Reading SF in July 2026

[Diosces]

I finished Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. It was uneven, very good in places, and just dragged out in others, especially one of the sub plots involving a Russian spy.

My favourite part of the book was actually the second sub plot, which concerned a young man who had been kidnapped in Vietnam to work aboard an autonomously-run fishing vessel. Eventually this ties in with the main plot - which is about a race of super intelligent octopuses that live off the coast of Vietnam - but the book takes soooo long to get to the point about why the octopuses are important and how they link in with the sub plots that by the end I had somewhat lost interest in them.

There's a lot of pontificating about AI and how we could possibly communicate with beings that are nothing like us. It was eye opening in places but relied a lot on scientific facts I already knew (about the brain and psychology) for much of its story-telling meat.

All that said, there was something confident and different about the ideas and the characterisation which lifted it above the usual debut novel, so I'll be picking up his second book at some point. 3/5

In the meantime I've decided t have another go at Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. I started it a few years ago but gave up after about 50 pages. I don't think it's SFictional at all despite his other books, but hey ho..

I loved this book, it's in my top 50 all time favorite books. It reminded me a lot of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.

 

[Ropie]

I loved this book, it's in my top 50 all time favorite books. It reminded me a lot of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.

I can see why, it's a high quality piece of work.

Now I've been inspired by Chitman to try the further titles in Robert Charles Wilson's Spin series, so I've picked up a copy of Axis. I'm only up to Chapter 3 but it already feels like SF from a simpler time: clean, clear, exciting; already I'm hooked.

 

[Fryan]

I also read Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. I thought it was actually pretty good. This was for my SF book club and sparked a lot of interesting discussions as well. While it felt a tad dated and the characters were a bit... cringe, it was more of an 'big idea' book. Which was fine by me, since it's why I love SF in the first place

I really enjoyed Spin when I read it last year. At the time, I was active in the IG book reviewing community, and was part of a small group of SF fans who were able to set up a Zoom chat with Robert Charles Wilson. That was really cool, it was just him and about 6 of us chatting about books and writing. He’s a very nice and humble guy. He said he will have a new book out later this year or early 2027.

 

[Hobbit]

Current reading:





Nice to read an SF novel after Richard's Grimdark Fantasy. As the cover suggests, so far this is VERY Blade Runner-like (movie, not PKD's book!)

 

[krisbslick]

Finished The Traveler by Joseph Eckert in one day. So needless to say, it was completely enthralling. Really can't add much more than what's already been said on it, but it's been a while since I've read a book that's hooked me this much.

Spoiler

The ending did seem a tad off somehow or maybe anticlimactic, but would still...

10/10 totally recommend.

 

[krisbslick]

I really enjoyed Spin when I read it last year. At the time, I was active in the IG book reviewing community, and was part of a small group of SF fans who were able to set up a Zoom chat with Robert Charles Wilson. That was really cool, it was just him and about 6 of us chatting about books and writing. He’s a very nice and humble guy. He said he will have a new book out later this year or early 2027.

That's awesome! Love to hear authors who go out of their way for their fans like this!

 

[Ropie]

Finished The Traveler by Joseph Eckert in one day.

Oh, sounds like fun!! I'm going to get a sample on the Kindle while I'm waiting for my paper copy of Axis to arrive..

 

[mylinar]

I used 2 Audible credits yesterday. One on an old book ‘Lucifer’s Hammer’ by Niven and Pournele. This one if for my wife & I. It’s not too odd or complex for her. It is more disaster movie than SF in fact. At 24 hours it will keep us for the rest of the year as we do perhaps an hour a week. I’ve read it several times but she is looking forward to starting tonight.

I got ‘The Traveler’ by Joseph Eckert. I can’t resist the premise on this one. I even ignored some posted spoilers on. Usually I read them to get other people’s perspective on a work.

