starter villain by John Scalzi (2023)

The author suffered terribly from the lockdowns in 2020 and his writing suffered.  This book is not among his best work but it is still very good. The dialog and characters are fun but the plot is a little discombobulated, 4/5 Stars.

Discovery by B. V. Larson (2023)

I probably would have enjoyed this book in 1963 but my tastes have changed.  2/5 Stars, not good.

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023)

Drop what you are doing and read this book.  It is the best murderbot book yet. 5/5 Stars. If the judges have teenaged children Martha Wells will win all of the awards again for this one.

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.