Book Review: The Edge of Worlds by Martha Wells
If you have read any of Martha Wells’ Raksura novels and stories, you likely do not need me to coax you into reading her latest volume, THE EDGE OF WORLDS, now that you know it’s here. Go forth and get it, and enjoy it as I did. You’re excused from reading the rest of this review. For those of you who are new to Wells’ fiction, or her Three Worlds novels, let me open up this treasure of wonders for you. Imagine a fantasy world filled to the brim with more sentient species than a Talislanta corebook, and more diverse than the various types of hominids on Niven’s Ringworld. A fantasy world whose roots run deep, where ancient ruins of cities from civilizations long dead hold treasures, wonders and dangers. Where the foul Fell, an all-consuming race who view all other races as prey, seek to spread and devour the world.
Book Review: Borderline by Mishell Baker
Millie is broken, and perhaps not still good. But she is trying. Having lost her filmmaking career and her legs in a failed suicide attempt a year ago, her path back to a stable life has been a tough one. When Caryl Vallo from the Arcadia Project offers Millie a position, things are even more complicated. For the Arcadia Project, in the manner of the Men In Black, keeps track of the visitors to Earth not from space, but from the Fairyland next door. And Millie’s past problems and current nature are not a problem, but rather a selling point to the organization. Even as a simple sample assignment goes haywire, Millie learns that she is not the only person with issues in the Arcadia Project. But can Millie rise above these challenges before the fallout from that simple assignment causes problems that will extend far beyond her life, or even Tinseltown? Borderline is the debut novel from Mishell Baker.
Book Review: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
You and your husband have been at the center of a lot of events in history over the last few decades, especially involving a tricky succession and regency that nearly blew up an entire planet more than a few times. But all that is in the past. Sadly and tragically, your husband is now dead. Your former charge is now a secure Emperor on his throne, and you yourself are Vicereine of a colony. Your son is now firmly in the Ducal seat that your late husband held, and is doing well. More so, thanks to Betan genetic engineering and breeding, you are pretty sure that you have many decades of productive life left. So, what do you do *now* — especially if you are Cordelia Vorkosigan? Not go to Disneyland, that’s for sure. And definitely not fade away.
Book Review: Swords and Scoundrels by Julia Knight
Vocho and Kasha are duelists, or were, once upon a time. In these less enlightened times, not only are they no longer in the Duellists Guild, the Guild itself isn’t quite the institution it once was, after the fall of a King and the rise of a new order. Vocho and Kasha take whatever jobs they can to survive, and those jobs often involve the liberation of goods and funds from the more well off. However, the problem of being highwaymen is that sometimes you wind up with a cargo far beyond what you bargained for, a cargo that several factions are looking to capture, or destroy, with the fate of cities and even a kingdom in the balance. Now, with such a hot potato, the pasts of Vocho and Kasha seems poised to catch up with their present. Swords and Scoundrels is the first in the Duellists Trilogy from Julia Knight. Julia Knight, under the name Francis Knight, is also known for writing the Fade to Black series.
Book Review: The Empress Game by Rhonda Mason
Space Opera machinations, a Princess and Prince on the run, and vicious combat both in and out of the ring mark the plot of Rhonda Mason’s The Empress Game. I’m a sucker for Traveller-style Space Opera, with multiple star-spanning empires and kingdoms and republics, politics between different worlds, intrigue and adventure on far-flung worlds. The Empress Game provides us with an Empire that seems to dominate a swath of the galaxy, but is not alone in its suzerainty. It is the intersection of those polities, or on the boundaries of them, that rich and interesting characters and story can occur.
Book Review: Planetfall by Emma Newman
A colony on an alien planet was founded by a religious visionary inspired by a mysterious incident on Earth to create an expedition to the distant world. A 3-D printer repairer and expert in recycling, Renata Ghali is an important member of the small, fledgling colony. And with that visionary in God’s City, communing with God, Ren is one of the remaining pillars of the community, keeping it together. She also has terrible secrets, public, about what is really going on the colony and what happened when the colonists first arrived. Even more so, Ren has strong secrets about herself, that until now she has managed to keep from the colony. But the arrival of an unexpected visitor to the colony from without is the inciting incident that may upset the unsteady equilibrium that Ren has going. Planetfall marks a change from fantasy to science fiction for Split Worlds author Emma Newman.
