Richard's bookshelf: 2023 en-US Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:03:44 -0700 60 Richard's bookshelf: 2023 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Family Tree 21339891 Alternate Cover Edition for this ASIN can be found here

Police officer Dora Henry is investigating the bizarre murders of three geneticists. Meanwhile, strange things are happening everywhere she turns. Weeds are becoming trees; trees are becoming forests. Overnight a city is being transformed into a wild and verdant place.
And, strangest of all, Dora can somehow communicate with the rampaging flora.
A potential civilization-ending catastrophe is in the making. The nearer Dora gets to a murderer - and to the truth - the more seemingly desperate events begin to entwine. And the answers she seeks today to the salvation of humankind may lie in a far distant future...one which is suddenly much closer than anyone imagines.]]> 500 Sheri S. Tepper 0575116269 Richard 4 2023, own-read 4.31 1997 The Family Tree
author: Sheri S. Tepper
name: Richard
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/12
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[If on a Winter's Night a Traveller]]> 52513609 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino. You like it. But there's a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the hero of them all is you, the reader.]]> 260 Italo Calvino Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.83 1979 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
author: Italo Calvino
name: Richard
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/26
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Light Pirate 60468332
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.

As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.

Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time� The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

Includes a Reading Group Guide.]]> 336 Lily Brooks-Dalton 1538708272 Richard 5 willoughby-library, 2023 4.01 2022 The Light Pirate
author: Lily Brooks-Dalton
name: Richard
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/17
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Spear Cuts Through Water 55868456 Two warriors shepherd an ancient god across a broken land to end the tyrannical reign of a royal family in this new epic fantasy from the author of The Vanished Birds.

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.

But that god cannot be contained forever.

With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.

Both a sweeping adventure story and an intimate exploration of identity, legacy, and belonging, The Spear Cuts Through Water is an ambitious and profound saga that will transport and transform you—and is like nothing you’ve ever read before.
]]> 525 Simon Jimenez 0593156595 Richard 5 4.17 2022 The Spear Cuts Through Water
author: Simon Jimenez
name: Richard
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/21
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: willoughby-library, city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> A Half-Built Garden 195944851
The watershed networks aren't ready to give up on Earth. Decades ago, they rose up to exile the last corporations to a few artificial islands, escape the dominance of nation-states, and reorganize humanity around the hope of keeping their world liveable. By sharing the burden of decision-making, they've started to heal the wounded planet.

But now corporations, nation-states, and networks all vie to represent humanity to these powerful new beings, and if any one accepts the aliens' offer, Earth may be lost. With everyone’s eyes turned skyward, everything hinges on the success of Judy's effort to create understanding, both within and beyond her own species.]]> 340 Ruthanna Emrys 1250891299 Richard 5 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.67 2022 A Half-Built Garden
author: Ruthanna Emrys
name: Richard
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/14
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) 24950371 The fourth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series

The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world. Among them, the Rocinante, haunted by the vast, posthuman network of the protomolecule as they investigate what destroyed the great intergalactic society that built the gates and the protomolecule.

But Holden and his crew must also contend with the growing tensions between the settlers and the company which owns the official claim to the planet. Both sides will stop at nothing to defend what's theirs, but soon a terrible disease strikes and only Holden - with help from the ghostly Detective Miller - can find the cure.]]> 581 James S.A. Corey 0356504190 Richard 5 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 4.19 2014 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Richard
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/27
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Embassytown 9836670 405 China Miéville 0230750761 Richard 5 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.84 2011 Embassytown
author: China Miéville
name: Richard
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/16
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)]]> 12386949 563 James S.A. Corey 1841499897 Richard 5 2023, own-read 4.24 2011 Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Richard
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/15
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Straight Man 414298 391 Richard Russo 0375701907 Richard 5 2023 4.01 1997 Straight Man
author: Richard Russo
name: Richard
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/30
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> According To Mark 13375747 211 Penelope Lively 0141196831 Richard 5 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.74 1984 According To Mark
author: Penelope Lively
name: Richard
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/02
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Shogun (Asian Saga, #1) 933395 1245 James Clavell 0340209178 Richard 5 2023, own-read 4.30 1975 Shogun (Asian Saga, #1)
author: James Clavell
name: Richard
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1975
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/27
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Doctor Glas 42185862 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET ATWOOD

'[A] searing masterwork of Northern European literature. The retrieval of Doctor Glas in English is a bracing gift to hungry readers' Susan Sontag

Lonely and introspective, Doctor Glas has long felt an instinctive hostility toward the odious local minister. So when the minister’s beautiful wife complains of her husband’s oppressive sexual attentions, Doctor Glas finds himself contemplating murder.

Stark, brooding, and enormously controversial when first published in 1905, this astonishing novel juxtaposes impressions of fin-de-siècle Stockholm against the psychological landscape of a man besieged by obsession.]]> 144 Hjalmar Söderberg 1784875481 Richard 5 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 4.02 1905 Doctor Glas
author: Hjalmar Söderberg
name: Richard
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1905
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/16
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Yellowthread Street (Yellowthread Street #1)]]> 53465996 162 William Marshall 1911440969 Richard 4 2023 3.50 1976 Yellowthread Street (Yellowthread Street #1)
author: William Marshall
name: Richard
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1976
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/29
date added: 2023/12/29
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)]]> 1813829
Once considered interesting anomalies, now Leisha and the other ''Sleepless'' are outcasts, victims of blind hatred, political repression, and shocking mob violence meant to drive them from human society and, ultimately, from Earth itself.

But Leisha Camden has chosen to remain behind in a world that envies and fears her ''gift,'' a world marked for destruction by a deadly conspiracy of freedom and revenge.]]> 438 Nancy Kress 0451185544 Richard 4 2023 3.92 1993 Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)
author: Nancy Kress
name: Richard
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/27
date added: 2023/12/27
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> The Lost Cause 201615453 It's thirty years from now and we're making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry people who can't let go?

For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial, it's just an overwhelming fact of life. But so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programmes cannot be stopped in their tracks.

But there are still those Americans who cling to their red trucker caps, their grievances, their anger, their nostalgia for the golden age of assault rifles. Their 'alternative' news sources reassure them their resentment is right and pure and 'climate change' is a con.

