Review: Awakening (Queen of Spades #1)

Author: E.J. Dawson

Started reading: June 22ne 2022

Finished the book: June 27th 2022

Pages: 280

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance

Published: April 10th 2020

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads score: 4.38

My score:

Synopsis

Ayla is a villain. With a gift that allows her to see when anyone will die, she’s remorseless in her profession as the perfect assassin. When she wakes up in a cryo-tank three thousand years in the future, and no idea how she came to be there, all that matters is survival.

Rescued by Leith and the crew of the Nuria, Ayla discovers a far evolved world of space ships and galactic colonization. But everything comes with a price, and though Ayla is no princess locked in an icy tower, she still has to pay for the rescue she didn’t know she needed.

Given over to Leith, a darkly handsome man who reads Ayla far easier than she’d like, they must work together if Ayla is to repay her debt. As the pair come to learn how dangerous one another are, so too grows a lustful bond that comes with rules of its own. Fighting to learn why she was frozen, Ayla’s dragged into Leith’s past with a criminal organization seeking to take over this sector of the galaxy. In order to survive, Leith will need Ayla’s help, but Ayla doesn’t know if she’s willing to pay what it will cost her…

Review: The Silent Bluebird

Author: Elle M. Holmes

Started reading: May 29th 2022

Finished the book: June 5th 2022

Pages: 276

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

Published: November 17th 2020

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads score: 3.67

My score:

Synopsis

The stories we read have the power to change our lives.

Sadie Smith lives an ordinary life, unlike the extraordinary ones of the characters in the books where she finds an escape. She dives into her stories with wanton abandon.
Until one story changes it all.
The story of the impetuous Killian Quinn: an agent for the Zeta Defense Agency, determined to avenge his fallen partner. As she follows him further down the rabbit hole, worlds collide when she awakens with her hands tied to a chair in the face of armed men. Sadie finds herself dropped in the middle of a battle between secret agencies she didn’t even know existed, but maybe where she’s belonged all along.

Review: The God Queen (Rebirth Saga #1)

Author: M.L. Tishner

Started reading: May 2nd 2022

Finished the book: May 12th 2022

Pages: 432

Genres: Science Fiction

Published: October 22nd 2019

Source: Physical copy from the author

Goodreads score: 4.00

My score:

Synopsis

In a backwater Earth town, Rei Ettowa dreams of traveling across the stars to destroy Infiernen - the knight who murdered her brother.
When Rei discovers she is the reincarnation of the prophesied God Queen, she relishes her newfound ability to channel lightning for revenge. Unfortunately, blazing through a battlefield clashes with the Federation’s plan for Rei and the others like her. All the gods are to be trained as diplomatic figureheads to sway voters, not agents of war. Infiernen must remain untouched.
Unable to let go of her brother’s murder, Rei finds Infiernen. But instead of killing him, Rei discovers a secret the Federation has been keeping from her about her brother.
Now Rei is mad as hell. Her enemies must pay. But who are they? And what else is the Federation hiding from her?

Review: Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4)

Author: Pierce Brown

Started reading: January 17th 2022

Finished the book: March 27th 2022

Pages: 601

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy

Published: January 16th 2018

Source: Bought the book

Goodreads score: 4.22

My score:

Synopsis

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:
A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.
An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.
And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Review: Roadside Picnic

Author: Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Started reading: January 20th 2022

Finished the book: February 1st 2022

Pages: 145

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Dystopian

Published: 1972

Source: Digital Copy

Goodreads score: 4.16

My score:

Synopsis

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.

Review: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

Started reading: August 11th 2021

Finished the book: September 6th 2021

Pages: 481

Genres: Science Fiction, Space

Published: May 4th 2021

Source: E-book

Goodreads score: 4.55

My score:

Synopsis

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Review: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Started reading: June 16h 2021

Finished the book: July 9th 2021

Pages: 298 / 12:17:45

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Literature

Published: June 8th 1949

Source: Storytel

Goodreads score: 4.19

My score:

Synopsis

The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia"—a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions—a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.

Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1)

Author: Douglas Adams

Started reading: April 18th 2021

Finished the book: May 9th 2021

Pages: 193 / 06:12:09

Genres: Science Fiction, Humor, Classics

Published: October 12th, 1979

Source: Storytel

Goodreads score: 4.22

My score:

Synopsis

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of «The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy» who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from «The Hitchhiker's Guide» ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Review: Morning Star (Red Rising Saga, #3)

Author: Pierce Brown

Started reading: January 13th 2021

Finished the book: April 10th 2021

Pages: 524

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, YA

Published: February 19th 2016

Source: Ebook

Goodreads score: 4.48

My score:

Synopsis

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.

Finally, the time has come.

But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.

Review: The Unadjusteds (The Unadjusteds #1)

Author: Marisa Noelle

Started reading: January 2nd 2021

Finished the book: January 10th 2021

Pages: 414

Genres: YA, Science Fiction

Published: November 1st 2019

Source: Digital copy from the author

Goodreads score: 4.26

My score:

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Silver Melody lives in a world where 80% of the population has modified their DNA. Known as the altereds, those people now possess enhancements like wings, tails, and increased strength or intelligence. Although Silver’s parents created the nanite pill used to deliver these genetic modifications, Silver is proud of her unadjusted state.

However, when the president declares all unadjusteds must take a nanite, Silver has no choice but to flee the city with her father and some friends to prevent the extinction of the unadjusteds.

With Silver’s mother in prison for treason, Silver’s father is the unadjusteds’ only hope at finding a cure. But time is running out as Silver’s father is captured by the president’s almost immortal army. Vicious hellhounds are on Silver’s trail, and her only chance to recover her father involves teaming up with a new group of unlikely friends before all humanity is lost.

Review: Always Greener (The General Buzz Book 1)

Author: J.R.H. Lawless

Started reading: December 24th 2020

Finished the book: DNF

Pages: 263

Genres: Science Fiction

Published: February 18th 2020

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads score: 3.44

My score:

Synopsis

Life's biggest victim, please step up and claim your prize!

A smash-hit reality show is offering a lifetime of luxury to the one person living the world’s worst life, and now everyone is out to prove just how bad they’ve got it. Want in? All you’ve got to do is accept ocular implants that let the whole world see life through your eyes, twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week.Fortunately, there’s still one person who hasn’t lost faith in all humanity. The show’s ever-smiling host is determined to wring some tiny bit of meaning out of this twisted competition and your unhappy existence.
There has to be a purpose behind all this misery, doesn’t there?

Review: I Am Legend

Author: Richard Matheson

Started reading: December 18th 2020

Finished the book: December 25th 2020

Pages: 162

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Classic

Published: July 1954

Source: E-book

Goodreads score: 4.07

My score:

Synopsis

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has succumbed to the vampire plague, and they are hungry for Neville's blood.

By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive like this?

Review: Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2)

Author: Pierce Brown

Started reading: October 27t 2020

Finished the book: December 13th 2020

Pages: 430

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, YA

Published: January 6th 2015

Source: E-book

Goodreads score: 4.44

My score:

Synopsis

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.

Review: Fierce Girls (Fierce Girls at War #1)

Author: Mike Adams

Started reading: August 25th 2020

Finished the book: September 11th 2020

Pages: 252

Genres: Science Fiction, Action

Published: January 29th 2018

Source: Audiobook from the author

Goodreads score: 3.64

My score:

Synopsis

The story of the alien Rift invasion of the New Hope Colony begins on Earth in 2122 when all too familiar problems and events cause a chain reaction that will have repercussions on two worlds. Fleeing for their lives and to protect his family Navy, Lieutenant Paul “Rick” O'Brien and Marine Staff Sergeant Susan Mollison “Molly” Bennett will have to board a starship for the long voyage to Earth's first extrasolar colony under new identities. There they will join the Colonial Rangers, the international military force designed to protect the colonists from the planet’s ferocious predators, not to deter an alien invasion.

The female-loving Logistics officer O’Brien and superb marksman and the courageous Marine recon squad leader form an unbreakable bond forged under fire that will serve them well as events unfold around them. The circumstances that send them to the New Hope Colony will also have a profound effect on the other members of the O'Brien/Cassidy family and especially Rick's daughter Ciara as well as on the colony where they find refuge.

Review: Lost in Amber (An Out of This World Paranormal Romance #1)

Author: Esther Rabbit

Started reading: July 20th 2020

Finished the book: July 29th 2020

Pages: 364

Genres: Romance, Science Fiction

Published: January 17th 2019

Source: Digital copy from author

Goodreads score: 4.18

My score:

Synopsis

She just wanted to mope over her breakup, but the universe had other plans for Zoey Mills.

