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Another month, another four books. This means that purely by linear extrapolation, we'll see 48 by year's end. We'll see how accurate that is, in nine months or so, I hope.

Previously unread.

This is the third (and probably last) in Muir's "Locked Tomb" series. It is... different. But, all the books in that series are very different. I am not sure what I think about it. I mean, I am sure I didn't hate it. But all in all, it is a strange book.

It probably, no almost certainly, need the prior books for necessary background, to make any sense at all.

Previously unread.

This is the fifth book in Spangler's "Rachel Peng" series (intertwined with the "Hope Blackwell" series and the "A Girl and Her Fed" web comic).

We start out with Rachel waking up in a hospital, then things get stranger, weirder, and scarier from there. Since it's a relatively new book (published last year), I won't talk too much about what happens. But, it is eminently readable, and if you've liked previous entries in the series, you're likely to enjoy this one as well.

If you're new to the series, it may be better to start at the beginning, just be aware you'll (more or less) jump into the head of a half-Asian, blind, lesbian cyborg with an attitude.

Reread.

Second book in Fenn's Hidden Empire pentalogy. It starts in a fashion that (for me) was baffling the first time I read it. But, once you get far enough into the book (a third, maybe), it starts making sense. On a re-read, it is of course obvious why the book starts the way it does.

All in all, a pretty good read.

Previously unread.

This is the third book in Huchu's "Edinburgh Nights" series. As is common for that series, our main protagonist is Ropa Moyo, assisstant/intern to the Secretary of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers, the governing body of Scottish magic. On the side, Ropa is also a ghost talker.

As the book starts, we find her working to set everything up for the upcoming magical conference, at the Dunvegan Castle of the title. It does not take long before things take a definite side-wise trajectory and Ropa s called into action to investigate things.

All in all, I liked the book and I still like the series.

Reread.

This is the first book in Nagata's "The Red" trilogy. As an extremely capsule summary, "near-future MilSF".

We follow James Shelley, a lieutenant in the US Army, working in a Linked Combat Squad, basically infantry soldiers in exo-skeletons, with armour and pretty thorough linking to "infantry control" (like aerial combat controllers, but for infantry), with a plentifulness of sensors and even machine-brain interfaces (microbeads implanted in their brains, and a skull cab picking up signalling from sensor beads and able to actuate other beads emitting a variety of signal substances).

Then... things start going in unexpected directions. Shelley keeps having these premonitions, that on the whole seem accurate. And there seems to be some sort of rogue machine intelligence that possibly may be involved, called "the Red".

And there are of course many more adventures. And some possible commentary on an ever-incrieasingly online world.

Previously unread.

Another "Polity" novel, this one set pretty early in Polity history, based on what happens in the book. It does a slightly weird stylistic thing, in that it has a "present" narrative that proceeds throughout the book, interspersed with "past" and "very past" narratives, that relate to (and inform) the "present" narrative, either as a foreshadowing or as a "well, here are the details of what was alluded to". I mean, it works, but I can also see that it would be annoying.

So, new-ish book, I am not really going to discuss the details of the book, so let me engage in my normal "I have just read a Polity book and I feel compelled to compare and contrast Polity and Culture".

Both Polity and Culture are governed by AI (in the Polity case, actually called AI, and in the Culture case, just referred to as Minds). Both have humans (well, humanoids) with delusions of importance and competence (in the Polity case, essentially everyone we meet; in the Culture case, definitely everyone in Contact and Special Circumstances).

I have seen some express the opinion that Polity could be compared to "early Culture" (that is, "Culture in an early period of its history", so something we have never really seen). I would say that it's a hard comparison to make, because we have neither "Polity in a couple of thousand years" nor do we have "Culture couple of millennia ago" to allow us to do a canonical comparison. I don't disagree that it is likely that early Culture would have been as "hard-boiled" as Polity.

No, I usually say "imagine Culture, but gritty, and occasionally grimdark".

So, yeah, if you have liked prior Polity works, this will probably work well. If you have read and disliked previous Polity, this will not work at all. There is a bunch of things that could most easily be described as "body horror", if that doesn't work for you, it may be better to stay away. If you have never read any Polity at all, there are probably better places to start, but this may also not be TOO terrible?

Previously unread.

Third book in Wagers' NeoG series. Further shenanigans from the space coast guards. Again, pretty good reading. Also somewhat likely to drive a certain vocal minority in SF fandom up the the proverbial wall.

On the whole, I must say that I quite like these.

Previously unread.

Picked this one up, because I have read Wagers' two "Farian" trilogies in the past and basically went "eh, worth the gamble". And, it was.

This is the first book in Wagers' NeoG series (tahr's short for "Near-Earth Orbital Guard", no idea why it is "NeoG" rather than "NEOG", but, it's fine I guess). Our primary viewpoint character is Maxine "Max" Carmichael, youngest daughter of the Carmichael family, featuring multiple Navy high brass as well as the family behind one of the largest and richest corporations.

The family is less than thrilled that Max chose to join NeoG rather than one of the two "approved" career paths, either the Navy or the family business. But, mostly, the book is not about that. It is about Max, and her team.

There is adventure, there is fighting (although most of that is as part of the annual Games, where the various branches compete in a variety of events ("boarding", "cage match", "hacking", "sword fighting", and "piloting", at least), there is mystery. There is family drama.

All in all, I would say that this fits in the "mil-SF" box, but it does not do so in a traditional way. We see during the book non-binary people. There is a trans woman making a brief appearance. We see poly people, bi people, hetero people, and some ace people. All things that I would expect from SF from a few decades ago, but now would expect the bulk of mil-SF writers to not produce, nor the vocal contingent to read quietly.

Previously unread.

This is the third, and probably concluding, book in the "Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse" series.

It starts a few (6? 9? I think it says explicitly, but I don't recall the exact number) months after the conclusion of the previous book. Pretty early on, we learn that there are some medical stuff going on, which will then continue to colour the rest of the book, but I will not delve too deep into that, as this is still pretty new.

All in all, I found the book pretty readable. This series as a whole manages to both be light-hearted comedy, and hard-hitting deep stuff, depending on how much time you spend analysing what's actually happening.

Anyway. If you liked the first two, you will most likely like this. If you've liked other Hines stuff, you'll probably like this series, but I would personally recommend starting from the beginning, rather than jumping in here.