novel

The Churn

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 11:45 on 18 March 2016, kitt created this:

After finishing Nemesis Games, book five of The Expanse series, I was thinking, "Well, crap, I've read them all." Except there's book 6 which is out, but it's in hardback only and not available at the library quiet yet, and I'm trying not to buy so many books (yes, I have a stack 4' tall of books to read, one more can wait), so I haven't read it yet.

Except! Except!

There are four books, novellas, set in the same universe and omg yesssssssssssssssss!

This one is the story of how Amos Burton ended up in the stars. We know a bit of the history from Nemesis Games, where we learned the histories of most of the Rocinante crew.

There are also references to the Churn in the book. Had I read this book before Nemesis Games, I would have caught the references. Instead, I caught the latter book's references in this book.

I enjoyed this book, once I understood what was going on. If you're reading the series and enjoying it (let's ignore book 4, shall we?), then read this one, too. Who wouldn't want more Amos?

Nemesis Games

Book Notes kitt decided around 16:46 on 9 March 2016 to publish this:

Okay, wow, now we're talking. Back into the Expanse world, and back into the Holden future.

After the last Expanse book, I was very very hesitant to read this one. I hemmed and hawwed about it, wondering if I was going to dislike the next one as much as I disliked the last one, and oh, that would just ruin the series for me, because I read a series until 2 in a row are bad, and then, nope, you can't recover.

Oh boy did this one recover. Loved this one. This one might have been my second favorite of the series. We follow Alex and Amos and Naomi and Holden as they have their adventures. We learn about them, their pasts, their futures, their fears.

The book still doesn't (books still don't) convey time scale well, but I think it works. We don't see how the days are filled on a spaceship (always, always, always fixing things), or how long time passes, which is fine.

Really really really liked this book, almost as much as the first one. Wheeeeeee! Can't wait for book six!

Deadlocked 1

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 22:42 on 2 March 2016, kitt created this:

Yes, I like zombie books. My delight with the genre started with Mira Grant's Feed / Newsflesh trilogy, and has continued through a large gamut of good to crappy zombie books. This zombie book is the first of an eight book series. It isn't long, it's a fast read (all of sixty-nine whole pages), and really, would be a great first part of, say, a longer story, say of eight parts.

It follows the story of David, who is in an office building when the zombie apocalypse breaks out. The plot follows his journey home, and his family's escape.

AND I AM GOING TO COMPLETELY SPOIL IT FOR YOU, if you keep reading this.

What I find very odd about the story is that the story, as told from David's perspective, has information in it about the beginning of the zombie apocalypse and its origins that he can't possibly know, BECAUSE HE DIES IN THE END. How the f--- could he know that the apocalypse was man-made and started with lots of needles poking people if he's dead?

Okay, maybe he's not dead in the end, though getting eaten by a hoard of zombies usually means dead in zombie books. David wasn't just bitten, there are several series that discuss how "bitten" could mean zombie fever, followed by a craving for blood/flesh, but a normal(-ish) person otherwise, he was eaten. Dead. Nothing. Nada.

Yeah, so, I'm not likely to read the rest of the series. The one was a quick fun read, though.

Red Rising

Book Notes kitt decided around 22:10 on 26 February 2016 to publish this:

Wow, this book sat for a long time in my "I'm reading this book" queue. I'd make a little progress on it, put it down, read a different book, pick it back up, repeat. I likely would have continued in this way with this but three things happened around the same time:

  1. Luke strongly recommended it
  2. I realized that I have read only 8 books (before I dug in in earnest) so far this year, and I should probably finish one I had already started if I wanted to keep my 52 books a year pace
  3. The last book in the series was published, and
  4. I started to enjoy the book

Really, the last one was the key.

The first part of the book sets up, I presume, the full series. It takes a bit to fully set up what is going on, and why Darrow, the main character, is motivated to do what he does. Once everything has been set up, oh, boy, are we on a wild ride.

I enjoyed the book, and have Golden Son ready to continue reading. I've been warned it'll be gut wrenching, so I have prepared my gut to be wrenched and survive.

Recommended.

Cibola Burn

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 22:37 on 25 February 2016, kitt created this:


Okay, to start, I love the Expanse series. I love the writing styles (because there are two authors). I love the Rocinante crew.

I did not like this book.

Here's the blurb:

"An empty apartment, a missing family, that's creepy. But this is like finding a military base with no one on it. Fighters and tanks idling on the runway with no drivers. This is bad juju. Something wrong happened here. What you should do is tell everyone to leave."

The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonize has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity's home planets. Ilus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire.

Independent settlers stand against the overwhelming power of a corporate colony ship with only their determination, courage, and the skills learned in the long wars of home. Innocent scientists are slaughtered as they try to survey a new and alien world. The struggle on Ilus threatens to spread all the way back to Earth.

James Holden and the crew of his one small ship are sent to make peace in the midst of war and sense in the midst of chaos. But the more he looks at it, the more Holden thinks the mission was meant to fail.

And the whispers of a dead man remind him that the great galactic civilization that once stood on this land is gone. And that something killed it.

Great. But you know what this book is really about?

That "corporate ship" and the "independent settlers" and just how much assholes people can be to each other when property, life, and liberty are in question.

Seriously, I could not stand this book because it was how much people follow large personalities blindly and how much people are asses to each other.

Abaddon's Gate

Book Notes Posted by kitt at 20:02 on 16 February 2016

This is what you do when you are sick and at home all day: you read. The best sick times, relatively speaking, are when you have good books to read. This book qualifies.

Oh, boy, does this book qualify.

Unlike the first two books in the Expanse series, this book isn't ALL ABOUT HOLDEN, and that makes it both better and worse. Though, really, "worse" is, again, relative, because I still enjoyed this book so much.

This book skips a year or two since the last book, and we very quickly have Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex in a pinch. Through out the book we have way more gore than the previous books, more death (mostly glossed over), more puzzles, and, thankfully, a hell of a lot of personal growth that counteracts the power-blinded asses in the book. Of course, we cheer for the sane people, and weep for the deaths of some of the characters we've been following for books. I had a couple points where I had to put the book down.

I'm excited there are two more books to read, with the sixth book in the series coming out in only 6 months.

Of the three books I liked this one the least, which is really saying nothing, because I love and recommend them all. Read them, read them in order.

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