I'm looking for pieces of fiction where other creatives responded with their own works or adaptions.

A famous example would be Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers":
"Ender's Game" is widely thought to be a response to it. So are "The Forever War" and "Old Man's War". The movie adaption also discusses the topics of the book by satirizing some of its themes.

Another example is "The Ones who walk away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin. This website collects stories about Omelas by authors who responded to the scenario with their own stories, developing new themes, expanding or contradicting the original story.

While writing this post I remembered "The problem of Susan" by Neil Gaiman, which is a response to Susan's treatment in C.S. Lewis' "The last Battle".

Do you know any other discussions in the form of novels and short stories?

Lately, I’ve found myself really drawn to a specific kind of time travel story: books where the vast majority of the narrative takes place in the past, offering a deep dive into an historical era and how it looks to us today.

The protagonists in these books travels back knowing (to some extend) the fates of the people they meet, which often gives an interesting conflict. The books I have in mind are

• 22/11/63 by Stephen King
• Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
• Kindred by Octavia Butler

I know there are other books in the Oxford Time Travel series by Willis. What other books or series follow this pattern of deep historical immersion paired with the burden of knowing the future? Any recommendations?

I read the Imperial Radch trilogy (Ancillary Justice, Mercy and Sword) and loved it. I enjoyed the first and third more than the second, but overall, I loved the concept of a ship with a distributed intelligence. I also really enjoyed the unreliable narrator, the horror of the ancillaries, the multiple timelines which converged, the subtle romance, the question of what love meant to a Breq, and the culture and customs of the Imperial Radch (the TEA!)

I was delighted to see more standalone books in the universe, but unsure where to start. Which are most like the original trilogy? Are there any you recommend more than others?

What did you read last month, and do you have any thoughts about them you'd like to share?

Whether you talk about books you finished, books you started, long term projects, or all three, is up to you. So for those who read at a more leisurely pace, or who have just been too busy to find the time, it's perfectly fine to talk about something you're still reading even if you're not finished.

(If you're like me and have trouble remembering where you left off, here's a handy link to last month's thread.)

I know that this is a very small and dumb detail to focus on, but im reading Ursula K Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" and Shevek is surprised that on Urras, they have clothes for sleeping in. At first it seemed like he was suprised that the clothes for sleeping in were so nice, but it came up again later and it became clear that he was in fact surprised they had designated sleeping clothes at all. Implying that the people of annares do not use separate clothes for sleeping. I find that weird, and a little hard to believe. People have had sleeping clothes for a long time across a lot of different cultures, they definitely predate capitalism, and I wouldn't really call them an "excess" in the way fancy clothes for special occasions are.

In a society where you share beds and rooms with other people, not tracking in and covering your room and mattress in whatever dirt dust bugs etc. you got covered in while worked on that day seems to me to not be wasteful, but instead prudent. Less frequent cleaning of sheets floors furniture etc. Maybe they have "indoor clothes" and they just dont refer to them as sleeping clothes, or perhaps the sleep naked all the time? Both of those seem untrue from context in the book but perhaps I missed something. Sure you could wash your clothes daily, but thats just as, if not more wasteful than simply having a separate set that you sleep/lounge in.

Perhaps because they have essentially eradicated disease, hygiene is not viewed as very important, but idk to me clothes and beds being clean is very different and way more important to human dignity than them looking nice or being new etc.

Idk a lot of the imagining le guin does in the book about what an anarchist society would be like is super cool and insightful, but this one stuck out to me as not totally making sense lol.

I've been slowly making my way through Silverberg's large bibliography.

My impression is that he has three phrases. His first phase is from roughly 1955 to 1967. The four novels I've read from this period are IMO dated and not very interesting. They feel like Heinlein's juvenile novels.

Then from 1967 to the mid 1970s he had an incredible spurt of interesting novels, almost 20 of them, and several of them great. These books are typically short and/or fast-paced, and all feel very New Wave (very experimental, lots of sex and drugs).

