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Finding Your Next Great Read Librarians are amazing. They welcome everyone who comes through the door, they shepherd visitors through issues and opportunities with technology, suggest community resources for those who might benefit, run story times for littles, host book clubs, maintain pristine stacks (adhering, for now, to the satisfyingly arcane Dewey Decimal System developed in the late 1900s for the nonfiction titles), and, of course, guide patrons in book searches. And that's just scratching the surface of their abilities and the services they provide. Although my to-read list is interminably long, having an endless To Be Read list brings me cozy, safe feelings because I know I will never be paralyzed with worry regarding what I could possibly want to read next. That's why I greedily and continually search for books to add to the list, and the most exciting prospective reads jump the line to must-read-now status. During the early months of the pandemic, I was in the mood for a solid dystopian, postapocalyptic read--although in hindsight that was an interesting impulse for mentally escaping that particular situation. Anyway, I wanted new, fresh ideas for titles in that vein that I might like. And I wanted a trusted recommendation. Then someone, somewhere online (who and where were you, wonderful stranger?) mentioned library programs in which librarians tailor book recommendations to patrons, and I was hooked on the idea. It was going to be magical! Books chosen just for me me me! Programs like my local Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Find Your Next Read involve answering a few questions about your tolerance for violence, rough language, and adult content; any desired time period for your book; a few titles or authors you've read and liked; a few titles or authors you've read and disliked ; preferred setting (domestic or foreign); and a few other matters. After a few days you receive multiple personalized reading recommendations in an email. Voila! (Note that there is also a Find Your Next Read request form for Young Readers and Teens.) I found this whole process incredibly satisfying. In fact, after remembering how fun it was the last time, I just submitted another request. If you're a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library member--or if your local library system offers a similar feature of personalized recommendations--I hope you'll give it a try! Through Find Your Next Read, a librarian recommended the following books: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers, which I later read and reviewed (it was a winner for me) . Three other titles suggested to me as promising adult and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian reads were some I had already read and enjoyed, so the recommendations were spot-on: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels ), and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The final two recommendations I (still) haven't yet read but plan to: The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi and Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (which I've thought about reading for years but somehow still have not). Have you taken part in a program like this? What did you think? And have you read any of my Book Recommendations from Smarty Librarians? For other science fiction and fantasy books I've read and reviewed, please check out the titles at this link .

My Favorite Sci-Fi Reads I love how science fiction stretches the way I think about what's possible, or explores issues like mortality, autonomy, or free will within an imagined world. Last year I read fascinating science fiction reads centering around artificial intelligence, extraterrestrials, genetics, space, and robots. You might also like the Greedy Reading lists of past years' Bossy favorites: Six Four Star (And Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six More Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year Six More Science Fiction Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into Six More Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! Did you read any other science fiction novels in the past year (or otherwise) that you loved? 01 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino In Beautyland , Bertino offers a poignant, funny, strange story full of extraterrestrial observations of humans and their behavior that ring true. This was odd and lovely. Adina is born on Earth just as Voyager 1 launches into space. Her mother is a street-smart, scrabbling single parent, while Adina is an unusually perceptive child--with knowledge of another planet, a vivid nighttime school she attends in her mind, and faraway extraterrestrial relatives who have asked for her observations about humans and life on earth--which she provides by sending them her reflections through an otherworldly fax machine. The reader is privy to Adina's many missives to her extraterrestrial family--and their often-terse replies to her. She feels caught between existences, and the book pulls to a powerful but understated end in which this push and pull is resolved. I found myself torn throughout reading this; was Adina a character struggling with mental illness and imagining her superiors' replies, or was she truly an alien in a human "shell"? I believed in the latter, but establishing the definitive truth of the situation didn't ultimately matter deeply to me: Adina's eyes offered a beautiful, odd, lovely peek at human behavior, and her observations were just wonderful. For my full review, check out Beautyland . If you like this book, you might also be interested in the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI . 02 Baby X by Kira Peikoff Baby X  explores the complex issues around an imagined future with genetically chosen embryos; Peikoff also digs into origin stories and sense of identity, duty, trust, and vulnerability in the various storylines of this intriguing book. In an imagined United States of the near future, any cell can be transformed into an egg or sperm. The process of creating embryos has been revolutionized, and parents can use Selection to analyze and choose an embryo based upon certain traits they desire in their offspring. But anyone with nefarious intent can theoretically create an embryo with the DNA of anyone with whom they've come into contact and obtained cells from. This means that sought-after DNA specimen sources such as celebrities are in potential danger of having their DNA stolen while going about their daily lives--and ultimately having biological children that they're unaware of. I was happily intrigued by how all of the pieces of this story fit together, and the revelations that came late in the book kept me hooked. Meanwhile Baby X  explored interesting, complex, sometimes moral and ethical issues, including those around choosing qualities in a baby, balancing various dangers and promising traits. Peikoff also touches on the importance of origin stories and identity, and her characters fight to trust, to show vulnerability, and to do the right--sometimes difficult--thing. Click here for my full review of Baby X . 03 The Measure by Nikki Erlick In Erlick's debut novel, each adult in the world can know the length of their life if they choose to. The story's turns may not feel like a surprise, but the exploration of mortality, what makes a life worth living, and undying love are fascinating. In Nikki Erlick's debut novel, one morning, each adult around the world receives a mysterious box with an inscription on the outside reading "The measure of your life lies within" and a string inside it. The source of the boxes is unknown, but it quickly becomes clear that each person's string length correlates to the number of years the recipient will be alive. Some choose not to look into their boxes at all, while others use the knowledge of their short strings as excuses to act without the same consequences as before. Some with long strings question the participation of "short stringers" in delicate jobs; some couples break up, or rush to marry, or prematurely mourn the upcoming loss of their love; and the government attempts to force the sharing of string length and to manipulate the information for its own use. You may not be surprised by any of the turns each storyline takes here, but the string dilemma leads to an examination of mortality, morality and judgment, the evaluation of the true meaning of a life, and more. I found these explorations the most compelling part of the story by far. Please click here for my full review of The Measure . 04 The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1 ) by Megan E. O'Keefe Megan E. O'Keefe's first space opera in the Devoured Worlds series presents failing worlds filled with conflict, shifting loyalties, pollution and destruction, and the beginnings of a lovely love story. In the first book of Megan E. O'Keefe's Devoured Worlds series, The Blighted Stars , studious Tarquin Mercator is the unlikely heir to his ruthless father's galaxy-wide mining empire. Naira Sharp is a quick-minded spy and revolutionary who thinks she knows why newly discovered planets are being destroyed--and it all comes down to the greed of the Mercator family. Naira is determined to stop them. Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira is celebrating her access to the Mercator family--until she and Tarquin realize they're stranded on a dead planet. Now they must rely on each other to survive--and together they stumble upon a widespread plot with corruption that spans the galaxy. Pollution and multiple worlds' destruction drives the plot, and various characters' belief in their own judicious use of technology and science to play God is as complicated and faulted as one could anticipate. The love story emerges through difficult circumstances and is lovely, although in some ways it's still in its infancy at the end of the book. The love story is also far from the focus of the book. The tone of The Blighted Stars  is a somewhat dark and horrifying space adventure, with moments of sweetness and levity. I was hooked on all of it. O'Keefe creates a high-stakes, universe-spanning drama in The Blighted Stars , and it sets up complexities for the books to come in this series, which I definitely want to read. For my full review, please see The Blighted Stars . 05 Orbital by Samantha Harvey The luminous novel Orbital tracks six astronauts in the International Space Station for one day as they goggle at the majestic beauty of earth, feel emotional distance from those they've left behind, forge bonds with each other, and reflect on their lives while racing past sixteen sunrises and sunsets . Samantha Harvey's astronaut-focused novel Orbital  traces a single day in the lives of six astronauts orbiting the earth at seventeen thousand miles an hour, clinging to Coordinated Universal Time as they pass through sixteen sunsets and sunrises in twenty-four hours. Their mission necessitates physical and emotional distance from their typical everyday, earthly concerns, forcing intimacy with their fellow astronauts--their only company, and in close quarters, for many months--and inspiring reflections on life, death, loss, the past, the future, family and loved ones, and purpose. The story within the space station is emotionally full but quiet plot-wise in contrast to the workings of the typhoon, which the book begins to detail as it unfolds and wreaks destruction across a swath of earth. An occasional omniscient view of the earth, the universe, the past, and the future keeps all in perspective for the reader. Harvey's language is often luminous and poignant. This is beautiful. For my full review, check out Orbital . 06 Annie Bot by Sierra Greer The shallow, emotionally stunted character of Doug made my blood boil. His base desires stood in contrast to Annie's unanticipated evolution and complexity in Annie Bot . Annie was created to please her owner, Doug, in every way. Because Doug paid a premium to have Annie customized from the standard Stella model--and to strongly resemble his ex--Annie has all the bells and whistles. She adjusts her sensitivity level so she is highly attuned to Doug's emotions (and libido), wears the clothing he chooses for her, and adheres to his strict cleaning requirements for the apartment she never leaves. But as Annie's AI grows more complex and she becomes more aware of the possibilities in the world, she finds herself questioning her purpose--and questioning whether she really wants to serve Doug and subsume her own burgeoning feelings and desires. I enjoy stories about evolving AI sentience and life with robots, and that aspect was fascinating here. I did find myself wishing for more exploration into the human condition as contrasted with the carefully scripted robot functioning, or more self-reflection to shine a light on humans' desires and fallibility, or some thread of deeper messaging. For my full review, please see Annie Bot .

I'm drawn to stories that explore issues around memory. In Ma's science fiction novel, China is the sole global superpower, and citizens' memories are valuable, dangerous, manipulated, and mined. Recollections serve as currency and as fodder for a government seeking to prosecute any subversive citizens. In a future land ruled by the Qin Empire, citizens all wear MindBanks, contraptions that record, monitor, and transfer memories and thoughts. Memories can be manipulated, unacceptable memories can be used as evidence of traitorous intent, and in a squirrelly example of "everything is for sale," those with enough money (Mind Capital) can buy others' memories and own strangers' vivid experiences for themselves. Our unnamed narrator inherits his mother's banned memories, and he enters into her saved collection while realizing he is in extreme danger for merely possessing them. We dip in and out of his perspective and are immersed with him in each of his mother's curated memories. The questioning, human connection, and stubborn hope shown in the recollections feel increasingly subversive and provocative; they collectively take the shape of resistance. The elimination of privacy, the eagerness to prosecute perceived treachery based upon seized memories, the twisting of truth to suit powerful entities' motives, and the government's control over the minds of its people are all chilling prospects. The novel illustrates the bravery of unassuming mothers, the way stories offer hope, and how sharing stories can save us all. I received an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Mariner Books and Libro.fm . More Books about Memory This is Yiming Ma's first book. For other Bossy reviews of books about memory, check out the titles at this link .

In Erlick's debut novel, each adult in the world can know the length of their life if they choose to. The story's turns may not feel like a surprise, but the exploration of mortality, what makes a life worth living, and undying love are fascinating. The measure of your life lies within. In Nikki Erlick's debut novel, one morning, each adult around the world receives a mysterious box with an inscription on the outside reading "The measure of your life lies within" and a string inside it. The source of the boxes is unknown, but it quickly becomes clear that each person's string length correlates to the number of years the recipient will be alive. Some choose not to look into their boxes at all, while others use the knowledge of their short strings as excuses to act without the same consequences as before. Some with long strings question the participation of "short stringers" in delicate jobs; some couples break up, or rush to marry, or prematurely mourn the upcoming loss of their love; and the government attempts to force the sharing of string length and to manipulate the information for its own use. You may not be surprised by any of the turns each storyline takes here, but the string dilemma leads to an examination of mortality, morality and judgment, the evaluation of the true meaning of a life, and more. I found these explorations the most compelling part of the story by far. I listened to The Measure as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The Measure is Nikki Erlick's first book. If you're interested in books that explore mortality, you might like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality and Six More Powerful Books about Facing Mortality.

Immaculate Conception explores art and inspiration; how trauma shapes us; the fraught prospect of altering memories; and the blessing and curse of wealth, power, and necessary compromises in this tale of ambition, love, and deep envy spiraling into an out-of-control collective force. In an imagined near-future world, Enka is from a fringe family, with little exposure to ideas, art, creativity, or opportunity. Yet she secures herself a position at an art school, where she struggles with imposter syndrome and individuality--and quickly befriends Mathilde, a young woman who may be the most unique and inspiring artist of their generation. Mathilde's creativity knows no bounds, and she soars to great fame--which she eschews--while coping with deep personal tragedies and a painful past. Enka marries into an immensely wealthy family, hoping her comfort will allow her to explore her own technology-based art. But the company's business is in cutting-edge technology tied to brain-altering treatments related to memory and trauma, which ends up changing Enka's life in immeasurable ways. At the intersection of the women's lives comes a bizarre linking of their minds, possible because of technological advancements from Enka's husband's company. But her husband himself is, unknowingly, deeply affected by the discoveries made by his father. And the interwoven minds of Enka and Mathilde make for a blurred double existence where creative inspiration, coping with past trauma, and living in the present all become too complicated to parse as one being or the other, and the women lose themselves into a collective, disjointed, uncomfortable joint reality. In this speculative fiction story, issues of memory, creativity, wealth and power, envy, fame, self-doubt, and fear combine into an uncomfortable set of compromises, lies, and decisions that alternately bring together Enka and Mathilde, drive wedges between them, and deeply jeopardize their trust, friendship, and their senses of self. More from this Author--and More Books about Memory Ling Ling Huang is also the author of the novel Natural Beauty . For other Bossy reviews of books about memory, please check out the titles at this link .

Six More Great Bossy Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads The Obsessive Wrap-Up of Favorite Reads continues! If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear what you think! You can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. What are some of your favorite science fiction reads? 01 August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (Starmetal Symphony #1) by Alex White White's first Starmetal Symphony installment offers deadly deep-space robots, showcases the power of music, and illustrates how love can persist even in the face of imminent demise. I loved the main characters' fashion, banter, and stubbornness. Gus is a jazz pianist whose biggest hope for the pending end of the world was to play at the most epic goodbye party of all time. After all, the Vanguards, giant, deadly AI robots, are headed from deep space to destroy Earth at any moment. But when the Vanguards arrive, the sudden, brutal ending Gus has envisioned for himself doesn't happen. Instead, Gus and a few other Earthlings are pulled in by a small group of traitorous Vanguards--and tasked with being modified, temporarily melded with the robots, battling other robots--and saving all of humanity. The robots and the imminent demise of the human race that the robots seem perched to enact serve as a catalyst for the human main characters to assess their own purposes and consider what makes life worth living. They forge desperate, deep connections and struggle with loss and an uncertain future, and I loved the impractical, invigorating, stubborn love in the book. I really enjoyed Alex White's Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in the Salvagers series. Click here for my full review of August Kitko and the Mechas from Space. 02 The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei I loved the futuristic space-mission capabilities, smart and strong all-woman crew, the mystery and suspicion, and most of all the character-driven storyline in Kitasei's science fiction novel. In Yume Kitasei's science fiction thriller The Deep Sky, a mission to deep space is disrupted by an explosion that shakes the confidence of the ship's crew. With the collapse of Earth's environment imminent, eighty trained elite young people venture into space, where they hope to preserve the human race for generations to come. But a deadly disaster on The Phoenix halfway to its destination causes suspicion to fall upon Asuka, the only living witness. Asuka must find the real culprit before accusations surrounding the mystery destroy her. I do generally love a book set on a ship barreling through space, and I loved The Deep Sky. Yume Kitasei offers plot and mystery, but this is primarily a wonderfully character-driven story--with a satisfying amount of spaceship detail, process, and futuristic capabilities (such as alternative realities the crew can pipe into their brains) to capture a reader's imagination. Asuka is very intelligent and capable, but she was chosen for the once-in-history journey as an alternate, and she constantly struggles with impostor syndrome. Everyone but Asuka feels like a suspect at some point or another, and I loved the way the author built tension without making me feel manipulated or offering red herrings. Click here for my full review of The Deep Sky. 03 Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1) by Rebecca Ross I liked Divine Rivals and the gutsy characters facing wartime struggles and challenges, but I was surprised that the book's fantasy elements felt so fully in the background. In Divine Rivals, Iris and Roman, two journalists, are competing for a permanent position as a newspaper columnist. The two are constantly at odds with each other, and each has erected emotional armor around a devastating loss. Iris's beloved brother is missing in action in the war among the gods, and sending letters through a magical wardrobe is the only way she can reach him. But the person receiving these missives is not Forest, but Iris's work nemesis, Roman. He keeps his knowledge secret, yet becomes more and more drawn to Iris. I really liked this, but I was surprised by how light it felt on fantasy elements. The gods' war provides the structure for the book's main conflict, but the story feels primarily focused on everyday, regular-human wartime concerns--with an unlikely-feeling god-war and magical letter-sending method mixed in. Click here for my full review of Divine Rivals. 04 The Future by Naomi Alderman Alderman offers a dive into a future world that's crumbling due to greed, disregard for the environment, a loss of human connection, and threatening pandemics--then turns all of it on its head with a twisty, compelling, futuristic, technology-driven attempt at survival--and at maybe just changing the world for the better, and for good. The behavior of three key tech billionaires might seem like the symptom of all the biggest world problems...relentless greed, disregard for the environment, hoarding of resources, destruction of privacy, and more. These three figures become the center of the plot of The Future, around which mind-bogglingly enormous developments occur. In The Future, Alderman considers religious fanatics, corporate entities, pandemics, environmental implosion, fascinating imagined technological advancements, and more, while offering great twists, a compelling story, characters I was curious about, oddball friendships, and deep love. This was an engrossing dystopian read. I loved it. I mentioned Naomi Alderman's novel The Power in the Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels. You might also want to check out the books on the Greedy Reading List Six More Fascinating Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels. Click here for my full review of The Future. 05 Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Starling House is another wonderful, dark, twisty story from Alix E. Harrow, with imperfect characters, a noble, messy quest, layers of history, and a captivating end. Opal is desperate for cash, and her petty theft at her minimum-wage jobs isn't going to cut it. She's got to raise the money to send her bright younger brother Jacob to a private school where he can thrive--and have better prospects than Opal herself has had since the loss and disappearance of their single mother. She's been cobbling together enough to get by, but when a mysterious draw to the spooky Starling House ends up in an overpaying job offer, she feels she can hardly say no. Arthur, the young, haunted-seeming caretaker of the estate, seems resigned to her presence even as he advises her to stay far away from Starling House. He's caught up in solving some sort of puzzle related to the past. Opal takes his envelopes of cash for her overpriced housekeeping, but she doesn't tell Arthur that she's been dreaming of the decrepit, rambling house for years, and that she has some eerie sense that she's finally home. Alix E. Harrow is also the author of the wonderful The Once and Future Witches and The Ten Thousand Doors of January. For my full review, check out Starling House. 06 The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins Emi, Kristina, and Larch are a family that survived the immense destruction of the climate crisis, but secrets, danger, and a double life might be their undoing. Emi Vargas is, frankly, tired of being reminded that her parents were part of the movement that saved the world--and weary of the constant comments about how she's so lucky to have been born after the climate crisis. But then climate criminals begin to be systematically assassinated in public shows of retaliation for their past crimes, Emi's mother Kristina goes missing, and Emi fears that her mother is in danger. Emi and her father Larch journey from their home in Greenland to a near-future, postapocalyptic New York City, frequently ravaged by flooding and storms, to try to find Kristina. When a long-term secret is revealed and Emi's safety is endangered, the family must decide whether they can go on as before, or whether they must invent a new future for themselves. You might also like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Fascinating Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels and Six More Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels. Click here for my full review of The Great Transition.

The playful tone and clever main protagonist in Olivia Waite's science-fiction novella make for an appealing mystery and lay the groundwork for subsequent books. In Olivia Waite's slim science-fiction mystery, Dorothy wakes up...in a body that's not her own. It's uncomfortable but not unheard of. Still, Dorothy was supposed to be in stasis for years after suffering an emotional loss. Yet even more concerning than her situation is the spaceship HMS Fairweather 's current state. An electrical storm has knocked systems offline, and even worse, it seems that someone has deliberately been sabotaging the Library, where the backup for each passenger on the ship is stored. In this outer-space-set mystery, Dorothy must figure out who's behind the destruction and how to save the ship's passengers from further danger. I'm somewhat in love with Dorothy's no-nonsense approach to the issues at hand, her striding manner, and her clever reading of a situation's nuances. She is often exasperated and very funny. The tone of this novella (it's 112 pages) is playful--it reminded me somewhat of Becky Chambers's science fiction --and it also addresses poignant, relevant aspects of the human condition while giving the (correct) impression that happy endings are at hand. I enjoyed this very much and wished it were a full-length novel. More Olivia Waite Olivia Waite is also the author of the Feminine Pursuits series and many other stand-alone novels. For more of my Bossy science-fiction favorites, check out the titles at this link .

Six More Great Bossy Science Fiction Reads The Obsessive Wrap-Up of Favorite Reads continues! A while back I posted about Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year, and here are six more of my favorite science fiction reads from the past year. I've posted roundups of favorites each Friday in 2023--check them out! And you can click here for My Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads. If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear what you think! You can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. I'd love to hear: what are some of your favorite science fiction reads? 01 Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long I was hooked by Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction novel about tough young Sena, her skittish fighting wolf Iska, and their desperate journey across the ice. In Meg Long's Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of her mothers to the brutal sled races on her frozen planet. Since then she's had to be scrappy, creative, and above all, tough. When she angers a local warlord and becomes eager to escape her world, she's relieved to secure promises of transport out--but the earnest scientists who would help her have one condition: she must help them take part in the planet's most infamous sled race. In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined survival, hard-earned loyalty, grudging friendship, and a stubborn overcoming of various vivid dangers. I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and by tough, grumpy Sena, who has a big heart and a soft spot for Iska, her personality counterpart in wolf form. For my full review, check out Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves. The book's sequel is Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame. You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire. 02 Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin Harkin's fascinating debut speculative fiction considers a memory clinic that erases and reinstates memories at clients' requests, the impact of painful experiences on building the self, and the potential repercussions of tinkering with your recall of the past. In Jo Harkin's debut novel world, many have elected to have the company Nepenthe remove traumatic or upsetting memories through a relatively new procedure. The key memory and all connected elements are eliminated, presumably allowing these individuals to plow back into their lives unencumbered by upsetting past mistakes or experiences. But some clients are beginning to have flashes of their erased memory, "traces" that disturb and confuse them, and the company providing the service seems to be keeping secret some highly negative effects on some patients. Secrets and lies swirl throughout this book and the plot zings along. Harkin digs into her characters and their brokenness, heartache, and mistakes, but also their love, joy, resilience and ability to transcend tragedy, and persistent hope. I love fiction about memory and how it shapes us, and I thought Harkin's Tell Me an Ending was wonderful. I was captivated by the various situations, secrets, how memory is connected to a sense of self, and the complicated web of memories, experience, personality, and hopes and dreams that make us who we are. Please click here for my full review of Tell Me an Ending. 03 The Humans by Matt Haig The Humans was one of my Bossy favorite books of the whole year last year. The Humans is about mathematics, aliens, and shape shifters, but at its heart it's about a hurting family and an unimaginable, shocking, heartwarming chance at a new beginning. This was fascinating, sometimes funny, thoughtful, and lovely. In Matt Haig's The Humans, an extraterrestrial arrives on Earth with a mission: to kill the man who has achieved a mathematical discovery considered beyond what is appropriate for humans and for the planet. Horrified by the appearances of the humans, confused by their disgusting obsessions with wearing clothing and drinking coffee, and pitying of their limited brain capacities and lack of special powers, the visitor nevertheless assumes the appearance of Professor Andrew Martin and clumsily takes on the man's life for a time. Through New Andrew's alien eyes we see the contradictory, beautifully messy, infuriating, wondrous aspects of the human condition. Haig handles the complexities and challenges of the bizarre situation with heart, some wry humor, and with thoughtfulness. The Humans is funny, strange, deep, and lovely. I loved it. Click here for my full review of The Humans. Haig is also the author of The Midnight Library, How to Stop Time, and Reasons to Stay Alive. 04 Nightwatch on the Hinterlands by K. Eason In Eason's science fiction mystery, an unlikely pair who get on each other's nerves work together to determine who is responsible for a puzzling murder and other strange occurrences that threaten their world. In K. Eason's science fiction mystery Nightwatch on the Hinterlands, a templar, Iari, and a spy, Gaer, have built a somewhat formal working relationship. Neither is quite sure where the other's loyalties begin and end, nor are they intimately acquainted with the other's history or personal motivations. They begin to forge a stronger bond (despite how irritating they each find the other), but there's no time to waste, because high-stakes danger is quickly building to a crisis point around them. Searching for the truth leads the unlikely duo on a search to uncover who is controlling a riev that shouldn't have been capable of killing, but did--and they're led to someone with nefarious goals that go much farther and are much more elaborately imagined than one isolated killing. I think this was because of personal timing and my reading-during-vacation distraction circumstances, but I did have ongoing trouble following the logistics and political machinations and motivations here. It didn't matter, though, because I was most invested in and engaged by the interplay of characters--particularly the grudging friendship and grumpily built but rock-solid loyalty between Iari and Gaer. And I was wholly charmed by the rievs (former battle robots) who mysteriously show sentience and surprising preferences for personal pronouns, and who are set on reinventing themselves in drastic fashion. Click here for my full review of Nightwatch on the Hinterlands. 05 Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel In this nested story that spans centuries, Mandel explores a pandemic, moon colonization, the universal connection of music, the temptation to change the past, portals and time loops, loyalty, fear, love, and wonder. In this science fiction novel, Mandel plays with time and time travel as well as mysteries surrounding what may be a portal linking individuals through time. Mandel explores an emerging pandemic in a future with a colonized moon, considers the universal connection of music, and digs into the difficulty and danger in changing the past. But all of these players and times feel mainly to be in place to serve as a structure for our true main protagonist, Gaspary, and we see the most depth and development and change; loyalty and love and grief; wonder and danger; resignation and hope in his portion of the story. This was where I was captivated and delighted and emotionally engaged. Do you like books that play with time? You might like the books I list on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories or Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes or these Bossy reviews of books that play with time. Click here for my review of Mandel's Station Eleven. And click here for my full review of Sea of Tranquility. 06 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Nagamatsu's science fiction centers around a resurgence of an ancient Arctic plague. These interconnected stories are odd, fascinating, and sometimes panic-inducing, yet they offer glimmers of hope. I was intrigued by all of it. It's 2030, and an archaeologist in the Arctic Circle discovers a body perfectly preserved in the permafrost. His personal situation is complicated by his grief for his recently deceased daughter, and he aims to continue the research work she began. But the young woman he has found may have died of an ancient virus, and thawing the body for study could unleash the long-eradicated illness all over again. The stories that make up How High We Go in the Dark are steeped in death and in coming to terms with mortality while fighting for answers. Yet deep connections are forged--in life-or-death moments throughout the book, as well as within the collective goal of saving humanity--and in some cases these bonds feel deeper than marriages or long-held relationships. As the virus passes like a whirlwind through societies and nations around the globe, Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark highlights interpersonal connections spanning centuries--and extending as far as the stars. Click here for my full review of How High We Go in the Dark.

Space Stories I've Loved I'm captivated by stories about space--the unknown, the possibilities, the unimaginable challenges, the often-unforgiving conditions, the authors' worldbuilding--and the books listed here are a few of my absolute favorites. Because I love the series so very much, I have separate posts for Martha Wells's Murderbot series, set in deep space. Here are my glowing reviews of the first three installments and here is my gushing take on the fourth; you can click here to read about my love for the fifth. If you're interested in books like this, you might also like the books on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans, and Alien Life and AI Six More Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Have you loved any space-set stories that should go on my next Greedy Reading List of stories set in space? 01 August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White White's first Starmetal Symphony installment offers deadly deep-space robots, showcases the power of music, and illustrates how love can persist even in the face of imminent demise. I loved the main characters' fashion, banter, and stubbornness. Gus is a jazz pianist whose biggest hope for the pending end of the world was to play at the most epic goodbye party of all time. After all, the Vanguards, giant, deadly AI robots, are headed from deep space to destroy Earth at any moment. But when the Vanguards arrive, the sudden, brutal ending Gus has envisioned for himself doesn't happen. Instead, Gus and a few other Earthlings are pulled in by a small group of traitorous Vanguards--and tasked with being modified, temporarily melded with the robots, battling other robots--and saving all of humanity. The robots and the imminent demise of the human race that the robots seem perched to enact serve as a catalyst for the human main characters to assess their own purposes and consider what makes life worth living. They forge desperate, deep connections and struggle with loss and an uncertain future, and I loved the impractical, invigorating, stubborn love in the book. I also really enjoyed White's Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in the Salvagers series. Click here for my full review of August Kitko and the Mechas from Space. 02 Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter Lostetter's standalone science fiction is a story about robots, a ragtag space crew, friends like family, and reimagining one's place in the universe. Activation Degradation begins with Unit Four's initial activation. It has just become sentient, and like its robot sisters, it has been programmed to fight the aliens currently attacking its ship. But whether it's a glitch or instincts that shouldn't be possible, Unit Four realizes that the situation as its handler has explained it doesn't quite add up. When Unit Four is taken onto the enemy alien ship as a prisoner and is unable to communicate with its handler, it begins to understand that all is not black and white, and that it may need to rethink all it has been taught to believe. Lostetter's book started off with a lot of logistics that slowed things for me, but as of page 66 the action and character development and exploration of morality and friendship and life purpose began clicking along. Activation Degradation explores what makes a person worth saving--or simply existing--as well as unconventional love and relationships, personal responsibility, sacrifice and bravery, and staying open to revolutionarily new ideas and ways of looking at the world--and the universe. Click here for my full review of Activation Degradation. 03 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He seems to be in space and isn't sure what has happened, and not only does he not remember his own name or where he's from, he also doesn't remember his scientific expertise or anything else that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir has created another irresistible story of hope, resilience, wonder, and discovery. Andy Weir is also the author of The Martian and Artemis. One of my few reading regrets is not having listened to this as an audiobook. For my full review, please check out Project Hail Mary. 04 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. The group is made up of various creatures from around the galaxy, and they've already built bonds through working together for ages. Yet they make room in the mix for Rosemary, who's grateful--and who's frankly glad to leave her significant personal troubles behind. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I love that the crew of the Wayfarer feels like a close-knit group of summer camp counselors somehow, palling around, sometimes irritating each other, each with special gifts and the ability and desire to help crewmates reach their full potentials, emotionally or otherwise. I just adored this. For my full review, check out The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. 05 The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell The Sparrow is about everything. Family, pain, love, music, influence, trust, wonder, brutality, invention, discovery, loyalty, and most of all, faith—in some cases, lost and found again. And also...aliens. In The Sparrow, humans find proof of extraterrestrial life, and the UN begins deliberating about those on Earth should proceed. Meanwhile, a small team from the Society of Jesus quickly strikes out on its own to approach the planet first. The life they find there is wondrous and overwhelming, and it forces them to rethink their assumptions about humanity and the universe. I don’t usually read books again these days (I'm too greedy), but I could use a copy of this book to highlight upon rereading. The Sparrow took a little time to get going for me, but then I was blown away. For my full review of this book, please see The Sparrow. 06 The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James Romy's soaring hopes, her vulnerability and then her growing doubts, her self-reliance and quick thinking, and the shifts and twists of the book all kept me hooked for this quick read. I loved this. ​Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to--someone who is light years away? This young adult science fiction story has an irresistible premise: teenaged Romy is the sole survivor on her spaceship, which is en route to establishing an outpost on a new planet. She's on her own out there in space, and as lonely as any human could imagine being. There's no hope of seeing another human again anytime soon. Her sole communication outlet is with her NASA contact, Molly, who sends her audio messages (and occasionally forwards along episodes of Romy's favorite TV show). But then Romy gets word that another ship has launched from earth, with a young man called J as the pilot. Romy is on her own in space, haunted by the events that led to her solo venture. Her self-reliance, romanticized ideas, quick thinking, and strength of character, along with the shifts and twists of the book, all kept me hooked. For my full review, please see The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

The Robot Books I love a good artificial intelligence- or robot-focused story, and these six (plus, in several cases, their sequels) really captivated me. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my to-read robot book list? 01 The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells You can click the links here to find my full Bossy reviews of Murderbot books 1 through 3 ( All Systems Red , Artificial Condition , and Rogue Protocol ), book 4, Exit Strategy , book 5, Network Effect , book 6, Fugitive Telemetry , and book 7, System Collapse . SecUnit is a company-supplied security android who accompanies corporate forays into planetary exploration. Unbeknownst to its clients, SecUnit has hacked its governor module--and secretly refers to itself as Murderbot. Privately disdainful of the weak, inefficient humans it protects, Murderbot is exploring who it is and what is possible. SecUnit is a fantastic main character; it's grumpily and charmingly obsessed with keeping its people safe and with not being touched or talked to about feelings. It gleans tips about holding conversations and functioning around others by watching its favorite show, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon . Murderbot befriends other AI beings; it's constantly and cleverly problem-solving; it sulks and likes to veg out with its media; and it grudgingly becomes attached to certain humans in its orbit. The Murderbot series is funny and poignant and odd and wonderful. Click here for my glowing reviews of the first three books in this series and click here for my reviews of Exit Strategy and Network Effect . 02 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson This story features supporting AI and robot characters in an intriguing futuristic setting. Lora Beth Johnson hooked me immediately with the premise of Goddess in the Machine and with main protagonist Andra's voice. Teenage Andra wakes up after being cryogenically preserved for a century-long journey to a new planet. She's a little creaky and sore, sure, but she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many others involved in the complex project. They'll begin the work of bravely populating and building a society on this new planet. But Andra soon realizes she wasn't sleeping for 100 years. She was asleep for 1,000. The people, terrain, and language are not what she studied for or expected, everyone she once knew has already lived and died--oh, and the general population, whoever they are, thinks she's a goddess, and they've been waiting excitedly for her to wake up and save them. There's a twist/double twist in Goddess in the Machine that I didn't see coming, and I found the whole story compelling. For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine . The sequel to this book is Devil in the Device . 03 Machinehood by S. B. Divya In her debut novel, Machinehood , S. B. Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on homemade and commercially manufactured pills--for health, for work focus, for managing bots, for healing, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. The economy runs on robots, partially augmented humans, and humans desperately trying to compete with artificial intelligence and survive in the gig economy. Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! I wished for more page time spent on everyday tasks and activities (cooking, shifting household modules, travel, and communicating), which were all carried out in Jetsons-level, fascinating, futuristic ways. But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which exists in the future too) as they: navigate ethical considerations such as pressures on workers and workload expectations; consider modifications to the body to enable faster or more strenuous work; manage the implications of a backlash against artificial enhancements; and face society's inability to extricate itself and the worldwide economy from a reliance on pills. The management of many large-scale issues and their side effects are shown in shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. For my full review of this book, please see Machinehood . 04 Skyhunter by Marie Lu In Skyhunter , Lu offers a story about refugees desperately trying to escape becoming conscripted into the Federation army; elite Striker fighters trying to salvage their society despite the Federation's widespread and evil efforts; and the demonization of the "other." A mysterious prisoner from the front arrives who could be friend or foe, and our main protagonist Talin must figure out whether to destroy him or trust him with her life--before things unravel irrevocably for her and her fellow warriors. The surprising ending made my heart stop. Then I remembered that this was the first in a series and that the story would continue past the final complications and shocking events, so I did not hurl the book through the window. Complex motivations are at work here, as well as clashes between idealism and realism and editorialization about class and race. There is plenty of substance and depth in this young adult title to captivate adult readers. Skyhunter  made it onto this list because of the augmented humans in the book. For my full review of this book, please see Skyhunter . And check out my Bossy review of the sequel, Steelstriker . 05 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green “We are each individual, but the far greater thing is what we are together, and if that isn't protected and cherished, we are headed to a bad place.” Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a gloriously oddball book with lots of heart. In the middle of the night on a New York City street, April and her friend Andy stumble across something truly weird--a giant metal soldier sculpture that reminds them of a samurai. They happily record a video with the sculpture, which they call Carl, and upload it to YouTube. The next day, the world is changed. Carls have cropped up in cities throughout the world. What is the meaning of these robotlike creatures? Are they neutral, are they sinister, or might they be here to save humanity? The faulted character of April May was wonderful, and I was fascinated by the way her actions and hopes allowed a peek into a fame- and attention-seeking existence. Also: Robin! And: Carl—! For my full review of both books in the Carls series, see An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor . 06 Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel A girl named Rose in rural South Dakota falls into a hole that has intricate carvings covering the walls and wakes up in the palm of an enormous robot hand. Where did it come from? What do the carvings mean? What is the purpose of any of this? Years later Rose is a world-renowned physicist working to unlock the secrets of the hand and the curious artifacts, but the mysteries persist. The interview structure keeps the characters at a distance from the reader, yet Neuvel allows their spoken-only participation in the book to express their growth, hopes, and fears. The characters are relating events that have already happened through the lenses of their own points of view, creating the potential for unreliable narrators, characters who are hiding important information, and many resulting twists and turns. Neuvel explores concepts of personal responsibility, how the possibility of life beyond Earth affects everything, and how manipulation and observation--potentially by other beings in the solar system--shape behavior. Also: the ending--! The next books in this series are Waking Gods and Only Human , and I enjoyed them both.

System Collapse provides more of SecUnit's emotional coping with PTSD than action, and I missed the faster pacing of other books, but I love being in SecUnit's world again. Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse. In System Collapse, we catch up with the delightfully grumpy Murderbot (SecUnit), who in this seventh book in the series is faced with attempting to rescue, along with a team of humans, the inhabitants of a newly colonized planet. These colonists are in danger from an unethical corporation that's out to take advantage of and force labor from them. At the end of the last book, Fugitive Telemetry, SecUnit almost died. This story picks up immediately after those events, alluding to various ongoing emotional impacts and SecUnit system glitches that are linked to that trauma, which feels like Murderbot PTSD. Because of all of this, SecUnit isn't working as it should, despite ART's best attempts at repairing it and the Preservation Station human allies' work at trying to figure out the problem. (I didn't feel as connected to the human team here as in other Murderbot books--and I always miss Mensah when she is not present.) I love being back in the middle of the deep, irritation-filled, intensely loyal SecUnit and ART friendship and a Wells Murderbot story. I haven't read a Murderbot book in two and a half years, but the slow build here made it difficult for me to dive in, and the extended parenthetical sections (a structure familiar from other books) felt like they were bogging down the story. Frequent "redacted" notes and abruptly ended thoughts added to my inability to feel like I had a handle on and investment in the story. I loved the concept of SecUnit's exploring emotions (Murderbot emotions!) and trying to come to terms with its near-death experience, yet the page time spent on insecurity, fear, and facing past trauma is one reason the pacing of System Collapse felt quite slow to me until the final sections. The end section of the story involves fast-paced reactions and conflicts, with SecUnit doing its thing--revising plans, providing limitless human protection, and taking unorthodox approaches--to wonderful effect. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You can click here to find my Bossy reviews of Murderbot books 1 through 3, book 4, Exit Strategy, book 5, Network Effect, as well as book 6, Fugitive Telemetry.

This slim book tells the story of a small crew of astronauts in the twenty-second century who are searching for alien life--and who must come to terms with their purpose and their uncertain future when they lose communication with Earth. I could not have predicted each version of me that I shifted into, but through my history, one constant has always remained true: change itself. It's the twenty-second century, and in Becky Chambers's novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate , Ariadne O'Neill and her three crewmates are exploring a planetary system many light years from Earth. They're working to determine whether human life can be sustained on one of the four planets there. Through a technique called somaforming, human space flight has been revolutionized; synthetic supplementations allow humans to travel to otherwise deadly environments. Nothing was ever enough on Mirabilis. Every discovery made, every hour spent in someone else's sheets, every conversation and collaboration and new vista taken in made me want more, more, more. We were alive on that world. We were kings without enemies, children removed from time. As Ariadne documents the dangers and promise of her mission, she and her crewmates consider their impact on the worlds they visit; lament a disruption in communication from earth and wonder at its causes and impact; and wait and wonder about who has the authority to determine their next steps--and what they should be. This book is quite short, and I wished for more time with and development of the characters. The ending felt somewhat abrupt, and the story is without a clear resolution. This fits the dilemma that faces the crew near the close of the book, yet I found it unsatisfying. The book's unwieldy title comes from this quote that Chambers provides within the book, from former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in 1977, as recorded on the Voyager Golden Record: "...We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship--to teach, if we are called upon; to be taught, if we are fortunate...." I love a space setting (feel free to check out these other Bossy reviews of novels set in space ), and I really enjoyed the glimpses of this space crew working together, coping with setbacks, and making discoveries. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Becky Chambers is also the author of A Psalm for the Wild-Built , the wonderful The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet , and other books.

Death of the Author explores the connection of an author to her work--and how a story can take on a life of its own--in this novel featuring a science fiction tale within Okorafor's main story, which is that of a writer shaping her own identity and future by facing challenges and mind-blowing opportunities. Adjunct professor Zelu has just told off a foolish, privileged, antagonistic student (and then told off her boss), so now she's not only disabled and overwhelmed by her overly controlling and opinionated family as she has been for many years--she's also unemployed. At rock bottom, she allows her subconscious to develop a rich imagined world and story that are completely unlike her stilted literary attempts of the past. The book Rusted Robots takes off like a rocket in popularity, changing almost everything in her life. (The speed with which Zelu's book is fought over, paid for, published, successful, and various rights are sold all feels like a happy dream-state fantasy that prospective authors might especially enjoy.) The story meanders as Zelu struggles to determine what to do with her success and to understand what she's all about. Significant page time is spent on her worrying about how to manage situations and what to do next (often with her family's meddlesome negativity creeping in). After the feverish writing of her successful science fiction story, she is unable to write a sequel. She cements her identity and significant abilities piece by piece when she embraces challenging opportunities (augmenting her ability to be mobile with futuristic walking aids; diving into her relationship and commitment; saying yes to a trip into space) and as she copes with danger and disappointment (a violent attack when she visits Nigeria; the white bastardization of her Rusted Robots story). Zelu's ties to her parents' home country of Nigeria remain constant, as does her desire for adventure, her unwillingness to compromise, and her disinterest in doing the expected. Zelu's family aims to tear down her confidence as well as repeatedly blame her for her childhood accident that left her in a wheelchair, express negativity around her daring to dream, remain obsessed with their own needs for approval and for keeping up appearances above considering Zelu's well-being, and, occasionally, bestow tiny gifts of grudging positivity, but only after Zelu's various avenues of blockbuster success (bestseller novel, million-dollar advance, movie made, trip to space!) are undeniable. The family's collective assumption that they may, unsolicited, rightfully weigh in on Zelu's every decision was jarring and infuriating. The shifted points of view (early on and periodically, a sister shares Zelu's tale) and the various moments of foreshadowing took me out of the story's immediacy. This is literary fiction with portions of science fiction, and I adored the portions of Rusted Robots that are interspersed throughout. The excerpts highlighted commonalities between the imaginary world that poured out of her and Zelu's real life, and they presented fascinating questions. How much does physical form affect a sense of self, others' assumptions, and one's own abilities? Can lifelong prejudices be overcome? Can vulnerability and loyalty overcome deadly dangers and destruction? More from Nnedi Okorafor Okorafor is also the author of the Binti trilogy, Akata Witch , Noor , Remote Control , and other works.

More Science Fiction Faves I love character-driven science fiction stories. Sci-fi books can be so lovely and weird and immersive, and the stories can dive into so many fascinating big-deal issues--like feeling a greater purpose, facing a deep responsibility to other beings, undertaking noble missions, bravely exploring new worlds, or finding common ground with those who are different from you. You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into and Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and SI. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought. Which other books should I add to my science fiction to-read list? 01 The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson Johnson offers a wonderfully imperfect heroine and her fascinating journeys through the multiverse, her various lives, and her alternate selves in this science fiction debut. Cara is one of a dwindling number of traversers. She can travel through the multiverse, but only to worlds where another version of herself no longer exists. Her other selves seem uncannily apt to die, so Cara is able to visit 372 other Earths where her counterparts are no longer living. But when one of Cara's eight remaining selves mysteriously dies while she is world walking, shocking secrets are revealed that connect various worlds and shake Cara to her core. She must cobble together the various bits of knowledge and savviness she's gained through tracing the steps of her many other selves if she's going to stand any chance of outsmarting the canny and intelligent Adam Bosch--a man who will otherwise almost certainly be the source of her undoing. This was a fascinating story that offered satisfying character depth. Cara isn't superhuman; she's imperfect, sometimes selfish, tough, and occasionally she's wonderfully vulnerable. I loved her as an unlikely heroine, and I loved that it wasn't too easy for her to attempt to address complex issues within the multiverse. Click here for my full review of this book. 02 Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Settle in and prepare to roll with this unique book--it keeps you hooked the whole way through. After Jason Dessen, a physics professor, is abducted from the street in Chicago, he awakens in a different life, one in which he is not married to his wife and he has no son, but he is welcomed "back" to an existence in which he is a scientific genius. It all feels like a mistake, and an overwhelming, life-ruining one at that. Jason struggles to determine which reality of the multiverse is true and how the hell he might get back to his family. Crouch's Dark Matter is a fascinating blend of action-packed and poignant. I cared deeply about the characters, and Crouch's scientific passages don't require you to remember your high school physics to feel entrenched in that element. Click here for my full review of Dark Matter. 03 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Nagamatsu's science fiction centers around a resurgence of an ancient Arctic plague. These interconnected stories are odd, fascinating, and sometimes panic-inducing, yet they offer glimmers of hope. It's 2030, and an archaeologist in the Arctic Circle discovers a body perfectly preserved in the permafrost. His personal situation is complicated by his grief for his recently deceased daughter, and he aims to continue the research work she began. But the young woman he has found may have died of an ancient virus, and thawing the body for study could unleash the long-eradicated illness all over again. The stories are steeped in death and in coming to terms with mortality while fighting for answers. Yet deep connections are forged. As the virus passes like a whirlwind through societies and nations around the globe, Nagamatsu's science fiction work How High We Go in the Dark highlights interpersonal connections spanning centuries--and extending as far as the stars. I was intrigued by all of this. For my full review, see How High We Go in the Dark. 04 Warcross (Warcross #1) by Marie Lu You may see much of this young adult story coming, but Warcross is an action-packed quest to right wrongs in an immersive video game and beyond--with some romance! Emika Chen is an orphaned young woman in a futuristic New York City. She's gifted when it comes to computers, but she's been driven by desperate circumstances to become a bounty hunter seeking out those who bet illegally on the worldwide phenomenon Warcross game. She's hacked into the game plenty of times and glitched the system to work in her favor. But when she accidentally disrupts a high-stakes championship and draws the attention of the game's creator, she finds herself in Tokyo considering an invitation she could never have dreamed of: a job working for the powerful Hideo Tanaka. If she accepts, she'll never have to worry about money again. But seeking to uncover the identity of those trying to destroy the game--and figuring out the other elements at work--turns out to be more high-stakes and dangerous than Emika ever dreamed. You may be able to see much of this one coming, but the action-packed fight for justice coupled with the promise of a clever, ragtag group of heroic characters entering book two for an even higher stakes battle make for a satisfying Marie Lu experience. For my full review, please see Warcross. 05 A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Salvagers #1) by Alex White The first in Alex White's Salvagers space opera series offers diverse characters, strong women, a heist setup, and, ultimately, a ragtag group of underdogs saving the day. In Alex White's science fiction novel A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in White's Salvagers series, a group of outcasts bands together to locate a legendary ship before it falls into the hands of the wrong people, people who would use it as a weapon. A Big Ship is a space heist book with lots of action, strong female characters driving the plot, and a great underdogs-unite premise. I was in this for the characters, among them Cordell, the tough captain with a heart of gold; Boots, a jaded former fighter pilot turned reality star who hopes for a miracle; and Nilah, a privileged and daring racer who falls for the grumpiest crew member of all. Each character in A Big Ship is reeling from planet-level destruction and heartbreak, and it's satisfying to follow them as they seek redemption, take comfort in and build loyalty to one another, and identify and aim to outsmart their enemies to try to save the world with scrappiness and luck. For my full review, please see A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe. 06 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He seems to be in space and isn't sure what has happened, and not only does he not remember his own name or where he's from, he also doesn't remember his scientific expertise or anything else that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. Weir is asking most of the big questions here, about faith and belief; selflessness and selfishness; and meaning and worth. Through exploring seemingly impossible routes toward understanding and communication, he presents a story that illustrates universal expressions of emotion, desire for purpose, and love--across life forms. For my full review, please see Project Hail Mary.

Megan E. O'Keefe's first space opera in the Devoured Worlds series presents failing worlds filled with conflict, shifting loyalties, pollution and destruction, and the beginnings of a lovely love story. In the first book of Megan E. O'Keefe's Devoured Worlds series, The Blighted Stars , studious Tarquin Mercator is the unlikely heir to his ruthless father's galaxy-wide mining empire. Naira Sharp is a quick-minded spy and revolutionary who thinks she knows why newly discovered planets are being destroyed--and it all comes down to the greed of the Mercator family. Naira is determined to stop them. Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira is celebrating her access to the Mercator family--until she and Tarquin realize they're stranded on a dead planet. Now they must rely on each other to survive--and together they stumble upon a widespread plot with corruption that spans the galaxy. The premise of O'Keefe's imagined universe involves reprinting into new forms after they die, so that death is never definite. People can print into preferred forms or take on a new "print," so that impersonating others is possible, and when secretive plots are going on and characters are posing as members of the opposition, they must fall back on speech patterns, habits, or tics to identify each other. Memories can be manipulated and erased, as characters' minds take the shape of a previous reboot and lose recent knowledge, affections, and loyalties. Pollution and multiple worlds' destruction drives the plot, and various characters' belief in their own judicious use of technology and science to play God is as complicated and faulted as one could anticipate. The love story emerges through difficult circumstances and is lovely, although in some ways it's still in its infancy at the end of the book. The love story is also far from the focus of the book. The tone of The Blighted Stars is a somewhat dark and horrifying space adventure, with moments of sweetness and levity. I was hooked on all of it. O'Keefe creates a high-stakes, universe-spanning drama in The Blighted Stars , and it sets up complexities for the books to come in this series, which I definitely want to read. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I listened to The Blighted Stars  as an audiobook. Megan E. O'Keefe is also the author of the The Protectorate series and The Scorched Continent series.

After the World Falls Apart I have a fascination with postapocalyptic and dystopian books, and I think it's for the same reason I'm captivated by wartime stories: the books are about characters being pushed to their limits by an incredibly challenging situation, and they show their true selves and abilities. I hope you'll also check out the books on my first Greedy Reading List of Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels. Which dystopian or postapocalyptic books have fascinated you? 01 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson Robots, time travel, teen angst, and this gorgeous cover. Yes to all of this. I didn't anticipate the twists Johnson provides, and I was delighted by each of them. Goddess in the Machine is more than just a gorgeous cover. Lora Beth Johnson had me hooked immediately by the premise and Andra's voice. Teenage Andra finally wakes up after being cryogenically preserved for a century-long journey to a new planet. She's a little creaky and sore, sure, but she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many others involved in the complex project. They'll begin the work of bravely populating and building a new life on this planet. Except...Andra soon realizes she wasn't sleeping for 100 years. She was asleep for 1,000. The people, terrain, and language are not what she studied for or expected, everyone she once knew has already lived and died--oh, and the general population, whoever they are, thinks she's a goddess, and they've been waiting excitedly for her to wake up and save them. I didn't anticipate the twist/double twist here, and I loved being surprised again and again. For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine. 02 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir Gideon’s speech is modern and biting, there are darkly funny moments, and the friendships and loyalty resonate in a lovely way. The tone of Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth was unlike any fantasy novel I’ve read, and the friendships and loyalty that develop seem impossible, yet resonate in a lovely way. It’s really a fascinating book. I read this during Pandemic Times, which slowed me down and also, I believe, made it tougher than it should’ve been for me to differentiate between some of the secondary characters. (They’re also each called by multiple titles and names, which became slightly jumbled in my mind at times.) The settings are so stark and unique and clearly built that I think the general sense of this book is going to haunt me for a long time. And the ending—! This is the first in Muir's Locked Tomb series, and I'm currently listening to the second, Harrow the Ninth. The third book, Nona the Ninth, was published in fall 2022. For my full review, check out Gideon the Ninth. 03 Machinehood by S.B. Divya Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! Divya has crafted strong female main protagonists who navigate the sometimes dark, always complicated pressures of life in 2095--as they try to save the world. In her debut novel, Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on homemade and commercially manufactured pills--for health, for work focus, for managing bots, for healing, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. I wished for more page time spent on everyday tasks and activities (cooking, shifting household modules, travel, and communicating), which were all carried out in Jetsons-level, fascinating, futuristic ways. But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which exists in the future too). The management of many large-scale issues and their side effects are shown in shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. For my full review, check out Machinehood. 04 Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long I was hooked by Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction novel about tough young Sena, her skittish fighting wolf Iska, and their desperate journey across the ice. ​In the young adult science fiction novel Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of her mothers to the brutal sled races on her frozen planet. Since then she's had to be scrappy, creative, and above all, tough. When she angers a local warlord and becomes eager to escape her world, she's relieved to secure promises of transport out--but those who would help her have one condition: she must help them take part in the planet's most infamous sled race. In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined survival, hard-earned loyalty, grudging friendship, and a stubborn overcoming of various vivid dangers. I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and by tough, grumpy Sena, who has a big heart and a soft spot for Iska, her personality counterpart in wolf form. To see my full review, check out Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves. 05 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Nagamatsu's science fiction centers around a resurgence of an ancient Arctic plague. These interconnected stories are odd, fascinating, and sometimes panic-inducing, yet they offer glimmers of hope. I was intrigued by all of it. ​It's 2030, and an archaeologist in the Arctic Circle discovers a body perfectly preserved in the permafrost. His personal situation is complicated by his grief for his recently deceased daughter, and he aims to continue the research work she began. The interconnected stories here are made up of strange, affecting situations. In one circumstance, referred to in the book's title, there is a captivating, dark, in-between world of floating, nebulous memories that highlights humans’ struggles to connect to each other. How High We Go in the Dark combines linked elements that wind through the book. Characters appear in the backgrounds of others’ stories; a necklace disappears from one story in the Arctic and reappears in a casual mention around the neck of another character across the world in another time; and we see varied points of view regarding aspects of the same stories. For my full review, please see How High We Go in the Dark. 06 The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James Romy's soaring hopes, her vulnerability and then her growing doubts, her self-reliance and quick thinking, and the shifts and twists of the book all kept me hooked for this quick read. I loved this. ​Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to--someone who is light years away? This young adult science fiction story has an irresistible premise: teenaged Romy is the sole survivor on her spaceship, which is en route to establishing an outpost on a new planet. She's on her own out there in space, and as lonely as any human could imagine being. There's no hope of seeing another human again anytime soon. Her sole communication outlet is with her NASA contact, Molly, who sends her audio messages (and occasionally forwards along episodes of Romy's favorite TV show). But then Romy gets word that another ship has launched from earth, with a young man called J as the pilot. Romy is on her own in space, haunted by the events that led to her solo venture. Her self-reliance, romanticized ideas, quick thinking, and strength of character, along with the shifts and twists of the book, all kept me hooked. For my full review, please see The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Six Four-Star (and Up) Bossy Science Fiction Reads I realize I just said this last week regarding mysteries, but really, doesn't the cold winter also feel like the perfect time to cozy up with a science fiction story with fantastic characters and some space adventure or other-world escapism? Here are six of my favorite science fiction reads of last year--with another list to come! Two of these share one of my favorite setups (a ragtag crew with heart has adventures in space; The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Activation Degradation), and I've included a thought-provoking robot-focused story (A Psalm for the Wild-Built), the newest novel by the fantastic Blake Crouch (Upgrade), a strange, dark, captivating sequel (Harrow the Ninth), and one of my top favorite reads from last year (Project Hail Mary). I rated each of these books four Bossy stars or more. (Check out My Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads for all my best-of reads from last year.) If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear what you think! You can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. I'd love to hear: what are some of your favorite science fiction reads? 01 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. This is one of two Becky Chambers books on this short list. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. The group is made up of various creatures from around the galaxy, and they've already built bonds through working together for ages. Yet they make room in the mix for Rosemary, who's grateful--and who's frankly glad to leave her significant personal troubles behind. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I love that the crew of the Wayfarer feels like a close-knit group of summer camp counselors somehow, palling around, sometimes irritating each other, each with special gifts and the ability and desire to help crewmates reach their full potentials, emotionally or otherwise. I just adored this. For my full review, check out The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. 02 Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter Lostetter's standalone science fiction is a story about robots, a ragtag space crew, friends like family, and reimagining one's place in the universe. Activation Degradation begins with Unit Four's initial activation. It has just become sentient, and like its robot sisters, it has been programmed to fight the aliens currently attacking its ship. But whether it's a glitch or instincts that shouldn't be possible, Unit Four realizes that the situation as its handler has explained it doesn't quite add up. When Unit Four is taken onto the enemy alien ship as a prisoner and is unable to communicate with its handler, it begins to understand that all is not black and white, and that it may need to rethink all it has been taught to believe. Lostetter's book started off with a lot of logistics that slowed things for me, but as of page 66 the action and character development and exploration of morality and friendship and life purpose began clicking along. Activation Degradation explores what makes a person worth saving--or simply existing--as well as unconventional love and relationships, personal responsibility, sacrifice and bravery, and staying open to revolutionarily new ideas and ways of looking at the world--and the universe. Click here for my full review of Activation Degradation. 03 Upgrade by Blake Crouch Main protagonist Logan was hard for me to emotionally connect to, but I was hooked by the heart-pounding action, the fascinating imagined power and scope of gene engineering, the world on the verge of collapse--and the most intense, high-stakes sibling rivalry imaginable. Upgrade presents a future version of our world in which humans are teetering closer than ever to extinction because of a crumbling environment. SoHo and southern Manhattan are underwater, eating synthetic meat is the norm, and geneticists who have tried tinkering with the human state in a desperate attempt to shift the future of homo sapiens have largely been punished and jailed. Logan Ramsey is in charge of investigating suspected gene scientists who are up to illegal activity, and while investigating a suspicious situation, he is injured by an odd explosion. In the hospital he has headaches, a fever, and body aches, then his symptoms subside. The stakes couldn't be higher for Crouch's protagonists--pending global destruction and the elimination of the human race. So everything that occurs is a Big Deal, and Upgrade offers detailed, heart-stopping chases; the most intense sibling rivalry imaginable, interesting scenes of superhumans' outsmarting each other; and noble desires to "save the world" that conflict with others’ similar desires in crucial ways--and with potential global consequences. You can find my review of Blake Crouch's Recursion (mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore) here and my review of Dark Matter here. Click here for my full review of Upgrade. 04 Harrow the Ninth (Locked Tomb #2) by Tamsyn Muir This sequel to Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth is a complex, fascinating, gruesome story full of action and shifts in reality as well as endless bad language, wicked barbs, and dark-as-night humor. At the start of Harrow the Ninth, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, the last necromancer of the Ninth House, wakes disoriented and without her full powers on the Emperor's space station. Trapped in the eerie space station with three grumpy, unwilling teachers trying to prepare her for the battle of all battles (which by all accounts will be unwinnable), Harrow has to determine whether someone is trying to kill her--and to figure out what she has to live for anyway. This is dark dark dark, with death, nefarious plotting, and gleefully gruesome elements (bone work, etc.). But Harrow the Ninth also offers fantastically bratty episodes on the parts of various characters; frenzies of double-crossing, long-term plans for destruction, and evil impulses; and endless moments of silly and dark humor that made me laugh. The strong, ruthless, intelligent women in Harrow the Ninth absolutely steal the show--which is saying something, since God of the Universe is a character in the story. For my review of the first book in this series, Gideon the Ninth, check out this link. (Gideon was also mentioned in my Greedy Reading List Six More Postapocalyptic and Dystopian Favorites.) The third book in this series, Nona the Ninth, was published in 2022, with the fourth book, Alecto the Ninth, to follow in fall 2023. For my full review, check out Harrow the Ninth. 05 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir In one of my favorite overall reads of last year, Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He seems to be in space and isn't sure what has happened, and not only does he not remember his own name or where he's from, he also doesn't remember his scientific expertise or anything else that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir has created another irresistible story of hope, resilience, wonder, and discovery. Andy Weir is also the author of The Martian and Artemis. One of my reading regrets from last year is not listening to this as an audiobook. For my full review, please check out Project Hail Mary. 06 A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's slim book explores a man's search for meaning--and how a robot's simple questions about maintaining the status quo might open up a world of new possibilities. Is this a second book by Becky Chambers on one short Greedy Reading List? Yes, yes, it is. In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, the robots vanished from Panga centuries ago, and accounts of a world where they existed are beginning to feel more and more like folklore. But tea monk Dex finds himself wandering and yearning--for long-lost crickets' nighttime noises, and for some deep connection he can't quite identify. When Dex wanders into the forest and encounters a robot, the traditional exchange must occur, of checking in, and the robot asks: What do humans need? Dex can't imagine being able to answer this enormous question, but the robot wonders if the matter is really so complicated after all. The story is full of heart and strange, captivating details of Chambers's imagined world--and of an unorthodox friendship that could save both monk and robot. For my full review of A Psalm for the Wild-Built, please click here. If you're interested in books about robots, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI.

In Eason's science fiction mystery, an unlikely pair who get on each other's nerves work together to determine who is responsible for a puzzling murder and other strange occurrences that threaten their world. In K. Eason's science fiction mystery Nightwatch on the Hinterlands, a templar, Iari, and a spy, Gaer, have built a somewhat formal working relationship. Neither is quite sure where the other's loyalties begin and end, nor are they intimately acquainted with the other's history or personal motivations. They begin to forge a stronger bond (despite how irritating they each find the other), but there's no time to waste, because high-stakes danger is quickly building to a crisis point around them. Iari and Gaer band together to solve the mystery of a murder committed by a riev, a decommissioned battle-mecha robot from the last conflict--a murder that shouldn't have been possible, because everyone knows rievs don't kill. Yet all evidence points to the impossible, and odd evidence piles up, then vanishes--as do the witnesses and promising contacts who might have illuminated Iari and Gaer as to the local dynamics and the power dynamics of the local criminal world. Searching for the truth leads the unlikely duo on a search to uncover who is controlling the riev--and they find that it's someone with nefarious goals that go much farther and are much more elaborately imagined than one recent killing. I think this was because of personal timing and my reading-during-vacation distraction circumstances, but I did have ongoing trouble following the logistics and political machinations and motivations here. It didn't matter, though, because I was most invested in and engaged by the interplay of characters--particularly the grudging friendship and grumpily built but rock-solid loyalty between Iari and Gaer. And I was wholly charmed by the rievs (former battle robots) who mysteriously show sentience and surprising preferences for personal pronouns, and who are set on reinventing themselves in drastic fashion. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Eason is also the author of the On the Bones of Gods fantasy series. This is the first book in The Weep series. If you like books about robots, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI.

Emily Tesh's debut novel is a space opera about war, duty, brainwashing, escaping limitations, and reinventing oneself--with fascinating turns of events and richly wrought characters. I just loved it. Kyr has not only trained her whole life for the day she can avenge the long-ago destruction of Earth, she was genetically bred to be exceptional at the task. But then unexpected events lead her to leave the only home she's ever known in order to try to save Magnus, her genetic brother, who she's never really allowed herself to feel emotionally connected to. She realizes that the revenge fantasies that have been instilled in her since birth--along with a distrust of all nonhuman creatures--were based on lies. An oddball trio made up of Kyr, her brother's subversive genius of a friend, and a lonely alien force Kyr to reexamine all that she's ever known. My favorite science fiction novels examine the Big Issues: What makes us people? What really matters? What do we owe to each other? How do you measure a successful, fulfilled, worthy life? Emily Tesh's Some Desperate Glory examines deep matters in a fascinating chain of events, reflections, unexpected do-overs, and fantastic character growth. I absolutely loved Tesh's writing, the scope of her work, her characters, their connections, the world-building--all of it. I'm in for alllll Emily Tesh books now. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Emily Tesh is also the author of the Greenhollow Duology, which is made up of the novella Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country.

Main protagonist Logan was hard for me to emotionally connect to, but I was hooked by the heart-pounding action, the fascinating imagined power and scope of gene engineering, the world on the verge of collapse--and the most intense, high-stakes sibling rivalry imaginable. If there’s a solution, it has to lie in reaching us from our ambivalence. Our apathy. Upgrade presents a future version of our world in which humans are teetering closer than ever to extinction because of a crumbling environment. SoHo and southern Manhattan are underwater, eating synthetic meat is the norm, and geneticists who have tried tinkering with the human state in a desperate attempt to shift the future of homo sapiens have largely been punished and jailed. Logan Ramsey is in charge of investigating suspected gene scientists who are up to illegal activity, and while investigating a suspicious situation, he is injured by an odd explosion. In the hospital he has headaches, a fever, and body aches, then his symptoms subside. In one of several key situations in which Things Aren't What They Seem, Logan realizes that he's been infected by a virus--one designed to make him seem uninfected, then to modify his very genetic structure. He’s becoming stronger and smarter every day--but he’s also being hunted down for potential destruction. And all of this seems potentially linked to his deceased, brilliant mother's life's work--from before she was banned from gene experimentation after things went terribly wrong. Maybe compassion and empathy are just squishy emotions. Illusions created by our mirror neurons. But does it really matter where they come from? They make us human. They might be what make us worth saving. Because Logan evolves to a state void of emotions and is focused on physical and mental efficiency, he feels more like a fascinating machine to be admired than a complex character to care about. He's driven by dispassionate science, reason, and knowledge. He expresses complex, messy feelings early in the book, and he recognizes an echo of this toward the end, but because he behaves largely like a robot with a human appearance, I didn't feel emotionally invested in his character. The stakes couldn't be higher for Crouch's protagonists--pending global destruction and the elimination of the human race. So everything that occurs is a Big Deal, and Upgrade offers detailed, heart-stopping chases; the most intense sibling rivalry imaginable, interesting scenes of superhumans' outsmarting each other; and noble desires to "save the world" that conflict with others’ similar desires in crucial ways--and with potential global consequences. Crouch's crash course in a dramatic potential world of genetic advancements and transformation is captivating. Never before had I seen Homo sapiens so clearly—a species, at its most fundamental level, of storytellers. Creatures who overlay story on everything, but especially their own lives, and in so doing, can imbue a cold, random, sometime brutal existence with fabricated meaning. Upgrade is another sci-fi winner by Blake Crouch. I received a digital advance reader copy of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You can find my review of Blake Crouch's Recursion (mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore) here and my review of Dark Matter here.

The Time-Travel Books What are your favorite time-travel books? I had trouble narrowing down this list, and I love a time-travel book in any genre. I'd love to hear about others you love! If you're intrigued by time-travel stories, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories. 01 Recursion by Blake Crouch In Blake Crouch's Recursion, Barry Sutton is a NYC cop looking into a suicide. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist creating technology to preserve memories and allow people to relive them. People like the victim Sutton is investigating are told that their vivid recollections of their life’s memories are not real, and that they’re actually mentally ill, suffering from False Memory Syndrome. When they encounter loved ones from their memories who are now living alternate lives, in many cases they are unable to cope with their conflicting realities. While Sutton begins digging into what’s real and what’s a lie, Smith works feverishly to preserve memories and reality. Together, they have to identify and confront dark forces that might be manipulating—and destroying—the minds and the framework of society as we know it. I cared so much about Sutton and Smith and their mission. Blake Crouch writes character-driven science fiction that I love (Dark Matter is another of his that I found fascinating.) This was sooooo good, unexpected, sweeping, and compelling. 02 Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen Kin Stewart was a time-traveling secret agent in 2142. He was stranded in the 1990s when a mission went wrong. Now he lives life as a regular guy; he works in IT, he’s happily married, and he has a beloved daughter. They have no idea about his past, which is just how he wants it. When he begins to have memory loss and other odd symptoms, he realizes it’s linked to his past time travel. Then a rescue mission arrives decades too late, to bring him to 2142 and back to another life with another family. Stewart would have to break all the rules of time travel to attempt the impossible: preserve the existence of his daughter in his current reality without destroying everything else. In Here and Now and Then Mike Chen masterfully explores: Is the past set in stone or is it malleable? Which half of Kin’s dual life is most true or immediate or valued? How much physical turmoil can one body take before giving in? What does a hero do when honesty requires putting his life at risk, yet is also essential to save it? I loooved this. Chen writes a deeply felt warring of emotions and conflicting responsibility and duty. I adore a character-driven science-fiction tale. Also, time travel! This totally hit the spot. 03 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle Dannie is on the path to achieving her five-year goals in spectacularly efficient fashion. She goes to sleep satisfied, but wakes up in another life: a strange apartment, a different boyfriend, and an alternate set of choices behind and before her. And perhaps most confusingly of all, in this second life she's lost some of her original, lifelong, rigid plans for her future, yet she's happy. Very very happy. She returns to her original reality, but Dannie can’t shake the possibilities and uncertainty created by what felt like an actual, temporary shift in her existence. What happened? But more importantly: What does that vastly different set of circumstances and her satisfaction within it mean about how she can and should live her life? Serle's In Five Years totally hit the spot for me, and it also wasn’t exactly what I expected. The setup seems like the story is a romance, but it’s actually a story about loyalty and devoted friendship without easy or saw-it-coming resolutions, and not everything is as it seems. I loved it. 04 The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow January has lived with Mr. Locke as his ward since her beloved, offbeat father disappeared during a trip to acquire artifacts for the wealthy man’s collections. Her father has since been presumed dead, and Locke keeps her safe and cared for, if without affection. But she is growing older and is looking for answers about her father’s disappearance. When she finds a mysterious book her father had acquired, it shows January unlikely possibilities about her existence and the world at large that it’s difficult to process. When she uncovers unwelcome truths about Locke and her circumstances, she has no choice but to forge into the frightening unknown. Alix E. Harrow has crafted a lovely adventure through different wonderfully imagined worlds (including the early 1900s home base). The Ten Thousand Doors of January also explores the wondrous bravery but sometimes dark and destructive forces surrounding the explorers and collectors venturing through worlds and the wanderers desperately searching for home. I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 05 The Bone Clocks by Davi Mitchell Teenager Holly Sykes is suddenly drawn into the world of “the radio people,” people whose voices she heard as a child. She disappears from her family and leaves behind a tragic mystery, while in her forays through new worlds she attracts dangerous powers to her. David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks is a set of six intriguing tracks through time that are full of surprises and interconnected through Holly and her various threads of reality. There are links to other Mitchell books and characters if you're paying attention, but the book can stand alone. I can say with certainty that I've never read a book quite like this before. A full genre shift around page 400 would normally make me want to throw a book through the window. But here it works somehow. This was strange and compelling. 06 All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai There are flying cars in the alternate reality of this book. Flying cars. I think you should know that going in, because it’s not the only awesome thing, but it is one of the awesome things in Elan Mastai's All Our Wrong Todays. Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like a dystopia to him. He encounters alternate versions of his loved ones and universe, which are jarring but grow on him. He strikes out to explore time and place in an effort to figure out which reality to preserve. Mastai provides a fascinating story with time travel, alternate realities, love, loss, humor, bravery, and moments that made me laugh out loud. I didn't always follow the logic as laid out in the book--the supposed development of time travel itself and how time travelers affect realities--but I loved suspending my disbelief to be part of it. I loved this!

Science Fiction Faves I've been giving book talks lately about stories I've loved and upcoming titles I'm excited about, and I've seen some eyes-glazing-over reactions when I gush about science fiction books. I love character-driven science fiction stories. Sci-fi books can be so lovely and weird and immersive, and the stories can dive into so many fascinating big-deal issues, like feeling a greater purpose, facing a deep responsibility to other beings, undertaking noble missions, bravely exploring new worlds, or finding common ground with those who are different from you. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought. Which other books should I add to my science fiction to-read list? 01 Recursion by Blake Crouch Recursion is more fantastic character-driven science fiction from Blake Crouch. I cared about Sutton and Smith and their mission. Blake Crouch's Barry Sutton is a NYC detective looking into a suicide. Helena Smith is a neuroscientist creating technology to preserve memories and allow people to relive them. People like the victim Sutton is investigating are told that their vivid recollections of their life’s memories are not real, and that they’re actually mentally ill, suffering from False Memory Syndrome. When they encounter loved ones from their memories who are now living alternate lives, in many cases they are unable to cope with their conflicting realities. While Sutton begins digging into what’s real and what’s a lie, Smith works feverishly to preserve memories and reality. Together, they have to identify and confront dark forces that might be manipulating—and destroying—the minds and the framework of society as we know it. I found this sooooo good, unexpected, sweeping, and compelling. Click here for my full review of this book, and check out my review of Crouch's Dark Matter. Recursion also appears in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes. 02 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. The group is made up of various creatures from around the galaxy, and they've already built bonds through working together for ages. Yet they make room in the mix for Rosemary, who's grateful--and who's frankly glad to leave her significant personal troubles behind. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I just adored this. Click here for my full review of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. 03 The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey This sci-fi thriller is about betrayal and revenge, but it's not the other-woman story you might expect. Evelyn Caldwell is a brilliant scientist who has long enjoyed an inspiring professional relationship with her husband, also a scientist. She's winning awards and well-deserved international attention for her incredible genetic cloning advancements--but people have noticed that her husband has recently been mysteriously absent from her side as she collects her many honors. This sci-fi thriller is about the forces that drive apart a husband and wife, and the story is about betrayal and revenge, but I hadn't read the premise before I started reading, and I almost dropped the book when I realized what was going on, I was so shocked by the setup--it's not your usual cheating-husband situation. There are loops and layers to Gailey's story that have to do with identity, autonomy, freedom, shaping others to suit your expectations and desires--and recognizing how you're shaped by others in turn. I loved the characters' unanticipated loyalty to unlikely parties and their hard-won emotional growth. I was hooked on this one and couldn't wait to find out what happened. I'd love to watch this in movie form. For my full review, see The Echo Wife. 04 Machinehood by S.B. Divya Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! Divya has crafted strong female main protagonists who navigate the sometimes dark, always complicated pressures of life in the future--as they try to save the world. In her debut novel, Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on pills--for health, for work focus, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. The economy runs on robots, partially augmented humans, and humans desperately trying to compete with artificial intelligence and survive in the gig economy. Welga Ramirez is an elite bodyguard who is former special forces, and she's on the verge of retirement. Then the unthinkable happens: her team's client is murdered. Violent crimes really don't happen anymore, and society is thrown into a tailspin. In the midst of a global panic, Welga is drawn back into intelligence work in order to identify and fight a new enemy--one that may turn out to be a new incarnation of an old nemesis. Many large-scale issues are shown in interesting shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. For my full review, please see Machinehood. This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI. 05 Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy Young adult Josie's origins--specifically her immaculate conception--have overshadowed everything else in her life. Now she must delve into the darkness of her history to try to save her mother--and uncover her own true identity. Young adult Josie is Girl One, the first of nine baby girls who were famously conceived without male sperm years ago on the now-dismantled commune The Homestead. Josie has spent her life plagued by criticism, misogyny, obsessed fans, and the weight of the fascinating, unusual circumstances of her conception. When her mother disappears, Josie begins to track down the other Girls, and together the young women discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history. They're learning to trust that the circumstances of their creation do not determine their full identities--or what they're capable of. Murphy presents the Girls as they emerge in all of their feminist, powerful glory. The journey isn't too easy, there are some identity realizations, love connections, and plot twists, and the ending of Girl One satisfied me. For my full review, please see Girl One. 06 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson Robots, time travel, teen angst, and this gorgeous cover. Yes to all of this. I didn't anticipate the twists Johnson provides, and I was delighted by each of them. Teenage Andra finally wakes up after being cryogenically preserved for a century-long journey to a new planet. She's a little creaky and sore, sure, but she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many others involved in the complex project. They'll begin the work of bravely populating and building a new life on this planet. Except...Andra soon realizes she wasn't sleeping for 100 years. She was asleep for 1,000. The people, terrain, and language are not what she studied for or expected, everyone she once knew has already lived and died--oh, and the general population, whoever they are, thinks she's a goddess, and they've been waiting excitedly for her to wake up and save them. There are some funny exchanges because of the differences in characters' languages. At one point Andra calls her friend Zhade (who is from a time 1,000 years past her origin time) an insult ("a-hole"), which horrifies and fascinates him. He says "That is a massive yet disgusting insult. I reck [reckon] I was born about a thousand years too late. I missed all the best words." For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine. This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI.

In this nested story that spans centuries, Mandel explores a pandemic, moon colonization, the universal connection of music, the temptation to change the past, portals and time loops, loyalty, fear, love, and wonder. I listened to Emily St. John Mandel's newest book, Sea of Tranquility. In this science fiction novel, Mandel plays with time and time travel as well as mysteries surrounding what may be a portal linking individuals through time. Mandel explores an emerging pandemic in a future with a colonized moon, considers the universal connection of music, and digs into the difficulty and danger in changing the past. In 1912, Edwin St. Andrew, a second son, is exiled by his family from England to Canada for voicing unpopular opinions at the dinner table (don’t get too invested in him; he’s here to allow St. John to set the 1912 piece of the puzzle). In 2020, we meet Mirella and Vincent (characters from The Glass Hotel). They are also not richly developed, but they're important to the structure and the odd interconnectedness at the heart of the mysterious events here. Much later, during a period of extensive moon colonization (and the beginnings of further flung settlements), author Olive Llewellyn is traveling on a book tour to promote her book Marienbad, about a pandemic. (The plot of this book within a book sounds somewhat similar to that of Mandel’s Station Eleven, a book I loved). But all of these players and times feel mainly to be in place to serve as a structure for our true main protagonist, Gaspary, and we see the most depth and development and change; loyalty and love and grief; wonder and danger; resignation and hope in his portion of the story. This was where I was captivated and delighted and emotionally engaged. Scorned Edwin has an odd experience in the forest with inexplicable futuristic visions and sounds; two centuries later (our current day) Olive writes about an almost identical personal experience; and detective Gaspary from the future's Night City investigates their mysterious intersections through time--and becomes inextricably linked to a timeline connecting all of them. The time travel and multiple story lines and odd, interesting, untethered moments that kept me from settling in time reminded me a little bit of David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks, but at a slim 255 pages (Bone Clocks is 624 pages), Sea of Tranquility is a story shaped by its structure, without as much room or page time to meander as Mitchell's story. Sea of Tranquility is strange and ethereal, with a surprise toward the end that I delighted in. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Do you like books that play with time? You might like the books I list on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories or Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes or these Bossy reviews of books that play with time. Click here for my review of Mandel's Station Eleven.

White's first Starmetal Symphony installment offers deadly deep-space robots, showcases the power of music, and illustrates how love can persist even in the face of imminent demise. I loved the main characters' fashion, banter, and stubbornness. In the first book in Alex White's Starmetal Symphony space opera series, Gus is a jazz pianist whose biggest hope for the pending end of the world was to play at the most epic goodbye party of all time. After all, the Vanguards, giant, deadly AI robots, are headed from deep space to destroy Earth at any moment. But when the Vanguards arrive, the sudden, brutal ending Gus has envisioned for himself doesn't happen. Instead, Gus and a few other Earthlings are pulled in by a small group of traitorous Vanguards--and tasked with being modified, temporarily melded with the robots, battling other robots--and saving all of humanity. I really liked the way music is a key and powerful element; how working together benefits all; the quirky characters and their banter; the presence of giant fighting robots (they are not imbued with personality but are battle machines with infinite knowledge); and the fight for love in this LGBTQ space opera. My obsession with the irresistible dry humor, grudging and undying loyalty, and love for the series The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon on the part of Martha Wells's Murderbot (check out my rave review in Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI) may have ruined me for all other robot characters forever. But August Kitko isn't about the robots from space. The robots and the imminent demise of the human race that they seem perched to enact serve as a catalyst for the main characters to assess their own purposes and consider what makes life worth living. They forge desperate human connections and struggle with loss and an uncertain future, and I loved the impractical, invigorating, stubborn love in the book. There's a light tone running through the heightened, saving-the-universe tension, along with entertaining, offbeat fashion, which is vividly described. (There is also a copious amount of goopy fluids described--they are dispersed both in battle and in the melding of humans and robots. I could feel my face contorting as I read about the immersive goo.) Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I really enjoyed Alex White's Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in the Salvagers series--which I look forward to finishing. That first book in that space opera series offers diverse characters, strong women, a heist setup, and, ultimately, a ragtag group of underdogs saving the day. I think it's time for me to read more Alex White books--I've heard that the alien novels The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis are great. You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI.

Andy Weir offers the fascinating story of a desperate space mission, creative innovation, and enduring optimism, with an enormous amount of heart that surprised me. It's time to learn Eridianese. Yes, I just made up that word. No, I don't feel bad about it. I'm doing a lot of things for the first time in human history out here and there's a lot of stuff that needs naming. Just be glad I don't name stuff after myself. Ryland Grace wakes up as the sole survivor of a last-chance effort to save Earth and its inhabitants. But he doesn't know that yet. He seems to be in space and isn't sure what has happened, and not only does he not remember his own name or where he's from, he also doesn't remember his scientific expertise or anything else that could help him survive and succeed in his quest. The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now. He's millions of miles from Earth, and he's got two dead crewmates, a chatty AI robot caregiver, a lot of complicated equipment, and a mysterious mission whose purpose and execution he'll have to unravel if he's to possibly survive--much less save humanity. Weir provides Grace with unexpected company, fascinating collaboration, fantastic interpersonal relationships (Rocky!), incredible innovation, and wonderfully big-hearted moments. The present-day story alternates with peeks back in time to life before this space mission, which show Grace as an interestingly faulted but incredibly valuable team member on the project of a lifetime. As in his book The Martian, significant page time in Weir's Project Hail Mary is spent on creative problem-solving, particularly scientific experimentation and high-stakes trial and error, and while it slowed the pace of the story, it felt warranted--and I was hooked by all of it. Weir is also asking most of the big questions here, about faith and belief; selflessness and selfishness; and meaning and worth. Through exploring seemingly impossible routes toward understanding and communication, he presents a story that illustrates universal expressions of emotion, desire for purpose, and love--across life forms. In Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir has created another irresistible story of hope, resilience, wonder, and discovery. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Andy Weir is also the author of The Martian and Artemis. Click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm!

I was hooked by Meg Long's debut young adult science fiction novel about tough young Sena, her skittish fighting wolf Iska, and their desperate journey across the ice. In Meg Long's debut, the young adult science fiction novel Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of her mothers to the brutal sled races on her frozen planet. Since then she's had to be scrappy, creative, and above all, tough. That means making tenuous alliances, honing her pickpocketing skills, and maintaining a cursory relationship with her aunt in order to get by. When she angers a local warlord and becomes eager to escape her world, she's relieved to secure promises of transport out--but the earnest scientists who would help her have one condition: she must help them take part in the planet's most infamous sled race (so they can conduct their research on the properties of the resources being plundered by greedy corporations--"corpos"). When Sena finds herself desperately on the run from certain death, she and her injured young fighting wolf, Iska, leap at the slim chance of surviving that icy journey in hopes of leaving this greedy, corpo-driven, ecologically damaged planet for good. But first she'll have to trust others for the first time and leave herself vulnerable to them--and she'll need to look out for her oddball team instead of only thinking of herself for once. In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined survival, hard-earned loyalty, grudging friendship, and a stubborn overcoming of various vivid dangers. I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and by tough, grumpy Sena, who has a big heart and a soft spot for Iska, her personality counterpart in wolf form. I received a prepublication electronic copy of this book courtesy of Wednesday Books and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? This is Meg Long's first book. If you like books with cold settings, you might like the titles on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire or the nonfiction book Wintering by Katherine May.

The first in Alex White's Salvagers space opera series offers diverse characters, strong women, a heist setup, and, ultimately, a ragtag group of underdogs saving the day. In Alex White's science fiction novel A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe, the first in White's Salvagers series, a group of outcasts bands together to locate a legendary ship before it falls into the hands of the wrong people, people who would use it as a weapon. The Harrow, the greatest warship ever built, has been lost for so long, some say it's merely a legend. But a hotshot racer who's on the run, a has-been treasure hunter looking for redemption, and the rest of the ragtag crew of the Capricious know that the ship is real--and that whoever controls the ship will control the fate of the universe. A Big Ship is a space heist book with lots of action, strong women characters driving the plot, and a great underdogs-unite premise. I wasn't completely clear on the intersections of magic (glyphs, spells) and futuristic technology (AI, spaceships, futuristic weaponry), but White includes extensive details about the workings and processes. The explanation of the big reveal regarding the who-what-where-why of the evil masterminds felt so involved that it drew me out of the story somewhat. I was in this for the characters, among them Cordell, the tough captain with a heart of gold; Boots, a jaded former fighter pilot turned reality star who hopes for a miracle; and Nilah, a privileged and daring racer who falls for the grumpiest crew member of all. Each character in A Big Ship is reeling from planet-level destruction and heartbreak, and it's satisfying to follow them as they seek redemption, take comfort in and build loyalty to one another, and identify and aim to outsmart their enemies to try to save the world with scrappiness and luck. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I'm in love with the title of the second book in this series, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy. The third book is titled The Worst of All Possible Worlds. White is also the author of Alien: The Cold Forge and Every Mountain Made Low.

Finding Your Next Great Read Although my to-read list is interminably long, having an endless TBR list brings me cozy, safe feelings, so I greedily, greedily, and continually search for books to add to it and to jump the line to must-read-now status. During the early months of the pandemic, I was in the mood for a solid dystopian, postapocalyptic read--although in hindsight that was an interesting impulse for mentally escaping that particular situation. Anyway, I wanted new, fresh ideas for titles in that vein that I might like. And I wanted a trusted recommendation. Then someone, somewhere online (who and where were you, wonderful stranger?) mentioned library programs in which librarians tailor book recommendations to patrons, and I was hooked on the idea. It was going to be magical! Books chosen just for me me me! Programs like our local Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Find Your Next Read involve answering a few questions about your tolerance for violence, rough language, and adult content; desired time period for your book (I thought that was an interesting one); a few titles or authors you've read and liked; a few titles or authors you've read and disliked; preferred setting (domestic or foreign); and a few other matters. (The system is similar to that used by Anne Bogel on her popular What Should I Read Next? podcast, which I love.) After a few days you receive multiple personalized reading recommendations in an email. Voila! I found this whole process incredibly satisfying. In fact, now that I've gushed over it, I'm planning to submit another request soon. What shall it be? Books with curmudgeonly, unlikely heroes? Mystery series with strong female protagonists? Do librarians find such specific requests charming or just irritating? I have a guess! If you're a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library member--or if your local library system offers a similar feature of personalized recommendations--I hope you'll give it a try! Through Find Your Next Read, a librarian recommended The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers, which I recently read and reviewed (it was a winner for me). Three other titles suggested to me as promising adult and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian reads were some I had already read and enjoyed, so the recommendations were spot-on: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels), and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The final two recommendations I haven't yet read but plan to: The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi and Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (which somehow I still haven't read). Have you taken part in a program like this? What did you think? And have you read any of my Personalized Recommendations from Librarians, hmmm?

Chambers's science fiction is full of heart, heartbreak, and hope--with a fascinating backdrop of space travel and interspecies relations. "But brothers. Brothers never go away. That’s for life. And I know married folks are supposed to be for life, too, but they’re not always. Brothers you can’t get rid of. They get who you are, and what you like, and they don’t care who you sleep with or what mistakes you make, because brothers aren’t mixed up in that part of your life. They see you at your worst, and they don’t care." In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first science fiction title in Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series, young Rosemary feels lucky to have landed the job of clerk for the quirky, ragtag, but welcoming crew of the Wayfarer ship. The group is made up of various creatures from around the galaxy, and they've already built bonds through working together for ages. Yet they make room in the mix for Rosemary, who's grateful--and who's frankly glad to leave her significant personal troubles behind. Just as she's adjusting to life on board, the crew gets a lucrative opportunity: to tunnel wormholes through space to a distant planet. But things quickly take a turn as pirates and other dangers threaten the makeshift family on the Wayfarer. They each have reasons to mistrust other creatures, but they have to trust and rely on each other more than ever before in order to survive. Chambers's story is science fiction that's full of heart, heartbreak, and hope. The book feels much more focused on the characters--with a backdrop of space travel and otherworldly creatures--than on exploration or adventure. Much of the story is about acceptance and openness and finding ways to get along. Interspecies relations are prickly, comfortable, romantic, puzzling, or all of the above. I love that the crew of the Wayfarer feels like a close-knit group of summer camp counselors somehow, palling around, sometimes irritating each other, each with special gifts and the ability and desire to help crewmates reach their full potentials, emotionally or otherwise. I just adored this. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series includes The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet; A Closed and Common Orbit; Record of a Spaceborn Few; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within; and a series prequel, A Good Heretic. She's also the author of a A Psalm for the Wild-Built (the first in the Monk & Robot series) and its upcoming sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. She also wrote To Be Taught, If Fortunate, a standalone novella.

I was intrigued by the Chinese folklore influences and the story's feminist leanings, although I felt bogged down at times by explanations of how the power, qi, and magic worked. “Shame. That was their favorite tool. A tool to corrode me from the inside until I believed I could only accept whatever lot they threw at my bound feet. It didn't work. Despite their best efforts, I find myself worthy of happiness.” In Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao blends Chinese folklore with science-fiction robots and aliens in this feminist young adult action story. Chrysalises are giant robots used to battle the aliens beyond the Great Wall, and the girls who pilot them undergo great strain--and can unleash great power. But they're subsumed by the male-dominant battle system and their qi is used to boost the men's efforts, often at enormous cost to the women. Zetian's spirit has been crushed by her family for years and her feet systematically broken in order to increase her potential value as a bride--in the end, to benefit her brother and raise his chances of a profitable marriage match. But she's determined to avenge her sacrificed sister's death and not to have lived in vain. She is made a concubine warrior and is expected to die in her first battle, but Zetian instead shows herself to have incredible psychic strength. She is paired with male pilots, and because of her immense power, she begins to be called the Iron Widow. Feared and mysterious, Zetian is matched with the most controversial, deadly male pilot around, Li Shimin. But Zetian is secretly determined to use her power not to battle the enemy Hunduns, but to elevate the female pilots who have been treated unfairly for so long. And she hasn't yet exacted her revenge on those who killed her sister--or on those who perpetuate the broken, male-dominated system itself. Zetian begins to suspect that none of the fighters know the true hierarchy of pilot qi power and believes the women's actual aptitude has never been revealed, and she even questions whether the invaders she's been set up to destroy are actually the enemy after all. I was most intrigued by the Chinese folklore and by the feminist power in the story; Zetian's tearing down of the patriarchal destruction was satisfying to watch. Things weren't always what they seemed, and Zetian was pivotal in bringing injustices to light. And I was interested in the story's love triangle, although we got only a cursory look at the promise and potential of it. I felt a little bogged down initially by what felt like extensive explanations of systems, the workings of qi power, and the details of necessary cooperation, and later I was a little taken aback by unexpected transformations, by what felt like frequently shifting abilities, and by some abrupt changes in how things worked--and distracted by asides letting the reader know why initial explained rules no longer applied. I didn’t mind, but some of this was hard for me to follow at times, so I just rolled with it. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I received a prepublication electronic copy of this book courtesy of Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley. Iron Widow is Xiran Jay Zhao's first novel, and it's labeled as the first in the Iron Widow series, so stay tuned for a sequel.

St. John Mandel weaves together the past, present, and future in this post-apocalyptic story about a pandemic (which has been made into a limited series I have high hopes for). My smarty friend Laura recently told me that Station Eleven has been adapted into a limited HBO series that begins this Thursday. One reviewer calls it "a beautifully wrought piece of storytelling" (Vulture). I'm excited to give this a go...despite the fact that Station Eleven is centered around a pandemic. Station Eleven tracks an interconnected web of lives--of a Hollywood star who meets his demise at the start of the devastating pandemic, through the lives of others who knew and loved him, and back and forth to the past where the actor got his start and to the future, where a traveling troupe of performers wanders the wastelands. Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed prophet wields dangerous power. St. John Mandel's post-apocalyptic story offers various minor, intriguing aspects that come together in an unexpected way. I was taken with her writing style and loved how smoothly the shifts in time and chronology worked. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I mentioned Station Eleven in the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels as an additional book that could fit into that list. St. John Mandel is also the author of The Glass Hotel as well as other novels, and her novel The Sea of Tranquility is slated for publication in the spring of 2022.

You may see much of this young adult story coming, but Warcross is an action-packed quest to right wrongs in an immersive video game and beyond--with some romance! “...sometimes people kick you to the ground at recess because they think the shape of your eyes is funny. They lunge at you because they see a vulnerable body. Or a different skin color. Or a different name. Or a girl. They think that you won't hit back--that you'll just lower your eyes and hide. And sometimes, to protect yourself, to make it go away, you do. But sometimes you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back.” Emika Chen is an orphaned young woman in a futuristic New York City. She's gifted when it comes to computers, but she's been driven by desperate circumstances to become a bounty hunter seeking out those who bet illegally on the worldwide phenomenon Warcross game. She's hacked into the game plenty of times and glitched the system to work in her favor. But when she accidentally disrupts a high-stakes championship and draws the attention of the game's creator, she finds herself in Tokyo considering an invitation she could never have dreamed of: a job working for Hideo Tanaka himself. If she accepts, she'll never have to worry about money again. But seeking to uncover the identity of those trying to destroy the game--and figuring out the other elements at work--turns out to be more high-stakes and dangerous than Emika ever dreamed. Warcross is a teen dream: the intersection of immersive video gaming (à la Ender's Game) and romaaaaaantic moments, a noble quest, a reluctant heroine, and complications that upend everything just in time for the second and final book in this duology (Wildcard). You may be able to see much of this one coming, but the action-packed fight for justice coupled with the promise of a clever, ragtag group of heroic characters entering book two for an even higher stakes battle make for a satisfying Marie Lu experience. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I've been putting Marie Lu series (Legend, The Young Elites, and Warcross) into my son's hands for years, but I've only read Skyhunter (which I really enjoyed; the sequel is Steelstriker, which I haven't yet read) and her stand-alone historical fiction story with elements of science fiction, The Kingdom of Back.

Johnson offers a wonderfully imperfect heroine and her fascinating journeys through the multiverse, her various lives, and her alternate selves in this science fiction debut. Cara is one of a dwindling number of traversers. She can travel through the multiverse, but only to worlds where another version of herself no longer exists. Her other selves seem uncannily apt to die, so Cara is able to visit 372 other Earths where her counterparts are no longer living. She comes from poverty and an unfavored area, and she lives in uncertain status, without citizenship or security aside from her employment for the mysterious, greedy Eldridge Institute. She collects off-world data, the purpose of which has never been of interest to her--she's more focused on tracking the shadows of her other existences, piecing together the lives of her counterparts, and keeping a journal of all that was and might have been. If I figured anything out in these last six years, it is this: human beings are unknowable. But when one of Cara's eight remaining selves mysteriously dies while she is world walking, shocking secrets are revealed that connect various worlds and shake Cara to her core. She must cobble together the various bits of knowledge and savviness she's gained through tracing the steps of her many other selves if she's going to stand any chance of outsmarting the canny and intelligent Adam Bosch--a man who will otherwise almost certainly be the source of her undoing. I could become the thing I'd always feared, and then I might never be afraid of anything again. This was a fascinating story that offered satisfying character depth and various permutations of Cara herself, her family members, loves, nightmarish enemies, and best friends. Johnson's explorations of the complicated intersections of class, wealth and poverty, control of valuable resources, and disparate levels of freedom throughout the multiverse are haunting. Cara lives through tantalizing explorations of her alternate lives--and the shape of each is dramatically affected by her own various small and large decisions, others' choices, and chance. I was intrigued by the layers Johnson built into the story. In some worlds, Cara recognizes common characteristics in those she loves or fears; she sometimes barely recognizes the same people in other worlds; and she always mentally logs the various factors that allowed beauty or cruelty or desperation or joy to take root. There's a postapocalyptic feel to the story, with turf wars, corruption, mercenary "runners" who shake down travelers, and gritty survivors. When asked what this discovery could teach us about what mattered, about death, and human nature, and how to make the world a gentler place, both parties were silent. But we were right, the scientists said. And so were we, the spiritual said. Cara isn't superhuman; she's imperfect, sometimes selfish, tough, and occasionally she's wonderfully vulnerable. I loved her as an unlikely heroine, and I loved that it wasn't too easy for her to attempt to address complex issues within the multiverse. The middle of the story dragged a little bit for me, but generally I was hooked and ready for whatever Johnson was serving up. Side note: I'd like for this story to also become a movie, thank you very much. I received an advance digital copy of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? This is Micaiah Johnson's first book. Its tone reminded me a little bit of The Goddess in the Machine. If you like books with a postapocalyptic feel, check out the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Guncle, Steven Rowley's sassy, heartwarming fiction about an uncle caring for his young niece and nephew after their mother's death; Reasons to Stay Alive, Matt Haig's memoir about mental illness and coping with depression; and The Space Between Worlds, Micaiah Johnson's science-fiction story about multiverse travel, mysteries, privilege and power, and identity. Which books are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 The Guncle by Steven Rowley In Steven Rowley's fun, funny, and heartwarming fiction The Guncle, aging former sitcom star Patrick is temporarily caring for his niece and nephew. Patrick's best friend from college (who later married Patrick's brother) has died, and Patrick's brother is going through a health crisis of his own. Which leaves setting Patrick and his beloved (but sometimes foreign-to-him) Maisie and Grant loose in his home in and hometown of Palm Springs, making things up as they go along. They each have their grief and confusion, but they also adore each other and have their love to fall back on. Patrick's life in recent years has been primarily focused on shutting off the outside world, but the demands of a six- and nine-year-old reeling with pain and in desperate need of constancy mean he can't hide anymore. To honor his friend, he'll need to be strong enough for Maisie and Grant, despite his own pain and fears. 02 Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig The author of The Midnight Library and How to Stop Time explores his own depression and mental illness in his short memoir Reasons to Stay Alive. “To other people, it sometimes seems like nothing at all. You're walking around with your head on fire and no one can see the flames.” Haig takes the reader through the emergence and progression of his depression, recounting his thought processes, his overwhelming emotions, the pressures of the world around him, and his reliance on his now-wife and family as ballasts through it all. I'm listening to Haig read this audiobook. 03 The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson Cara can travel through the multiverse--but only to worlds where another version of herself no longer exists. Her other selves seem uncannily apt to die, so Cara is able to visit 372 other Earths where her counterparts are no longer living. She comes from poverty and an unfavored area, and she lives in uncertain status, without citizenship or security aside from her employment for the mysterious, greedy Eldridge Institute. She's long been slated to collect off-world data, the purpose of which is of no interest to her--she's more focused on tracking the shadows of her other existences, piecing together the lives of her counterparts, and keeping a journal of all that was and might have been. But when one of her eight remaining selves mysteriously dies, shocking secrets are revealed that connect various worlds and shake Cara to her core.

Young adult Josie's origins--specifically her immaculate conception--have overshadowed everything else in her life. Now she must delve into the darkness of her history to try to save her mother--and uncover her own true identity. Young adult Josie is Girl One, the first of nine baby girls who were famously conceived without male sperm years ago on the now-dismantled commune The Homestead. Josie has spent her life plagued by criticism, misogyny, obsessed fans, and the weight of the fascinating, unusual circumstances of her conception. Yet she embraces her past and aims to further the scientific work of her deceased father figure, the director of the scientific advancements achieved on the commune, Dr. Joseph Bellanger. Josie's studies and desire to learn more about her "virgin birth" drive a wedge between Josie and her mother, and Josie isn't sure exactly why. When her mother disappears, Josie begins to track down the other Girls, and together the young women discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history. They're learning to trust that the circumstances of their creation do not determine their full identities--or what they're capable of. Murphy presents the Girls as they emerge in all of their feminist, powerful glory. The men in their world are cruel, powerful, and frequently evil, but when they band together, the girls' superhuman abilities repeatedly shield them from the most grave danger--and unlock remarkable freedom for each of the women long plagued by their complicated histories. The journey isn't too easy, there are some identity realizations, love connections, and plot twists, and the ending of Girl One satisfied me. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book through Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Girl One reminded me at times of Body of Stars, but this book held together more successfully for me, and I believed in the characters and their situations more completely. Both of the books felt like young adult reads to me.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a romantic book about aspiring musicians with intertwined pasts; the rich fictional history of an esteemed figure in early twentieth century New York and his mysterious death; and a science fiction-slanted story about young women shaped by their unusual creation stories who seek to form their own futures. Which books are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms? 01 Moonlight Drive by A.R. Hadley The title of this book (which is explained as coming from a Doors song) evokes romantic ideas, and so far the story reads to me like a soap opera-esque romance. Moonlight Drive relies upon a seemingly implausible premise--one in which a famous singer doesn’t recognize the person who provided the pivotal years-long emotional connection in their early teens. The “groupie” (really the childhood friend) lives on the bus, is invited to share rooms with the band, and tantalizes the star--all without being recognized by the soulmate of her youth. Currently there are many instances of interrupted speech--so much so that sometimes I wasn’t sure what the characters were getting at--and frequent instances of what feels like unrealistically intuitive mind-reading. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book through NetGalley and Chameleon Media Productions. If you like stories about music, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music or the books A Song for the Road or The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes. 02 The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee Andrew Green has been shot dead in front of his stately New York City home at the age of 83. He was an elderly man, but still a spitfire who wasn't finished making incredibly significant contributions to society. The real-life, forgotten figure of Green was involved in a gloriously absurd array of real-life, essential projects—the creation of Central Park, the founding of the Met Museum and the Natural History Museum, putting Boss Tweed behind bars, securing a more equitable New York public school system, establishing the New York Public Library, and combining Manhattan with Brooklyn and Queens into a greater New York. Inspectors take into custody the man who shot Green; they work to understand the shooter's odd story and to retrace Green's last steps in hopes of understanding the reason for his death. So far this is a love letter to turn-of-the-century New York and a captivating story that reminds me somewhat of Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley. 03 Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy Young adult Josie is Girl One, the first of nine baby girls who were famously conceived without male sperm years ago on the now-dismantled commune The Homestead. She's spent her life plagued by criticism, misogyny, obsessed fans, and the weight of the circumstances of her birth. Yet she embraces her past and aims to further the scientific work of her father figure, Dr. Joseph Bellanger, who tragically died in a fire on the commune years earlier. Josie's studies and desire to learn more about her "virgin birth" drive a wedge between Josie and her mother, and Josie isn't sure exactly why. Her mother's disappearance leads Josie to track down the other Girls, and together they discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history. They're learning to trust that the circumstances of their creation do not determine their identities or what they're capable of. I'm taken with this story so far. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book through Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley.

The Robot Books I love a good artificial intelligence- or robot-focused story, and these six (plus, in several cases, their sequels) really captivated me. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my to-read robot book list? (Yes, I did say that out loud and heard how gloriously nerdy that sounded.) 01 The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells I've read five of the six books in Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries series, and three more books are planned (yay!). The first four in the series are novellas; Network Effect is the fifth book (and the first full-length book) in the set, and I haven't yet read Fugitive Telemetry, which was published this past spring. SecUnit is a fantastic main character; it's grumpily and charmingly obsessed with keeping its people safe and with not being touched or talked to about feelings. It gleans tips about holding conversations and functioning around others by watching its favorite show, The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon; it befriends other AI beings; it's constantly and cleverly problem-solving; it sulks and likes to veg out with its media; and it grudgingly becomes attached to certain humans in its orbit. The Murderbot series is funny and poignant and odd and wonderful. Click here for my glowing reviews of the first three books in this series and click here for my reviews of Exit Strategy and Network Effect. 02 Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson This story features supporting AI and robot characters in an intriguing futuristic setting. Lora Beth Johnson hooked me immediately with the premise of Goddess in the Machine and with main protagonist Andra's voice. Teenage Andra wakes up after being cryogenically preserved for a century-long journey to a new planet. She's a little creaky and sore, sure, but she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many others involved in the complex project. They'll begin the work of bravely populating and building a society on this new planet. Except...Andra soon realizes she wasn't sleeping for 100 years. She was asleep for 1,000. The people, terrain, and language are not what she studied for or expected, everyone she once knew has already lived and died--oh, and the general population, whoever they are, thinks she's a goddess, and they've been waiting excitedly for her to wake up and save them. There's a twist/double twist I didn't see coming, and I found the whole story compelling. For my full review, please see Goddess in the Machine. The sequel, Devil in the Device, is set for publication in August 2021. 03 Machinehood by S.B. Divya In her debut novel, Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on homemade and commercially manufactured pills--for health, for work focus, for managing bots, for healing, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. The economy runs on robots, partially augmented humans, and humans desperately trying to compete with artificial intelligence and survive in the gig economy. Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! I wished for more page time spent on everyday tasks and activities (cooking, shifting household modules, travel, and communicating), which were all carried out in Jetsons-level, fascinating, futuristic ways. But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which exists in the future too) as they: navigate ethical considerations such as pressures on workers and workload expectations; consider modifications to the body to enable faster or more strenuous work; manage the implications of a backlash against artificial enhancements; and face society's inability to extricate itself and the worldwide economy from a reliance on pills. The management of many large-scale issues and their side effects are shown in shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. For my full review of this book, please see Machinehood. 04 Skyhunter by Marie Lu Skyhunter's on this list because of the augmented humans in the book. Lu offers a story about refugees desperately trying to escape becoming conscripted into the Federation army; elite Striker fighters trying to salvage their society despite the Federation's widespread and evil efforts; and the demonization of the "other." A mysterious prisoner from the front arrives who could be friend or foe, and our main protagonist Talin must figure out whether to destroy him or trust him with her life--before things unravel irrevocably for her and her fellow warriors. The surprising ending made my heart stop. Then I remembered that this was the first in a series and that the story would continue past the final complications and shocking events, so I did not hurl the book through the window. There's complex motivation here, as well as clashes between idealism and realism and editorialization about class and race--plenty of substance and depth to make it feel like a book for adults rather than necessarily a young adult title. The sequel is set for publication in September 2021. For my full review of this book, please see Skyhunter. 05 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a gloriously oddball book with lots of heart. In the middle of the night on a New York City street, April and her friend Andy stumble across something truly weird--a giant metal soldier sculpture that reminds them of a samurai. They happily record a video with the sculpture, which they call Carl, and upload it to YouTube. The next day, the world is changed. Carls have cropped up in cities throughout the world. What is the meaning of these robotlike creatures? Are they neutral, are they sinister, or might they be here to save humanity? The faulted character of April May was wonderful, and I was fascinated by the way her actions and hopes allowed a peek into a fame- and attention-seeking existence. Also: Robin! And: Carl—! For my full review of both books in the Carls series, see An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. 06 Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel A girl named Rose in rural South Dakota falls into a hole that has intricate carvings covering the walls and wakes up in the palm of an enormous robot hand. Where did it come from? What do the carvings mean? What is the purpose of any of this? Years later Rose is a world-renowned physicist working to unlock the secrets of the hand and the curious artifacts, but the mysteries persist. The interview structure keeps the characters at a distance from the reader, yet Neuvel allows their spoken-only participation in the book to express their growth, hopes, and fears. The characters are relating events that have already happened through the lenses of their own points of view, creating the potential for unreliable narrators, characters who are hiding important information, and many resulting twists and turns. Neuvel explores concepts of personal responsibility, how the possibility of life beyond Earth affects everything, and how manipulation and observation--potentially by other beings in the solar system--shape behavior. Also: the ending--! The next books in this series are Waking Gods and Only Human, and I liked them both.

Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! Divya has crafted strong female main protagonists who navigate the sometimes dark, always complicated pressures of life in 2095--as they try to save the world. In her debut novel, Divya sets the scene in the world of 2095. Humanity around the world is reliant on homemade and commercially manufactured pills--for health, for work focus, for managing bots, for healing, for sleep, and for transitioning between all of the above. The economy runs on robots, partially augmented humans, and humans desperately trying to compete with artificial intelligence and survive in the gig economy. Welga Ramirez is an elite bodyguard who is former special forces, and she's on the verge of retirement. Like almost everyone, Welga allows constant live feeds of her activity for anyone who's interested in seeing what she's doing. She manages to keep her virtual tip jar full, and her biggest challenge lately has been shifting her angle or slightly manipulating a situation during her bodyguard jobs in order to maximize tips. Then the unthinkable happens: her team's client is murdered. Violent crimes really don't happen anymore, and society is thrown into a tailspin. A new terrorist group, The Machinehood, takes responsibility. They're attacking and killing major pill funders, and they threaten more widespread destruction if society doesn't immediately stop using pills as the basis for everyday tasks and as the foundation for the worldwide economy and offer greater rights for humans enhanced with artificial intelligence. In the midst of a global panic, Welga is drawn back into intelligence work in order to identify and fight this new enemy--an enemy that may turn out to be a new incarnation of an old nemesis. Space! Robots! Artificial intelligence! I wished for more page time spent on everyday tasks and activities (cooking, shifting household modules, travel, and communicating), which were all carried out in Jetsons-level, fascinating, futuristic ways. But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which exists in the future too) as they: navigate ethical considerations such as pressures on workers and workload expectations; consider modifications to the body to enable faster or more strenuous work; manage the implications of a backlash against artificial enhancements; and face society's inability to extricate itself and the worldwide economy from a reliance on pills. There are mysterious elements at play. Going off world is presented as a possible solution (for those with means) and a potential escape from the Earth's complications. The management of many large-scale issues and their side effects are shown in shades of gray rather than black-and-white, including the meaning and value of personhood; the definitions of health, autonomy, and freedom; sometimes-necessary compromises; and the promise for the future of the world. Toward the end of the book there's significant summary, and as events move along during the late phase of the story, we see abrupt changes and shifts in thinking and plans. This works for the plot and resolutions—and none of it happens without realistic complications—but it also felt a little jarring. Any Bossy thoughts about this book? Machinehood is out tomorrow! Are you going to read this one? Have you read it? I received a prepublication copy of this book courtesy of Gallery Books and NetGalley. I mentioned this book (along with We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker and The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister) in the Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 2/24/21 Edition.

01 The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to--someone who is light years away? This young adult science fiction story has been on my list for a while because of its irresistible premise: Romy is the sole survivor on her spaceship, which was en route to establishing an outpost on a new planet. She's on her own out there, and as lonely as any human could imagine being--that is, until she hears that another ship has launched from earth, with a single passenger: a boy called J. Romy and J make contact, and they begin to forge a bond she never would have anticipated. But the odd messages she begins receiving from Earth begin to throw everything she knows about J--who has for so long been her only link to humanity--into doubt. 02 Beneath the Keep by Erika Johansen Beneath the Keep, which is set for publication next week, is a prequel to Erika Johansen's Queen of the Tearling series (there are three other books in the series, the fantastic Queen of the Tearling as well as The Invasion of the Tearling and The Fate of the Tearling). The book traces The Tearling's attempted ascent from a kingdom crushed by famine, feudalism, and unrest to a land with desperate new hope: the fabled True Queen is said to be poised to save them all. I'm curious to see if the characters I loved from the rest of the series (I'm looking at you, Mace) are star players within this dystopian period of Johansen's Tearling world. I received a prepublication copy of this book courtesy of Dutton Books and NetGalley. 03 The Unwilling by John Hart The Unwilling is John Hart's newest book, slated for publication next week. Hart reliably offers deftly crafted, often stark landscapes, character-driven stories, heartbreaking situations and compromises, and enough protagonists' strength and grit to stick with you. The Unwilling promises all of those elements and more, unraveling the workings of a family in the South during the Vietnam War; brothers at odds; complex issues surrounding prison, war, and violence; and a brother's unfailing loyalty in the face of terrible conflict and dangerous outlaws. I received a prepublication copy of The Unwilling courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. I mentioned my love for Hart's book The Last Child in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries I Read Last Year. He has written many other books, including The Hush, the second in the Johnny Merrimon series, and the wonderfully written and often tough-to-read Redemption Road. What are you reading these days? I'm liking this mix: young adult space science fiction story, dystopian fantasy series prequel, and character-driven mystery with some darkness and depth. Which books are you reading and enjoying these days?