Fuzzy Nation Review

I knew John Scalzi was an author I would want to keep track of the minute I finished Old Man's War and its follow up The Ghost Brigades. So imagine my surprise and delight when I found an ARC of Fuzzy Nation sitting on Saturday. Fuzzy Nation is a 2011 reimagining of an older novel, Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper.

I was a little hesitant when I first heard about this project. It looked like Scalzi was trading writing about genetically enhanced super soldiers for cute little critters. So did the high cuteness levels hurt my enjoyment of the novel? Absolutely not. Fuzzy Nation is an engrossing read that made me stay up until 3:00 am to finish it. Read on for the rest of my thoughts about Scalzi's latest winner.

The Company Man Review

I received a copy of Robert Jackson Bennett's The Company Man on April 16th and I finished it around 2:30 AM last night. That should tell you something about how good it is. Even though it's set in 1919 and 1920, the city of Evesden strongly reminded me of the underwater dystopia of Rapture from the video game Bioshock. Read on to hear more about this noir thriller with a sci-fi flair.

Imago Chronicles Book One: A Warrior's Tale Non-Review

I'm back again with a non-review. I don't like writing these, but sometimes they're a necessity. This time it's L.T. Suzuki's Imago Chronicles Book One: A Warrior's Tale. Like all my other non-reviews, I'll preface this by saying I wasn't able to finish the book. The characters failed to grab me and I couldn't ignore the editing errors. Read on to find out more about why I couldn't finish A Warrior's Tale.

Mr. Shivers Review

I find it hard to believe that Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett is a debut novel. It's too good. While there are some bits that are rough around the edges, the book is damn good. I finished Mr. Shivers in two days. I haven't done that in a long time. Read on to hear my thoughts about the mysterious and murderous Mr. Shivers.

mpStation_4 Non-Review

Let me say right off the bat that this is going to be a non-review. I couldn't finish mpStation_4 by Thadd Evans. Here's my impressions of what I did read and why I had to stop.

Fraterfamilias Review

"Templar knights, shamanism, Russian mobsters, and immortality." Those are the things Fraterfamilias by Judith Doloughan and Paula R. Stiles promises. Sadly, the book only delivers on one and a half of them. Fraterfamilias tells the story of two seemingly immortal brothers--Paul Michel Farrell aka Pavya and Alan Kedward aka Alain aka Alexei Bakunin aka Ayanke--and their story...No really that's about it. The biggest problem I had with Fraterfamilias is that it is almost 100% set up for a sequel. Read on for more.

Queen of Candesce Review

Note: I'm attempting a new way of titling these posts. Just letting you all know.


I know that Queen of Candesce is a couple of years old, but I just finished rereading it, and I wanted to post my review. Who knows? You might discover something new.

Karl Schroeder's Queen of Candesce picks up practically where the first novel in the series, Sun of Suns, left off. Venera Fanning and Hayden Griffin were falling through the air near Candesce, Virga's "sun of suns." Queen of Candesce follows Venera Fanning after she abandons Hayden and finds herself on the strange, ancient, cylindrical nation of Spyre.

Does the change in protagonist and location help or hinder Queen of Candesce? Can Venera make a convincing protagonist, especially considering how off-putting some readers might have found her in Sun of Suns? Read on to find out.