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Books 2018
6 years ago
A little late, but I've had a lot going on the past couple of months.
All the furry-interest books have at least a brief write-up. I did write-ups on some on the non-furry books if I had something to say about them. For the non-reviewed ones, just go by the rating to get an idea if I thought it was worth reading.
Books are arranged in absolutely no meaningful order.
Furry
***The Moons of Barsk by Lawrence M. Schoen
The second book in (I guess a trilogy) about far future anthros, who have colonized space and different planets. The elephants are confined to the planet Barsk because all the other anthros hate them (because they remind the others of humans.) If you read the first book it’s worth it to read this one. If not, there’s better books on the list.
***The Ghost and its Shadow by Shaun Kick
Saltwater crocodiles Down Under, as an albino hatchling struggles to survive and fulfill his destiny.
****The Gryphon Generation by Alexander Bizzell
A contemporary slice-of-life story (technically near-future, due to laboratory-created gryphons, but for all intents and purposes it’s contemporary). Newly-created gryphons try to integrate into human society in the American south, including the first married human/gryphon couple. The pair face opposition from religious extremists and receive help from other gryphons and sympathetic humans.
****The Dragon Dreamer & Dragon Lightning by J. S. Burke
The first two books of a series, this is the first time I’ve come across something with an octopus as a lead character in addition to the dragons. It’s actually a neat couple of books, and it was refreshing to read about two different cultures making first contact and not immediately fighting. The main antagonist in the books is nature itself, such as a volcano, or the lack of a certain metal the dragons need to survive. The author knows about undersea life and the books are great for anyone interested in undersea xenofiction.
***Podkin One-ear (Longburrow Book 1) by Kieran Larwood
A Redwall-ish type story about bunnies fighting a demonic bunny army. Although written for younger audiences, it wasn’t that bad. Part two is already out, which I should get around to reading this year.
*****Vincent and the Dissidents (The Enlightenment Adventures 2) by Christopher Locke
The continuation of the Enlightenment adventures, about two different groups of (animal) animal rights activists. The first group, led by a raccoon, wants to rescue animals and is committed to nonviolence (and vegetarianism). The second group, led by a mink escaped from a fur farm, wants to liberate animals and kill all the humans. This book follows the rescue of some dogs used in dog-fighting, and roaster chickens in a factory farm. Like pretty much all of the ‘animals gain sentience” books and comics, this glosses over the problem faced by obligate carnivores ( briefly touched on with carnivores saying they only eat already dead animals.) Still, an entertaining read.
**A Pigeon’s Tale by S. A. Mahan
I thought this was going to be just another talking animal book about pigeons, but instead turned out to be a strange mix of talking animals meets an apocalyptic religious retelling of Noah’s Ark. Ok then…
***Sword of the Alliance (Alysha Forrest 3) by M. C. A. Hogarth
Another volume in the SF “pelted” series, this follows a Fleet officer who returns to her home planet only to find it suffering from an undisclosed civil war. Although this is officially part of the Alysha Forrest series, she doesn’t do much until the very end, and the book is mostly about the officer on the planet. Like author’s other books in the series, there’s a lot of talking about politics, careers, personal expectations and planetary sovereignty.
*****Small World (The Kanti Cycle 2) by Gre7g Luterman
A direct sequel to Skeleton Crew, this follows the protagonist of that story as he and a hapless group of geroo are ‘volunteered’ to be a live-in cleaning crew for their draconic overlord (who let his last crew starve to death). They face the planet’s toxic atmosphere, food shortages and treachery among their own in a job that lasts for a lifetime.
****Reaper’s Lottery by Gre7g Luterman
Using the same setting as the Kanti Cycle books, this is a whodunit about a female geroo who has to solve a murder in order to clear her friend. The search ends up uncovering deep secrets and costs more than she can imagine.
*****Eyrie by K. Vale Nagle
Mammal-based gryphons (who have lion-type front paws) live a pastoral hunter-gather lifestyle, while colorful bird-based opinici (who have bird-like front legs), live in crowded city-eyries, clash over territory and resources, in this first book of a series.
