Deedi Brown 8/11/25 Deedi Brown 8/11/25

Service Model

Adrian Tchaikovsky is trying to do a lot here, and insofar as his intentions go, I think he succeeded — Service Model is a funny, voicey book that hits its themes home. Unfortunately, the execution was just not for me.

About the book

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Tor Books

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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My Review

Adrian Tchaikovsky is trying to do a lot here, and insofar as his intentions go, I think he succeeded — Service Model is a funny, voicey book that comments on the danger of relying on computers to save us when they have been programmed by humans, who are biased; the consequences of those with privilege hoarding resources for themselves; the line between human and machine; and so much more.

Unfortunately, the execution was just not for me. I went from intrigued by the excellent premise (a robot butler is going about its daily task list when it realizes it somehow accidentally murdered its human master) to impatiently frustrated, to confused at the discordant direction of the plot, to feeling like I had things explained to me like a child. Again, I think a lot of this was actually necessary to drive the themes home, but I was glad to be finished with it.

It will be interesting to see if this takes home the Hugo Award!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Murder/blood

Deedi Brown 6/20/25 Deedi Brown 6/20/25

Alien Clay

This is objectively good storytelling that is unfortunately not well aligned with my taste in books — I just don’t love hardcore alien world scifi. So it’s not a new favorite, but I enjoyed it enough to easily finish it!

About the book

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Orbit

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My Review

Alien Clay is my first book by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I picked it up because it’s nominated for the Hugo Award this year. Tchaikovsky is a giant in the sci-fi space, and it’s easy to see why. This is objectively good storytelling that is unfortunately not well aligned with my taste in books — I just don’t love hardcore alien world scifi. So it’s not a new favorite, but I enjoyed it enough to easily finish it!

The story is about a man named Arton Daghdev, a scientist who has been shipped off to the alien planet of Kiln as a laborer for life as punishment for political dissidence. Kiln is littered with sophisticated archaeological ruins, and everyone at the settlement is working to answer one question: who built them, and where did they go?

This has all the great ingredients you need for a great sci-fi novel: intriguing central mystery, good pacing, exciting ending. You just have to like alien stories, too. It’s also obviously a very timely book, with commentary on the current state of the world, from fascism to climate change. I do think it bopped around in time in a way that felt a little chaotic, in service of heightening the mystery, but I forgave it.

I’m intrigued to read Tchaikovsky’s other Hugo nominee (he has TWO this year!) to see if it was this book or just his style that didn’t fit my taste. We will see!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Body horror
Violence

Deedi Brown 4/30/25 Deedi Brown 4/30/25

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

You can always count on John Scalzi to mix humor with heart in just the right way. Very few of today’s writers manage to both make us laugh and also speak to the state of the world like he does. When The Moon Hits Your Eye is no exception.

About the book

Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books

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My Review

The premise is simple: the moon has turned to cheese. The book spends one lunar cycle, 28 days, with 28 different people living through the aftermath — from shocking discovery to confused scientists to the (loosey goosey) ramifications re: physics. Scalzi manages to bring so much life to these characters while never taking things seriously but also asking big, non-preachy questions really making you think and reflect.

I can see why, according to the author’s note, this book forms an informal trilogy in Scalzi’s mind with The Kaiju Preservation Society and Starter Villain. They are all standalones, but if you had fun with those, I think you’ll like this one too.

I’m just such a big fan of his, and I think everyone deserves the emotional bubble bath you get from reading his books!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Terminal illness
Death
Alcohol
Sexual content (brief and funny)

Deedi Brown 2/14/25 Deedi Brown 2/14/25

Death of the Author

Unsurprisingly after all that hype, this genre-bender not only delivers but also hits differently than anything else Okorafor has written.

About the book

Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Publisher: William Morrow

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My Review

I’ve been a Nnedi Okorafor fan for a long time, and her new releases are always cause for excitement in the SFF community. But this one felt like it was getting some *extra* buzz, and from a broader range of review publications, which made me even more excited to read it. Unsurprisingly, this genre-bender not only delivers but also hits differently than anything else she’s written.

