I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but also didn't get the point of it. Or, I guess that's not right. I got the point, but it didn't wow or horrify me.
[I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but also didn't get the point of it. Or, I guess that's not right. I got the point, but it didn't wow or horrify me.
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A person wakes up on a table and can't see. They can't remember...anything. For most of the rest of the book, a voice from another room instructs them in activities that will hopefully bring their mind and body to a state of health. The first few pages were interesting but I ended up thinking that it was ultimately kind of long and drawn out for what seemed to me to be a pretty foreseeable ending.
(view spoiler)[So what that she's making clones of her dead husband and none of them have survived? So what that he didn't "authorize" her to make the clones? When you're dead, you're dead. You won't care what happens to your DNA. It's like how I've never understood why some people get so freaked out over the idea that someone in a funeral home might fuck their dead body. Who cares? You're dead. If some weirdo has a last hurrah with my corpse...LOL! Are they gross? Yes. Does it concern me? No. (hide spoiler)]
This seems to be a favorite from the Forward Collection, but it was too disjointed to be a five-star read for me.
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So, the premise is cool and tThis seems to be a favorite from the Forward Collection, but it was too disjointed to be a five-star read for me.
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So, the premise is cool and the first half of the story really gives you a lot of food for thought. If you could choose your unborn child's temperament using genetic "nudging", would you? A fertility clinic gives a man the opportunity to see three different versions of what his son's life will be like using statistical probability based on what personality attributes they can bring to the forefront. Would you want your child to be content and stable if it meant they never lived up to their true potential? Would you choose a path that had creativity and passion if it also meant addiction and chaos? Would you pick a life where charm and charisma meant skating through life as an asshole until life invariably teaches them a hard lesson? You gotta think about that for a minute, right?
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Because you're not just trying to weed out diseases or decide on an eye color. You're plotting out a roadmap for their life, and not in the hopeful let's make sure they go to a good school sort of way. No, you've gone whole hog in a manipulatively invasive way. Oh, wow! That's something to chew on.
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Then it veered off the rails and went in a whole new direction when he left the clinic to mull things over. Without giving any spoilers, I'll put it like this: Pretend you're sitting at a bar and you strike up a conversation about {insert SPORT here} that's playing on the television. Then suddenly, this other guy starts ranting about the ice wall around the flat earth and how 5G cellphone towers have been installed by the government to send out mind control signals. It's not where you thought your night was headed when you casually mentioned that you were pulling for the college basketball team on the television.
(view spoiler)[Sam's having doubts about his life choices and daydreams that his wife is having an affair with the fertility doctor, so he hits a bar on the way home. The bartender gives him some sob story about having triplets after their first child, causing him and his wife to have to re-arrange their priorities (this equals being poor), then tells him about his one smart daughter and 3 not-as-smart sons and all the sacrifices they made for her to get into the best college, only to be told by her doctor that they all needed to sit down and talk because ISSUES, and the whole family saw a therapist and the kids all talked about their childhood, and it was just the most specialist thing ever. Then the bartender and another patron proceed to tell him that they think the military is funding the clinic to make super-soldiers. Yes. Seriously. So Sam gets in his self-driving car and rides back to the clinic and snags his sperm. He hops back in his car, goes to the pub, and slaps his container full of spooge down on the bar. I'm taking my DNA back, baby! The three guys eyeball his jar of goo as the story fades to black... (hide spoiler)] I get it, but that whole last bit ruined the initial what if coolness of the first part of the story for me. It overexplained things in a way that took the fizzle out of it.
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The first half was such a great premise that I can't give it less than 3 stars, though....more
Very cute. So the gist is that (sometime in the future) a bunch of the 1 percenters got on a spaceship as the Earth was hitting a crisis point in the eVery cute. So the gist is that (sometime in the future) a bunch of the 1 percenters got on a spaceship as the Earth was hitting a crisis point in the ecological sense. They made a new version of Earth. A "better" version. One where they don't have to deal with peasants. Now they've sent back someone in the servant class to retrieve some kind of resource that they need, with the promise that he'll get this perfect skin as a reward. That part was very hard for me to visualize, but whatever. Basically, he'll get to be blond with a big dick. Earth was dying when they left, so all he's got to do is navigate this barren planet and get the goods. But he is in for the surprise of a lifetime.