*****Mark of the Conifer by L.K.D. Jennings
Talking dinosaurs in the Cretaceous fight against a renegade group that has learned to use fire. Well researched and very enjoyable (except for the use of ‘paw’ for dinosaur feet. Call’em ‘feet’ or ‘talons’ or ‘toes,’ but ‘paw’ is generally a mammal-only term.)
****The Starward Light and Other Tales by Jess E. Owen
Three short stories set in the Summer King world. If you’re familiar with the original series, then these are a good read that explores what happens next to some of the main characters.
****Dogs of War by Adrian Tchiakovsky
This has the familiar trope of anthros being created for war, and then forced to adapt to society when they’re no longer needed for war. However, the author is excellent and the book is definitely worth reading.
***The Demon and the Fox (Calatians 2) by Tim Susman
The second book in the series about magically created anthros (the Calatians of the title), this takes place in the early 1800’s in an alternate America where the revolution didn’t happen and magic is real. The fox is the first Calatian to be accepted into a magical college, and this volume follows his continuing education. Any magical school book will of course evoke Harry Potter, and this has it’s parallels (the fox’s otter friend as Ron Weasley, the only woman student as Hermione, a nasty bully antagonist like Draco, and so on.) As I think I mentioned in my review of the first volume, this magical school is really boring compared to Hogwarts, but it’s mostly just a backdrop for the ‘talented outsider who has to prove himself against unreasoning prejudice’ trope. This second volume gets more into politics, as the American Revolution looms on the horizon and the fox has to decide which side he will take.
SF
*****Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This was a great book. It tells dual stories of humans on a generational ship heading towards a terraformed planet to colonize it, and the evolution of the earth creatures left on it. The terraformers had intended for monkeys to evolve civilization and make the world ready for the human colonizers. Through a series of unplanned events, the creatures that ended up gaining sentience were jumping spiders and mantis shrimp (although the book just follows the spiders). There’s a sequel being released later this year that I eagerly look forward to.
*****Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe 2) by Neal Shusterman
The second in the excellent trilogy about apprentice death-dealers in a computer-controlled utopia, where nobody dies unless they are ‘gleaned’ by the sanctioned killers, the Scythes. The corruption that has infiltrated the Scythes becomes more widespread, with unexpected consequences for the whole world.
****Phasma (Star Wars) by Delilah S. Dawson
I usually read one or two Star Wars novelizations a year. The second Thrawn book was disappointing (still hoping the third book is better) but this one was surprisingly good. Covering the early years of the woefully under-utilized Phasma character from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, it really made me wish they’d made a movie about her instead.
***Hell Divers III: Deliverance & Hell Divers IV: Wolves by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
***Relic by Alan Dean Foster
***Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick
****Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey
**Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn
**StarToucher by C.J. Odle
Fantasy
****Dragonsgate: Preludes and Omens (Bitterwood 6) by James Maxey
****Entwell Origins: Anya (Book of Deacon) by Joseph Lallo
***The Redemption of Desmeres (Book of Deacon) by Joseph Lallo
**Threadbare Volume 1: Stuff and Nonsense by Andrew Seiple
****The Clocktaur Wars books 1 & 2 (The Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine) by Ursula Vernon.
***Under the Healing Sign (Crossroads 2) by Nick O’Donohoe
Thriller
***Meg: Generations by Steve Alten
This is a monumentally ridiculous series (from a scientific if not literary standpoint) but I can’t deny that I keep reading it. Once again aquatic prehistoric creatures run amok, defying the laws of nature and reason to eat their way through the cast. If you like to read about people getting eaten, this book has it in spades. In addition to evolutionary impossibilities (mammals and reptiles re-evolving gills) there were also some unbelievable medical happenings: A character with cancer was literally minutes from dying, but is completely cured by immune-therapy at the last second, only to fall into a coma for a year or so, only to be cured by an expert acupuncturist from China, and recovers so well she’s piloting an underwater sub by the end of the book. What’s really sad is I’ll probably end up reading the next book in this series in spite of how dumb they are.
