Network Effect - Martha Wells

Tor, 2020, 352 pages

ISBN: 978-1250229861

Read: July 2023, age 45

 

The Murderbot Diaries, book 5

This book is basically the answer to my complaints about the three previous novellas - decent novellas, but really 3 parts of a really excellent book.  This one is just a really excellent book.  This series deserves all the awards it got.

Rating: 5

Shadow's Edge - Brent Weeks (Audiobook)

Tantor Audio, 2009, 20.4 hours

Read by Paul Boehmer 

Listened to: August 2023, age 45

Night Angel Trilogy, book 2

The story really dragged in the beginning, when Kylar is trying very hard to be domestic.  It did get better, but it was somewhat anti-climactic and predictable.  The audiobook reader detracted from the experience, as well - he did the character voices and dialogue very well, but the 3rd person narration was full of odd accents, pauses, and tone inappropriate to the sentences.  

Rating: 3

Exit Strategy - Martha Wells

Tor, 172 pages 2018

ISBN: 978-1-250-19185-4

Read: June 2023, age 45

 

The Murderbot Diaries, book 4

 

This was part 3 of a most excellent novel.  It paid off the inconclusive ends to the previous two novellas, and I would have preferred them all in one volume.  The first stands alone, but the next three really don't.  This one was fantastic, though. 

 

Rating: 5

Scrappy Little Nobody - Anna Kendrick (Audiobook)

Simon & Schuster, 2016, 6.0 hours

Read by Anna Kendrick

Listened to: July-August 2023, age 45

I don't read many biographies or autobiographies, so this was kind of a nice change.  Self-deprecating, funny, and a bit of an insight into one version of Hollywood.  Fun.

 

Rating: 4

Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells

Tor, 2018, 158 pages

ISBN: 978-1-250-19178-6

Read: June 2023, age 45

 

Murderbot Diaries, book 3

 

Tight, fun, but not a complete story - the first book was a fantastic, brief, complete story in not very many pages.  Even more than Artificial Condition, this feels like it should be a part of a novel, rather than a stand-alone novella. Fun. But not nearly as good as All Systems Red.

Rating: 4

The Beasts of Barrakhai - Mickey Zucker Reichert

Daw, 2001, 347 pages

ISBN: 07564-0040-6

Read: August 2023, age 45

Beasts of Barakhai, book 1 of 2

Maybe it's just that I don't find animals as magical as the author does (see: The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature), but this book really didn't land for me.  I didn't like the characters, and found the setting idea kind of interesting but poorly executed - not much about it hit me as 'cool'.  And all of this wasn't rescued by any kind of novel plot.  

 

It was a disappointing read, made even more disappointing since I remember highly enjoying this author's works in the (relatively distant) past.

 

Rating: 2

Academ's Fury - Jim Butcher (Audiobook)

Penguin Audio, 2008, 21 hours

Original Copyright 2006

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Listened to: July 2023, age 45

 

Codex Alera, book 2 

This one wasn't as good as I remembered it.  Isana is really a one-emotion wonder, and I'm getting tired of her constant anxiety.  There are other, smaller annoyances that didn't bother me much, before, but seem a bigger deal this time around.

 

I'm not sure if it's the audio presentation, or if the books just aren't quite as good on re-read.  Still a lot of fun.

Rating: 4