Highlights and Lowlights - October-December 2025
So this post marks five years of doing these Highlights and Lowlights
posts, and I?m going to change things up moving forward. I?m not totally sure how yet, and I?ll probably play it by ear for several months, but
I?m leaning hard toward posting single-book summaries - and only a few
of those, rather than all the SF I read.
( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
This was stunningly well-written, with wonderful insights, turns of
phrase, and literary references a-plenty (which are easy to ignore if
one wishes to), BUT?friends, this is a tragedy, in the essential sense
of Greek Tragedy. And I spoil nothing by telling you so, since it?s in
the title, it?s on the back cover, and from about page 20 onward (if not before!) it is clear to every reader that things will neither go well
nor end well. All of the characters are broken in some way, they make
both heroic and stupid choices, the miscommunications are numerous, and
the consequences are dire?and the readers sees almost all of it.
Absolutely magnificent, and painful to observe.
( +++ 1/2) Aristoi - Walter Jon Williams [Re-read Project #4]
This was excellent (again). I remembered almost none of it from the
first reading roughly 30 years ago. So many ideas, in such a neat
setting. Far future advanced humans have nano-level control of their environment, as well as FTL travel. The leaders (and privileged few) are
the Aristoi, but even the lower levels are rather advanced. Of course, utopias seem to always have some people looking to upset the status quo,
or gain advantage, etc etc. This was brilliantly done by WJW. It?s very well-resolved, but open to a sequel as well.
In article <10j8plo$f9e5$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - October-December 2025
So this post marks five years of doing these Highlights and Lowlights
posts, and I?m going to change things up moving forward. I?m not totally
sure how yet, and I?ll probably play it by ear for several months, but
I?m leaning hard toward posting single-book summaries - and only a few
of those, rather than all the SF I read.
Whatever you do, I'm sure I will enjoy it, as I always have the current format.
FWIW, I find sometimes that reviewing a book clarifies my feelings
on it some, though it also takes mental energy that's not always on tap.
<some snippage>
December and November 2025
( ++ 1/2) A Dragon of a Different Color - Aaron [Heartstrikers #4; DFZ #4] >> ( ++ 1/2 ) No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished - Aaron [Heartstrikers #3; DFZ #3] >> Someone here (Ted?) coined the phrase ?popcorn book?, and these are
those. Entertaining, light/slight, fun, and not substantial works in any
way. The Heartstrikers are a dragon clan based in North America. DFZ
means Detroit Free Zone. These are #3 and #4 in a 5-book arc that
follows dragon Justin Heartstriker and his human mage friend/associate
Marci Novalli through the trials and tribulations of dragon clan
politics and saving the world from magic evil-doers. Don?t expect a lot
of character development - Justin is the only character who has
matured/changed in any way, and not very much at that - BUT?these books
are fun, and I?ll surely read #5.
I think you will find as you go on that other characters get arcs as well, especially two of the sisters.
<some snippage>
October 2025
( ++ - - )Touch the Dark - Chance [Cassie Palmer #1]
Cassie Palmer is a clairvoyant/seer who has no control over what visions
she receives, or when she receives them. Modern world setting, but with
ghosts, vampires, mages, witches, fae, etc. Cassie was raised by a
powerful vampire who killed her parents in order to gain control of
Cassie and her powers. After many years, she escapes. As she is nearly
re-captured, to her surprise she is rescued by the powerful North
American Vampire Senate. Due to her powers, she finds herself in the
middle of several competing agendas, and the book goes from there.
This is very much a first novel?interesting world, interesting
characters, spotty plotting, and a couple of book-hit-wall moments, one
of which will have major consequences moving forward. There?s enough
here that I will try #2 some time.
I find that Cassie has really grown over the series. There were some
twists & turns that ran on too long, like the Pritkin-quest, but on the
whole I have really enjoyed these and the other in-universe books.
When she's cooking, Chance has a way of doing farce sequences about characters you still care about, and without lowering the stakes, which
is fairly unusual.
