ShipStar by Larry Niven & Gregory Benford (2014)

I am glad I picked up the series again.  The second book is slightly better with the introduction of new space alien species and mysterious tech stuff.  The character arcs are poorly motivated but I liked the story. 4/5 Stars.

Callsign Valkyrie by Jason Anspach, Nick Cole, Walt Robillard (2023)

Self-contained, backstory of factions during the reign of the evil "House of Reason" era of Galaxy's Edge. Not bad. 4/5 Stars.

Redshirts: A novel with three Codas by John Scalzi (2012)

Funny, clever, fourth-wall breaking book that becomes "meta" as bizarre metaphysical paradoxes intermingle.  Fun stories, good characters, very entertaining, 5/5 Stars.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (2022)

Nebula award winner 2023, well-written, clever fantasy. I don't like fantasy, though. 3/5 Stars.

A City on Mars by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith (2023)

This book is well-researched and comprehensive. My personal experience with International Law is that there basically are no rules. Nation State leaders do whatever they want.  Therefore, I don't completely buy into the detailed analysis of the policies and laws of nation state actors in space. I do agree with the game theoretic analysis, including the "company towns" analogies.  The data and tech are very interesting.  And, of course, the snarky prose is wonderful. 4/5 Stars.

Always Legion by Jason Anspach, Peter Nealen, & Nick Cole (2023)

I needed something light, fun, humorous to recover from that terrible Peter H Kim book.  This one is a little disappointing; the close combat is good as always. This era and setting in the Galaxy's Edge universe is dark and depressing, though.  3/5 Stars.

How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships are built, broken, repaired by Peter H Kim (2023)

This book is terrible. The Science in it is shockingly bad.  The topics covered are about taking offense, unrelated to trust. I kept hoping it would get better and it just got worse.  1/5 Stars.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (175 AD)

I enjoyed this collection of the Roman emperor's personal journal snippets.  They are short, dense, and unambiguous. It's interesting how the fundamentals of Stoical Roman ethics of Aurelius' era have so much in common with other civilizations' ethics, e.g. Zoroastrianism's good deeds from good thought. Civic duty, and aligning our conscious decisions to the Logos (divine, cosmic consciousness) is also repeatedly and well-articulated with examples.  I learned a lot in a short time. 4/5 Stars.

Taken to the Stars by J N Chaney * Rick Partlow (2023)

I enjoy the Anspach / Chaney books so I tried this one by Chaney.  It's a juvenile book written for young teenagers and not very good. I shall not read the rest of the series. 2/5 Stars.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (2007)

Clever, well-crafted, immersive, and fun.  I did not like the end of the story-in-the-story. 4/5 Stars.