Book Review: Matter by Iain M Banks

This was a wonderful book. SPOILERS:

I kinda love that almost every named character dies. And that so many of them could have carried a novel or subplot if they had lived.

My favorite is Oramen who might have outgrown the vices he was being taught to distract him. Unsuccessfully. But in the long run he might have been unable to run a kingdom or been the best monarch his family could produce. And the world will never know because the Oct wouldn't admit to being less than the greatest. Talk about picking a course of action to suit conclusions rather than checking one's work.

I liked the trajectory for Ferbin going from being a cautionary tale about too little responsibility with too much status to being a cautionary tale about giving up autonomy for an edge in battle. An upper class twit on battle drugs. I love the intersection of genre expectations for the scope Ferb8n lives at and the scope Djan lives at.

I love the complicated web of influence between the different species. The Aultridia really aren't doing anything wrong except being in competition with the Oct. The Morthanveld group psychology is fascinating.

Tyl Loesp is another example of a man who might have been a good monarch if the Oct hadn't screwed everything up.

Djan is a delight and I don't mind that she's not permadead. I also like the brand of servant who is wiser than his social betters. Choubris Holse and Djan being the true inheritors of the conflict.

The epilog is perfect.

Book Review: Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey

This was awesome! Better than the TV series because the characters have camaraderie instead of acting like perpetual drama machines.

SPOILERS

I really like noir so Miller's chapters are slightly more my speed. I like his connection with Julie and I have questions about whether the protomolecule can manipulate time. The way Julie and Miller get coopted is so delightfully creepy and their sections as the interface for the protomolecule are the best in the entire TV series. In the book, more is made out of the signal coming out of Eros. Miller spends more time listening to it and it gets more space on the page.

The OPA makes me uncomfortable but I think it's supposed to. Nobody's clean.

Thoth Station is perfectly named. So many fun mythology and literary references.

It reminds me of Heinlein in a good way. Also of Mass Effect with the vomit zombies.

Just a really fun read

Book Review: The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

Not as good as the previous books. A bit of a slog. I was happy to get to the end of the story.

SPOILERS

I'm happy that Priya and Malini get to be goddesses together and actually married. Vijay's situation is complicated enough that he doesn't feel like an easy way out.

I wish we had more about where Jeevan and Bhumika. They're a great couple but they're end is focused on Padma.

Mani Ara is a great villain but Arahli Ara really shines as a monster forced to slowly become human. A good foil for Priya and a mirror for Malini. I like that the void is not what lives in it.

Rao is a good character but he feels off here. Very central but he's in the process of extricating himself from the Imperial family. Which, good for him. But it does mean that only romantic couples are featured together at the end and with the emphasis on friendship and familial love up to that point feels off. He goes over the horizon so it's a happy ending but still, it feels off. Malini and Priya forsake humanity but not each other, Bhumika is with Jeevan, and Rao is traveling offscreen.

I like that Priya bent fate for Malini. But the construction to get there was a little tedious.

Book Review: The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes by Leonard Goldberg

SPOILERS

This is a silly, little novel. A hybrid of procedural and cozy, this mystery is all narrative velocity and not much else.

Mostly, I don't like shipping Holmes and Adler but this book found the exception: one night of cocaine-fueled debauchery following Godfrey's death.

Joanna is brilliant, beautiful, and articulate. John Watson Jr concludes they're a perfect match with zero reflection on what makes them fit together. Nothing about what his attraction to Joanna means to him.

I'm not fond of genetic determinism as the explanation for human behavior but heroes, villains, and Lestrade are defined by their relatives in the classic stories.

I love the sheer silliness of the whole novel.