Tag archives for Fiction - Page 3
Shifting Horizons by S.J. Sherwood [Book Review]
Shifting Horizons by Sherwood My rating: 4 of 5 stars Shifting Horizons is the second in Sherwood's Denounced series. It starts immediately where A Grey Sun finished. I was a little confused with the first few paragraphs until I realised that Ned, the main character, was confused. It was such a well written bit of disorientation that it worked on me as a reader. Shifting Horizons (The Denounced #2) There's depth, conflict and a series of obstacles in Shifting Horizons. The title shows how Ned and Pod 15's view of the world changes. At the end of A Grey Sun they'd broken out of the training dome. They'd been sent there after their faked executions. In Shifting Horizons they find themselves on the edge of the Sahara desert. The story is their struggle to evade the hunters attempting to recapture…
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars I really enjoyed Lies Sleeping, and liked the multiple meanings inferable from the title. Lies Sleeping continues and expands on the Peter Grant story, for one thing PC Grant is now a Detective Constable. Lies Sleeping represents a watershed in the development of the universe, setting it up for more and bigger stories. The Folly is getting bigger and better organised. We see some of the liaison officers, that merely tolerated Peter and magic, accepting that it's not going away and treating Peter as one of the family. Lies Sleeping There are several key parts of the world that are explored and deepened. There is the nature of magic, keeping with Peter Grant's penchant for experimental approach and attempts to document how and why. There's what happened to practitioners…
First Mission ANDR12 [Short Story]
First Mission ANDR12 is a near future speculative fiction short story about the first mission of the Autonomous Networked Dynamic-learning Robots, or ANDRs for short. First Mission is set an unspecified time a decade or two into the future and in a generic counterinsurgency in an unspecified African country, somewhere in the greener belt between Sierra Leone and Kenya. I've written a bit more about the background to the ANDR featured in First Mission over on my military focused blog Hot Blood & Cold Steel. NB this is a first draft, there may be typos, inconsistencies and bits that don't really help the narrative. If you are feeling generous please call them out in a comment and I'll use that when I edit the story. Otherwise, please enjoy. First Mission ANDR12 A Royal Air Force Merlin HC3A helicopter during a…
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone [Book Review]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is possibly the book that I have read more than any other (the only other contenders are either The Silver Sword or The Facts Factory by Giles Brandreth - both of which fell apart in my primary school bag). It starts a fantastic world that I could happily live in, and that both I and my children love. If you haven't read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone then you haven't lived. I started reading Harry Potter when there were only two sequels out, and have re-read each of the books before the next one was published. I've also re-read them after watching the movies. So I've re-read this one at least six times. It's an awesome universe with loads…
Dark State by Charles Stross [Book Review]
Dark State by Charles Stross My rating: 4 of 5 stars Dark State is the middle book in a trilogy, and leaves us on a multi-threaded set of cliffhangers waiting for the final instalment in January 2019. Dark State The story continues from where Empire Games left off, with nary a beat missed. Paranoia is set to eleventy one and everyone is watching everybody else. We have four major threads to follow. Rita and her official mission with the US Dept of Homeland Security. Rita's girlfriend and grandfather and the Wolf Orchestra trying to save Rita from DHS. Major Hulius Hjorth who is engineering Elizabeth Hanover's defection from the old monarchy the Commonwealth. The remnants of the Clan in the Commonwealth and their plans for the imminent succession crisis when the First Citizen dies. Through all of these there are…