Moss'd in Space

Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne, 368 pages

For years, Torian has been saving up her meager pay to buy a spaceship, which she plans on using to take her sister to a human planet where scientists can help cure her sister's chronic pulmonary condition. When she finally gets to buy a spaceship, it turns out the only one she can afford is an alien ship that's been hanging around the dock for a century, and is covered in moss. Still, she can work with that. But then she learns that the moss is actually an organic computer with abandonment issues and way more sarcasm than anyone Torian has ever met. Seems like an excellent setup for some problematic hijinks.

I absolutely loved Thorne's Tomes & Tea cozy fantasy series, and I'm thrilled that she's taking things into space (but keeping the pirates, because duh). Moss is an amazing character, Torian's just reckless enough, and all of the supporting characters are fantastic. I loved this series-starting science fiction, and I can't wait to read more of Torian and Moss's adventures.

*This book will be published July 7, 2026.

Sleeping Giants

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, 320 pages

This book has been reviewed and recapped by lots of UCPL staffers in the past, most recently by Regan, who read it for Orcs & Aliens (just like I did) and wrote an excellent summary and review that you can see here. I will say that I listened to this book, which was read by a full cast, and really brought to life the transcripts and journal entries that comprised the book. Interestingly, the people in Orcs & Aliens who read the physical book didn't seem to enjoy it as much, which says a lot about the quality of the audio production. It's thrilling and keeps you guessing, and I definitely loved it. I'll be listening to the rest of the trilogy in the near future.

Project Hail Mary

 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 476 pages.

This was my third time reading this sciencey space adventure (and my second time reading it for a book club) and I continue to be surprised at how well it holds up to further scrutiny! I first wrote about this book in 2021 here, and I still stand by most of those first impressions. However, to keep things fresh I decided to try the audiobook this time! I found it remarkably well-done. Grace's sense of humor comes across well with the audiobook narration, and the addition of sound added some really interesting elements to communication with Rocky. My book club ended up chatting about this book for nearly two hours, which proves to me that there's quite a lot to chew on for such a fun book. Definitely check out the book before the movie comes out next month!

Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye

 Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye by Alex White, 452 pages.

This sequel to August Kitko and the Mechas from Space follows several months after the first book, as Gus, Violet, and the other conduits continue trying to find someway to stop the seemingly evil AI who nearly exterminated humanity with giant robots. But this time they have help! A whole lot of aliens with a shared enemy and giant robots of their own are here to help; although alien politics is a whole other complication, and one there isn't much time to solve.

This book is as self-indulgent and fun as the first one! I enjoyed the dual perspectives between Gus and nonbinary pop star Ardent Violet. The aliens were very creative and diverse, which is something I always enjoy with Sci-Fi. I do think the pace of this book dragged a little compared to the first book, and it definitely feels like the middle book in a trilogy. That being said, I am excited to read the conclusion and see how everything comes together! These books are a great example of the kinds of things space opera can do, and I would definitely recommend them for anyone interested in the genre. 

Hole in the Sky

Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson, 288 pages

When strange things start happening in the sky above Oklahoma, everyone from military leaders to astrophysicists to the people who live on the Cherokee reservation below the titular "hole in the sky" are on high alert and wondering what could possibly be happening. It's obvious that whatever's going on is an alien response to the golden record sent out on Voyager spacecraft in 1977, but whether that response is diplomatic, investigative, or hostile, nobody knows, which means everyone has to be prepared for all contingencies.

Told from the rotating points of view of a U.S. military leader, a rogue astrophysicist, a mysterious hidden interpreter of cosmic prophecies (all of which have been true), and a Cherokee man attempting to rebuild a relationship with his teen daughter, this first contact story is a bit of a different spin than we usually see. While the plot wanders a bit at times and there's a bit more gore than I prefer, I really appreciated seeing an indigenous take on alien contact. I haven't seen that perspective before, and the way it's presented here makes it an excellent story.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson, 277 pages

I first read and reviewed this science fiction mystery back in 2023, and that review still rings true — it's inventive, well-conceived, engaging, and amazing. It was a hit with the Orcs & Aliens too, which is always nice.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

 Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson, 277 pages.

When humans speak Logi it makes them feel drunk, which makes being the translator for the Logi cultural attaché a somewhat more complicated job than many other translating positions. Lydia may not be passionate about this job, but it got her out of her dead-end hometown, and she really likes her employer. So when he is murdered while she is blackout drunk upstairs she has several reasons to be upset. Lydia has to track breadcrumbs not only to clear her own name, but to unravel the increasingly complicated plot she is trapped in.  