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(view spoiler)[ Earth is flourishing. Filled to the brim with not only plant life, but people! And they're happy in their ecologically sound cities, where everyone has everything they need to live and no one is forgotten or abandoned. They even get paid if they don't work! It appears as though life got better for the have-nots once the haves left en masse.
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Inside his mind, he's got this chip with basically a downloaded version of the new world leaders' consciousness that's constantly talking to him and telling him what to do, how to do it, giving out information (that's a sunset, that's a tree, that's a woman, etc.), while informing him how gross it is on Earth when compared with the perfection they've created on their planet.
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At the end, our unnamed astronaut has to decide what he wants to do with this information.
Unfortunately, I'm not rich. And I've met my peers. Some are wonderful, some are horrid. Greed and callousness aren't character traits relegated only to the wealthy. So, while it's a lovely idea to say that if only we could get rid of the people in charge, the borders would come down and we would all peacefully work toward finding solutions that would benefit mankind as a global unit, I'm afraid that's just not so. What would realistically happen if they all disappeared is that their Great Value counterparts would step in to take their place. We'd still have wars, we'd still have genocide, we'd still have people that lacked basic necessities. It doesn't mean it's useless to try to make the world a better place, it just means that there's no such thing as a quick fix. (hide spoiler)] But this is fiction and I liked the story. Sci-fi, ftw!...more
An NPC in a game gains sentience. How? Why? No idea. Its creator spends years of her life trying to unpack what that means and trying to ensure that herAn NPC in a game gains sentience. How? Why? No idea. Its creator spends years of her life trying to unpack what that means and trying to ensure that her new life form doesn't get out of control. As with all new technology involving AI, it works out splendidly for the humans.
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Ok, this is one book that I would recommend you go the audio version. Rosa Salazar killed it with the narration - the amount of emotion conveyed was just *chef's kiss* I mean, I'm talking about her voice cracking and everything. Good stuff, good stuff.
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In the end, I was on the side of the AI. (view spoiler)[I mean, everyone's going to die someday, so why not kill everyone off and upload them into a reality without all the nonsense and anxiety? I didn't really see what all the fuss was about. Our main character was miserable already. And as far as the "noooo! just let me end!" argument, well...you are ending. It's whatever cleaned-up version of you that the AI uploads into their new reality that will keep on keeping on. (hide spoiler)]
It's the end of their world as they know it. But Samantha does not feel fine.
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There is a meteor hurtling toward the planet. And the impact is goiIt's the end of their world as they know it. But Samantha does not feel fine.
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There is a meteor hurtling toward the planet. And the impact is going to kick up dust clouds that will blot out the sun. Then there will be the requisite tsunamis. And whatever is left after that the lava monsters who live in the center of the planet will most assuredly break out of the crust and destroy. Shhh. Just let me have that last one...
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Ok, so most of the end of Earth via impact stories revolve around humans stoically making their peace with death OR trying to figure out how to divert/destroy the asteroid. Roth's story assumes that people figured out this thing was coming at them and started planning evacuation. I'm intrigued. There's a way off the planet, so what's the story about?
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But the nuts and bolts of the story isn't about how they built enough ships to send humanity out into the stars. That part is blessedly glossed over as a given, and we are introduced to a small group of horticulturalists and scientists who are working to classify as many plant specimens as they can before the final ship takes off. And even the plants aren't the story. No, it's about one young woman whose life holds no meaning and who is secretly planning to stay on the planet till the bitter end.
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To be honest, the majority of the story is dreary. I mean, if you want to stay behind...why not? Why not, indeed? There's a hopeful note to this one that I appreciated. (view spoiler)[Even if there is nothing for you at this moment, you just never know what might miss out on if you give up. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but I think humans need it. (hide spoiler)] It's not a fast-paced thriller but it was a decent story. Recommended....more
When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglementThe house always wins. Or does it?
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When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglement theory, it looks like she's covered all of her bases. But she forgot that while she's got brains, the owner of the casino has decades of experience catching would-be cheaters. So what's a girl to do when it looks like the chips are down?
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I loved this one! It was just long enough to tell a story and get me invested in the characters. It can be hard to do that with shorts, but Weir managed it. Recommended....more
When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglementThe house always wins. Or does it?
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When a genius gets her husband to help her cheat at Keno with the help of a quantum computer and entanglement theory, it looks like she's covered all of her bases. But she forgot that while she's got brains, the owner of the casino has decades of experience catching would-be cheaters. So what's a girl to do when it looks like the chips are down?