Death of the Author gives us a book-within-a-book, going back and forth between the story of a quadriplegic Nigerian-American woman writer named Zelu and the post-apocalyptic science fiction robot novel that catapults her to fame. Both stories function amid the backdrop of Nigerian culture, storytelling, and mythology. Zelu is expertly crafted: fierce, compelling, and believable. I didn’t like her much, but I was rooting for her, especially with all her family drama (even if there was a bit too much of that in this story for my personal taste).

Okorafor not only blurs lines between genres but also, at the end (that ending!!), subverts our expectations in a way that challenges us to reconsider the very act of storytelling — the thing that makes us human — itself. Readers who like both contemporary fiction and sci-fi will love this, probably followed by contemporary fiction readers who don’t mind added sci-fi or speculative elements, followed by die-hard sci-fi readers. Either way, definitely read this if you like genre play and exploration and books that challenge how stories can work.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Ableism
Death of a parent, grief
Racism
Gun violence/kidnapping
Pregnancy

Deedi Brown 7/25/24 Deedi Brown 7/25/24

Translation State

Although I could definitely tell that I was missing context because I haven’t read the original Imperial Radch trilogy, to Leckie’s credit I never felt lost. And this was a very fun story with cool, deeply lovable cannibal aliens. What’s not to like??

About the book

Author: Ann Leckie
Publisher: Orbit

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My Review

Lucky for me that Translation State was nominated for the Hugo, because it’s unlikely I would have picked it up on my own. I had not heard of the Imperial Radch trilogy (although appears to be quite beloved!), which is the primary work where this book’s universe is established. Translation State is one of two standalone novels that widen the trilogy’s scope by focusing on other planetary systems and species/civilizations.

Although I could definitely tell that I was missing context — easter eggs and recurring characters and things like that — to Leckie’s credit, I never felt lost. And this was a very fun story with cool, deeply lovable cannibal aliens. (Of the three main characters, two are humans — well, kinda — and one is an alien.) What’s not to like?? The secondary characters were sort of flat and some things were tied up a bit too neatly, as you might expect from a “spin-off” novel like this, but those were minor complaints. I loved the overall theme that we all want to belong and should have a place in the universe and people to love us. I also loved the emphasis on gender as a spectrum and the overarching question of what makes someone “human.”

Nobody else is Becky Chambers but if you’re looking for something to read after Long Way this could be it — and I get the feeling from reviews that the original trilogy may be even closer.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Body horror
Cannibalism (kind of)
Xenophobia
Violence and blood

Deedi Brown 6/24/24 Deedi Brown 6/24/24

Starter Villain

As you would expect of a book with a cat wearing a suit on the cover, and as you would expect from John Scalzi in general, this book was a HELL of a good time. What a quick, fun read!!

About the book

Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor Books

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My Review

As you would expect of a book with a cat wearing a suit on the cover, and as you would expect from John Scalzi in general, this book was a HELL of a good time. What a quick, fun read!!

Starter Villain is basically Despicable Me for adults. The main character finds out he’s inherited his estranged uncle’s villain business, complete with a spy network of hyperintelligent cats, a volcano lair, and a workforce of foul-mouthed, class-conscious unionized dolphins (they were my favorite). Then he finds out that all the other villains have it in for him, and he has to rely on his uncle’s team to help him outwit them all. WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE?

Truly, I could not have had a better time reading this book. The pacing was great (I read it in a day), the voice was great, the cats were great — just great all around. The perfect lighthearted read to squeeze in between heavier and/or thicker tomes. Highly recommend.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Gun violence
Murder/death
Death of a parent
Terminal illness

Deedi Brown 6/23/24 Deedi Brown 6/23/24

In Ascension

This ended up being one of my favorites from the 2023 Booker Prize longlist. I’m also glad I read this with a book club, because holy moly is there a LOT to process after that ending.