Then in the 1980s and early 1990s he seems to adopt a new style. Most of the stories here are very languid, unfolding slowly and following characters on long, rambling adventures. This works in some of the books, but mostly the style now reads as very bloated. "At Winter's End", "The New Springtime", "The Alien Years" and "The Face of the Waters" in particular are very long-winded. I imagine this new style is due to commercial trends in the 1980s, or perhaps Silverberg fell in love with a type of picaresque storytelling, which is fine, though I don't think he is deep or insightful enough to warrant such a style.

Anyway, if you're new to Silverberg, and like me (also a recent newbie) are interested in checking him out, I'd recommend: "Downward to the Earth" (if you have to read one of his books, read this one IMO; it's fun and should appeal to most SF fans), "Dying Inside" (very New Wavey), "The Man in the Maze", "The World Inside" and "The Face of the Waters" (I bashed this one above, but like "Downward to the Earth", this is a type of story everyone loves: exotic alien planet, interesting aliens and strange ecosystems; trim it severly down and it would probably be a classic.)

I also liked these, but I'd put them on a tier below: "Son of Man", "Tower of Glass", "Up the Line", "Thorns", "Nightwings" and "Hawksbill Station".

His Majipoor series is popular, but I bailed on the series. I liked how sunny and optimistic the tone was, but it felt shallow, and the prose is rather basic when you compare it to what Gene Wolfe was doing in the same period (both he and Silverberg seem to be building upon Jack Vance).

I'm not sure if I'll read any more of Silverberg's books. His late 90s output seems poorly regarded and not worth pursuing. His late 67-72 period seems to contain his best work, which seems to be the consensus. That this work is so of-its-time is probably why he's fallen out of fashion.

A fourth book of three novellas added to the ten book Iron Druid fantasy series. There are several other novellas for the series also. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Horned Lark Press in 2024 that I bought in 2026. I own several of the other novellas and plan to read them soon.

The Iron Druid Series starts with "Hounded" released in 2011:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051XU2PE

Atticus O'Sullivan is a 2,000+ year old Druid living peacefully in Arizona, USA in modern times. His Irish Wolfhound Oberon is also many decades old due to Atticus's special teas. Atticus also has another dog, Starbuck, who is learning how to speak telepathically to Atticus and Oberon.

Atticus and the two dogs are in Tasmania via his special pathways for Atticus to heal several Tasmania Devils from a cancer that is spreading amongst them. And of course, somebody is murdered right in their presence. And, some perfectly good sausages are wasted that the dogs could have eaten.

The other two novellas in the book are good reading also. I would classify them as horror (dark fantasy). All are canines and cocktails related.

The author has a website at:
https://kevinhearne.com/

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (201 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/Canines-Cocktails-Kevin-Hearne/dp/1738279200

Lynn

First book completed this month was The Illearth War, book 2 in The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen R Donaldson. This was meant to be a July book, but I didn't get it finished while on holidays. I had issues with the first book, but overall I found it to be a decent enough story in an interesting world. Much the same can be said of this instalment. The rape in the first book is a fairly central plot development point in this book, so my thoughts at that time that it was unnecessary were unfortunately wrong out of ignorance of what was to come. Thankfully no more raping in this one, it just treads the line of incest at points instead. Anyway, the plot of The Illearth War largely concerns the growing and imminent arrival of Lord Foul's army, and how the people of the land are going to fight it. Covenant is still an insufferable asshole, but possibly less so than in the first book. Thankfully large portions of the book's 576 pages do not follow him but another character, Hile Troy, instead, who despite his character flaws is far easier to suffer! While the book and story are good, I'm personally not getting as much enjoyment out of reading these as I think others could, as I'm definitely realising that this high fantasy, grimdark sort of genre just isn't my thing. I am going to finish the trilogy though, but I doubt I'll proceed further after that.

