Meta tags:
description= Feminism, politics, books, writing...whatever floats your boat.;
Headings (most frequently used words):
2026, review, the, of, august, july, june, may, my, to, emily, wilde, 24, 14, 23, 19, 12, 26, 13, 25, 21, ratings, system, quote, day, goodreads, bowling, for, feminism, favorite, martians, er, writers, how, weather, up, there, geek, nation, atheism, non, prophet, organization, library, thing, subscribe, archives, followers, call, me, socialist, please, gimme, that, old, time, religion, labels, foundling, fathers, map, otherlands, ode, half, broken, encyclopaedia, faeries, coffeeshop, in, an, alternate, universe, radiant, star, children, strife, ignore, all, previous, instructions, hell, heart, river, has, roots,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (487), and (265), this (105), that (95), with (63), you (63), are (49), but (49), book (48), books (45), they (45), she (44), for (42), her (42), all (41), 2026 (40), have (39), who (39), one (38), read (37), not (36), was (34), has (31), share (30), into (29), what (28), reviews (27), from (26), story (26), there (25), out (23), more (22), #august (22), which (22), about (22), like (22), may (21), june (21), july (21), their (21), had (20), because (20), them (20), its (20), people (20), april (19), october (19), february (19), these (19), been (19), december (18), january (18), march (18), when (18), way (18), other (17), september (17), november (17), him (17), also (17), 2016 (16), 2020 (16), characters (16), his (16), emily (16), 2018 (15), 2017 (15), 2019 (15), 2015 (15), stars (15), back (15), can (14), 2025 (14), 2024 (14), 2023 (14), some (14), your (14), world (14), author (14), 2013 (13), 2012 (13), comments (13), 2022 (13), 2021 (13), 2014 (13), much (13), two (13), end (13), could (13), than (13), things (12), goodreads (12), good (12), time (12), now (12), 2007 (12), 2011 (12), many (12), find (12), past (12), kelli (12), labels (11), how (11), view (11), need (11), even (11), most (11), our (11), wendell (11), day (10), stories (10), star (10), just (10), another (10), human (10), best (10), 2008 (10), before (10), very (10), here (10), pinterest (10), facebook (10), blogthis (10), email (10), posted (10), bonnie (10), mcdaniel (10), rating (10), only (10), where (10), review (10), would (10), future (10), years (9), after (9), same (9), love (9), said (9), really (9), being (9), down (9), does (9), both (9), ship (9), far (9), series (9), rowan (9), war (9), rights (8), new (8), change (8), blog (8), old (8), every (8), earth (8), three (8), enough (8), any (8), along (8), say (8), faerie (8), never (8), think (8), did (8), were (8), hugo (7), reading (7), alien (7), heart (7), sometimes (7), take (7), esther (7), rin (7), river (7), through (7), fact (7), reader (7), makes (7), off (7), done (7), made (7), cato (7), universe (7), wilde (7), country (7), artificial (7), around (6), movies (6), life (6), too (6), fantasy (6), bad (6), will (6), first (6), 2006 (6), thing (6), why (6), four (6), still (6), main (6), told (6), tale (6), maybe (6), between (6), called (6), ysabel (6), right (6), isha (6), captain (6), discover (6), character (6), knew (6), particular (6), hundred (6), goes (5), want (5), fire (5), short (5), planet (5), hugos (5), lives (5), control (5), king (5), pages (5), don (5), everything (5), worldbuilding (5), thought (5), lot (5), get (5), everyone (5), system (5), cover (5), protagonist (5), magical (5), body (5), later (5), against (5), those (5), left (5), roots (5), original (5), great (5), jupiter (5), realize (5), instead (5), creatures (5), hell (5), alternate (5), own (5), society (5), quite (5), alone (5), point (5), little (5), created (5), previous (5), didn (5), until (5), part (5), himself (5), trying (5), mechas (5), fathers (5), whatever (4), republican (4), science (4), marriage (4), religion (4), identity (4), living (4), john (4), novels (4), forced (4), tell (4), name (4), broken (4), matter (4), call (4), 2010 (4), posts (4), non (4), file (4), 770 (4), written (4), know (4), filer (4), bit (4), pixels (4), post (4), run (4), saw (4), modern (4), then (4), though (4), space (4), look (4), finish (4), almost (4), liked (4), flaws (4), home (4), nothing (4), death (4), fae (4), over (4), make (4), simply (4), moby (4), dick (4), style (4), course (4), sets (4), leviathans (4), atmosphere (4), happened (4), setting (4), humans (4), titular (4), set (4), bring (4), going (4), either (4), must (4), beginning (4), gets (4), present (4), elaine (4), mind (4), coming (4), inspiration (4), tried (4), wanted (4), combination (4), purpose (4), free (4), less (4), portiid (4), fought (4), cosy (4), brenda (4), kat (4), pretty (4), half (4), isn (4), intelligence (4), milton (4), twenty (4), sibling (4), litchfield (4), sawyer (4), jefferson (4), boys (4), recommended (4), theme (3), young (3), white (3), comes (3), trash (3), last (3), television (3), worlds (3), state (3), trek (3), sociopaths (3), sexist (3), revenge (3), responsibility (3), rape (3), culture (3), race (3), political (3), men (3), year (3), again (3), gay (3), theory (3), feminism (3), climate (3), black (3), always (3), might (3), god (3), atom (3), lady (3), terrible (3), words (3), astronaut (3), talk (3), believe (3), full (3), once (3), beyond (3), cold (3), comment (3), awful (3), usually (3), ending (3), pacing (3), well (3), several (3), exist (3), definitely (3), heck (3), went (3), true (3), grammar (3), language (3), music (3), man (3), known (3), arcadia (3), liss (3), pollard (3), side (3), return (3), house (3), gives (3), narrator (3), doesn (3), result (3), together (3), while (3), each (3), breaks (3), probably (3), classic (3), era (3), line (3), quest (3), beast (3), long (3), eyes (3), jaws (3), solar (3), although (3), size (3), easily (3), finished (3), plot (3), realizes (3), making (3), away (3), cannot (3), predatory (3), drawn (3), volumes (3), autistic (3), including (3), despite (3), feels (3), corporations (3), since (3), taken (3), help (3), something (3), timeline (3), lgbtq (3), leads (3), romance (3), few (3), lead (3), truth (3), couldn (3), worth (3), children (3), dead (3), sense (3), page (3), hold (3), nevertheless (3), give (3), ends (3), stop (3), focus (3), die (3), should (3), head (3), turning (3), important (3), feeling (3), moment (3), radiant (3), nearly (3), cat (3), heard (3), woman (3), mostly (3), professor (3), exiled (3), marry (3), discovers (3), friends (3), faeries (3), list (3), based (3), says (3), founding (3), foundling (3), blogger (2), stuff (2), adult (2), writing (2), writers (2), weather (2), voting (2), 110 (2), apocalypse (2), days (2), terrorism (2), ten (2), party (2), streaming (2), strange (2), small (2), ridiculousness (2), slavery (2), jokes (2), jerkwads (2), sex (2), crap (2), save (2), satire (2), sad (2), reproductive (2), religious (2), idiots (2), reality (2), real (2), rant (2), possible (2), pornography (2), politics (2), poetry (2), movie (2), medicine (2), liars (2), lake (2), awards (2), racing (2), heels (2), care (2), happy (2), gone (2), soon (2), general (2), final (2), feminist (2), fellow (2), favorite (2), winter (2), fake (2), exceptionalism (2), evil (2), election (2), dream (2), david (2), curses (2), events (2), charlie (2), pierce (2), already (2), wall (2), birth (2), women (2), atheism (2), american (2), poor (2), trend (2), nice (2), please (2), archives (2), subscribe (2), amazing (2), writer (2), show (2), minds (2), fucking (2), george (2), lee (2), camestros (2), felapton (2), drunk (2), come (2), whether (2), scroll (2), cried (2), besides (2), ready (2), came (2), dirigibles (2), above (2), trees (2), floating (2), upon (2), pleasure (2), stand (2), near (2), whose (2), fan (2), built (2), yet (2), appear (2), sweet (2), spot (2), depth (2), generally (2), characterization (2), barely (2), paid (2), basically (2), centuries (2), myth (2), sisters (2), magic (2), prose (2), ballad (2), murder (2), reveal (2), land (2), sent (2), loved (2), seems (2), darkness (2), flows (2), brings (2), samuel (2), ties (2), asks (2), harp (2), bringing (2), herself (2), child (2), lovely (2), caught (2), instrument (2), mouth (2), lays (2), skin (2), lover (2), hands (2), forward (2), keeps (2), base (2), becomes (2), complex (2), summed (2), absolutely (2), haven (2), deal (2), slow (2), opening (2), ishmael (2), starts (2), fuck (2), person (2), hunting (2), pequod (2), deaths (2), crew (2), fourth (2), often (2), terms (2), aptly (2), novel (2), gender (2), bones (2), obsession (2), hunt (2), kill (2), mobius (2), hundreds (2), within (2), powers (2), civilization (2), spread (2), ruins (2), natural (2), given (2), red (2), put (2), opens (2), multiple (2), sky (2), escape (2), themselves (2), discussions (2), capitalism (2), bleak (2), nasty (2), anymore (2), profit (2), knows (2), took (2), trilogy (2), features (2), fighting (2), computers (2), humanity (2), reynolds (2), use (2), generative (2), reaches (2), illegal (2), create (2), entertainment (2), popular (2), storylines (2), rather (2), bland (2), shows (2), jovian (2), else (2), message (2), trans (2), wants (2), gradually (2), parallel (2), queer (2), friend (2), sought (2), scenario (2), face (2), try (2), model (2), level (2), replace (2), erased (2), reason (2), talking (2), let (2), someone (2), fools (2), ignore (2), instructions (2), saga (2), terraforming (2), timelines (2), apart (2), group (2), least (2), climax (2), necessary (2), sapient (2), rich (2), genetically (2), engineered (2), marduk (2), entire (2), journey (2), stomatopods (2), tempered (2), genocide (2), battle (2), ways (2), similar (2), hartmand (2), worry (2), yes (2), opposite (2), plenty (2), adrian (2), tchaikovsky (2), felt (2), found (2), madness (2), thousand (2), remembers (2), lost (2), species (2), technology (2), strife (2), ann (2), leckie (2), pov (2), imperial (2), radch (2), thin (2), finally (2), okay (2), entry (2), protagonists (2), live (2), universes (2), ours (2), revolution (2), means (2), existence (2), unfortunately (2), choose (2), meet (2), cute (2), power (2), utterly (2), threw (2), altogether (2), interest (2), close (2), provoking (2), terrifying (2), coffeeshop (2), hadn (2), marie (2), brennan (2), fantastic (2), scientist (2), rational (2), dedicated (2), scientific (2), bambleby (2), ljosland (2), hijinks (2), ensue (2), relationship (2), spend (2), curmudgeon (2), radar (2), place (2), stabbed (2), pocketknife (2), open (2), trent (2), memoirs (2), heather (2), fawcett (2), encyclopaedia (2), suzanne (2), palmer (2), award (2), winning (2), nonhuman (2), collapse (2), famine (2), pandemics (2), creating (2), names (2), pestilence (2), reverse (2), missing (2), mecha (2), atticus (2), delightful (2), imprisoned (2), used (2), government (2), helping (2), ver (2), changed (2), mech (2), secret (2), ode (2), second (2), door (2), lines (2), map (2), otherlands (2), cloning (2), clones (2), washington (2), benjamin (2), franklin (2), thomas (2), island (2), servants (2), fifty (2), billionaire (2), bred (2), exactly (2), special (2), sff (2), awesome, inc, images, powered, 5ugarless, zonitics, zombies, apocalyptic, youtube, yours, truly, xenophobia, files, revival, wtf, worthy, causes, workers, supremacy, faith, weird, wanker, wandavision, walking, vampire, economics, unions, trumpocalypse, triple, crown, tribute, translators, transgender, tragedy, sandman, mandalorian, project, expanse, constitution, fluffery, teh, stoopid, tea, tailgunner, jan, suspension, disbelief, supreme, court, superheroes, strangeness, union, wars, picard, discovery, sports, spirituality, snarkitude, town, mindedness, silliness, sick, shame, sexual, expectations, tripe, stereotypes, education, severance, separation, church, sensawunda, semi, romneybot, rise, machine, rest, peace, respect, obstructionism, hypocrisy, reparations, untruths, reflection, recommendations, bites, ranty, rants, racist, racism, propaganda, progressive, privilege, prison, prince, pretend, feminists, pragmatism, potterverse, nominees, pop, nonsense, interlude, pointlessness, photographs, pharmacutical, phoolishness, phalloplasty, petty, pedophiles, pearl, harbor, patriarchy, partisanship, parodies, paris, optical, illusions, omg, obama, location, neutrality, netflix, national, month, nasa, musical, mondays, muhammad, ali, motherhood, mistaken, misogyny, misogynism, militant, atheists, idiocies, memorial, meh, maureen, dowd, marvel, mars, equality, magazines, mad, max, lying, wins, loki, history, liberty, leonard, nimoy, kwitcherbitchin, karma, justice, massacre, journalistic, wannabes, journalism, oliver, jesus, obedience, jay, intelligent, design, indigenous, peoples, incredible, impacted, canines, immigration, righhts, hubris, housekeeping, horse, holiday, hobby, lobby, hilarity, heroes, health, hawkeye, greed, graphic, 815, goddammit, stupidity, geekery, game, thrones, freedom, birthers, firefighters, ballot, filk, ferguson, action, bloggers, fear, scripture, meme, falling, dominoes, falcon, soldier, noise, patriots, episode, empathy, elizabeth, warren, dressage, videos, doping, donald, trump, domestic, defeatism, bowie, current, coronavirus, contraception, consent, conscience, policy, comics, comeuppance, columbus, clusterfrakery, cluelessness, cliven, bundy, clintonesque, clinton2016, christians, china, team, cartoon, week, build, budget, stupidities, promises, 