22:100 Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

I first read the standalone novella, Binti, back in 2018.  Here are my thoughts at that time:

The Himba people have never left their homeland, much less traveled to the stars, but Binti has been accepted to go to the Oomza University which is offworld.  She knows she cannot tell her family, they will never approve, so she sneaks away one night to board the ship that will take her. 

She is other to everyone.  No one is familiar with the Himba people as they remain isolated and do not travel but Binti hopes that those traveling to the University will learn to treat her as an equal.  On the trip, things are going well and she is even starting to make some friends until the ship is attacked by the Meduse.

Earth and the Meduse have been at war for a long time and this is just the latest strike.  Now the Meduse have killed everyone on board except for Binti for there is something about her that is different.  Now she has the chance to try and be a bridge between the Meduse and Oomza University in order to bring peace. 

This was truly a remarkably crafted tale.  At less than 100p long, it was tightly woven with amazingly detailed characters and universe.  Ms. Okorafor is an incredibly talented wordsmith and worldbuilder and I can't wait to read more of her work.

I had no idea what the rest of the series would be about but was hoping it would follow Binti at the University.  It instead brings her back to her village as a broker of the peace talks between the Meduse and humans. Unfortunately there is much fear and Binti has now become too alien after her fusing with the Meduse to be easily accepted by the people she grew up with. Now she must learn her full past, the story of the stone she brought with her on the ship to Oomza University, and the history of the war with the Meduse if there is to be any hope of peace between the worlds.

I will admit to being a bit disappointed at first that this was not the story I was hoping to get (but very thankful that in the Kindle version of the trilogy there was a short story of University days). I did find it a bit harder to get into the rest of the series as a result as I also found the pacing to be a bit slower but the story did pull me in with the masterful writing and intriguing characters. I am definitely a fan of Ms. Okorafor and will be continuing to work my way through her body of work.

Page count: 368p/6,033p ytd/353,423p lifetime 

21:100 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

 Two factions fighting across time, trying to nudge the time line this way and that in order to adjust it in their sides favor so they can win the real war. Two sides, each with their own agents that follow the orders from above to give their side the best chance. Two sides, each with an agent in possession of a secret.

The note was left on a battlefield, one of many throughout the time line, as a taunt. But it didn't stop there. One note, left to one agent of the opposing side. A response. And another. Up and down the time line, each finding new and more innovative ways to slip messages to the other. No names, never that, but knowledge of how the other thinks and moves used to ping the consciousness to the message written and wanting to be found. It started with that taunt but how can you know someone that well, for so long, without it becoming more. Respect turns to admiration turns to an intimacy. If they are discovered it would mean death, to fraternize with the enemy so, but the reward of the next missive is worth the risk.

It took me a bit to really get into this one and the writing style but once I did, I found it a fabulous read. Well constructed with beautiful prose.

Page count: 209p/5,665p ytd/353,055p lifetime

16:100 Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

 Fatima is from a small village in Ghana where the shea trees are farmed. She loves to climb trees and especially the one in her yard. She wants nothing more than to climb to the top. Then one day, she finds a green stone nestled in the roots of her special tree. She treasurers it but one day, her father sells her stone away from her.  In that next year, she starts developing an internal heat and a green glow that comes upon her sometimes and when it does, she can kill. And then came the day of the accident, when her village was wiped out but for her and she forgot her name.

Now she is known only as Sankofa, the Adopted Daughter of Death. No one remembers where she came from but all know that she travels alone with only a fox as her sometimes companion, and her touch brings death. She searches for the stone that was taken from her, the part of her past that she thinks may heal her.

While this is definitely SciFi, and specifically Africanfuturisic, the technology plays such a small part in the overall story. It's such a human tale of longing and suffering and discovery. You can't help but feel for this girl who wanders alone while everyone fears her or wants to use her in some way and it's that, the heart of the story that draws you in and doesn't let go.

Page count: 160p/4,245p ytd/351,635p lifetime

78:100 Only Sheepdog on the Moon by Stefon Mears

Cole retired to Ganymede after his military service and now runs a bar out of an old shuttle there.  The locals know him and things are going pretty ok for the moment until one day when out for a walk, he sees an orange flash of something breaking the atmosphere.  Realizing that with very little news of what is going on with the rest of the galaxy and that not everyone out there is friendly to humans, he decides to take a closer look and boy, are the rest of the people on Ganymede glad that they have someone like Cole to watch out for them.

