Highlights and Lowlights - May 2024

Highlights and Lowlights - May 2024
Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse
I’m happy to answer questions about anything on the list.
Highlights - Cast in Flight - Sagara  AND  Accepting the Lance - Lee & Miller
Lowlights - A Gift From Earth - Niven
Here’s a quick summary of what’s more in-depth below:
( +++ ) Sweep in Peace - Andrews [Innkeeper Chronicles #2]
( ++++ ) Cast in Flight - Sagara [Elantra #12]
( ++ ) The Best of L Sprague de Camp - de Camp [Ballantine/Del Rey “Best of” series]
( +++ - ) Daughters of Earth - Merril [3 novellas: Project Nursemaid, title story, Homecalling]
( +++ - - ) Blue Remembered Earth - Reynolds [Poseidon’s Children #1]
( ++ ) The Element of Fire - Wells [Ile-Rien #1]
( + - - ) A Gift From Earth - Niven [Known Space]
( + 1/2 - ) The Emperor’s Edge - Buroker [Emperor’s Edge #1]
( ++ ) Charming Sharra - Watt-Evans [Ethshar #15]
( ++++ ) Accepting the Lance - Lee & Miller [Liaden #22]
Now Reading:
Long work - Fleet Elements - Walter Jon Williams [Praxis #5]
Collection - The Vorkosigan Companion - ed. by Lillian Stewart Carl & John Helfers
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May 2024
( +++ ) Sweep in Peace - Andrews [Innkeeper Chronicles #2]
This was fun and entertaining, in much the same way their Kate Daniels books are fun and entertaining. Because all the other Inns on Earth said “no”, The Office of Arbitration asks Innkeeper Dina to host peace negotiations for three species involved in a never-ending, brutal war on a strategic faraway planet. With Dina and her Inn both struggling, Dina is desperate enough to say “yes”. We see and learn a lot more about the Inns and some of the races populating this universe. Looking forward to reading #3.
( ++++ ) Cast in Flight - Sagara [Elantra #12]
Excellent. This is mostly focused on Aerians, especially on Moran and what her wings signify. The Emperor’s “discussion” aimed at Kaylin during dinner is one of the highlights of the series, and Kaylin gets more than a glimpse of what it means to be responsible, to be mature, and to truly be one of the Emperor’s Hawks. Shadow rears its head again, but in a surprising way. Very well done.
( ++ ) The Best of L Sprague de Camp - de Camp [Ballantine/Del Rey “Best of” series]
Good/solid … nothing spectacular, nothing awful. 15 stories and 3 short poems. The Gnarly Man and A Gun for Dinosaur are pretty famous in their own right. Judgment Day is also deservedly well-known, and is a rather dark/dismal read. De Camp was knowledgable about a great many topics, and this depth & authenticity come through in many of his stories.
( +++ - ) Daughters of Earth - Merril [3 novellas: one poor (Project Nursemaid, 1955), one great (title story, 1952), one good (Homecalling, 1956)]
Project Nursemaid was probably well-received at the time she wrote it, but it is hopelessly locked into gender stereotypes of the time, bolted on to a really shaky premise (the military wants to raise babies “natively” on the moon to become their space soldiers of the future). Pass.
Daughters of Earth features a space pioneer grandmother writing a letter/message to her space pioneer granddaughter as the latter is about to embark on an historic mission. In the letter, we get glimpses and tales of 6 women in the family, each of a different generation, every-other-generation a space pioneer. Excellent.
Homecalling begins with a space-faring family of four crash-landing on a planet, killing the parents and leaving a 9-year-old girl and her infant brother to fend for themselves. There’s a sentient telepathic insectoid species on the planet, and we see how first contact becomes even more challenging when one of the species is represented by a 9-year-old.
( +++ - - ) Blue Remembered Earth - Reynolds [Poseidon’s Children #1]
This was both great and maddening. The great: Solar system SF set about 150 years from now, human settlements on the moon, Mars, and some stations and operations throughout the rest of the outer system (including the Kuiper Belt & maybe even the Oort Cloud). Huge projects, neat technologies, etc. The maddening: With one exception, populated by major characters that each have 3 or more of the following 5 wonderful traits: self-absorbed, self-righteous, impulsive, unsympathetic, True Believer jerks. The one major character who is an exception has only 2 of the 5 traits, but compensates by accepting that everything in the universe is his fault. Giant plus: The sequel seems to share no characters with this one, so I plan to try it.
( ++ ) The Element of Fire - Wells [Ile-Rien #1]
Good! This is Wells’ first novel, but it’s the version that she updated/revised in 2022. Good characters, unpredictable plot, lots of palace intrigue/politics, a weak young king and a strong dowager queen, a lot of conniving calculating opportunists; technology is at the swords & muskets level (with magic, too). I’ll read #2, even though it seems to share no characters with #1.
( + - - ) A Gift From Earth - Niven [Known Space]
Bleah. Very early Known Space - possibly the second novel. Great physical setting (which almost surely falls apart if I squint, but I didn’t want to), forgettable characters, questionable plotting, and silly reasoning. The crew of a colony sleeper ship sets themselves up as the ruling class when they arrive at Mt Lookatthat (the only habitable area of the planet Plateau). There are organ banks to extend the crew’s lives, death penalty for all colonist crimes (which feed the organ banks), and the great many words of “logic” to explain this were flat out silly. Also silly was Matt Keller’s emerging, um, mind-based power and why/how it works. Throw in the True Believers in the Resistance who want to use Keller like the tool that he is, and you have a pretty tedious set of characters and plotlines inside a pretty cool setting.
( + 1/2 - ) The Emperor’s Edge - Buroker [Emperor’s Edge #1]
This was just okay. My WSOD took a severe beating over the 1st 100 pages, and still got the occasional whack after that. Amaranthe is a low-level member of Empire law enforcement when she catches the young single Emperor’s attention at the scene of a fire. Of course, the Regent wants to stay Regent forever, and — to help keep his heel on the Emperor — he sends Amaranthe on a mission to find & kill the greatest assassin in the Empire. While she is predictably unsuccessful in this mission, she realizes the Emperor is in danger from the Regent, and she puts together an unlikely team of misfits and schemes to thwart the Regent’s plans. Meh.
( ++ ) Charming Sharra - Watt-Evans [Ethshar #15]
Good! A reliable, typical, enjoyable Ethshar tale. Sharra is a beautiful but self-centered nag of a wife, and when her husband of 20 years leaves her — and gives her quite a lump sum of money to live on — she refuses to hear or believe his reasons for leaving. Instead, she pays a wizard all of that money for a spell that makes her 20 years younger. The sum she spent is not quite enough for such an expensive spell, and when she misses the deadline to pay the rest, the wizard turns her into a statue - all the while being able to hear everything around her. And things progress from there.
( ++++ ) Accepting the Lance - Lee & Miller [Liaden #22]
This was excellent. So many threads and plotlines came together here, with so much satisfactory progress and a decent amount of resolution - among the featured are The Dept of the Interior, the new Yxtrang warriors, the proposed Surebleak Port upgrade, the Old Tech AIs, the Clutch, Daav & Aelliana, Theo & Co, Rys & Droi & the Bedel in general, Val Con & Miri, and I’m probably missing some too. Very well done, very satisfying, and very much looking forward to the next one.
Now Reading:
Long work - Fleet Elements - Walter Jon Williams [Praxis #5]
Collection - The Vorkosigan Companion - ed. by Lillian Stewart Carl & John Helfers
Tony