The Vorkosigan Saga is one of those classic SF series that has been a little intimidating to me because there are so many books in the series, and the suggested reading order of the series is not the publication order, so it doesn’t naturally lend itself toward easily identifying the “next” book in the series. Cordelia’s Honor is actually an omnibus edition comprised of Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan #1) and Barrayar (Vorkosigan #7)(???) Here’s a short plot description from Goodreads for both of those: Shards […]
Another 5-star review from this Expanse stan
This series has become essentially un-reviewable for me. I give every installment either four or five stars, and I have the same good things to say about every one. Without digging deeper into more specific plot points, which I don’t tend to do in my reviews, there aren’t a lot of new ways to praise overall themes or achievement in character development. However, Persepolis Rising is actually a bit different from its predecessors, particularly in that last respect. It opens after a considerable time-jump from […]
Confessions of a recovering literary fiction snob
I loved reading fantasy and horror and suspense as a kid, and I loved the literary fiction we read in school. As an adult, I started taking myself and my choice of reading materials far too seriously, staying away from anything too genre, making rare exceptions for Atwood’s Madd Addam series or Tolkien. [I know. Insert eye roll <<here>>] And then about six years ago, I read and loved Iain Banks’s The Wasp Factory, and I started looking into his other books and found that […]
So how do the robots eat or drink anyway? HOW DO THEY KISS WITH NO MOUTHS.
It says something about this series that this heart-wrenching volume of storytelling is a relief after the last one. Oy, that last one was rough. But this was one was more bittersweet than bitter. Something that I have always appreciated about this series is its tone. Like real life, everything isn’t all bad or all good all the time. Real life is messy, and you can feel many things at once. Real life has hills and valleys, and flat plains. One of the reasons I […]