Two SFF books I really liked

 

I picked this audiobook to listen to because:

1. It is narrated by Nathan Fillion, who has one of my absolute favourite voices to listen to; and

2. I was kicking my heels waiting for the new Murderbot book to be released, and this sounded like it might be in roughly the same wheelhouse.

It turned out to be a great decision. In terms of style, story and affect, it's what would happen if Murderbot, Firefly and little hints of The Expanse had a baby, with an occasional Scalzi-ish flourish. Its distinguishing hook was one that aligns perfectly to my other biggest literary interest (aside from SFF) as a poetry writer and reader - Amber Rose, the digitised human overseer ("OC") of the expedition, is a poet, and its poetry, as well as great poetry of the past, is woven into the text and forms a delightfully intrinsic part of the denouement and solution.

I thought the first part of the book was excellent - the scene-setting of the salvage crew arriving on and coming to grips with the abandoned colony world Urmagon Beta is very well done, and the three human crew members are vividly drawn, with the tensions and alliances between them skilfully conveyed. I did note at about the 30% mark "this is quite Murderbotty", but I am not opposed to things that have echoes of other things I like, assuming they are not simply poor copies (and this isn't).

I took off one point from my final score for the middle third of the book, which covers the grim attempts to survive the nasty surprises of Urmagon Beta by Amber Rose, Simon (the brave / reckless warrior-type crew member), Milo (the obnoxious engineer), and Anna (the doctor in training who is deeply scarred by loss - Amber Rose's favourite crew member). While the tangles with the native fauna ("megabeasts") and the rogue Mercer (transhumanist mercenaries) soldiers still existing on the planet provide plenty of stakes, this middle third is just a tiny bit soggy from a pacing perspective; I felt it slowed the roll on the master plot too much, and I also got a bit irritated by how slow on the uptake Amber Rose seemed to be about what was actually afoot.

However, it came through triumphantly in the last third, which I was surprised to like as much as I did (I don't usually adore the kind of solution this turned out to have, which I will refrain from talking about in depth as it is a massive spoiler).

All in all, a terrific audiobook and just the right mood-setter to prime me for the Murderbot joys that await today. 8.5/10.

I love Kingfisher so much. I never thought "cosy horror" was a thing before reading her, but she has amply demonstrated that it definitely is, and a great thing at that.

This one was a particular treat. It featured:

- a beautifully conveyed southwest desert setting (a landscape that I particularly love in stories)
- a wonderful protagonist (Selena) that I adored
- a fantastic found family cast of characters that includes a half-spirit priest and an elderly woman with a potty mouth
- a great Big Bad (Road Runners! Who knew they were such vicious beasts!)
- exemplary pacing
- a suitably creepy plot
- a faithful dog (Copper, what a good girl she is), and
- a truly satisfying ending in which, as Oscar Wilde would put it, "the good end happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means".

There was a serious side to it, showing in painful detail how Selena had been worn down and had her confidence destroyed by the relentless emotional abuse of the partner she is fleeing as the book opens, but as always with Kingfisher, there's always plenty of light to balance the dark.

An excellent read all round, and one I'm likely to come back to. 9/10.