Second book was the second book in Joe Zieja's Epic Failure series, Communication Failure. The first book I liked a decent amount, but didn't love. I think this time I was more in tune with what to expect, so I found the humour style hit the mark a bit more consistently than the last one. It was also helped by not having the exact same type of joke repeated quite as often as was the case in the first book. In this book, which pretty much continues the story where the last one left off, the Thelicosans might be invading; breaking the two hundred years (and counting) peace that has existed between the Thelicosans and the Meridans. The clue given to the Meridans was the message they received from the Thelicosan Fleet simply saying "We're invading". What follows is miscommunication, roundhouse kicks, marriage proposals, a self aware droid questioning its existence, subterfuge, spying, kidnapping, corny lines, modern societal references, milk and a lion. Probably other stuff too. There's comments on the book calling this series Pratchett in space, and I'm not quite sure it can really claim that accolade, but on the inside page it further expands the comment where it then likens the book to being more like Spaceballs (The Movie) and in that regard I think it is a closer match. The humour in this book is very slapstick and stupid (in a good way). When the Rogers is figuring out how to respond to the appearance of the Thelicosan fleet, he consults his offensive and defensive coordinators for advice, and in they come with large headsets and laminated sheets that they use to hide their mouths when speaking. Thankfully, despite being Scottish, I've seen enough American Football to get this reference. There's a lot of entertaining situations to get through in its 325 pages, and overall I really quite enjoyed reading this book.

Next up was the 409 page entry to the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman, Scythe. I picked the boxset of the 4 books in the series up really quite cheaply quite a while back and my daughter's expressed an interest in this with it being a YA dystopian sci-fi esque book. She loves a good dystopian book (Hunger Games series is her favourite), so I thought I'd read it first to see what it was like. The book is about a society that has cured disease, cured death and is governed by a self-aware AI, Thunderhead, that does the job better than humans ever did. Humanity is effectively immortal, and Thunderhead ensures that the population has everything it needs. People can "die", but they can then be brought to a revival centre where their body/remains can be healed and brought back to life. However, to keep population growth under control when no one dies, Scythes have the power to administer permanent deaths, gleanings, to those they choose, and are above all and every law but their own. The premise for the book was very intriguing and the story presented within the world was equally so. A book about a profession whose job it is to administer death obviously has a lot violence and death in it, but it is not gratuitously or overly graphically described. The book is YA as the two main characters are teenagers, there's no bad language and only mild inneundo. But it is violent. Likely no more so than the likes of The Hunger Games, but it has been quite a few years since I read that one. Anyway, I found I was gripped by the book, kept wanting to read more, and I really enjoyed it.

Fourth book was the last book in the Mistborn Era 1 series by Brandon Sanderson; The Hero of Ages. Weighing in at 724 pages, this book continues the story from where The Well of Ascension left off, with Vin and Elend struggling further against the repercussions of their actions from the first book, as the enormity of the impending doom becomes more clear. Even as I approached the half-way point of this book, there seemed like there was a still a significant amount that needed to be wrapped up prior to the book's conclusion, and given how verbose Sanderson could be at times, I did find myself worrying that it was going to end up being a rather rushed affair. Thankfully, it didn't feel that way. There were many plot twists, moves I didn't predict, seeds that were planted throughout the previous two books came to fruition and it all wound up to a big climatic ending. There were a few fairly typical tropes in story, but despite this and despite the length of the book, I found myself completely engaged from start to finish. As far as the Mistborn Era 1 trilogy goes, I feel like the best book has been saved till last, which is a great way to finish this trilogy. I'm very much looking forward to Era 2 now, which I plan to start in early 2027.

