Adventures in Pulp and Space
Review: The Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells
This is a reprint, in omnibus, of two short YA novels Wells wrote in 2013 and 2014. It shows; while there's visible talent here, her writing has not reached the level of Murderbot yet.
Despite that, the two books are a lot of fun...if you happen to like Jules Verne. Yes, this is full blown Verne-an pulp.
The first book, Emilie and the Hollow World is a riff on the old theory of the Hollow Earth, with a solid slice of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Because this is YA, our protagonist, Emilie, is only sixteen It's early YA (there's essentially no romance and I would absolutely give this book to a thirteen-year-old. Or an adult.
Emilie is running away from home to escape her uncle's over-protective, smothering ways, with the intent of learning to be a teacher...a respectful profession for a young woman in a rather sexist world.
She stows away on the wrong ship and finds herself on a journey through the aether to the hollow world. It's pure escapism, with the characters engaged in exploration and rescue.
The second book, Emilie and the Sky World still has strong pulp antecedents (the books are being marketed as steampunk, which does fit, but I'd still call them neo-pulp first), but has a less obvious specific spiritual ancestor.
Emilie and her friends are now traveling to the sky, with a theory that their Earth might be somebody else's hollow earth! It's more complicated than that, and book two involves aether beasts they call ghost pirates and one of the most adorable aliens in the history of the world. Seriously, somebody option this thing just so I can see Hyacinth touch its blossoms to everything. Oh dear, that sounds vaguely dirty.
Trust me, its just way too cute.
Both of these books are. If you're looking for lighthearted pulp adventure with more modern sensibilities, it's worth checking this out...and it's good to see it back in print (the edition is copyrighted this year).
Review: The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey
This is the start of a new series by the authors of The Expanse, but is in a somewhat different mode.
The same theme of dealing with the alien is present, but The Mercy of Gods is an alien invasion tale.
In the unknown past, humans colonized the world of Anjiin. The people of Anjiin thrived despite the fact that they live on a world with a completely different biology. They brought with them the full range of human symbiotes and cleared part of the planet, while leaving the rest to the natives.
A group of scientists, however, has come across a way to bridge the biomes, which I personally think is as bad an idea as messing with the protomolecule...they could easily make a plague. Before anything can happen, though, Anjiin is invaded by the Carryx, a hive species with some interesting biology and a tendency to domesticate every other sapient species they meet. Or kill them, if they can't.
The humans of Anjiin are their latest project. And their ecosystem-bridging science is of value to the invaders.
The Carryx are fascinating. So are the human characters. This being a Corey book, those characters are flawed and often in confict with each other. They're also scientists, with everything that entails.
This is very different from The Expanse, but still has the same mild elements of horror...while The Expansetreated us to protomolecule-induced body horror, The Mercy of Gods explores the innately horrific concept of dealing with the truly alien...with beings that don't think or react like us. One species we meet consumes their dead.
And, of course, the Carryx are at war...
If you liked The Expanse, definitely check it out. If you didn't...it probably depends on what you didn't like about it. This is a completely different world down to the laws of physics, but equally fascinating. Corey is moving towards Reynolds in their mode here, and I don't think that's a bad thing at all.