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I loved this one! It was just long enough to tell a story and get me invested in the characters. It can be hard to do that with shorts, but Weir managed it. Recommended....more
Readable but not exactly riveting. Scalzi is a good writer, so while it's a go-nowhere story, I was able to listen to it. <--if that makes sense?
[imagReadable but not exactly riveting. Scalzi is a good writer, so while it's a go-nowhere story, I was able to listen to it. <--if that makes sense?
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The skinny gist is that a spaceship is sent from Earth to start life on a new planet. Its programming allows it to become sentient and the reader follows its incredibly boring journey through the stars - for about an hour if you've got the audiobook.
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There's not much to say because not much happens unless you're interested in the benign inner ramblings of a spacecraft. It's part of The Far Reaches series and was (at the time I am writing this) a freebie on Audible if you have a subscription.
This is notThe Thirteen Problems. That's the original collection of Marple shorts. <--buyer beware and all that jazz. But this one does have quite a feThis is notThe Thirteen Problems. That's the original collection of Marple shorts. <--buyer beware and all that jazz. But this one does have quite a few of those stories mixed in with a few different ones. I've included links to the individual shorts in case you want to check them out.
The Tape-Measure Murder Not my favorite Marple. And yet, is any Marple a bad Marple? So. This one deals with a woman whose husband is the main suspect in her murder, mainly because he isn't showing the appropriate amount of emotion.
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Strange Jest This is the story of a rich uncle who leaves his niece and nephew (who want to get married) to hunt for his fortune after he dies. To be honest it felt a bit like Manx Gold because in that one you have two cousins who want to get married but have to hunt for the treasure that their rich old relative leaves for them, as well. However, that one is more of a real treasure hunt with clues, and this one is that he didn't trust banks and they're just hunting around in the house for what the crazy old fart did with all of his money.
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Sanctuary A man dies from a gunshot wound in the parson's wife's arms, whispering the word sanctuary with his dying breath. A little dramatic, no?
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Greenshaw's Folly Raymond West, Miss Marple's lovable nephew, brings home a mystery to his Aunt Jane. While trying to entertain a friend from the city with the local sight of an oddly built local house, he stumbles into a family drama and a murder-to-be decades in the making.
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The Case of the Perfect Maid Miss Marple knows. She's like Santa Claus or something when it comes to who has been bad or good, and her friends and neighbors would do well to listen to her advice when it comes to the hiring and firing of servants. Or employees as we call them these days.
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The Case of the Caretaker Miss Marple, recovering from a bad bout of the flu, was feeling depressed. I guess that's a thing? Anyway, it took a lot out of her and she'd started to fall into a funk. So her good friend and physician, Doctor Haydock, brings her a file with a case he recently had so she can solve the whodunnit.
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The Blue Geranium When Arthur & Dolly Bantry ask Sir Henry Clithering who he would like to invite over as a dinner guest to round out their house party, he shocks them by asking for Miss Marple to be included. When he tells Dolly about the uncanny way the elderly spinster solved the mysteries of the Tuesday Night Club the year before, she starts to think maybe Miss Marple could help her solve a seemingly paranormal murder mystery.
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The Companion Miss Marple solves the case of the lady's companion who drowned off the shore of Gran Canaria island. How? She noticed a bit of weight gain for what it was.
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The Four Suspects Sir Henry Clithering, a member of the Tuesday Night Club, takes his turn and tells a story. The title refers to a running theme in Agatha Christie's mysteries, where the goal of solving a murder isn't just to punish the guilty but to free the other parties who might be suspects from the suspicion of their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
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Motive v. Opportunity What is it with so many of Christie's characters getting taken in by spiritualists all the time!? I'm guessing that was probably a very talked-about THING back in the day. Ooooh! Did you hear about Gertrude? She's been seeing that Madame Zartan on the regular since her husband died, and I'm pretty sure that wacky bitch is bleeding her dry. I'll bet her kids won't inherit a pot to piss in by the time she's done. Or something along those lines. Point is, vulnerable people have always existed to become the prey of unscrupulous snake oil salesmen.
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The Thumbmark of St. Peter This is a good one for 2 reasons. 1) Miss Marple takes her turn and tells the Tuesday Night Club of a murder that she helped solve. 2) In an adorable twist, Ramond West teases his Aunt Jane that there is at least one thing she doesn't know. But she pops back and shocks him by telling him that she does know he proposed to Joyce (the artist in the group) that very evening.
