This Week by Proxy: 06 – 12 July

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I look back on the past week to see which books I’ve read, the reviews I’ve posted and the goals I’ve completed.

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| This Week by Proxy: 06 – 12 July 2020 |

Ahh my second Sunday and it still feels so good to be back! I have spent a lot of time catching up on your wonderful blogs, reading reviews and generally enjoying this amazing community. I think I may have enjoyed it a little too much though as WordPress decided to confine me to several spam folders on Friday… which I entirely blame on my enthusiasm for commenting following such a prolonged absence!

I hope you have all had wonderful weekends and I can’t wait to see all your posts this coming week!

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| Books Read |

After completing my Top Ten Tuesday, I had a sudden and irresistible urge to read more works by P.G. Wodehouse. Having only ever read stand-alone or Blandings novels, I decided to venture into the realms of Reginald Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. The Inimitable Jeeves is the first full length Jeeves novel out of a series comprising of eleven full length novels and thirty-five short stories – a series which is bound to keep me busy for a lifetime!

Now I have a bit of a soft spot for Blandings so no sooner had I completed The Inimitable Jeeves, I picked up yet another Blandings novel in order to get my fix of Lord Emsworth and the magnificent Empress. Galahad at Blandings was, as usual, an amusing and chaotic affair which was enjoyed alongside the excellent fantasy novel How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K.J. Parker. 

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| Currently Reading |

While you might think two P.G. Wodehouse novels in one week would keep me ticking over for some time you would, in fact, be entirely wrong. As soon as Galahad at Blandings reached its joyful conclusion I reached for A Pelican at Blandings, another truly dotty book from the master of wit.

As Wodehouse novels tend to be distinctly different and a lot shorter than my ‘main’ reads, I find them relatively easy to squeeze in and around more complex or longer novel, such as the truly wonderful A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, which I am enjoying immensely!

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| Upcoming Reviews |

For those of you I have spoken to in the week about Terry Pratchett, I apologise. For some reason I have continually referred to Going Postal, an incredibly witty novel about the fantastical postal service of Ankh-Morpork, as ‘Postal Service’, which is literally just describing its contents. This, however, just makes me love the bureaucratic madness that is this book even more…  and I have a sneaking suspicion that Junior Postman Tolliver Groat would approve of such direct and to the point ‘regulation’ descriptions. I hope to have a review out for both Going Postal and How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It this week!

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| Watching |

While catching up with the third season of Killing Eve and the brilliant I May Destroy You, the other half and I have started to watch Warrior Nun on Netflix. While I expected this to be a cheesy and mediocre offering, I really am rather enjoying it and find myself eagerly awaiting the next episode. I’m also not going to deny that if there is hype for warrior nuns I am all for it as the Book of the Ancestor is just ripe for dramatisation!

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| Gaming |

This week I have continued to play the fifth season of Apex Legends. After achieving rank Gold IV in the season’s first half, I was very close to putting it down and starting an entirely new game (as usually I just play Apex as a ‘filler’ game between larger titles) but lo and behold the ranks and maps reset and I have once again been suckered back in!

The other half and I also purchased a Nintendo Switch but I am yet to play anything as I am still umm-ing and aah-ing over which game I want to play! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

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| Posts |

Review: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

The Friday Face-Off: The Sea Brought You. The Sea Shall Have You Back. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

Teaser Tuesdays: How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by K.J. Parker

Waiting on Wednesday: The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie

The Friday Face-Off: At the End of Every Light, is a Tunnel of Darkness.

Friday Firsts: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

My Top Ten Books of the Past Two Years

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I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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Friday Firsts: A Closed and Common Orbit

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Welcome to Friday Firsts – a weekly meme created by Tenacious Reader. First paragraphs. First impressions. A new favourite?

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| Friday Firsts: July 10 |

A Closed and Common Orbit

Book Two of the Wayfarers Series

by Becky Chambers

Science Fiction | 385 Pages | Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2016

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| First Paragraphs |

Lovelace had been in a body for twenty-eight minutes, and it still felt every bit as wrong as it had the second she woke up inside it. There was no good reason as to why. Nothing was malfunctioning. Nothing was broken. All her files had transferred properly. No system scans could explain the feeling of wrongness, but it was there all the same, gnawing at her pathways. Pepper had said it would take time to adjust, but she hadn’t said how much time. Lovelace didn’t like that. The lack of schedule made her uneasy.

‘How’s it going?’ Pepper asked, glancing over from the pilot’s seat.

