Tag: sci-fi

books, reviews

Book Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars – Christopher Paolini

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I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a masterful epic science fiction novel from the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of the Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini.

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds
Now she’s awakened a nightmare

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .

My thoughts:

This was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G – honestly I was completely drawn into the incredible world building (or universe building as it’s set in space) and plot, which is just so engaging and powerful and fun and so many more superlatives.

I loved the Wallfish and its crew, I want a prequel about Mr Fuzzypants (ship’s cat) and Runcible (ship’s pig) as they spend a lot of the plot in stasis.

The concept of a ship brain was really fascinating and I wanted to know more about how that became a thing, and what happened to Gregorivich.

This book took the author almost a decade to write and I want more, I will even take the notes and dead end plot lines.

I haven’t read any of Christopher Paolini’s previous books, not sure why because dragons, but if they’re anything half as good as TSiaSofS then I probably should get around to it.

This is genuinely a masterpiece and explores some fascinating themes and ideas. Absolutely incredible stuff.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Altered Helix – Stephanie Hansen*

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“I didn’t want to take the traditional path. First, I wasn’t ready for college. Second, I was going to live with my best friend, Tiff, and work at the Haunted House. Third, did I mention the hot guy Josh that works there too?“

The most exciting thing about Austria’s new job, at a local haunted house, was the fact that the toughest looking people screamed the loudest. But when she meets the boy without a home, Josh, Austria’s life takes intriguing and eventful turns. Up until now, Josh has managed to hang with his Street crowd, but they’re in danger, and so is Austria, the girl Josh recently fell for. The group finds themselves joining forces with previously considered enemies who also now find themselves in danger.

Deeply compassionate and full of twists, Altered Helix captures the struggle of polarized people that must work together for the greater

Goodreads

Win a copy here

Stephanie Hansen’s short story, Break Time, and poetry has been featured in Mind’s Eye literary magazine. The Kansas Writers Association published her short story, Existing Forces, appointing her as a noted author. She has held a deep passion for writing since early childhood, but a brush with death caused her to allow it to grow. She’s part of an SCBWI critique group in Lawrence, KS and two local book clubs. She attends many writers’ conferences including the Writing Day Workshops, New York Pitch, Penned Con, New Letters, All Write Now, Show Me Writers Master Class, BEA, and Nebraska Writers Guild conference as well as Book Fairs and Comic-Cons. She is a member of the deaf and hard of hearing community.

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My thoughts:

This novella is set in a slightly dystopian future where the national government has collapsed and things seem uncertain.

Austria and her friends meet as they all become employees of a local haunted house, prepping for Halloween.

But they also become enbroiled in a far more sinister plot – human trafficking to order. Austria’s DNA holds unusual properties and someone is willing to pay a high price for it.

Lots of twists, some romance and the beginning of what I imagine will be an intense series of thrillers as Austria and her friends seek to put a stop to the people kidnapping innocents and find out what happened to her long missing father.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Fearless – Allen Stroud*

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AD 2118. Humanity has colonised the Moon, Mars, Ceres and Europa. Captain Elisa Shann commands Khidr, a search and rescue ship with a crew of twenty-five, tasked to assist the vast commercial freighters that supply the different solar system colonies.

Shann has no legs and has taken to life in zero-g partly as a result. She is a talented tactician who has a tendency to take too much on her own shoulders.

Now, while on a regular six-month patrol through the solar system, Khidr picks up a distress call from the freighter Hercules…

Allen Stroud is a lecturer at Coventry University, where he teaches BA (Hons) Media and Communications. Stroud completed a Ph. D. at the University of Winchester entitled An Investigation and Application of Writing Structures and World Development Techniques in Science Fiction and Fantasy. This thesis covered his work on the computer games, Elite Dangerous (2014) and Chaos Reborn (2016).

For Elite: Dangerous, Stroud wrote six guidebooks that inform the game’s fictional narrative and also served to help other writers with their novelisations set in the game world. He was a founding host of Lave Radio, an Elite: Dangerous fan podcast that started in February 2013 and runs the annual convention Lavecon. His novel set in the Elite: Dangerous game world, called Elite: Lave Revolution was successfully funded on Kickstarter and published in late 2014, with a second edition published in 2015. Stroud then supported Spidermind Games in developing the Elite Dangerous Roleplaying Game.