Up next was the last book in Stephen R Donaldson's First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant trilogy, The Power that Preserves. Lord Foul's war against the land reaches its conclusion and Thomas Covenant grows a bit of a spine and tries to actually do something decent. He's still quite insufferable, but I found I was able to tolerate him a bit more this time, partly I'm sure because I've grown use to his whining and rude attitude. In the book's 480 pages, there's a lot of journeying again as Covenant tries to get to the funnily named "Lord Foul's Creche", which isn't where he keeps his kids, but is the lair of the big bad guy of the series. Unfortunately, there isn't quite enough of Lord Foul to really portray his power and his evil, and this is more left to his minions, who we are clearly told would rebel against him if they had the power themselves. When he eventually does make an appearance, it felt all too brief. There's stuff to like - the battle against all odds, the seemingly never ending betrayals, possessions and hardship - but there's also stuff to not like - Thomas Covenant, some of the journeying is quite dull, the all too quick ending - and this all kind of balances out, more in favour of the positive qualities in the end. I liked the book and series, it wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't bad. I'd put it in the 3 or 3.5 out of 5 sort of range. But I'm now sure this sort of fantasy book is not my thing, so hopefully I don't have any more like it on my shelf!

Last book was a nostalgia dip and something to fill the last couple of days of the month, with me picking The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams off my shelf. This is a surprisingly short book, only 180 pages long, and not densely printed either, so it didn't take long to read at all. This book also gets the accolade of being the first book I've ever knowingly re-read, with me first reading it 25-30 years ago. I chose to read it again to see if my very positive memories of it stood the test of time, whether I'm remembering it through rose-tinted memory filters, and to compare it to other comical books I've been reading recently (like the Epic Failure series). It was really good, but just too short. It's fast paced, a lot of bizarre and weird stuff happens, the comical asides like the whale are strange but funny, and it's that weirdness that makes it so much fun. How a short story like this can make the number '42' become something that is known the world over is incredible. I would have preferred the book to be longer and that's my main criticism of it. I enjoyed the humour, but the characters aren't particularly fleshed out due to the lack of pages to do so. Compared to the likes of the Epic Failure series, which also has some bizarre and slapstick moments, Hitchhikers feels very British, while Epic Failure feels very American, both of which probably shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm British, so found the humour resonated with me more in Hitchhikers, but they are both a lot of fun.

Overall, this was a good month for quality of books read.

This month I'm aiming to read The Quantum Thief, System Failure, Thunderhead, World Engines, and Just One Damned Thing After Another, at least.

I’m about 150 pages into Cyteen and loving it so far. The first bit was a little dense and I’m still foggy on what exactly Emory I wanted with Grant and Justin before her death. Was she trying to indirectly do research on Justin via Grant? Was she trying to get at Jordan?

Ender's Game is, against much competition, my favorite of my dad's books I've read so far, but it's difficult to pin down exactly what makes this unassuming novel so compelling. It's bleak, morally ambiguous, packs an inordinate amount of pain and suffering into its 360 pages, and doesn't tell you what to think about its biggest questions at the end. Despite that, finishing the last page gave me a tremendous sense of closure, like waking from a meaningful dream as a child.

My mind didn't hit on that comparison randomly: the first thing the book does is remind you of childhood, as almost all of the action is from the perspective of highly gifted children in a militarised world that is more and more brazenly manipulating them. I wouldn't say the plot as a whole has a dreamlike quality, but the ending certainly does, and the entire story feels like a deeply disturbed man's attempt to work through some heavy, layered and symbolic trauma from his own childhood. Though it is obviously from a different time about a different place (and not a romance), it reminds me of Bronte's Wuthering Heights, for how the story goes to extremely dark places while ultimately settling on bittersweet hope, and refusing to moralise too obviously, with an implicit feeling the authors are writing for themselves as much as us.

From what I've heard about Orson Scott Card, ruined youth, bullying, and overbearing adults are common themes in his work, which became popular enough to make him THE NEXT BIG AUTHOR for some years in the 1980s and 1990s. But he isn't a household name today because he likes to talk about his political and religious views, which are thoroughly demented. (I do find it interesting how several passages in Ender's Game have a noticeable homoerotic subtext, considering Card's beliefs about such things).

At any rate, it is an experience as an adult to be so viscerally reminded of the time when you had no control over your own choices, where others decided what was best for you, where you were intelligent enough to understand what you were being asked to do but apparently not qualified to raise an objection, where you saw your worst experiences being engineered but realized it was not even worth raging against. Most of us do not have anything like the trauma we are seeing on the pages, but I do think that kind of childish righteous anger is a universal experience, and I confess, it was cathartic for me putting my younger self in Ender's shoes. For this book to be as famous as it is, many others must have found that too.