It was a direct question, which meant Lovelace had to address it. ‘I don’t know how to answer that.’ An unhelpful response, but the best she could do. Everything was overwhelming. Twenty-nine minutes before, she’d been housed in a ship, as she was designed to be. She’d had cameras in every corner, voxes in every room. She’d existed in a web, with eyes both within and outside. A solid sphere of unblinking perception.

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

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| First Impressions |

It has been far too long since I finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Four years in fact; and despite it being one of my favourite science fiction reads of the 2015/2016 period, I still hadn’t picked up A Closed and Common Orbit. Following a timely reminder by The Earthian Hivemind that this series existed, I quickly bought a copy and placed it on the top of my ever-increasing book pile.

And I am so happy that I did.

In just a few short paragraphs I was fully absorbed into a landscape I thought I had forgotten. Familiar names, familiar faces; the events of the previous novel slowly unfolding in my head. The character driven plot was the highlight of the first novel and I find it unlikely that this sequel will disappoint.

I truly cannot wait to get lost with the Wayfarers, or at least Lovelace and Pepper, once again.

What are you currently reading? What were your first impressions?

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The Monthly Round-Up: February 2016

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Welcome to The Monthly Round-Up. Join me as I look back on the past month to see which books I’ve read, the reviews I’ve posted, the goals I’ve completed and my all important Book of the Month!

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| Books Read |

February has flown by in a torrent of amazingly bloody, beautiful and brilliant books. I only managed a respectable eight but every single one of them was fantastic – I expect that there won’t be less than a four star review amongst them! I may have completely ignored my goals of the month but never mind! February was a blast. It also featured a book so good it required its own rating!

Here’s the run down of the books I devoured last month:

| 1. |

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

| 2. |

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

| 3. |

Broken Banners by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

| 4. |

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

| 5. |

The Grim Company by Luke Scull

| 6. |

Legend by David Gemmell

| 7. |

The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

| 8. |

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner

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Promise of Blood

by Brian McClellan

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| February Goals |

To finish NOS4R2 and Emma before the month is out!

Status: Incomplete (I haven’t even picked one of them up!)

And to really challenge myself to be organised…

To post every day in February

Status: Incomplete (22 of 29 days Complete)

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| Goals for 2016 |

Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge: 18/100 Books Read (18%)

Status: +8% in February

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| Reviews Posted |

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

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The Thief by Claire North

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Faith and Moonlight by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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Rising Tide by Rajan Khanna

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| Other Posts From February |

The Monthly Round-Up: January 2016

The Month Ahead: February 2016

Cover Reveal: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Cover Reveal: Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – Paperback Edition

Cover Reveal: The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan

Bookish Beats: Bonobo – Black Sands

Bookish Beats: Massive Attack – Mezzanine

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Historical Settings

Teaser Tuesdays: February 02 – The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

Teaser Tuesdays: February 09 – Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Teaser Tuesdays: February 16 – The Grim Company by Luke Scull

Teaser Tuesdays: February 23 – A Fever of the Blood by Oscar de Muriel

The Friday Face-Off: February 05 – The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

The Friday Face-Off: February 12 – The Thousand Names by Django Wexler

The Friday Face-Off: February 19 – Vicious by V.E. Schwab

The Friday Face-Off: February 26 – The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Book Haul: February 06 – The Frey and McGray Series by Oscar de Muriel

Book Haul: February 08 – Drake, Servant of the Underworld and The Crimson Ribbon

Book Haul: February 10 – Low Town Series and City of Bohane

Book Haul: February 13 – The Rats, The Folding Knife and The Electric Church

Book Haul: February 23 – The Raven’s Head, And Then There Were None and Ink and Bone

Book Haul: February 24 – Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

Review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Book One of the Wayfarers series

by Becky Chambers

Science Fiction | 519 Pages | Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2015

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| Rating |

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November’s Sci-Fi Month Read Along at the end of 2015 turned out to be one of the highlights of my reading year. The Long Way to Small, Angry Planet is a wonderful, character driven, space opera which impresses with its ready wit and skilfully developed cast. Chambers draws you into the brilliant, exhausting, exciting and often hectic life aboard the Wayfarer and keeps you hooked to the very end. With countless alien species, clashing cultures and incredibly strange customs, this light-hearted but utterly absorbing novel presents a universe I would wish to return to time and again, and with plans for another Wayfarers novel in the near(ish) future it looks like the prospect is entirely likely.

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn’t expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that’s seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past.

But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer. The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptillian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful – exactly what Rosemary wants.

Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime: the chance to build a hyperspace tunnel to a distant planet. They’ll earn enough money to live comfortably for years… if they survive the long trip through war-torn interstellar space without endangering any of the fragile alliances that keep the galaxy peaceful.

