What do you do with a holiday weekend and various stages of lockdown? Read all the things! The SciFiMonth crew have been celebrating with a low-key weekend catching up on our SFnal TBRs. Time for a quick round-up of my reads and of posts from my crewmates before we call it a day…

Reading round-up

Amazingly, I mostly stuck to my TBR for once, although I got less reading done than anticipated after a migraine kicked in (ugh, do not recommend).

Sweet Harmony – Claire North ★★★★

This is a book I admired but didn’t enjoy – an excellently written character study set in a tomorrow that is rather too close to today. As Maddalena noted, it’s perfect for fans of Black Mirror, but not a great place to start if you’d like to hang on to your faith in humanity.

Exit Strategy – Martha Wells ★★★★

When humanity lets you down, turn to Murderbot who never fails to deliver heartwarming commitment (however reluctantly). Bonus points for being deeply uncomfortable at becoming ever more human and getting quite confused about arms. Me too, Murderbot. Review to follow.

These Lifeless Things – Premee Mohamed ★★★★★

The stand-out of the weekend, Premee Mohamed delivers a story I’ll be mulling over for days. A young researcher finds a journal by the survivor of the alien invasion, but struggles to persuade their peers that seeking out corroborating evidence could be as important as their scientific sampling. There is SO MUCH packed into this gem – do seek it out if you possibly can. Review to follow.

I’m Waiting For You – Kim Bo-Young Reading in progress

I’m really enjoying the clarity of Bo-Young’s prose and the gentle humour so far. I won’t get this finished today, but expect a full review in time for its release on April 15th.

Notes from the Crew

All Systems Read was a low-key readathon – but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few blog posts. For all the chatter, check out the #AllSystemsRead tag on Twitter, but first a links round-up:

• Review: Ammonite by Nicola Griffith | Reiszwolf
• Reviews: The Interdependency by John Scalzi | BookForager
  • The Collapsing Empire | The Consuming Fire | The Last Emperox
• Review: Sweet Harmony by Claire North | There’s Always Room For One More
• The Get to Know the Sci-Fi Reader Tag | BookForager
• Guest Post: Top 5 Examples of World-Building – Sci-Fi Edition | BookForager at Behind The Pages

Did I miss your post? Leave me a comment!

Did you read any great SF over the weekend?