The Key of Ahknaton by Graeme Rodaughan ★★★★★

If Chloe is your favorite character this one’s for you.  Even if she isn’t, prologue aside, this is the best book Graeme has written.   The factions, the surprises, the violence, the body count - good times.  

Engineering Infinity

Laika’s Ghost by Karl Schroeder ★★★★½ 

When an American finds evidence of a Russian pyramid on Mars he is hunted down by Google and other geopolitical entities.  Declining American witness protection he flees to Russia.  This proves to be a great decision because a small group of online patriots have been creating a new hope for Russia, and possibly the world.

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi ★★★☆☆

When Aaron Decker loses his wife to a spree shooter he inherits her secrets, her obsession:  Allison had been hunting a serial killer.  

It felt like a dramatized version of Patton Oswalt’s life, but the epilogue indicates the author had more personal motives. 

I would like to say this was an exciting, or scary, story but it wasn’t.  Really, is there anything more boring, and depressing, than a serial killer targeting young women?

The epilogue gave him sympathy points otherwise it would have been an angry two stars.

Across the Void by S.K. Vaughn ★☆☆☆☆

Oh this was bad.

The way it was marketed I expected Interstellar, with a dash of 2010, and enough romance to bring me to tears. It was none of those things.

The Puppet Show (Washington Poe #1) by M.W. Craven ★★★★★

“This wasn’t about justice, Poe. It was never about justice.” 

ALL THE STARS!!!

You dark twisty bitch of a book! I love you! So many threads to neatly bring together, so much mystery and pain, to burn. 

Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz ★★★★☆

What I loved 

Fat gay bad guy!

Sixteen - the strong, intelligent, violent female spy.

The most vicious, effective, and soul-sucking potential Bond death. Any man, hell any person, would have gladly jumped in a shark tank.

Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #3) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

“Nothing else mattered, especially not the political operative who had brought this snake into the White House.” 

Better than Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down combined is the original, and politically damning, Vince Flynn version, Transfer of Power. These books are my new obsession. It’s 3:30 in the morning and I was suppose to wake up at 4:30 - I blame you for this Flynn! 

Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp #2) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

Mitch Rapp is back! It’s just one more kill, a Libyan oil minister with a dark past, but now Rapp has gone from hunter to hunted. Who can he trust? Lone gunman are often just that - alone. Multiple international interests, action, violence, sex, betrayal - this felt like the best of old Clancy (maybe better). 

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

"She had wanted to find some trouble, and the Shorter Way Bridge had never steered her wrong." 

This is my first Joe Hill and I ate it up. Kate Mulgrew read this audiobook into a page turner, I haven't gone through a thousand pages this quickly ever! Even The Stand and Pillars of the Earth took over a week. 

Galactic Empires

Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★★ 
Yes, six stars.  With shades of Ender’s Game and Gemini Man this was the best science fiction short I’ve ever read.  A full story and good glimpse into an imperial world on knife’s edge. Riveted!

Betrayal in Death (In Death #12) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Someone has sent an assassin to kill off Roarke’s people, one silver wire garrote at a time. 

Well, Eve’s not going to stand for that.

Judgment in Death (In Death #11) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Someone’s killing cops and Eve has to face the gut churning fear... that it’s another cop.

Witness in Death (In Death #10) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Is there anything trickier than interviewing actors, than trying to find the truth in those whose profession is to embody a lie? 

Loyalty in Death (In Death #9) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

An old terrorist organization has come back from the dead to threaten New York.

Conspiracy in Death (In Death #8) by J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆

Street people are turning up dead with their organs missing. Why would anyone want damaged organs? 

Midnight in Death (In Death #7.5) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

David Palmer has escaped! The worst serial killer that Eve ever brought down is back and looking for vengeance.

Holiday in Death (In Death #7) by J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆

It’s Eve & Roarkes first family Christmas. They are decorating trees, throwing a party, and learning what it’s like to be happy and normal.

But someone else is celebrating Christmas by dressing up as Santa and killing people violently.

Vengeance in Death (In Death #6) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Someone is killing old friends of Roarkes and calling it holy vengeance. It’s up to Eve to hunt them down but first she has to face the man her husband was, the terror of the dark streets of Dublin.

Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction

These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw ★★★★★ 

Prince Joffrey’s witchy step-mother has officially given her last fuck.  It was hard to read, even briefly, about this waste-of-space prince, but it made watching his bones crawl all the more satisfying.

The Holdout by Graham Moore ★★★★★

Best legal thriller ever. 

Wounds: Six Stories From the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

The Butcher’s Table by Nathan Ballingrud ★★★★★ 
Hideous beauty, confronting and objectionable grace - everything I ever wanted from Clive Barker.  

Blue Remembered Earth (Poseidon's Children #1) by Alastair Reynolds ★★★★★

Un-for-gett-able. 

A new millennium foundation work of solarpunk and afrofuturism.  It’s hard to believe this has not been snapped up and made into a series.  Fools! 

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

The Jaunt ★★★★½ 
I was wondering about the sweet family trip to Mars, but then the story had a stopover in Providence and I knew where we were going :)

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer ★★★★★

"I’m very glad to have met you. I never knew there was anyone like you in the whole world." 

