digitalbusker started reading In the ocean of night by Gregory Benford (Quantum science fiction)
Reading a 2004 paperback I picked up at the library book sale last April.
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digitalbusker finished reading The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for …
digitalbusker reviewed The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
Well now I'm thirsty
4 stars
This was a lot of fun. Good twists, good reveals, and an interesting cast. There are a few things I would like to have spelled out for me, but I expect most of them are things I could theoretically understand on a reread. And I want to try some of those cocktails. Especially if I can get ahold of some Lunacy gin. ("They don't export it!")
digitalbusker quoted The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
Content warning Spoilers for The Spare Man.
"What happened to the dog on the magazine cover?" Tesla had a sudden fear that the fake Haldan had had him put to sleep. "Died of old age at fifteen last year."
— The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal (Page 343)
I knew going in that Tesla's dog was going to be okay, because Kowal assured us it was so. I did not realize the Mary Robinette Kowal Dog Safety Guarantee™️ also covered dogs who are only mentioned briefly, but I'm not surprised. :)
digitalbusker quoted The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
"If they produced the transporter that they have been promising since the middle of last century?"
— The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal (Page 305)
I had been vague about the time setting of this book, and initially assumed this bit of magician's patter implied something in the 2100s, but later on we find out it's 2075, so this dingus is literally talking about Star Trek. (Or whatever the Meteorverse equivalent is.) [Edited to fix the date.]
digitalbusker quoted The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
The second gun wrapper rolled between her fingers to become a makeshift wire and her breath smelled amazing. She tied the wrapper in and reached for the battery pack as if she had never stopped being an engineer.
— The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal (Page 281)
MacGyver theme intensifies
digitalbusker quoted The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
Wisor's voice dripped with arrogant satisfaction. "Suicide is not uncommon with murder suspects. Well, then. It seems we have no choice but to restrain him in sick bay. For his own safety, of course."
— The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal (Page 100)
I think I've been reading the wrong kind of spaceship books, because zero percent of my brain is working on the mystery and 100% is planning how to hijack the ship and start spacing anyone who's ever been mean to Mx. Crane's spouse or dog. (Paging passengers Vorkosigan and Murderbot to the white courtesy phone....)
digitalbusker quoted The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
"I can't keep order--" Fantine talked over him, because she couldn't hear him yet.
— The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, Mary Robinette Kowal (Page 41)
I appreciate all the layers of out-of-touch Kowal is putting on this guy. Archaic language and not matching everybody else's pronoun norms to start, then follow up with the repeated spectacle of this guy not remembering time lag despite being the chief of security on a goddamn long haul spaceship.
digitalbusker started reading The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in …
Happy to continue my tradition of getting the new Meteorverse book for Christmas. I'm reading the 2022 Tor trade paperback.
digitalbusker reviewed Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
Fun, odd
4 stars
In the end note Sanderson talks about The Princess Bride and Good Omens as tone goals for this, and mostly that says to me that he hasn't read Stardust. I do tend to like adventure stories that subvert some of the genre's problematic tropes and occasionally pause to point that out. Having Hoid serve both as the limited-omniscient narrator and a non-viewpoint character in the narrative was distracting sometimes, especially towards the end when Hoid was becoming more integral to the plot. Hopefully when we get more books in Hoid's voice he'll be the main character. This was a nice palate cleanser after finishing Mistborn era 2.
digitalbusker quoted Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
Content warning Spoilers for Tress of the Emerald Sea
I've been envious of that look for centuries now, and have been aiming to adopt it. In fact, that is what this has all been about. But I get ahead of myself.
— Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1) (89%)
Damnit, Hoid, did you get yourself cursed trying to become an Elantrian? (As I transcribe this after actually finishing the book: yes that's exactly what happened.)
digitalbusker quoted Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
I doubt she's capable of killing me--though she thinks she can.
— Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1) (84%)
I wonder why Ulaam is so confident here. Do the future kandra not have spikes to remove anymore?
digitalbusker quoted Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
Oh yes. I've said those words. I said them with sixteen other people, in fact.
— Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1) (83%)
One day maybe we'll know what led them to say "I don't trust you to make your own decisions" to Adonalsium.
digitalbusker quoted Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
Content warning Minor spoilers for Mistborn era 2.
Don't wake me up unless Death himself has shown up, nails in his eyes.
— Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1) (78%)
*waves at Marsh
digitalbusker quoted Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1)
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has …
Content warning Spoilers for Mistborn era 1.
That stupid shapeshifter was enjoying this. I swear, they've all been getting weirder ever since Sazed released them.
— Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (Secret Projects, #1) (64%)
Nice to have confirmation that Ulaam is a kandra. Also, I forget whether we know how far in the Cosmere future this story is, but I know it's a ways, and I expect this tidbit about Sazed will turn out to be foreshadowing something, someday.