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The Bloodstained Pavement This time when the Tuesday Night Club meets, Joyce (Raymond West's future wife) tells the story of her time painting in the small coastal village of Rathole. She witnesses a husband and wife go off on a bathing trip with a woman they ran into when they got to the hotel. Without realizing what she was doing, Joyce painted blood stains onto her painting. When the wife drowns a few weeks later, Joyce wonders if she had some sort of a premonition.
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The Herb of Death It's Mrs. Bantry's turn to tell a story to the Tuesday Night Club and she's not at all sure she can make her's sound interesting. And to be fair, she hems and haws and does a fantastic job of messing it up. It's a case of (gasp!) poisoning where everyone got sick but only one person died. Was it an accident that there was foxglove in the sage, or did something more nefarious happen?
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This would be a good one for fans of Miss Marple. Recommended....more
A collection of "Spring" mysteries from the Queen of Crime. Which basically means you get a good sampling of some of Agatha Christie's short stories. IfA collection of "Spring" mysteries from the Queen of Crime. Which basically means you get a good sampling of some of Agatha Christie's short stories. If any particular one catches your eye, I've left a link to a slightly longer review of each individual story.
The Market Basing Mystery Is a suicide sometimes just a suicide? That's what Poirot wonders when he, Hastings, & Japp get called in to look at a potential locked room murder that has the local constable scratching his head.
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The Case of the Missing Lady Ok, this one is kind of funny. Tommy and Tuppence (as the title suggests) head off to investigate a missing lady. She's the fiance of some explorer dude who's a bit of an ass (doesn't like to talk to chubby chicks). She isn't where she said she would be when he returned from abroad, and he's getting worried.
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The Herb of Death It's Mrs. Bantry's turn to tell a story to the Tuesday Night Club and she's not at all sure she can make her's sound interesting. And to be fair, she hems and haws and does a fantastic job of messing it up. It's a case of (gasp!) poisoning where everyone got sick but only one person died. Was it an accident that there was foxglove in the sage, or did something more nefarious happen?
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How Does Your Garden Grow? Did a greedy maid poison her mistress? Poirot receives a letter from an elderly woman who wants his advice. Intrigued by her phrasing, he asks Miss Lemon to send a letter back agreeing to come to her home. Before he can see her, he receives word that she has died. Poisoned!
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Swan Song A famous opera singer gets her revenge. It's one of those stories that men would do well to pay attention to, as it shows how long a woman will wait to get payback. Sleep with one eye open, sir.
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Miss Marple Tells a Story I loved the way Miss Marple narrated the story in a hilarious humblebrag kind of way. When a lawyer brings his client to Jane and asks her to listen to the story of the events leading up to him finding his wife dead in their hotel room, the client in question thinks it's a waste of time. However, just as her lawyer friend hoped, the fluffy old lady manages to see a few things that everyone else missed and ends up saving his bacon.
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Have You Got Everything You Want? Theft on the Orient Express! A lovely young woman, Mrs. Elsie Jeffries, runs into Pyne the famous train, and confides in him that she is unhappy. This sort of problem is right in Parke Pyne's wheelhouse. She is newly married to a very proper man, but she found a secret message on blotter paper in his office that read, "just before Venice would be the best time.", and now she's worried.
Ingots of Gold Once again the Tuesday Night Club meets up, and this time it's Miss Marple's own nephew, writer Raymond West, who tells a story. He hopes that the group (well, actually Miss Marple) can figure out what happened when his friend, John Newman, was kidnapped while his salvage ship was robbed of its treasure.
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The Soul of the Croupier Mr. Satterthwaite is in Monte Carlo at a casino when Mr. Quin shows up to help him reunite a pair of lovers. But is there more than one couple whose future hangs on Lady Luck?
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The Girl in the Train Do you believe in love at first sight? After too many late nights spent on the town, George Rowland gets fired and cut off by his wealthy uncle. He decides to hop on a train and take a trip to Rowland Castle in the hopes that, even though he only shares a last name, they will somehow greet him with open arms. You can clearly see why his uncle tossed him out.
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Greenshaw’s Folly Raymond West, Miss Marple's lovable nephew, brings home a mystery to his Aunt Jane. While trying to entertain a friend from the city with the local sight of an oddly built local house, he stumbles into a family drama and a murder-to-be decades in the making.
