoying and very over-done.
Bonus points for the female character not being a quivering virgin!
Details and world building on the supernatural parts could have been a bit better.
The beginning of the story was very good. Humour, plot, action, all well done and very entertaining. The last third of the book fell flat a little, as if the steam had gone out of it somewhat. I had expected more.
But overall the book was much better than I expected and very entertaining. The glimpse into the next book makes me consider getting the next one in the series…
Highly entertaining. Silly. Full of the usual shenanigans of historical romance novels, with a small dash of the paranormal. Arranged marriage, Cyrano de Bergerac on crack, lots of lies, people keeping secrets all around and complete failiure to talk to each other. Steamy sex. Murder. Some violence and severed body parts. Great fun.
Going back to reading this series in it’s proper order now. You probably should read it in order anyway. The last line of this novella might be spoilerish for another novel. I can’t tell yet, as I’ve definitely not followed my own advice. But I don’t care. Getting the next book now.
Harry Brodie is a not terribly successful TV presenter. His grandmother though wrote very successful children’s books about fairyland. And that fairyland might be more real than Harry ever thought, when someone not quite human comes to visit.
Very British contemporary beginning. Nice world building for this novella-sized story. Noticed the wardrobe on the book cover? Put away the childish parts in that other story and what do you get? Something less cute and darker.
Sarcastic, amusing, with a pretty clueless MC. Enjoyable for me, pretty depressing for the story‘s characters. They were all very believable, even those of the non-human persuasion. The plot was fast and well paced. The less you know going into this, the better.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
Wow. I wish people opposed to vaccinating their children or vaccinating in general would read this. Bodily autonomy is discussed in an enlightening fashion. Published before Covid-19 broke out, which makes this an even more interesting read.
This is very good and scary. It sounds plausible and has an excellent ending. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and listened to this 3-hour audiobook in more or less one sitting.
This is the safe part of the book blurb, I recommend to avoid the rest:
“It begins with a fever. By the time the spots appear, it’s too late: Morris’s disease is loose on the world, and the bodies of the dead begin to pile high in the streets. When its terrible side consequences for the survivors become clear, something must be done, or the dying will never stop.“
I am now going to scour Audible for any more free audibooks by Mira Grant or her alter ego Seanan McGuire. Yes, I really need to get to those five books/novellas of Wayward Children on my ebook shelf.
Another fun fact: I keep saying that I don‘t want to read too dark and depressing things. Guess what I have been reading a lot this year? Mostly adventurous/mysterious stories, but also a surprising amount of darker things:
A haunted house story, that has an unexpected source and resolution. I was surprised how much build-up there was for this relatively short audio. A very fluffy, meandering start, focusing on the relationships between the four main characters. And a very Lovecraftian ending, pretty dark and not quite in synch with the beginning.
I kept wondering if there are more stories with these four characters as teen detectives of the unusual and bizarre, because previous cases kept being referenced. That could be fun.
Aaand after finding Spindrift House for free with my Audible subscription, I had another search and downloaded another Mira Grant freebie: Kingdom of Needle and Bone
„It begins with a fever. By the time the spots appear, it’s too late: Morris’s disease is loose on the world, and the bodies of the dead begin to pile high in the streets. When its terrible side consequences for the survivors become clear, something must be done, or the dying will never stop.“
Formulaic Trek with all the usual tropes, down to the amusing banter at the end.
I would have liked a little beforehand info, where to slot this into canon. Between Final Frontier and Undiscovered Country, maybe? Based on the hints given, I would suggest only reading this after at least having seen The Voyage Home, not earlier, to avoid spoilers.
If I ever in my life should encounter a vehicle called Galileo, I will not be getting into that doomed deathtrap!
Despite the dire circumstances the crew finds themselves in after their crash landing, the story did not build up much tension for me until the second half of it. In terms of character and plot development this felt like a much shorter story. Nothing very exciting, nothing new or unusual, nice to have for any fans of the original series.
I received this free copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
January 8, 2016 – Started Reading
January 9, 2016 – 10.0% “He had taken part in more Starfleet funerals than he cared to remember, including his own.“
January 9, 2016 – 25.0% “Ok, here is my guess. Sentient fog? Don’t tell me!”
January 9, 2016 – 40.0% “One redshirt left to go…”
January 9, 2016 – 85.0% “Spock doing a Gandalf impression, nice.”
January 9, 2016 – Finished Reading
The Enterprise-A is transporting a party of diplomats when it picks up a mysterious alien signal emanating from a nearby world. The planet’s dense, impenetrable atmosphere makes it unclear if the beacon is a distress signal, an invitation—or a warning to stay away. Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Chekov are part of a team sent to investigate, but an unexpected catastrophe forces a crash landing. Now the landing party is stranded on a hostile world, unable to communicate with the Enterprise. While Captain Kirk and Saavik race to locate the lost crew, a badly wounded Spock struggles to keep McCoy and the others alive until they can be rescued, even if that means making an unthinkable sacrifice…
Will be published November 14th 2023 by Tordotcom…
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
The wandering Cleric Chih returns home to the Singing Hills Abbey for the first time in almost three years, to be met with both joy and sorrow. Their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died, and rests among the archivists and storytellers of the storied abbey. But not everyone is prepared to leave them to their rest.
