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Tag Archives: aliens

Machine (White Space, #2) by Elizabeth Bear – Review

30 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by WWMB in Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

5 stars, aliens, artificial intelligence, Book Review, Elizabeth Bear, medical scifi, mystery, scifi, series, social government, space opera, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1


About Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Meet Doctor Jens.

She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee.

But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.

Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths.

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Review of Machine

Machine starts out when Jens and the crew of I Race to Seek the Living (yes the ship names are a little absurd) investigate Big Rock Candy Mountain and I Bring Tidings from Afar. Two ships and passengers that could not be more different, yet experiencing oddly similar circumstances.  All the people on both ships are in deep sleep.  One crew sleeps in cryogenic pods, the other is unconscious.  Dr. Jens and her crew begin the rescue operation that is both a medical mission and an investigation.   This opening grabbed my attention and held it until the last page.

Back at the Core and the hospital, things get even more mysterious.  There is a lot going on.  I can’t possibly do a synopsis justice.  So I will just say, that what I though was going to be a science fiction tale of adventure and futuristic technology (see book title), turned out to be a mystery.  Machine is a mystery wrapped in space opera.  Jens likes mystery because she likes to figure things out.  She just doesn’t expect solving the mystery would be so treacherous.

There are so many thing I liked about this book.  First lets talk about the Synarche, a community of various races that includes humans, that has evolved to a relatively socially advanced cooperative society that considers the well-being of all its synizens. Individual tendencies that stray from the preferable ideal are considered to be sophipathic, but can be right-minded (an advanced therapy that uses memory replacement, brain chemical balancing and technology to make that all happen).   I find this to be a fascinating social government that seems at once idyllic and also oppressive.

I loved how all species are treated as people.  Right-minding means prejudice is undesirable.  Even AI’s (though they born into debt and owing service), are treated as people.   This also means that Jens interacts with several other species and AIs, so it is not just humans that are the heroes of this story.   The author often uses they/them/their to replace gender pronouns for many species.  At first this was disorienting, since I think of these as plural pronouns, but eventually my mind adjusted.

One of alien species is the Rashaqin.  From what I remember from my first meeting of a Rashaqin (Cheerilaq in Ancestral Night), the description of giant praying mantis was what I took away from it.  Normal sized praying mantises can be kind of scary looking to the bugs they prey on.  Imagine one towering over you.  Male Rashaqin are smaller, tiny enough to sit on a human’s shoulder, like Dr. Rilriltok.  Females however…..  But Goodlaw Cheeirlaq is only a threat to the bad guys, and in fact, is one of the heroes of this story.

One of the bad guys, aka the machine, reminds me a little of the spider-like replicators of the TV series Stargate SG-1.  Not that the machine is necessarily spider-like, but it does replicate with a purpose.

While we are talking about old scifi TV shows, Star Trek fans will also recognize a parallel to Nomad from The Changeling.

Machine is a 1st person narrative told from the perspective of the human Dr. Jens.  Since most of the people reading this books will also be human, this was a good choice.  Several other characters, human and other-worldly, have important roles, but this is Jens’ story.  Jens is not perfect and often questions not only what goes on around her, but also her own life choices, making her a character to sympathize with and invest in.

The author attempted to create a futuristic use of language for a few words, but did not stray too far from what we are familiar with.  Every now and then, 21st century western jargon creeps in.  In particular, I recall ‘stay frosty’.  I am pleased that the author envisions that humans of today will have their own influence on the use of language in the future.

Machine is not a light read.  It is complex and detailed but with enough suspense and sense of adventure to keep the story rolling along.  At 496 pages, it is longish, but I found I was sad when it ended. While the story takes place in the same universe as Ancestral Night, it is totally standalone.  If you read Machine first, you might find spoilers for Ancestral Night, but I think you can read them in any order.

As I was reading Machine, I highlighted several passages.  I thought I’d share a couple with you here:

The best we can do is not pretend that we don’t belong to a system; it’s to accept that we do, and try to be fair about using it.  To keep it from exploiting the weakest.

The most important thing in the universe, it turns out, is a complex of subjective and individual approximations.  Of tries and fails.  Of ideals, and things we do to try to get close to those ideals.

It’s who we are when nobody is looking.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Stars Beyond (Stars Uncharted, #2) by S.K. Dunstall – Review

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by WWMB in Book Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

5 stars, aliens, Book Review, first contact, S. K. Dunstall, sci fi, scifi adventure, seris


About Stars Beyond by S.K. Dunstall

The crew of Another Road are back, closer than ever to the biggest score in the galaxy. . . if they can stay a step ahead of the Justice Department agents and Company men tracking them.

An engineer with a fondness for weapons. A captain with no memory. An obsessive genemodder who loves to tinker. Meet the crew of Another Road.

Josune, Roystan, and Nika have escaped the company thugs trying to kill them. They’ve gotten a new spaceship to replace The Road (after it was blown up underneath them). And their new ship is armed to the teeth with dangerous weapons, courtesy of Josune. All that’s left to do before they head out to find the legendary lode of transurides is to restore Roystan’s memory. To do that, they need to collect the genemod machine Nika has ordered.

