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The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Winner of the 2019 Nebula, Locus and Hugo Awards, I had high hopes for this, the first in the Lady Astronaut Series. Honestly, I was disappointed. 

Overall I would say the set up is good and the world building is pretty solid: A comet hits 1950’s America and doesn’t wipe out life as we know it (for now), just the whole east coast. Leaving a humanitarian crisis in its wake, the comet also triggers a slow motion extinction event and a world which must now come together with a plan to colonise space. 

So far, so good and the story carries along OK, but all in all, it feels overly long and too schmalzy for my taste. The feminism is heavy handed, there’s not much character development, and the romantic elements quite honestly stray into gag-inducing (if I ever some across another bit of rocket/blast off innuendo I will punch someone).

I guess if you like airport literature and are intrigued by the idea of historical sci-fi, this might be your bag. It wasn’t mine and I won’t be continuing with the series.

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Buy on kindle £5.99 

Paperback from Blackwells £7.77

Want more book recommendations? Follow me on twitter @SLangridgeUK for updates on what I’m reading.

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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

This is a sophisticated book, long and meandering, which makes sense as it follows a character destined to live, die and be born again with his memory in tact, ad infinitum; a strange sort of immortality.

After his entirely ordinary first life (and death), it takes Harry August a couple more (believing himself mad, possessed or cursed), before he is found by others of his kind and initiated into The Cronus Club. This shadowy organisation exists to support and shelter its members (the Ouroboran), and defend the secret of its own existence. Other than rescuing Ouroboran children from their linear parents to save them from the boredom of endlessly repeating their childhoods, the club is mostly social in nature, though it does have one strict rule: No interfering with linear time. 

It is on his eleventh death bed, that Harry receives a message. A small girl bearing a warning passed back in time through future generations of Ouroboran that something is wrong. The end of the world is getting faster.

Already a little tired of immortality, Harry begins an investigation into the cause of this acceleration, a search which gets him entangled with a formidable nemesis, and leads to a ferocious battle of wits played out across multiple lives, while the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

“Men must be decent first and brilliant later, otherwise you’re not helping people, just servicing the machine.”

The premise is intriguing, and underneath the skilful world-building and juicy vignettes about life as a Ouroboran, the text is full of big questions about what it means to live well. On its release, it received widespread praise in the media and had since reached Bestseller status, extremely impressive for a book of this length and complexity. If you have the patience for it, it’s well-written, expertly crafted and rich which space for contemplation.

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Buy on kindle £4.99 

Paperback from World of Books £4.19

Follow the author on Twitter @ClaireNorth42

Want more book recommendations? Follow me on twitter @SLangridgeUK for updates on what I’m reading.

Like poetry? Check me out on TikTok @theyrhymesometime