Archive for the ‘James S. A. Corey’ Category
The best books I read this year
Posted on: December 12, 2012
It’s that wonderful time of the year again! When we bake cookies and get cards in the mail and forget that we need extra time to warm up our cars in these cold, cold mornings.
It’s also time to talk about the best books we’ve read this year. I confess, I cheated a little on my list, I didn’t limit myself to books that came out in 2012, I’ve even got a reread on the list. Mostly space opera, a little fantasy and time travel, even a YA book made the list! In no particular order, here are my top books that I read this year, with review excerpts and links to the review should you feel so inclined to learn more about the titles that rocked my world this past year.
Redhead’s Best of 2012
Faith, by John Love (2012) – I read this all the way back in February, I knew right then it would make my best of the year list. An amazing debut from author John Love, Faith is a dark and tense stand alone science fiction novel. The pages drip with a danger and fear that doesn’t quickly dissipate after you’ve put the book down. This isn’t a book for everyone (that’s a polite way of saying it has lots of violence, amorality and swear words), but for those of us that like this sort of thing, Faith is quite the hidden gem.
(full review here, and I got to interview the author here)
Silently and Very Fast, by Catherynne M. Valente (2012) – has anyone been putting out short stories, novellas and full length novels as fast as Valente? she’s the hardest working writer I know, and this year she got to walk away with Hugo for Best FanCast to show for it. it’s no secret that Valente is one of my favorite authors, and the Hugo nominated Silently and Very Fast is certainly her most science fictional piece. With her signature flair for poetic metaphor and lyrical storytelling, this novella follows the life of Elefsis, a house AI who was told fairytales by the human children in the house. To Elefsis, life is a fairytale, and it should have a happy ending.
(full review here)
Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht (2012) – I don’t read a lot of urban fantasy, but when I do it’s a treat for it to be a beautifully written as this series (the 2nd book And Blue Skies from Pain came out later in 2012). Northern Ireland, the 1970s, Liam Kelly would prefer to live a normal life. He’s not interested in getting arrested or learning secrets about his heritage. But all of those things are very interested in him, and in destroying everything in his life that he cares about. Leicht spoiled me for urban fantasy. I am eagerly awaiting future novels in this series.
(full review here)
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Posted on: July 3, 2012
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
published in June 2011
where I got it: purchased new
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Be warned, this is a slightly spoilery review.
People keep trying to shoot Jim Holden . First, while on a routine rescue mission his ship was attacked and he barely survived with his life. Then, taken prisoner by the Martian Navy, he and his remaining crew stole a ship and escaped, and then got shot at. A lot. Everyone wants Jim and his crew, and no one will tell them why. No one will tell them what was on that first disabled ship they tried to board to save souls or salvage, no one will tell them who blew it out of the sky, and why everyone who witnessed it is dead.
An ex-Navy man from Earth, Jim Holden realized he was too idealistic for the Navy of the inner planets. After a few bad experiences, he signed on as XO with an ice hauling crew doing the Saturn – Belt run, and he’s been in heaven ever since. With the few surviving members of his crew and now answering to Captain, Holden’s got to find out who is least interested in killing him, and he’s got to find out fast.
oh, and his crew? Probably the best part of the book. I’m not sure which I liked better, the perfectly done characterization or the hilarious and dry dialog. Acting XO is Naomi, who doesn’t do so well under pressure but does keep Jim from being completely stupid; Alex the weak stomached pilot; and Amos, the brawler mechanic who swears creatively and reminded me of what Jayne could have grown up to be, which made me like him even more.
Meanwhile in the carved out asteroid Ceres Detective Miller looks for a lost girl. Her parents contracted his employer to find her, and he got stuck with the gig. He does his normal routine, check out her apartment, peek through photos, read her e-mail, see who she’s been hanging out with. When clues begin to materialize, Miller is violently taken off the case. Shortly afterwards, Ceres erupts in riots. The organized crime element of the place has just taken over.
A sprawling space opera, Leviathan Wakes is what happens when you take humanity and fling them through the solar system. People born in low gravity are longer limbed and skinnier, people born in heavy gravity are more squat. Instead of everyone looking alike and hating each other, we now look very different, and still hate each other. Tensions are high between the Inners (Earth and Mars) and the Outer Planetary Alliance (everything from the asteroid belt on out). To start a full scale war, all it would take is one little incident. Kill some marines, blow up a science station, impound a few water haulers, anything that you can blame on any group you don’t like. Add into this mix a depressed alcoholic detective and an ice hauler crew who don’t have a death wish, and you’ve got the recipe for one helluva Space Opera.
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