Challenger’s Hope (The Seafort Saga #2): Nick Gets His First Ship
Challenger’s Hope sends Nick Seafort to war with his first ship. I gave it 4 out of 5, a step down from book 1 only because book 1 is so good.
Challenger’s Hope sends Nick Seafort to war with his first ship. I gave it 4 out of 5, a step down from book 1 only because book 1 is so good.
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber won the 1965 Hugo. Full plot: a rogue planet eats the Moon, Tigerishka, the trial and the Stranger, and the ending.
A Parade of Horribles has a clever Emberus solution, but the race floor bored me and turned crawlers against each other. My Dungeon Crawler Carl 8 review.
Children of Dune is the one I reread almost as often as the original. Alia’s collapse, Paul’s send-off, and a transformation no film will attempt.
My The End of Oak Street review: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, dinosaurs on a 1982 cul-de-sac, one shock death and a time jump nobody explains.
My Alpha review: Alia Bhatt, Anil Kapoor and a super soldier serum story that borrows from Captain America and Black Widow. I give it 7 out of 10.
Advance to Contact sends the Warp Marines into a colossal alien habitat while a spy, a pilot and a corporal fight their own wars. Highly recommended.
Midshipman’s Hope starts the Seafort Saga with a seventeen year old in command of a starship. A very different book that I loved. Highly recommend.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick won the 1963 Hugo. Full plot, characters and ending of the Axis-wins alternate history, plus where it sits.
A Call to Arms review: the book that made humanity the galaxy’s scariest recruits, and one I’ve reread more than once.
Steel Storm picks up the Steel Legion tank war with clunkier prose than Steel Breach, but the Emflife mystery kept me reading. My thoughts, spoiler-light.
My Mortal Kombat II review: gruesome fatalities straight out of the game, a much better sequel than the 2021 film, and the theme song where it belongs.
My VisionQuest episodes 1-4 recap: No Strings, Theseus, Reboot and Malware, with Paladin, Thomas, the Butcherbird killer and Ultron taking the wheel.
My Wind and Truth review: the Recreance answers were welcome, but Szeth pushes Kaladin aside, Dalinar’s ending was sad and it dragged. A 2 to 3 out of 5.
Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein won the 1956 Hugo for Best Novel. A ham actor impersonates a kidnapped politician and never gets to stop. Full plot and legacy.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish won the 1959 Hugo. A Jesuit decides a perfect alien world is Satan’s work. Full plot, characters and ending.
This Inevitable Ruin is one of my favourite Dungeon Crawler Carl books: the crawlers hit back, old Cookbook authors return, and Faction Wars delivers.
My Agatha All Along review: every episode of the Witches’ Road, the coven, Rio, Billy and the ending. Some real magic in places, but it didn’t work for me.
A fan’s rewatch of The Wrath of Khan, the 1982 Star Trek sequel with Khan as the best villain in the series and the death of Spock at the end.
A fan’s rewatch of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Elliott, Gertie, the backyard shed, the bike ride across the moon and the goodbye that still gets me.
My Rhythm of War review: some good elements, but the pace, characters and story struggled for me, and Urithiru fell far too fast. 3.5 out of 5.