They're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. They're not going anywhere. And they're armed to the teeth.]]> 368 Cory Doctorow 1035902230 Richard 2 arc, 2023
This book has such a compelling premise: If we finally start making progress on the climate, the divisions in our society aren't going to go away - what will that mean? But, sadly, execution lets The Lost Cause down badly.

First, the positives. In one sense this book does exactly what it promises - it looks at how the divisions and disparate views that characterise modern western societies could play out against the backdrop of a worsening humanitarian disaster. And no effort is spared fleshing out the author's world and ideas about those divisions. It's also a fairly quick read.

But, even for an "idea forward" novel (which this is), the plot and characters are weak. More than anything, they respectively seem a setting and props to facilitate the author's musings and opinions. Without spoiling the storyline, certain events start and stop when it's time to move on to new ideas, rather than for reasons that feel authentic to the world Doctorow has created. The characters are generally thin, and hold the (sometimes inconsistent) views the author needs to show off the various competing "sides" in this near future world. The romantic arc is also really implausible - it's feels like it is there to provide more props for the author to work with and to tick a box.

The prose, while readable, is ... cliche. Rather than feeling like it belongs in a near future world, it feels like an attempt to be cool *now; for instance, I doubt slang will stay that static over the coming decades.

If you like the premise, try something like A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys instead.

Thanks to Head of Zeus, Netgalley and Cory Doctorow for this ARC (provided in exchange for an honest review).]]> 3.71 2023 The Lost Cause
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Richard
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/02
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: arc, 2023
review:
2.5/5

This book has such a compelling premise: If we finally start making progress on the climate, the divisions in our society aren't going to go away - what will that mean? But, sadly, execution lets The Lost Cause down badly.

First, the positives. In one sense this book does exactly what it promises - it looks at how the divisions and disparate views that characterise modern western societies could play out against the backdrop of a worsening humanitarian disaster. And no effort is spared fleshing out the author's world and ideas about those divisions. It's also a fairly quick read.

But, even for an "idea forward" novel (which this is), the plot and characters are weak. More than anything, they respectively seem a setting and props to facilitate the author's musings and opinions. Without spoiling the storyline, certain events start and stop when it's time to move on to new ideas, rather than for reasons that feel authentic to the world Doctorow has created. The characters are generally thin, and hold the (sometimes inconsistent) views the author needs to show off the various competing "sides" in this near future world. The romantic arc is also really implausible - it's feels like it is there to provide more props for the author to work with and to tick a box.

The prose, while readable, is ... cliche. Rather than feeling like it belongs in a near future world, it feels like an attempt to be cool *now; for instance, I doubt slang will stay that static over the coming decades.

If you like the premise, try something like A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys instead.

Thanks to Head of Zeus, Netgalley and Cory Doctorow for this ARC (provided in exchange for an honest review).
]]> Land of Milk and Honey 75623483 The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the worldA smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles.There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body.In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, Land of Milk and Honey lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight, and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.]]> 240 C Pam Zhang 1529153670 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.60 2023 Land of Milk and Honey
author: C Pam Zhang
name: Richard
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/21
date added: 2023/12/21
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The City & The City 9791714
Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel’s equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives.

What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.

Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.
]]> 373 China Miéville 033053419X Richard 4 3.90 2009 The City & The City
author: China Miéville
name: Richard
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/16
date added: 2023/12/16
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> Automatic Reload 45138740 Ferrett Steinmetz's quirky, genre-mashing cyberpunk romance Automatic Reload a high-octane adventure about a grizzled mercenary with machine gun arms who unexpectedly falls in love with a bio-engineered assassin

In the near-future, automation is king, and Mat is the top mercenary working the black market. He's your solider's solider, with military-grade weapons instead of arms...and a haunted past that keeps him awake at night. On a mission that promises the biggest score of his life, he discovers that the top secret shipment he's been sent to guard is not a package, but a person: Silvia.

Silvia is genetically-altered to be the deadliest woman on the planet--her only weakness is her panic disorder. When Mat decides to free her, both of them become targets of the most powerful shadow organization in the world. They go on the lam, determined to stop a sinister plot to create more super assassins like Silvia. Between bloody gunfights, rampant car chases and drone attacks, Mat and Silvia team up to survive...and unexpectedly realize their messed up brain-chemistry cannot overpower their very real chemistry.

Automatic Reload is the genre's most unexpectedly heartfelt romantic comedy with explosions, perfect for fans of both Die Hard and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

"Steinmetz has mixed fast-paced shoot-em-up violence with a compassionate treatment of trauma and mental illness to create an engaging page-turner. Like Shadowrun with a conscience."-- Hugo Award-winning author Jim. C Hines

"Automatic Reload is for everyone who ever wished the Transformers movies were less Michael Bay, more transformation sequences; it luxuriates in the intricate beauty that is technology, exults in the mechanics of cyberpunk. And it does all this while being a rom-com with a lot of explosions." --Cassandra Khaw, finalist for the British Fantasy and Locus Awards for Hammers on Bone ]]> 304 Ferrett Steinmetz 125016821X Richard 3 2023 3.86 2020 Automatic Reload
author: Ferrett Steinmetz
name: Richard
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/08
date added: 2023/12/08
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)]]> 29398235
A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price.

And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.]]> 532 James S.A. Corey 0356504255 Richard 4 4.37 2015 Nemesis Games (The Expanse, #5)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Richard
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/04
date added: 2023/12/04
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023, willoughby-library
review:

]]> Retief! (Retief #1-3+novella) 362550 Publisher's Note: The stories and novel herein have previously appeared in parts in Envoy to New Worlds, Galactic Diplomat, and Retief's War. This is the first unitary edition.

"... into the chaotic Galactic political scene, the CDT emerged to carry forward the ancient diplomatic tradition ... Corps diplomats displayed an encyclopedic grasp of the nuances of Extra-Terrestrial mores as set against the labyrinthine socio-politico-economic Galactic context..."
-- Official History of the Corps Diplomatique, AD 2940

NOT! What they really had was Retief! Ignore the official version--in these pages is the real story of how Retief tied the bad guys' eye-stalks in knots, and made the Galaxy safe for humanity.


