missingvolume | Entries tagged with science fiction

The second book deals with a new alien species that has been attacking colonies on the edges of Teixcalaanli empire. Mahit Dzmareis back on her space station and trying desperately to avoid having the council find out that her imago is damaged. Of course, the person responsible for it knows it is damaged and wants to get rid of that memory line because she believes it will keep the station safer. Three Seagrass is on duty when the call from the edge of the empire says they need a linguist, instead of kicking it upstairs she takes it as her case and goes to the grab Mahit to help her figure out just what these aliens are saying. There is so much more going on in the book with political intrigues both on the station and in the capital of the empire. The station is desperate to be gobbled up by the empire or destroyed by this new alien threat. The story is great, and I enjoyed how they discovered how to communicate with the aliens.

A small figure against a window in a spaceship overlooking a planet

I wasn’t in love with the previous book, but I really liked the first one so much that I grabbed the third book to listen to. The narration was great, and I think that kept me in more than anything else. Nona comes across as a young amnesia victim living with older people that care about her but not related to her. Her three caretakers watch for any signs of her changing or remembering more. They live in a city that is a under the threat of violence and Nona has to hide that she is different from everyone she meets. There is a subplot that tells the backstory of the Emperor Undying that ties into everything that has happened before. Fans of the series will love the ending even if you are left wanting more.

A smiling girl with braided hair and a dog and skeleton in the background

A science fiction anthology that uses lost worlds and alien races long gone and newly found as a basis for the stories. The kickoff story is great and very enjoyable, and I wished for that same feeling with every one of them but as with most anthologies not every story was to my taste. Several play with the Cthulhu mythos and invoke a great feeling of dread in their stories. Overall the stories work well in the framework of the theme and a reader will find something in this collection to their taste and possibly a new writer to read as well.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher

A reddish planetscape with a galaxy in the sky

Dave’s past has finally caught up with him and a stepfather he has never met has a hit out on him. Dave’s bio mom abandoned him as a baby to be raised by his poor day and she never looked back once she returned to her super wealthy family. By chance the first engineer’s birth his brother has located for him is a good fit and has a great boss to show him how to live in the outer system. Things take a turn when he is captured by pirates but because of his engineering skills he is able to trade work for release. And then things really start falling into place for him. Dave is a nice guy who falls up the entire book. Even when things look bad, they come out ok in the end. The book was enjoyable, and I would probably pick up the next one to see what happens.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher

A tiny figure of a man on a walkway between two buildings with a spaceship and moon in the background

A tiny figure of a man on a walkway between two buildings with a spaceship and moon in the background

I loved the first book and was a bit confused by this one in the beginning. The book screams unreliable narrator to the reader if they have read the first book. It can be a bit of a slog, but the end does payoff. I did bounce off it the first time I read it but other people loved it so I looked up how it ended and then went back and listened to the entire thing on audio. I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I had read it right after the first book but I don’t think I will be do a reread.

Woman wearing a ribcage armor and has a face painted like a skull. There are several skeletons behind her on a blue black background.

Woman wearing a ribcage armor and has a face painted like a skull. There are several skeletons behind her on a blue black background.

The setting of the Xuya universe is a rich one and it gives another great story that can stand along for new readers. Space pirates, betrayals, and a marriage of convenience that might become much more. Xích Si has been captured by pirates and there is a death penalty for anyone being a pirate or even being related to a pirate, so she knows she is dead to her family on her station. When the AI* ship Rice Fish offers her a marriage contract, she agrees knowing it will protect her. Rice Fish was recently widowed when her wife was killed during a battle but the circumstances look like it could have been a betrayal from one of the affiliated pirated bands. Now to solve the mystery of the murder and keep the various pirate groups banded together against the two warring empires, Rice Fish must take a new spouse to use their skills to solve everything.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley

*I should say not an AI ship but a brain ship

Two women back to back on a space background. One in robes and the other in armor

Tesla Crane is enjoying her honeymoon under an assumed name to stay out of limelight and relax with her spouse. But leaving the karaoke bar, they find another passenger stabbed in the hallway. Shel is accused of murder and Telsa must out herself as the incredibly wealthy woman she is to make things right. But just because you have money doesn’t make life grand, she suffers PTSD and crippling back damage due to an experiment in her lab several years ago. This is part of story, and it does frame how she does things with the case. More murders occur and connections between different passengers come to life as the story unfold. This is a good mystery story and I hope there will be more of Tesla, Shel and little Gimlet in the future.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

A couple standing by a bar with a small white dog at the woman’s feet

A couple standing by a bar with a small white dog at the woman’s feet

This framework for this is a locked room mystery but set on a space station where there are almost no humans. But when a shuttle of humans arrives then the murders happen. There is a human ambassador on the station, a woman who has lived with death always happening around her, and a man that is hiding out on one of the ships on the station trying to avoid the ambassador and official notice of Earth. Mallory is a woman hiding from life, murder has happened so much around her that only she seems to solve that she has her own liaison with the state police. After one too many murders she appeals to the nearest space station and is allowed to live there. Her current means of support is allowing herself to be studied by one of the alien races that lives there, a hive mind that resembles Earth’s wasps.