Sometimes science fiction books with a really interesting premise fall flat because they don't have much outside of that one great idea. This isn't one of those books. The characters are alive and compelling from the first page, and the mystery is shockingly well constructed. I did not see most of the twists coming, but did find it very satisfying how they fit together. My only real complaint is that the ending felt a little to rushed to properly resolve the great plot it followed. This feels like a great entry point for anyone interested in getting into sci-fi. 

The Stardust Grail

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei, 311 pages

Now a graduate student, Maya Hoshimoto was once a successful cat burglar, stealing all manner of artifacts from both public and private collections. Now, she's trying her best to buckle down and finish her thesis, though the arrival of a long-lost book at the university library — one that may hold the key to finding a possibly mythical "stardust grail," capable of helping the Frenro alien race save itself from extinction — forces Maya to dust off those old skills as she attempts one final heist to help a friend.

This fast-moving heist novel has shades of Indiana Jones in space, though instead of stealing things for a museum, Maya's stealing them from a museum. I like the transportation and the aliens, and the Encyclopedium (a massive museum/library/archive thing) seems simultaneously like the most intriguing and scary place in the universe. Yeah, I had trouble buying the idea that Earth would be almost unchanged however many years in the future, and the plot got a little crazy toward the end, but that shouldn't stop you from reading this super fun book.

Waking Gods

 Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel, 336 pages

As promised, book 2 of the Themis Files. This book begins about a decade after the first book. Our pilots are married and have been enjoying their time functioning as goodwill ambassadors for the planet. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes obvious why the Earth Defense Corps is technically a military organization when another giant robot appears in London and causes massive casualties. Even more so when giant alien robots appear in cities all over the world. A single outdated robot won't do much against an invasion, so it is absolutely vital to figure out what they want, which proves to be a difficult problem for Earth's greatest minds. 

Although a little less compelling from a character standpoint, I found the mystery of this book to be very intriguing. I think this was a great continuation, and it did a really good job continuing the questions of the first book while exploring more global consequences as the secret of Themis is out. A very satisfying sequel, and I again strongly recommend the audiobook. 

The Mercy of Gods

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey, 422 pages

On a faraway planet that humans settled generations earlier, a team of biologists is working on ways for the carbon-based cellular life we know to safely evolve with the crystallized life native to the planet. And then aliens attack, killing 1/8 of the human population and herding the rest into transport ships like livestock. Once they reach their destination, the team is forcibly reassembled and given a task of making food out of one type of alien life to nourish a second type, with the now-ruling species threatening extermination if they do not prove themselves useful. But not all is as it seems. The team is threatened by other alien species, and unbeknownst to them, a swarm of alien life is living amongst them, gathering intelligence on the ruling species.

This is a horrible explanation of a fantastic and thought-provoking book. It's not particularly pleasant to read, particularly in the first third or so, but it certainly subverts many "traditional" science fiction tales featuring human intelligence, power, and dominance, and forces the reader to rethink everything we think we know. It's fascinating, and I'm anxious to read what's next in this series. (Also, as someone who's been curious about Corey, but not curious enough to pick up one of the doorstopper books of The Expanse, I'm thrilled that this one is a relatively short 400 pages!)

Makeup Man

Makeup Man: From Rocky to Star Trek The Amazing Creations of Hollywood's Michael Westmore by Michael Westmore with Jake Page (2017) 320 pages

I added this to my collection because of the Star Trek connection. Only about 60 pages deal with his time designing aliens for Roddenberry's franchise. I loved the early part of the book covering his family's history in hair and makeup. His apprenticeship with John Chambers of Planet of the Apes makeup fame was interesting. And establishing his special effects makeup cred by working on both Rocky and later Raging Bull was significant. There are stories of his work experience on many other lesser known projects too. He's made a lot of Neanderthal character makeups. Each story is pretty short, maybe too short, and draws on his memory. There are some cases where my film history knowledge makes me doubt that his memories are totally accurate. Hollywood's history of sexism is also revealed in some of his narrative. This wasn't quite all that I was hoping it would be.
 