Contents:

* Diplomat-at-Arms
* Protocol
* The Brass God
* Sealed Orders
* Palace Revolution
* Cultural Exchange
* Saline Solution
* Native Intelligence
* Policy
* Ultimatum
* The Prince and the Pirate
* The Castle of Light
* Retief's War
* Wicker Wonderland
* Courier
* Protest Note
* Aide Memoire]]> 592 Keith Laumer 0671318578 Richard 3 2023 3.99 2001 Retief! (Retief #1-3+novella)
author: Keith Laumer
name: Richard
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/24
date added: 2023/11/24
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Silent Thunder (Amos Walker, #9)]]> 21860259 The tabloids were full of it. Constance Thayer, after a night of clubbing, drinks, and drugs, had taken an automatic pistol from the collection of her industrialist husband Doyle Thayer Jr. and emptied it into his back, as he lay naked and unconscious in their Iroquois Heights home. The news of Constance Thayer's X-rated past breathed new life into the scandal for another month. Walker's job was to gather enough dirt on the late Mr. Thayer to make his widow look clean by comparison. What he found was a monstrous magnate, a dubious corpse, and a gang of country-style gunrunners.

]]> 202 Loren D. Estleman 0330315897 Richard 4 amos-walker-books-i-own, 2023 3.50 1989 Silent Thunder (Amos Walker, #9)
author: Loren D. Estleman
name: Richard
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/13
date added: 2023/11/13
shelves: amos-walker-books-i-own, 2023
review:

]]> The Rain Heron 201968355
But when a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a local myth, Ren is inexorably drawn into her impossible mission.

As their lives entwine, unravel and erupt—as myths merge with reality—both Ren and the soldier are forced to confront what they regret, what they love, and what they fear.

Robbie Arnott’s stunning second novel remakes our relationship with the natural world. The Rain Heron is equal parts horror and wonder, and utterly gripping.]]> 271 Robbie Arnott 1922458201 Richard 4 2023 4.12 2020 The Rain Heron
author: Robbie Arnott
name: Richard
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/10
date added: 2023/11/10
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> The Lathe of Heaven 883269
The sleeper dreams of burying mounds of corpses... When he wakes, he 'remembers' there had been a Plague. Pollution-caused cancer had wiped out 6 billion people - ten years ago. Doctor Haber is pleased with his day's work of playing God. Tomorrow, the race question...

Front cover illustration by Colin Hay

]]> 156 Ursula K. Le Guin 0586038418 Richard 4 2023, own-read 4.04 1971 The Lathe of Heaven
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Richard
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/05
date added: 2023/11/05
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 59350163 This is not a romance, but it is about love

Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world -- of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, fades from view.

When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.

This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 1784744654 Richard 3 4.19 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Richard
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> Way Station 10393546 189 Clifford D. Simak Richard 4 2023, own-read 3.70 1963 Way Station
author: Clifford D. Simak
name: Richard
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/06
date added: 2023/10/12
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody #1)]]> 188230
Strange visitations, suspicious accidents, and a botched kidnapping convince Amelia that there is a plot afoot to harm Evelyn. Now Amelia finds herself up against an unknown enemy-and perilous forces that threaten to make her first Egyptian trip also her last . . .]]> 262 Elizabeth Peters 0445406518 Richard 4 2023, own-read 4.01 1975 Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody #1)
author: Elizabeth Peters
name: Richard
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/03
date added: 2023/09/29
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> The Machine Stops 9243302 "You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that."

E.M. Forster is best known for his exquisite novels, but these two affecting short stories brilliantly combine the fantastical with the allegorical. In 'The Machine Stops', humanity has isolated itself beneath the ground, enmeshed in automated comforts, and in 'The Celestial Omnibus' a young boy takes a trip his parents believe impossible.

This book contains The Machine Stops and A Celestial Omnibus.]]> 96 E.M. Forster 0141195983 Richard 4 2023, own-read 4.00 1909 The Machine Stops
author: E.M. Forster
name: Richard
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1909
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/12
date added: 2023/09/29
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Quarantine 1118424 256 Greg Egan 1857985907 Richard 4 2023, own-read 3.82 1992 Quarantine
author: Greg Egan
name: Richard
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/17
date added: 2023/09/29
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Trust 60788338
This is the mystery at the centre of a successful 1938 novel entitled Bonds, which all of New York seems to have read. But it isn’t the only version of this story �

Fading financier Andrew Bevel, bedeviled by Bonds, clearly based on his life with his late wife, Mildred, is furious. He hires Ida Partenza, the immigrant daughter of an exiled Italian anarchist, as a secretary. The task he sets her is an act of revenge. Whilst he uses his influence to expunge all evidence of Bonds from the canon, he also intends to strike back with an official memoir, one that will correct Vanner’s falsehoods. Suddenly, Ida finds herself asked to write a portrait of Bevel’s life with a woman he hardly seems to have known. It seems that in Manhattan’s steel-and-glass labyrinth, money warps everything, including reality itself.

Decades later Ida Partenza is bent on disentangling fact from fiction. Provocative and propulsive, and more exhilarating with each new layer and revelation, Trust is a quest for the truth.]]> 403 Hernan Diaz 1529074509 Richard 3 3.86 2022 Trust
author: Hernan Diaz
name: Richard
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/28
date added: 2023/09/28
shelves: willoughby-library, city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Water Rat of Wanchai (Ava Lee, #1)]]> 10305456
In The Water Rat of Wanchai, Ava travels across continents to track $5 million owed by a seafood company. But it’s in Guyana where she meets her match: Captain Robbins, a huge hulk of a man and godfather-like figure who controls the police, politicians, and criminals alike. In exchange for his help, he decides he wants a piece of Ava’s $5 million action and will do whatever it takes to get his fair share . . .]]> 412 Ian Hamilton 0887842518 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.80 2011 The Water Rat of Wanchai (Ava Lee, #1)
author: Ian Hamilton
name: Richard
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/22
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Flashforward 337132
Two minutes and seventeen seconds that changed the world

Suddenly, without warning, all seven billion people on Earth black out for more than two minutes. Millions die as planes fall from the sky, people tumble down staircases, and cars plow into each other.