When word comes of a shuttle full of people to arrive, she panics thinking that murder will come back in her life. And of course it does when the ship is attacked before it can even dock. Now Mallory needs to work out what happened and figure out what is wrong with the station. A good solid read with lots of interesting aliens living together on the station. Hopefully there will be more in this setting.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Woman’s face wearing glasses with a wasp on one lens and a planet in the other.

The third book in the series come to a good conclusion. But this universe is so large I would like to see more set in it. Mops and her crew are now under Earth jurisdiction and have taken their ship to Tuxatl to find what can be the weapon that the Prodryans fear the most. What they do find is not what anyone expected and will be a gamechanger to every race in the universe. No one wants any once race to have it and now there is a battle about to start around Tuxatl and the humans are the only ones that can stop it.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

A man and an woman wielding cleaning products fighting aliens

Noir mystery stories with settings running from a space station to talking animal helpers of a wizard. Some of the stories are set in the author’s story universe while others are all new. Like most themed anthologies there are some stories better than others. Some stories are more noir than others but if you liked their previous anthology then you will like this one as well.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher

A helmeted bare-chested man holding a ray gun and shield in a dark rainy cityscape

The third book has our group of rebels plotting to overthrow the corporation that holds Atlanta and the surrounding area in its grip. The main POV characters has changed again as it does for each book but we still see people we have met and the couples a few of them have become from the previous books. But this time Dani has to go undercover with Rafe to get the info they need. Things get complicated when someone from Dani’s past recognizes her and they need to run. And a complication is they have Rafe’s sister to spring and she is not augmented like her brother or Dani. The action is fast paced and there is bit of story arcs ending in this book. It ends well but does leave the door open for more books in this setting.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

The back of a couple looking out a huge window overlooking a cityscape

The first half of the book is just Kee and Varro on station away from the crew so you get the tension increased between them. Kee was going alone on the station to do some hacking so they crew could track down the former general that is trying to restart the war. But Varro goes on station and provides needed backup and his special talents do help. Things quickly get out of hand when there is an attack on joint culture fashion show and a surprise guest makes an amazing target for the baddies to restart the war. Now the two of them have bounties on them and their crew is trying to get them and rescue the hostage. With everything going on the tension is there if these two can open their hearts and share their thoughts to each other. A good middle book that keeps the story arc going and sets up the next book quite nicely.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

a large silhouette of a couple n a purple background and a smaller full silhouette of a couple running

The second novella abut a tea monk and a robot is just a much a comfortable read as the first one. Now the rest of the world knows about Mosscap and want to meet him. Sibling Dex is now his guide to all things human and trying to filter out all the messages of everyone wanting to meet a robot. There isn’t a set plot more of a series of vignettes as they stop along the way to Dex’s family home and then onto the City. There is a lot to be said for reading a low stakes story.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.

A tea cart moving on a forested road with a orange yellow sky.

A short story about how one day the President’s brain has gone missing, and he is still walking, talking and doesn’t seem to be effected by it. The cabinet starts to scramble to figure out just what happened. By the end of the story, you see what happened to the president.

silhouette of a man with a empty birdcage in his head red and white stripes in the background

Set near the end of the 21^st century where we have had contact with another species and they have ambassadors and trade with us. People who can’t do VR turn out to be great at communicating with the Logi, mind to mind the downside is it makes the human act drunk if they do it for too long of a period of time. Lydia had been working for the cultural attaché for less than a year when she wakes up one morning to find he has been murdered and she was the only other person in the house and all video recordings are missing. While suspicion is on her she returns to the house and then hears the ghost of her boss in her head. With a few sentences she is off and running to find the real killer of her boss. This is a mystery but there is a lot of extrapolations of how society will be moving into the future. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in here and would certainly like to see a story that covers the first contact between humans and Logi.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

real cover with back words stating the title

The Paradox Hotel is where time traveling tourists stay bore and after their trips back in time. January Cole is the head of security of the hotel and hiding that she now in the second stage of being Unstuck. She has flashes of the past come to her at any time and when she goes to stage 3, she will be in a coma until she dies. She should retire but she stays to see flashes of her dead girlfriend that worked at the hotel. Being Unstuck does help her with hosting a sale of the hotel with four trillionaire bidders competing to buy it from the US Government. January is and unreliable narrator since she slips both back and forth in time and comes to find that she can change the things that happen in the future. This is a locked room mystery on a larger scale since everyone is snowed in at the hotel.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