829, boba, fett, blu, ray, boudoir, etiquette, beauty, pageants, battlestar, galactica, barbarians, banhammering, badass, authoritarianism, asshat, animals, ammosexuals, pharoah, alpha, male, jackasses, invasions, abortion, roys, report, slacktivist, pavlovitz, gimme, notice, vox, weekly, sift, texas, observer, rude, pundit, guardian, stonekettle, station, propublica, animal, mister, musings, fart, media, matters, maddow, lawyers, guns, money, joe, hey, mistermix, draft, empty, wheel, driftglass, digby, hullabaloo, crooks, crooked, timber, charles, esquire, arizona, balloon, juice, balkanization, alternet, socialist, followers, library, roll, disbelieve, pinkerite, pharyngula, mano, singham, heavens, mergatroyd, freethought, blogs, prophet, organization, crowsnest, reactor, mag, nerds, feather, business, io9, gate, geek, nation, skeptical, grist, unboxed, wil, wheaton, unofficial, club, wertzone, skiffy, fanty, smart, bitches, trashy, paul, levinson, moods, ads, cutesy, icons, kameron, hurley, scalzi, jamie, todd, rubin, james, nicoll, ilona, andrews, martin, summers, cora, buhlert, christopher, bennett, diary, caitlin, kiernan, cafe, asking, wrong, questions, alas, martians, rewire, magazine, majority, foundation, choice, center, bowling, constantly, whiskey, mencken, fragmented, excerpt, louise, carol, pups, picks, palimpsests, cadigan, cult, trolls, chat, links, rush, fast, hurry, thanked, fifth, chiefly, filking, punnery, indeed, dear, begin, pleasant, shall, posting, answer, none, scarcely, odd, scrolled, wandered, lonely, airship, floats, high, vales, hills, fleet, host, dancing, breeze, oft, laptop, browse, vacant, pensive, mood, flash, inward, eye, bliss, altitude, fills, dances, wordsworth, steampunk, phase, met, antique, vast, towering, stacks, bedroom, pohl, others, golden, age, frowns, uncracked, spines, sneers, beckon, toward, lay, waiting, unread, explored, glance, looks, filled, fled, nightstand, tsundoko, stack, despair, bill, stoic, cynic, quote, label, horrid, spoiled, five, launching, socks, orbit, hits, spots, logical, rave, paragraphs, excite, minor, caveats, fall, category, lesser, promise, marginal, significant, criteria, points, tough, detail, regarding, depends, irritated, disclaimer, doing, anyone, following, welcome, aboard, ratings, older, surprised, knowing, closed, beautiful, wonderfully, feel, fairy, passed, legend, transcend, casts, structure, lush, supple, paragraph, songs, mode, loreena, mckennitt, english, bonny, swans, ballads, uses, murderer, drowned, hawthorn, named, mab, queen, air, sister, younger, works, guard, willow, professors, watching, witches, conjugate, useful, courted, turns, fallen, jealous, rage, drowns, betrothal, ring, backwards, delivers, reawakened, died, different, form, parents, shifted, attentions, sings, identification, exposed, leave, hint, hidden, entrance, sing, lands, reunited, simple, timelessness, identified, completely, gorgeous, owe, yourself, intimacy, wraps, whistle, pours, breath, cheek, violin, holy, drummer, kiss, played, learn, lean, breast, places, deepest, stiffest, tension, finger, quivering, release, rock, hand, rhythm, weaves, melody, flutter, swells, shakes, joy, grief, alike, wild, wonderful, alive, amal, mohtar, tag, front, sapphic, mean, herman, melville, commentary, everywhere, managed, absorb, osmosis, published, 1851, pace, flowery, frequent, jaunts, exposition, downright, infodumps, especially, whales, whaling, famous, isobel, imogen, iris, ivy, stage, snarky, irreverent, extremely, fucked, susceptible, manipulation, yearning, danger, gigantic, aliens, aware, telling, decades, destruction, frequently, speaking, directly, sarcastic, learning, leaves, remains, depopulated, strip, mined, returns, hasn, ones, queeqeeg, ahab, flipped, aside, pursuit, hatred, consuming, biggest, difference, oceans, huge, feet, evolved, lovecraftian, tentacles, hunted, sperm, cerebrospinular, fluid, harvested, refined, relying, fusion, rely, limited, resource, realistically, immense, trillions, deadly, turbulent, quotation, reference, dangerous, sounds, foolish, forms, energy, occurred, fossil, fuels, sticks, fairly, closely, employs, terminology, sexier, beating, bush, involved, fucktoy, contributes, cultish, worship, likely, leading, culmination, chase, anticlimactic, stabs, riding, harpoon, confront, snatches, gulping, crocodile, snapping, pesky, insect, rounds, crushes, stores, raw, spermaceti, explode, spinning, lifepod, led, charismatic, narcissist, gainsay, sound, familiar, countries, pharmaceutical, corporate, states, facet, audacity, retelling, unique, voice, draw, seemed, glacially, warts, regret, returned, alexis, hall, outside, extradimensional, quantum, similarities, respects, throughout, moons, closer, antagonists, sentient, usurp, privileges, roles, trademarking, iteration, intellectual, property, literally, creative, endeavor, horrifying, godlike, inevitable, script, supervisor, helped, write, edits, spits, percentage, input, scripts, strictly, regulated, inoffensive, bias, viewpoints, types, immensely, universal, basic, income, implemented, necessity, jobs, sit, watch, masses, vote, directions, romances, cetera, getting, girlfriend, naive, guess, accomodating, word, reluctant, waves, moon, crime, involves, stealing, kernel, orlando, running, kelly, amelia, awakenings, discouraged, authentic, culminates, suicide, incident, burgeoning, therapy, tragically, failed, throwing, shackles, finding, stakes, personal, nary, galaxy, wide, threat, sight, scary, sort, attacks, levied, see, pass, employer, adding, misery, applicable, anything, throated, acceptance, support, unacceptable, accepting, spirit, relevant, messages, fiction, pull, sharper, kind, months, worked, proud, careful, expected, subversive, dared, rules, righteous, anger, unchecked, standards, angry, bothered, lesbian, cared, whole, employed, brave, single, forgive, erase, palatable, averaged, needed, sexuality, oscar, complicated, hard, charge, laws, saying, minors, losing, elaines, keep, believed, better, feared, happen, description, wasn, accident, somewhere, bloodlessly, calculation, decided, ada, hoffmann, expanding, leaving, behind, planets, chunky, sheer, counts, weight, ideas, boasts, braid, neatly, somewhat, cautionary, happens, entitled, megalomaniac, indulge, selfish, baser, instincts, stronger, force, fucks, restraining, wishes, mira, techbros, conservative, baddies, currently, wreaking, havoc, digress, latest, helps, provides, background, speed, expand, passing, mention, precise, summary, scene, follow, returning, spiders, portia, fabian, avrana, kern, brand, accelerated, evolution, ecosystems, endlessly, mutating, monsters, plant, vacuum, planetary, ecosystem, manipulated, becoming, organic, computer, capable, holding, uploaded, creators, takes, generation, ark, arrived, exploration, captained, mantis, shrimp, tout, hero, using, povs, separate, wish, gotten, fascinating, uplifted, belligerent, pugnacious, crustacean, heavyweight, fighters, punch, demonstrates, meets, chance, primal, urge, learned, epiphanies, elon, musk, jeff, bezos, knockoff, gerey, ego, driven, horrors, motion, dense, chewy, attain, godhood, reject, become, polar, merge, consciousness, greater, devouring, fungus, self, recognition, individual, guilt, ridden, criminal, manages, sociopath, banished, miss, failure, weakness, burns, segment, sensation, worse, ships, sitting, orgy, glorious, escalation, realization, communal, seeking, searing, inner, reward, victory, weaponry, distance, attenuated, meaning, defeated, enemy, required, chasing, hit, warrior, greatness, seventy, survivors, spaced, avoided, facing, delusion, martial, triumph, communications, emotional, bleed, incredulity, horror, seeing, warriors, hardest, hitters, prowess, knowledge
Text of the page (random words):
d i love them but i know for a fact if my fifteen pound mocha grew as large as a fucking smilodon maybe 1 000 pounds i would run from him screaming not try to ride him that s pretty much the problem with the cosies i ve tried to read i think they re okay while i m turning the pages and the characters usually hold my interest and they vanish from my mind the instant i close the back cover i like stories that are thought provoking and layered and take some effort to tease out all the subtleties and facets those kinds of books stick with the reader long after they re finished this one unfortunately didn t view all my reviews posted by bonnie mcdaniel on 7 19 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews books read in 2026 goodreads july 12 2026 review radiant star radiant star by ann leckie my rating 1 of 5 stars i normally love ann leckie s books but i could not get into this one part of that is that this is written in omniscient pov and i am not a fan of head hopping also despite being set in the imperial radch universe the worldbuilding felt thin finally i could not figure out what the heck the titular object macguffin the radiant star actually was which probably would have been answered further on but i didn t get that far i