But that’s the least of the survivors� challenges. During the blackout, everyone experienced a glimpse of what his or her future holds—and the interlocking mosaic of these visions threatens to unravel the present.]]> 320 Robert J. Sawyer 0812580346 Richard 3 2023 3.68 1999 Flashforward
author: Robert J. Sawyer
name: Richard
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/10
date added: 2023/09/10
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Downriver 52113174 210 Loren D. Estleman 0333494180 Richard 4 3.50 1988 Downriver
author: Loren D. Estleman
name: Richard
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/26
date added: 2023/09/10
shelves: amos-walker-books-i-own, 2023, own-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Raphael Affair (Jonathan Argyll, #1)]]> 875109 226 Iain Pears 0425166139 Richard 4 2023, own-read 3.56 1990 The Raphael Affair (Jonathan Argyll, #1)
author: Iain Pears
name: Richard
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/28
date added: 2023/09/10
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Old Filth 965343 Sir Edward Feathers has progressed from struggling young barrister to wealthy expatriate lawyer to distinguished retired judge, living out his last days in comfortable seclusion in Dorset. The engrossing and moving account of his life, from birth in colonial Malaya, to Wales, where he is sent as a "Raj orphan," to Oxford, his career and marriage, parallels much of the 20th century's torrid and twisted history.

Old Filth was nominated for the 2005 Orange Prize.

]]> 260 Jane Gardam 034911840X Richard 3 2023 3.90 2004 Old Filth
author: Jane Gardam
name: Richard
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/06
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse, #3)]]> 20452000
Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artefact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.]]> 540 James S.A. Corey 1841499935 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 4.18 2013 Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse, #3)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Richard
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/23
date added: 2023/08/23
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Road to Roswell 58775691 A delightful novel about alien invasions, conspiracies, and the incredibly silly things people are willing to believe—some of which may actually be true—from the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of Blackout and All Clear

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet.

But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he’s not an invader. That he’s in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn’t know how—or even what the trouble is.

Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid’s dress, save the world—and still make it back for the wedding?]]> 399 Connie Willis 0593499859 Richard 3 2023, city-of-sydney-library 3.64 2023 The Road to Roswell
author: Connie Willis
name: Richard
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves: 2023, city-of-sydney-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Caliban's War (The Expanse, #2)]]> 18129662
In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .]]> 597 James S.A. Corey 1841499919 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 4.34 2012 Caliban's War (The Expanse, #2)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Richard
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/30
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Those Barren Leaves 6327985 Rabbit Fancier's Gazette; a populr novelist who records every detail of her affrai with another guest as future literary material; and a pair of naieve and charming young lovers.

Deliciously satirical, Those Barren Leaves bites the hands of those who dare to feign sophistication and is as comically fresh today as when it was first published.]]> 320 Aldous Huxley 0099477793 Richard 3 2023 3.65 1925 Those Barren Leaves
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Richard
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1925
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/22
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Venomous Lumpsucker 71532288 294 Ned Beauman 1473613566 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.95 2022 Venomous Lumpsucker
author: Ned Beauman
name: Richard
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Mountain in the Sea 63104630 Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses� advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.]]> 464 Ray Nayler 1399600478 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.87 2022 The Mountain in the Sea
author: Ray Nayler
name: Richard
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/23
date added: 2023/06/23
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> How High We Go in the Dark 62152263 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here

Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter's research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever inventive ways.

Among those adjusting to this new normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects-a pig-develops human speech; a man who, after recovering from his own coma, plans a block party for his neighbours who have also woken up to find that they alone have survived their families; and a widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter who must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.

From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world. This is a story of unshakable hope that crosses literary lines to give us a world rebuilding itself through an endless capacity for love, resilience and reinvention.]]> 293 Sequoia Nagamatsu 1526637197 Richard 4 3.89 2022 How High We Go in the Dark
author: Sequoia Nagamatsu
name: Richard
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/13
date added: 2023/06/13
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era]]> 15893429 The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman.

Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai-without really knowing what it meant-he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive and brings life in his own village to a standstill-until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.

The lovely Otsu, seeing in Musashi her ideal of manliness, frees him from his tortuous punishment, but he is recaptured and imprisoned. During three years of solitary confinement, he delves into the classics of Japan and China. When he is set free again, he rejects the position of samurai and for the next several years pursues his goal relentlessly, looking neither to left nor to right.

Ever so slowly it dawns on him that following the Way of the Sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the Way. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in the Art of War he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being.

He becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and been touched by. And, inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.

Musashi is a novel in the best tradition of Japanese story telling. It is a living story, subtle and imaginative, teeming with memorable characters, many of them historical. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety and absolute dedication to the Way of the Samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely. Full of gusto and humor, it has an epic quality and universal appeal.]]> 984 Eiji Yoshikawa 156836427X Richard 4 2023 4.60 1935 Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era
author: Eiji Yoshikawa
name: Richard
average rating: 4.60
book published: 1935
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/09
date added: 2023/06/09
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Circumference of the World]]> 128409125 Caught between realities, a mathematician, a book dealer, and a mobster desperately seek a notorious book that disappears upon being read. Only the author, a rakish sci-fi writer, knows whether his popular novel is truthful or a hoax. In a story that is cosmic, inventive, and sly, multi-award-winning author Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) travels from the emergence of life to the very ends of the universe.

Delia Welegtabit discovered two things during her childhood on a South Pacific island: her love for mathematics and a novel that isn’t supposed to exist. But the elusive book proves unexpectedly dangerous. When Delia’s husband Levi goes missing, she seeks help from Daniel Chase, a young, face-blind book dealer.

Lode Stars was written by the infamous Eugene Charles Hartley: legendary pulp science-fiction writer and founder of the Church of the All-Seeing Eyes. In Hartley’s novel, a doppelganger of Delia searches for her missing father in a strange star system with three black holes.

Oskar Lens, a Russian mobster in the midst of an existential crisis, is determined to find a copy of Lode Stars. Oskar believes that the novel provides protection from unseen aliens, and that reality is only an unreliable memory that is billions of years old.

But is any of Lode Stars real? Was Hartley a cynical conman on a quest for wealth and immortality, creating a religion he did not believe in? Or was he a visionary who truly discovered the secrets of the universe?]]> 256 Lavie Tidhar 161696362X Richard 3 arc, 2023
But first, the good. The premise really is something, and the book thoughtfully poses big questions about how we know that what we’re experiencing is real - questions it knows better than to take a firm stance on. The first perspective is genuinely fascinating too - it’s not difficult to believe that Lavie Tidhar has spent time in Vanuatu based on the detail and the warmth for the setting and characters.

