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This is probably one of the most fucked up, horrific books I've read. And I have read a decent amount of splatterpunk. Felt like a twisted mix between Cyberpunk and Dante's Inferno. We are following three people's point of view, and the book is sectioned off into three POV parts respectively, each longer than the last. Nicholas is a biongineer, or an engineer that creates biological constructs, who has fallen on hard times and is interested in finding the mysterious "Quin", a renowned biongineer who has created numerous "meerkats" and "elephantmen" who serve the near dystopian city of Veniss in many ways. Nicholas consults with his old friend Shadrach who points him in the right direction, but quickly gets in over his head. Nicola is Nichola's twin sister, a well regarded and successful programmer in the city who has lost contact with her brother after he seems to have ghosted her. She also gets in touch with her ex-boyfriend, Shadrach, to find out where to find her brother, but also gets in over her head when Quin decides that people meddling in his business should be dealt with. Finally, we follow Shadrach as he goes on the hunt into the decrepit, horrific, bloody, and disturbing Veniss Underground to rescue his now disappeared ex-girlfriend and exact revenge on the way.

It seems silly to shy away from the term body horror when describing this book, because it is so chock full of it. But the descriptions of horror of the non-human constructs really outweighs the "human" body horror in ways that I think are going to stick with me for a long time. Don't read if you are the faint of heart. Besides the gore, this is a depressing look at the dystopian endgame of wealth inequality and the hopelessness of poverty. There's a very strong narrative and it's told in a very straightforward way, which is unusual for VanderMeer if you're familiar with his works.

As I understand it, this was VanderMeer's first novel, and I think that has its pros and cons. I tend to like New Weird, and you can really see the beginnings of the genre manifest here. While this book is a bit more horror/noir than New Weird, it's interesting to see New Weird in its infancy. It was honestly really refreshing to read a book by VanderMeer where I was able to easily follow what the hell was happening, unlike some of his more recent works like Hummingbird, Salamander and Dead Astronauts. But the format of the story was very much "fetch quest" and didn't have a lot of unique aspects to it, aside from the disturbing details around it.

I enjoyed this for what it was, even if I did find it quite disturbing. I also enjoyed the Afterword and the short story that colors the world a bit more in a new, different horrific way. If you like science fiction horror, you'll like this. But steer clear if you're not a fan of gore.

I'll leave you with one of the more benign descriptions of horror, put in spoilers for content warning purposes. CW: gore, body horror, violence, blood.

"But it was only when the dogs ran by that Shadrach felt fear... Flaps of wrinkled flesh dominated their foreheads, and their hides were blacker than the perpetual night. Tiny dead violets, their eyes pierced the darkness like laser beams. They pivoted, wheeled, spared him not a glance, and fell upon a stumbling, gasping creature farther up the shore. It was composed of two stilts of flesh atop which sat a slug of a torso, a larval head. They tore into the legs, it toppled and then, as it squealed and shrieked, they ripped into it with fangs larger than fingers...

As the last one joined the line, it turned to Shadrach. He saw that beneath the violet eyes, before the muzzle ran down into the nose and mouth. another face had been embedded in the flesh: a woman's face, with dark eyes, high eyebrows, and a small nose, and, caught against the edge of her face and the dog's skin, two strands of golden blonde hair. The full mouth was raw with smeared blood and flesh. The eyes held a mixture of horror and triumph that made Shadrach's hand shake as he aimed his gun at the creature."

In Project Hail Mary, the sun is going out. Huge bummer. We also don't know why, and it's happening to many stars in the local area of the galaxy. But we figure out why! And we also find one system where the star ISN'T going out even though it should. So we gotta throw together a ship and crew as quickly as possible to investigate, find a solution, and get it back to Earth in time to save the sun. Enter Ryland Grace, one of the crew members of this ship. He doesn't know any of that though, because he woke up on the space ship billions of miles from home without his memory. As his memory returns, he has to work to figure out who he is, what he's doing, and how to save his home. After a shocking discovery in this alien solar system, he has new exciting opportunities to maybe make it back home too.