But Rosemary isn’t the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

Rosemary Harper joins the mismatched and culturally diverse crew of the Wayfarer, a tunnelling ship which creates hyperspace links between areas of the universe, at the moment a job which sounds too good to be true lands itself on their doorstep. Tasked with creating a tunnel linking the Galactic Commons controlled area with the war-torn galactic core where the dangerous Toremi reside, the crew of the Wayfarer embark on a long, sprawling and dangerous journey across the galaxy – a galaxy which a multitude of weird and wonderful, friendly and darn-right dangerous species call home. This could mean gold, riches, glory, and a chance of a lifetime for the crew of the Wayfarer. But it could also mean death. One thing’s for certain though – life aboard the Wayfarer is about to get much more interesting.This is a novel which is driven by its characters, one which conjures an instant rapport with the crew and one which absorbs you into the lives of the protagonists. Every character is relevant, every single one unique and all are, without a doubt, fascinating. From Rosemary, Ashby to Sissix, to Kizzy, Jenks and Lovelace, every character has a wonderful back-story with a rich and vibrant history which make for instantly addictive reading. The cacophony of cultures aboard ship should be a recipe for chaos, but they all pull together and show what it means to be a family – albeit a very strange one – in a book where the characters provide an unending source of entertainment, enjoyment and thought-provoking dynamics.

Not only do the characters drive the plot of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, they also contribute heavily to the world – or universe – building. The diversity brought about by the myriad of species introduced throughout the novel, and their unique customs and traditions, bring a sense of vibrancy to the storyline and create a cultural backdrop which adds weight and depth to the universe whilst directly contributing to both character dynamics and their continual growth over the course of the narrative.

With the introduction of alien – and AI – species at every opportunity, this is a novel which touches on many human truths; what does it means to be different in our own world? What does it mean to be human? The Long Way to a Small, Angry planet weaves a complex universe which toys with sympathy and empathy whilst delighting in simultaneously fuelling undeniable adoration and considerable dislike for the diverse range of characters throughout. This may be a lighthearted novel but it certainly doesn’t shy away from making you think and is all the better for it.

The development of humanity and the divisions created through history are at all times amusing whilst resonating with a sense of our own history. There is a wonderful contrast between the disharmony of human and alien history and how politics has shaped each of these races, with this clash of cultures providing the driving force behind the conflict throughout the novel. Alongside the strain of political relationships, the comradeship shown between distinctly different species aboard the Wayfarer, and their interactions with those they meet on their journey, creates a distinct picture of opposing civilisations and societies which adds a sense of realism – and a great deal of excitement – to the universe.

Whilst I would have preferred the ‘real’ introduction to the Toremi, the main threat of the novel, to have occurred much sooner in the narrative, and wish more time had been spent mapping out their personal and political motivations, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet remains a wonderful science fiction adventure which is at all times exciting, retains its sense of humour throughout, and leaves you with some thought-provoking questions. Becky Chambers’ obvious skill as an author is showcased by her effortlessly engaging writing, her wonderful character development and a truly absorbing storyline. This really is a book that everyone should read.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is an extremely enjoyable read which I would have been happy to read in weekly instalments for an entire year. The character dynamics and relationships aboard the Wayfarer make for a uniquely absorbing read which should appeal to a wide audience of science fiction newbies and veterans alike. I await the next Wayfarers novel with great anticipation!

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

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2015: A Year in Review

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| Books by Proxy – A Year in Review |

Welcome to my first end of year post – and what a year it has been! I started this blog on the last day of July and, over the last half of 2015, have found myself as part of a wonderful community of readers and bloggers. In my albeit limited experience, we book bloggers are lucky to enjoy a very friendly and supportive community, where sharing our books, our reviews and our experiences is all done for a love of reading and can be enjoyed by many. So thank you readers and thank you bloggers for making 2015 such an enjoyable year. I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!

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| A Year in Books |

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I think we can all agree these two very similar and equally profound books, Blood Song by Anthony Ryan and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, deservedly made it into my longest and shortest book categories.

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Donna Leon

with ten books in her Commissario Brunetti series

P.G. Wodehouse

with nine books in total including seven from his Blandings series

Jim Butcher

with eight books in The Dresden Files series

Agatha Christie

with six books in her Hercule Poirot series

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Blood Song

Book One of the Raven’s Shadow Series

by Anthony Ryan

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Red Rising

Book One of the Red Rising Trilogy

by Pierce Brown

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The Serpent

The Gameshouse I

by Claire North

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The Few

A Leone Scamarcio Thriller

by Nadia Dalbuono

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Lamentation

Book Six of the Matthew Shardlake Series

by C.J. Sansom

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Something Fresh

Book One of the Blandings Series

by P.G. Wodehouse

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There were so many more amazing books which deserve to be on this list but then it would just be most of 2015’s books!