But this short novel soon hops onto the next viewpoint around which the story spins, and the the next, and the next. There’s surprisingly little plot, and what there is is often doled out with brevity as well as a lack of depth and, ironically enough, realism. Five viewpoints spread across a modest 250 pages, all covering across loosely related events, doesn’t give the reader enough time or nuance to buy-in with many of the characters. The elements themselves are disparate in quality too: while Delia and Oskar’s tales are intriguing, the attempt to make Daniel’s vague comes across as amateurish and the epistolary component feels like a very light re-skin of certain real life events.

All in all� while this book promises much, I think the reality is that others have done it better. If you want a story-within-a-story, Rian Hughes’s XX pulls that off with more success. If you want delightfully weird and open, Phillip K Dick’s Ubik reigns supreme. And the book that doesn’t-exist-but-did-it? is handled with more skill by Jeremy Dronfield in The Alchemist’s Apprentice.

Ultimately this is a 3/5 for me. Thank you to Netgalley, Tachyon Publications and Lavie Tidhar for the opportunity to read an ARC of this upcoming book in exchange for an honest review.

]]> 3.39 2023 The Circumference of the World
author: Lavie Tidhar
name: Richard
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/10
date added: 2023/05/11
shelves: arc, 2023
review:
A chase for a book that disappears on being read, in a world that may or may not be real� a vibrant, engaging premise - sadly let down by the book’s execution.

But first, the good. The premise really is something, and the book thoughtfully poses big questions about how we know that what we’re experiencing is real - questions it knows better than to take a firm stance on. The first perspective is genuinely fascinating too - it’s not difficult to believe that Lavie Tidhar has spent time in Vanuatu based on the detail and the warmth for the setting and characters.

But this short novel soon hops onto the next viewpoint around which the story spins, and the the next, and the next. There’s surprisingly little plot, and what there is is often doled out with brevity as well as a lack of depth and, ironically enough, realism. Five viewpoints spread across a modest 250 pages, all covering across loosely related events, doesn’t give the reader enough time or nuance to buy-in with many of the characters. The elements themselves are disparate in quality too: while Delia and Oskar’s tales are intriguing, the attempt to make Daniel’s vague comes across as amateurish and the epistolary component feels like a very light re-skin of certain real life events.

All in all� while this book promises much, I think the reality is that others have done it better. If you want a story-within-a-story, Rian Hughes’s XX pulls that off with more success. If you want delightfully weird and open, Phillip K Dick’s Ubik reigns supreme. And the book that doesn’t-exist-but-did-it? is handled with more skill by Jeremy Dronfield in The Alchemist’s Apprentice.

Ultimately this is a 3/5 for me. Thank you to Netgalley, Tachyon Publications and Lavie Tidhar for the opportunity to read an ARC of this upcoming book in exchange for an honest review.


]]> Last Year 28220642
Two events made September 1st a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant.

It's the near future, and the technology exists to open doorways into the past--but not our past, not exactly. Each "past" is effectively an alternate world, identical to ours but only up to the date on which we access it. And a given "past" can only be reached once. After a passageway is open, it's the only road to that particular past; once closed, it can't be reopened.

A passageway has been opened to a version of late 19th-century Ohio. It's been in operation for most of a decade, but it's no secret, on either side of time. A small city has grown up around it to entertain visitors from our time, and many locals earn a good living catering to them. But like all such operations, it has a shelf life; as the "natives" become more sophisticated, their version of the "past" grows less attractive as a destination.

Jesse Cullum is a native. And he knows the passageway will be closing soon. He's fallen in love with a woman from our time, and he means to follow her back--no matter whose secrets he has to expose in order to do it.]]> 351 Robert Charles Wilson 0765332639 Richard 4 3.75 2016 Last Year
author: Robert Charles Wilson
name: Richard
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2023/05/06
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)]]> 25970139
For thirty years, Area X, monitored by the secret agency known as the Southern Reach, has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border� an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; even for those that have made it out alive, there have been terrible consequences.

â€Annihilationâ€� is the story of the twelfth expedition and is told by its nameless biologist. Introverted but highly intelligent, the biologist brings her own secrets with her. She is accompanied by a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, their stated mission: to chart the land, take samples and expand the Southern Reach’s understanding of Area X.

But they soon find out that they are being manipulated by forces both strange and all too familiar. An unmapped tunnel is not as it first appears. An inexplicable moaning calls in the distance at dusk. And while each member of the expedition has surrendered to the authority of the Southern Reach, the power of Area X is far more difficult to resist.]]> 195 Jeff VanderMeer Richard 2 3.76 2014 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Richard
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2023/05/01
date added: 2023/05/01
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> Termush 62678428 Introduced by Jeff VanderMeer, welcome to a luxury hotel at the end of the world in this post-apocalyptic 1967 dystopia ...

The day we came up from the shelters four people were found dead on the steps of the hotel.

Welcome to Termush: a luxury coastal resort like no other. All the wealthy guests are survivors: preppers who reserved rooms long before the Disaster. Inside, they embrace exclusive radiation shelters, ambient music and lavish provisions; outside, radioactive dust falls on the sculpture park, security men step over dead birds, and a reconnaissance party embarks.

Despite weathering a nuclear apocalypse, their problems are only just beginning. Soon, the Management begins censoring news; disruptive guests are sedated; initial generosity towards Strangers ceases as fears of contamination and limited resources grow. But as the numbers - and desperation - of external survivors increase, they must decide what it means to forge a new moral code at the end (or beginning?) of the world ...]]> 119 Sven Holm 057137915X Richard 3 arc, 2023
Termush tells the story of what happens after an unspecified nuclear disaster. It's a great premise, and the way events unfolds feels more or less believable, but there is something about it that doesn't quite work for me.

First, though, the positives. As I said above, the events feel vaguely plausible, and Holm skillfully and thoughtfully shows an individual (and a community's) response to a nuclear apocalypse without being too direct or forceful about what he's trying to say. The events of the book make you, along with the characters, reflect on fear and change and the desire for the familiar and comfortable in a changing world.

