This is a monthly recap to help keep people up-to-date with what we’ve been doing, with handy links. It also serves as a visual representation for us and what we’ve accomplished in the month.
Total Posts: 8
Book Reviews: 5
Author: Robert @ ReadingOverTheShoulder
Blog News: Changes in 2018
Happy New Year!
My reading ambitions were pretty high for the holidays since I was mostly going off my experience last year when we had Christmas with the in-laws……..There was plenty of time to read. This year we were home so everything was different and now I’ve got a backlog of books I got from the library. So I’ll be attempting to clear those out and then setting in to churn through those on the shelves.
I alluded to some changes in my last post before the holidays and I wasn’t ready to share them because people needed to be informed personally and we wanted to wait until after the holidays before breaking the news.
Lisa will be graduating at the end of Spring and has gotten a job offer, which we have accepted. This will mean relocating from the Phoenix, Arizona area to Central Washington state this June.
I expect to be MIA for that month. Between now and then I’m hoping to get through most of the books on my shelves, at least the ones from new authors or series, because I don’t want to cart books I’m not interested in reading or keeping across the country.
So as one member of the family goes from being a student to working full time, another will be starting their very first year of school. This Fall our son will be starting Kindergarten. And that will leave me with several hours of time…..alone. While it’s tempting to just devote myself to reading it’s just not practical. Honestly, I don’t really want to reenter the job market but that might just be what needs to happen. But we’ll see how things play out and things might change between now and then anyway.
What does this mean for the blog? Not too much right now. Again, I’ll be focusing on books I already have, so my book acquisition will be limited. And you probably won’t see me in June. After that will depend on how much free time I end up with. I could end up at home and busy or working and busy…..so not too different from right now just different kinds of busy with their own adjustment periods. Long term, this shouldn’t affect the blog at all.
Now I just need to get back in the groove.
Robert
Proof of Concept by Gwyneth Jones
Hey Jared,
I’ve been a little MIA the past couple of weeks due to all the holiday stuff and some major life changes in the not too distant future. I’ve found it increasingly difficult to just sit and read, so I’m not making any promises of anymore posts for the year.
Also check out the Brandon Sanderson’s State of Sanderson post if you haven’t already.
Title: Proof of Concept
Author: Gwyneth Jones
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: CU, Distant-Future, Potential-FTL, AI
Synopsis: On a desperately overcrowded future Earth, crippled by climate change, the most unlikely hope is better than none. Governments turn to Big Science to provide them with the dreams that will keep the masses compliant. The Needle is one such dream, an installation where the most abstruse theoretical science is being tested: science that might make human travel to a habitable exoplanet distantly feasible. When the Needle’s director offers her underground compound as a training base, Kir is thrilled to be invited to join the team, even though she knows it’s only because her brain is host to a quantum artificial intelligence called Altair. But Altair knows something he can’t tell. Kir, like all humans, is programmed to ignore future dangers. Between the artificial blocks in his mind, and the blocks evolution has built into his host, how is he going to convince her the sky is falling?
Recommendation: I do not recommend this book. Nothing particularly wrong with it but I don’t feel it’s worth your time.
The Last Machine in the Solar System by Matthew Issac Sobin
Hey Jared,
This was just a neat little book I found at the library.
It’s a bit of a melancholy tale. No blue skies and roses here, but it is thought provoking. We as a species have trouble seeing beyond ourselves, children or grandchildren. So this sort of serves as a warning more than an accurate portrayal of our future. We have the technology, right now, to send humans to other starts. The biggest hurdles being cost and infrastructure but the book indicates that big projects have been accomplished in the millions of years it would take to get to where the book would theoretically start. The expansion of the sun.
Either way, this book was tiny and it was worth the read so if you can find it at your local library you should definitely give it a shot.
Robert
Links
The Icarus Corps – Book 1: The Darkside War – By Zachary Brown
Hiya Jared,
When I was browsing the shelves and stumbled across this, I was surprised to see how short it was. It’s not quite novella length but it’s certainly close. It’s small size and my wanting to read it for a few months sealed the deal.
Title: The Darkside War
Series: The Icarus Corps; Book 1
Author: Zachary Brown
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: CU, Near-Future, Aliens, FTL, Advanced Tech
Synopsis: People used to wonder if we were alone in the universe. Well, we’re not. Not by a long shot. Aliens come in all shapes and sizes, and even the good guys are likely to haunt your nightmares. And oh, you’ll have nightmares, even after you leave the service. If you leave the service. Devin is a reluctant conscript to an alien-run army: when the Accordance conquered Earth, they said it was to prepare against the incoming alien Conglomeration forces. But as Devin travels to the dark side of the moon for boot camp and better acquaints himself with his so-called allies, his loyalties are increasingly tested. Because the enemy of the enemy is not always a friend. Sometimes they’re a far, far worse threat.
Recommendation: This book is recommended. Note, there are scientific inaccuracies….like more than just made up tech.
Continue reading “The Icarus Corps – Book 1: The Darkside War – By Zachary Brown”
Adventurers Wanted – Book 2: The Horn of Moran – By M. L. Forman
Hey Jared,
Wow, I can’t believe we talked for 6 hours a couple of days ago. I think we need to talk more often.
Title: The Horn of Moran
Series: Adventurers Wanted; Book 2
Author: M. L. Forman
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Youth
ROTS Setting: EU/AU, Medieval, Higher Magic, Dragons
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old wizard-in-training Alex Taylor and his band of fellow adventurers battle a goblin army, navigate an enchanted forest, and try to solve the sphinx’s riddle in their quest to find the lost Horn of Moran and return it to Norsland before the nation erupts in war.
Recommendation: Highly recommend this series. Great for younger and older readers alike.
Continue reading “Adventurers Wanted – Book 2: The Horn of Moran – By M. L. Forman”
DNF – After Atlas by Emma Newman
I loved Planetfall and it had been a while since I’d read it and I saw this on the shelf and I figured I’d complete the story. Oh how naive I was.
The MC was instantly grating, and the plot (or the part I read) had nothing to do with the first book. I didn’t like the world building and in general I didn’t feel it worth my time, even to read on a few more pages and see if things turned around.
I think this was mostly just a convergence of irritants than anything wrong with the book exactly. Either way, I’m moving on.
Robert
November Recap
This is a monthly recap to help keep people up-to-date with what we’ve been doing, with handy links. It also serves as a visual representation for us and what we’ve accomplished in the month.
Total Posts: 19
Book Reviews: 8
November Book Haul
So this is a bit late. Normally this goes up the last Saturday of the month but because I was enjoying Thanksgiving weekend (read: I was being lazy) I didn’t get to this. In fact I was still enjoying said holiday that I couldn’t even manage to get it out by the end of the month.
And honestly it’s a pretty small haul considering how much I spent during all the Black Friday sales.
Artemis by Andy Weir
Hey Jared,
I’m finally getting out of my holiday slump to write some reviews and check in on how everything has been. I partially blame it on all the Black Friday Sales I was combing through but honestly I was just vegging out. Although I’ve now got all the pieces to build myself a decent PC so there’s that.
Title: Artemis
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adult
ROTS Setting: CU, Modern, Hard Scifi
Synopsis: Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.
Recommendation: Definitely recommended. Teen or older, with mild language and references to sex and drugs.
Reading Over The Shoulder 