The one thing the book needs you to believe, from start to finish, is that Ender Wiggin is blameless for everything the adults around him (and, by extension, his dystopian society) make him do. One criticism I've seen levelled is that Ender's Game comes across as a sort of "revenge of the nerds" story, where a preternaturally intelligent but peaceful young boy defeats bully after bully in increasingly violent "games", in conflicts that are sad at the beginning, distressing in the middle and downright horrifying by the final denouement, with complete moral absolution for all of it and no rational reason for his conscience to trouble him.

But I don't think this charge sticks. If that was the tone of the book, it would be a power fantasy, not . . . whatever it currently is, but psychological horror comes to mind. Ender is tormented by guilt and regret not just to prove he is a good person deep down, but also because what is being done to him is torment and what he is doing is horrendous. He does not need to bear responsibility for it, but it takes a warped mind to see anything triumphal or wish-fulfilling in his "games". Plenty of war veterans are fully convinced they stepped into the trenches for just reasons, but we should not expect this to stop their nightmares. And, of course, we have the word of the adults in the story themselves that they WERE NOT CAPABLE of doing what Ender did BECAUSE of their moral restraint as mature humans. Which makes their entire project even more abhorrent.

We all keep waiting for Ender (or even his siblings) to turn the tables, to put their ever-greater powers to use and escape the system they're caged in. But that, again, is our adult sensibilities telling us what should happen. They are not even past puberty, and while Peter might succeed in his own quest to turn the wheel and put himself at the top, you cannot escape using others and being used by them so easily (as is said in one of the last and most touching monologues of the book). You just need to be used for good things.

Until the final few pages, with a perfect, near-fairytale ending, gives us the smallest hope that things might be better in the future, and gives Ender the chance to clear his mind.

Final rating: 5/5 (about time I used the 5)

I have Speaker for the Dead sitting in the next room right now.

• BEST NOVEL: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK)
• BEST NOVELLA: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)
• BEST NOVELETTE: “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)
• BEST SHORT STORY: “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223)
• BEST SERIES: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK)
• BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC: A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel, written by Ursula K. Le Guin, adapted and art by Fred Fordham (Clarion Books; Walker UK)
• BEST RELATED WORK: Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer (University of Chicago Press US, Head of Zeus UK)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM: Sinners, screenplay by Ryan Coogler, directed by Ryan Coogler (Proximity Media, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM: Murderbot: “All Systems Red”, written by Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz, directed by Roseanne Liang, based on the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Apple TV)
• BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, developed by Sandfall Interactive, published by Kepler Interactive
• BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM: Neil Clarke
• BEST EDITOR LONG FORM: Diana M. Pho
• BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST: John Picacio
• BEST SEMIPROZINE: Uncanny Magazine, publisher and editor-in-chief: Michael Damian Thomas; managing editor Monte Lin; poetry editor Betsy Aoki, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
• BEST FANZINE: nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla
• BEST FANCAST: Hugo, Girl!, presented by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson
• BEST FAN WRITER: Jason Sanford
• BEST FAN ARTIST: Yuumei
• BEST POEM: “Hex Supply Customer Support Log” by Elis Montgomery (Strange Horizons, Issue 25 August 2025)
• LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YA BOOK: Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee (Feiwel & Friends)
• ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Must Read Books Publishing): Antonia Hodgson (1st year of eligibility)

edit: The report with voting and nomination statistics is already here!

I know there have been other posts similar to these, so I apologize, but I didn't manage to find what I'm looking for in these.

So, I'm interested in reading the series, and I understand that the usual recommendation regarding the novels is Revelation Space>Chasm City>Redemption Ark>Absolution Gap>Inhibitor Phase, but what's really unclear to me is when I should read the two The Revelation Space Collection volumes. Should I read them all in their entirety in the beginning, the end, somewhere in between or mix and match for each individual story? And what if I want to also read the Prefect Dreyfus novels?

