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.

This review was first published by Booklist on February 17, 2023.

In the ninth installment of his Alex Benedict series (after Octavia Gone, 2019), McDevitt changes things up a bit, introducing the possibility of intelligent aliens that aren’t long gone. An exploratory mission to the Orion Nebula uncovers an isolated village of technological humanoids on an inhabited planet, but a follow-up mission finds the village has disappeared without a trace. Without an explanation for its vanishing, many believe the whole thing is a hoax. But Alex, Chase, Gabe, and Chase’s old friend Robbi Jo (who was a member of the original mission that discovered the village) set out to solve the mystery. McDevitt has been labeled “cozy science fiction” and the description is apt: his beloved characters are pleasant and reasonable, with little conflict and good intentions all around. Crises reliably resolve with no lasting damage done. The reward of this book is the compelling central mystery and the continued exploration of the universe McDevitt has constructed. It may not be the most dramatic or exciting of his works, but fans will find what they’re looking for with this one.

This review was first published by Booklist on January 1, 2023.

It’s summer on Niflheim, and Mickey7 is retired from being the colony’s Expendable. He’s spent the last two years helping tend the rabbits. Then one day, he sees himself heading toward the reactor core. Turns out there’s not enough fuel to last through the next winter, and everyone will die unless he can get back the antimatter bomb Marshall thinks he left with the creepers. But how does he know Marshall is telling the truth? Maybe it’s a ploy to finally get rid of him. Ashton’s follow-up to his excellent Mickey7 (2022) is just as much fun as its predecessor. Readers get to see more aspects of colony life, and Ashton introduces nuances to the creepers while showing us more of their world. The Speaker is a delightful new character, offering an entertaining look at the challenges of communication and mutual comprehension. As in Mickey7, there’s substance behind the humor. At the core of this story are questions of trust and responsibility—what do you do when saving the world means you must betray an ally?

This review was first published by Booklist on December 1, 2022.

Carissa minds her own business, living in an elevator in the Building, a structure tens of thousands of stories tall, with entire pocket universes contained on individual floors. One day, an alien shape-shifter lands on top of her elevator, pulling her into a crisis of politics, betrayal, and the looming threat of war. Thus begins a complex tale featuring fractious governments, deep mythological history, a centuries-long soap opera, and gargantuan theme parks. There are aliens, robots, artificially intelligent cloudlet computers, mind control, exploration, magic, and art. Wild Massive is one of the most singular and difficult to summarize books of the year. Moore’s characters are well rendered, and his style is a heady mixture of propulsive plot, sideways humor, and expository asides, with a healthy dose of the proudly bizarre. World building takes undisputed center stage. The Building is compelling, imaginative, expansive, and ridiculous, with a history and creation mythology as unique as the structure itself. Exploring this place is irresistible and deeply rewarding. It will leave readers hoping for more stories set in this world.

This review was first published by Booklist on November 1, 2022.

Set in 1899 New York, The Spirit Phone is a cosmic-horror, murder-mystery detective yarn in which Nikola Tesla, famed inventor, and Aleister Crowley, famed occultist, team up to save the world. Along the way, they encounter a cult, people who appear to be clones, and spiritual beings bent on destroying Earth, all centered on a new invention from Thomas Edison which aims to let people speak to the dead. Teleportation, astral projection, Edgar Cayce, a zeppelin, and Devils Tower all make an appearance. O’Keefe’s debut novel certainly serves up a unique blend of elements. He takes some anachronistic liberties, but all in service of the story. The entertainment factor alone alleviates anything that strains credulity, and the action is well paced. Perhaps most rewarding is his evocation of this time and place: new innovations were radically altering the fabric of everyday life, with modern technology like cars and electric lights commingled with horse-drawn carriages and gas lamps. It was a world made magical and strange, an ideal setting for such a strange tale.