Tak! reviewed Dual Memory by Sue Burke
Sue Burke, author of the acclaimed novel Semiosis , returns with Dual Memory, a standalone …
Dual Memory
4 stars
Dual Memory was good, but it didn't fascinate me the way that Semiosis did.
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Tak! commented on The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
The #SFFBookClub selection for May 2025
Tak! reviewed Bunny: A Novel by Mona Awad
Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA …
Bunny
2 stars
A kafkaesque nightmare, a 200-page lsd trip, Fight Club for lit majors
Tak! reviewed Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky
Roadside Picnic is set in the aftermath of an extraterrestrial event called the Visitation that …
Roadside Picnic
3 stars
Roadside Picnic reads like a love letter to functional alcoholism.
The basic premise is that there were a series of isolated visitations to earth by unknown aliens, who subsequently fucked off and never came back. However, the places where they visited are now strewn with various items and phenomena that behave inexplicably to modern science, in ways that are often extremely dangerous to humans.
In addition to scientists coming to study the visitation zones, this also results in a black market for harvested technology, with people ("stalkers") sneaking in to exfiltrate things at great personal risk.
It's clear that this is if nothing else a spiritual predecessor to Annihilation. Everything is focused around the weird and often brutally inscrutable, with no explanation required or given. It definitely shows its age (and possibly cultural origin), especially in terms of attitudes about gender roles.
The translation was very good imo. I was …
Roadside Picnic reads like a love letter to functional alcoholism.
The basic premise is that there were a series of isolated visitations to earth by unknown aliens, who subsequently fucked off and never came back. However, the places where they visited are now strewn with various items and phenomena that behave inexplicably to modern science, in ways that are often extremely dangerous to humans.
In addition to scientists coming to study the visitation zones, this also results in a black market for harvested technology, with people ("stalkers") sneaking in to exfiltrate things at great personal risk.
It's clear that this is if nothing else a spiritual predecessor to Annihilation. Everything is focused around the weird and often brutally inscrutable, with no explanation required or given. It definitely shows its age (and possibly cultural origin), especially in terms of attitudes about gender roles.
The translation was very good imo. I was a little apprehensive after having read a terrible translation of Metro 2033, but no complaints on that front.
Tak! reviewed Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
Atlas Alone is a 2019 science fiction novel by British writer Emma Newman. It was …
Atlas Alone
5 stars
Newman keeps me guessing as usual.
After Atlas follows Dee, an ancillary character from After Atlas, in her quest to figure out what the hell is going on.
This one gets very dark, but it's wonderfully written, and I devoured it.
Tak! reviewed The Dragonfly Gambit by A. D. Sui
Nearly ten years after Inez Kato sustained a career-ending injury during a military exercise gone …
The Dragonfly Gambit
4 stars
Short, sharp, clever, and weirdly horny
Tak! reviewed Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes
A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space …
Ghost Station
5 stars
A psychologist volunteers to join a small research and exploration team on an extraplanetary mission, drama ensues.
Ghost Station reminds me of Before Mars in a number of ways, the most important being that I really enjoyed it and it kept me guessing.
Now I'm off to go find something else by S.A. Barnes
Tak! commented on Countess by Suzan Palumbo
A queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial sci-fi novella, inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, in which …
I really dig the premise, but the execution bothered me a lot. Maybe they were just trying to do too much in a novella length, or maybe it's just me, but everything just felt rushed and clumsy. 🤷
Tak! commented on Drystone by Kristie De Garis
What’s that I see at the top of my reading pile?
Oh, NBD, just a copy of my book. Not its final form, but still, the first time I've held it in my hands.
A tangible version of something that’s existed in more abstract, emotional, and digital forms for years.
mastodon.scot/users/kristiedegaris/statuses/114319100705199265
Tak! commented on After Atlas by Emma Newman (Planetfall, #2)
"Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating universe she created in Planetfall with a …
I am so mad at this series for normalizing "gov-corp" in my brain 😡
Tak! reviewed After Atlas by Emma Newman (Planetfall, #2)
"Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating universe she created in Planetfall with a …
After Atlas
5 stars
Although set in the Planetfall universe, After Atlas is a crime novel that reminded me strongly of Stross's Halting State.
Carlos Moreno is the left-behind son of one of the Atlas passengers from Planetfall, and is now an investigator for the ministry of justice. The plot revolves around his investigation of a high-profile murder with Atlas connections.
There are strong themes around surveillance capitalism tech dystopia, coercion and slavery, and childhood trauma.
Tak! commented on After Atlas by Emma Newman (Planetfall, #2)
"Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating universe she created in Planetfall with a …
Really highlighting how annoying and disturbing ubiquitous ar/vr and "virtual assistants" would be in our existing capitalist hellscape
Tak! reviewed Planetfall by Emma Newman
One secret withheld to protect humanity’s future might be its undoing…
Renata Ghali believed in …
Planetfall
5 stars
omg this is a gem, and I've slept on it for ten years!
Planetfall is a scifi novel about space exploration, community, betrayal, and mental illness, in no particular order. It's superbly written, and the characters are deep and complex, and the gradual unpacking of the narrative is masterful.
Close whatever you're reading this on and go read Planetfall!
Tak! commented on Countess by Suzan Palumbo
A queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial sci-fi novella, inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, in which …
The #SFFBookClub pick for April 2025
Tak! commented on These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein
Security expert Dora left her anarchist commune over safety concerns. But when her ex-girlfriend Kay …
Content warning big spoiler
The clone sex scene is wild (in concept, not in content), it caught me completely off guard