EDIT: Thanks you everyone who took the time to answer here!

While looking for a way to arrange my reading list of award-winning and -nominated sci-fi, I came across a post where Velzerat shared their clickable spreadsheet of award winners. I've tried to adapt a similar format.

After spending several novels worth of time pulling and arranging data from a copy of the isfdb.org database, figuring out how to work a spreadsheet, and adding/removing awards, I have this.

Hugo and Nebula were the big ones in my eyes. Locus has sci-fi and fantasy awards, so I included that as well. I tried the World Fantasy Awards, but the list of nominees included a lot of stuff that's way out of my focus; The Silence of the Lambs may be a fantastic book with a unique insight into the human condition, but no thanks.

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is juried, less a popularity contest, and included some authors and books that seemed to be glaring omissions from the other awards, so I added that in.

Books that were withdrawn for consideration are added back in, marked with a D. Martha Wells giving others a chance by pulling three of her Murderbot novellas from consideration doesn't mean they didn't get to the final stage on their own merit. Books that were withdrawn for eligibility reasons were left out.

Locus lists a ranking, not a final nominee list, so I pulled the top 5s from sci-fi novel, fantasy novel, and novella.

Novellas are included on a separate page.

I want to update with notes on series, etc.. I had a lot of notes I accidentally wiped out. I think I figured out how to get series data (and notes) out of the database and may add them in later, but I really want to just post it right now and get back to reading these books.

Hilz List of Award-Winning books

I read the whole series a couple of years ago and really enjoyed. It's an easy read, with some loveable characters, and I really can't wait to read the new one.

Anyone else a fan of Spensa & co?

I listened to Turnbull's Convergence Saga and enjoyed it very much. I even bought the books and will try reading them at some point. I am mentioning this because the last book in that saga spoils the big events of The Lesson, which was published first. I don't know what order they were written in however.

In The Lesson aliens have come to Earth bringing gifts of technology and ask only that they be allowed to live on Earth for a time. Their choice of location are the Virgin Islands, and the book takes place on Charlotte Amalie/St. Thomas. The aliens are able to physically appear and function like humans, but there are obvious tells in how they move and speak that make it obvious they are Ynaa. They are also quickly violent if threatened and physically much more powerful than humans. This is a dark book which very obviously represents colonialism--not so much the legacy, but the horror it was for The Virgin Island slaves. There are quite a few characters. The women voiced by a woman reader, the men by a man. I am not from the islands, but I assume the accents they used for the characters speaking was decently accurate. As an audio book it works well and I think it should be a decent read. The Lesson is not written as well as The Convergence Saga(particularly the 2nd and 3rd final book) so I'm guessing it was written before them, Turnbull becoming better with practice/work. 3/5 stars.

My other recent reviews:
The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane(wonderful weird fiction)
Waystations of the Deep Night by Marcel Brion(short stories. Weird fiction, somewhat pulpy Weird Tales type fiction, surreal, and spooky fiction from 1942 France)

I just read Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling and was kinda impressed for how little I've seen it mentioned. This sub has it mentioned only 3 times in the last 12 months! But I think it's as good as other books recommended substantially more.

It's writing and plot are well done, it ages well and fits into the classic sci-fi cannon. The 80s sounds recent but is becoming a while ago...

I think it has some weaknesses, like the narrative voice or drama is a bit emotionally shallow compared to the subject matter (lack of urgency?), along with the episodic chapters and time-jumps I could see it not resonating or being memorable to a popular audience. But still in a sub like this I think a lot of people would enjoy it.

I recently found a second copy of the Rendezvous With Rama book club edition, both in decent shape, but one has a deckled edge, while the other does not. Is one more valuable? And how does this happen?