**Hybrid by Marshall Smith
***Looking Glass (Naturalist 2) by Andrew Mayne
****The Outsider by Stephen King
Misc
****Hell on Earth by Philip Palmer
I generally don’t read urban fantasy, but I really liked this author’s Debatable Space series, so I decided to give it a try. This was an epic length book, about a jaded cop in a London where portals from Hell opened up some years ago, allowing invasions of hell creatures. An uneasy truce developed when the creatures were stopped by sorcerers, with most of the hell refugees confined to a ghetto district in the city. The story follows the cop as he tries to catch a serial killer, which leads him and his team on a complex trail in directions he couldn’t imagine. Definitely not a casual read-type book, but if you’re sick of paranormal romance type urban fantasy, this is definitely a change of pace.
*****Lawless series: Cut Up Girl, Big Ape, Victory by James Maxey
A pastiche of the superhero genre, this was a surprisingly entertaining series, about the life and loves of some dysfunctional superheroes. These super heroes are not for kids. Cut Up Girl’s power is she can create a clone of herself when she cuts off a limb (which instantly reappears), and then she can explode the clone as a living bomb. But she also uses the clones as part of threesomes with various boyfriends, and then ends up living in a lesbian relationship with one. Big Ape is part human and part chimpanzee with super-strength, and he does his share of sleeping around too. It’s all kind of silly but was a lot of fun to read.
***Munmun by Jesse Andrews
This was a weird book, but if you’re into macro/micro stuff then you should definitely check it out. In this world, your financial status literally decides how big you are physically. “Littlepoor” people are the size of rats (and often get preyed on by cats). The “Bigrich” are giants, with a whole range of sizes in between. The book follows the fortunes and misfortunes (and accompanying size changes) of two littlepoor siblings. Obviously the whole book is a metaphor for class struggle in our world, and there’s no real scientific explanation of how this size thing works, but if you can get past that then it’s an interesting read.
**The Wildlands by Abby Geni
***Elevation by Stephen King
All the furry-interest books have at least a brief write-up. I did write-ups on some on the non-furry books if I had something to say about them. For the non-reviewed ones, just go by the rating to get an idea if I thought it was worth reading.
Books are arranged in absolutely no meaningful order.
Furry
***The Moons of Barsk by Lawrence M. Schoen
The second book in (I guess a trilogy) about far future anthros, who have colonized space and different planets. The elephants are confined to the planet Barsk because all the other anthros hate them (because they remind the others of humans.) If you read the first book it’s worth it to read this one. If not, there’s better books on the list.
***The Ghost and its Shadow by Shaun Kick
Saltwater crocodiles Down Under, as an albino hatchling struggles to survive and fulfill his destiny.
****The Gryphon Generation by Alexander Bizzell
A contemporary slice-of-life story (technically near-future, due to laboratory-created gryphons, but for all intents and purposes it’s contemporary). Newly-created gryphons try to integrate into human society in the American south, including the first married human/gryphon couple. The pair face opposition from religious extremists and receive help from other gryphons and sympathetic humans.
****The Dragon Dreamer & Dragon Lightning by J. S. Burke
The first two books of a series, this is the first time I’ve come across something with an octopus as a lead character in addition to the dragons. It’s actually a neat couple of books, and it was refreshing to read about two different cultures making first contact and not immediately fighting. The main antagonist in the books is nature itself, such as a volcano, or the lack of a certain metal the dragons need to survive. The author knows about undersea life and the books are great for anyone interested in undersea xenofiction.
***Podkin One-ear (Longburrow Book 1) by Kieran Larwood
A Redwall-ish type story about bunnies fighting a demonic bunny army. Although written for younger audiences, it wasn’t that bad. Part two is already out, which I should get around to reading this year.
