Tag Archives: sci-fi

Book Review of The Rule of Luck (Felicia Sevigny #1), by Catherine Cerveny

I borrowed a copy of Catherine Cerveny‘s The Rule of Luck for my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Year 2950. Humanity has survived devastating climate shifts and four world wars, coming out stronger and smarter than ever. Incredible technology is available to all, and enhancements to appearance, intelligence, and physical ability are commonplace.

In this future, Felicia Sevigny has built her fame reading the futures of others.

Alexei Petriv, the most dangerous man in the TriSystem, will trust only Felicia to read his cards. But the future she sees is darker than either of them could ever have imagined. A future that pits them against an all-knowing government, almost superhuman criminals, and something from Felicia’s past that she could never have predicted, but that could be the key to saving — or destroying — them all.

Review:
Generally enjoyable, I liked how much Felicia stood up for herself and showed anger for her mistreatments at Alexei’s hand. And there were a lot of them. So many in fact that, even by the end, I had a hard time letting go and rooting for them as a pair. This was exasperated by the fact that the sort of love/lust developing is based on something other than who they are as people. (Think fated mates, but not.) This always annoys me, because it makes them interchangeable with anyone else who fills that demographic.

All in all, however, I liked Cerveny’s writing and the book itself. I’m not sure if I’m up for more of this series, but I’m sure interested in more of Cerveny’s writing.

Particle Horizon

Book Review of Particle Horizon, by Selso Xisto

According to Amazon, I downloaded a copy of Selso Xisto‘s Particle Horizon in June of 2012! Sooooo, yeah, it took me a while to get to it.

Description:
From the blood and dust of New Jerusalem, the Legion of the LightBringer wages a galactic war against those who would replace their god. Now, the time has come for the Union of Free Worlds to make a stand. The front line is the idyllic asteroid world of Angelhaven, where the greatest mind in human history has discovered an elemental power with far-reaching implications. A power that both sides will do anything to harness.

Marine commander Gomes leads the crack Union task force. An unrelenting warrior driven by revenge and a need for answers, he hides a strange ability neither science nor religion can explain.

On the other side of the war, Aja is forced to fight for a cause she doesn’t believe in to protect her own secret.

Caught between them is Una, a living machine who battles for her humanity as her world falls apart.

Outnumbered ten to one and stalked by a mysterious nemesis, all three will play a role in unraveling Angelhaven’s enigma.

As the Legion invasion begins, unknown eyes watch with interest…

Review:
Honestly, it was a lot better than I expected. I liked the writing and the interesting quagmires some of the characters found themselves in—especially around identity—and many of the characters in general. Plus, I found the plot and technology is interesting.

I did think it dragged a little in the middle. I noted a couple copy edit mishaps. The science was a bit hand-wavey, and I warn you not to get too attached to anyone. All in all though, I enjoyed it.

All Systems Red

Book Review of All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1), by Martha Wells

I borrowed Martha WellsAll Systems Red from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Review:
Really quite marvelous. I love that you could feel how uncomfortable SecUnit was with people, how it was completely badass but also fragile. The book was fairly spare on the world building, but there was just enough to position the story. And I 100% approve of SecUnit’s decision at the end. I can’t wait to read more of this series. Tor continues to wow me with each new book I read and Martha Wells is on my radar.