About the book

Author: Martin MacInnes
Publisher: Black Cat

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My Review

In Ascension probably wouldn’t have made it to the top of my TBR had it not been longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, but I’m really glad it was — this ended up being one of my favorites from the list. I’m also glad I read this with a book club, because holy moly is there a LOT to process after that ending.

Beautifully, compellingly written, In Ascension simultaneously contemplates both our place in the universe and our relationships to one another. It’s about a woman named Leigh whose search for escape from physical abuse as a child leads her to a career as a microbiologist studying the deep sea and the cells that became the origin of life. A mind-boggling research voyage early in her career eventually sends her her to (literal) heights she never could have imagined, but she always feels pulled back home as well.

This is one of those books that toes the line between litfic and sci-fi in a way that’s perfect for someone who loves both (like me), but may go a bit too far for those who typically read one or the other. Too much science for the litfic crowd; too much ambiguity and scientific wiggliness for the sci-fi crowd. But as someone who has a high tolerance for both, I liked it very much.

The prose here is the biggest shining star, but I also just sank into the story and felt compelled through it. In fact, it was going to be a five-star book for me until I hit the last ~125 pages. Unfortunately, the penultimate section broke the momentum and felt like an unnecessary 100-page epilogue. But the very, very end — that was awesome.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Child abuse/physical abuse (remembered)
Dementia (loved one)

Deedi Brown 5/11/24 Deedi Brown 5/11/24

The Ministry of Time

This book is like the best kind of meal you make from whatever’s in your refrigerator — a ton of ingredients you love, not too much brain power required, and a tasty result in the end. Call it the literary beach read of the summer.

About the book

Author: Kaliane Bradley
Publisher: Avid Reader Press

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My Review

The Ministry of Time got a LOT of hype. The back of my advanced reader’s copy, which I received several months ago, said it was “already an international sensation, with rights sold in 17 languages and a TV adaptation in the pipeline after a 21-way auction.” It’s got an incredible lineup of blurbs, including from Eleanor Catton, Max Porter, and…Emily Henry.

Here’s the premise: Our unnamed narrator has been hired by a new branch of the government to live with, guide, and monitor an “expat” who was pulled from their home — the past. Our MC is assigned Lieutenant Graham Gore, an arctic explorer from the 1800s. And then they fall in love. (WOW.)

So, does it deliver on all that promise? I’ve seen mixed reviews, but as for me, I say yes — IF you go into it with the right expectations.

This book fits best in the literary fiction genre, given the interiority of the main character (although the end reads more like a sci-fi thriller). But it’s still doing a lot of different things at once — time travel, a romance plotline, history, a little dystopia, humor, not to mention themes like moving through the world as a white-passing Asian person, survivor’s guilt, and kind of growth required for a character to jump from a period of colonization to our present-day understanding of race and civil rights. So go into this book knowing that it’s not going to have the space to focus on any one of those things in depth. Also, time travel is HARD and full of plot holes by nature, so take that in stride. If you do, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with it.

Some have said this book tries to do too much and delivers on none of it. But I found it to be like the best kind of meal you make from whatever’s in your refrigerator — a ton of ingredients you love, not too much brain power required, and a tasty result in the end. Call it the literary beach read of the summer.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Death and grief
Sexual content
Cannibalism (minor)

Deedi Brown 4/21/24 Deedi Brown 4/21/24

Some Desperate Glory

Honestly, I can’t believe Some Desperate Glory wasn’t on my radar until it was nominated for the Hugo, especially with such blurb power. But wow am I glad it showed up!! One heck of a story.

About the book

Author: Emily Tesh
Publisher: Tordotcom

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My Review

Honestly, I can’t believe Some Desperate Glory wasn’t on my radar until it was nominated for the Hugo, especially with such blurb power (VE Schwab, Tamsyn Muir, Alix Harrow, Shelley Parker-Chan, John Scalzi, and more). But wow am I glad it showed up!!

The book is set in a future where Earth has been destroyed and the last colony of humans lives and trains to exact revenge. The main character, Kyr, is an unlikeable but highly skilled trainee about to receive her official placement — until that placement goes wrong and everything she thought she knew gets turned on its head.

