Books are about people, not necessarily about plots. Could anyone have done what this person did? Not necessarily, because not everyone was this one character.
I love science fiction stories which centre around the experience of one person. I want to see the world through their eyes, and I want it to be an authentic experience with faults and mistakes and messiness. Artemis brings me into her experience and this story could only happen with her at the centre, messiness and all. I learned about moon-living through Artemis' life, and without the impossible download of so much information.
Some say men can't write female characters. They can, if they see that females are people too. Andy Weir seems to know this and delivers with Artemis.
The bestselling author of The Martian returns with an irresistible new near-future thriller—a heist story set on the moon.
Jasmine Bashara never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get rich.
Not crazy, eccentric-billionaire rich, like many of the visitors to her hometown of Artemis, humanity’s first and only lunar colony. Just rich enough to move out of her coffin-sized apartment and eat something better than flavored algae. Rich enough to pay off a debt she’s owed for a long time.
So when a chance at a huge score finally comes her way, Jazz can’t say no.…
I grew up on John William soundtracks. I felt in his music stories and feeling so far from my small town life. His music was escape.
Music is escape for Katrina. It is the music of her soul and she has the rare ability to let her soul speak. Her teacher, Shizuka Satomi, recognizes this, but also recognizes that the stigma and trauma of being transgendered is what makes Katrina's soul special. So special that it can fulfill Satomi's contract with Hell. Meanwhile, an alien crew take over a donut shop and befriend Satomi.
This novel is a mash-up of Hell contracts, intimate violin knowledge, and the trauma of being ostracized for an appearance. With a bit of science fiction sprinkled in. Through it all, however, one theme shines: within each of us is a soul without sex, gender, age, or colour and that soul may speak through music. Music is the common language of all souls, and music might save us all from ourselves and for ourselves.
Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.
When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.
This book was the winner of the 2022 Official Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. This may not seem like a big deal, but to indie authors it is. This book was recognized by the author's peers as damned good.
Subplots, turning tropes on their heads, and unexpectedly rooting for the "bad" guy -- these are all things I love in a book. Chocolate and a running sin counter can only make a book better.
Fallen angel Gadriel must get human people-pleaser Holly Harker to sin to get himself out of a gambling debt with another angel. How hard could it be? With the sin counter keeping track of every good deed and every fractional sin (chocolate included), this book kept me chuckling and rooting for the "bad stuff" all the way. Never had being bad felt so good.
A “charming tale of little temptations” (Jacquelyn Benson), this feel-good comedy by fantasy author Olivia Atwater mixes angels, demons, romance, and chocolate into a perfectly petty and wickedly entertaining novel.
A little bit of sin is good for the soul.
Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing what she does best: All Gadriel has to do is tempt miserably sinless mortal Holly Harker to do a few nice things for herself.
Elise Marquette likes dead people but digging up the dead doesn't pay. Consulting Archaeology does. Her desperate need for money has biological anthropologist Elise stuck in a mundane job working for greedy, callous oil companies. It's a soul-sucking existence and she can't see a way out.
As if that wasn't enough, Elise's family is a disaster, and she's given up on love and romance. Just when she'd resigned herself to torturous family dinners, cheap comfort food, safety forms and steel-toed boots, she meets an archaeologist during a brief respite to Ireland. The attractive Gavin Cleary has Elise re-evaluating what happiness is and what it's truly worth.
Get ready to join Elise Marquette on a wild ride full of adventure, heart, and a healthy dose of humour. Eat your heart out, Indiana Jones - Elise is the new queen of archaeology!