This was a lot of fun. Very much Andy Weir, down to the movie-like scenes and the quippy dialogue and the weird mix of isolation and hope you get from the story. I wasn't expecting this to be as hard sci-fi as it was, but I really enjoyed those parts of it. I'm not at all familiar with physics, chemistry, or biology, but I found its integration to be seamless and well-done. I found the story to be paced really well, jumping between the present, fixing things, solving problems, staying alive, running tests, and the past as memories return to our main character. We get to learn about the events leading up to this hail mary of a mission and Grace's involvement in it. I don't feel like this dragged at any point, and was a very quick read for being almost 500 pages.

There were aspects I think could have been improved upon. Personal taste, but I really don't enjoy heavy-handed quippy "marvel" dialogue, and that was pretty much every conversation in the entire book. I didn't find it funny or executed well. I'd rather have more authenticity, but I'd also rather have unique characters. Everyone important had the same personality, and everyone unimportant had some token personality quirk that never changed. I also found it hard to suspend my disbelief in some areas. Some things were just far too convenient or far too simple. I feel like, if you're going to commit to hard sci-fi book, then you need to limit the convenient coincidences that help your characters. But ultimately these things didn't detract much from my enjoyment. While it wasn't anything super groundbreaking, it was enjoyable.

If you loved The Martian, I think you'll like this a lot. Also I think if you like Blake Crouch, this would work for you, though it is a bit more lighthearted than something like Recursion or Dark Matter. Also if you like books that are paced like movies this will be perfect. If you like you science fiction to be deeply serious, like anything by Peter Watts or William Gibson, this isn't for you. It's also like.. the opposite of philosophical. Topical? So if you like commentary on the human condition, this doesn't have any of that. Just a lot of the human doing stuff. But I do guarantee you'll have a hard time putting it down!

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing me an advanced reader copy of this book.

Having not read anything by the author before, I wasn't sure what to expect. But I was really happy to find that Death Valley worked really well for me. We follow our unnamed protagonist, an author, in the throes of grief as her father is in the hospital doing poorly. She deals with days of care taking and medical emergencies that she can't seem to escape because her husband also deals with chronic illness. She decides to take a brief retreat to the desert, staying at a prototypical yet eccentric Best Western (a personal favorite of myself as well), where she's recommended a local hiking trail through the desert. On these hikes she comes face to face with physical manifestations of her grief, phantom cacti, children, and personified rocks. And also she gets lost.

This was funny. Like FUNNY funny. The way the author paints her as always on the cusp of a mental breakdown, the LA-esque pseudo mysticisms and therapy talk to deal with grief, the Jewish mother we all know, the subreddits and comments, the weirdly specific desk workers at the Best Western, and even the vulnerable insecurities that come with caring for a dying loved one -- it all came together in a beautiful mural of sadness and comedy. Instead of focusing on the tedious reality of caring for a dying parent, this book perfectly captured the emotions in a surreal way. I particularly loved the dichotomy of the condition of the father and the husband that surfaces several times, though I wish it were explored a bit further. I think there can be a lot to say when comparing age related death to chronic illness.

I do think the first half of this was a bit stronger than the second half. There's more narrative progression in the first half, with the second half being more introspective and surface level philosophical. I do think a dive into the introspective was necessary as way to fully realize the protagonist's fall into manic grief, but I was left wanting a bit more depth to it. Also, the narrator is an author fleshing our her next book about a woman dealing with the death of her father and the illness of her husband -- I thought it was a bit too on-the-nose meta and the plot point didn't really pan out in any meaningful way. It distracted more than it served.

How to recommend this, hmm. If you need a lighthearted exploration of grief, you'll like this. If you like funny, topical books you'll like this. If you like reddit humor, as in literally reading comments from reddit, you'll like this. If you're looking for a rigid narrative, you won't like this. If you want a more serious, or deep exploration of grief, you won't like this. If you think millennial humor is cringe, you won't like this. But I did!