Thank you all for reading and have a wonderful 2016!

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The Friday Face-Off: January 01

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Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a new feature here at Books by Proxy. Join me every Friday as I pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe.

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| The Friday Face-Off: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers |

Welcome to my first post of 2016! I hope you’ve all had a fantastic start. I’m still in the process of compiling my end of year post but for now it’s time to sit back, relax and take in some wonderful cover art.

This week I’m looking at two beautiful covers for what turned out to be one of the highlights of my reading year. Initially a self-published title, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, a fun and exciting character driven space opera, was soon snapped up by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Harper Voyager in the US. I was at a loss as to who designed each of the covers but take a look and see which you think comes out on top in this week’s Face-Off.

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Hodder & Stoughton – UK Cover

Harper Voyager – US Cover 

 

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| The Friday Face-Off: Winner |

The winner of this week’s Friday Face-Off is Hodder & Stoughton’s UK cover for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I love the Harper Voyager cover – the typeface, the ship, the planet – it captures so much of the personality and humour which is apparent throughout the book. But that sky. The UK cover might just tip the scale with that alone! The typeface and general design are also beautifully balanced which, as a whole, make it this week’s winner!

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Have you read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? Which is your favourite cover? 

Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Newly Read Authors 2015

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature hosted by those lovely bookworms over at The Broke and the Bookish. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Newly Read Authors 2015 |

For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, we’re taking a look at some of my favourite newly read authors of 2015. From debut authors published in recent years to firmly established literary masters with a huge repertoire to their name, these are the writers whose work has crept to the top of my reading pile. In no particular order, here are ten of my favourites:

| 1. |

Michael J. Sullivan

with Theft of Swords

| 2. |

Becky Chambers

with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

| 3. |

Brent Weeks

with The Way of Shadows

| 4. |

Pierce Brown

with Red Rising

| 5. |

Bernard Cornwell

with Azincourt

| 6. |

Victoria Schwab

with A Darker Shade of Magic and Vicious

| 7. |

Helen Lowe

with The Heir of Night and The Gathering of the Lost

| 8. |

Anthony Ryan

with Blood Song

| 9. |

David Gemmell

with Morningstar and Knights of Dark Renown

| 10. |

Kim Stanley Robinson

with Red Mars

Who are your favourite newly read authors of 2015? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish and sign up!

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The Monthly Round-Up: November 2015

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Welcome to The Monthly Round-Up. Join me as I look back on the past month to see which books I’ve read, the reviews I’ve posted, the goals I’ve completed and my all important Book of the Month!

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| Books Read |

Ahh November, the craziest month of the year! Not only was this Sci-Fi Month, hosted by Rinn Reads and Over the Effing Rainbow, but I started a new job! This meant I was unable to post as much as I had wanted to as I hadn’t prepared in advance (tut tut!).  I’m only just getting used to my schedule – or in other words: If I want to post anything at all I need to prepare in advance! – so hopefully December’s posts will be a little more organised.

Onto the overview. I read five books in November, none of which featured on my Sci-Fi Month Introductory Post! But they were all excellent reads and reviews for the unreviewed will be cropping up in the next few weeks. I managed to jump on the Sci-Fi Month Read Along of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (hello Book of the Month!) and I also reached my Goodreads Reading Challenge of 100 books in 2015 after finishing Superposition. Hurrah!

So without further ramblings, here are the books I slowly devoured in November:

| 1. |

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

| 2. |

Down Station by Simon Morden

| 3. |

Superposition by David Walton

| 4. |

Falling Sky by Rajan Khanna

| 5. |

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

by Becky Chambers

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| November Goals |

To finish all the (poor neglected) novels I’m currently reading

1 of 4 | Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Status: Incomplete

To hop onto sci-fi month over at Rinn Reads

Status: Completed

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| Goals for 2015 |

Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge: 100/100 Books Read (100%)

Status: Completed

Dragons and Jetpacks 2015 Reading Challenge: 41/50 Books Read (82%)

Status: +0% during November

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| Reviews Posted |

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

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Down Station by Simon Morden

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| Other Posts From November |

The Monthly Round-Up: October 2015

The Month Ahead: November 2015

Sci-Fi Month: November 2015 – Introductory Post

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Read Along Week 1

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Read Along Week 2

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Read Along Week 3

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Read Along Week 4

Cover Reveal: Daughter of Blood by Helen Lowe

Tough Travelling: Military Genius

Tough Travelling: Tricksters

Bookish Beats: Inception OST

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Book to Movie Adaptations I’d Love to See

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Thanksgiving Bastards

Teaser Tuesdays: November 03 – NOS4R2 by Joe Hill

Teaser Tuesdays: November 10 – Emma by Jane Austen

‘Sci-Fi’ Teaser Tuesdays: November 24 – Superposition by David Walton

Sci-Fi Month 2015 Read Along: Week 4

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| Week 4 |

Welcome to the Sci-Fi Month Read Along of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, organised by Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow.

