Tag: Books: Science Fiction

Review: The Consuming Fire

Posted 11 October, 2019 by Lianne in Books / 0 Comments

The Consuming Fire (The Interdependency #2)
By: John Scalzi
Format/Source: eBook; my purchase

The Interdependency, humanity’s interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it—unless desperate measures can be taken.

Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But nothing is ever that easy. Arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth—or at the very least, an opportunity that can allow them to ascend to power.

While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are preparing for a civil war, a war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will take place between spaceships and battlefields. The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, but then so are her enemies. Nothing about this power struggle will be simple or easy… and all of humanity will be caught in its widening gyre.

Yaaaaah, book two! I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, The Collapsing Empire (review), so I was curious to see how things panned out for the characters after the end of the book. Contains some spoilers ahead!

Review: This Is How You Lose the Time War

Posted 20 September, 2019 by Lianne in Books / 2 Comments

This is How You Lose the Time War
By: Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Format/Source: Paperback; my purchase

Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters, and fall in love in this thrilling and romantic book from award-winning authors Amal-El Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. That’s how war works. Right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

The title first piqued my attention, followed by the premise. So I had to pre-order a copy for myself.

Review: The Collapsing Empire

Posted 19 July, 2019 by Lianne in Books / 1 Comment

The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1)
By: John Scalzi
Format/Source: eBook courtesy of the Tor.com book club

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible — until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war — and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal — but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals — a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency — are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

I don’t read nearly as much Scalzi as I should lol. Then this book popped up in Tor.com’s First-In-a-Series book club (or whatever it’s called…it’s something along those lines) so I decided to check it out 🙂

Review: Provenance

Posted 15 July, 2019 by Lianne in Books / 0 Comments

Provenance
By: Ann Leckie
Format/Source: Hardback; my purchase

Following her record-breaking debut trilogy, Ann Leckie, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, and Locus Awards, returns with an enthralling new novel of power, theft, privilege, and birthright.

A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.

Ingray and her charge will return to her home world to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray’s future, her family, and her world before they are lost to her for good.

The premise of this book intrigued me, as well as the fact that the book is a standalone. Ann Leckie’s work so far as been great–even though the last book in her Imperial Radch trilogy didn’t grip me as much as the first volume–so naturally I kept a lookout for this title 🙂

Review: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe

Posted 10 July, 2019 by Lianne in Books / 1 Comment

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (The Salvagers #1)
By: Alex White
Format/Source: eBook; my purchase

Boots Elsworth was a famous treasure hunter in another life, but now she’s washed up. She makes her meager living faking salvage legends and selling them to the highest bidder, but this time she might have stumbled on something real–the story of the Harrow, a famous warship, capable of untold destruction.

Nilah Brio is the top driver in the Pan Galactic Racing Federation and the darling of the racing world–until she witnesses the murder of a fellow racer. Framed for the murder and on the hunt to clear her name, Nilah only has one lead: the killer also hunts a woman named Boots.

On the wrong side of the law, the two women board a smuggler’s ship that will take them on a quest for fame, for riches, and for justice.

In the midst of figuring out which books in my summer to-read queue I should read next, I decided to start reading this book. Figured I was in a sci-fi kind of mood 🙂

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Ciao! Thanks for dropping by eclectic tales. Established in 2007, this blog is primarily bookish in nature, featuring books that I've recently read, endless lists about books and recommendations, as well as other odds and ends (movie reviews, the occasional writing piece, my travels, etc.). Read more about the blogger || the blog & review policy

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