Reading Recommendations

Books I like? No. Books I LOVE.

(Note: all links are affiliate links but rest assured that I won’t waste your time with anything less than the best.)

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Hands down the best sci-fi I’ve read in ages. Blindsight hits the ground running with piles of amazing futurism ideas - like casually having emergent human singularity - and never really stops piling on. Seriously, the ideas are so packed in here I had nerd-overload in the best way.

But what about the story? Well, the story is a fast-moving first-contact sort of mystery based around the strangest crew I’ve ever read about. The editor in me would LOVE to talk about the brilliant story structure of Blindsight, but that’s major spoiler territory.

Suffice it to say, Blindsight impressed me on many levels. This one is going to stick with me for years to come.

5/5 stars, easy.

Legends and Lattes

Having read around the cozy slice-of-life genre a good bit lately, I feel that I can safely say “all hail the queen.” Because the book that we all think of as having starting the cozy fantasy genre is still the best.

Viv is a veteran adventurer who’s ready to stop sleeping on the ground with one eye open so she goes full fish-out-of-water by opening a coffee shop and chasing that relaxed life. The story is one of warm descriptions, charming characters, and (as advertised) low-stakes. Nothing to stress you out much here but there is enough to give the story some energy.

TBH, this book spoiled me for the cozy fantasy genre and if you haven’t read it, then you you spoil yourself too.

The Expanse

The Expanse is good, shocker I know. Lemme explain. It looks like a sci-fi military thriller yet has serious cyber-punk crime/mystery components while also working in sci-fi horror. What a mix! Yet the expanse makes all these different parts work together to tell a grand-yet-personal story with the fate of humanity on the line. Its brilliant.

My other favorite part of the Expanse is how deep the world-building gets. This book travels through a cohesive vision for what humanity would look like should we spread to the edges of our solar system. The people, the cultures, and the technology that their lives depend upon are all so clearly laid out that it feels like this is just how things will be in a couple hundred more years.

While it ain’t all roses, I wouldn’t be mad if this is how things went. The Expanse certainly has a refreshing faith in the goodness of humanity even while it never shys away from our ugly parts. Its a very fair look and not unflattering.

I could go on about this for a long time but you should just click and read. I’m off to go hit the next in the series.