Ahhh the read along is finally at an end and I’m only a few days out! I was certain I would catch up in time but alas! It was not meant to be. I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and its episodic nature meant it was a perfect book for reading in chunks! And though Sci-Fi Month is at an end I fully expect to continue with the theme (and actually get all those neglected posts up!) by participating in the Sci-Fi Experience hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, which runs for two months from December 01st, and Vintage Sci-Fi, hosted by The Little Red Reviewer which runs throughout January. Now to round up Sci-Fi Month, here are my answers to Week 4’s questions:

Week 1 (Friday, November 6th):

“Transit” to “Port Coriol” – hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow

Week 2 (Friday, November 13th):

“Port Coriol” to “The Last War” – hosted by Chris @ Galleywampus

Week 3 (Friday, November 20th):

“The Last War” to “Heresy” – hosted by Claire Rousseau

Week 4 (Friday, November 27th):

“Heresy” to the end – hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow

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| The Questions |

| 1. |

Let’s start with the Toremi, since we’ve waited this long to get to them! As we’ve been discussing for a while, we do get to learn more about the Toremi, about their culture and how they think and behave. In light of what happens when the Wayfarer reaches Hedra Ka, what’s your take on the Toremi now? Are the GC right to abandon their negotiations or could there have been a chance to make something of it?

My, they are a volatile lot aren’t they? The snapshot we have of the Toremi show them to be completely alien in both species, culture and morality. I only wish more time had been devoted to mapping out their personal and political motivations in order to get a better understanding of their race as a whole. The introduction of the Toremi seemed to come a little late in the storyline so we never really got to feel the full force of their wilfully destructive nature. I do, however, believe the GC came to the right conclusion in abandoning the negotiations. I would have been very disappointed had they decided to go ahead with their materialistic endeavours.

| 2. |

A visit to a Solitary Sianat colony in “Heresy” provides a potential cure for Ohan’s illness, but they make it fairly clear they don’t want it – though there may be some debate about whether or not Ohan is in their right mind… Corbin takes matters into his own hands in that respect, and he does it in a crucial moment following the attack on the Wayfarer. Do you think Corbin did the right thing?

I love Corbin for this – Yes he did it in his own grumpy and crotchety way and he took the decision away from Ohan (which should be a big no-no) but he did it for the right reasons and I can’t help but be thankful for it! Whether Ohan was mentally impaired by the Whisperer or not remains a mystery but the fact that Corbin showed even a (somewhat selfish) smidge of compassion for his fellow crew members turned out to be a disproportionately heart-warming moment. And who would want to see Ohan die anyway?!

| 3. |

Ohan survives the attack on the ship, but Lovey (as we know her) doesn’t. Were you at all prepared for what happened to the AI? And in light of all that, do you think Pepper’s offered solution was the right one?

Oh this really did break my heart. I loved Lovey! And poor Jenks is left to continue on without her! A very sad moment which I really wasn’t expecting at all. However, as heartbroken as I was for Lovey, I also felt for the reset Lovelace who finds herself in a world she cannot fully understand with people who cannot and will not interact with her normally. She isn’t Lovey and would never evolve become her so she’s essentially a completely different ‘person’. Pepper’s offered solution seemed to me like the right one and was both fair for Jenks, who is allowed to grieve, and for Lovelace, who is allowed to make her own way in the world without a past she cannot remember holding her back.

| 4. |

This one is less of a “thinky” question and more of a “wrap up” one, but I’m curious for your answers – now that we’ve finished the story, what scenes/moments do you remember best as your favourites, if any?

I really enjoyed this book and though I would have loved it to go on for a hundred more pages, all good things must come to an end!  The biggest highlight for me was the the characterisation and the dynamic on board the Wayfarer – the relationships between the crew members and the myriad of alien races really made it for me. My undisputed favourite character would have to be Sissix (closely followed by Dr Chef) and I particularly loved the introduction to the Aandrisk culture (though we were spoilt for choice!).  I’m so glad I picked up this book and joined in with the read along! Thank you Lisa for hosting – this really has been a brilliant read!