Tag: science-fiction

Categories
Best of List Books Watchlist

Mid-Year Check In: Best of 2024 So Far

I am ready to write bad angsty poetry on my never-ending reading/ blogging slump! Still, somehow, pushing myself to do this mid-year 2024 blogpost on stuff I have liked till now.

Let’s all pledge to move out of Slump Valley! And just in case these recs reach you, hope you’ll like some of these.

1 / The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

    I have not been a great fan or follower of the Grishaverse, so was hesitant in picking this up. But what a marvelous story this turned out to be. We peer into the ages of 16th century when anti-semitism was rife. Luzia is desperately trying to escape her confined pitiful life with her displays of magical craft… but soon ends up getting embroiled in a larger political net. Everything in this book was so impressive – the Spanish Golden Age/ Renaissance feel, the worldbuilding, the writing, the prose, the characterizations. Aaaaand, it is a standalone. If you’ve liked Mistress of the Art of Death, you’ll love this one too.

    Continue reading “Mid-Year Check In: Best of 2024 So Far”
    Categories
    Memes To Be Read Books

    SciFiMonth November 2023

    Art credit: Yosua Bungaran Cahya Putra

    The SciFiMonth Challenge for 2023 is being hosted by A Dance With Books, BookForager, Dear Geek Place and There’s Always Room For One More.

    I’ve read only a handful of science fiction books till date, so I was very wary of signing up. But oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here’s a list of scifi books languishing on my TBR pile since… forever… but maybe I can at least chomp off one of them by end of November!

    Categories
    Books Miscellany Recommendations Watchlist

    Last Quarter 2022 Wrap-Up

    Here’s a quick wrap-up of what I read and watched in the last quarter 2022. I found a few great shows even though I read very little. And now we are already gearing up for 2023. How time flies!

    Continue reading “Last Quarter 2022 Wrap-Up”
    Categories
    Memes To Be Read Books

    Top 10 TBR SciFi Books

    November seems to be SciFi Reading Month. So for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl, I’m sharing a list of top 10 scifi books from my TBR pile (not book quotes). I’d planned to work on my science fiction reading muscle this year, and who knows? Still have 2 more months for end of 2021, you know.

    I’m taking inspiration from the prompts for SciFiMonth 2021 challenge hosted by Imyril and Dear Geek Place, particularly the Book Bingo.

    Continue reading “Top 10 TBR SciFi Books”
    Categories
    Books Recommendations

    A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

    Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine
    A Memory Called Empire (GoodReads)

    Mahit is deputed as ambassador from the tiny Lsel Station to the mighty Teixcalaanli Empire when her predecessor, Yskandr, dies in mysterious circumstances. More curious still is the fact that Lsel Station possesses a secret and unique technology: the imago machine. Imago is essentially a bio-chip that carries the endocrine memory of a person, and can be embedded and integrated into the brain of another person. (Phew, hope I got the description right!)

    The trouble just keeps on piling up from there. Mahit finds that Yskandr’s imago in her brain has been sabotaged! Also, it seems imago technology isn’t so hush-hush after all — and several people are fighting over it… And the city where Mahit has been posted is an AI hive-mind which is malfunctioning… Oh, and there are new monstrous aliens at the gate…

    Continue reading “A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine”
    Categories
    Books Starred Recommendations

    The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn

    //Who drew the patterns of the stars, if not a god? Who designed the marvellous cycle of cloud and rain and river, if not a god? Who made you— and you— and you too— if not some god whose name we have forgotten?//

    The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn is the third book in her Samaria series. It can be read as a standalone, as long as you have some background information of the past centuries on Samaria (which I am happy to provide below).

    Here’s the deal:

    We find ourselves on a different planet, where the Samarians, Edori and Jacobites co-exist. Samarians worship the God known as Jovah. When they ‘sing’ to Jovah, Jovah instantly (and I do mean instantly) sends help within the hour, in the form of rain, medicines and grain.

    The Edori are nomads and sailors who believe that somewhere out there is a supreme universal being, but they’re not sure whether that being is Jovah or not. And then there are the Jacobites, bitter agnostics, who claim that Jovah is not a God — instead, Jovah is a machine!

    Continue reading “The Alleluia Files by Sharon Shinn”
    Categories
    Books Starred Recommendations

    Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

    Book: Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance (Series: Vorkosigan Saga)
    Published: November 2012 (Baen Books)
    Audiobook Narrator: Grover Gardner (Blackstone Audio)
    Genre/ Trope: Space Opera, Humor, Meet the Family
    Rating: 9 of 10 / Highly Recommended

    A perfect feel-good read for a lazy summer afternoon! I was chortling my way through this book about Captain Ivan Vorpatril, a rather laidback bureaucrat in the intergalactic Barrayaran Empire. The good news is that the book can be read as a standalone, and is a very good gateway into science fiction.

    Ivan Vorpatril is the scion of a powerful political family in Barrayar, but he isn’t very ambitious. He would just rather stick on at his comfortable government job and enjoy his bachelor’s life. His meddlesome cousin Byerly asks him for a favor to check-in on two immigrant women living under fake identities — and poor Ivan can say goodbye to his uneventful life!

    Continue reading “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold”
    Categories
    Books Recommendations

    The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: A Tough Scifi Must-Read

    Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.

    Matthew Ten, Verse Twenty-Nine

    I read The Sparrow some time back, but I am reviewing it here only now. The book raises some uncomfortable questions about our perception of and our (according to the book, unfounded) expectations from God. Mary Russell does a spectacular job of blending science and religion in this book. For both agnostics and believers alike, this is a story that will send you reeling.

    The Sparrow is set in the future, and revolves around Emilio Sandoz. Emilio is a devout Jesuit priest and a good man whose friends love him. Sandoz’s biggest strengths are his self-awareness, and his faith in God which can move mountains. But that faith is about to be tested.

    Continue reading “The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: A Tough Scifi Must-Read”
    Categories
    Art & Illustration Books Music & Poetry Starred Recommendations Watchlist

    More Japanese Recs: Folklore, Haiku & Anime

    This is the final month for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge, so I really had to hurry up with this one. I had two main recommendations for this month: Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa, and an anthology of Japanese Haiku poetry compiled by Yamamoto and Addiss. And although not “literature”, also the superbly mind-bending scifi anime, Paprika.

    Continue reading “More Japanese Recs: Folklore, Haiku & Anime”
    Categories
    Art & Illustration Books Index Starred Recommendations

    Throwback Thursday: A Few Old SFF Favorites

    I was looking at some of my older reads, and rounded-up a few that I’d really liked. So here they are, and may be if you’re looking for new things to try out, you’ll discover a few gems here.

    Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: A Few Old SFF Favorites”