I read a lot. Some of it good, some of it not so good, and nearly all of them are Kindle eBooks, especially now that I’ve signed up for Kindle Unlimited. Amazon’s review system is a big help in picking out books, but it’s still can be a challenge finding books worth reading. If only someone would write a weekly column sharing what they have read over the week and what they liked and didn’t like, someone trustworthy and with impeccable taste. Well if you find something like that please let me know, until then you can read what I’ve got to say about whatever I’ve read over the last week.
So here’s what I’ve read over the last week.
Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue by Hugh Howey $3.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
Molly Fyde and the Land of Light by Hugh Howey $4.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions by Hugh Howey $4.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace by Hugh Howey $4.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited
This four book series is by Hugh Howey, the writer of Wool which I and everybody I know who read it loved. The first book in the Molly Fyde series is actually Howey’s first novel and for a first novel it’s great. Molly Fyde is a teenaged girl living in a surprisingly sexist future a sexist future that finds humankind in a generations long war. Molly is a fantastic pilot going through Flight Academy, but because of the aforementioned sexism she has been forced into the role of navigator. It seems at times the entire Academy is against her except for Admiral Lucin, who is the only living connection she has to her father who she lost when she was six. Things get even worse when a training exercise is sabotaged and Molly is expelled. The clouds seem to part when her father’s old ship the Parsona turns up on a distant planet but the euphoria soon fades as her mission to recover the ship turns sour. Way sour, like jailed and sentenced to die sour. Of course with three and a half more books to go it’s not surprising that Molly escapes. These books have a young adult feel to them but that doesn’t keep Howey from going to some dark places or literally spilling some guts, no pre-marital sex though. The books are pure space opera but there are some unique ideas about hyperspace thrown in. The plot is conspiratorial and epic on a universal scale. The characters are interesting enough that I had to finish the series, but If there had been a complete Wikipedia page I may not have bothered. At least it didn’t cost me anything.
Dark Lightning by John Varley $10.99
This is one I’ve had pre-ordered for months. John Varley is one of my favorite authors and Dark Lightning does not disappoint. It is the fifth book in the Thunder and Lighting series but don’t let that put you off. All of the books in the Thunder and Lighting series stand on their own. I’m confident though that if you read one you’re going to need to read the rest of them very soon. Each novel is a coming of age story for the succeeding generations of the Garcia-Strickland clan. There to guide them along are Travis and Jubal Broussard. Travis the crusty, gun toting and practical ex-astronaut and Jubal the partially brain damaged but Einstein level genius. Travis provides the tactics and moral guidance and Jubal provides the world changing gadgets. This generation finds the clan on a hollowed out asteroid travelling at 77% of the speed of light towards the rather unimaginatively named New Earth when Jubal has the startling revelation that if they don’t stop the ship everyone is going to die. As it has taken twenty years to get up to speed and it will take just as long to stop this doesn’t sit very well with everyone on board. It’s up to the twins Cassie and Polly to save the day and the ship.