Reviews and Comments

Noisy Deadlines

noisydeadlines@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 11 months ago

Minimalist in progress, e-reader, introvert, nerdy, skeptic. I don't leave without my Kobo. I mainly read sci-fi/fantasy, with or without romance. Public Libraries are awesome! Mastodon: @noisydeadlines@writing.exchange

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Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children of Time (Paperback, 2016, Pan Books) 4 stars

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a …

Aliens and spiders

4 stars

Earth is dust, humans are looking for new planets to settle. Generation ships travelling for thousands of years, genetically engineered spiders, failed terraformed planets, first contact, a look into an alien society evolving through the years. Even though there are wars and the classic conflicts for power, I liked the optimistic ending.

S. B. Divya: Machinehood (2021, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) 3 stars

Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client …

Full of ideas and questions about artificial intelligence

No rating

This book is full on ideas and questions about artificial intelligence and how it can integrate with humans. It presents a future dominated by the gig economy, humans have to take advanced enhancement pills to compete with bots and weak AI's (WAI) in the labour force, people have online "tip jars" to receive money from other users that are watching their live social media feeds. It is a disturbing view of the future where there are swarms of nano cameras everywhere, watching and broadcasting everything you do to the internet. The main plot point is the conflict raised by a movement to defend WAI's and bots rights and end the inequality between humans and artificial intelligence. It also touches on the human+machine integration, and how that could change the world. It has lots of interesting ideas, it shows personal insights of the day to day lives of the characters, new …

Gail Carriger: Poison or Protect (EBook, 2016, GAIL CARRIGER LLC) 4 stars

Delightfully entertaining and cute

3 stars

A stand-alone romance novella set in Gail Carriger’s steampunk universe. Lady Preshea Villentia, a deadly, accomplished assassin, is hired for a job in a country house party. The plot is simple, so the story is self-contained, and the focus is the romance between Lady Villentia and Captain Gavin. Delightfully entertaining and cute.

Beautiful romance story with a strong female character

5 stars

I’m truly enjoying these historical romances with a modern twist. In this one the main character, Annabelle, is a bluestocking in 1879 studying in Oxford, who joins the suffragette movement. They are fighting to get the “Married Women’s Property Act” amended, so that women can keep their own property after marriage. Annabelle is tasked with getting the Duke of Montgomery to back the cause, and romance ensues! It has a rich plot with believable political background. Beautiful romance story with a strong female character.

Lots of good ideas

3 stars

This book discusses how we can concentrate on doing our work intuitively. The approach suggests using to-do list as merely checklists to see if we are forgetting something. The author says he doesn’t even use lists anymore, unless he’s very busy. I liked the idea that we have to face the “gnawing rats”: all the things in our lives that we put off and which then start to “gnaw” at us. He suggests we visualize the next actions of what is worrying us, identifying what we find difficult or scary to make the solution real, and leave it to our intuition to carry out the task later. Also, lots of good ideas: do one thing at a time, give things your full attention (no multitasking), take short breaks often to recharge, practice mindfulness. Some of the ideas were familiar to me, but he manages to present them in a fresh …

Rowenna Miller: Torn (Paperback, 2018, Orbit) 2 stars

This was not the book I was looking for

2 stars

This was not the book I was looking for. The blurb mentions it is French Revolution-inspired in a fictional world with magic. The magic system is interesting: a few seamstresses can cast charms into their stitches, making charm protected garments. The protagonist, Sophie, is one of those expert seamstresses and has her own business. Her brother, Kristos, is a revolutionary that wants to overthrow the monarchy (hence the French Revolution inspiration). But the revolution didn’t seem convincing. It was a bit of a slow burn towards political revolution from the POV of someone who is connected to it (Sophie) but doesn’t really want to get involved. Sophie was so reactive and her lack of agency annoyed me at times. There was not enough texture in the story to make it a compelling revolution inspired story.

John Scalzi: The Ghost Brigades (Paperback, 2008, Tor) 5 stars

Intriguing Concepts: Returning to a Series I Love

No rating

Getting back to this series a few years after I read the first one. I enjoyed the thought experiment about transfer of consciousness and identity. It gets into these themes in an easy-to-understand way, and I had fun reading it. I want to read the next book, I think there are interesting things to be explored in this universe.

