Review: Empty Dagger Hand by Dusk Peterson

This time, Peterson subverts the rightful heir trope. Quite nicely, in fact. I won't go into how.

But this is also an extremely dark book. Peterson's theme is people doing good things against a dark backdrop, and also people doing good things despite their own darkness.

This book takes that to the extreme. Everything is dark and miserable and ruined. I hope the next book brings back some light because I feel as if I just consumed distilled George R.R. Martin.

I also didn't find the MC of this one as likable as the others. Finally, I think I want to read, although I doubt I'm the person to write, a grimdark book in which homophobia is not a thing. Even queer people like to add it as some kind of topping to the shit pie and I'm not a fan of that.

Despite that, his writing continues to improve and I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book so much as I didn't like it, if that makes any sense.

Review: First Ascent by Douglas Phillips

I'm generally there for a good space elevator story, especially one which involves...never mind, that's a spoiler.

First Ascent is a reasonably decent space elevator story that brings in elements of The Expanse and, I suspect entirely subconsciously, 2001. Sahalie Spark is a professional science communicator, kind of a female, Native American Bill Nye.

She's contacted by a Korean tech billionaire, Yoon Ji-Ho, who invites her to see something amazing.

A space elevator.

Except that it appeared from nowhere and nobody on Earth could have built it. Space travel, see, is no longer possible thanks to the Kessler syndrome.

Solving this central mystery is key to the plot, but the enemy is disinformation, pseudoscience, and cranks. Don't we all feel that way some days?

Phillips is a good enough writer (although there's one cringeworthy line about Filipinos on page 32 that put me momentarily in throw the book across the room mode). Sahalie is also unfortunately reminiscent of the "I-should-write-a-girl-in-STEM" heroines that too many white men writing harder SF produce. (Michael Flynn comes to mind). She doesn't quite come over as a complete woman.

Despite that, this is an enjoyable book.

In fact, I'd actually recommend it to fans of Michael Flynn, Phillips has a similar style and feel. Except for the fact that the aliens hit Expanse/2001/Project Hail Mary levels of weird.

Its biggest flaw, other than the characterization of the lead, is that it tries a bit too hard to be weird.

In many ways, it works better, read as a classic space race era problem story.

It's the first in a series, so we'll see where he ends up going with it.

Recommended for fans of Michael Flynn and similar hard SF authors.