This review was first published by Booklist in August 2023.

Whitta, best known as the screenwriter of The Book of Eli and developing the story for Rogue One, gives us his take on a mecha story. The Mek, an advanced machine civilization, came to Earth seeking natural resources, and war broke out between them and humanity. Humanity lost, and the Mek enslaved them. Now, a young woman named Dakota learns of a last hope that could liberate mankind. To do so, she must escape her slave camp and learn more about her family’s past. While there’s nothing much original in this tale, Whitta clearly has a blast telling it, and his joy in storytelling will win readers over. He’s a practiced craftsman and delivers a satisfying yarn. The greatest strength of the story is its pacing: a propulsive, frenetic adventure with well-staged action pieces that readers will inhale. Whitta originally developed this story as an episodic podcast which had some success. Fans have been eager for a novelization, and it’s a good entry point for new readers as well.

This review was first published by Booklist in July 2023.

In the near future, Qbito, a San Francisco tech start-up, launches SavePoint, quantum technology that allows users to skip back in time five seconds, giving people the ability to undo social faux pas and damaging, hurtful behaviors. Now, SavePoint 2.0 promises to revolutionize the world yet again with a massive upgrade. But when head programmer Nev finalizes the code for it, something goes horribly wrong, and she starts living her life backwards, waking up each day one day earlier. She must figure out what went awry and fix it before the same fate befalls more than 150 million users. It’s a fascinating premise, and Nev is a compelling character. The mechanics of how she interacts with the forward-time world provide tension and propulsion for the plot. Mixed in are criticisms of fundamentalist religion, critiques of tech culture, and send-ups of “tech bros” and income-focused careerists. But Sinn goes deeper, exploring how the past and future are inextricably interconnected, the ways our actions reverberate in other people’s lives, purpose, and responsibility, ultimately leading to compassion, forgiveness, and sacrifice.

This review was first published by Booklist on May 15, 2023.

The past comes back to haunt the present in more ways than one in the third installment of Wagers’ NeoG series (after Hold Fast through the Fire, 2021). Missing ships mysteriously reappear and wreak destruction in the Trappist system. D’Arcy struggles with the aftermath of the sabotage of Jupiter Station, while both he and Sapphi deal with the return of important people from their pasts who they thought were long left behind. Max struggles to break free from her family, with surprising results. Doge exhibits surprising behavior, while Jenks falls deeper into unexpected domestic bliss, and the crew of Zuma’s Ghost dominate in their fifth Boarding Games. Behind it all is a mysterious being with a strange connection to Sapphi. Wagers juggles a lot of plot threads in this outing, mostly with great success, and offers a clever exploration of identity, community, healing, and what it means to be alive. Wagers continues to impress with deeply drawn characters and their focus on the power of supportive relationships. Fans of the NeoG will certainly find more of what they love in this outing.

This review was first published by Booklist on April 15, 2023.

Fleeing from personal tragedy, xenobiologist Alex Crichton is assigned to a corporate exploration ship scouting a new star system for potentially habitable planets when the team discovers an anomaly: a gigantic, perfectly circular hole in a planet that emits a regular signal encoding the Mandelbrot set. Despite his misgivings, and spurred by the memory of who he lost, Alex volunteers to be on the landing crew sent down to explore the planet’s surface. What follows is a torturous journey of mounting tension, danger, and uncertainty. It’s a pressure cooker that gradually wears away at the characters’ psyches. Things get dark. This is a deep character portrait, enhanced by the mystery and disconcerting nature of the setting. Layered on top is a meditation on grief and faith. It’s a heady mix of ingredients. The central mystery is never solved, and the ending is left unresolved, but it finishes with a welcome note of hope. Fractal Noise is very different in length and tone from its predecessor (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, 2020), and it shows Paolini’s range as a storyteller.

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Since leaving his YA fantasy series behind, Paolini’s SF star has shone more brightly with every new release.