So why only 3/5? The book is written in quite a cold, remote style that befits the events and the mood the author was going for. While it seems like a deliberate style choice, the prose makes everything about the book feel washed out and flat. In addition to preventing you from connecting with the characters, it also deadens the impact of the story and the messages it's trying to pass on. I think there's a better version of this story that *could* have been written - possibly one where you're shown more of the characters, setting and emotions early on, before paranoia and the consequences of the apocalypse truly set in.

This edition is accompanied by a short introduction, which (as with most similar pieces) is best read at the end to avoid spoilers. This one was rather complicated, but did point out that some of J.G. Ballard's works are decent comparison titles for Termush - something with which I agree.

On the whole this was a good book - especially for those who like dystopias and subtle storytelling. Recommended with reservations.

Finally, thank you to Netgalley and Faber, who kindly provided an ARC of Termush in return for an honest review.]]> 3.27 1967 Termush
author: Sven Holm
name: Richard
average rating: 3.27
book published: 1967
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/09
date added: 2023/04/09
shelves: arc, 2023
review:
3/5

Termush tells the story of what happens after an unspecified nuclear disaster. It's a great premise, and the way events unfolds feels more or less believable, but there is something about it that doesn't quite work for me.

First, though, the positives. As I said above, the events feel vaguely plausible, and Holm skillfully and thoughtfully shows an individual (and a community's) response to a nuclear apocalypse without being too direct or forceful about what he's trying to say. The events of the book make you, along with the characters, reflect on fear and change and the desire for the familiar and comfortable in a changing world.

So why only 3/5? The book is written in quite a cold, remote style that befits the events and the mood the author was going for. While it seems like a deliberate style choice, the prose makes everything about the book feel washed out and flat. In addition to preventing you from connecting with the characters, it also deadens the impact of the story and the messages it's trying to pass on. I think there's a better version of this story that *could* have been written - possibly one where you're shown more of the characters, setting and emotions early on, before paranoia and the consequences of the apocalypse truly set in.

This edition is accompanied by a short introduction, which (as with most similar pieces) is best read at the end to avoid spoilers. This one was rather complicated, but did point out that some of J.G. Ballard's works are decent comparison titles for Termush - something with which I agree.

On the whole this was a good book - especially for those who like dystopias and subtle storytelling. Recommended with reservations.

Finally, thank you to Netgalley and Faber, who kindly provided an ARC of Termush in return for an honest review.
]]> The Employees 53780642 A workplace novel of the 22nd century

The near-distant future. Millions of kilometres from Earth.

The crew of the Six-Thousand ship consists of those who were born, and those who were created. Those who will die, and those who will not. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew is perplexed to find itself becoming deeply attached to them, and human and humanoid employees alike find themselves longing for the same things: warmth and intimacy. Loved ones who have passed. Our shared, far-away Earth, which now only persists in memory.

Gradually, the crew members come to see themselves in a new light, and each employee is compelled to ask themselves whether their work can carry on as before � and what it means to be truly alive.

Structured as a series of witness statements compiled by a workplace commission, Ravn’s crackling prose is as chilling as it is moving, as exhilarating as it is foreboding. Wracked by all kinds of longing, The Employees probes into what it means to be human, emotionally and ontologically, while simultaneously delivering an overdue critique of a life governed by work and the logic of productivity.]]> 136 Olga Ravn Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.69 2018 The Employees
author: Olga Ravn
name: Richard
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Just City (Thessaly, #1) 22055276 "Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent."

Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a planned community, populated by over ten thousand children and a few hundred adult teachers from all eras of history, along with some handy robots from the far human future--all set down together on a Mediterranean island in the distant past.

The student Simmea, born an Egyptian farmer's daughter sometime between 500 and 1000 A.D, is a brilliant child, eager for knowledge, ready to strive to be her best self. The teacher Maia was once Ethel, a young Victorian lady of much learning and few prospects, who prayed to Pallas Athene in an unguarded moment during a trip to Rome--and, in an instant, found herself in the Just City with grey-eyed Athene standing unmistakably before her.

Meanwhile, Apollo--stunned by the realization that there are things mortals understand better than he does--has arranged to live a human life, and has come to the City as one of the children. He knows his true identity, and conceals it from his peers. For this lifetime, he is prone to all the troubles of being human.

Then, a few years in, Sokrates arrives--the same Sokrates recorded by Plato himself--to ask all the troublesome questions you would expect. What happens next is a tale only the brilliant Jo Walton could tell.]]> 368 Jo Walton 0765332663 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.77 2015 The Just City (Thessaly, #1)
author: Jo Walton
name: Richard
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/05
date added: 2023/04/06
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Degrees of Freedom (Samuil Petrovitch, #3)]]> 11687972 Winner of the 2012 Philip K. Dick Award

The Six Degrees of Petrovitch

Michael is an AI of incalculable complexity trapped under the remains of Oshicora tower. Petrovitch will free him one day, he just has to trust Michael will still be sane by the time he does.

Maddy and Petrovitch have trust issues. She's left him, but Petrovitch is pretty sure she still loves him.

Sonja Oshicora loves Petrovitch too. But she's playing a complicated game and it's not clear that she means to save him from what's coming.

The CIA wants to save the world. Well, just America, but they'll call it what they like.

The New Machine Jihad is calling. But Petrovitch killed it. Didn't he?

And the Armageddonists tried to kill pretty much everyone by blowing the world up. Now, they want to do it again.

Once again, all roads lead back to Petrovitch. Everyone wants something from him, but all he wants is to be free...]]> 368 Simon Morden 1841499471 Richard 3 2023 4.08 2011 Degrees of Freedom (Samuil Petrovitch, #3)
author: Simon Morden
name: Richard
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/31
date added: 2023/03/31
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Flux 60656032 A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes...

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic �80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.]]> 352 Jinwoo Chong Richard 4 arc, 2023
This is a very strong debut novel by Jinwoo Chong.

The novel has a particularly engaging premise, and the three viewpoints are nicely balanced. The author does a good job of giving just enough guidance and structure to make the plot clear, without over-explaining or talking down to the reader. It does take a while to get going and to connect with the main character and his arc, but once that happens the story picks up pace nicely.

