So, look. Typically in my reviews I go the very remedial route of talking about broad themes from the book, how well the characters and/or worldbuilding were developed, and I comment on the pacing and overall competence of the plot. If I am very lucky, something will stand out that either makes me want to rant, or go on a gushing squeefest, and I can write a better than milquetoast review. When you get to the sixth book in a consistently excellent series, there isn’t […]
Hot Times in Polar City
Polar City Blues by Katharine Kerr (1990) A young derelict who can read minds tries to survive in the slums of the misnamed Polar City. The colonial world is so hot people need personal tents if they go into the open air. When he helps the police “read” a murdered alien ambassador, he places himself and his friends in danger. Cursed with his ESP gifts, he’s a second-rate baseball player, a junkie, and a bum. Fortunately, he’s got an occasional girlfriend, a retired space navy […]
When the $hit Gets Even More Real
Hello Cannonball Read 9 and hello to my very first Cannonball Read review! I’m more than happy to do whatever I can to help kick cancer squarely in the metaphorical nuts. All right, let’s get down to business.
Attractively Repulsive
An Exchange of Hostages by Susan R. Matthews (1997) When I read the blurb on the back about a surgeon who’s in training to be a High Inquisitor, someone who tortures people, I didn’t think I’d read much of the book before putting it down. Torturers? Inquisitors? A space-faring government called the Judiciary who looks for rebels and criminals under every rock and extracts “legal” confessions from them? Andrej, forced to become a fleet inquisitor to inherit his father’s title, is young, full of himself, and […]