Twenty-four year old Zoey is at that particular point in her life when everything seems to be going sideways. Over the course of one week her boyfriend breaks up with her and she finds out she’s been genetically altered with enhancements foreign to her world.
Jasper’s first earthbound mission seemed simple enough: clean up the mess the former Interplanetary ambassador left behind, retrieve the altered survivors and capture the scientist who went rogue.

Meeting her changed and challenged everything he’d ever known.

Review: Frozen Secrets (Europa Academy, #1)

Author: Myles Christensen
Started reading: January 24th 2020
Finished the book: February 19th 2020
Pages: 298
Genres: Science Fiction, Middle Grade
Published: January 25th 2020
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads score: 4.23
My score:

Synopsis

Thirteen-year-old Max Parker is a grounded Earthling with the soul of a space explorer. So when he learns his family is relocating to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, he readily agrees to stay out of trouble. But his promise is soon forgotten, and his snooping lands him on a shuttle doomed for a fiery disintegration.

Convinced someone sabotaged the craft to cover up the theft he witnessed, Max digs into the incident. What else could they be hiding? Dodging a series of deadly accidents, he follows the clues to an abandoned outpost and discovers a secret that could blow the lid off a moon-wide conspiracy. Can he solve the mystery before his interplanetary escapade gets him killed?

Review: Second Coming: Elvis. Extraterrestrials. Dogs.

Author: D.B. Borton
Started reading: August 2nd 2019
Finished the book: August 6th 2019
Pages: 274
Genres: Adult, Science-Fiction
Published: June 6th 2017
Source: Physical copy from the author
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:

Synopsis

Hank Jones isn’t your typical alien abductee. There were no tractor beams, probes, or government conspiracies involved—no, Hank met his kidnappers at a bar. They weren’t exactly hard to miss—Elvis, a seven-foot tall Elvis clone, and Lawrence, a grounded European gent, were the only UCLA supporters in a bar full of Hoosiers.

Still, Hank has nothing better to do. It’s spring break, there’s a pile of freshman essays on his desk, and his thesis is going nowhere. Worse, his ex is sleeping with his dissertation director. He needs a friend, and these aliens will do.

Besides, Elvis and Lawrence could really use a hand—they haven’t visited Earth since the 1950s, and now they’re lost in Indiana, not realizing that things have changed. They need to get to Washington: if they don’t warn the president about a coming nuclear arms race, the planet will be destroyed.

Review (ARC): Star Child: Awakening (The Zenkoti Fables #1)

Author: Petra Landon
Started reading: July 13th 2019
Finished the book: July 23rd 2019
Pages: 223
Genres: Science Fiction, Adventure
To be Published: August 8th 2019
Source: Got a digital copy from the author
Goodreads score: 4.63
My score:

Synopsis

On a mining outpost in the Inner Worlds, a young woman dreams of the stars. When she falls in with a motley crew of bounty hunters seeking to avenge an injustice, Novi believes her dreams have come true. But her journey has just begun.

Led by the only man to bring the mightiest army in the sector to its knees, the crew is engaged in a wily cat and mouse game with the powerful Guild Coalition. With her new shipmates, Novi dodges space outlaws and greedy corporations, mingles with Synths and settlers, jumps the Star Portal Labyrinth and discovers a mysterious legacy bequeathed by the Gods. But each exhilarating adventure raises terrifying questions about her. Can Novi find the answers she seeks before time runs out for her?

Review: Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3)

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Started reading: May 13th 2019
Finished the book: May 22nd 2019
Pages: 628
Genres: Science Fiction
Published: March 13th 2018
Source: Bought the book
Goodreads score: 4.56
My score:

Synopsis
Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

Review: Lexicon

Author: Max Barry
Started reading: February 26th 2019
Finished the book: March 23rd 2019
Pages: 390
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller
Published: June 18th 2013
Source: Kindle Book
Goodreads score: 3.90
My score:

Synopsis
At an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren't taught history, geography, or mathematics--at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science. Students harness the hidden power of language to manipulate the mind and learn to break down individuals by psychographic markers in order to take control of their thoughts. The very best will graduate as "poets", adept wielders of language who belong to a nameless organization that is as influential as it is secretive.