Sci-fi reviews mostly

“The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture

“Most people who have failed miserably in life itself have one last resort left available to them. They become politicians.” It took a while but I finished it. I really liked about 85% of the book. It’s smart, the sci-fi and the way the species have evolved make sense. And I’m probably an asshole but I really did not appreciate the ending. Don’t get me wrong, it all ties down really well, the plot points and characters are finally converging but that’s it. It’s like going to a restaurant that looks really good, the food you ordered has a very nice presentation and the waiter is nice only to realise that it tastes the same as some fast food diner around the corner that sells it 5 times cheaper. Also the plot twists felt kind of expected. Makathran is a good exception as is the statue of the Lady. Again back to the ending that I could not get over. I will not go into details but I was underwhelmed.Ilanthe is a shitty ass villain. The Cat is good, but Ilanthe seems really lame by com

“Stars are better off without us.” Leviathan Wakes is a 2011 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). This science fiction mistery is a part of the Expanse series of books written by James S.A. Corey. The following books have been published: The Butcher of Anderson Station, Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate ,Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes that appeared as soon as December 6, 2016. 3 more books have been announced so this is a pretty big series. The Butcher of Anderson Station was written after the first 2 books so you can read it first or you can read Leviathan Wakes directly. Getting down to the nitty-gritty of it, this is not your ordinary sf book, as it mixes space opera ,noir and horror elements. I'll admit I was attracted by the space opera, but I found myself enjoying the detective story most! “I don’t believe war ever does. It’s a madness that’s in our nature. Sometimes it recurs;

“This is the breaking point in a human life, right here. This is waking up on an operating table to find aliens peering down at you, this is hearing the audible voice of God telling you the date the world will end. This is seeing a family of bigfoots in the forest and being without a camera. Welcome to freakdom, Dave. It’ll be time to start a website soon.“ John Dies at the End is not a sci-fi classic, it's not even sci-fi it is actually a combination of horror and dick jokes.But mostly dick jokes. If the Culture Universe is a well matured wine, kept at the proper temperature for 20 years to be enjoyed while having a veal steak enjoying great conversation with your educated friends - great taste and all the excitement of a root canal, John Dies at the End is the cocktail that mixes half the alcohol the bartender finds that you order after doing 3 shots - all the excitement in the world, followed by a splitting headache the day after when you might not even know where you wake u

“Yet, in the end, entropy will always emerge victorious, snuffing out the very last glimmer of heat and light. After that there is only darkness. When that state is reached even eternity will cease to exist, for one moment will be like every other and nothingness will claim the universe.” ― Peter F. Hamilton, The Temporal Void This is the meat and potatoes of the series so far. It's better than Dreaming Void in the same way the main course is better than the appetisers. Two cooking metaphors, I think I better get something to eat. If the first book is the introduction, getting us acquainted with the characters and universe, the second book goes full strength on the action. The prose is as verbose as ever which gets a bit tiring, but it doesn't get too annoying. It's weird to say this but for a space opera it's not a bad fantasy book. The action happens mostly on Makathran. I don't have anything against it, though I wish Edeard would just go full postal on everyo

“Sometimes you have to do what’s wrong in order to do what’s right.”  ―  Peter F. Hamilton ,  The Dreaming Void Written by Peter F Hamilton, this is a complex book that is the first of the Void trilogy series. It is not however the first of the Culture Universe so you might get a little lost at first. I found a bit hard to take in all the information that is thrown at you at the beginning of the book. Honestly if you're just starting to read sci-fi this is not the best book to get you hooked on it. This is a complex, well thought out mature universe that will draw you in slowly, but once it happens you won't be able to put the book down. Humanity has evolved into one of the most powerful species in the Galaxy with different factions vying to control the path evolution takes. But with great power and knowledge come a whole different set of problems. I saw this book tagged as military sci-fi in some places, but this is more of a space opera, I really could not call it milit