Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.
Book 23 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We turn to Miles’s cousin Ivan for this entry (Miles is reduced to a cameo role), as he gets drawn into helping refugees from a fallen House, dealing with a heist, and finding a little romance along the way. Another fun romp in the Vorkosigan saga, even if I don’t find Ivan to be quite as strong a character as Miles.
Book 22 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Like the first, it’s cute, but that’s about it. I really think I’d have enjoyed it more if I’d read it when we were both much younger. Not that it’s bad or juvenile, just that it’s, well, lightly humorous fantasy from 1980, and its not going to appeal to me as a 51 year old in 2025 the same way it might have as a tween/teen in the ‘80s.
Book 21 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️ 2003 Hugo Best Novel
A portal is accidentally opened between our Earth and a parallel Earth, where Neanderthals became the dominant human species, bringing one Neanderthal scientist over to our world. Some amusing moments as the scientist comes to grips with the oddities of our world when compared to his. However, I was quite thrown off by the introductions of the two primary female characters: one, in order to dive into water for a rescue attempt, strips down to her underwear, pausing to reflect that she wished she hadn’t donned such a lacy pair that morning; the other is raped at knifepoint. After finishing the book, I have only the vaguest ideas of what either character looked like; one is blonde and beautiful, the other more average. That got the book off on poor footing, and I never really warmed up to it after that. Not what I’ve come to expect from these more recent Hugo winners, and I won’t be continuing on with this series.
Book 20 of 2025: Clarkesworld Issue 223 edited by Neil Clarke: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorite this month was “Still Water” by Zhang Ran, translated by Jay Zhang.
Book 19 of 2025: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Miles heads out to solve a diplomatic crisis that quickly becomes more of a crisis than expected (which, well, of course, that’s how it works, right?). Ties together a lot of threads and brings in long unseen characters from prior books in the series. I continue to be impressed with how consistently enjoyable this series is. Only a few books left before I’m done!
Book 18 of 2025: Polostan by Neal Stephenson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On the one hand, it’s basically all setup — it very much feels like Stephenson wrote another 1,000-plus page opus and the publisher cut it down into more manageable pieces. On the other, if you’re the type who enjoys Stephenson’s 1,000-page plus opuses, it’s captivating and engrossing setup, as he sets the stage with events in 1930s America and the Soviet Union, with his usual digressions and fixations on whatever minutiae have captured his fancy. Hopefully it won’t be too long between volumes, as it’s a minor pity that I can’t just read the full story in one go.
Book 17 of 2025: Requiem by Kevin Ryan and Michael Jan Friedman: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picard gets thrown back in time to Cestus III – just days before the Federation’s disastrous first contact with the Gorn (well, first contact before Strange New Worlds started up…I’m still unclear how they’re reconciling that whole thing, but that’s not for here…). Fleshes out the story of the Cestus III colony in really good ways, with a standard but perfectly acceptable framing story as the Enterprise tries to get Picard back.
Book 16 of 2025: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A hilarious Eurovision-in-space with humanity’s very existence at stake. I love Valente’s near stream-of-consciousness style and descriptions that draw very well deserved comparisons to Douglas Adams. Great, and I’m both looking forward to reading the recently released sequel and seeing Valente at Norwescon in a month.
Book 15 of 2025: Clarkesworld Issue 222 edited by Neil Clarke: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this month were “Pollen” by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman, and “The Sound of the Star” by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang.
Book 14 of 2025: Uncanny Magazine Issue 63 edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this issue were “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills, “Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson, and “Infinite Halves by J.L. Akagi.
