📚 Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

54/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is one of those that, while unquestionably good, was difficult for me to really get into and ultimately just didn’t resonate with me. Impressively (and sometimes depressingly) prescient in some ways, I think that a lot of it was simply too directly relatable to present social and political realities that it was hard for me to enjoy it.

Me holding Forever Peace

📚 The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

39/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1996 Hugo Best Novel

As good as every other time I’ve read it, and I think it’s still my favorite of Stephenson’s novels. “Modern Victorians with ubiquitous nanotechnology create a fancy children’s book” might not sound like that fascinating of a concept, but it definitely is. In addition to the oft-mentioned things about Stephenson’s writing that always work for me but don’t work at all for others — the snark, digressions, and sidetracks — it’s his ability to convey highly technical concepts in understandable form, which is highlighted here in some of the stories that the Primer tells, that has always been a big part of the appeal of this book for me.

Me holding The Diamond Age

📚 Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

36/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1995 Hugo Best Novel

Complex in both story and character, this becomes an excellent exploration of the differing personalities of the Vorkosigan brothers in the midst of military adventure and political maneuvering. As with the rest of the series, it’s Bujold’s ability to craft realistically flawed characters, some in very serious ways, while still making them relatable, believable, and often quite funny, that really makes these stand out. Though most of the books in the series are written to be readable on their own, this is one where I’d definitely recommend reading earlier books first.

Me holding Mirror Dance

📚 Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

22/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1994 Hugo Best Novel

The colonization and terraforming of Mars continues, as does the high quality of Red Mars. Managing to balance the hard sci-fi of the terraforming processes and effects and the associated technological advances with political maneuvering among multiple parties across two planets and the interpersonal conflicts and relationships of multiple generations of Martian residents is no mean feat, and Robinson pulls it off well. Easily as good as the first book, and I’m looking forward to when I get to the next and final book in the trilogy.

Me holding Green Mars

📚 Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

66/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1993 Hugo Best Novel

Technically a time travel book, but the time travel itself is kind of the least important part, little more than a hand-waved MacGuffin necessary to get the characters in the right places. From there, you have the dual stories of near-future and historical pandemics. And, of course, any pandemic-centric tale can’t help but be read somewhat differently now than it would have been five years ago. In some ways, the near-future part seemed rather prescient, referring to a prior flu pandemic that would have hit in the mid-2010s, only about a decade off from our COVID reality, or the presence of protesters blaming the government; in others, it now seems sadly naïve (now that we know that most people’s reaction to a pandemic too quickly turns to “meh” or outright denial rather than taking it seriously). Both stories are excellently handled, often with a subtle dry humor in the “present day” portion balancing the tragedies of the historical portion.

Me holding Doomsday Book

📚 A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

62/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1993 Hugo Best Novel

This definitely holds up, and I really enjoyed re-reading it. From the concept of various zones where FTL travel (and higher technologies) are possible as they get further away from the center of the galaxy, to the exploration of group intelligence with the Tines (packs of dog-like creatures that are singular sentient entities when in packs of 4-6), it’s a really excellent read.

Me holding A Fire Upon the Deep

📚 The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

54/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1991 Hugo Best Novel

Miles’s adventures continue, with all the twists, fun characters, double-crosses, and humor that make this series so enjoyable. The adventure is fun, but it really is the characters and how they relate to each other that impress the most. Four books in, and so far the only disappointment is that I didn’t find this series earlier.

Me holding The Vor Game

📚 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

46/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1992 Hugo Best Novel

Really good continuation of the story from Shards of Honor, even beginning the day after the earlier book ended. Bujold manages to create fascinating, sometimes relatable, and often very flawed characters, and to craft a world that’s an interesting mix of almost medieval feudalism and future technology. For a series I didn’t know anything about and initially approached with a little skepticism, I’m definitely understanding why it got the awards and the good words it has from many of my friends.

Me holding Barrayar