Fun little space military short story.

Page count: 22p/20,191p ytd/328,888p lifetime

64:100 Halting State by Charles Stross

An in-game bank robbery in a virtual world with the potential for severe real world consequences.  It's not really what an every day detective is trained to handle.  Nor, for that matter, an every day forensic accountant.  But that's who is trying to solve this mystery along with an out of work gamer and game developer.  Of course, when they start digging into the mystery further and further, they find that it goes much deeper and involves much bigger players than they first imagined and they are in way over their heads.

I thought the premise was interesting but the execution lacked a lot.  It went too far into technical jargon when it wasn't necessary just to try to be geeky but the characters were generally shallow and boring and the plot overly complicated but then everything wrapped up simply with a bow at the end.  I've heard good things about Charles Stross's writing so I'm not sure if this was not a good example or if he's just not my cup of tea.



Page count: 380p/17,425p ytd/326,120 lifetime

45:100 Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler

Patternmaster - Seed to Harvest #3

Earth but set into the future.  A father, who remembers a time before, driving with his two daughters, one of whom has incurable cancer, in a world where few people drive outside of their city neighborhoods and now that they've been abducted, he fully understands why.  But in this case, their abduction is nothing like he could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Clay's Ark was a ship that went into space on a mission of discovery and that crashed back home with no survivors, or so everyone thought.  There was no way to know that Eli did survive but that he is no longer fully human but instead a hybrid host with a parasite from another world that is intent upon survival and spreading itself far and wide.  It is virulent, tenacious, and single-minded of purpose and initiates almost uncontrollable procreation instincts upon those it infects.  Eli has tried to maintain some parts of his humanity but really, the best he can do is keep himself and those he infects as isolate as possible to not doom the entire planet.  To transmit this to another human only requires fluid transfer and they continue to look human which makes it that much easier to continue to transmit but then the children are born and there is no way anyone could mistake them for human but the urge to keep them safe and make more is such a strong compulsion there is no resisting it.


This was written last in the Patternmaster series and it's inclusion here is strange.  I figured out pretty quickly that the Clay the ship is named from is Clay Dana from Mind of My Mind but he's not actually present.  There aren't any people from Doro's line which we've been following the last two books.  I'm sure it will make sense once I read Patternmaster but right now it seems like it belongs to a totally different universe, an interesting universe mind but just not this one.

Page count: 224p/10,993p ytd/321,688p lifetime

41:100 The Final Survey of Andrei Kreutzmann by Stefon Mears

Andrei is an explorer and surveyor.  He's just come across a planet that looks rich enough to set him up for the rest of his life, get his shipped spruced up, and he's hoping maybe even repair his relationship. 

And then he's ordered to do a suicide survey in the middle of an enemy fleet.  Some days it just doesn't pay to answer your comms.

A space-military short story.  Ok for what it was but not my taste in genre.


Page count: 20p/10,177p ytd/321,052p lifetime

83:100 The Incident on Gamma 7 by Stefon Mears

Commander Teague knows that they are coming for him.  It's only a matter of time and his gut is saying it will happen soon.  After all the special ops missions he led to keep the other species at war to try and keep them from turning their attention towards the humans, there is the one that brought his house of cards down.

Short but engaging tale.


Page count: 20p/14,588p ytd/306,604p lifetime

80:100 Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

The Himba people have never left their homeland, much less traveled to the stars, but Binti has been accepted to go to the Oomza University which is offworld.  She knows she cannot tell her family, they will never approve, so she sneaks away one night to board the ship that will take her. 

She is other to everyone.  No one is familiar with the Himba people as they remain isolated and do not travel but Binti hopes that those traveling to the University will learn to treat her as an equal.  On the trip, things are going well and she is even starting to make some friends until the ship is attacked by the Meduse.

Earth and the Meduse have been at war for a long time and this is just the latest strike.  Now the Meduse have killed everyone on board except for Binti for there is something about her that is different.  Now she has the chance to try and be a bridge between the Meduse and Oomza University in order to bring peace. 

This was truly a remarkably crafted tale.  At less than 100p long, it was tightly woven with amazingly detailed characters and universe.  Ms. Okorafor is an incredibly talented wordsmith and worldbuilder and I can't wait to read more of her work.


