Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.
Book 47 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ordered this just after it won the Best Graphic Novel Hugo award this year. The combination of choose-your-own-adventure plotting and Lower Decks humor works really well. Lots of humor and various Trek callbacks, but with some surprisingly dark moments as well, all leading to a fittingly Trek-ish end. Much fun!
Book 45 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My favorites this month were “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro, “The Walled Garden” by Fiona Moore (another of her excellent Morag stories), “Welcome to Kearney” by Gary Kloster, and “Hunter Harvester” by Bam Bruin.
Book 44 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rather amusingly, this is the second of two consecutive TNG novels with a piracy theme. This one is much better, because it doesn’t have a Ferengi speaking like they learned English from Disney’s Long John Silver. Otherwise, a perfectly serviceable TNG adventure; nothing really stands out for good or ill.
Book 43 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fun story with a definite anarchistic political sensibility about a group of people (some human, some…less so), trapped on a cursed train…oh, and it’s smut, so there’s lots of explicit sex. One of Iron Circus’s standalone erotic graphic novels, outside of their Smut Peddler line, but with the same gender/sexuality/ability/body type inclusivity that they focus on.
Book 42 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Collects Fugitive Telemetry and System Collapse.)
The final two Murderbot novellas (so far), though the novel Network Effect takes place between them, so I read the first half of this book, paused to read the novel, and came back to finish this off. As good as the rest, and Murderbot and ART make such a good pair of characters.
Book 41 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
These are just so good. Kidnapping, rescues, mysterious ships and colonies, and all with Murderbot’s eternally exasperated outlook on the humans around it…who for some reason, keep causing it to have to deal with emotions. The first novel in the series gets a slightly grander scope and cast of characters, but still easily holds true to the heart of it all.
Book 40 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another very short glimpse into the world around Murderbot. Brief as it is, I really liked the look at how Mensah is dealing with the trauma and PTSD of her experiences, and how Murderbot is integrating into its new situation. They way these two are relying on each other is really nice.
Book 39 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Collects Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy.)
Brings the overall arc of the first four Murderbot novellas to a close, as Murderbot continues to investigate the circumstances behind the events of All Systems Red, and learns ever more about itself in the process. Really satisfying, and even as a neurotypical person (as far as I know, at least), it’s all too easy to identify with Murderbot’s confusion and irritation with human behavior.
Book 38 of 2025: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A short story in the Murderbot universe, but without Murderbot, instead following one of the other characters. Answers some of the outstanding questions about this character in very interesting ways, but I suspect there is much more coming later in the series.