The Night Masquerade (Binti #3)

The Night Masquerade (Binti #3) by Nnedi Okorafor (2018) 208 pages

I finished the trilogy. The third audiobook on Hoopla was consistently narrated by Robin Miles. The second book left us with a cliffhanger when Binti received devastating news. I was a bit frustrated that this third one did not resolve this cliffhanger right away. Binti is deep in the desert with the Enyi Zinariya, the tribe of her father and grandmother. She is becoming close with Mwinyi, who is teaching her the ways of their unique harmonizing. She spends awhile in a trance-like state before returning home to find the destruction of her home. It turns out I was right to feel that the resolution at the end of the first book, which involved a treaty between the majority culture on Earth and the Meduse, was too easy. The antagonism between the two groups is not so simple to sweep away. The title The Night Masquerade refers to a mythical creature (actually a ceremonial role played by a Himba elder), who appears to Binti's people to signal societal change. In the Himba tradition, usually only men have a vision of the Night Masquerade, but Binti sees it three times. Using this as the title suggests an importance to this role, which I do not think was very successful. Characters are coping with death multiple times through the story and are moved to action for good or for ill because of it. Tribal clashes continue. Battles are threatened. Diplomacy seeks peace. Feelings of triumph and grief are mixed in a strange concoction. Then we are back in space and Binti's DNA goes through more modifications. Math continues to be a meditative and energizing force. Miracles are performed in ways you only see in fantasy/sci-fi. Ultimately Binti becomes a combination of skills and parts from all the different sources that have influenced her being. And aren't we all like that.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, 343 pages.

When April May first sees the giant robot statue in the middle of the night walking home she almost keeps, before she chastises herself for not properly appreciating something really cool and decides to call a friend to make a video about it instead, dubbing the statue Carl. She never expected the video to amount to much, but it turns out New York Carl is one of many, many Carls that popped up simultaneously all around the world, and by being one of the first to talk about it she is catapulted to instant celebrity. Soon April is addicted to the rush of fame, and April May (the person) is subsumed by April May (the brand), and as the phenomenon of the Carls keeps getting weirder, April finds herself stuck right in the middle.

This was a really cool novel. It was engaging and fun, and I feel like it had a real clarity about the kinds of issues it wanted to be in conversation with. My only real complaint is that April May repeatedly feels like she's learning the same lesson over and over again, and instead keeps making the exact same mistakes. But! I do still think this was a cool book overall, and the ending feels like it wants to lead directly into the next book, so I expect I'll be writing about that before too long.

Fun Fact: If you spend much time on YouTube you might already know Hank Green, who has produced SO many shows on there for SO many years. You might also know him as the brother of more famous novelist John Green.

Light from Uncommon Stars

 Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 372 pages.

This is actually my second time reading this book. You can read my first review, which I stand by, here (and also Kara's original review here). This wonderful novel is just as good the second time, and I even began to get a little more definition on why I liked it the second time around.

The troubles in this book are categorically much larger than the joys. Deals for the soul, intergalactic war and civilization ending plague, even the much more grounded harassment and abuse. How could things like noodles, ducks, and a kind word from a stranger stack up? And yet they do. Not only do the joys manage to balance the terrible weights, in the end they are all that matters. And I think that, as one of the central tenets of the book, this is part of what I find so soothing and beautiful about it. This book definitely makes the list of ones to reread when I'm feeling down.  

P.S. Something about this book reminds me of Everything Everywhere All At Once, so if you liked that movie this book may be a good pick.

Light From Uncommon Stars

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, 372 pages

This is my second time through this lovely book, and my first blog post is here. Nothing about my opinion has changed — I still love it! — so I'm not going to rewrite everything here. I'm looking forward to hearing what the Orcs & Aliens think about it on Monday.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson, 275 pages

Lydia is the translator for the Logian cultural attaché, an alien she refers to as Fitz. Logi do not speak the same way humans do; instead, they speak telepathically, and the humans that are able to understand them experience a sensation similar to drunkenness while communicating with the Logi. This makes Lydia's job of translating Fitz's words during his packed schedule of conferences, cultural events, meetings, and summits particularly difficult. But when Fitz turns up dead in his study, Lydia is suddenly trying to clear her own name, find out who killed him, and deal with some Logian communications that she doesn't quite understand.

Robson creates a world that is so well mapped-out and functional that it's absolutely believable, despite the presence of extraterrestrial intelligent beings. I was completely hooked by the Orwellian surveillance, the ubiquitous social media (LOVE the idea of a truthiness rating), and the complex conspiracies swirling around Lydia. I'd read Robson's previous novel Hearts of Oak, so I knew he could be creative, but the mix of political intrigue, science fiction, and murder mystery here is so well balanced. Highly recommended.

Axiom's End

  Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis (2020, 384 pages)

In 2007, whistleblower Nils Ortega is launched into fame when he publishes a top-secret CIA memo revealing the existence of aliens on Earth (California, even!). While his estranged sister Luciana, ex-wife, and children try to avoid him and lead normal lives, his daughter Cora has no choice but to face the extra-terrestrials -- literally. The book opens with Luciana's co-worker committing suicide suddenly, a series of unexplained meteors and power surges, and... is Cora being followed?

