A Bookish Blog
It’s silly, insane, jumps around, and makes little sense especially if you read the first book. If you didn’t read Gideon the Ninth, I suggest you do, if you did – brush up on it before starting this one. The narration in this book is so unreliable that it doesn’t only alters what Harrow remembers, but attempts to alter what the reader remembers as well.
To my surprise, this techno-fiction book became, about half way in, a world spanning espionage and intrigue story. Everything is drive, of course, by this new technology that would set the world into a new age that everyone wants to get their hands on.
Andrew Dahl, an expert in alien religions and xenobiology gets assigned to the spaceship Intrepid along with four other new ensigns. The Intrepid is known for its unusual high rate of casualties among low ranking crew members.
While this book could be a standalone, I would highly recommend reading the first two. This novella would make a lot more sense, and would be much more enjoyable instead of reading it as a standalone book.
Even though this book is short, the world building is fantastic. The vision of a future that is run by corporations, with little if any input from governments, is eerie and scary.
The sci-fi story Shorefall,expands on world building, societies, and technologies, questions what the author created, exploring politics, faith, and humanity.
The Binding by Bridget Collins is a novel taking place sometime in the past, where people can bind their memories in a book, freeing them of remembering.
Four scientist invented time travel in 1967, however one of them suffers a breakdown and the other three exile her fearing she would jeopardize the project.
Breach by W.L. Goodwater is a novel taking place in the aftermath of World War II, where the remaining powers fight with magic as well as conventional means.
The world building, the multiple story-lines, and the political aspects and parallels to today’s conservative/liberal/Republican/Democrat/Independent narrative.