Although the characterisation is generally okay, I found some of the main character's behaviour hard to understand. It also felt like a key motivator for him - guilt - was dropped in bluntly in the middle of the story. This motivator helped explain things, but it could have been weaved through better, including the effect of his realisations on his subsequent actions.

The writing is fluid and evocative without being overwrought, making the story easy to visualise. For this reason I think Flux would make an excellent movie.

There's some (mostly) deftly-explored themes about cults of personality, the effects of trauma and cultural assimilation. There were one or two instances where the writing became a little bit too blunt/direct about the 'message' for my tastes. It's likely that aspects of the themes would have resonated more with me if I was of a similar background to the author and the main character, but that's hardly their fault.

I'd recommend this one - particularly for sci-fi readers who like a contemplative story.

Thanks to Melville House, Netgalley and Jinwoo Chong for this ARC (provided in exchange for an honest review).]]> 3.54 2023 Flux
author: Jinwoo Chong
name: Richard
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/25
date added: 2023/03/25
shelves: arc, 2023
review:
4.5/5, rounded down to 4 for Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ.

This is a very strong debut novel by Jinwoo Chong.

The novel has a particularly engaging premise, and the three viewpoints are nicely balanced. The author does a good job of giving just enough guidance and structure to make the plot clear, without over-explaining or talking down to the reader. It does take a while to get going and to connect with the main character and his arc, but once that happens the story picks up pace nicely.

Although the characterisation is generally okay, I found some of the main character's behaviour hard to understand. It also felt like a key motivator for him - guilt - was dropped in bluntly in the middle of the story. This motivator helped explain things, but it could have been weaved through better, including the effect of his realisations on his subsequent actions.

The writing is fluid and evocative without being overwrought, making the story easy to visualise. For this reason I think Flux would make an excellent movie.

There's some (mostly) deftly-explored themes about cults of personality, the effects of trauma and cultural assimilation. There were one or two instances where the writing became a little bit too blunt/direct about the 'message' for my tastes. It's likely that aspects of the themes would have resonated more with me if I was of a similar background to the author and the main character, but that's hardly their fault.

I'd recommend this one - particularly for sci-fi readers who like a contemplative story.

Thanks to Melville House, Netgalley and Jinwoo Chong for this ARC (provided in exchange for an honest review).
]]> The Demolished Man 1258749 The Stars My Destination (1956) and Ben Reich in The Demolished Man (1953)--which deservedly won the first-ever Hugo Award for Best Novel. Reich is an obsessed monster, haunted by nightmares of a Man With No Face, driven and compelled to murder a rival magnate in a future where crime can't be hidden from police telepaths. The penalty is Demolition: erasure of the criminal's mind. Armed with an ugly weapon holding very special ammo, an insane jingle to mask his thoughts, and the resources of his interplanetary business empire, Reich takes on the world--but, as hinted by clues in chapter 1, he still doesn't understand his own buried motives. It's an impossible problem for police chief Lincoln Powell, one of the hated mind-reading elite--who knows very well whodunnit but can't go to court on telepathic evidence alone. Bester's dazzling 24th century is full of brilliant and dotty conceits, most famously the woven typographic patterns of telepaths' group 'conversations'. A gripping, headlong storyline hurtles from Earth's decadent high society to its lowest dives, with an interlude of mayhem at the Spaceland asteroid resort. The final confrontations are apocalyptic and unforgettable, with major psychological shockers and a moving aftermath. A genuine SF classic. --David Langford]]> 192 Alfred Bester 0140025367 Richard 3 2023 3.83 1953 The Demolished Man
author: Alfred Bester
name: Richard
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1953
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/20
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Our Man in Havana 977595 Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true�
Ěý
First published in 1959 against the backdrop of the Cold War, Our Man in Havana remains one of Graham Greene’s most widely read novels. It is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire of government intelligence that still resonates today. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.]]> 228 Graham Greene 0142438006 Richard 4 3.92 1958 Our Man in Havana
author: Graham Greene
name: Richard
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/14
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Theories of Flight (Samuil Petrovitch, #2)]]> 10320488 Winner of the 2012 Philip K. Dick Award

Theorem: Petrovitch has a lot of secrets.

Proof: Secrets like how to make anti-gravity for one. For another, he's keeping a sentient computer program on a secret server farm - the same program that nearly destroyed the Metrozone a few months back.

Theorem: The city is broken.

Proof: The people of the OutZone want what citizens of the Metrozone have. And then burn it to the ground. Now, with the heart of the city destroyed by the New Machine Jihad, the Outies finally see their chance.

Theorem: These events are not unconnected.

Proof: Someone is trying to kill Petrovitch and they're willing to sink the whole city to do it.]]> 340 Simon Morden 0316125156 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 4.05 2011 Theories of Flight (Samuil Petrovitch, #2)
author: Simon Morden
name: Richard
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/10
date added: 2023/03/10
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Equations of Life (Samuil Petrovitch, #1)]]> 9435474 Winner of the 2012 Philip K. Dick Award

Samuil Petrovitch is a survivor.

He survived the nuclear fallout in St. Petersburg and hid in the London Metrozone � the last city in England. He’s lived this long because he’s a man of rules and logic.

For example, getting involved = a bad idea.

But when he stumbles into a kidnapping in progress, he acts without even thinking. Before he can stop himself, he’s saved the daughter of the most dangerous man in London.

And clearly saving the girl = getting involved.

Now, the equation of Petrovitch’s life is looking increasingly complex.

Russian mobsters + Yakuza + something called the New Machine Jihad = one dead Petrovitch.

But Petrovitch has a plan � he always has a plan � he’s just not sure it’s a good one.]]> 390 Simon Morden 0316125180 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.83 2011 Equations of Life (Samuil Petrovitch, #1)
author: Simon Morden
name: Richard
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/06
date added: 2023/03/06
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Room 123019139 Funny, clever, surreal, and thought-provoking, this Kafka-esque masterpiece introduces the unforgettable Bjorn, an exceptionally meticulous office worker striving to live life on his own terms.