I loved this book. 

Anything this unique makes description difficult but here goes: Early Anita Blake set in an unfamiliar paranormal post Civil War America with a je ne sais quoi of The Sky Is Yours.

The Sky Is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith ★★★★☆

"From below, the dragon does not resemble a living thing. It is an oppression, a ceiling on the world." 

Ceremony In Death (In Death #5) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

“I am a high priestess of the dark lord. Our numbers are legion, and I have powers that would make you weep.” 

Rapture in Death (In Death #4) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Eve Dallas keeps coming across suicides with big smiles on their faces. Everything and everyone is telling her they’re just self-terminations but Lieutenant Dallas will not let it go!

Immortal in Death (In Death #3) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

The fatal gift of beauty. 

-Byron 

A drug that combines ecstasy, cocaine, steroids, and skin rejuvenation is hitting the fashion industry. Just because the side effects are deadly doesn’t mean models won’t kill for it.

Glory in Death (In Death #2) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Someone in New York is slitting throats for ratings and it’s up to Detective Eve Dallas to put him away... even if it means stepping on her friends toes.

Naked in Death (In Death #1) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Just as good as my first read if not better on audiobook. If you like romantic suspense/police procedurals/who-done-its, do not hesitate to pick this up. 

Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Girl In Wave: Wave In Girl by Kathleen Ann Goonan ★★★★★ “Unlike earlier children, we have a new power. With the invisible power of literacy we can put ourselves in the place of others... We are far too addicted to the joy of learning and life to have time to contemplate the destruction of others.” 

Brilliant! Through individualized teaching methods, and minor nanobiotechnical assistance, all children are able to read and learn with an ease previously known to few. 

By empowering children, giving them the space and freedom to learn, they build, and pass on, a better world. 

It reminded me of Vegan Stories. Children have good moral instincts about what’s wrong but we acculturate them to accept degrees of violence: adulteration.

The excellent notes section after the story pointed out that, “In 1963, Finland made a decision to make education its number one economic priority, and the highly effective educational system that emerged is the result.” 

So now I have to read Finnish Lessons 2.0 and contemplate moving there. 

Dark Sky (Keiko #2) by Mike Brooks ★★☆☆☆

Drift shrugged. “I’ve made a career out of never quite being killed by everything around me going wrong.” 
Plenty went wrong. 

Dark Run (Keiko #1) by Mike Brooks ★★★☆☆

"Buckle up, everyone. Jia’s taking us down ahead of schedule, and incidentally has lost her fucking mind."

"I heard that."

"You were meant to." 

Treasure of the Abyss (The Kraken #1) by Tiffany Roberts ★★★★☆

Reread - This is exactly what the day needed, some kraken fun.

Merfolk May is Kraken Awesome!

Hold (Hold #1) by Claire Kent ★★★★☆

Exactly as advertised! Hot intergalactic hetero prison sex smut with an HEA; on the food pyramid this would be a doughnut.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton ★★★★★

Clue meets Dark Matter. 

Damn but this was good. Seven Deaths was the smartest murder mystery I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. An incomparable masterwork of the Who-Done-It genre.

The Dragon's Den: The Metaframe War: Book 3 (Metaframe War #3) by Graeme Rodaughan ★★★★☆

"Violence will be my friend,” Anton uttered, a ferocious light behind his eyes." 

The Necromancer's House by Christopher Buehlman ★★★★★

My favorite Buehlman to date.

Dark urban fantasy with shades of American Gods, only Russian and wretched. 

American Gods by Neil Gaiman ★★★☆☆

This was not a good choice for an audiobook; there were too many POV, time, and state of being shifts.

Still, this was a highly imaginative odd ball tale.  And long.  It was interesting to hear what Gaiman, an Englishman, viewed as American gods: Media, Planes, Cars, Cancer. Pretty sure London has similar conveniences/afflictions. 

Engines of Desire: Tales of Love and Other Horrors by Livia Llewellyn

Take Your Daughter to Work ★★★★★ 

Sex as something pleasurable, soft and warm, is a mammalian concept. In the cold salty dark of fathoms, it’s not even survivable. This short story built in scales and slithers to a chilling reimagining of Lovecraftian horror.

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews ★★☆☆☆

“...surrounded by death on both sides, as if gliding through Armageddon.” 

This series has jumped the shark.

Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

Kate is nearly as annoying as in Book One but that’s my sole complaint. This was another excellent action oriented story with sexy time, conflict, an epic battle and extraordinary resolution. 

Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

The first rule of the Beast Lord is no competing in the Kumite.

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

Serious bad guys, well paced action, epic battles, and thickening plot - what’s not to love?

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

“You’re not as funny as you think.” 
- Nick to Kate 

No Kate you really are not.

The Long Walk by Stephen King ★★★★★

I walked all eleven hours of this audiobook and I highly recommend you do the same. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt ★★★★★

All best sellers should be this good.

Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber ★★★☆☆

An ethnology professor specializing in primitive superstition stumbles upon his wife’s occult hobby. As Norman (for Normal?) loses his secular certainty his life unravels. 

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman ★★★☆☆

"I didn’t know how realistic a picture they had of their future. Their lack of a future, that is."