UPDATE
Wow I've been out of touch again for a while.
But I'm back for another update!
I finished the Bridge D'Arnath series by Carol Berg and it was another enjoyable, but not great series. There were things about it I really like and characters I really liked, but overall it was just just "ok". Now that I've read 2 series by this author that each left me with the same sort of feeling I think that's about all I can expect from her. As always, this is completely just my own very subjective opinion.
So what next? Time for some HUGE scale sci-fi as a break. Actually I just finished this next one as well so we'll go straight to the mini-review.
"House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds - loved it. I've really liked everything I've read by him (ok it got a little iffy with Revelation Space.) This one is a nice, new set of ideas coupled with his use of sub-light travel limitations.
Very sketchy synopsis:
Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every two hundred thousand years, to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings. Campion and Purslane are not only late for their thirty-second reunion, but they have brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line, and there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them, and why - before their ancient line is wiped out of existence, for ever.
Hmm that makes it sound much more like an action-adventure kind of thing, but it's very much laced with some hard sci-fi concepts. I dunno, I don't want to give too much away so I'll just leave it at that. Good book!
So I'm back to being bookless! ...or rather I haven't decided what to read next. I'll be back once I figure it out.