persevered for nearly a hundred pages but in the end i didn t care enough about any of these people to continue which is okay not every author s book is for every reader and i love the original imperial radch trilogy enough to make up for this view all my reviews posted by bonnie mcdaniel on 7 12 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews books read in 2026 goodreads june 26 2026 review children of strife children of strife by adrian tchaikovsky my rating 5 of 5 stars this is the fourth book in the children of time series a far future saga of humans expanding into the stars leaving behind a dead earth and terraforming other planets these particular books as are most of the author s books are chunky both in the sense of sheer page counts and the weight of the ideas those pages hold this particular story boasts three timelines set centuries apart which nevertheless braid together neatly at the end it s also a somewhat bleak cautionary tale of what happens when a group of entitled megalomaniac sociopaths are set free to indulge all their selfish baser instincts at least until the climax when they run up against a stronger force with no fucks left to give which ends up restraining them for the good of everyone one almost wishes there was an alien mira on earth right now who could stop the techbros corporations and other conservative baddies currently wreaking havoc on our present timeline but i digress despite this being the latest book in the series this is more or less a stand alone story it helps to have read the other books but it is not necessary the author provides just enough background on the characters to bring the reader up to speed what this book does is expand on events only given a passing mention in the previous volumes the reader is caught up on all this at the beginning of the story in a nice precise three page summary that sets the scene for what is to follow there are a few returning characters in particular the sapient portiid spiders portia and fabian and the ai avrana kern but the main focus is on the said group of rich sociopaths who end up terraforming an alien earth like planet with their own brand of genetically engineered accelerated evolution ecosystems this becomes the planet marduk of the present day timeline with its endlessly mutating monsters and plant life that can exist in vacuum this planetary ecosystem which is manipulated into becoming an organic computer capable of holding the uploaded minds of its creators after they die takes over both the generation ark ship arrived from earth s past and the present day dissenter an exploration ship captained by the best of the new characters and the best character in the book as far as that goes the sapient mantis shrimp cato i must stop to tout cato in particular because he really should have been the hero of this entire book i realize the author was using multiple povs to tell his story and with the three separate timelines this was absolutely necessary but i still wish cato could have gotten far more page time than he did his character journey was fascinating the uplifted stomatopods in this universe are bad tempered belligerent pugnacious crustacean heavyweight fighters who would just as soon punch your head off as look as you as cato aptly demonstrates when he meets another of the main characters but as we discover more of cato s past and realize the genocide he was a part of he reaches a turning point where he has a chance to give in to his primal urge to battle and he backs down in many ways this is the most important plot point in the story what cato has learned because of what he did the feeling of failure and weakness burns through every segment of him only one sensation is worse how he d felt when the portiid ships had found him sitting alone in his ship after the orgy of glorious battle that had been the escalation coming to a realization of what they d all done the communal madness that had taken them so they d fought and fought seeking the searing inner reward of victory which the weaponry and the distance attenuated meaning instead of one defeated enemy they required ten a hundred a thousand chasing the hit the dream of warrior greatness until until seventy two survivors out of how many hundred thousand and only that many still living because by then they were so far spaced they couldn t find each other cato remembers he remembers that when they found him he would have fought them fought them and in that madness avoided facing up to what he d