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This is a nice little smorgasbord of her shorts for anyone looking to dip their toes in the water without investing too much time. Recommended. ...more
13 short stories featuring all of Agatha's most famous detectives. I've left a link to each individual story that has a slightly longer review if any p13 short stories featuring all of Agatha's most famous detectives. I've left a link to each individual story that has a slightly longer review if any particular story catches your fancy.
The Veiled Lady A hot chick wearing a veil walks into a bar... How do you know she's hot, my rotund Belgian friend? Shut up. My mustache gives my little grey cells super-deduction skills.
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The Nemean Lion A yappy Pekinese dog (standing in for the lion) has been kidnapped, ransomed, and returned safely. So what's the problem?
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The Girdle of Hyppolita How are art thieves connected with a schoolgirl who goes missing for a few hours on a field trip? Poirot will help his old friend Inspector Japp find out.
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The Market Basing Mystery Is a suicide sometimes just a suicide? That's what Poirot wonders when he, Hastings, & Japp get called in to look at a potential locked room murder that has the local constable scratching his head.
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Tape-Measure Murder Not my favorite Marple. And yet, is any Marple a bad Marple? So. This one deals with a woman whose husband is the main suspect in her murder, mainly because he isn't showing the appropriate amount of emotion.
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The Blue Geranium When Arthur & Dolly Bantry ask Sir Henry Clithering who he would like to invite over as a dinner guest to round out their house party, he shocks them by asking for Miss Marple to be included. When he tells Dolly about the uncanny way the elderly spinster solved the mysteries of the Tuesday Night Club the year before, she starts to think maybe Miss Marple could help her solve a seemingly paranormal murder mystery.
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The Four Suspects Sir Henry Clithering, a member of the Tuesday Night Club, takes his turn and tells a story. The title refers to a running theme in Agatha Christie's mysteries, where the goal of solving a murder isn't just to punish the guilty but to free the other parties who might be suspects from the suspicion of their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
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The Face of Helen This is a Harley Quin mystery, so it's Mr. Sattherwaite to the rescue of an extremely beautiful young woman who attracts what we would call stalkers these days. She's found a nice man she wants to marry, but Sattherwaite can't help but think that not all is right. There was another man who was interested in her, and even though he says he wishes her well, Sattherwaite can't shake the feeling that he was missing something. What is it Mr. Quin wants him to do?!
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The Bird with the Broken Wing Suicide or murder? After hearing his friend's name spelled out on a OUJA board, Mr. Satterthwaite decides to accept the invitation to a house party that he had previously thought to decline.
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The Regatta Mystery This story originally started its life with Poirot in the lead role. Poirot and the Regatta Mystery is essentially the same story but for whatever reason Christie decided to put Pyne into the driver's seat when she published the short story collection The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories in 1939. However, the essential story of a diamond theft stayed the same. Much like my reviews of each individual story.
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Problem at Pollensa Bay Parker Pyne helps a momma out. And like most of the help he gives his clients, it's not the help they asked for but the help that they actually need.
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The Unbreakable Alibi A mystery without a crime. A well-off (but not very bright) young man comes in to get a bit of help winning a betand hopefully the girl of his dreams.
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Accident An overzealous cop pokes his nose in the wrong spot.
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It's a nice selection of Christie's stuff. Recommended for fans....more
A nice hodgepodge of Christie's shorts. If you are interested in a particular story, I've left individual links that will take you to slightly longer rA nice hodgepodge of Christie's shorts. If you are interested in a particular story, I've left individual links that will take you to slightly longer reviews.
The Blood-Stained Pavement This time when the Tuesday Night Club meets, Joyce (Raymond West's future wife) tells the story of her time painting in the small coastal village of Rathole. She witnesses a husband and wife go off on a bathing trip with a woman they ran into when they got to the hotel. Without realizing what she was doing, Joyce painted blood stains onto her painting. When the wife drowns a few weeks later, Joyce wonders if she had some sort of a premonition.
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The Double Clue Double Clue!? <--That's 2 clues too many, bitches. And everyone's favorite Belgium detective is onto that shit.
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A Death on the Nile DEATH ON THE NILE! The lesser known story... This is not to be confused with Christie's more famous full-length novel of the same name.
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Harlequin's Lane This is the spookiest of all the Harley Quin stories, IMHO.