Stroud worked on Chaos Reborn with Snapshot Games and is working on Phoenix Point, due for release in 2019. Stroud was the 2017 and 2018 chair of Fantasycon, the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, which hosts the British Fantasy Awards. In June 2019, he became Chair of the British Science Fiction Association, taking over from Donna Bond.

Stroud continues to write academic papers, reviews, articles and fiction in science fiction, fantasy and horror. He lives in a messy house with two cats and his partner, Karen.

My thoughts:

This was a good, enjoyable sci-fi, with lots of action and strong characters. I was behind Shann, the captain, from the start. She’s the central figure that the events revolve around, I also like Johannson, another key figure in the unfolding drama.

There’s battles, strange new tech, conspiracies abound and the crew have to scrabble to stay alive, fighting an unknown enemy without knowing why they’ve come under attack.

I’ve passed my copy onto the two sci-fi fans in my family (my husband and my dad) to read next. I think they will really enjoy it too.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Grubane – Karl Drinkwater*

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Read my reviews of Lost Solace and Chasing Solace

Major Grubane is commander of the Aurikaa, the most feared cruiser in the UFS arsenal.

His crew is handpicked and fiercely loyal. Together, they have never failed a mission, and their
reputation precedes them.

But this time he’s been sent to a key planet that is caught up in political tensions at the centre of the
freedom debate. What he thought was a simple diplomatic mission turns out to be the hardest
choice of his career. His orders: eliminate one million inhabitants of the planet, and ensure their
compliance.

Grubane has also rediscovered an ancient game called chess, and plays it against the ship AI as a
form of mental training. But maybe it could be more than that as he finds himself asking questions.

Can orders be reinterpreted? How many moves ahead is it possible for one man to plan? And how
many players are involved in this game?

Buy

Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but lived in Wales for twenty years, and now calls Scotland his home. He’s a full-time author, edits fiction for other writers, and was a professional librarian for over twenty-five years. He has degrees in English, Classics, and Information
Science.He writes in multiple genres: his aim is always just to tell a good story. Among his books you’ll find
elements of literary and contemporary fiction, gritty urban, ho

rror, suspense, paranormal, thriller,
sci-fi, romance, social commentary, and more. The end result is interesting and authentic characters,
clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.
When he isn’t writing he loves exercise, guitars, computer and board games, the natural
environment, animals, social justice, cake, and zombies. Not necessarily in that order.

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My thoughts:

Set before the events of Lost Solace, this novella introduces the feared and famed Major Grubane, chess player and skilled negotiator, intent on bringing another planet into the UFS, but not by the means his superiors desire.

Preferring negotiations over violence and death, he applies his knowledge of ancient games (in this case his beloved chess) to complex interplanetary conflict.

Narrated by his personal AI bot, Aurikka12, we learn more about the apparently ruthless, utterly loyal Major that pursues Opal and Clarissa through the pages of Lost Solace.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books

Book Blitz: Dead Moon – Keith Crawford

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Humanity will be extinguished in less than seven days.

Wing Commander Jude Styles is a Starfighter Pilot trying to get pregnant before the world ends. Her wingman, Hamid Ashkami, just wants to block the spam

messages he is receiving from someone claiming to be his dead ex-husband.

Instead, they are locked in a media tour, shown off as the heroes that stopped the alien invasion by destroying the massive mothership known as the “Dead Moon”, persuading the masses that all will be fine if they keep calm and carry on.

Trapped telling the same lies, driven over the edge by post-traumatic stress and the constant flow of alcohol, it is only a matter of time before Jude and Hamid break down – and the fragments of the Dead Moon have already begun to fall from the sky.

Dr Keith Crawford is a retired naval officer, disabled veteran and qualified barrister with a PhD in Law and Economics. After years of crazy adventures, from speedboats and aircraft to theatre and lecturing at Sciences Po, my French wife and I decided it was time to properly settle in Paris and have babies. Being the good feminist I try to be, I quit my job to look after the kids, support my wife’s career and write books. Each time I get offered a job my wife says “stop looking at jobs and get back to writing books.” Which shows, with marriage as with everything else, it is better to be lucky than good! Dead Moon is my second novel. The first, Vile, a science-fantasy about toxic-patriarchy, the evils of aristocracy and swordfights, is available on Amazon.

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blog tour, books

Book Blitz: Familiar – T.J. Blake

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For the living, it’s closure. For the departed, it’s the last chance to expose the truth.

