My “award winner” bingo square belongs to Martha Wells’ murderbot opener “All Systems Red,” purchased from another CBR review, but I’m a bad person and can’t remember who to credit. Let’s just give the glory to Emmalita. Anyway, I was charmed by the plot description of an AI gone unexpectedly rogue who uses their newfound sentience to… laze about, hide their feelings, and binge watch a soap opera. My conciousness is neither unique nor hard-won, and I pretty much spend my life doing the same, […]
Bad head-space, not a bad space-book
I am way late to this party, and now that I’ve arrived, I’m not sure it was worth the trip. I know Cannonballers love this book, and it was given to me by my dad, former Cannonballer sabian30, after he read it and liked it. But I didn’t love it like I wanted to. The concept is interesting: ancillaries are sprawling, brilliant, multi-bodied beings that serve the Lord of the Radch. Our main character is a ship as well as an army of genetically enhanced, […]
“The power that each of us has over complete strangers to make them feel terrible and frightened and weak is amazing.” #CBRBingo (BINGO!)
This was actually a really strange reading experience for me, because I usually don’t read (fiction) books where I’ve spent so many hours listening to the author speak on non-fictional topics. It’s allllmost like what I imagine reading a book that a friend wrote would be. I’ve never actually had that experience, though (yet), so what do I know. Anyway, almost ten years of Vlogbrothers videos, and three years of weekly podcast episodes lends a little familiarity, is all I’m saying. And I liked the book! […]
Welcome?
Improbably, this is my “cover art” selection, because despite a cult podcast with a large following, I had no idea this wasn’t just a standalone book, and gosh is it pretty. Plus, the art suggests something lighthearted or irreverent, and an NPR endorsement on the cover? Good enough for me. Plus, somehow I got my facts twisted and thought it was written by Blake Crouch and I REALLY liked Dark Matter. I wish I liked it more. I think some of my issue with the […]