done lost himself to the delusion of martial triumph as with his own language though the portiid communications let their emotional state bleed through incredulity horror seeing himself through their many eyes his people were the best warriors the hardest hitters the stories they told themselves of their prowess to cover for the fact that all the knowledge all the tech all the interstellar travel was the province of other species so in that moment he understood the portiid rescue party saw things he d blinded himself to they saw the truth of what the stomatopods had done with the star system they d claimed turned it into a charnel house drifting with wrecks and corpses the old ways and the new technology a terrible combination he d seen himself as they saw him and realized he was a monster it s too bad some of the other characters in the book couldn t have similar epiphanies in particular the elon musk jeff bezos knockoff gerey hartmand the ego driven great man who sets all the genetically engineered horrors of marduk in motion but don t worry hartmand gets what s coming to him yes he does this book is dense and chewy both in story and theme there are characters who attain godhood and reject it to become human again polar opposite characters who merge consciousness to find the two of them together are greater than either one alone a devouring alien fungus who gives her all to hold on to her sense of self and recognition of the worth of other individual people the guilt ridden war criminal who manages to find another life and at the end the rich sociopath who cannot will not change only to find himself banished from everything and whose only future is to die alone i ve read plenty of adrian tchaikovsky s books but this is one of his very best you should not miss it view all my reviews posted by bonnie mcdaniel on 6 26 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews books read in 2026 goodreads june 13 2026 review ignore all previous instructions ignore all previous instructions by ada hoffmann my rating 4 of 5 stars i have all the volumes of this author s outside trilogy which features an autistic protagonist fighting against extradimensional god like quantum ai computers this book has similarities in some respects including another autistic protagonist but despite its setting of a future where humanity has spread throughout the solar system and the protagonist kelli reynolds makes her home on one of the moons of jupiter feels far closer to our world this is because the antagonists are not sentient computers but predatory corporations which use generative ai to usurp most of the privileges and roles humans have in society this reaches the point of trademarking every possible iteration of intellectual property and making it illegal for people to create their own entertainment books movies literally any creative endeavor the result is a book which in its way is more horrifying than any godlike ai because it feels almost inevitable kelli reynolds is a script supervisor for the streaming series ship of fools she has helped create many of the characters for this popular show but she does not write the storylines rather she edits what the generative ai spits out and the percentage of input she has on the finished scripts is strictly regulated everything must be bland and inoffensive with no political bias or viewpoints these types of shows are immensely popular because universal basic income has been implemented in the jovian system a necessity since ai has taken most people s jobs and they have nothing else to do but sit home and watch this so called entertainment the masses also get to vote on the directions the storylines take the romances the characters have et cetera the story starts with kelli getting a message from an old girlfriend a trans man who now goes by the name of rowan he wants her help with something at the beginning of the story kelli is more than a little naive and i guess accomodating is the word as we gradually discover something happened in her past that makes her reluctant to make waves she goes with rowan to another jovian moon and from there gets drawn into his life of crime which involves stealing the character kernel of orlando the main character of ship of fools that kelli created there is a parallel timeline running here of kelli and rowan in the present and kelly and rowan s previous identity amelia in the past we gradually read the story of both their autistic queer awakenings as kelli realizes she is gay and