Tag: space

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#BookReview: Starbound by Ed Regis

Solid Look At Complexities Both Scientific And Ethical Regarding Interstellar Travel. This is exactly what the title says – a solid look at pretty well all aspects of the complexities of interstellar travel from both scientific and ethical directions, with discussions of the sheer distances involved, the various proposed types of habitation possibilities, propulsion technology, and seemingly every other conceivable facet of the topic at hand.

At 300 ish pages with just 11% or so of that being bibliography, the actual discussion is somewhat brief while still being comprehensive. Technical enough in both science and philosophy to underscore the key issues, yet informal enough to be easily followed along with by most readers. Indeed, the only real problem I had with the text was that 11% bibliography – it needed to be 50% ish larger, from what I’ve seen across my several years of reviewing advance review copies of nonfiction books, as I’ve done here.

Overall truly a fascinating book and a great primer for anyone even remotely interested in the complexities of actually achieving interstellar travel.

Very much recommended.

This review of Starbound by Ed Regis was originally written on March 1, 2025.

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#BookReview: Revenant-X by David Wellington

Just As Long – And *STILL* Only Tells One Part Of The Story. As the title of this review harkens back to my original review of the first book in this series, PARADISE-1, I should note that in that review I specifically proclaimed “I personally would love a sequel that picks up moments after this book leaves off”. Which is *exactly* what we get here. So yes, this is one of those series you really do need to read in order – and in this case, that means sitting down for about 1400 pages of scifi space horror.

I named a lot of different scifi franchises in that review of PARADISE-1, and while they are spot on for that book, this book feels more like a different scifi franchise, one that first released months after that book – the new (now 14 month old) STARFIELD. Players of that game will note that many of its planets are barren, rocky, and almost entirely devoid of any life at all – even humans looking for a pit stop. Which is largely the case with this book, and just as Starfield can admittedly get a touch repetitive in the “find this spot, get attacked by whatever is there, kill it, move to the next spot” mechanics… yes, that same type of storytelling comes to bear here.

Where Wellington shines, and truly helps the pacing and thus makes the read feel nowhere near as long as it actually is, is in his use of shorter chapters. There are nearly 120 chapters in this book, and thus by the time you’re in the Chapter 30 range and roughly 25-30% done with the book… you find yourself looking back and thinking you haven’t actually been reading that long. Even at Chapter 100 with another 100 pages or so left, you still don’t think it has been that long, nor do you really think there is that much longer left. Or at least this was my own experience. 🙂

And yes, this one also ends with the reader demanding to see the next book immediately, as where the first book left off at a certain point that *demanded* a sequel, here things have changed and now it is because of the specific course of events and those still to come that the reader will be desperately waiting to see what happens next.

One note here, more on my personal experience, but possibly informative for others as well: I “only” read 335 books in the 644 days between reading PARADISE-1 and REVENANT-X, and Wellington does a solid job of bringing the reader back into the fold rapidly, even if you don’t remember exact details of the prior book.

Very much recommended.

This review of Revenant-X by David Wellington was originally written on November 4, 2024.

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#BookReview: Point Nemo by Jeremy Robinson

Immersive And Inventive Tale Of Survival Horror From The New God Of Science Fiction. This was yet another fun scifi action thriller from the New God of Science Fiction, Jeremy Robinson, that manages to combine certain aspects of a few different comic book tales (Venom’s origins in Spiderman, the current(ly ending) era of XMen, early Greig Beck books, and even another classic tale whose name alone would be a massive spoiler and yet tell a tale entirely its own. Hell, knowing how Robinson writes from having followed him since basically the beginning (and now nearly 100 books later…), he is probably generally aware of the stories I referenced, but I doubt he would actually label them as “influences” on the story.

Some of his detractors who think they know his personal politics will probably have some more ammunition here, as the story told actually also brings forth certain aspects of US history (and, some would argue, even its current actions).

But ultimately this is simply an inventive and fun horror-based tale of survival, a well Robinson has dipped into a few times before and yet always manages to create an entirely fresh take on the general idea every time he comes back to it.

Truly a wild ride that will leave you breathless… and wanting to come back to this world or at minimum see if it plays into his *next* “Avengers Level Event” (which likely won’t be actively seen for at least 2-3 more years).

Very much recommended.

This review of Point Nemo by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on March 15, 2024.

