Book #96 of 2023: Vengeance of Orion by Ben Bova (Orion #2) This first Orion sequel is interesting in its own right, but not nearly as good as its predecessor. That previous novel introduced humanity’s demigod champion by hurtling him progressively backwards in time, having to stop an adversary in each era determined to throw …
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Book #35 of 2020: The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones (Chrestomanci #2) I still think the debut volume Charmed Life is the best place to start this series, but this prequel surpasses it on just about every level. We actually get to visit other worlds in the multiverse that makes this setting …
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Book #20 of 2020: Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack This is a supremely odd book, and I’m honestly not sure whether I like it or not. The incomplete and elliptical reveals to its slipstream worldbuilding offer ambiguities that feel worth lingering over, but they also keep the reader at a certain distance from fully engaging …
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Book #25 of 2016: Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler (Xenogenesis #2) I feel like I still don’t really get this series, which is somewhat less than ideal given that I’m now two-thirds of the way through it. Butler does a good job of making her aliens, well, alien, but more often than not that …
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Book #87 of 2015: Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness #1-4) I read this fantasy quartet bound as a single hardback edition, only realizing later that the different sections of the story were actually separate books. For that reason — and because I’m piecing together this review from scattered notes …
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