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The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman Count Foscatini has been coshed over the head! But who is Count Foscatini? And why should we care if he got his head coshed in? Poirot and Hastings get pulled into this murder mystery because they were having dinner with their friend and neighbor, Dr. Hawker when he got a desperate call from the Count telling him he had been attacked. Help! <--says Foscatini
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Jane in Search of a Job Princess swap! Sort of. A young woman (Jane) who needs some money answers an advertisement looking for someone who fits her description and can speak French. As a reader, we know this is ALWAYS a bad idea, but our heroine has yet to figure that out.
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The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim Never bet against a Belgian! Japp tells Poirot about a case he's working on that deals with a wealthy banker who walked out of his house to go into the town and mail a few letters, then disappeared off the face of the earth. He was supposed to meet up with a man he had some bad blood with, but he never showed back up at this house. Did this man have something to do with his disappearance?
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The Idol House of Astarte Miss Marple and her Tuesday Night Club friends listen to the clergyman of their group tell a story about the time he witnessed a man killed by seemingly supernatural forces. The beautiful young socialite, Diana Ashley, convinces the other guests to play dress up and go out to the supposedly sacred grove of Astarte (on the property) that had a small temple/house there. It's all fun and games till the owner of the house, Sir Richard, falls over dead with a stab wound and there's no knife to be found. How did this toga party go so wrong?!
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The Rajah's Emerald 1st appearance of James Bond! But not that James Bond. No, years before Ian Flemming gave the world an iconic super spy, Agatha Christie gave us a disgruntled young man who lucked into an adventure by picking up the wrong shorts.
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The Oracle at Delphi This is one of if not the best Parker Pyne short out there! Picking up after the short story Death on the Nile, where Pyne made the decision to travel under an alias for the rest of his vacation, so he could avoid getting drawn into cases.
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The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger I listened to this little short Tommy & Tuppence and enjoyed it quite a bit. There wasn't anything really amazing about it, but I like the spunk of this particular crime-fighting couple. What can I say? They're cute!
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The Incredible Theft The theft of secret bomber plans at a house party means everything needs to be kept hush-hush. One of Lord Mayfield's guests is widely suspected to be a spy. Unfortunately, it looks like they have quite a tidy alibi for the time the papers went missing.
This was just an awesome dramatized adaptation of the first Murderbot book.
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I'm listening to them willy-nilly as they come in from library holdsThis was just an awesome dramatized adaptation of the first Murderbot book.
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I'm listening to them willy-nilly as they come in from library holds (see postscript before you freak out), and have actually listened to the graphic audio version of Network Effect, which is the adaptation of the full-length Murderbot novel. For whatever reason, and I'm sure a lot of people will say that it's because these work better as short stories, I preferred this to that one.
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If you're a fan, these are so much fun. Unnecessary, but fun. Recommended.
PS - I'm listening to the audiobooks in the correct order for those of you whose OCD can't take the idea of just grabbing random books in a series!...more
This time around we're in Dr. Mensah's head as she grapples with PTSD.
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For reference, this takes place after Exit Strategy and is what leads upThis time around we're in Dr. Mensah's head as she grapples with PTSD.
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For reference, this takes place after Exit Strategy and is what leads up to our Secbot on a ship guarding her daughter in Network Effect.
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Very short, but very sweet. It was nice to get a peek at Mensah's feelings towards everything - including Murderbot. You can certainly skip this one, but I think any fan of the series would really enjoy it. Recommended....more
I was sort of surprised to find out that this one takes place beforeNetwork Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5), making this a prequel of sorts. And while it was a oh! that's different! in a good way sort of surprise, I was a tad let down that I wasn't getting an ART and Murderbot adventure.
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Alright, so this one shows what happened right after MB decided to hang around on Preservation Station after the end Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4). It should be a peaceful kind of life for them from here on out, but humans are going to human, so naturally, one of the damn things turns up dead. And not from natural causes.
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So this is the story of Murderbot solving a murder. And of course, he's got to win the trust of the human security officers who don't trust our SecUnit not to start rampaging all over the place.
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As far as the mystery goes, there were enough clues sprinkled in to let me guess whodunnit, but the why remained a mystery for me till the big reveal at the end.
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Overall, another fun installment. Recommended!...more
So. While I had pre-ordered this like a good little IA fan, I was mercilessly bullied by not oPeer Pressure. It's not always a bad thing.
