stardustrohrig's reviews
13 reviews

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. There is a lot going on and it's the first time there are sections from the point of view of the rest of the Rocinante crew. As a result we learn a lot about Alex, Amos and Naomi. In this book the crew has some down time while the ship is being repaired so the three of them end up going off to deal with stuff from their past. It makes for a lot of interesting things to learn. Each of them has a story to tell. James is left behind to deal with the initial problems that crop up. I don't want to spoil to much of what happens with regards to the central plot that develops but lets just say by the end of this book the crew comes back together in time to deal with a changed solar system. The next book in the series will resolve most of that plot line. 

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book – more than the previous one. The conflict was a bit annoying but made sense given everything that was going on. Holden and the crew did the best they could with the difficult situation they were in. I also enjoyed reading the sections for the three other point of view characters. A lot more than the previous book even though one was a little frustrating. I also really liked that we got to see more of the technology from the previous inhabitants of the universe. Without spoiling it the planet has a lot more going on than it seems at the start. I really liked the way it ended and how everything is resolved. The situation on the planet also has consequences for how everything will play out regarding the future of Earth, Mars and the Belt – a thousand new worlds of potential means a lot of changes in store. 

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

challenging emotional informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two books, mostly because I never really warmed up to two of the point of view characters. These books all have multiple points of view - the first one had two and the second and third have four. With the previous books I enjoyed everyone's storyline, not this time. One because her part of the plot was the most frustrating and the other just because I didn't enjoy his personality. The most frustrating part of the book was the plot against Holden - all because someone decided to take revenge on him for stuff that wasn't even his fault. I did enjoy everything else about the book - everything having to do with the artifact and finding out more about the aliens that had existed in the universe long before humans. I wish there'd been more of that part of it. 

Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is good sequel to the previous book. The characters and the world building are developed a bit more and new characters are introduced. The central plot of helping the scientist find his daughter is good and flows well with the overall story-arc that’s getting started. The two new characters – Roberta “Bobbie” Draper and Chrisjen Avasarala are great additions. I like the fact that the series will continue to have these mostly stand alone stories that build on the overall story arc of the series. Each one develops the arc a bit more while having its own central issue to resolve. 

It isn’t lost on me that there is a problem with the way the series has reduced the idea of racism down to conflicts between Earth, Mars and the Belt. This results in Earth being seemingly comprised of a single group of people like Mars and the Belt which doesn’t make much sense. In some ways it works for what the series wants to do but it others it’s a noticeable issue. Bringing this up now because the introduction of Chrisjen Avasarala who is part of Earth’s government makes it more obvious. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I’ve been wanting to re-read this series for a while so I decided May was going to be the month I started reading it again. As this first book in the series this one is a fun read. The characters and the world building are great. I love the way everything is set up for the rest of the series. A lot of things happen in the book that will have an impact much farther down the line. I also really like the way the crew of the Rocinante comes together – Jim Holden, Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, and Amos Burton – it’s a team built out of chaos and destruction but they make a great team flaws and all. Detective Miller good too but he’s definitly a tragic character. 

Okay I’m just going to say this once – something that frustrates me about the writing is how often “stupid” or “idiot” are used as shorthand for any character flaw instead of actually naming the flaw for what it is – arrogance, greed, carelessness, recklessness, etc. Granted, it’s a thing people do all the time, so it’s not surprising it’s in the book. It’s still frustrating though since it’s a constant thing that happens. There’s also a weird scene where

Holden contemplates taking advantage of a drunk Naomi (they’re at a bar together she’s drunk, he is not) and the narration clearly acts as though it’s a natural thing to contemplate… the fact that he doesn’t do it at all doesn’t mitigate anything. At least it’s clear throughout the book Naomi isn’t going to tolerate any BS from him and he listens.

Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy by Gabriela Lee, Minsoo Kang, Elsie Chapman, Tony Pi, Samantha Beiko, Rati Mehrotra, Lucas K. Law, Calvin D. Jim, S.B. Divya, Pamela Q. Fernandes, Priya Sridhar, Regina Kanyu Wang, E.C. Myers, Ruhan Zhao, Amanda Sun, Naru Dames Sundar, Melissa Yuan-Innes, Fonda Lee, Shaoyan Hu, Deepak Bharathan, Angela Yuriko Smith, Miki Dare, Anne Carly Abad, Joyce Chng, Derwin Mak, Karin Lowachee, Jeremy Szal, Diana Xin

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

4.0

The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It took me a while to get into this book. I enjoyed the characters the whole way though but the plot felt slow until the end when more things were figured out. By the end of the book I was enjoying the set up of what was happening and what needed to be done. I did end up feeling though a lot more could have been explained about who the characters were and what the different groups were all about. It made it a little difficult to really get into the story when I didn't understand who they were fighting in places. Maybe I missed an explanation but I had no clue about one group in the book. Without spoiling too much

there's also a plot point that only some members of the Argus make it off - it's not clear how many and also only a few are ever really involved in the story.

In the end though I did enjoy the book and will be reading the sequel to find out what happens next. 

Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

3.0

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this book because a lot of my issues with it can be explained by it being both a “cozy fantasy” and young adult. I did enjoy some things about it – the characters were interesting and all that. However, conflicts that should have been more serious are resolved almost instantly and with more compassion (from villains) than seems reasonable for anyone. Even the ending of the story with Iris making a choice about what to do next was too easy. Without spoiling too much, Marin never really proves themselves to be trust worthy and Iris feels too sheltered and naive to really be reliable in picking what she should do next. There’s a lot of reasons why she should escape her current life but it doesn’t feel like the found family she found is all that safe either. That said – how I feel about the ending of the book might be more about my personality (and age), along with the genres, than the story itself. One thing I did like was the way the Tarot cards were used in the story – there were a lot of good details about how they worked and how they helped Iris figure out what to do next. Not a series I’ll continue, but honestly if you like cozy fantasy with found family where things are resolved easily it might be more your cup of tea than mine. 

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust

informative medium-paced

5.0

This is a great book for anyone who's renting and needs some tips for everything from finding an apartment to making repairs and more. There's a lot of great information in the book with very detailed explanations for what tools to use and how to complete the repairs. There's also a section at the end of the book with a lot of great information about the various laws and various resources for tenants in the United States that may prove useful to many. 

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a very cool and very strange story. Other reviews have said it felt like multiple stories being told at once and that’s sort of true. But really it feels like multiple lives intersecting in a time and place in various complicated ways and we’re just going along for the ride. Which is how life works. Books usually focus on one story but this one was a bit more realistic to life with multiple people and their stories connecting. It’s also multi-genre in that it’s a bit science fiction and a bit fantasy and a bit coming of age general fiction for one of the characters. And I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters – even Shizuka Satomi and her complicated history. Some would say she’s evil but it feels more complicated than that. There’s a couple places where I think things could have been explained a little more bot overall everything was great about the book. Hopefully all continues to go well for everyone!