Highlights and Lowlights - January 2025

Highlights and Lowlights - January 2025
Happy Groundhog Day!
Kind of a slow reading month, especially compared to past Januaries.
Books are rated 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 here.
Highlights - House of Suns - Reynolds
Lowlights - nothing “low” enough to put here
January
( ++++ ) House of Suns - Reynolds
( ++ 1/2 ) The Best Time Travel Stories of all Time - ed. by Malzberg
( ++ ) Ambassador of Mars - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #15]
( +++ ) Cast in Conflict - Sagara [Elantra #16]
Now Reading:
Long work - Vandals of the Void - Vance
Collection - Flatlander - Niven
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January 2025
( ++++ ) House of Suns - Reynolds
Holy cow, this was excellent. Perhaps my favorite Reynolds? Thanks to those of you who recommended this one. The scope, the ideas, the incredible timespans (still featuring our main characters), the sensawunder - wow.
Six million years ago(!), Abigail Gentian — leader of the Gentian Line — sent 1000 clones of herself (of both genders, with different personality tweaks/preferences) into the galaxy to observe and document human civilizations. Every 200,000 years, the 1000 meet to exchange news, info, and memories. An ambush at one of the gatherings reduces the Line to less that 60, and the survivors flee, investigate, etc.
( ++ 1/2 ) The Best Time Travel Stories of all Time - ed. by Malzberg
This is a pretty good anthology of many pretty good time travel stories. Malzberg’s intros add very little of interest. Here’s the table of contents:
  https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?35927
Note: My edition, though purchased new, did not come with a comic book adaptation of A Sound of Thunder.
( ++ ) Ambassador of Mars - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #15]
Better than the previous one, not as good as the early ones. More importantly, though, might possibly be avoiding (or ignoring) the stupid Jump-the-Shark direction it was heading. This one is Roslyn-based, and there are a few new characters here. The hornets’ nest that was kicked in #14 blossomed in this one, leaving the Martian forces undermanned, stretched thin, and far from home. I will read #16.
( +++ ) Cast in Conflict - Sagara [Elantra #16]
Yet another very good entry in this enjoyable series. There’s just a little over-explanation in some places, but otherwise spot on. In the previous book, we learned a lot about the border zones, one Tower lost its captain, and the Academia gets re-established. This book picks up on all of that, including a meeting of the other Tower captains, mostly about Shadow and Ravellon, and replacing the lost Tower captain is also front-and-center.
Now Reading:
Long work - Vandals of the Void - Vance
Collection - Flatlander - Niven
Tony