Book Review: Planetside by Michael Mammay (Four Stars)

Book Review: Planetside (Planetside #1) by Michael Mammay (Four Stars)

“It might have been my imagination. My brain does funny things when my own people try to kill me in an ambush.”

Military science fiction with an undercurrent of humor. War isn’t funny, but an old colonel’s take on how and why one fights are laced with realistic irony. Certainly, everything is not what it seems. Reflections on authority and responsibility.

“It’s one of my skill sets, Lex. I can’t really explain it. I fill my brain with stuff, and expect that it will pop back out when it matters.”

Sent to investigate a strange disappearance of a politically-sensitive soldier, the protagonist discovers much isn’t quite right at the front. Character development and plotting are focused on the insights of one who has “been there; done that.” Well done.

“Thanks, sir. For everything.” “Don’t mention it. I got you blown up. I owe you.”

Book Review: Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (Six Stars)

Book Review: Children of God (The Sparrow #2) by Mary Doria Russell

Six Stars

“It wasn’t your fault.” “Tell that to the dead.”

Six? Yes, this is what comes from giving five stars so liberally. This is the best book I’ve read this year (102 and counting), not just the best science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction or biography. Why didn’t it win a cluster of awards? Was it as fun to write as to read?

“Rain fails on everyone; lightning strikes some.”

Not necessary but recommended you read The Sparrow first. Russell skillfully weaves in the backstory when you need it.

“No one was deliberately evil. We all did the best we could. Even so, what a mess we made of everything.”

Each character the protagonist of his or her own story. Russell assures no actors are bad or good in their own eyes. Each point of view character does

Book Review: Who Fears Death by Okorafor Nnedi (Five Stars)

Book Review: Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

Five Stars

“I was … one who used what she had to do what she had to do, and so I did.”

A wonderfully complex, non-linear tale of redemption and finding one’s self. Okorafor proves that rich, engaging fantasy can spring from most any cultural root; in fact, it will if we don’t let our preconceived notions stifle our imagination. A refreshing change from all those Tolkien-clone fantasies with Medieval European-analog settings.

“Just because we are all hurting doesn’t mean others should.”

A bright story of self-discovery and self-sacrifice painted against the somber darkness of genocide. While the story hints of a Darfur analog, the divisions could be/are just as easily geography, gender, race and ethnicity. Okorafor argues against