rowan realizes he is trans in this future lgbtq people are not quite illegal but they are definitely discouraged from living their full authentic lives this culminates in the suicide of rowan s friend elaine and leads to the incident that breaks kelli and rowan s burgeoning romance elaine had sought therapy from another ai and this tragically failed her it had done the thing the language model always did it had done its level best to erase the truth of people like am and elaine and replace it with the most bland palatable averaged out combination of words that it knew and when elaine needed help with her sexuality and gender or with whatever had happened with oscar or with who knew how many other complicated things the model had erased the truth so hard that it erased her too the people in charge had made it do that on purpose they d made all these laws saying that you couldn t talk about any of this stuff with minors for a reason they d thought it was worth losing a few elaines so that they could keep not talking about it maybe they really believed this was better maybe whatever they feared would happen if they did let people talk about things was awful beyond description but the result was the same either way it wasn t an accident someone somewhere had bloodlessly done that calculation and decided this is the story of kelli throwing off the shackles of her society both mind and body it s also the story of kelli and rowan finding their way back to each other the stakes here are far personal with nary an alien or a galaxy wide threat in sight yet in a way this is more scary than a book of that sort because with all the attacks levied on lgbtq people in the past few years this is a future you can easily see coming to pass and then when you have the terrible corporations like kelli s employer inspiration adding to people s misery in the name of profit all these months she d worked for inspiration so proud of herself so careful to be good rowan had expected her to try to put queer and subversive things into her shows and she d never dared she knew the rules she knew where her righteous anger could lead if it went unchecked after the fire kelli had tried to be good by inspiration s standards she d been good for so long and it didn t matter because inspiration was barely even angry about the fire what really bothered them was that she was a lesbian that she cared about other people like her that she wanted things to change even though the whole time they employed her she d never been brave enough to do a single thing about it the fact that she wanted it was already too much to forgive this book lays down a scenario applicable to its setting but even more to our world that anything short of the full throated acceptance and support of lgbtq people is unacceptable that not accepting them leads to their death either of the body or the spirit that message is never more relevant than now whether or not you like messages in your fiction this book has the worldbuilding and depth of characterization to pull it off it s sharper and more in your face than the author s previous books and it s definitely the kind of story we need view all my reviews posted by bonnie mcdaniel on 6 13 2026 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels book reviews books books read in 2026 goodreads may 25 2026 review hell s heart hell s heart by alexis hall my rating 3 of 5 stars this book is summed up by the tag on the front cover sapphic moby dick in space this is absolutely true and will probably mean more to you if you ve read herman melville s classic original i haven t but at the same time there s so much commentary on moby dick floating around everywhere that i ve managed to absorb a great deal about it simply by osmosis it was published in 1851 and written in the style of that era a slow pace and flowery prose and frequent side jaunts into exposition and downright infodumps especially about whales and whaling and of course we have the famous opening line call me ishmael hell s heart starts with this call me call me whatever the fuck you like isha or isobel io imogen iris ivy this sets the stage for the first person narrator snarky irreverent extremely fucked up susceptible to manipulation yearning for danger both of space and hunting the leviathans the gigantic aliens in the atmosphere of jupiter and a writer very aware of the fact that she s telling what happened to the pequod decades after the destruction of the ship and the deaths of the crew she f...
|