I’ve read ”Starship Troopers” eight times and loved it, so I decided to finally read “Forever War” and “Armor”. FW was interesting and well written, but over all I wasn’t really into it. Then I read Armor and it thoroughly knocked my socks off. I’ve always preferred when sci fi books focus more on character rather than making the setting the focus, and Felix to me became an all time favorite protagonist in Sci Fi. I didn’t even mind the POV switch to Jack Crow, I felt it was a well warranted device to give Felix‘s story perspective. Though I did feel like the reveal of Felix’s traumatic past was unnecessary. I think the book had more legs just focusing on Felix in the war, rather than explaining how or why he got there.

In the late 90’s I found some floppies of the Sprawl books in the HyperCard format for Mac. I thought it was pretty cool at the time. And then Gibson also published digitally that poem “Agrippa” that self destructed.

I really enjoyed #2 of the Sprawl series. I think my only criticism is it seemed to wrap up quite quickly towards the end. I kind of lost myself in some of the characters around Bobby and I dont think I fully understood Slides origins. The Marly chapters were the best throughout but the Bobby and Turners improved towards the end. 3.5 🌟 for me.

A few years ago, I read James Belmont's novel Lifeline. It's a science fiction thriller set in near future London where a serial killer manipulates the ubiquitous Lifeline system to stalk victims. I enjoyed it enough that I started following the author on social media, and when he asked for ARC readers for the follow-up, I volunteered*.

To my surprise, RAMmed turned out to be a courtroom drama, not about the serial killer from the first book, but an AI robot, Phoenix, fighting for its freedom from the Lifeline system which spawned it. The implications of unleashing such a powerful entity on humanity are terrifying while the choice to keep it chained is anathema.

There are a lot of the same questions of identity, agency and sentience that writers have been asking for decades, but I didn't find the story of how Phoenix came to be, and what to do about it now that it is here, to be derivative. The question is much more about how to handle an intelligence superior to our own. Should humanity hobble a potential consciousness simply because it could be dangerous? And if it is freed, how will the Dead, a sect of pseudo-Luddites, react? There are no easy answers.

One of the things I appreciate most about Belmont's world building is that it stays away from creating either a dystopia or a utopia. The Lifeline future simply is, and the focus is instead on what people (and potentially sentient AIs) do in those circumstances. I'd honestly be hard pressed to determine what Belmont himself thinks of the world he's built as he's quite good at letting us see it through the eyes and desires of his characters instead.

Switching up the genre as Belmont did was a rather large swing, and I think he knocked it out of the park. What other series have you read that switch up genre a bit, and do so well?

* Full disclosure: yes, I am an author, but I do not personally know Belmont. We've had no contact other than to correspond regarding this ARC, and one short exchange regarding a scam on social media. As far as I know–if he's aware I'm an author at all–he has not read my books. He did not ask me to post this or anything else beyond an honest review on the usual sites, nor made any quid pro quo offer. I just enjoyed the books and wished to share them with those who might be interested. Most of this post is a modified version of the review I wrote for the ARC.

These first questions are just me listening to the audiobooks and probably blanking during the relevant passages.

Startide Rising

I remember a scene when the Soro fleet master Krat watches two males fighting for mating rights. Completely missed it on a listen. Can someone please tell me which chapter it is?

Tom Orley. I'm unsure if the skiff (four dolphins, two humans, one chimpanzee) picked him up or not. I tried to listen hard to catch it, but my brain won't shut up sometimes. I'm pretty sure that the skiff isn't mentioned again (it has enough supplies for two warps, but is five warps away from anywhere), so it'd be only in this book.

Now, for the big question. The Awaiter Alliance. Are they moderates or fanatics? Only three species are mentioned as being a part of it: the Brothers of the Night (and their extinct patrons, the Nighthunters) and the crab like Qheuen (from the second trilogy).

When I Googled Awaiter Alliance, they're a religious alliance. But when I add in Qheuen to the search, they're an egalitarian moderate alliance. (The Qheuen fled to Jijo to maintain the Grey supremacy.)

I'm guessing that it was just an error. Just part of a thought experiment on which alliance Terragens might join (I'm kind of fond of the Abdicators, represented by the Thenanin.)

One has deckled edge, the other is standard. Is one more valuable, or more collectible?