Rated Zero Sum Game 8/10
Fun, lots of action and a main character who can instantly calculate anything and translate the math into action. She also has some interesting personality quirks and even friends, kind of.
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Rated Ignore All Previous Instructions 10/10
This was a lot of fun -- space opera with pretty hard SF except for maybe the AI? It also has queer and neurodivergent characters in it portrayed very realistically. Goes back and forth between the 'present' and the main character's youth. I don't think it needs a sequel but I'd enjoy reading more about the main characters.
Rated The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories 8/10
Lots of different feelings from these story, but they are all well done and have good ideas behind them.
Wants to read The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre
Rated As You Wake, Break the Shell 10/10
Very well done and the relationship between the two main characters is very realistic and also heartwarming. The rorqual is also interesting, an original kind of alien being and its relationship with one of the main human characters is an entertaining part of the book.
Rated Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear 10/10
Maybe because these are so short and usually focus on different characters, the series is still going strong ten books in. I liked this one and Nadya's disability seemed to be handled well (I had a workshop on disability right after I finished the book and heard some things that matched with her experiences.) I had somewhat forgot her earlier appearances in the series (which are later in her life) so the ending was a surprise to me.
Wants to read Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age
Rated Buckeye 10/10
Very well done and does a great job drawing a picture of some connected families over generations. Makes me want to look up some more of his writing.
Finished reading Russian Messianism: Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and After
Rated Somewhere in France 6/10
If the relationship had occurred differently and if the pacing were tightened, I think I would have liked this book quite a bit. I’ve been reading and watching a lot of WWI and WWII content set in England lately, and I am interested for reasons I don’t yet fully know. Robson has a great love for historical subject matter, and it shows. Her insights into period details are very, very good, and the descriptions of the hospital and the war feel true, even coming from semi-naive Lilly. There’s an excellent book floating around in here, but as it stands, Somewhere in France is merely adequate.<br><br>(My full review appears at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2014/02/book-review-somewhere-in-france-by-jennifer-robson/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined 10/10
Excellent analysis of why the world has been getting less violent since prehistoric times. Tons of notes and references.