This is one hell of a story. It especially picks up halfway — I think I literally said “whaaaaat!” out loud in a room all by myself. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book about what is essentially an awakening from brainwashing, but it does set up a lot of exploration of important themes like racism, homophobia, sexism, suicide, and eugenics. In fact I’d almost say it’s a little heavy handed on some of this stuff, but in a forgivable way.

The audiobook performance was also good, but because there’s a decent amount of worldbuilding, I’d recommend starting the book in print and switching to audio once you’ve got a handle on things (or listening as you read along).

I could definitely see this winning the Hugo!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Suicide (sudden and explicit)
Homophobia
Xenophilia
War
Death of a parent
Rape (off page/in the past)

Deedi Brown 2/25/24 Deedi Brown 2/25/24

Beautyland

Beautyland is one of those books that will sneak up on you and hit you right smack in the feels. My favorite kind of book. (The audiobook was also excellently performed, and the story was easy to follow in that format!)

About the book

Author: Marie-Helene Bertino
Publisher: FSG

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My Review

This is a literary novel about an alien named Adina; her “superiors” put her on Earth at the time of birth to observe and teach them about humans. As she grows up, from early childhood with a single mother in Philly through adulthood in NYC, she reports back on what she learns via a fax machine in her bedroom.

This may sound a little absurd; it is. It may sound like sci-fi; it’s not. At its core, it’s nothing less than a deeply resonant and creative exploration of the otherness of growing up and then the simple alienation of existing alongside others while always seeking connection. Bertino gives us a look at how it’s possible to be lonely and surrounded by love at the same time, at humanity and the small things that make life both hard and beautiful.

You should definitely read it.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Animal (pet) death
Death of a friend from cancer
Grief

Deedi Brown 2/16/24 Deedi Brown 2/16/24

The Future

I think this book successfully did what it set out to do, but tech apocalypse stories just aren't my thing. But if you’re looking for a slightly more sophisticated version of a dystopian thriller, this might be your jam.

About the book

Author: Naomi Alderman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

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My Review

This book was a bit of a gamble for me — tech apocalypse books are just not my favorite — but because I (and most of the world) loved The Power back when it first came out, I was willing to give it a shot. I didn’t hate it, but unfortunately, it still wasn’t really for me.

At the start of the book, the CEOs of the biggest tech companies in a near future all get the notification that it’s time to head to their apocalypse bunkers. A survivalist influencer who was dating one of the CEOs’ assistants also gets tangled up in the situation. That’s all I’ll say about the story for now.

The full cast audiobook was also fun and made for a good listening experience, except maybe for the sections written as the forum threads — those were easier to follow on paper. Speaking of which, those threads lost me a bit with their biblical analysis. I actually think that they worked in the sense that they served the book well, but I found myself zoning out. Plus, I’m not sure I loved the last page, lol.

Still, the book was definitely plotty and twisty, and if you’re looking for a slightly more sophisticated version of a dystopian thriller this might be your jam!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Suicide attempt
Pandemic/endemic (in the future)
Active shooter
Murder
Death

Deedi Brown 2/11/24 Deedi Brown 2/11/24

Orbital

All vibes/no plot in outer space. Harvey has given us a breathtaking meditation on what makes us human, what connects us, and our beloved planet Earth.

About the book

Author: Samantha Harvey
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (Grove Atlantic)

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My Review

Short but deeply moving, Orbital is about a small crew of people from different countries on a ship that orbits the Earth several times in a single day. Below, their loved ones go about their lives. Below, a catastrophic tsunami approaches Asia. They pass these things over and over again.

This book is all vibes/no plot in outer space. Make no mistake, it’s not science fiction; this is literary fiction through and through. Harvey has given us a breathtaking meditation on what makes us human, what connects us, and our beloved planet Earth.

This one really took me by surprise, y’all. I loved it. Read it slowly and savor it — trust me.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Death of a parent/grief

Deedi Brown 10/17/23 Deedi Brown 10/17/23

The Spare Man

The Lone Man is a sci-fi beach read of a novel, featuring a murder mystery on an outer space cruise ship. It involved a lot of privilege (and alcohol), but I was hooked and had a fun time reading it.

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Tor
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

TL;DR Review

For you if: You’re looking for something to entertain you (and don’t some science in your fiction).

Full Review

Honestly, if it hadn’t been up for the Hugo Award, I probably would never have read The Lone Man. I read Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series when that was nominated, and I was pretty lukewarm on it. I’m happy to report that was NOT the case here. I found this one to be fun and super engaging; a kind of sci-fi beach read.

This book is a mystery novel set on an outer space cruise ship about a rich, genius inventor and heiress named Tesla Crane whose brand-new, retired detective husband is falsely accused of murder. So naturally, she sets out to clear his name (and solve the mystery). Other fun plot points: Tesla suffers from severe PTSD and chronic pain thanks to a major accident that happened about 7 years before. She also has an adorable service dog (a Westie) in a future where real (non-robot) dogs are pretty rare.

A couple things that might make this book not for everyone: First, Tesla is extremely rich and wields her privilege to get what she wants in this life/death situation — although to her credit, she’s pretty self-aware about it. Second, there is a LOT of alcohol; the book is a small homage to mixology. Each chapter starts with a mixed drink recipe, and the characters are always sipping on something.

But beyond that, I really had a fun time reading this book. Whereas the Lady Astronaut series got bogged down and had very slow middles, this had good pacing throughout and I was invested in the mystery. (Granted I don’t really read genre mystery, so take that with a grain of salt.) I also really liked the service dog rep, the PTSD and chronic pain rep, and the way this book imagined a future where it’s a serious faux pas to not ask for pronouns and people say things like “if I was giving them a complimentary t-shirt I would guess their size is XXL” to describe a person’s weight.

All in all, I say if you’re looking for a lighter, more entertaining novel to keep you hooked, this could be a good one.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Alcohol (lots and lots)
Panic attacks/PTSD/flashbacks
Chronic pain, use of painkillers
Blood and murder

Deedi Brown 10/15/23 Deedi Brown 10/15/23

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a smart, atmospheric, anticolonial / feminist reimagining of an HG Wells classic. It’s not the fastest paced, but it is very good.

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Publisher: Del Rey
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

A lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico.

Carlota Moreau: a young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of either a genius, or a madman.

Montgomery Laughton: a melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers.

The hybrids: the fruits of the Doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities.

All of them living in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Doctor Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.

For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is both a dazzling historical novel and a daring science fiction journey.

TL;DR Review

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a smart, atmospheric, anticolonial / feminist reimagining of an H.G. Wells classic. It’s not the fastest paced, but it is very good.

For you if: You like gothic sci-fi novels that dip a toe into body horror.

Full Review

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau has been sitting on my shelf since it came out, but its nomination for the 2023 Hugo Award bumped it to the top of my list. And I’m glad it did! This book is smart and well done, and I enjoyed it.

This book is a loose reimagining of a classic sci-fi novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells. That book is about a shipwrecked man who bears witness to Moreau’s vivisection experiments, which attempt to turn animals into humans. This one places the story on the Yucatan Peninsula during the war between its indigenous people and colonizers, gives Moreau a daughter and makes her — and the caretaker, Montgomery — the focus, and replaces the shipwrecked visitor with the son of their wealthy patron. It takes the original’s themes around morality and man playing god, and adds colonization and misogyny into the mix.

I haven’t read The Island of Doctor Moreau, but I did read a summary before starting this, which was enough (and a choice I highly recommend). This book’s brilliance is in the way it clearly pays homage to the original while also reclaiming it to say something wholly new and also critique that work itself. Without a glimpse into that conversation, I don’t think this book would be as engaging or impactful.

Regardless though, it’s not the fastest paced, but it’s extremely atmospheric and leans into the gothic, light body horror vibes. Perfect for readers who don’t shy away from the grotesque but also don’t love full-on horror. The audiobook was also a fantastic accompaniment!

