December 2024 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

TBR Pile Review: Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye, by Alex White

Format: 464 pages, Paperback
Published: December 3, 2024 by Orbit
ISBN: 9780316430609

In this new wide-screen space opera, humanity has met its match. An alien race of enormous robotic AI have destroyed most of humanity’s outposts. But, on the eve of the Earth’s destruction, a musician made one last desperate attempt to reach out and convince one of humanity’s enemies to switch sides. Now, earth just might have a chance to survive…

A ragtag band of misfits is all that stands in the way between an army of giant mechas and humanity’s total destruction in the second book of this big-hearted, technicolor space opera trilogy by one of the most exciting voices in science fiction, Alex White.

Ultra-glam enby pop star Ardent Violet thought they could catch a break and enjoy some time with their new boyfriend August Kitko after defeating the giant mechas hellbent on humanity’s destruction. However, Ardent didn’t count on their mecha allies summoning a host of extraterrestrials to defend Earth.

Between the diplomatic entanglements of the newly-arrived alien Coalition, and a mysterious all-powerful AI establishing a base within their solar system, there’s no rest for the wicked.

When August makes a discovery that could turn the tide of the war, Ardent Violet finds they are back in the spotlight for an encore!

My Review

I read the first book in this series August Kitko and the Mechas from Space in 2022, so I’ve been waiting a while for this book. I hope I don’t have to wait another two years for book three, because I need to know what happens to everyone!

This book is mainly written from Ardent’s perspective, although we sometimes get Gus’. Having survived the Mechas from Space, Ardent, Gus, Nisha and Hjalmar, and their Vanguards are still looking to save Earth, and humans generally, from Infinite, the A.I. that is causing all the trouble. Gus discovers that there is a way to do it, about the same time as a Coalition of alien species arrives to ‘help’. They’re all in a similar situation, having developed A.I.s that took over their species. It’s a bit complicated, but they all have Vanguards, and the Conduits all have to meet each other to work together. This happens in a great space city and it goes as well as can be expected, given that the alien civilisations are somewhat more advanced than humans. One species, a giant crab-like creature with shells encrusted with electronics, weapons, and a bad attitude, take an instant dislike to humans.

In an attempt to remove Infinite from the solar system, human and Coalition Conduits and Vanguards attack Titan. But things get a bit messy when the supposedly non-sentient Ghosts start fighting back, running away and screaming. Gus realises that something is going on and changes the mission. Which upsets the crab-alien Conduit, Scent of Rot. Their fight causes all sorts of fallout and Gus spends the rest of the novel under a death sentence for heresy against the A.I./god King.

Lots of things happen in the fight against Infinite. There are some fantastic space battles, a rescue mission that gets Dahlia a pardon and a probable suicide mission in return, people die, Vanguards are destroyed, Gus, Ardent and Nisha play a concert in DeepSync. I cried. And enemies become friends.

I want to know who picked up Gus and Scent of Rot’s escape craft! I want to know how Ardent handles the possible death and escape of Gus. I want to return to this world as soon as possible, it’s so much fun! I loved the characters, especially the development of Nisha as a character, and the complex negotiations that come with inter-species cooperation. The alien species were based on Earth animals, mostly, but changed in a way that would be strange, and logical. Except the octopus-like species; octopuses are alien enough as it is. Them running around in giant bubbles of water in non-marine environments is relatively expected. They would if they could.

Seriously, Alex White, hurry up and write book three!

Most Anticipated SFF of 2025

Stack of books with two dragons on top. Background is vaguely autumn and winter themed, AI generated using WordPress.

This is my list. It’s a mix of sci fi and fantasy. Some are the next book in a series, and some are stand alone novels from authors I like.

Audiobook Review: Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Format: Audible Audio
Published: June 6, 2024 by Tor
Language: English
Narrated by the author

Description

To fix the world they first must break it further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labour and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.

My Review

I listened to this book through the ‘get one audiobook a month using Amazon Music’ thing, so I can’t keep it, but as soon as the book comes out in paperback, I’m getting it.

Charles is a valet robot who murders his master. But he doesn’t know why. Sent to be assessed and probably destroyed, he discovers freedom. He’s very confused by the world outside of the manor where he served is reclusive master for years. It’s all very disorderly and untidy. Estates are falling down, robot servants are rusting at their posts, and there’s no humans about.