Listen, reviews are subjective and I can rate a book whatever I want for whatever reason. Was this book bad? No not at all, I can't really think of anything that it did poorly. But do I feel like I was lied to about the premise? Yeah, so I'm going to rate it accordingly.

We start our story being introduced to Travis, a kind of washed up personal investigator who takes missing persons cases for cash because of his unique ability: he can touch objects and view the memories of the people who used them. He takes a job from a married couple who hires him to find their missing daughter, Maggie, a well-known children's book author who went missing 5 years ago. After a cryptic exchange, he gets a lead from the woman's mother and he sets off into the woods to locate where he thinks she went.

Wow! Sounds fascinating, I'm gripped. I can't wait to see how this man uses this interesting ability to help solve this mystery.

Oh! Actually no we are finished with him. And her. And his abilities. Nope, now we are following three members of a doomsday cult in the woods. Theo, his wife Calla, and her sister Bee. These people believe the woods that surround their little haven are infected with a disease called "the rot" (Or the pox. They are annoyingly used interchangeably) that can kill people in a matter of days if they leave. But each of these characters stumble upon clues that start to unravel their understanding of their lives.

Okay so let me be fair for a moment: again, this book didn't really do anything wrong. It was pretty well written. I think the mystery would have been good for anyone who didn't guess the twist by like page 80 like I did. People who are into, I don't know, provincial life would like it.

While the heart of the story is to locate Maggie, and now Travis, a LOT of this book is focused on bringing us up to speed on the world building of this hidden commune in the woods, why they believe what they do, their history, and the relationships between many characters in the town. And what I quickly learned was that I really don't enjoy reading about communes. I was interested in the mystery of Maggie and Travis (and that was the twist that I guessed early on), and I was less interested about the mysteries surrounding the commune, which got a lot more attention.

Also as far as characters go, while we spend roughly equal time with the three characters, I feel like Bee was the most likable, Calla had the most interesting character development, and Theo was.. abandoned? I felt so ambivalent about him the entire time, I don't know why it was decided that he wouldn't get a compelling character arc like the others.

I don't know.. was it a successful mystery? I mean I guess. It was interesting at times if not a bit heavy on the foreshadowing. But it certainly didn't fall flat. But I just didn't really like it that much. I feel like I was sold on a different premise than what it ended up being. I'd recommend you read some spoiler-free reviews before jumping into this to gauge whether it's something you'll like.

STATEMENT 084

"...I dream that there are hundreds of black seeds in my skin, and when I scratch at them they get caught under my nails like fish eggs. Then, with a popping sound, new ones appear where I scratched the other ones away. I feel that this has something to do with the objects in the rooms, but I don't know how. There's something about their smoothness in relation to my skin...I got the impression that one of the objects wanted to take my skin away from me..."

The Employees is a short novel comprised of numbered interviews with "Employees" of the Six-Thousand ship, an exploration vessel whose full purpose is mostly unknown, but one of its functions is to house some strange objects that are recovered from an unknown place. Through the interviews with the employees, we get a vague idea of these mysterious objects which may or not be alive. However we quickly learn about some of the tensions among the crew as some of them are humans (from earth) and some are "humanoid" or constructed humans, designed to not age and whose consciousness can be uploaded and downloaded. There seems to be a schism rising between these two groups of employees that comes to a dangerous head.

What a fascinating little implication of a story. I loved the interview format that seemed to swing between sometimes quirky, sometimes horrific little anecdotes, and insight into the status of the mission and life on the Six-Thousand ship. It hints at much larger goings on, but the author keeps the reader just out of reach of the full context. Some of the interviews can feel a bit silly or out of place, but all of them together created a really interesting narrative. This is very short, so you really have nothing to lose by picking it up!