I’d be happy to see this book take the Hugo!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Gun violence, blood
Body horror
Alcoholism
Sexual content (minor)

Deedi Brown 9/30/23 Deedi Brown 9/30/23

The Kaiju Preservation Society

The Kaiju Preservation Society was a complete and utter delight. The perfect snack of a sci-fi novel, fun and funny and engaging.

Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

BUY ONLINE

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization." Tom's team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.

What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble.

It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too—and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

TL;DR Review

The Kaiju Preservation Society was a complete and utter delight. The perfect snack of a sci-fi novel, fun and funny and engaging.

For you if: You love a good sci-fi set-up beginning with a plotty ending.

Full Review

I have never read John Scalzi before, but with this book nominated for the Hugo Award, it was finally time. What a fun party I’ve been missing out on!

I don’t think I could put it better than John himself did in his author’s note:

“[This book is not] a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.”

And truly, that’s exactly what’s going on here. As the pandemic hits, a man named Jamie goes from employed at a start-up to delivering food to pay the bills, which lands him the gig of a lifetime: a job where he spends six months of the year as “off the grid” as you could LITERALLY get in a sci-fi novel, working for the Kaiju Preservation Soceity. (If you, like me, did not know what a Kaiju was, it’s essentially like a movie monster a la Godzilla or Jurrasic Park). And that’s all I’ll say, because the discovery is more than half the fun.

This is definitively sci-fi, with lots of sciency worldbuilding, but what a fun and engaging time of it. The banter between characters is full of levity and jokes. The tone of the prose is wink-winky. The plot is just enough until all of a sudden it takes over and you rush to a fast-paced ending. And throughout, there’s just enough heart here to squeeze ya.

If you’re looking for something quick and fun, this is ABSOLUTELY it. Now, on to Scalzi’s backlist!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Gun violence
Death and violence
Animal death

Deedi Brown 12/13/22 Deedi Brown 12/13/22

The World We Make (Great Cities, #2)

The World We Make is not as strong as The City We Became, IMO, but it was still fun and smart and definitely worth reading.

Author: N.K. Jemisin
Publisher: Orbit
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

BUY ONLINE

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

***Description is a spoiler for The City We Became***

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts "a glorious fantasy" (Neil Gaiman) — a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City, in the final book of the Great Cities Duology.

Every great city has a soul. A human avatar that embodies their city's heart and wields its magic. New York? She's got six.

But all is not well in the city that never sleeps. Though Brooklyn, Manny, Bronca, Venezia, Padmini, and Neek have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading--and destroying the entire universe in the process--the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

TL;DR Review

The World We Make is not as strong as The City We Became, IMO, but it was still fun and smart and definitely worth reading.

For you if: You have ever lived in NYC.

Full Review

The World We Make is the much-anticipated follow-up to N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became, which tells the story of New York City’s essence coming to life in human avatars as they battle an opposing force intent on preventing the city’s birth. I really loved TCWB — especially as someone living in Jersey City (IYKYK) — and liked TWWM, although not as much as the first one.

The good stuff: A lot! Jemisin is clever and funny and so smart. I loved spending more time with these hilarious, big-hearted characters. And she just really knows how to write an exciting, engaging story.

The neutral: TWWM goes much deeper into the sci-fi part of the story, whereas the first book concentrated more on personifying NYC and each of its boroughs — this duology is an homage and critique of Lovecraftian sci-fi in a super smart way. I am afraid it might lose steam for some of TCWB’s readers who don’t do as much sci-fi, but it’s absolutely worth a shot.

The less-than-stellar part was that the ending did feel rushed and not as surprising as I would have expected from Jemisin. The reason is pretty clearly laid out in her acknowledgments: She started this series, originally planned as a trilogy, before COVID and Trump. Those things changed us, and changed NYC, while she was in the middle of the project. It took all of her emotional labor just to give the story an ending — and as a reader, you can feel it.

