Tag: sci-fi

Fractal Noise is the thrilling prequel to the masterful space opera To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by internationally bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, an anomaly is detected: a vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence.

For one explorer, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. For another, a risk not worth taking. And for xenobiologist Alex Crichton, it’s a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. But every step they take towards that mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. Ultimately, no one is prepared for what they will encounter.

My thoughts: I loved TSiaSoS, but while this is set in the same universe, twenty three years earlier, it is a very different book, and not just because of its lengths.

In a way it is a desperately sad book, these four humans more or less alone on an alien world, a hostile environment, making it hard for them to sleep, to walk, to do anything. Alex, the protagonist, is mourning his wife, the other members of the team have their own traumas and damage. As they trudge endlessly across an uncaring planet, towards an unknown goal, their exhaustion and isolation make them spiral.

They’re convinced someone made the mysterious, loud, EMP emitting hole, it’s too perfect to be accidental, but the only creatures they encounter are somewhat hostile and make no attempt to communicate, they are so strange that no one knows what to make of them. They don’t seem to be doing anything recognisable, we always try to equate things back to what we understand from human experience – but these creatures or machines, follow no patterns the team can discern.

As they get closer, a series of accidents make it harder and harder for them to accomplish their work and their mental states start to struggle. The desperate straits they find themselves in are worsened by not being able to contact the rest of the crew, isolation pushing them to breaking point. None of them are particularly easy people to be with, and there’s a distinct lack of team spirit. Alex withdraws into himself and his memories, and the rest of the team aren’t any better.

What their mission achieves is minimal and for a moment, all seems lost. There’s a Pandora’s Box effect for Alex, suddenly looking up, the ship passes overhead. And hope sparks. Perhaps we aren’t alone – we have each other.

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

From Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time and winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Lords of Uncreation is the final high-octane instalment in the Final Architecture space opera trilogy.

He’s found a way to end their war, but will humanity survive to see it?

Idris Telemmier has uncovered a secret that changes everything – the Architects’ greatest weakness. A shadowy Cartel scrambles to turn his discovery into a weapon against these alien destroyers of worlds. But between them and victory stands self-interest. The galaxy’s great powers would rather pursue their own agendas than stand together against this shared terror.

Human and inhuman interests wrestle to control Idris’ discovery, as the galaxy erupts into a mutually destructive and self-defeating war. The other great obstacle to striking against their alien threat is Idris himself. He knows that the Architects, despite their power, are merely tools of a higher intelligence.

Deep within unspace, where time moves differently, and reality isn’t quite what it seems, their masters are the true threat. Masters who are just becoming aware of humanity’s daring – and taking steps to exterminate this annoyance forever.

My thoughts: Idris sometimes reminds me of Rincewind from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, a rather nervous man who seems to have stumbled into something bigger than him and doesn’t quite know how to get out of it. In Idris’ case it really is much, much bigger than him. Universe sized really.

He has finally, almost delved enough into the unreal to find the masters behind the planet warping Architects. But can he convince everyone else to go after that and not just the crystalline creatures?

There’s also an attempt at a coup, a very angry Aklu the Unspeakable, the Vulture God limping on, complete with Olli and Kit still on board, even as the rest of crew travel on the Eye with Idris.

This series is hard to explain in a way, it plays with some huge and complex ideas – unspace, the Architects, the Ints like Idris. There are some brilliant concepts too, terrifying ones like the Parthenon and the Essiel and brilliant ones gone a bit awry, like Hugh. The characters are all great, I love Olli and Kittering, their racketing around the universe, holding the ship together with not much more than a few nuts and bolts and determination.

The existing order is in free fall and the ragtag gang trying to fix the universe are all that stands between complete destruction and what’s left of humanity and its allies/enemies/whatever the Hegemony is. I am sad it’s ended, but it was an incredible ride.

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

From the international bestselling M. R. Carey comes a thrilling tale set in the multiverse – the tale of humanity’s expansion across millions of dimensions, and the AI technology that might see it all come to an end . . . INFINITY IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds – except that they’re really just the one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an AI threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they’ll eradicate it by whatever means necessary, no matter the cost to human life. Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth’s environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel. It could save everyone on her dying planet, but now she’s walked into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of. And she needs to choose a side before it kills her.

Discover the start of the thrillingly original, mind-bending SF duology The Pandominion, from the author of the million-copy bestseller The Girl With All the Gifts. Perfect for fans of The Space Between Worlds, The Long Earth and Children of Time.

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts has sold over a million copies and became a major motion picture, based on his own BAFTA Award-nominated screenplay.

Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Hellblazer and X-Men. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times bestseller list. He also has several previous novels including the Felix Castor series (written as Mike Carey), two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.

My thoughts: imagine if there really is a multiverse, millions of versions of Earth, sitting alongside each other, each slightly different to the previous. Imagine there’s a technology that allows to Step into each world. Now imagine a terrifying autocratic regime that controls a lot of those worlds, with augmented soldiers and the power to basically crush your planet’s. And they’re at war with robots – robots that are sort of alive.

It sounds really confusing, but it isn’t. Because like many books, it’s about people. A scientist, an AI, a giant bunny, a machine that doesn’t want to go home, a soldier and a man who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time really. Oh and a mysterious omniscient narrator.

It’s a sci fi novel with lots of twists and turns, lots of embracing the unknown and the terrifying, lots of action but also nobody really knows what they’re doing. But something does.

M.R. Carey is a brilliant writer, and this is an extremely readable, enjoyable book. I didn’t even pretend to understand what Hadiz did to develop her technology, physics is not my thing, but just went with it. Which is probably the default of most of the characters and everyone around them.

There’s some very funny moments, and some incredibly dark ones. I liked that it was set in Lagos and its mirror selves rather than New York or wherever, it was refreshing to read something set in a city that’s not familiar from a million other books, made me feel a bit like the characters – it’s like their homes but also, distinctly, not.

And the ending, no spoilers but I absolutely need book two immediately to find out what happens next!

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