Sorry Hadrian Marlowe but you got kicked down the road again, I promise I’ll get to book 4. LOL

 

[mylinar]

I used 2 Audible credits yesterday. One on an old book ‘Lucifer’s Hammer’ by Niven and Pournele. This one if for my wife & I. It’s not too odd or complex for her. It is more disaster movie than SF in fact. At 24 hours it will keep us for the rest of the year as we do perhaps an hour a week. I’ve read it several times but she is looking forward to starting tonight.

I got ‘The Traveler’ by Joseph Eckert. I can’t resist the premise on this one. I even ignored some posted spoilers on. Usually I read them to get other people’s perspective on a work.

Sorry Hadrian Marlowe but you got kicked down the road again, I promise I’ll get to book 4. LOL

Oh yea, I like that they spelled traveler correctly too.

 

[chitman13]

Red Dwarf Titan by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall - so, on the big plus side it's narrated by Chris Barrie, who does a great job and fully immersed me back into the world of Red Dwarf. On the not-so-plus side, it's generally very mediocre. It may be me, but parts felt forced or too over the top, though outside of these it felt familiar. The idea of setting it as a prequel to events of the series, and setting it in a parallel universe, meant that it got away with lots it probably wouldn't have otherwise, though I was left feeling very indifferent.

 

[Fryan]

I finished up Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven. Really enjoyed this one. Le Guin is one of my favorite writers and this felt like one of her stronger offerings. I really loved how surreal things got during the climax, but still felt within my grasp of understanding what was going on and keeping me in the story.

Now I’m reading Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson. So far it feels like a spy thriller, but I’ve heard it gets more “speculative” as things go on. Either way, it’s pretty fun and will be an entertaining read for some travel I have coming up.

 

[Raf]

Finished book 1 of a new series (KU up to book 4 available), Ensign Year 1 by J Durham - excellent stuff.

Not sure how it ended in my KU recs but I opened it and got hooked from page 1, read it in one sitting and moved to book 2 immediately- somewhat similar in premise with the C Cameron Marca Nbarro series but in a star trek like universe with various types of humanity like Vulcan analogs etc - I guess whatever AI Amazon uses for book recs has me pegged under competence sff as D Weber, LE Modesitt, the Russian MagicDome series etc are all competence sff regardless of being sf of various kinds, fantasy of various kinds, alt hist etc and ChatGPT itself told me that when i asked it once for fun to tell me what a few of my favorite series have in common; the short blurb and my Goodreads review below:

Blurb:

Montgomery Hale is seventeen, broke, and about to commit the biggest fraud of his life.
He's spent years fixing machines on a backwater space station, saving every credit for a fleet academy education he'll never afford. When a last-minute vacancy opens on the Union's flagship, he does the only thing a desperate kid with a talent for forging documents would do.
He fakes his way aboard.
Now he's an ensign on the most prestigious ship in the fleet, surrounded by officers who earned their commissions, flying a vessel he's never been trained to operate, and reporting to a captain who sees more than he lets on.

Goodreads review:
Excellent book - came up in my Kindle recs and I opened it just in case and couldn't really put it down until I finished it and jumped to book 2 which is as good as this so far.

An interesting premise done in various ways in various series though here taken to the limit - young orphan technical prodigy on a space station in the middle of nowhere trying to save money to attempt the space fleet academy exams, sees an opportunity to fake his way as an ensign pilot on one of the most advanced Union starships - in a fairly interesting universe too with the Union composed of a few human-like races with various specific characteristics.

But what works first and foremost is the voice of the main character, Montgomery Hale, as well as his flaws - while technically gifted, his orphan upbringing makes him a loner and struggling with the notion of teamwork - and the supporting characters, while the storyline works well too - ship sent on a 14 month mission to reopen space lanes and reconnect to a bunch of colonies abandoned for budgetary reasons some decades ago.

The way ftl works (flex space with narrow channels) makes the job of the pilot essential, though integrated with the navigator adjusting the course and the tac officer analysing the possible obstacles and dangers, and of course our hero excels at the piloting but not so much at the integration which is part of the challenges he faces.