Jennifer L. Armentrout: The Crown of Gilded Bones (Paperback, 2021, Blue Box Press) 4 stars

Less dark

3 stars

I feel like this third could have closed the arc with the war between Solis and Atlantia, but the author leaves the conflict for the next book. I think I got enough of this world already, and this book reveals and explains Poppy's background, and we finally discover who she really is. The world building keeps on adding more creatures and beings that were supposedly legend, but they turn out to still exist. The good thing about this one is that there are some relaxing moments where Poppy and Casteel are just having a great time together and enjoying life a little. So it's less dark than the previous ones for a while. The ending is again shocking, but this time I didn't want to continue to next one just yet.

Jennifer L. Armentrout: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Paperback, 2020, Blue Box Press) 4 stars

Love, Betrayal, and Second Chances

4 stars

This second book continues right off where the first one ends. There is a lot of world building info dump as it explains a lot more about the Atlantians, wolven bonds and Vamprys. The world of politics and magic just continues to get more complex and nuanced. The pace slows down halfway through as there is a lot of travelling and lodging. The main characters are on their way to Atlantia and there is time for Poppy and Casteel to reconcile, so their "reunion" didn't feel rushed or forced. I was surprised at how I changed my mind about Casteel: he turned out to be a nice guy in light of all the terrible things happening in this world. Poppy discovers that her whole life was a lie, and we see her growing, regaining her confidence and being able to express her true self. It felt to me like a …

Rebecca Yarros: Fourth Wing (Hardcover, 2023, Little, Brown Book Group Limited) 4 stars

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among …

Another book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would

5 stars

Another book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would! We follow Violet SorrengaiI when she joins the Basgiath War College to become a dragonrider in the kingdom of Navarre. All she wanted was to become a scribe, but her mother, who is a war General, forces her to join the Dragonriders Quadrant, instead of the Scribe Quadrant. Just to keep family tradition (her older siblings were also dragonriders). I feel bad about the ruthlessness nature of this military school (there are zero concerns with safety and well-being of the cadets) but I got past that. Cadets die if they make mistakes or fail the crazy challenges and test assigned to them. They are prepared to bond with a dragon and become a rider. The bond is strong, rider and dragons can telepathically communicate. And if you're a rider and your dragon dies, you die! I'm loving the mental …

Jennifer L. Armentrout: From Blood and Ash (2020, Blue Box Press) 5 stars

Twisty tale, I got hooked till the end (spoiler ahead!)

5 stars

Content warning This whole review contains spoilers!

Rebecca Yarros: Fourth Wing (Hardcover, 2023, Little, Brown Book Group Limited) 4 stars

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among …

I've been enjoying it more than I thought I would! I feel bad about the ruthlessness nature of this military school (there are zero concerns with safety and well-being of the cadets) but I got past that. I'm loving the mental banter-dialogues between the riders and the dragons.

Emma Newman: Before Mars (Paperback, 2018, Ace) 5 stars

"Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a standalone dark tale …

Another brilliant sci-fi book with emotional and psychological depth

5 stars

Another brilliant sci-fi book with emotional and psychological depth. Set on a base on Mars, it's a mysterious thriller with untrustworthy AI's, conspiracies, personal trauma and complex characters. We get a lot of the main character's thought process, it's very intimate. The main character is a geologist and a painter, and she struggles with her decision to leave behind her husband and her daughter on Earth to pursue a one-in-a-lifetime job opportunity. Weird things happen at the base and from the first chapter I was totally into the mystery, wanting to know what happened. It features excellent mental health representation, it's raw and real. I had tears in my eyes when I finished it.

Kazuo Ishiguro: Klara and the Sun (Hardcover, 2021, Faber & Faber) 3 stars

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches …

Missed Opportunities

2 stars

The premise is beautiful, it hints at deep reflections about being human, but it didn't work for me. The dialogues were super weird and unnatural, they really bothered me. I missed more exploration of the technology behind the Artificial Friends (AF) and how they worked. Was Klara all mechanical? Was she an android? I wasn't convinced that AF's would find mystical significance in the Sun. The story hints at several themes but never really goes deep: environmental pollution, empathy, robots taking over human jobs, loneliness, gene editing, social class privilege. The plot is super simple and predictable, and the ending was very bleh. Probably not my thing.

Eloisa James: Duchess by Night (Paperback, 2008, Avon) No rating

Looking for adventure in her life, Harriet, the Duchess of Berrow, dresses as a man …

Light and fun read, but I found it a bit tedious towards the end

No rating

This book had some interesting elements, like the main character cross-dressing pretending to be a man. That had some hilarious dialogues and situations. But romance wise, I didn't find the couple attraction convincing enough. It's a light and fun read, but I found it a bit tedious towards the end. Also, it has the very predictable trope of happily ever after with kids, which may just be in all this author's books. I picked it up because I wanted to get back into this series, but I feel like it's not my thing anymore.