skaficionado rated The Scourge Between Stars: 4 stars

The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown
As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they …
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As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they …

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they …

An investigator must solve a brutal murder on a claustrophobic asteroid mine in this tense science fiction thriller from the …

An investigator must solve a brutal murder on a claustrophobic asteroid mine in this tense science fiction thriller from the …

The battle for your mind has already begun. At Jodrell Band in England Observatory in England, a radio telescope has …
But what good is a future if you don't want to live in it?
Maybe the timing of this audio book aligns with the movie The Thirteenth Floor, because if you absorb both at the same time just maybe you'll experience something like the kind of mindf_ck both works aspire to produce. Not that there is anything wrong with stories questioning the nature of reality, but this one falls flat. The structure of the book, the order of the narration particularly, sets up the reader to have their mind blown. Sadly, the only thing blown here is a raspberry. This is a two-star story that I gave three stars. The third star is to honor the excellent imitation of living with mental illness(es). That the high quality of the writing and narration only lead to a boring conclusion only makes for more disappointment.
Maybe the timing of this audio book aligns with the movie The Thirteenth Floor, because if you absorb both at the same time just maybe you'll experience something like the kind of mindf_ck both works aspire to produce. Not that there is anything wrong with stories questioning the nature of reality, but this one falls flat. The structure of the book, the order of the narration particularly, sets up the reader to have their mind blown. Sadly, the only thing blown here is a raspberry. This is a two-star story that I gave three stars. The third star is to honor the excellent imitation of living with mental illness(es). That the high quality of the writing and narration only lead to a boring conclusion only makes for more disappointment.

Winner of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novella of 2020
"Can you hear the bell chime?"
…Content warning minor plot spoiler; profanity
I'm not normally one for zombie stories, though I might argue this is not a "typical" zombie story. In any case, this book fuckin' rips. It starts at an 11 and never lets up. It's a wild premise, and the action in the book is both vivid and horrifying. From the time of writing this review, there are about two weeks until the sequel is released. And for the first time in a long time, I cannot wait for the next one.

A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to …
This book is neither inventive nor imaginative. This book is neither awful nor amazing. I would categorize it as a fairly basic ghost story with heavy-handed metaphors for generational trauma. But hey, it's horror: heavy-handed metaphors is where it's at, traditionally. So that's... just fine. I didn't find this story particularly scary -- that's subjective. I did find the climax and ending predictable -- that's also fine, and probably also subjective. Horror fans won't find anything new here, nor will they be terribly disappointed. Hence, 3 stars. Upside: I had never heard of the band Of Feather and Bone, and now I have.
This book is neither inventive nor imaginative. This book is neither awful nor amazing. I would categorize it as a fairly basic ghost story with heavy-handed metaphors for generational trauma. But hey, it's horror: heavy-handed metaphors is where it's at, traditionally. So that's... just fine. I didn't find this story particularly scary -- that's subjective. I did find the climax and ending predictable -- that's also fine, and probably also subjective. Horror fans won't find anything new here, nor will they be terribly disappointed. Hence, 3 stars. Upside: I had never heard of the band Of Feather and Bone, and now I have.
The most frightening theme in this book is how quickly we can be stripped of our personhood. Especially frightening how we can strip ourselves of our own humanity, and perhaps not think twice about it.