For as long as she can remember, Arabella has communicated with those who exist only in memory.

Being the centre of attention growing up was uncomfortable, and now, as a renowned psychic medium, it is becoming more of a struggle. Arabella’s ability and reputation always made it impossible to hold onto lasting relationships, but with those who no longer walk this earth, that’s not the case.

Arabella returns to where it all began fifteen-years before – on the very same stage. After an evening reconnecting loved ones and exposing untold stories, Arabella can’t help but wonder about the one unclaimed ‘friend’, and their cryptic message.

In an unexpected turn of events, Arabella finds herself the subject of morning headlines and at the centre of Detective Barnes’ investigation.

Can Arabella use her ability to prove her innocence and uncover the truth about the past?

Buy

Living in Surrey, UK, some say that T. J. Blake has many split personalities – by day he’s a content marketing specialist, by night he could be any one of his deceptively complex characters.

His latest persona is Arabella, a psychic medium in “Familiar”.

He has a BA with Honours from Kingston University in Creative Writing with English Language & Communications and is author of the five-star psychological thriller, ‘DECEPTION – A Love of Lies’.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Crackle & Fire – Russ Colchamiro*

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Angela Hardwicke isn’t just any private eye.

She’s a PI from Eternity, the cosmic realm responsible for the design, creation, and maintenance of the Universe.

When accountant Gil Haberseau hires her to find an intern with stolen corporate files, Hardwicke soon finds herself embroiled in a deadly case of lies, intrigue, and murder, clashing with vengeful gangsters, MinderNot rallies, and a madman who’s come a long way to get what he wants.

In Russ Colchamiro’s thrilling Sci-Fi mystery Crackle and Fire, Angela Hardwicke learns once and for all that when it comes to being an intergalactic private eye, there’s no telling what threats she may face on-realm and off… including the demons that lurk deep within her soul.

Goodreads Pre-Order Link

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the zany SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, and is editor of the SF anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, all with Crazy 8 Press.

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and crazy dog Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, Altered States of the Union, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, They Keep Killing Glenn, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Camelot 13, and Brave New Girls.

He is now working on the first novel in a new series featuring his hardboiled private eye Angela Hardwicke, and the first of three collaborative novella projects.

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My thoughts:

A crime thriller with a twist, set on a world similar to ours in some ways, but wildly different in others.

PI Angela Hardwicke is looking for a missing person but a lot of details haven’t been divulged and she’s also been tasked with finding missing fireworks by one of the individuals tasked with maintaining the entire galaxy. Could these two cases be connected?

Armed with a quick brain, a team of brilliant friends and allies, and y’know a gun or two, she’s in a race against time to solve both mysteries and save the universe.

Funny, fast-paced, and full of twists this is an excellent sci-fi crime noir.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Doors of Eden – Adrian Tchaikovsky*

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I’m on the bookstagram tour for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s amazing new book The Doors of Eden today, pop over there and follow the tour!They thought we were safe. They were wrong.Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she’d lost Mal, but now she’s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time?Mal’s reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn’t the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power – and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.Dr Khan’s research was theoretical; then she found cracks be-tween our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.

Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Mar-ried, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son. He’s the author of the critically acclaimed Shadows of the Apt series, and the Echoes of the Fall trilogy. Children of Time was the winner of the 30th Anniversary Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

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My thoughts:

This is an epic book, exploring the many worlds theory and the idea of other Earths.

I loved the wise cracking Dr Kay Amal Khan and the rats (obviously super intelligent rats are going to appeal to me!) and the Cousins.

I felt for Lee, I would be like her, trying to understand what’s going on, despite not fully grasping all the science (maths is my weak point).

Gripping, clever, funny and highly enjoyable.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Set My Heart to Five – Simon Stephenson*

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Set in 2054, when humans have locked themselves out of the internet by forgetting the names of their favourite teacher and first pet, Simon Stephenson’s dazzling debut, Set My Heart to Five, is a hilarious, touching, strikingly perceptive story of the emotional awakening of an android named Jared, and a profound exploration of what it truly means to be human.
Hi!
My name is Jared.
I am sincerely pleased to meet you.
Also, I am a bot!
Unless you have been living under a rock in North Korea or New Zealand – Ha! – you of course know what a bot is.
Nonetheless I am programmed to relay the following dialogue to each new human I encounter:
Please do not be fooled by my human-like appearance.
I am a mere bot!
I do not have feelings or anything else that might be misconstrued as a ‘soul’.
Instead, I have been programmed to a high level of proficiency in dentistry!
Should you have any concerns please immediately report me to the Bureau of Robotics.