Still, I really enjoyed this duology and I think it’s 100% worth reading, especially if you’re from or have ever lived in NYC!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Xenophobia and racism
Police brutality (minor)
Transphobia (single incident)

Deedi Brown 8/31/22 Deedi Brown 8/31/22

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is a quietly eerie, thought-provoking book with a strong first-person narrator. It’s engaging and will stick with you long after you finish it.

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Publisher: Vintage
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

From Booker Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro comes a devastating novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss.

As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules—and teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life, and for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them so special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

TL;DR Review

Never Let Me Go is a quietly eerie, thought-provoking book with a strong first-person narrator. It’s engaging and will stick with you long after you finish it.

For you if: You like books that ask ethical questions.

Full Review

I’m late to the Ishiguro party (my first book of his was Klara and the Sun), but several people recommended Never Let Me Go as a beloved backlist title of his. I went in with few expectations and little knowledge about the plot, which I think was a good way to do it. I definitely enjoyed it, but it’s also proven to be one of those books you appreciate even more as time goes by and you think back about it later.

I won’t give too much away, but the book is written in the first person by a character named Kathy H. She’s speaking directly to us, her readers, telling us a mostly linear account of her time at school with her friends, and then what happened to them as they aged. That makes it sound boring and straightforward, but the society that Kathy lives in is not quite like our own, and she and her friends are not like you and me (except they also are, which is kind of the point).

Once again, Ishiguro has blown me away by his ability to write for an entire book in a very distinct character voice; Kath and Klara sound nothing like one another, and wholly like themselves. Going by prose alone, you might not even know it was the same author. But of course, it’s all Ishiguro, and the two books have similar thematic threads, both being a sort of subversion of the dystopian genre in which there are troubling technological advancements and humanitarian issues at play, but no attempts to "overthrow” them. Only a sort of melancholy acceptance that makes the books even more disquieting. This one, in particular, makes you think more about how you may be a cog in a machine, what you may be complacent in, and how much agency you actually have. That, and ethics in modern (and future) medicine.

The one thing that bothered me about this book was how Kathy H. constantly told us she was about to tell us something. It seemed like every few pages she was like, “or at least that’s what I thought … until what happened next” (implied DUN DUN DUUUUN). But ultimately that’s a small complaint.

While I’m not sure this became an all-time favorite like it was for some of my friends, I’m really glad I read it and definitely recommend it. It’s one that will stick with you for a long time.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Infertility
Terminal illness (in a way?)
Death and grief
Sexual content (non-explicit)

Deedi Brown 8/21/22 Deedi Brown 8/21/22

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4)

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within ends the Wayfarers books on a strong note, although it also feels the most like Chambers’ Monk & Robot books. I liked it and recommend it!

Author: Becky Chambers
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

BUY ONLINE

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.

At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.

When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.

TL;DR Review

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within ends the Wayfarers books on a strong note, although it also feels the most like Chambers’ Monk & Robot books. I liked it and recommend it!

For you if: You have loved the other Wayfarers books!

Full Review

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is the fourth and final book in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, and it was nominated for this year’s Hugo Award.

The story is about a group of people, all of different species, who find themselves temporarily trapped on a small planet that basically just has the equivalent of a rest stop on it. The recognizable character is Pei, Ashby’s secret girlfriend who is also a badass bad-guy fighter.

I loved that with this book, we get more of one of the best parts of Small, Angry Planet: having all these species in one place together, learning and confronting biases and xenophobia, forcing us as readers to think about how this applies to our own biases and xenophobia. Of the four Wayfarers books, this one feels the most like her Monk & Robot books: just enough plot to give the book a bit of a shape, and lots of philosophical conversations between characters about morality, purpose, and acceptance. Personally, I love that stuff, and Chambers of course does it so so well.

If you’re on the fence about the Wayfarers books, or about continuing past Small, Angry Planet even though the characters change, I say go for it. Becky hasn’t led us astray yet.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Xenophobia
Pregnancy (sort of)
Diaspora

Deedi Brown 8/14/22 Deedi Brown 8/14/22

Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)

Record of a Spaceborn Few is yet another emotional little space story from our liege, Becky Chambers. I loved how this one explored cultural grief.