Oh my gosh, I was really really enjoying this book up until maybe the last three chapters. Incredible how it pivoted so hard. I couldn't help but compare this to Mexican Gothic, a book I was a fan of. But this improved on that story in so many ways. The creepiness factor was really dialed up, and I found myself to be legitimately freaked out at times. I loved the body horror and almost alien, incomprehensible horror that they were trying to uncover. However all of that went downhill when Madeline, quite predictably, arose from the dead, being controlled by the fungus. That in and of itself wasn't an issue. I thought that was creepy. But having possessed a human, it gave voice to the fungus, which was apparently semi-conscious, had motivations, and was like a child wanting to learn more. There was a comically bad scene of Madeline moaning like a zombie, pleading with the main character to help the fungus learn and grow. It instantly dashed the scariest part of the book, which was that this was a horrific, inescapable thing that happens because fungus doesn't have motivations, and it is a horrific thought that something without motivation can do such terrible things to living beings for seemingly no other reason than to propagate. A hard truth in nature. But making the fungus sentient just ruined it for me, honestly. I want to give the book credit for how gripped it was the majority of the time, but boy was this a disappointing ending.

Merged review:

Oh my gosh, I was really really enjoying this book up until maybe the last three chapters. Incredible how it pivoted so hard. I couldn't help but compare this to Mexican Gothic, a book I was a fan of. But this improved on that story in so many ways. The creepiness factor was really dialed up, and I found myself to be legitimately freaked out at times. I loved the body horror and almost alien, incomprehensible horror that they were trying to uncover. However all of that went downhill when Madeline, quite predictably, arose from the dead, being controlled by the fungus. That in and of itself wasn't an issue. I thought that was creepy. But having possessed a human, it gave voice to the fungus, which was apparently semi-conscious, had motivations, and was like a child wanting to learn more. There was a comically bad scene of Madeline moaning like a zombie, pleading with the main character to help the fungus learn and grow. It instantly dashed the scariest part of the book, which was that this was a horrific, inescapable thing that happens because fungus doesn't have motivations, and it is a horrific thought that something without motivation can do such terrible things to living beings for seemingly no other reason than to propagate. A hard truth in nature. But making the fungus sentient just ruined it for me, honestly. I want to give the book credit for how gripped it was the majority of the time, but boy was this a disappointing ending.

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy for me to review.

Firstly, this book contains the exact recipe for a book that I would love. To Be Taught If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers, Providence by Max Barry, The Freeze Frame Revolution and Blindsight by Peter Watts... if it involves a few people on a spaceship together with no space and no choice but to become deeply invested in each other's lives, I'm very likely going to love it.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey was no exception. We follow one "day" cycle of 6 astronauts from different backgrounds orbiting the earth in the present day, 16 orbits total. However briefly in this quick ~200 page book, we get to spend an intimate amount of time with these astronauts: their thoughts, their duties, and their relationships, almost as if we are the seventh astronaut sharing the claustrophobic space of the research space station they call home. While there is little story that drives the narrative, I didn't think this setting called for that kind of structure. This was a deeply introspective examination of the human condition, aspirations, emotion, and loss. It did not need a strong story progression to be compelling and beautiful.

Also, the amount of research that went into this was extremely commendable. There are so many small details about life in orbit that was clearly informed by actual experts. The acknowledgements thank NASA and the ESA for their insights, so I have to commend the author for being diligent in creating a stunning and authentic story.

While some of the routine activities interrupted with descriptions of the orbital path and philosophizing might read as tedious to some, I found it to be necessary to flesh out the otherwise indescribable experience of an astronaut's relationship with their own humanity while being at the forefront of the terrifying precipice of human achievement. The structure did take some getting used to however, with frequent jumps from one character to another, then to no character at all between paragraphs, but it wasn't too disruptive. Regarding the overall story, I do think I would have appreciated a bit more relationship development between the characters. What was there was done so well, it had me really yearning for more, but otherwise this was an excellent read and I very much recommend it.