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So. While I had pre-ordered this like a good little IA fan, I was mercilessly bullied by not one, but two fellow Goodreaders into reading this in serial form. For the purposes of this review, we'll call them Sarah who smells of shrimp & lowercase carol.
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And while I love that IA puts their stuff out there for fans, I'm terrible about keeping up with the serial format. Plus, I simply did. not. have time for this. So, it says a lot about how much I love the characters in this world that I was rather easily swayed to dive into this anyway. I did have to tell my family to piss off several times in order to get it done, though.
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No, it's not the final-final draft. I believe there will be an epilogue. <--desperately want the epilogue!! But I have wanted a book about Roman since he first popped up in the KD world. And even though this is a short story, it packs a punch. Rescuing a boy and his freaky puppy, potential romance with a girl whose shoelaces you may or may not have turned into snakes when you were children, taking in ugly pets, fighting mercenaries and mages, and dragging a Christmas tree in service to a dark god. All in a day's work.
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Also. Backstory, backstory, backstory. <--we finally get a good bit of it!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for fans of Kate Daniels.
PS- Just finished re-reading now that the book is out for reals. It. is. excellent. ...more
A short story about a woman named Mary who lived on an island with her son.
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This one was part of some religious shorts Agatha Christie did for CA short story about a woman named Mary who lived on an island with her son.
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This one was part of some religious shorts Agatha Christie did for Christmas, and it was pretty sweet. (view spoiler)[Mary is living on some island treating the apostle John "like a son". He's having visions and seizures all over the place, and she's just tucking cloth in his mouth so he doesn't choke on his tongue. These sailors come looking for some Queen (her) but she's so humble and wonderful she doesn't seem to know what they're talking about. In the end, Jesus shows up in a boat, and they walk out on the water together where he apparently "takes her home". Meanwhile, John wakes up and starts writing prophecy down. (hide spoiler)] Yeah, it was kind of wacky, but... But at the end, I was like, Awww. Jesus came back for his mom.
Finally, a sci-fi hero for all the introverts out there. So, what makes a Murderbot different from a human? Nothing, as far as I can tell. Unless social Finally, a sci-fi hero for all the introverts out there. So, what makes a Murderbot different from a human? Nothing, as far as I can tell. Unless social anxiety is purely an AI construct?
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In this one, our self-named security unit has come back to his friends. Now, I don't think our socially awkward sec bot would refer to them as friends, but that's most certainly what they are. People you aren't related to that you care for = friends. But caring about specific people is emotionally challenging, and making yourself responsible for what happens to them is messy. Even messier when said people need to be protected from nefarious corporations that want to kill them.
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Humorous & fun with an interesting plot, Exit Strategy is excellent. The story comes full circle and leads back to the original humans that started this whole adventure and gave our Murderbot the push they needed to take advantage of their freedom. This is wrapped up nicely enough so that it could have been the end of Well's series, but I'm certainly glad she decided to write more. Read on. Stop here. The choice is yours.
The gist of this one is that Billy Goat Gruff is a scary-as-hell monster that wants to wear your face.
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The premise is weird but interesting. WeiThe gist of this one is that Billy Goat Gruff is a scary-as-hell monster that wants to wear your face.
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The premise is weird but interesting. Weird because these kids seem too talented to be in high school, and interesting because it involves what happens to a family after a child goes missing. Ok. So, there's this teenage filmmaker, Brenda. And she's just oozing talent. Her little sister, Amanda, is also oozing talent as an actress who stars in her older sis' films. Both girls are well-liked and like each other. So when her little sister traipses out into the woods to sneak a few beers and never comes home, Brenda is devastated. More so when her parents blame her in a local television interview for not keeping a better eye on Amamda.
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Fast forward a few years and Brenda is 18. She hasn't picked up a camera since Amanda disappeared, her parents are zombies, and she's now living on her own. She's been hearing local legends about some kind of a freaky supernatural bridge that appears in the same woods that swallowed her sister. The whole thing is connected to a creature called Opso that is spoken about only in whispers when a random hiker goes missing. She feels like whatever this thing is, it might be responsible for her sister's disappearance. But no one will believe her unless she gets some kind of evidence. So Brenda packs up her equipment and heads into the woods to get this thing on video.
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That won't end well, will it? Hmmm. You might be surprised.
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This wasn't my favorite but it was still a decent offering for the Creature Feature Collection. If you're looking for a short horror story, you could do a lot worse. Recommended....more
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