*****Vincent and the Dissidents (The Enlightenment Adventures 2) by Christopher Locke
The continuation of the Enlightenment adventures, about two different groups of (animal) animal rights activists. The first group, led by a raccoon, wants to rescue animals and is committed to nonviolence (and vegetarianism). The second group, led by a mink escaped from a fur farm, wants to liberate animals and kill all the humans. This book follows the rescue of some dogs used in dog-fighting, and roaster chickens in a factory farm. Like pretty much all of the ‘animals gain sentience” books and comics, this glosses over the problem faced by obligate carnivores ( briefly touched on with carnivores saying they only eat already dead animals.) Still, an entertaining read.
**A Pigeon’s Tale by S. A. Mahan
I thought this was going to be just another talking animal book about pigeons, but instead turned out to be a strange mix of talking animals meets an apocalyptic religious retelling of Noah’s Ark. Ok then…
***Sword of the Alliance (Alysha Forrest 3) by M. C. A. Hogarth
Another volume in the SF “pelted” series, this follows a Fleet officer who returns to her home planet only to find it suffering from an undisclosed civil war. Although this is officially part of the Alysha Forrest series, she doesn’t do much until the very end, and the book is mostly about the officer on the planet. Like author’s other books in the series, there’s a lot of talking about politics, careers, personal expectations and planetary sovereignty.
*****Small World (The Kanti Cycle 2) by Gre7g Luterman
A direct sequel to Skeleton Crew, this follows the protagonist of that story as he and a hapless group of geroo are ‘volunteered’ to be a live-in cleaning crew for their draconic overlord (who let his last crew starve to death). They face the planet’s toxic atmosphere, food shortages and treachery among their own in a job that lasts for a lifetime.
****Reaper’s Lottery by Gre7g Luterman
Using the same setting as the Kanti Cycle books, this is a whodunit about a female geroo who has to solve a murder in order to clear her friend. The search ends up uncovering deep secrets and costs more than she can imagine.
*****Eyrie by K. Vale Nagle
Mammal-based gryphons (who have lion-type front paws) live a pastoral hunter-gather lifestyle, while colorful bird-based opinici (who have bird-like front legs), live in crowded city-eyries, clash over territory and resources, in this first book of a series.
*****Mark of the Conifer by L.K.D. Jennings
Talking dinosaurs in the Cretaceous fight against a renegade group that has learned to use fire. Well researched and very enjoyable (except for the use of ‘paw’ for dinosaur feet. Call’em ‘feet’ or ‘talons’ or ‘toes,’ but ‘paw’ is generally a mammal-only term.)
****The Starward Light and Other Tales by Jess E. Owen
Three short stories set in the Summer King world. If you’re familiar with the original series, then these are a good read that explores what happens next to some of the main characters.
****Dogs of War by Adrian Tchiakovsky
This has the familiar trope of anthros being created for war, and then forced to adapt to society when they’re no longer needed for war. However, the author is excellent and the book is definitely worth reading.
***The Demon and the Fox (Calatians 2) by Tim Susman
The second book in the series about magically created anthros (the Calatians of the title), this takes place in the early 1800’s in an alternate America where the revolution didn’t happen and magic is real. The fox is the first Calatian to be accepted into a magical college, and this volume follows his continuing education. Any magical school book will of course evoke Harry Potter, and this has it’s parallels (the fox’s otter friend as Ron Weasley, the only woman student as Hermione, a nasty bully antagonist like Draco, and so on.) As I think I mentioned in my review of the first volume, this magical school is really boring compared to Hogwarts, but it’s mostly just a backdrop for the ‘talented outsider who has to prove himself against unreasoning prejudice’ trope. This second volume gets more into politics, as the American Revolution looms on the horizon and the fox has to decide which side he will take.
SF
*****Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This was a great book. It tells dual stories of humans on a generational ship heading towards a terraformed planet to colonize it, and the evolution of the earth creatures left on it. The terraformers had intended for monkeys to evolve civilization and make the world ready for the human colonizers. Through a series of unplanned events, the creatures that ended up gaining sentience were jumping spiders and mantis shrimp (although the book just follows the spiders). There’s a sequel being released later this year that I eagerly look forward to.