By placing it in the recent past, Ellis didn't need to establish culture or government. We all know what George Bush and the CIA were like, and she could focus on speculating their response to visiting aliens. I couldn't put it down because there was no way to know what an alien was going to do next or how it would play out.

The best way I can describe Ellis' writing style is thick and juicy (sorry), which was exacerbated by the audiobook reader's incredible acting. It has thoughtful relationships, but I feel like the dialogue is heavier than the character development. The first quarter or so is stumbling through Cora's confusion and life on the run, which made me want to read more but also made me worried I missed something. Stick with it, though!

While it touches on alien biology and technology, the focus is more on conspiracy, government workings, and alien relationships with each other on Earth and with the few humans who know of them.

Thank you Kara for recommending it to me (read her reviews here and here), and you can also read Regan's review here.

Station Eternity

Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty, 456 pages

For her entire life, Mallory has been a magnet for murder. Literally. She can't stay in one place longer than a year or two before a murder occurred in her vicinity. She never committed the crime, and she almost always helped solve it, but that hasn't kept various law enforcement agencies from harassing her. So when the opportunity arises for her to quite literally leave humanity behind and become one of three humans on the sentient space station Eternity, Mallory jumps at the chance. But the arrival of a shuttle full of human tourists arrives, so does murder, and once again, Mallory must solve the crime, this time against the backdrop of a breached space station and internal conflict among Eternity's many alien races.

This book was described to me as "Murder, She Wrote in space," and to a degree, that's accurate. Mallory and Xan (a former military quartermaster and current refugee on Eternity) are compelling characters, and I loved their backstories. However, there might be a few too many characters to keep track of — particularly when you add in the various alien life forms (though I dug the fact that the universal translator gave the giant rock-like Gneiss names like "Stephanie" and "Tina") — and the plot was thus a bit confusing. I have a feeling Lafferty is going to write more books with Mallory and I can only hope that the setting and characters are settled enough from this book that the mystery can shine through.

A Desolation Called Peace

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine, 496 pages

With an empire still finding its feet after the shocking transfer of power at the end of A Memory Called Empire, the Teixcalaanli fleet is not quite sure how to handle a deadly and unknown alien threat where the ships seem to arrive out of nowhere and leave no survivors in their wake. Fleet leader Nine Hibiscus makes the controversial decision to seek first-contact assistance from the Information Ministry (instead of her own military intelligence sources). Now Three Seagrass and Lsel ambassador Mahit Dzmare (you knew they'd be involved somehow) are tasked with negotiating with a hostile new alien species that doesn't use any known method of communication.

Martine has done a wonderful job of once again showing the delicacy of diplomacy within a culture, between two cultures that already have a history, and in a first-contact situation. While the mental gymnastics of the military and political worlds are certainly intriguing, my favorite character was 11-year-old emperor-to-be Eight Antidote, who becomes a spy and learns his own way through the adult world around him. This was fantastic, and I'm not surprised that it won the Hugo. Can't wait to see what Martine writes next!

The Martian Chronicles

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, 222 pages

Last month's book for the Classics discussion group was The Martian Chronicles by Mr. Science Fiction himself, Mr. Ray Bradbury. This was my first time reading through the novel, though I recall reading some short stories in high school that I liked. However, if you're new to Bradbury et al., this is a great place to start. The book is comprised of several pieces--short, short stories, vignettes--some are only a page long. The entire thing is sort of a birds-eye-view on what would happen if we colonized Mars over the course of a few centuries. Bradbury really does a good job of just dropping the reader into the middle of an on-going story just before eking out some kind of twist or thought-provoking ending. Of course at the time, Bradbury had no idea what Mars was really like, so he had plenty of room to use his imagination and expand on some ideas that became the basis for most Mars-oriented material (aliens, mind control, etc). Flash-forward to The Martian by Andy Weir, and almost all of that old tchotchke kind of Martian fare is gone. But Martian Chronicles to me is kind of where man's love for Mars really began. I was making parallels to Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues, not in style or tone but really just in discovery. In this book, there's no singular character to follow, no real plot development, except that by the end it all, the reader should come away with a cautionary view of colonizing some one else's potential home. Really, this book speaks to ideas of anti-technology and unknown frontiers. Stories of note: Usher II, There Will Come a Soft Rains, The Third Expedition. Great for teens to adults. Recommended.