Tag: SFF (Page 7 of 7)

August Round Up

September 3, 2019 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

To See The Sun by Kelly Jensen, narrated by TJ Clark – B Gael Sonnen is a young man living in the undercity of his home planet, Zhemosen, never allowed to see the sun which is only for the wealthy and privileged who live above ground. He’s also beholden to a bad guy because reasons. When said bad guy requires Gael to murder someone, he is unable to go through with it. With the help of a friend, Gael flees to Alkirak as a kind of “mail order groom” on a “companion contract”. Alkirak is very far away from Zhemosen way out of reach of the commonwealth law; a kind of wild west frontier planet, still being terraformed. Abraham (Bram) Bauer is an older guy who is lonely and looking for more than just hook ups. He can get hook ups easily enough but he wants more.

His friend suggests a companion contract and when he sees Gael’s “holo video” he is smitten. Bram is a farmer and a miner and life is fairly hard where he is but as difficult as things are, for Gael it is a paradise compared to where he grew up (even though he doesn’t immediately see that is the case).

I don’t want to give too much way but I will say there is a strong found family vibe and I was here for it.

I liked the gradual slow burn of the romance and how Gael and Bram made a family together. The last section felt a bit out of left field and I wasn’t convinced the narrative had truly set up the scenario but it wasn’t the main part of the story and I guess things had to come to a head somehow. Continue reading

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

June 20, 2016 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: My buddy Sirius reviewed this book at Dear Author – I was intrigued so I requested it from the library.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): The blurb above really tells readers all they need to know going into the story. I think it’s a book that is best experienced with little expectation (other than a hopeful, satisfying ending of course!) so I don’t plan to talk much about the plot here. It kept me guessing right up until the end, there were numerous twists and turns I wasn’t expecting even though (because while Sirius told me the ending was upbeat I still got nervous) I peeked at the end.
Continue reading

March Round Up

April 1, 2016 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

All Seated On the Ground by Connie Willis – B I saw this short story mentioned in a thread where posters were saying it was the best of Connie Willis’ short stories so I looked it up. I couldn’t buy the story on its own because geo restrictions, but I found it was available in a library book as part of The Best of Connie Willis and placed a hold so I could read the story.

Meg Yates is a humour columnist who unexpectedly finds herself on a committee trying to communicate with the six Altairi aliens who arrived on the doorsteps of Denver University nine months before. Many experts before her and on the current committee have failed to find a way to break through the Atairi glare of disdain before her but her particular history and a chance encounter with some Christmas music and choir director lead to a breakthrough. Continue reading

Review at Dear Author

September 7, 2015 / Kaetrin

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of In Heaven and Earth by Amy Rae Durreson. Don’t let the boring cover fool you.

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

September 4, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Mistress M and Michele Mills ~~told me I had to~~ urged me to read this one.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women – including me – on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Some of my friends have really enjoyed the barbarian/alien SFF erotic romances by Ruby Dixon. Originally released as serials, those of us who need instant gratification can now buy them complete.

Florida girl, Georgie, 22, has been abducted by little green men. There are some other kind of aliens on board who serve as prison guards and they are particularly not nice (trigger warning: rape). Georgie is one of 11 other girls (6 of whom are in stasis) “collected” by the green aliens for sale. The girls have little information but they are not looking forward to whatever will happen next. When the spaceship they are on suffers a malfunction, the green aliens dump the pod where the girls are held on an ice planet (which they nickname “Not-Hoth”. Heh) and that is where Georgie meets her big blue horned alien, Vektal. Continue reading