3.1

3.1 books read.

1st up, "Usurpation" by Sue Burke, 2024, 314 pages, 97k words. Book 3 of the Semiosis series. I enjoyed the other 2 OK, with some reservations. This 1 was a bit slow starting, then once it got moving, a 15 year jump to the future. The author says the pacing is odd due to the main narrator being a very long-lived, immobile, intelligent plant.

Next, our 0.1 book: "The Wood at Midwinter" by Susanna Clarke, 2024, 64 pages, 3k words, illustrated. A tiny, cute little story about a saintly girl whose best friends are dogs, a pig, and a woods. A very simple story, I completely forgot how it ended. So i took 10 minutes & read it again. At $10.99 for the eBook, not much of an entertainment value.

3rdly, "The Mercy of Gods" by James S. A. Corey, 2024, 385 pages, 119k words. Book 1 of The Captive's War series. Incredibly powerful aliens with various client races show up and overrun a human world, taking prisoners to see if a use can be found for humanity.

These guys write well, but I must take exception with some of the chapter endings early on.

Chapter 1:

Later, when he stood in the eye of a storm that burned a thousand worlds, he’d remember how it all started with Else Yannin’s hand on his arm and his need to give her a reason to keep it there.

Chapter 4:

Later, it would seem like a premonition.

I would characterize this as cheesy, heavy-handed foreshadowing. These guys are better writers than this. This is an editing failure. Both those sentences could be deleted & everyone would be better off for it.

Lastly, a novella set in the world of the previous story: "Livesuits" by James S. A. Corey, 2024, 70 pages, 21k words. A different take than the novel, with humans fighting back. It has a very "Starship Troopers" kind of feel. Kind of an "Oh no!" ending. I liked how these authors used these shorter works to flesh out their universe in The Expanse, I think this is a good technique.

Well as short as that last 1 was, the post title probably should have been "2.4" instead of "3.1".