Reviews and Comments

This series is so light hearted and simple that it's been a pleasure to read over the last few days. I've been binging them at about 2 a day. There's not much to say about craft quality, though. Books 1-12 especially are quite rough and feel more like free writing at times than novels. Even so it's been fun to see the author improve as she goes and to see the cast of characters grow.

I've read many of the historical criticisms of the book and yeah, I can totally see it. Even so, it's quite a sweeping story with a lot of political maneuvering, posturing, and an abundance of death. Did it need to be as long as it was? Probably not.

Still fantastic, especially at my level. Criticisms may be valid for masters but this book is clear and concise, systematic, and covers important basics that other strategic manuals overlook.

There's a lot of parallels to our own move to Iceland but it's different enough that I learned a bunch and felt taken for a ride, not spied upon.

It was lovely getting a bit more time with Murderbot, and exciting to see ART again. The adventure kept up the pace, explored characters more deeply than before, and offered a new glimpse into the shadows of the setting's universe. Highly enjoyable.

Off to a good start, but dark dark dark!

The new themes introduced in Heaven's River give it an edge in what might otherwise seem a bit of a repetition on earlier works. Yes, we have Bob getting involved in the local alien species lives, but this time it's for a rescue mission. Meanwhile the B-plot is diving deeper into replicative drift, politics, individualism, and even the question of the soul (as viewed through quantum mechanics and information theory). The writing is good and scratches the science itch nicely. The parts that are glossed over are chosen with care so that we can sink our teeth into the theme more dramatically. A nice read overall.