Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey
Several friends of mine had been telling me for months that I needed to start this series. Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the "Expanse" series, which is now up to (I think) six titles. The SyFy channel is making a TV series out of these books; the first season, ten episodes, aired last December thru February. After seeing the series, I knew I had to try the books. Set in the not-too-distant future, humans have colonized a good portion of the Solar System, to include Mars, the asteroid belt, and some of Jupiter's moons. The books deal with social, political, and military conflict between Earth, Mars, and "the Belt", the human colonies spread throughout the asteroid belt--against the backdrop of a shadowy organization conducting experiments that will change humanity forever. I know that sounds rather vague, but there are many layers to this story, and boiling it down to a paragraph is difficult. If you like your science fiction realistic, with shades of political intrigue, social upheaval, military conflict, and a splash of the unknown, I recommend giving this book a try.
The Honor of the Queen, by David Weber
This is the second book in David Weber's highly praised "Honor Harrington" series. The series is set in humanity's far future and centers around Honor Harrington, a starship captain in the Royal Manticoran Navy--the space naval military arm of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. In this book, Honor and her pet treecat, Nimitz (named for the World War Two admiral), have to foil an insidious plot hatched by the People's Republic of Haven against the world of Grayson, which Manticore is courting as an ally. Honor is more than capable of handling whatever the PRH can throw her way...but she is hamstrung by the fact that Grayson society is dominated by men, and they cannot wrap their heads around a female naval officer, let alone a very intelligent, highly proficient female officer in command of an entire battlegroup. Weber's books (as far as I have read them) are heavy on political machinations and (theoretically) realistic starship combat, where relative speeds and physics replace the laser bolts and space dogfighting of other science fiction franchises (like my beloved Star Wars). Honor Harrington herself is modeled on Horatio Hornblower, the British naval captain in the Hornblower series written by C.S. Forester (another very good series of books). So far, the Honor Harrington books are very good, but if you want to get into them I suggest you start with the first book, On Basilisk Station.
World War I: The African Front, by Edward Paice
I've been trying to focus more on World War I history over the past few years, as we are in the middle of the hundredth anniversary of that conflict. In doing so, I'm always on the lookout for books that deal with the war away from the Western Front. While the war on the African continent didn't involve the staggering numbers of casualties that occurred in France and Belgium, the conflict was no less interesting. The British actually fired their first shots in anger in World War I in one of their colonies in West Africa. This book, however, focuses mostly on the conflict in East Africa, in what is today Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and parts of Zimbabwe. When the two sides weren't actively involved fighting each other, they were battling the elements--torrential rains, all manner of tropical diseases, and dangerous animals (it was not uncommon for porters to be attacked by lions and for elephants to tear up railroad tracks). There was a lot to the fighting in East Africa that most people don't know about--to include a few bizarre episodes, such as small-scale naval engagements that were fought on Lake Tanganyika with boats that were portaged overland for hundreds of miles. The author also makes a point of discussing the toll on the native populations--both as innocent bystanders in the conflict, and in their service to both the British and the Germans. Definitely a good read if you're looking to explore beyond the normal, tired narrative of WW1 history.
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
Oh wow, where to start with this book? Ready Player One is a love-letter to '80s pop culture, set within a book that gamers will fall in love with. Wade Watts lives in the America of the near future, where massive corporations run the country and almost all life is lived online in a program called the OASIS. Hidden with the OASIS is puzzle that leads to a truly massive fortune; however, no one has ever been able to solve the puzzle, or really even find where the puzzle begins, so it has become something of legend within the program. Wade somehow stumbles onto the first clue, alerting everyone else within the OASIS, to include several corporations who want the treasure for themselves--mostly because, in addition to monetary wealth, the treasure holds a key that can control the entire OASIS, as the treasure and puzzle were put in place by the program's creator before he died. The creator was a huge fan of '80s pop culture, and the entire puzzle revolves around movie, television, and video-gaming trivia from that era. If you've ever played a massively-multiplayer online game (an MMO, as they're known), the jargon and the environment will feel familiar to you. But even if you aren't a gamer, you'll probably still get a kick out of the trip down memory lane.
Caliban's War, by James S.A. Corey
This is the second book in the "Expanse" series. Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are back in the thick of things, as the situation between Earth, Mars, and the Belt intensifies. That's really all I can say without giving away the events of the first book. Again--truly massive, grand science fiction that weaves many individual plot lines into a highly satisfactory whole.
And that's it! Hopefully you'll find something here worth adding to your own personal reading list. Let us know if you read any of this, and what you think of them!
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