Summer Frost by Blake Crouch

 Blake Crouch is the driving force behind this futuristic story collection and should be applauded for the contributions made by so many well-known authors.

Riley is working on a game when one of the minor characters, who is supposed to die, suddenly decides not to die. What's with that? Maxine begins exploring the boundaries of the game and Riley begins interacting with her trying to figure out what has happened. Years pass as Riley works with the AI character Max and he experiments with her becoming more sentient. No lines are drawn as to how far Riley can evolve Max and the more self-aware she becomes the more questions arise as to what constitutes being human.

This is a timely story with the recent controversies over AI and its use. It is thought-provoking and well worth the read. 4 stars.

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Ark by Veronica Roth

 In this first novella of sci-fi and futuristic fiction by collected authors, Earth is on the eve of being destroyed by an asteroid. Most inhabitants have been evacuated; only a few dedicated scientists remain, busily cataloging specimens before they, too, board the Ark. Samantha, a botanist, has formed a tie with reclusive scientist Hagen and bonded over their love of flowers. Hagen has decided to stay and now Samantha is also rethinking if she should evacuate.

This is an interesting story and deals with our fear of the unknown. Even though this is a novella, I still wish more had gone into Samantha's reasoning for staying and dying versus a possible lifetime searching for a new habitat. 3.5 stars.

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Amazon | Forward Collection

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

I love a good sci-fi space opera and I especially like finding new authors in the genre. With These Burning Stars, the first in a planned trilogy, I have found both.

The Hand, the governing body of the Kindom consists of three branches: Clerics, Secretaries, and Cloaks When Esek Nightfoot, a prominent Cleric and member of a powerful First Family, discovers two students at a school, she ends up mentoring one, Chono, and challenging the other, Six, to "...do something extraordinary". Little does Esek know what she has unleashed on the Kindom with her challenge.

Meanwhile, con artist Jun Ironway has come into possession of evidence that threatens the very existence of The Hand and the Nightfoot family empire. As Esek and Chono search for Jun, Six is playing her own game of cat-and-mouse with them--always one step ahead and taunting Esek.

This is a complex world-building novel with subplots and twists that form a tapestry of a star system fraught with political intrigue. The characters are well-developed with excellent writing and pacing that moves the story forward. However, I had a problem with the gender-neutral pronouns used for Six. It was confusing when the word "they" would be used for both Six and multiple characters in the same sentence. I understand why the author chose this for the character, it was just hard to follow sometimes. This is an excellent debut novel from Bethany Jacobs and I look forward to the next installment in the series. 4 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is October 17, 2023.

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On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down by James Fell

You'll like this book if you enjoy history, especially if it's told irreverently. Author James Fell does a great job of bringing little-known historical facts to light and fleshing out more well-known references. This is a breezy, conversationally written book with some speculation as well as facts that, fair warning, contains salty language with many f-bombs.

There are entries for each day with historical factoids spanning from B.C.E. to current times; it is both enlightening and informative. After reading this book, I'm rethinking my love of Coca-Cola (January 29), what happened to Sacagawea (April 9),  and whether Mother Teresa is as sainted as she is portrayed (October 7). There are some heart-warming entries and entries that will ruffle your feathers but no matter your take, they are all informative.

I read this book beginning with the January 1 entry and continuing sequentially to December 31. You can jump around however with no loss of continuity, but you risk missing some good entries. Again the warning: if you don't like swearing or if you believe what Fox News tells you, I recommend giving this book a pass. 4/5 Stars.

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Time is Running Out by Michael Wood

Wow! What a fantastic series and set of characters Michael Wood has created. This book knocked me out! I read it in record time and am glad I have the next book Survivor's Guilt, to look forward to. I don't know what I'll do when I've caught up to the series; this is book seven and book eleven is coming out tomorrow, September 30, 2023. I can't imagine having to wait a year for another installment.

Matilda Darke receives an ominous phone call saying she is a survivor, "But what's the point in surviving when everyone around you is dead?" The next thing she knows, a gunman is firing at her as well as members of the South Yorkshire Police when they are lured out of headquarters by a false fire alarm. Caught out in the open, the gunman begins to pick them off. Little do they know that this is the start of his bloody rampage around Sheffield. Always one step ahead of them, the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team race to discover the gunman's identity, his next target, and what set him off.

This book starts out with a bang (pun intended) and doesn't let up. The body count mounts with each location the gunman targets and it seems as though no character is safe from Wood's bloody pen. I won't say more lest I spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this book. If you haven't yet started the series, I highly recommend it if you like a dark, superbly plotted police procedural. The characters are well-developed, the writing excellent, and the pacing breakneck. Thank you to my bookish Twitter friends for alerting me to this series and author--it's a gem. 5/5 stars.

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Lost Colony: The Hennepin Island Murders by Steve Berg

I love it when I try a new author and am rewarded with an excellent read. Such is the case with this book and its author.

In 1986, Sweden's Prime Minister Olaf Palme was assassinated; his killer was never found. Flash forward to 2016 on a small island in the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul and the shocking murders of a Lutheran minister and the church custodian. Island residents, Reverend Maggie Lindberg and journalist Span Lokken are caught up in the investigation and quickly become allies, pooling their information and investigative skills to try and determine who would want to kill these men and why. Early indicators point to another island resident, wealthy and eccentric businessman, Jonas Kron, who has been very public in his feud with the late Reverend Hammar. It is apparent professionals carried out the killings and Kron is just the man with the money to orchestrate such a killing. But would he go that far?

Told from the points of view of Maggie and Span as well as the killers, this is an engaging story that captured my interest from the beginning. It is fast-paced, excellently plotted, and ties into the assassination of Palme with a surprising twist. This is Berg's first venture into writing fiction and he does an outstanding job. 5/5 stars.

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Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke

 This book brought back all of the reasons why I don't like to read books set during wars--mostly because of the violence and man's inhumanity to man. That said, I did enjoy this book because of the characters and its evocative prose.

The Civil War is winding down. It's 1863, the Union army is winning and wreaking destruction along the way. Much of Louisiana has already fallen and opened the door for Red Legs, irregulars from the fleeing Confederate army, to step in and fight for what is left.

When slave Hannah Laveau is accused of murdering a neighboring plantation owner, abolitionist Florence Milton goes on the run with her trying to escape constable Pierre Cauchon and a vile Union army commander out to capture them. They end up being apprehended by Red Legs Colonel Charleton Hayes and wonder if they have gone from the frying pan into the fire. Cauchon ends up befriending another enslaved woman, Darla Babineaux, and tries to help her get free from the clutches of a Union army colonel who has taken over the plantation she lives on. The three women must fight for their freedom and try to distinguish friend from foe.

This is an atmospheric novel that captures the horror of war by focusing on characters caught up in the turmoil. The voices of the characters are wonderfully rendered as is their plight. It's good versus evil when even the good do despicable acts to survive. Overall, I enjoyed this book but didn't care for the violence that is war.

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