The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Greywalker Kay Richardson, 2006 Premise: Harper is a PI with a fairly average life, until a violent attack leaves her briefly, well, dead. Her experience leaves her with lingering symptoms: she sees and feels things that don't seem to be there. Oof. this is slightly awkward. Greywalker has been on my to-read list for a while now. The series was highly recommended by a friend, and the author is local to my new home. I picked up a cheap copy months ago, and it was the first one to hand when I decided I should actually start reading the books I bought over the last year. Unfortunately, it didn't really click for me. It wasn't one thing, just a series of little hiccups. It came out in 2006, and it feels modern except that characters keep talking about pagers. Pagers. All the time pagers, and going to the office to check messages. The word just dates it in a particularly awkward way. As a lifelong fantasy/SF fan, an author has to work much harder to get me to sympat...

The Forever War Joe Haldeman, 1974 Hugo Award Winner - 1976 Premise: William Mandella is drafted into the first interstellar war. Time dilation and changing cultures make for an experience unlike, yet still akin to, all wars that came before. I remember liking this book much more when I first read it, 6-8 years back. Perhaps this is one book that is slightly hampered by knowing its place in history, or perhaps just time is marching on. The aspect of the book that I remembered liking the most - the effect of the time jumps on the characters - was still very strong. The war in question is a difficult, nearly impossible war to fight or to understand. Every time a ship goes through a jump, time dilation means that dozens or hundreds of years will pass for the ‘outside’ world. This means everything you rely on to give your side an edge in combat, including information or technological advantage or strategic goals may have changed by the next time you see normal space, and there’...

Jaran Kate Elliott, 1992 (ebook released 2013) New ebook version - Free copy for review provided by NetGalley Premise: Tess Soerensen isn’t sure what to do. Out of school, out of a bad romantic entanglement, she isn’t looking forward to going home where her powerful brother can use her talents in his schemes. She thinks about giving herself a bit of time to assess her options on a backwater world she loved as a child. However, other people’s plans mean that she very quickly has to make a series of decisions that may affect not only the direction of her life, but the role of humanity in the galaxy. I was surprised when I saw that this book was written in the 90’s. It may have a few artifacts of that time, but I’m glad it’s being re-released in ebook for a new generation. I found this book charming and highly engaging. I’ve seen this cited in a few places as a coming-of-age book, but what it is, is a finding-oneself book. (Which I far prefer at this point in my life!) Tess ...