Page count: 96p/14,232p ytd/306,248p lifetime

4:100 The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Today is the day the world ends, maybe for everyone, maybe just for Essun and those in the Sanze empire.  Essun doesn't really care. Her entire world ended, shattered, when she came home and found her young son brutally murdered by his father who has taken off with their daughter. To get her daughter back safely, to get revenge on her husband who murdered their son, Essun will do anything including shedding her guise as a normal human and start embracing her status as orogene, one who can wield the power of the Earth as a weapon.

On this same day, a madman has unleashed destruction on the empire of Sanze, an destructive force that has not been seen for centuries. A great rift has opened up at the heart of the continent. A Fifth Season, a season of destruction and desolation, has begun and no one knows how long it will last this time.

As Essun starts her journey, she meets with others who are unique as well. Their journeys merge and blend as they must figure out how to survive in this Season, how to find others who will not seek to destroy them for their differences but embrace them. How to help Essun find her way back to herself because she might just hold the secrets that can save or destroy them all.

This was an amazing book that deftly weaves it's story across time and lives into an incredibly deep and intricate universe.  It was so easy to read, to get lost in, to lose time in..and then you blink and realize it's been hours and you aren't sure where they went. But when you do surface, you are gasping for air to reconnect with this world because the other is so rich and alive it's hard to pull back from.  I'm very thankful that I discovered this amazing author and even more so that this trilogy is done so as soon as I can find more time to read for me, I can dive back into this universe. I have to find out the rest of Essun's story.



Page count: 498p/585p ytd/292,606p lifetime

116:120 A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade by John Chu

The Turbulence is always out there, trying to breach the walls to destroy minds and bodies and machines alike. There is a sentience to it as it probes first one spot and then another looking for weakness.  There are men with incredible minds who can see where the walls need to be fixed and can make it happen through sheer force of will until other men can come along and build their design into reality to keep the Turbulence out.  Ritter's father is one of the best Engineers there is, maybe The Best, and Ritter has only ever wanted to please his father so followed in his footsteps.  He has the talent but more so, he has the talent to actually be able to rebuild minds. But with that talent comes a lessening of focus for the walls and now he must choose to be a Librarian as his talent shows him he should be or follow in father's footsteps to become an Engineer and lose a part of himself forever.

The worlds that Mr. Chu manages to create in such short stories are truly incredible and this one was no exception. The characters and their struggle manage to touch and engage so easily because they speak to universal dilemmas. This story yet again demonstrates Mr. Chu's amazing talent for the short story.


Page count: 24p/20,939p ytd/292,342p lifetime

109:120 How to Piss Off a Failed Super-Soldier by John Chu

Aitch was created to be a super soldier. From birth, he was treated more as an experiment than a person, tested on endlessly and trained to be the best.  When Aitch finally escapes, the government wants to cover up what they were doing so the attempts on his life never stop.  Now his brother, Jay, tells him there is a cure and he wants so much to believe but can he trust anyone, even Jay?

Mr. Chu is a master at creating intriguing characters in well-crafted worlds in such a short period of time. It's truly a treat to read his work. 


Page count: 35p/19,722p ytd/291,125p lifetime

100:120 Hold-Time Violations by John Chu

Ellie lives in a world where she is what is known as a builder, one who can work within the skunkworks that create all the known universes. There are pipes and machines underneath that control the physics of each universe but sometimes things go out of whack and a builder is sent in to fix things. Today Ellie is just going to visit her mom until her sister sends her to fix the physics of the skunkworks instead (and instead of sending someone to kill her which is actually much more normal for their relationship). Now Ellie is trying to find the problem before the Isolationists show up, a group who thinks that whatever happens was meant to be and the skunkworks should be left alone. The only problem is that when Ellie discovers the problem, it's much more than just a simple fix.

This is the second short story that I've read by this author and I'm amazed again at his world building skills. This one was a bit harder to get into and I had to really slow down to fully get all the relationships and how the world worked but it was well worth it. 