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#BookReview: Good Boys: The Lost Tribe by Jeremy Robinson

The New God Of Science Fiction Returns To Intergalactic War While Maintaining A Very Human Tale. This is one of those Robinson tales that will be great for anyone, no matter if you’ve never read a single other book by him or those of us (few) like myself who have known him since MySpace when he only had a couple of books available and have read everything he’s written since. It is the start of a brand new trilogy – one we’re apparently going to get the entire trilogy of in 2024 or at worst a calendar year of this book’s release on US Memorial Day Weekend 2024 (last weekend of May, for non-US based readers). You know, for those who have seen Robinson promise a trilogy before and then either never (not yet?) complete it – UNITY, Viking Tomorrow, etc – or take quite some time (HUNGER). Still, he completes series faster than that dragon/ throne dude with the other TV series, so at least Robinson has *that* going. 😀

The tale itself is one of those heartful yet irreverent and action packed tales that Robinson has become somewhat known for (Space Force, ExoHunter, Tribe) that also has a decent amount of not-really-hidden-at-all meta commentary about book reviews and people claiming to know an author’s real-world political or religious positions, which was quite awesome to read – and worked perfectly into and with the story being told at the time of the commentary. Honestly, the story at times seems reminiscent of Richard Phillips’ Second Ship series, also about an intergalactic war that Earth winds up involved in, except that Robinson’s version is lighter, much more humorous, more action packed, and with less fantasy/ high scifi – ie, the aliens are much easier to envision in Robinson’s tale. Oh, and if you love a certain talking raccoon in a certain cinematic universe… you’re *really* going to love one of *these* aliens in particular. 🙂

Overall a truly fun, action packed tale that shows great promise for the upcoming sequels. Very much recommended.

This review of Good Boys: The Lost Tribe by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on March 2, 2024.

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#BookReview: Paradise-1 by David Wellington

LONG – And Still Only Tells One Part Of The Story. The biggest thing I was left with at the end of this book was whether I was satisfied with the tale here – and thus the book should get the full 5* rating- or whether I thought it was a cash-grab that only told one part of the story and demands money to get the rest of the story (which I’ve seen in other books and written about in other reviews, though I note here that neither of these refer to books from this author) and thus should get a star deduction. Obviously, I ultimately sided with it being a complete tale *so far as it goes*, and I personally would love a sequel that picks up moments after this book leaves off.

As to the tale itself, think “Dead Space” or maybe a touch of the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2 or any number of other movies / tv shows / games / book / etc where our main characters wake up already in a survival situation… and things only get more horrific from there. Here though, we also get almost disaster movie type setup with a bit of the “normal life” of each of our crew members before they are sent on this particular mission, and this both helps ground the characters and serves as a touch of foreshadowing of how the tale plays out. The horror is real and visceral, but of a type that if you have your internal “blood filters” set, you may envision at least somewhat less carnage than others who envision the more complete “Mortal Kombat experience”. And as horrific as the physical horror is, the psychological horror here could be said to be even worse – yes, this book goes *that* deep. Ultimately, if you like any of the franchises I’ve named here – and I’ll even drop in the original, space based, Aliens movies here – you’re likely going to enjoy this book. If you like visceral survival / horror type space tales, you’re going to like this book. Again, I truly do want a sequel here, so I’m hoping either Wellington is already planning that or sales/ outcry is enough that we get one. Very much recommended.

This review of Paradise-1 by David Wellington was originally written on January 30, 2023.

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#BookReview: Worlds Without End by Chris Impey

Solid Exposition Of The Topic. There really isn’t much more to say about this particular book. If you’re interested in the future of humanity at all, particularly our future as a space faring / multi-planet species, you need to read this book. If you’re interested in the potential for finding or communicating with non-Earth lifeforms, you need to read this book. In both of these arenas, Impey does a solid job of explaining the history of the relevant sciences, where they have been recently, where they are projected to be within the next generation or so, and what it would take to actually get or communicate with… much of anywhere, really. While exoplanets – planets beyond our local solar system and even beyond our own galaxy – are the main discussion, there are some discussions of the possibilities of life beyond Earth even within our local system that are also quite realistic, even including potential timeframes for when this could happen. Wow, I’ve actually said more about this book than I thought I would. 🙂 In short, read this book and learn a thing or two. Unless you happen to be an astrophysicist specializing in exoplanets already. 😉 Very much recommended.

This review of Worlds Without End by Chris Impey was originally written on December 9, 2022.

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#BookReview: Aeon Rising by Matthew Mather

This week we’re looking at an action packed series starter from a thrilling scifi author. This week we’re looking at Aeon Rising by Matthew Mather.