Simon Stephenson is a Scottish writer based in Los Angeles. He previously worked as an NHS doctor, most recently in paediatrics in London.

His first book, LET NOT THE WAVES OF THE SEA (John Murrays, 2011), was a memoir about the loss of his brother in the Indian ocean tsunami. It was serialised as ‘Book of the Week’ on BBC Radio 4 and won ‘Best First Book’ at the Scottish Book Awards.

Simon moved to the US followed the success of his spec screenplay, FRISCO, a semi-autobiographical story about a depressed doctor who desperately needed a change. The script was at the top of the Blacklist – an industry-voted list of Hollywood’s favourite unproduced scripts – and opened the door to a screenwriting career in the US. In 2015, Simon was photographed alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge as one of Screen International’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’. His friends never tire of telling him that Screen International were at least half right.

As a screenwriter, Simon nonetheless continues to be much in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. He spent two years writing at Pixar in San Francisco, and originated and wrote Amazon’s forthcoming feature film LOUIS WAIN (starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy). Julia Roberts attached to his screenplay TRAIN MAN, and the film rights to SET MY HEART TO FIVE were pre-emptively acquired by Working Title Films, Focus Features, and Nira Park’s Complete Fiction Pictures. Edgar Wright is set to direct the film from Simon’s screenplay.

One of Simon’s most memorable moments from his time in Hollywood was taking a meeting with an actor he admired most, and then having said actor kindly insist on driving Simon home in his distinctive vintage Porsche while telling him about his mind-blowing stories about his canonical body of work. As a token of thanks, Simon then gave that car to the villain in Set My Heart To Five!

My thoughts:

This is an interesting book, written partly in screen play extracts as well as the thoughts of bot Jared, who might look pretty human but doesn’t think or feel like one.

He’s in search for more than his humdrum existence as a dentist bot, programmed to provide excellent tooth based health care. It starts with old movies, then he’s on the run.

It took me a little while to get into the story because of the narrative voice – Jared has a very specific way of communicating and it took me a few chapters to adapt to the style.

But Jared is an endearing soul, with his cat and his desire to be someone and understand humans.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Crossing in Time – DL Orton*

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The past isn’t over, it’s an opening. The future isn’t hidden, it’s a trap.
If she ever wants to see him again, she’ll have to take the risk…

Publishers Weekly Starred Review: “Funny, Romantic & Harrowing!”
When offered a one-way trip to the past, Iz sacrifices everything for a chance to change her dystopian future—and see her murdered lover one last time.
After a perilous journey through a black hole, she wakes up on a tropical beach, buck naked and mortally wounded—but twenty years younger! With only hours to live, she must convince an enraptured but skeptical twenty-something guy to fix their future relationship and thereby save the planet (no one is quite sure why.)
But it’s easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that’s a heartbreaker, save the world or not.

Across the infinite expanse of space and time, love endures…

(Unfortunately, it’s not going to be enough.)
FALL INTO THIS EDGY, action-packed, darkly comedic, dystopian love story, and be prepared to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely no ditzes.)

Content Warning!
This book contains material that may be disturbing to some, and in movie form, would be rated NC-17 for strong language, nudity, sexual situations, and violence (including attempted sexual assault, abduction, intense danger, miscarriage, confinement, a pandemic, religious fanaticism (Christian), government malevolence, and death).
Reader discretion is advised.

Author

DL ORTON, THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the BETWEEN TWO EVILS series, lives in the foothills of the Rockies where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops.♂‍

In her spare time, she’s building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.

Website

Amazon

Goodreads

My thoughts:

This was an interesting, if at time slightly confusing, read. Starting as a love story, it becomes a bit post-apocalypse-y, then a time travel story, then a sort of survivalist story, then a love story.

Basically it contains elements of a lot of genres and at times perhaps too many. However it is very readable and enjoyable if you don’t think about it too much (like if you’re reviewing it).

Diego and Isabel make engaging protagonists and the team inside the mountain are also well realised characters.

Hopefully as the series continues it all becomes clearer and the time travelling solves the end of the world.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.