Bjorn is a compulsive, exacting bureaucrat who discovers a secret room at the government office where he works--a secret room that no one else in his office will acknowledge. When Bjorn is in his room, what his coworkers see is him standing by the wall and staring off into space looking dazed, relaxed, and decidedly creepy. Bjorn's bizarre behavior eventually leads his coworkers to try to have him fired, but Bjorn will turn the tables on them with help from his secret room. Author Jonas Karlsson doesn't leave a word out of place in this brilliant, bizarre, delightful take on how far we will go--in a world ruled by conformity--to live an individual and examined life.]]> 170 Jonas Karlsson 1785410814 Richard 4 2023 3.50 2014 The Room
author: Jonas Karlsson
name: Richard
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/28
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Zodiac 1374091
Environmentalist and professional pain in the ass Sangaman Taylor is Boston's modern -day Paul Revere, spreading the word from a 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. Embarrassing powerful corporations in highly telegenic ways is the perfect method of making enemies, and Taylor has a collection that would do any rabble-rouser proud.After his latest exploit, he's wanted by the FBI, possibly by the Mafia, and definitely by a group of Satanist angel-dust heads who think he's looking for a PCP factory, not PCB contamination.

Pretty soon dodging bullets is the least of Taylor's problems - because somewhere out there are an unhinged genetic engineer and a lab-concocted bacterium that could destroy all ocean life and that's just for appetizers.Frightening, funny, fast and furious, Zodiac is thrilling speculative fiction torn straight from today's headlines.]]> 291 Neal Stephenson 0099415526 Richard 4 2023, own-read 3.61 1988 Zodiac
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Richard
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/26
date added: 2023/02/27
shelves: 2023, own-read
review:

]]> Blood Music 941190 He's infected. What he carries is contagious. Deadly.
Moving from the smallest blocks of matter to forces that could transform the universe, Greg Bear's Blood Music is dazzling, apocalyptic, utterly engrossing - a timeless SF classic.]]> 272 Greg Bear 009952340X Richard 3 2023 3.93 1985 Blood Music
author: Greg Bear
name: Richard
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Solaris 18747125




Solaris raises a question that has been at the heart of human experience and literature for centuries: can we truly understand the universe around us without first understanding what lies within?]]> 214 Stanisław Lem 0571311571 Richard 3 2023 3.73 1961 Solaris
author: Stanisław Lem
name: Richard
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1961
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/09
date added: 2023/02/09
shelves: 2023
review:

]]> Future Perfect 56601373
A bomb has exploded during a fashion show, killing a beautiful model on the catwalk. The murderer is still at large... and he may strike again. Yet this is the least of Police Commissioner Christian Verger's worries. His fiancée Viola has left him. He has to keep his tumultuous past a secret. To make things worse, his voice assistant Alexa is 99.74% sure he will die tomorrow.

Moving from snowy 1980s Montana to chic 1990s Manhattan to a drone-filled 2030s Britain, FUTURE PERFECT is an electrifying race to solve a murder before it's too late. Yet it is also a love story, a riveting portrait of a couple torn apart by secrets, grief and guilt. A twisted tale of how the past can haunt a person's future and be used to predict if he will die... or kill.

'Yap is a phenomenon' - Guardian

'A thrilling new voice' - Red

'The one that everyone is talking about . . . Enthralling' - Woman & Home

'A blockbuster-worthy twist . . . YESTERDAY stands out from the crowd' - Stylist

'The intrigue of GONE GIRL and the drama of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP - iNews]]> 421 Felicia Yap 1472242297 Richard 2 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.75 2021 Future Perfect
author: Felicia Yap
name: Richard
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/06
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> The Weight of Ink 40224517 The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.

When Helen is summoned by a former student to view a cache of newly discovered seventeenth-century Jewish documents, she enlists the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the documents� scribe, the elusive “Aleph�.

Electrifying and ambitious, The Weight of Ink is about women separated by centuries–and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.]]> 576 Rachel Kadish 1925773280 Richard 5 4.19 2017 The Weight of Ink
author: Rachel Kadish
name: Richard
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/01
date added: 2023/02/01
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, willoughby-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Icarus Hunt (The Icarus Saga #0)]]> 192528 459 Timothy Zahn 0553573918 Richard 4 own-read, 2023 4.09 1999 The Icarus Hunt (The Icarus Saga #0)
author: Timothy Zahn
name: Richard
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/24
date added: 2023/01/25
shelves: own-read, 2023
review:

]]> Then We Came to the End 66592329 ĚýĚýĚýĚý With a demon's eye for the details that make life worth noticing, Joshua Ferris tells a true and funny story about survival in life's strangest environment--the one we pretend is normal five days a week.]]> 458 Joshua Ferris 0753182254 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.00 2007 Then We Came to the End
author: Joshua Ferris
name: Richard
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Space Between Worlds (The Space Between Worlds #1)]]> 56642035 A multiverse-hopping outsider discovers a secret that threatens her home world and her fragile place in it--a stunning sci-fi debut that's both a cross-dimensional adventure and a powerful examination of identity, privilege, and belonging.

CARA IS DEAD ON THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR WORLDS.

The multiverse business is booming, but there's just one catch: no one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive.

Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying--from diseases, from turf wars, from vendettas they couldn't outrun.

But on this earth, Cara's survived. And she's reaping the benefits, thanks to the well-heeled Wiley City scientists who ID'd her as an outlier and plucked her from the dirt. Now she's got a new job collecting offworld data, a path to citizenship, and a near-perfect Wiley City accent. Now she can pretend she's always lived in the city she grew up staring at from the outside, even if she feels like a fraud on either side of its walls.

But when one of her eight remaining doppelgangers dies under mysterious circumstances, Cara is plunged into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and future in ways she never could have imagined--and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.]]> 327 Micaiah Johnson 1529387108 Richard 4 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.81 2020 The Space Between Worlds (The Space Between Worlds #1)
author: Micaiah Johnson
name: Richard
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/10
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]> Starplex 46257 289 Robert J. Sawyer 0441003729 Richard 4 own-read, 2023 3.74 1996 Starplex
author: Robert J. Sawyer
name: Richard
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/06
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: own-read, 2023
review:

]]> The Echo Wife 57629007 256 Sarah Gailey 1529354501 Richard 3 city-of-sydney-library, 2023 3.50 2021 The Echo Wife
author: Sarah Gailey
name: Richard
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: city-of-sydney-library, 2023
review:

]]>