Action Packed Series Starter. This is one hell of an action packed series starter for Mather, and one that despite a few similar general ideas (such as crippled communications due to space activity) with his CyberStorm series never gets quite as dark as that one can. Indeed, the darkest thing here is unfortunately all too common, but to reveal it specifically would be a spoiler (though even here, Mather manages to put a scifi twist to it in furtherance of his ultimate series objectives). The different types of action here are reminiscent of everything from nearly-every-Amazon-based-action-movie-you’ve-ever-seen such as Predator or Anaconda, just to name a couple, to more urban based ala Daniel Pyne’s Sentro Security or a Mission Impossible / Jason Bourne type. Throw in some elements similar to Deep Impact, as well as a few other elements of a few other popular tales that would be a touch spoilery to add here, and you’ve truly got a promising start to a potentially long series. This book is mostly set-up without ever truly *feeling* like it is mostly set-up – the action is tightly paced, as is the exposition, there is just *so much here* that by the end it is quite clear that this series is intended as a trilogy at minimum. Very much recommended.

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#BookReview: The Space Between by Jane Lebak

This Needs To Be Expanded (And That Is A Very Good Thing). Here Lebak creates an inventive yet relatable science fiction tale set on Pluto that is a great yet short read… which is really the only problem with the book. It is so intriguing that I for one would *really* like to see this expanded out into a full length novel, perhaps building in more suspense and mystery and *maybe* adding a few more named characters/ further fleshing out existing named characters. Played right, it could likely even be expanded into a trilogy – one that I for one would love to experience. Seriously great tale, and a very quick read. Which in and of itself is *great* for those with little reading time and/ or trying to squeeze in a few more books at the end of the year to meet reading goals for the year. Also great for younger readers, as there is no cursing / sex/ gore *and* it even has some actual science (explained to “an intelligent five year old”, as the Station Director directs in-book) to use as a teaching point. 🙂 Very much recommended.

This review of The Space Between by Jane Lebak was originally written on October 13, 2021.

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#BookReview: Ten Patterns That Explain The Universe by Brian Clegg

Fascinating And Short. To be such a compact tale – 220 pages or so – this volume puts in a fairly dense amount of information at a very high level (for its extremely advanced concepts anyway, some of which deal with literally the smallest entities known to mankind), which is even more remarkable when one considers the volume of space dedicated to the often stunning imagery included in even this months-prior-to-publication advanced reader copy. (For those unfamiliar with ARC work, actually getting to see most imagery referenced in a book is a rarity. :D) As to showing these ten patterns and roughly how they can all be seen to link up to explain the universe. Clegg definitely shows – again at a very high level – that links are there, often in ways not everyone would think to look. As to whether these fully explain the universe… that, is a much larger question that Clegg never really dives into too deeply, seemingly satisfied that they seem to explain the universe *as we currently understand it*. Which is a major concession, particularly in light of just how recent most of the developments Clegg details are in human history. (Quite a few within the last 150 years or so, vs the few thousand years of even recorded history.) Overall truly an interesting book and a quick ish read to boot, that doesn’t *completely* require a science related degree to understand (though having some degree of familiarity with STEM subjects will certainly help any reader here), and thus very much recommended.

This review of Ten Patterns That Explain The Universe by Brian Clegg was originally written on May 11, 2021.

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#BookReview: Infinite2 by Jeremy Robinson

The Master Outdoes Himself. Jeremy Robinson, the Modern Day Master of Science Fiction, truly outdoes himself here. While the first Infinite was one hell of a trippy, mind bending ride, this one still has elements of that – but also goes back to Robinson’s more “bread and butter” approach of balls to the wall action. Almost a love song to long time fans while still being completely new and approachable to even people who have never read any of his books – even Infinite – this book seemingly has more callbacks and cameos from previous Robinsonverse books than any other, *including* his actual execution of his Avengers Level Event (ALE) in PROJECT LEGION. And without going into any detail – though those who have known me for a decade now will get this reference, but most of those have already read the book in question anyway as well – let’s just say that there is ONE BOOK that I ALWAYS reference whenever anyone asks me for the most terrifying book I’ve ever read, and it happens to be one of Robinson’s. AND HE INCLUDES THAT WORLD IN THE MANY CALLBACKS IN THIS BOOK! Honestly, when I first noticed that we were back in that world, my entire body broke out in sweat and I nearly blacked out. That is how terrifying that world is – it *literally* gave me nightmares for *years* just thinking about it. And this sadistic author has the balls to go back there, *knowing* one of his most ardent fans has that level of reaction to that tale. CURSE YOU, JEREMY ROBINSON!!!! ( 😀 ) Still, absolutely one of the Master’s best books to date, and one that even ALE 2 will have a hard time topping… IF it ever actually happens. Very much recommended.

This review of Infinite2 by Jeremy Robinson was originally written on March 15, 2021.