Author: Becky Chambers
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

BUY ONLINE

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

Return to the sprawling universe of the Galactic Commons, as humans, artificial intelligence, aliens, and some beings yet undiscovered explore what it means to be a community in this exciting third adventure in the acclaimed and multi-award-nominated science fiction Wayfarers series, brimming with heartwarming characters and dazzling space adventure.

Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way.

But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?

A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.

TL;DR Review

Record of a Spaceborn Few is yet another emotional little space story from our liege, Becky Chambers. I loved how this one explored cultural grief.

For you if: You like multi-POV sci-fi novels that are also deeply emotional.

Full Review

While Record of a Spaceborn Few wasn’t my favorite Wayfarers novel (that award still goes to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet), I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Becky Chambers never fails to deliver beautiful characters grappling with relatable challenges in a way that makes us feeeeel feel feel.

This Wayfarers book is about a cast of characters who live on the Exodus Fleet (sort of like a nation of big space stations filled with humans who had to flee Earth when it became uninhabitable), one of whom is Tessa, the sister of Ashby from Small, Angry Planet. Without giving too much away, it tells a small slice of the story of a community that’s still healing from a big, years-ago tragedy and reckoning with the momentum of cultural change. Amid all that, another, smaller-level tragedy strikes that forces them to look inward.

While the plot here isn’t the strongest (having now read all the Wayfarers and Monk & Robot books, I can see that this is where she started to shift toward interiority over plot), her characters are as beautiful as ever. I really loved the way this book examined personal and cultural grief and guilt. And of course, very few people writing today treat representation as well as she does.

A worthy continuation of the Wayfarers books for anyone who read and enjoyed the first two!

Content and Trigger Warnings

Death
Grief
Xenophobia

Deedi Brown 8/9/22 Deedi Brown 8/9/22

How High We Go in the Dark

How High We Go in the Dark is a heartfelt, unsettling book set in a near future riddled with plague and climate change. I enjoyed some chapters more than others, but liked the book overall.

Author: Sequoia Nagamatsu
Publisher: William Morrow
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

BUY ONLINE

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.

Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.

Once unleashed, the Arctic Plague will reshape life on earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.

From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resiliency of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.

TL;DR Review

How High We Go in the Dark is a heartfelt, unsettling book set in a near future riddled with plague and climate change. I enjoyed some chapters more than others, but liked the book overall.

For you if: You like novels made of connected short stories, like Olive Kitteridge.

Full Review

How High We Go in the Dark has gotten a lot of buzz since it was released, and I was excited to read it. And while I enjoyed some of its chapters more than others, I definitely liked it overall.

Each chapter of this book focuses on different characters and jumps forward in time, so it spans a few generations. In the first chapter, climate change releases a plague that had been frozen in the arctic ice. The rest of the book examines how the world reacts, and it’s heavy — from funerals becoming highly commercialized to euthanasia theme parks to give terminally ill children one final happy day and a pain-free ending. But there are also happy moments, hopeful moments, and moments of beauty.

So as I’ve alluded to, this book is actually told in a format that’s much more like linked short stories — think Olive Kitteridge or Disappearing Earth. (I thought that was interesting, given that this author is typically a short story writer, and they’ve positioned this as his “debut novel” and entered it for a bunch of prizes … but I digress.) But while I really loved those two books, I liked — but just didn’t quite love — this one. Those books felt like albums with no skips, but this one didn’t. It had more chapters on the fringes of the “central plot,” less connected to everything else, and I was impatient with them.

That said, there were some chapters that made my jaw drop too (especially the one from which the novel gets its name), and while the ending felt like somewhat of a swerve, I also really liked it. There’s no doubt that Sequoia Nagamatsu has created something deeply resonant and human here, and I’ll happily read his next work.

Content and Trigger Warnings

Death of a child (many children)
Euthanasia
Pandemic / plague / lots of death
Suicide
Terminal illness