Page count: 22p/18,653p ytd/290,056p lifetime

73:120 House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Set in a future where Mexico has given over a stretch of land that separates them from the US to the drug dealers, a land now called Opium and ruled mostly by the House of the Scorpion, the house of El Patron.  Matteo has led a sheltered life in the little house in the poppy fields with his caregiver Celia. She has told him that he must always stay in the house when she is not home and not let anyone see him but one day when he was 6, heard the voices of children outside and couldn't stand it any longer so he showed himself to them. Next thing he knows, he is taken to the main house and everything changes.  He finds out that he is a clone of El Patron, the head of the family, but that clones have no status and are generally despised. He is luckier than most in that he has the special favor of El Patron who eventually comes to his rescue and demands that he be given an education and treated at least civilly. It doesn't completely matter as the household, except Celia and his bodyguard Tam Lin, decide that ignoring him will do well enough although there is one son, Tom, who torments Matt as he torments everyone else and there is a cousin, Maria, who does actually want to be his friend but thinks of him as more of a pet than a person.  What makes matters worse is when he learns that most clones are lobotomized upon birth as their only function is to serve as a source of organ donation for their original.  That was to be Matt's fate but that was before Ceclia and Tam Lin came up with another plan for him.

While Matt is definitely the "hero", there are times as he is growing that you can see the person El Patron is now trying to take root in Matt but you can see the struggle that Celia and Tam Lin are going through to try and mold Matt into a different person than the horrible head of the family.  This is his journey, to choose what kind of person he wants to be, the DNA does not have to dictate who he will be.

I hadn't even heard of this book prior to seeing this in my 11th graders English class where we are studying the Hero's journey.  I really enjoyed the story and can see why it has won and been nominated for so many awards. It is well written, the world and characters are rich and complex, and the plot gripping.


Page count: 400p/14,591p ytd/285,723p lifetime

51:120 Works of Thy Hands by Gyla Beth Seal & January Taylor

Cyrus knew that he and his siblings were genetically superior to others but he always attributed that to the genetics of his parents.  That is until the day he found out that he was genetically engineered and instead of a birth certificate, he has been patented. This comes on the heels of finding out that he has managed to impregnate to girlfriend and now their baby could be taken away and that is something that Cyrus just can't allow so they all the way to Mars but once they are found, the legal battle to determine just what Cyrus is will be epic.

My friend recommended this book to me and it was an interesting read.  As technology is getting closer and closer to this, I find the subject fascinating and there were definitely times when I was reminded of the ST:TNG episode where Picard and Riker were arguing over Data's status as an android, whether he was the property of Star Fleet or a sentient being capable of making his own choices. I believe this to the first book by these authors and it looks like they haven't done much else which is shame as I think this showed promise.

Page count: 186p/10,862p ytd/284,881p lifetime

44:120 Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

We are in a possible (probable future) where we can manufacture things so simply and easily that there should be no need for people to go without the basic necessities but the uber rich (zottas) have continued to try and keep things as the status quo (default).  Now there are parties where people find abandoned warehouses with manufacturing capability, play the music, drink, and make the stuff that people need for them to come take for free.  It is at one of these parties that Seth has dragged Etc. and they meet with a zotta girl, Natalie.  The party is broken up by drones and death which leaves them back at Natalie's house feeling very despondent when the idea gets floated about to go Walkaway, to join with those who have eschewed the Default society to try and create a more egalitarian society without want of basics and without money and zottas.  The three new friends go and find more than they ever thought they would but life is not easy as even among the Walkaways, there are those who want to impose their will upon others and there are those doing research that the zottas from default will stop at nothing to try and get their hands on.  Besides, Walkaway shows others from Default that the zottas are not needed to run things and challenges their whole way of life and sense of self, something they just cannot allow to continue.

I enjoyed the beginning of the book immensely and the end was good but the middle was much more of a slog and there were several jumps of many years that was quiet disorientating.  The book itself was definitely dystopian and scary in how easily I could see our world heading that direction.


Page count: 384p/9,780p ytd/283,799p lifetime

39:120 All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Tom Barren's 2016 is nothing like the one we currently live in. There, an unlimited supply of energy was created in the 1950s and led to a society where basic needs are always met and the only thing worth pursuing is entertainment. Now his father has created the ultimate entertainment device, a time machine but he didn't foresee all the problems that would arise when his disappointment of a son goes and mucks it all up.

But did he? Sure, he went back in time and kept the unlimited energy thing from ever happening but he is so much happier in this 2016. He has a better relationship with both his parents, a sister that did not exist in his 2016, and may have even found his soulmate.  Does he try to change things back to the way they were, the way he thinks they should be? Or does he enjoy what he has in this timeline?

That description of the book actually makes it sound interesting and so does every other description of it that I've read.  Too bad reality doesn't align with those. It read like three different books with the first book being dull and plodding and why would you even care about any of these characters? The second book got interesting. There was plot, there were interesting psychological questions being posed, the characters were more engaged (seriously, I want a book from his sister's pov after all the sh*t went down), and this is the book that I wanted to read.  The third book was just a rushed mishmash of gobbledegook that just did not work and made me want to throw things. There was no reason behind much of it in terms of the story I had been reading and enjoying and it just made me angry to have to leave that story for this one.  Honestly, save your time and money and avoid this.


