Tag Archives: sf

Guess what time it is kids? It’s time for a book review! We haven’t had one of these in a while. Stop whining! I’m giving you good SF titles to read here. I’m enriching your lives. So you are gonna … Continue reading →

I love books that explore interesting concepts. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi was a little bit of an impulse buy for me. You see, I have a running Amazon wish list. Whenever I stumble upon very favorable book reviews, … Continue reading →

Halting State is definitely one of Charlie Stross’ low end books. It is nowhere near as impressive and intellectually stimulating as Accelerando or Glasshouse. I’d probably put it in the same category as Singularity Sky. Still, it is quite interesting … Continue reading →

When I read Accelerando I concluded that Charlie Stross is a master of putting a staggering number of cool ideas on every single page of his novel. The density of ideas per page in that book was so great it … Continue reading →

Sometimes you stumble upon a book that is well written, interesting, suspenseful, full of unexpected plot turns and reveals, and you go: “Meh…”. Don’t get me wrong – there is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. I really can’t criticize … Continue reading →

Charlie Stross is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He is very imaginative and his fiction is dense with interesting and well researched ideas. You may probably recall that I highly recommended his novel Glass House and said a … Continue reading →

I picked up House of Suns by Alastair Raynolds for two reasons. One of these reasons was that his name reminded me of this guy: The other reason, was equally or slightly more important but I managed to forget what … Continue reading →

The Illium series is Dan Simmons’ other, much under-appreciated book cycle. Everyone seems to know and love his Hyperion novel which is just exceptional. It is imaginative, interesting, combines several different narrative styles, and has inexplicable central mystery. Simmons wrote … Continue reading →

I recently stumbled upon this peculiar book titled “Man after Man” by Dougal Dixon. Just one look at the cover hooked me. I mean, look at this cover. Is it anything but intriguing? “Anthropology of the Future” eh? I’m interested. … Continue reading →

I really don’t know how to review this book without spoiling its ending. There is just not much else there to talk about. The characters are flat, one dimensional and barely realized. They come and go as Clarke cumbersomely steamrolls … Continue reading →

Can I just say one thing? I love my commenters. Seriously, the best part of this blog are the insightful comments I get on a lot of random topics I rant about. For example, my Utopia/Dystopia post prompted Ludvikas to … Continue reading →

Every once in a while I stumble on to good short stories and I post them here for your enjoyment. I found yet another one, and I wanted to share it. This time it is not some hidden gem by … Continue reading →

Every once in a while there comes a book that can’t be labeled anything other than awesome. Anathem by Neal Stephenson is one of such books. I must thank Alphast for recommending it in one of the book threads. This … Continue reading →

My last batch of book reviews dealt with older titles, so I decided to pick up something new and fresh for a change. Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl was published in 2009 and is a 2010 Hugo award winner. Chances … Continue reading →

I don’t like audio books. I guess that I’m a bit prejudiced against them because the only people I have actually seen listening to these things were a bit on the stupid side. Worse than the people who “don’t do … Continue reading →

When I picked up Glasshouse I didn’t really expect it to be anything special. The blurb on the back cover hinted that it would be a somewhat interesting futuristic detective type story with a twist. In a distant future war … Continue reading →

I was a bit skeptical about Reality Disfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. One of the reviews I read compared it to David Brinn’s Uplift Saga saying it was just as good, if not better. That worried me because I didn’t … Continue reading →

Here is an interesting question for you: how long do you think it would take us to rebuild our civilization if the world died tomorrow? Let’s say that the worst, most disturbing predictions of the Peak Oil scenario all turn … Continue reading →

It’s funny but Left Hand of Darkness is one of these books that seems to inspire one of two distinct reactions in it’s readers. Some find it interesting, thoughtful and intriguing while others think it’s hopelessly dull and boring. I … Continue reading →

Hyperion by Dan Simmons is a rather interesting book. It is really an analogy of short stories taking place in the same universe, and connected with common narrative. The individual pieces could be read alone, outside the novel without losing … Continue reading →

I usually don’t review short stories here but perhaps I should start. I recently read a very short piece by Janusz Cyran, a Polish SF writer that struck a cord with me. The story itself was not all that spectacular, … Continue reading →

I just read Cory Doctorow’s short story Truncat – a sequel to the excellent Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. The full text of this story is available online here. I loved Down and Out, so I was thrilled … Continue reading →