Foundation (Foundation #1)
By: Isaac Asimov
Format/Source: Mass market paperback; my purchase

For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future — to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire — both scientists and scholars — and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind’s last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun — or fight them and be destroyed.

I think I mentioned it in a Sci-Fi Month post a few years ago (Aha! Found said post) that I wanted to read this book but never got around to it. Well, at long last I finally picked this book up, determined to read it–and just in time for Sci-Fi Month this year too 🙂

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Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)
By: Wesley Chu
Format/Source: eBook; my purchase

In a future when Earth is a toxic, abandoned world and humanity has spread into the outer solar system to survive, the tightly controlled use of time travel holds the key maintaining a fragile existence among the other planets and their moons. James Griffin-Mars is a chronman–a convicted criminal recruited for his unique psychological makeup to undertake the most dangerous job there is: missions into Earth’s past to recover resources and treasure without altering the timeline. Most chronmen never reach old age, and James is reaching his breaking point.

On a final mission that is to secure his retirement, James meets an intriguing woman from a previous century, scientist Elise Kim, who is fated to die during the destruction of an oceanic rig. Against his training and his common sense, James brings her back to the future with him, saving her life, but turning them both into fugitives. Remaining free means losing themselves in the wild and poisonous wastes of Earth, and discovering what hope may yet remain for humanity’s home world.

All righty, up next in my sci-fi reads is Wesley Chu’s Time Salvager. I’ve heard of Wesley Chu’s works time and again but kind of took a while before I finally picked up something by him :3 Anyway, the premise of this novel sounded really cool and has been on the radar for some time…Also, how awesome is that book cover? 😀

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Ninefox Gambit (The Machinations of Empire #1)
By: Yoon Ha Lee
Format/Source: eBook; my purchase

The first installment of the trilogy, Ninefox Gambit, centers on disgraced captain Kel Cheris, who must recapture the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles in order to redeem herself in front of the Hexarchate.

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim.

Excitement! I’ve been a fan of Yoon Ha Lee’s writing since reading his short story “Combustion Hour” on Tor.com (great story, check it out here). So naturally I was very excited when I heard he was writing a novel, let alone a sci-fi trilogy. I had to check it out as soon as I could 😉

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