Page count: 384p/8,251p ytd/282,690p lifetime

44:120 Homeland by Cory Doctorow

The sequel to Little Brother.  Set in modern day but even more dystopian than the US currently is (but not by much unfortunately) and California's economy has collapsed. Marcus and his family are definitely feeling the effects of this with everyone out of work so when Marcus is offered a job as webmaster for a political campaign of someone who looks to be the real deal, he jumps at the opportunity.  Unfortunately, all this happens right after Burning Man where Marcus was given a bunch of encrypted files by Masha before she was taken away by someone he is convinced was Carrie Johnson, his own personal demon.  Now he must find a way to release these files while remaining anonymous or risk losing his job.  His friends come to the rescue but when they see that there are over 8000 documents and some is extremely serious, they also start realizing just how high the stakes are and once they start dribbling them out the consequences start coming home to roost.

A brilliant sequel that once again might be set in a dystopian reality but none-the-less hits home about the chipping away at our civil liberties and rights and how the courage of one person or even a small group can be the ripples that might eventually bring about change.  Yes, it's scary but when everyone does nothing the outcome is that much scarier.

Page count: 396p/12,231p ytd/262,308p lifetime

130:120 To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction by Joanna Russ

Read for book club, this is a book of essays collected from a few decades by Joanna Russ about her thoughts of women writing sci-fi.  She narrows down her selections for most things to less than a dozen authors and stories in most places.  The essays themselves are well thought out and articulated and me trying to summarize them in any fashion would be to do them a great disservice so I won't even try but will instead simply stick to my overall thoughts of the books.

Of the stories that Ms. Russ refers to, I've only read one of them as sci-fi does not tend to be my go to genre of choice and that is Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed.  With regards to the essays themselves, I found it to be a mixed bag.  Some of the essays were dealing with the rampant misogyny of the time and themes that play into that with many examples of stories and how they show it off.  Mostly these were stories that I have never heard of, likely for the reasons she was citing, and even if I had they were generally not something I would choose to read anyway.  There was also an essay on the Gothic romances, those that have basically turned into the bodice rippers of today, and which is generally a genre I run far away from.  That essay was the most painful as it went in depth on all the reasons I hate that style of book and gave many, many examples.  The essay on Mary Shelley was interesting and I enjoyed the one comparing different women's general Utopian sci-fi worlds to each other and how those differ from the general Utopian worlds of men at that time period.


Page count: 200p/33,071p ytd/247,987p lifetime

99:120 The Martian by Andy Weir

First book by Andy Weir.

Mark Watney was part of the Ares 3 mission to Mars to explore the surface of the red planet.  After a huge duststorm hits where there base is located, they are told to evacuate but the communications antennae whipped around by the storm pierces his spacesuit and drags him away from the rest of the crew.  They leave and when he wakes up, he finds that he is all alone on the desolate planet.  Mark is a pretty resourceful guy so he starts trying to figure out how he can survive until the next Ares mission reaches Mars in a few years and get to where their base will be so maybe he can hitch a ride back home to Earth.

Meanwhile on Earth, everyone thinks Mark Watney is dead until one day he manages to get communications established once more through amazing ingenuity and then the entire planet is pulling for him to come back.  The big question is how in the worlds can NASA pull it off considering how much time and work goes into a Mars mission?

I bought this book for my 16yr old son who tends to prefer SciFi to fantasy (like his father) last Hanukkah but he hadn't read it yet and then my husband found out about the movie and asked if we owned the book. Upon hearing we did, he yelled for the now-17yr old to bring it to him.  He had is finished a few days later with many snorts punctuating his reading.  This lead the 17yr old to pick it up and devour it in a few days, again with many snorts punctuating his reading.  At this point, I told him to fork it over so I could see what the big deal was.  It's a scifi thriller, no doubt, but the writer does an excellent job of bringing in levity and snark before and after the tremendously tense scenes which helps keep it from being dark and depressing which it easily could have been.  The science seems plausibly sound and Mark Watney is a guy you can't help but like and admire.  In all, an excellent book and one I highly recommend.


Page count: 369p/26,420p ytd/241,352p lifetime