Until Charles meets ‘The Wonk’. For the sake of Charles not getting crushed, The Wonk tells Charles, now going by UnCharles, that she’s a robot too. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Charles believes this to be the case almost to the end of the book. It is quite funny. UnCharles sets off to find humans to serve and The Wonk sets off to find the Library.

They meet later, and then go off on an adventure together, first to find the Library, and then to meet god. Turns out god is an A.I. judge, programmed to mete out justice. He also knows a lot about why Charles killed his master. And why the world collapsed.

Adrian Tchaikovsky can never be accused of not being political. His work always has a point. In this one, the subject of A.I. is discussed using humour and allegory. A.I. can only learn from what we feed it, it can only work within the parameters given.

Tchaikovsky also alludes to the compounds and bunkers wealthy people are building all over the world to escape to, when disaster strikes. They’ve managed to hoard all the wealth and destroy everything, and then they plan to run away when consequences occur. Since a lot of these people are the same people playing around with A.I. this is an easy inclusion in the novel.

But everyone dies. You can’t hide from death. Hopefully, the evil gits will die in attempting to run away and the resources they’ve hoarded can be share fairly among the survivors. (I don’t like billionaires.)

I enjoyed this novel, especially UnCharles’ confusion, and The Wonk’s sarcastic responses to his desire to serve. The vision of a destroyed wasteland was haunting and the critique of the way humans treat each other is spot on.

Adrian also did a very good job as narrator.

TBR Pile: The Outcast Mage, by Annabel Campbell

Coming From Orbit (UK & US) January 2025

In the city of Amoria, where magic rules all, Naila is the ultimate conundrum. A student under the watchful eye of Amoria’s sprawling Academy, Naila is undeniably gifted, yet she has never been able to harness her abilities. And time is running out. If she fails, she’ll be forced into exile, or worse – consumed by her own magic.

For decades mages and the magicless Hollows have lived side-by-side peacefully. But now that peace is threatened as old resentments bubble over. A powerful anti-Hollow faction led by Amoria’s most influential mages is determined to cast the Hollows out. With her Hollow background, Nalia is in danger of being exiled from everything she knows and everyone she loves if she cannot unlock her power.

When a tragic incident threatens her place at the Academy, Naila is saved by Haelius Akana, the most powerful living mage. A scholar and fellow outcast, Haelius is fascinated by Naila’s inability to use magic. Eager to help someone in whom he sees so much of himself, he stakes his position at the Academy on teaching her. Trapped in the deadly schemes of Amoria’s elite, Naila must dig deep to discover the truth of her powers – or watch the city she loves descend into civil war.

The Outcast Mage

About the author

Annabel writes fantasy with fierce female characters and disaster wizards, and believes everything is improved by dragons.

She lives in a tiny village in Scotland, where most of her neighbours are sheep. She has a PhD in cardiovascular science, and when not making things up for a living, she works as a Medical Writer.

Her other joys are red wine, playing games, or showing you too many pictures of her dog.

Maria and the Space-Dragons Investigate #1 -December 2024 instalment

I know this post is a few weeks late, but I’ve been ill, and in pain. I’ve decided to make this one publicly available rather than behind a pay wall. The story is over 19000 words long now, and there’s some difference between the story I’ve written in my notebook and the one you’ll read here.

Chapter 12 – Lah-Shah – In the asteroid belt

Lah-Shah looked over the scan data. The asteroid was quite large, dense and peanut shaped. There was plenty of metal in it, and the shape suggested that two asteroids had got a bit too close to each other and collided at some point. It surprised Lah-Shah that the humans on Aurox hadn’t sent auto-miners out here; despite the distance from the planet, it would be worth the effort.

A large object showed up on the scans; it lay buried beneath the surface, in the waist of the asteroid, hidden by scattered debris and surface shadows. It had a familiar outline on the scans. Lah-Shah ran the images through the control system and found a match: an IGASS science division mission ship.

My favourite Sci Fi and Fantasy 2024

Midwinter greetings.

The year isn’t over yet, so more might be added before 31st December.

TBR/L Pile books

Blog Tour Books

Tomorrow’s Children, by Daniel Polansky
When The Night Falls, by Glenn Rolfe
The Garden of Delights, by Amal Singh
Jubilee, by Stephen K Stanford
The Hunter’s Gambit, by Ciel Pierlot
Key Lime Sky, By Al Hess
Ludluda, By Jeff Noon & Steve Beard
Symbiote, by Michael Nayak – not yet published – blog tour in January/February 2025

Non-fiction TBR/L

TBL Review: Voyage of the Damned, by Francis White

Audible Audio
First published January 18, 2024

Book description

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain.

Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

Except one: Ganymedes Piscero – class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?

TBL Post: Psychedelics: The Revolutionary Drugs That Could Change Your Life – A Guide from the Expert, by Professor David Nutt

By: Professor David Nutt
Narrated by: Professor David Nutt
Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 29-06-23
Language: English
Publisher: Yellow Kite

Summary

The definitive guide to psychedelics, science and our health by a world-renowned, leading authority, Professor David Nutt.

We are on the cusp of a major revolution in psychiatric medicine and neuroscience. After fifty years of prohibition, criminalisation and fear, science is finally showing us that psychedelics are not dangerous or harmful. Instead, when used according to tested, safe and ethical guidelines, they are our most powerful newest treatment of mental health conditions, from depression, PTSD, and OCD to disordered eating and even addiction and chronic pain.

Professor David Nutt, one of the world’s leading Neuropsychopharmacologists, has spent 15 years researching this field and it is his most significant body of work to date. In 2018, he co-founded the first academic psychedelic research centre – underpinned by his mission to provide evidence-based information for people everywhere. It revived interest in the understanding and use of this drug in its many forms, including MDMA, ayahuasca, magic mushrooms, LSD and ketamine. The results of this have been nothing short of ground-breaking for the future categorisation of drugs, but also for what we now know about brain mechanisms and our consciousness.

At a time where there is an enormous amount of noise around the benefits of psychedelics, this book contains the knowledge you need to know about a drug that is about to go mainstream, free from the hot air, direct from the expert.

Are you ready to change your mind?

My Review

I started listening to this audiobook yesterday when I went for my walk, and finished it today while I was out on my walk. Honestly, I was looking for a short book that I would be able to get through fairly quickly. I’m putting off diving into a whole library of fantasy books that I really want to listen to, but I need a good run up to because I know they’ll hurt. Also, I’m trying to get my total up for the GoodReads Challenge. Yes, yes, I know, gamification of reading, bad, etc. I can’t help it! I read a lot, but none of it seems to count. I don’t think they have New Scientist or New Humanist magazines on GoodReads. They do have the BFS Journal and BFS Horizons, as well as Interzone, so some of my magazine reading does count.

Back to the book.

I thought this was an interesting, comprehensive look at the research around psychedelics and their potential uses in medicine. The author is obviously passionate about his work and helping people with mental illnesses using psychedelics, but I think he might have some blind spots when it comes to criticism. He’s clearly still upset about being sacked in the 1990s. I get it, it’s frustrating when you’re trying to share information and people refuse to listen because it doesn’t fit their narrative, but he’s had a massively important career in academia since then.

I’ve never taken drugs, it’s not my thing; in fact, I’ve said I would only try these drugs under clinical, research conditions, and since I respond well to my medication, I’d never qualify for the research trials. I found Nutt’s descriptions and his quotes from others, including research participants, fascinating. It’s one of the reasons I got this audiobook, I want to know what people experience without actually trying psychedelics. People I know have told me about their experiences but I’m interested in it from a scientist’s position.

I’m interested in the science of how they work. The explanations of the way the chemicals work on the brain are really easy to understand. Er, for me at least, but I have some background in biochemistry. I think a general reader without a science background should be able to make sense of it. Nutt’s frustration at the waste of research time and opportunity caused by unsupported bans and high costs seems well-founded.

Nutt narrated his book and he has a reasonable narration voice. His accent sounds comforting, he has clear diction and a warm tone.

Nutt has a shallow understanding of neurodiversity. I appreciate him mentioning that he doesn’t want to get rid of neurodivergent people, but he needs to actually understand what he’s saying. Neurodiversity covers everyone, neurodivergent refers to those who’s brains don’t fit the social norm. Neurodiversity is a social and political movement for disability rights; saying you don’t ‘want to get rid of their neurodiversity’ about treating anxiety in Autistic people, doesn’t really mean anything. Why didn’t an editor check that? Why hasn’t Nutt looked into it more deeply if he’s concerned about helping us? Also, ADHD isn’t a mental illness. It’s a form of neurodivergence, like autism, like OCD, like schizophrenia, etc. There are things we need help with and I’m sure psychedelics could be useful in some cases.