A light blue circle with a smaller triangle inside it. on a dark blue background

A light blue circle with a smaller triangle inside it. on a dark blue background

Once again Mira Grant hits it out of the park with a story that first gives you giant monsters but then settles down into a years long search for a sister caught on the other side of a barrier that produced those monsters. Susan and Katherine become separated the day the monsters came and haven’t been able to contact one another since. But a message gets through to Susan from Katherine, and Susan who has spent her life studying the barrier will do anything to see her sister again. Life is different on the other side of the barrier and the children conceived and born around the barrier are of great interest to multiple governments. Now think about what would happen if people born in the rifts could come through. A good what if story and a setting I would certainly like to see explored some more.

two shadow women face off with monsters on either side of them

two shadow women face off with monsters on either side of them

On the moment of the Earth’s destruction due to nuclear bombs, a scientist discovers wormhole travel that immediately causes an alien to stop the bombs and lead us to the stars while leaving Earth behind forever. Now more than seventy five years later humans are among the stars on over a thousands ships strong, using the technology given to us by the Angels of the Benevolence. Granted our second chance has us packed in huge ships with Ais to help us find a new place in the universe. One of the advance scout ships has gone missing and a rescue is going after them piloted by the sister of the other pilot. Candidate-623 is a barren world with some ruins of a past civilization, but things are not what they appear, and something attacks and kills the crew. The ship’s AI pilots a return to the fleet but brings the damage with them. Now Eryn needs to figure out what killed her sister and is trying to take over all the ships.

The founding of this next step in human culture is intermixed with the story of this alien contact trying to destroy the fleet. I’m surious to see more books in this setting since it really plays with what would happen if everyone’s needs were really met and different layers of society were flattened out.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Spaceship moving away from a star.

The fourth book is mostly two separate stories that do dovetail in the end. This does build on the previous three books but since it has been about 4 years since the previous one the backstory given during the book was helpful. The Andermani Empire comes calling on a diplomatic mission and they very much want to take Thomas back to meet their Emperor. So Manticore sends him and his half-brother, Gavin the Foreign Secretary to Andermani and things change quickly as soon as they get out of hyper. Now things have changed, and they must find a way to still accomplish their mission. The second plotline has to do with Chomps solving a mystery that everyone is convinced isn’t a mystery at all, just a drunken accident.

An entertaining read and I can’t wait for more in this series because when they do find that wormhole that readers of the Honor books know about, things are going to change for Manticore.

Review copy proved by the publisher

Cover art has a large spaceship with an explosion out the side of it

Cover art has a large spaceship with an explosion out the side of it

Octavia runs a small bounty hunting crew that has a good reputation. Most of her crew are former veterans that served with here. Torran Fletcher is a former general that she and her crew fought against. His people have mental powers and are thought to similar to humans. When Torran brings them a job with an amazing price tag the crew agrees to take the job. Of course, the job isn’t what it was first described, and they need to go to his home world. As Octavia’s crew discovers all the real secrets Torran and Octavia grow close. There is a strong romance element in the book so some people might not care for it, but I enjoyed it. The book ends with getting back what they were looking but it doesn’t work out for the crew as they thought it would. I can’t wait to get the next one.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

Cover art for Hunt the Stars

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missingvolume

The Missing Volume

June 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

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Page Summary

#91 A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, Amy Landon (Narrator)
#86 Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Moira Quirk (Narrator)
#84 Worlds Long Lost by Christopher Ruocchio (Editor), Sean C.W. Korsgaard (Editor)
#83 Summer's End by John Van Stry
#81 Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Moira Quirk (Narrator)
#74 The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard
#66 The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
#65 Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
#63 Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines
#56 No Game for Knights by Larry Correia (Editor), Kacey Ezell (Editor)
#54 Dance with the Devil by Kit Rocha
#53 Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik
#51 A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
#44 The President's Brain is Missing by John Scalzi,P.J. Ochlan (Narrator)
#42 Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson
#38 Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart
#30 Square³ by Mira Grant
#8 Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell
#5 A Call to Insurrection by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Thomas Pope
#3 Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik

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Entries tagged with science fiction

#91 A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, Amy Landon (Narrator)

#86 Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Moira Quirk (Narrator)

#84 Worlds Long Lost by Christopher Ruocchio (Editor), Sean C.W. Korsgaard (Editor)

#83 Summer's End by John Van Stry

#81 Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Moira Quirk (Narrator)

#74 The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

#66 The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

#65 Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

#63 Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines

#56 No Game for Knights by Larry Correia (Editor), Kacey Ezell (Editor)

#54 Dance with the Devil by Kit Rocha

#53 Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik

#51 A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

#44 The President's Brain is Missing by John Scalzi,P.J. Ochlan (Narrator)

#42 Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

#38 Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

#30 Square³ by Mira Grant

#8 Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell

#5 A Call to Insurrection by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Thomas Pope

#3 Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik