Way more fun than I had expected it to be – I had read Downbelow Station before, but didn’t remember much (enough to remember recurring characters when they came up, at least). This, though! The two protagonists, Sandor and Alli, come from opposite sides on pretty much every issue out in space: Sandor poor and barely scraping by on his solo ship, traumatised by the death of his family, has been getting by on his own for over a decade. Alli, privileged by being part of one of the big family merchanter ships, is at the same time never going to make real bridge crew because too many people are in line. It’s a good setup, I feel, and it makes the characters develop depth, because each has something the other wants: family vs independence; and each suffers from their version of it. (Not that the book is explicitly introspective about any of this, which would've been obnoxious.) More things that I like: Sandor and Alli start out by having a one-night stand, just two space sailors on shore leave. This is an honestly great way to defuse any sexual tension between the two: It’s there, sure, but it’s also out in the open and nothing mysterious, it’s something the two can name, and also can get past and agree that there are way more important things. The way that spending a decade never-quite-on-the-run, with only his dead brother’s pre-recorded computer messages (interactive, but very clearly not sentient, just spoken sound bites for the nav + some good advice) didn't break Sandor, but made him also very clearly traumatised. It’s not played up; but it’s not played down either, and some asides are haunting. The way that the four privileged rich kids don’t react to this traumatised guy with understanding, but instead with suspicion: Sandor doesn’t share the source of his trauma (and why would he), and they assume the worst (and why wouldn’t they), and things escalate in nasty but real-feeling ways. It’s just the small bits everywhere. When outfitting the ship, Alli goes for a regular store, and Sandor is appalled at the prices. He explains where he would get everything for much cheaper, Alli explains why this is worth it, and even though he understands, his unease doesn't magically vanish (nor does it in related situations later. The book spans a couple of weeks, that's not enough time to change survival behaviour learned in decades!) So, yeah, this was fun. I’m not sure if/how I’ll continue with Alliance/Union: but I’m very glad I read this book. (First book on my new, wonderful, pretty e-reader, an InkPalm Pro!)

This is a weird one – an online serial that is a) finished, b) published as four books, and c) still available to read for free online. My review is about the free online version: I raced through the ~4k pages in under a week and had fun. It’s alright – or rather, there are parts that are fun and parts that are really ehhhh, and it averages out. There’s a lot to criticise: the deranged plot turns at some points; some of the characters would be better off just … not existing; the author’s unhealthy fascination with inhuman disaster lesbians (and I say this affectionately, believe me!). But! At the same time, the story goes some really weird places and then follows them to their conclusion, which I appreciate a ton. Personhood, godhood, continuity of personality (or lack thereof), the nature of God (oh the worldbuilding on that one is beautiful!): hell yes. Time spent very well, overall, do not regret reading this at all. Plus, it’s rare that you find a serial that has finished and hat an actual final arc that went somewhere. I imagine that some people don’t like the overall ending; I thought that while the pacing was naturally odd, it had some really, really really cool stuff going on, and it was satisfying without being cheesy.

Xianxia plot with decent worldbuilding. Reviewing at chapter 91 (which is relatively early in book/arc 3). As usual, the protagonist is overpowered, not in terms of actual power, but in terms of analysis and brain power. Very rationalist/Martian/my-brain-will-save-us vibes, but with good worldbuilding and progression. Definitely indulging in reading this, but it was nice, and the characters and plot seem distinct enough that occasionally reading a batch of updates should be doable.

You’d think that this book would be catnip for me: The premise (compliance and security theatre has grown way too much, rules like that are good at preventing some accidents but not others, give people some agency and watch how they’ll make much better decisions!) is solid, after all. You’d think. I ended up not finishing this book, because I have limited time on this planet and don’t need to spend it being angry at this guy’s tone. It’s just so know-it-all, talking down to the presumably stupid reader (Chapter 5 is just explaining Goodheart’s Law. Chapter 9 out of 10 is “lays out the difference between anarchy and anarchism”), and so extremely impressed with itself. Chapter 2 is about "who has the right to rule / make these rules". Chapter 1 opens "this is not a political book". Angery noises.

Patternmaster was very enjoyable, and presented great characters (ever Octavia Butler's strength). There was decent worldbuilding, and I'd love to learn more about this world that is a distant decendant of ours – but sadly, the book ends way too early, at a point where I felt there hadn't been all that much plot yet. On re-read for my book club: Man, I wish we saw more of the world. We see such a tiny frame – we get teased with the animalistic-alien sphinx-human hybrids being intelligent and tool-using, and then we don’t see them again except as enemies to be slaughtered. What a let-down.

Man, Octavia Butler doesn't do nice – in the end, there's always violence/rape/horror. I'm starting to see a little too many parallels between her books in terms of characters involved, and the general feeling/direction, so I'll probably lay off them for a while. I still enjoyed Clay's Ark (which is part of the Patternmaster series, although VERY loosely connected), but it's not a book I'd care to read again. On re-read for my book club, I still didn’t get into this one much at all. It poses interesting questions, sure – but honestly, the discussion was way better than reading the book.

I liked Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler – to me it was the most interesting part of the Patternmaster series so far. It explores how, within our society as it exists today, the Patternist community came to exist, and soon dominated life everywhere. It's exactly the bit of backstory I was missing. That said, I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters. I think this was due to the rushed feeling – by skipping large intervals of time, we get told about important character and group developments, instead of being shown, which is unfortunate: with more space and exploration, this would have made an outstanding book. On re-read for my book club, I had the same feeling again: It’s a backstory book, so there’s a lack of tension and interest in the individual characters, which is a shame, especially with it concluding the character arcs from Wild Seed.

Wild Seed (first part of Octavia Butler's Patternmaster series) was good, but not great. She experiments with the implication of mortal and immortal characters, who definitely aren't gods, and while I enjoyed the premise, and the writing, and the characters immensely, I felt that the story meandered and didn't quite know where to go. It was still a very pleasant read, and I'm looking forward to see in which direction the series develops. (After finishing the book, I was told that I had started the series in the chronological order, not the published order, which was not at all my intention, and may contribute to my impression of a vague plot.) On re-read for the book club, I enjoyed the book a bit more, actually – this one and Mind of My Mind are the better parts of the series, to me.