Luckily both the chief pilot, his immediate superior - coming from an enlisted not academy background and intuiting that not all is quite what it seems with his new ensign due to his superb but unorthodox piloting skills, and the captain who cares only about results and not about who comes from where, as long as they are good at their job, recognize Montgomery's talent and are willing to give him a chance and help with his less than stellar people skills.

Similarly a few other crew - an ensign from an emphatic race and a young petty officer engineer who kind of befriend Montgomery by chance help and so it goes with a tour of the universe and a book that cannot be put down.

Highly recommended - would love an audio version with a young enthusiastic narrator matching the main character's voice

I started this one last night and am quite enjoying the story. Yep, there is a similarity between Cameron's Artifact story. At least in the beginning.

I see there are 5 novels in this series, Suciul. How is the storline / writing holding up?

 

[Hobbit]

Red Dwarf Titan by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall - so, on the big plus side it's narrated by Chris Barrie, who does a great job and fully immersed me back into the world of Red Dwarf. On the not-so-plus side, it's generally very mediocre. It may be me, but parts felt forced or too over the top, though outside of these it felt familiar. The idea of setting it as a prequel to events of the series, and setting it in a parallel universe, meant that it got away with lots it probably wouldn't have otherwise, though I was left feeling very indifferent.

I was offered this one for review and felt the same, M, which I was sad about. Didn't finish it the end after getting about halfway through. Humour's still a funny old thing, isn't it?

Am wondering whether there will be any more books now after the recent passing of Rob Grant. I did feel that this was meant to be the start of a new set of books, or a new TV series- be interested to see where it goes.

 

[Hobbit]

I finished up Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven. Really enjoyed this one. Le Guin is one of my favorite writers and this felt like one of her stronger offerings. I really loved how surreal things got during the climax, but still felt within my grasp of understanding what was going on and keeping me in the story.

Now I’m reading Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson. So far it feels like a spy thriller, but I’ve heard it gets more “speculative” as things go on. Either way, it’s pretty fun and will be an entertaining read for some travel I have coming up.

I still haven't read Lathe of Heaven, though I've had a copy for a LONG while.... really must get to it.

 

[Fryan]

I still haven't read Lathe of Heaven, though I've had a copy for a LONG while.... really must get to it.

This was one of those books that I thought was a reread, but then found I had no recollection of it once I started reading it.

So maybe I’ve just heard enough about the book over the years and that familiarity with the plot made me think I’ve actually read it when I haven’t.

Too many years and a lot of books under the belt!

 

[Hobbit]

This was one of those books that I thought was a reread, but then found I had no recollection of it once I started reading it.

I find that that does happen with me these days....

 

[suciul]

I started this one last night and am quite enjoying the story. Yep, there is a similarity between Cameron's Artifact story. At least in the beginning.

I see there are 5 novels in this series, Suciul. How is the storline / writing holding up?

1-2 were very good imho, three a bit repetitive but ok, and 4 weaker ( I didn't like the direction it went) but 5 seems to be getting back on track - read only part but I like it so far. They are on KU so included in the subscription.

 

[Ropie]

I still haven't read Lathe of Heaven, though I've had a copy for a LONG while.... really must get to it.

As I recall, I thought this one might have been influenced by Philip K Dick. It has a very different feel to The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, less polished, more fun and surreal (as mentioned) but also less good - to me.

 

[Raf]

1-2 were very good imho, three a bit repetitive but ok, and 4 weaker ( I didn't like the direction it went) but 5 seems to be getting back on track - read only part but I like it so far. They are on KU so included in the subscription.

Yes, I'm seeing some repetition starting in the 2nd book. I think the corridor / flex transits may almost be tending towards word count filler for the overall story. I doubt I'll finish this one if it continues.

 

[AtramentousFlux]

The Traveler by Joseph Eckert

Enjoyed this one very much as well.

Spoiler

Although the ending was a bit pants.