Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2025

Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold

As I continue through the interminable Vorkosigan saga I’m still struck by how the tone has been changing, from the original intense and dark tone of the opening books towards something like a James Bond book - fun, a bit silly, full of intrigue, but ultimately not reaching for greatness. 

Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

Super fun to see good ole Miles Vorkosigan go on further adventures, further enraging his elders, but I am sad to mention that the darkness and sadness that made the earlier books in this series so special has basically disappeared, by now, which is a real shame. 

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

For some reason Bujold had a story in mind she wanted to tell that required a very kooky setup, is the only way to describe it, in a big break from the last two books of her's that I just finished, so although I spent the first two thirds of this book shaking my head at how downright silly some of the events were, the payoff was fantastic and I couldn't put it down.

Starfish by Peter Watts

Watts has this way of threading 3-4 different core themes through an exciting narrative, and unlike a more conventional novel, he doesn’t really try to make them all relate explicitly; the result in Starfish is dense and difficult, but leavened with exciting plot and compelling, tragic characters, and absolutely mesmerizing.