But first, they have to shake off the Justice Department agent and the Companies tracking them.

It should be easy. They’ve done it before. What could possibly go wrong?

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Review of Stars Beyond

If you like your fiction to be character-driven, you have come to the right place.  Stars Beyond is full of great characters that, individually have potentially great stories.  Together, the intermeshed greatness is vivid and glowing.  Even the chapters are named after the character who’s point of view is exposed in the chapter.  So to review this book, I will review a few characters.  Warning, there may be spoilers if you have not read Stars Uncharted.

Hammond Roystan – the quiet hero with the mysterious forgotten past.  Despite, the fact that he never even gets his own chapter, Hammond is critical to the story, more than any other character.  You have read Stars Uncharted, you get the idea.  But keep paying attention to Roystan.

Alistair Laughton – is the intriguing new character.  Asked to take leave from the Justice Department, he is back again – at their request.  But while he was on leave, his adventures were most intersting….

Nika Rik Terri – the body modder.  A really good, in demand body modder.  That is until someone tried to frame her for murder and kill her.  Somehow she ended up with Roystan and his ragtag crew.  And for some reason, Laughton is looking for her.  These characters are so interconnected it must be fate that links them.  Or maybe Roystan.  See there he is again.

Bertram Snowshoe – well if it weren’t for Snow, we would not get to hang out with the evil mercenary Captain Oliver Norris.  And he is.  Evil.  Nasty.  Norris, not Snow.  Snow is the modder apprentice, but manages to be a pretty good gunner too.  Snow, like most of the ragtag crew, has many talents.

What is it  about the term ragtag that automatically gets my attention?

Jacques Saloman – chef and cargo master.  Mostly chef.  You gotta love a man who thinks food, good food, is the solution for everything.  And on Another Road, it pretty much is.

Leonard Wickmore – bad guy.  Wickmore got the first chapter in Stars Beyond, where we learn he is after Rik Terri.  He is a thoroughly despicable character that did not deserve to live past book one.  I prefer my villains to evolve and grow just as much as the protagonists and if not, they need to be eliminated….somehow.  But Dunstall thought he was needed in this story.  Okay, if you need someone to boo and hiss at, Wickmore is your man.

The Ort.  First contact species with a need for a special body modder.   Everybody seems to want Rik Terri.

The Vortex.  While not technically a character, the spaceship-ripping Vortex is an astronomical phenomenon that happens to be very close to the center of all that is important.  Beware the Vortex.  Roystan does.

These motley characters are combined with a story line that gallivants enough to throw in a few surprises.  (Surprises are good.)  Beware the Vortex cannot be said enough.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Alien Redeemed (Zyrgin Warriors, #7) by Marie Dry – Review

07 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by WWMB in Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

4 stars, alien world, aliens, Book Review, human interaction with aliens, Marie Dry, romance, scifi, scifi romance, spaceships


About Alien Redeemed by Marie Dry

On a harsh alien planet, in a faraway galaxy, Sarah, a gentle human woman, is determined to start a new life, far away from the hardship she endured on Earth and the pitying glances of her friends.

Once on Zyrgin, Sarah finds that, instead of being the empress and helpmeet at the side of the Zyrgin leader, she is merely his breeder. She is trapped in a gilded cage, not allowed to go out and interact with the other women on the planet, until she’s proven her loyalty to the empire by birthing Zaar’s child. After her traumatic experiences in the raider camps, and the resultant PTSD, Sarah doubts she could ever make love to her Zyrgin warrior.

Zaar assures her he has a superior plan to cure her of her problem. But is he able to reach through all the barriers Sarah has erected against true intimacy?

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Review of Alien Redeemed

Sarah has gone through some terrible things in her past and, although Zaar is of the opinion that the people who wronged her deserve the worst, he is at a loss as to how to “fix” her.  Zaar thinks he is able to fix everything.  He is THE Zyrgin after all. Hmmph! 🙂

Sarah and Zaar have so much to learn about each other.  My favorite part about the Zyrgin Warriors series is where the Zyrgin warrior and the human woman must overcome vast cultural differences.  Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it is funny.  It is always entertaining.

Zaar says things like “walk a step behind me, you are my breeder, I am the ruler of all the know galaxies and soon to be ruler of the unknown galaxies.”

Sarah responds with, “no, call me parena (empress)”, and an eye roll.

It takes a bit to get them speaking the same language.

And then something terrible (danger) comes between Zaar and Sarah.  Of course, there must be some peril to overcome – and a way for Zaar to prove that he is the ruler of all the know galaxies and soon to be ruler of the unknown galaxies.  I love his arrogance, whether it is deserved or he is merely exaggerating his skills.

Between the escape from peril and the end of the book, Sarah was overly sentimental.  Yes, it was probably in character for her, but it made the ending drag a bit.

The Zyrgin Warriors series is such a fun series.  I recommend it for anyone that enjoys Scifi Romance with heart and humor.  Alien Redeemed is great addition to that series!

Thanks to the author who provided a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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