Star Trek: Sons of Star Trek by Morgan Hampton

 

My first ever comics were Star Trek comics. I loved superheroes when I was a kid, of course, still do, but what I knew of them came from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Superfriends and the Super Powers action figures (which did have mini-comics, (as did He-Man figures, but I digress in this double paranthetical)).  When I fell in love with Star Trek in 1988, I couldn’t get enough of it. So in addition to watching the show and reading the novels, I picked up Star Trek comics at a convention and eventually subscribed to get the TNG comic from DC in the mail. 

Although I fell off reading Trek comics for a while, I recently have started reading more of the IDW Star Trek comics (I enjoyed Godshock and I LOVED Ryan North’s Lower Decks miniseries and his new graphic novel Warp Your Own Way) so I was happy to get an eARC of Sons of Star Trek by Morgan Hampton from IDW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Although I wasn’t up on everything that had happened in the Trek ongoing since the Godshock trade, there was a decent recap at the beginning to get me up to speed. I didn’t need to know much, since most of this story was an alternate universe tale with Jake Sisko, Nog, Alexander Rozhenko, and Q Junior. I really enjoyed seeing the alternate universe versions of Mariner and Dunst, and this was a fine story. I thought both Jake’s and Alexander’s stories got short shrift on DS9 so I appreciated some further development for them. Other than Nog’s forced conflict that seemed to regress his development in the show, I really enjoyed this book. 

Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire

I really enjoyed Middlegame when it came out and voted for it as best novel on the Hugo Awards at the time. The writing there was lyrical and a little dreamlike in a way that was a little different from most everything else of Seanan McGuire’s (but reminded me of her Parisitology books a little). 

I remember going to a comic book store in October 2019 when I got her to sign some Ghost Spider and Nightcrawler comics (she was amazing, BTW, and was so kind to my then 7-year-old daughter, who was wearing a ghost spider hooded sweatshirt) and asking her if there would be a follow up to Middlegame. I was extra excited when Seasonal Fears was finally announced, and I was even more thrilled when I found out that more books were coming in this series. 

So I was overjoyed when The publisher and NetGalley awarded me an audio eARC of Tidal Crestures (I had already preordered a kindle copy beforehand) in exchange for an honest review. This was, in many ways, the book that I wanted Seasonal Fears to be. I loved the moon deities, I loved the return of Rodger and Dodger, and I adored Kelpie so much. 

Since I follow Seanan McGuire on social media, I know that Kelpie is based on one of her D&D characters, a tiefling who thought she was a mutated alligator at first and didn’t realize who she was in the world and that her entire life and backstory was false. This clearly crept into the characterization of Kelpie in this novel and it really enriched my enjoyment of the text. 

This is one of the most wonderful books I read all year, and Amber Benson is growing on me as a narrator. I cannot recommend this highly enough. 

Tiger Chair by Max Brooks

I first remember finding out about Max Brooks when I found a copy of his Zombie Survival Guide at the Borders in Columbus Circle many years ago. I loved it and World War Z, and I also enjoyed Devolution. I was very happy to get an eARC of Tiger Chair in exchange for an honest review. 

My only complaint about this was that it was too short! This short story (or maybe a novelette?) take the form of a long letter home from a Chinese soldier in occupied Los Angeles after an invasion of the US by China. Written in Mr. Brooks’s trademark style of first person info dumping, this story was hard to put down. I’m looking forward to whatever he writes next. 

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

I had heard the name Naomi Novik for years, and had picked up Spinning Silver and Uprooted when they were on sale on audible, but I had never read any of her books until the Scholomance trilogy was nominated for the best series Hugo. I gave it a try and immediately got sucked in and read them all in a rush one after another after another. I loved her writing style and her characterization, and I was thrilled when I got to meet her at New York Comic-Con last year and tell her how much I enjoyed the series. I also really enjoyed Uprooted and Spinning Silver, so I was delighted to get an eARC of her short story collection Buried Deep and Other Stories in exchange for an honest review. 

I usually love single author short story collections, and this was no exception! This book is a wonderful place to see the depth and breath of Ms. Novick’s talent. I especially enjoyed the story set in the Scholomance that took place after the end of the trilogy, the story about the pirates, and the stories set in her Napoleonic dragons universe - I will have to check out that series next!  This was an excellent book, well worth your time. 

the mercy of gods by James SA Corey

 

Goodness was this book grim!!

I still remember when I first read a book by James S. A. Corey - I remember sitting in a park in Brooklyn reading a copy of Leviathan Wakes I borrowed from the library. I already loved space opera and it hit me right in the right spot. I continued to enjoy the series, although I didn’t love the time jump and the final book feel flat to me. 

So I was really excited when I got an eARC of the first book of their new space opera trilogy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This was a good, well written book. Sometimes, when two authors collaborate, it works seamlessly and one would never know it was a joint effort by two different minds - and that is how I feel about this book, and all books by James SA Corey. I enjoyed the world building, even though I find some of the set up to be a little hard to swallow. 

But this book is grim. Humanity of conquered cruelly and brutally and the main characters spend most of the book grieving and hurt and broken. The authors do a good job of depicting their mental states realistically, but that results in too-realistic depictions of trauma. Finishing this book was a slog because of that. 

I’ll still read the next one though, because I need to find out what happens next. 

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

 

Lev Grossman is not the twin whose books I love more - his brother Austin Grossman’s novel Soon I Will Be Invincible is a masterpiece. But I also really enjoyed Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy, as well as his first book, Warped, which shows his love of TNG. For a long time I wondered what he was up to. Now I know - he was writing The Bright Sword, a chonker of a doorstooper fantasy Arthurian novel. 

This book was wonderful! Way too long, but wonderful. If you told me it was originally going to be a trilogy and then got smushed into one volume I wouldn’t be surprised. This book is a King Arthur tale focused on everyone except Arthur and the other well known round table members. They all get an incredibly long backstory chapter or two which could’ve been their own novellas. This book was a great joy to read and I highly recommend it.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 I used to think I didn’t like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books. I mean, I was told that I SHOULD like them since I’m a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera doorstoppers. But when I tried to read one of his books a few years ago I rage-quit it like 12% of the way through. 

But then when his novella Elder Race was nominated for a Hugo, I read it and enjoyed it. I also read Ogres when it was nominated, and it wasn’t half bad. So when I read the description of Service Model on NetGalley, I thought it sounded good so I requested it in exchange for an honest review. 

It wasn’t bad. 

There was a lot about it I liked. The first several chapters were wonderful and I really enjoyed the protagonist’s POV - it felt like a very relatable robotic perspective.  

Two things, however, kept this book from being amazing in my eyes. First of all, there were too many pop culture references that really took me out of the story. Secondly, the world building fell apart, especially in the Farm section. I just couldn’t see how it made sense with everything that came before and after, vis a vis the existence of living humans. 

Other than that, it was enjoyable. I’ll definitely check out this author’s next book.