I often wish that there was more real science fiction in the young adult category. I was super excited to read Mars One and was amazed at the depth and thought put into this amazing story. A private company foots the bill to send the first humans to Mars. The impact on society and the world is profound. It was fascinating to experience first hand what life would be like if you were going to leave earth forever, live in space for months, and ultimately populate another planet. I raced through this and loved every minute!
Cardenia Wu has a lot to deal with when she unexpectedly becomes the next in line to rule the Interdependency. Empire politics, unwanted marriage proposals, oh yeah, and the potential disintegration of all the interconnected human settlements. Fast and enticing, Scalzi does not disappoint.
If you haven't read Octavia Butler's Kindred, this is a very compelling introduction. If you have, this graphic novel will add a new layer of understanding for this classic text.
Once again Becky Chambers has lived up to my every expectation. Through the perspectives of five very different people (plus an alien for good measure) she unfolds the intersections of life and death, stability and displacement, all through the every-day lives of the citizens of the Exodus Fleet, the original ships that left Earth in search for a better life. As always Chambers' characters feel more real than written, and her proposed future a hopeful, but complex, existence.
This is a book about relationships wrapped in the a guise of apocalyptic-landscapes, strange biotech, nameless cities, and survival-horror.
Come for the 5-story tall bear and feral, ruthless children.
Stay for the soul-crushing exposition of personal connections torn apart by guilt and distrust.
If you enjoy the fiction of Ursula Le Guin, and seek something new, read Karin Tidbeck. Her novel Amatka is powerful but Tidbeck's short stories are nigh perfect, perfectly weird.
A sci-fi bender that details what would happen if Lara Croft and Indiana Jones reluctantly teamed up to decode and ancient alien message in an ancient alien temple.
Read while waiting for OBSIDIO, the final book in the Third Place bookseller-beloved Illuminae trilogy.
I LOVE this book.
What do you do when you are part of a family you know you can't live up to? Spring a criminal from an impenetrable prison and let the chaos ensue, of course!
Leckie has added to her fantastic universe endearing and complex characters (both human and alien) and created a compelling story that is satisfying to the very end!
Although Chamber's second book is set in the same universe as her first, it is far from a sequel. She switches perspectives between an AI trying to hide her identity among organics, and a young clone-girl born to slave away in a scrapped-tech factory. She covers issues of body dysphoria and perseverance in the worst situations, as well as what it means for each of us to live our lives on our own terms. I loved it even more than her first book!
Sci-Fi can be... dark. Gritty. A dramatic sequence of hard choices and unforeseen events.
This is none of that.
Reminiscent of Firefly and Star Trek, it is filled with top-notch characterization, questions of morality, and fascinating clashing of culture dynamics. I fell in love with all the characters, both human and alien, and was glad for a reprieve from the heavy stories normal for this genre.