*****Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe 2) by Neal Shusterman
The second in the excellent trilogy about apprentice death-dealers in a computer-controlled utopia, where nobody dies unless they are ‘gleaned’ by the sanctioned killers, the Scythes. The corruption that has infiltrated the Scythes becomes more widespread, with unexpected consequences for the whole world.
****Phasma (Star Wars) by Delilah S. Dawson
I usually read one or two Star Wars novelizations a year. The second Thrawn book was disappointing (still hoping the third book is better) but this one was surprisingly good. Covering the early years of the woefully under-utilized Phasma character from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, it really made me wish they’d made a movie about her instead.
***Hell Divers III: Deliverance & Hell Divers IV: Wolves by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
***Relic by Alan Dean Foster
***Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick
****Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey
**Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn
**StarToucher by C.J. Odle
Fantasy
****Dragonsgate: Preludes and Omens (Bitterwood 6) by James Maxey
****Entwell Origins: Anya (Book of Deacon) by Joseph Lallo
***The Redemption of Desmeres (Book of Deacon) by Joseph Lallo
**Threadbare Volume 1: Stuff and Nonsense by Andrew Seiple
****The Clocktaur Wars books 1 & 2 (The Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine) by Ursula Vernon.
***Under the Healing Sign (Crossroads 2) by Nick O’Donohoe
Thriller
***Meg: Generations by Steve Alten
This is a monumentally ridiculous series (from a scientific if not literary standpoint) but I can’t deny that I keep reading it. Once again aquatic prehistoric creatures run amok, defying the laws of nature and reason to eat their way through the cast. If you like to read about people getting eaten, this book has it in spades. In addition to evolutionary impossibilities (mammals and reptiles re-evolving gills) there were also some unbelievable medical happenings: A character with cancer was literally minutes from dying, but is completely cured by immune-therapy at the last second, only to fall into a coma for a year or so, only to be cured by an expert acupuncturist from China, and recovers so well she’s piloting an underwater sub by the end of the book. What’s really sad is I’ll probably end up reading the next book in this series in spite of how dumb they are.
**Hybrid by Marshall Smith
***Looking Glass (Naturalist 2) by Andrew Mayne
****The Outsider by Stephen King
Misc
****Hell on Earth by Philip Palmer
I generally don’t read urban fantasy, but I really liked this author’s Debatable Space series, so I decided to give it a try. This was an epic length book, about a jaded cop in a London where portals from Hell opened up some years ago, allowing invasions of hell creatures. An uneasy truce developed when the creatures were stopped by sorcerers, with most of the hell refugees confined to a ghetto district in the city. The story follows the cop as he tries to catch a serial killer, which leads him and his team on a complex trail in directions he couldn’t imagine. Definitely not a casual read-type book, but if you’re sick of paranormal romance type urban fantasy, this is definitely a change of pace.
*****Lawless series: Cut Up Girl, Big Ape, Victory by James Maxey
A pastiche of the superhero genre, this was a surprisingly entertaining series, about the life and loves of some dysfunctional superheroes. These super heroes are not for kids. Cut Up Girl’s power is she can create a clone of herself when she cuts off a limb (which instantly reappears), and then she can explode the clone as a living bomb. But she also uses the clones as part of threesomes with various boyfriends, and then ends up living in a lesbian relationship with one. Big Ape is part human and part chimpanzee with super-strength, and he does his share of sleeping around too. It’s all kind of silly but was a lot of fun to read.
***Munmun by Jesse Andrews
This was a weird book, but if you’re into macro/micro stuff then you should definitely check it out. In this world, your financial status literally decides how big you are physically. “Littlepoor” people are the size of rats (and often get preyed on by cats). The “Bigrich” are giants, with a whole range of sizes in between. The book follows the fortunes and misfortunes (and accompanying size changes) of two littlepoor siblings. Obviously the whole book is a metaphor for class struggle in our world, and there’s no real scientific explanation of how this size thing works, but if you can get past that then it’s an interesting read.
**The Wildlands by Abby Geni
***Elevation by Stephen King
Related note, go watch I Am Dragon if you can find it. It's a Twilight-inspired paranormal romance movie but by far the best of the lot. If still silly in areas.