Only Human (2018) Sylvain Neuvel

Only Human(2018) Sylvain Neuvel

Book three of Neuval’s Themis Files series.  My least favorite. (Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods)  This is basically a family affair with Victor and Eva (and Rose as a surrogate mother) trying to work out what actually happened on the world of Esat Ekt.  Eva’s alien boyfriend, Ekim, becomes a casualty of their escape back to Earth with itself has become a world dominated by the remaining giant robot, Lapetus, which the USA is using to dominate the rest of the world.  When Victor, Rose, and Eva return with Themis it is the Russians that take control of them and it is game on.  Of course Rose figures it out with the help of Mr. Burns who is not in jail for his sin of alien heritage.  

It is an interesting concept but I had hoped for a little more imagination in books two and three rather then just dragging out a really good book one idea.  Of course the is the standard for SF now a days.  Take a good book and stretch it to 3 -  maybe 5 or 6.   Hopefully Sylvain Neuval will come out with something new soon. 

Containment (2010) Christian Cantrell

Containment(2010) Christian Cantrell

Arik awakes from a coma to face a puzzle that he had set for himself.  Solving it will reveal what he was made to forget about their Venus Colony that will rock their world.  He was taught as a child that the Earth had survived many challenges to become a vibrant space-faring community that had started a colony on Venus as their first step to the cosmos.   Not likely!  

A great story with a nice twist.  Arik is nicely developed but none of the other characters are.  Hopefully in future books of this series we can get to know others.  The idea of the “homeless”  is very interesting and lends itself to more explanation.  It has a zombie sense about it.  

Super Sales on Super Heroes - 2 - William D. Brand

Super Sales on Super Heroes -  Book 2(2018)  

William D. Arand

Creative title – “Book 2”.   I liked “Book 1” a lot but had a problem with the slavery theme.  Fortunately Arand goes a long way toward getting rid of that in this book.  A lot of the book is a rehash of the first one.  He develops the Andrea / Myriad character much more in this book. We also learn more about Miu.   She is insane and jealous of anyone who cares for Felix.  She kills Andreas over and over.  Fortunately they have amazing recovery skills.  In this book we see Felix run for governor and we meet Skippy from Skipper City.  

We finally see Felix the CEO thrown into a desperate situation when he must survive without all of his entourage.  I found this the most interesting part.  Of course, there will be a “Book 3” (come on William!).   I will read it whatever it is called.

The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons  (2014) Sam Kean

What happens when you get a rod of iron exploding  through your brain?  Do you believe there are people that can see smells and taste sounds?  What happens when you the corpus callosum is intentionally severed breaking the main connection between the two halves of the brain?

Sam Kean weaves the answers to these questions along with the history of neuroscience and an interesting series of strange cases that illustrate each chapter. 

Same Kean is terrific and bringing dry science to life.  I highly recommend this as well as Caesar’s Last Breath.

Dark Sky (2017). Mike Brooks

Dark Sky(2017)   Mike Brooks

Ichabod Drift and his zany crew of miscreants are back for another story.  They are offered a sum to go to a mining planet and collect information about the productivity and bring it back before the big storm hits the mining planet and seals off all communication.   The client can then make a highly specific investment knowing the data before any one else.  Sounds sort of like Trading Places without the gorilla   (oh wait there is Apriana).   Surprise surprise.  Things do not go as expected.   Not only do they meet their archenemy in port there is the start of a revolution of the workers.   Of all the luck.   Tamara teams up with the revolutionaries and Ichabod with the police.   Jenna plays a key role.   Apriana (A) gets the chance to be integrated into the tech cult but turns them down (why?).   Jenna and A finally start something up.   All in all a fun book.  More please.

Book Review: Dark Run (2015) Mike Brooks

Dark Run (2015)    Mike Brooks

Icabod Drift is a blue-haired Mexican Captain of the Keiko.  His crew of misfits includes Jenna McIllroy, a stow-away-turned-ship computer tech; Apirana Wahawaha, a massive Māori fighter; Micah van Schaken, a former mercenary; Jai and Kuia Chang, respectively the Keiko’s pilot and mechanic; and Tamara Rourke, Drift’s second.

Icabod is blackmailed into dropping off a package at a certain place and certain time that ends up being a nuke.  Then the fun begins.  How does Icabod get revenge for this? This book one of a series.  Book 2 is Dark Sky -  A good sequel and a guilty pleasure.  

Book Review: The Drug Hunters (2017) Donald R. Kirsch and Ogi Ogas

The Drug Hunters(2017)  Donald R. Kirsch and Ogi Ogas

While not quite as exciting as Island of the Lost this book is very interesting in its own way. Have you ever wondered how something as common as an Aspirin was developed?  What about morphine, heroin, penicillin, and quinine?  When did we first start putting people to sleep to do their surgery?  How were treatments for mental health problems like schizophrenia and depression developed?   

There is one chapter dedicated to the development of the oral contraceptive.

A great book if you like this sort of thing -  I do!