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy for me to review.

Firstly, this book contains the exact recipe for a book that I would love. To Be Taught If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers, Providence by Max Barry, The Freeze Frame Revolution and Blindsight by Peter Watts... if it involves a few people on a spaceship together with no space and no choice but to become deeply invested in each other's lives, I'm very likely going to love it.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey was no exception. We follow one "day" cycle of 6 astronauts from different backgrounds orbiting the earth in the present day, 16 orbits total. However briefly in this quick ~200 page book, we get to spend an intimate amount of time with these astronauts: their thoughts, their duties, and their relationships, almost as if we are the seventh astronaut sharing the claustrophobic space of the research space station they call home. While there is little story that drives the narrative, I didn't think this setting called for that kind of structure. This was a deeply introspective examination of the human condition, aspirations, emotion, and loss. It did not need a strong story progression to be compelling and beautiful.

Also, the amount of research that went into this was extremely commendable. There are so many small details about life in orbit that was clearly informed by actual experts. The acknowledgements thank NASA and the ESA for their insights, so I have to commend the author for being diligent in creating a stunning and authentic story.

While some of the routine activities interrupted with descriptions of the orbital path and philosophizing might read as tedious to some, I found it to be necessary to flesh out the otherwise indescribable experience of an astronaut's relationship with their own humanity while being at the forefront of the terrifying precipice of human achievement. The structure did take some getting used to however, with frequent jumps from one character to another, then to no character at all between paragraphs, but it wasn't too disruptive. Regarding the overall story, I do think I would have appreciated a bit more relationship development between the characters. What was there was done so well, it had me really yearning for more, but otherwise this was an excellent read and I very much recommend it.

Wow, this ended up really surprising me. I walked into this book having heard some of the more common criticisms, namely the almost complete lack of plot. I'm more of a character reader myself, so I wasn't terribly worried. But even though interesting character work is important to me as a reader, I also really REALLY don't like it when the first book of a series exists solely as an introduction without its own story to lean on, so I started this off This book expecting to be really critical of that. However I knew that Abercrombie's character work was very well regarded, so I was curious to see how that tension panned out. And I have to admit, the characters won me over hard.

We follow several different POV characters as they move about their own individual adventures without any real consistent through line or story. There are hints of a larger conflict brewing, but it's kept hidden away from the reader for the most part. Each character is dynamic and interesting in unique ways: a pompous noble-blooded soldier who starts to grow a heart for "commoners", a mutilated and discarded war veteran turned cold blooded investigator, a violent one-track minded brute, a frenzied rage fueled former slave, and a cryptic and cynical wizard. Each have their own motivations and goals which rarely overlap with each other. But each story was so compelling on its own that I found it really fascinating to follow, even without a strong connection between them. While the book didn't have a compelling story alone, each of these characters had a compelling, fully fleshed out story, lending to a satisfying reading experience. The ending I also found compelling enough that I am now motivated to jump right into the sequel. Maybe I'll resist that urge to push through some of the rest of my TBR, but maybe not!

This committed the most egregious sin of horror books: it wasn't scary. At all. Not once. But even worse, it wasn't even horror. This never should have been pitched as a horror book. If I weren't petty, I'd say this is definitely more of a mystery than it is horror. But I am petty, so I'll be honest and say this is first and foremost a relationship drama book about a shitty marriage between the protagonist's cousin and her husband, viewed through the lens of someone who occasionally sees the ghost of her mother. I couldn't believe that, half way through the book, we had the protagonist and her cousin have, quite literally, the same exact argument in three different settings. And it just kept happening over and over and over. I'd actually think it was funny if it weren't so tiresome. There was such hyper focus on the damn cousin and the damn dead friend that distracted from the plot. They had no bearing on the story, and only served as a feeble way to lay guilt on the main character's mind. I should have DNFed this at the half way point.