Because Cleric Thien was once the patriarch of Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass–and now their granddaughters have arrived on the backs of royal mammoths, demanding their grandfather’s body for burial. Chih must somehow balance honoring their mentor’s chosen life while keeping the sisters from the north from storming the gates and destroying the history the clerics have worked so hard to preserve.
Yesterday the Year of the Rabbit officially started! 新年快乐! So, apparently, for us bookish people that kicks of the trend of reading books with rabbits on the cover. I can already see it—next time I‘m at my local bookstore, all these rabbits will be looking at me and whisper „buy me, buy me!“
Let‘s have a look at my shelf of owned books, aka the Rabbit TBR! The first rabbit on my shelf is a planned re-read:
I read this many, many times as a teenager, pretty much once a year for a long time. It‘s been so long, I don‘t recall exactly what I loved so much about this book, perhaps it is time for a reread. Perhaps it was the imaginative world building and the strength of the character developments. Plus I am curious—I only ever read this in the German translation, never in the original. So I got a secondhand paperback last year.
This is a 82-page novella and Netgalley, that has been on my shelf since August 2020. Yes, I am very late. I don‘t remember why I requested this.
The Forest God, incarnated into the body of hare, ready to die and live again. The Apprentice Witch, outcast and unwanted, unsure of her path. The Young Lord, frivolous and rootless, inconsiderate of his duties.
Their three souls should be bound to a cycle of death and sacrifice, responsibility and rebirth. But the bonds lie broken and shrouded in mystery. The wood remains in precarious balance for now, but the village withers.
No idea. I added this 372-page kindle to my shelf in October 2018. About time, right?
A time travel murder mystery from a brilliantly original new voice. Perfect for readers of Naomi Alderman’s The Power and Emily St John Mandel’s Station Eleven.
That was it with owned rabbits… do you hve any bunnies on your shelves?
…and the conclusion to Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture series, Lords of Uncreation (Orbit, May 2)… Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot Diaries, starts a new fantasy series with Witch King (Tordotcom Publishing, May 30), and James Rollins continues his epic Moonfall series with The Cradle of Ice (Tor Books, February 7)…
Tchaikovsky is an instabuy, I will get it as audio. I‘m a maybe about Witch King, my mood at the time will decide if I want to get and read that book right away. James Rollins is interesting—a few years ago I read several of his adventure novels. I did not follow him after that, so finding out that he writes an apparently successful specfic series was total news to me.
… and an Arkady Martine novella called Rose/House (Subterranean Press, March 1).
Hm, not sure… the description does not convince me just yet:
Arkady Martine, the acclaimed author of the Teixcalaan Series, returns with an astonishing new novella.
A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused in every load-bearing beam and fine marble tile with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else altogether. But now Deniau’s been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect’s will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.
Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau’s former protégé, is permitted to come into Rose House once a year. She alone may open Rose House’s vaults, look at drawings and art, talk with Rose House’s animating intelligence all she likes. Until this week, Dr. Gisil was the only person whom Rose House spoke to.
There is a dead person in Rose House. The house says so. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. Rose House, having completed its duty of care and informed Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police precinct that there is in fact a dead person inside it, dead of unnatural causes—has shut up.
Book blurb, shortened
I really liked the first Teixcalaan novel, A Memory Called Empire (my review), but the sequel was just ok. I missed the Netgalley for Rose/House, so I‘ll wait and see what my reading buddies think of this novella.
… and a continuation of Edward Aston’s sci-fi thriller Mickey7 titled Antimatter Blues (St. Martin’s Press, March 14).
Edward Ashton’s Antimatter Blues is the thrilling follow up to Mickey7 in which an expendable heads out to explore new terrain for human habitation.
Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive—that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony’s creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who’s keeping them from using it. Mickey’s just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It’s not a bad life.
It’s not going to last.
Book blurb
Now this is tempting! The first book (my review) was not a total hit, but I liked it well enough to be interested in the sequel…
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
Goodreads blurb
Maybe I should add another rule to my 2023 plans: only buying of new book allowed, if it‘s the continuation of an ongoing series or something by a favourite author.
A vaguely dystopian setting in a flooded city. The poor bury their dead by sinking them in the canals surrounding their dwellings. Our MC Jewel is an enslaved courtesan, living a relatively comfortable, if restricted and not entirely safe life in a luxury brothel. One of the other women in her house is beaten to death by a client. But she doesn‘t stay dead. She comes back to life, looking for revenge and taking Jewel along for the ride.
80 pages, pretty odd, with a rambling and overloaded prose. The actual plot could have fit into a much shorter story. The rest didn‘t really work for me. It was just a lot of fluff, with the odd shocking bit in between. I skimmed through the last part. The ending was quite nice, at least for Jewel. But the mystery of the dead girl coming back to life was never explored and the world could have done with a little more background. I didn‘t really like this, sorry.
The cover looks nice, but is as overloaded as the prose.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher or author through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 