( +++ ) Carousel Tides - Sharon Lee [Archers Beach #1]
Series starter by half of the Liaden Universe author team. Set in modern
Maine, Kate Archer returns to her Maine roots when a cryptic note from
the grandmother who raised her makes her suspect there?s big trouble
afoot back home. Her suspicions are correct. Gran has gone missing, and
Kate finds herself in charge of the family carousel, which is part of a
dying amusement park in a dying resort/tourist town. We soon learn there
is land/sea/fae magic, Kate is of mixed heritage (human and something
magical), and there?s a drug lord bullying the town. Adventures follow.
I bought this years ago, and really need to move it up.
On 1/2/2026 9:53 AM, Tony Nance wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - October-December 2025
So this post marks five years of doing these Highlights and Lowlights
posts, and I?m going to change things up moving forward. I?m not
totally sure how yet, and I?ll probably play it by ear for several
months, but I?m leaning hard toward posting single-book summaries -
and only a few of those, rather than all the SF I read.
I am somewhere around 1,300 reviews on Amazon since 2000.ÿ I think that
I put half of those here and a quarter of those on
ÿÿ https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/
On 3/01/26 04:53, Tony Nance wrote:
( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
This was stunningly well-written, with wonderful insights, turns of
phrase, and literary references a-plenty (which are easy to ignore if
one wishes to), BUT?friends, this is a tragedy, in the essential sense
of Greek Tragedy. And I spoil nothing by telling you so, since it?s in
the title, it?s on the back cover, and from about page 20 onward (if not
before!) it is clear to every reader that things will neither go well
nor end well. All of the characters are broken in some way, they make
both heroic and stupid choices, the miscommunications are numerous, and
the consequences are dire?and the readers sees almost all of it.
Absolutely magnificent, and painful to observe.
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
A very long time ago, I enjoyed "The January Dancer" and I have the
follow up, "Up Jim River" but would have to reread the complicated
January Dancer again first and have not done so. More recently, I have
read and recommend "In the Country of the Blind" though I was not so enthusiastic as you in regard to these. I now have "The Wreck of the
River of Stars".
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
On 3/01/26 04:53, Tony Nance wrote:
( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
This was stunningly well-written, with wonderful insights, turns of
phrase, and literary references a-plenty (which are easy to ignore if
one wishes to), BUT?friends, this is a tragedy, in the essential sense
of Greek Tragedy. And I spoil nothing by telling you so, since it?s in
the title, it?s on the back cover, and from about page 20 onward (if not >>> before!) it is clear to every reader that things will neither go well
nor end well. All of the characters are broken in some way, they make
both heroic and stupid choices, the miscommunications are numerous, and
the consequences are dire?and the readers sees almost all of it.
Absolutely magnificent, and painful to observe.
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm >wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same >universe.
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm >wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same >universe.
In article <10jgm3u$2si45$3@nntp.eternal-september.org>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
On 3/01/26 04:53, Tony Nance wrote:
( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
This was stunningly well-written, with wonderful insights, turns of
phrase, and literary references a-plenty (which are easy to ignore if
one wishes to), BUT?friends, this is a tragedy, in the essential sense >>> of Greek Tragedy. And I spoil nothing by telling you so, since it?s in >>> the title, it?s on the back cover, and from about page 20 onward (if not >>> before!) it is clear to every reader that things will neither go well
nor end well. All of the characters are broken in some way, they make
both heroic and stupid choices, the miscommunications are numerous, and >>> the consequences are dire?and the readers sees almost all of it.
Absolutely magnificent, and painful to observe.
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm >wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same >universe.
The second, at most. FF seems to think it's in the same universe as Flynn's Firestar books. However, the ISFDB, SFE, and Wikipedia do not.
In article <10jgm3u$2si45$3@nntp.eternal-september.org>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
On 3/01/26 04:53, Tony Nance wrote:
( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
This was stunningly well-written, with wonderful insights, turns of
phrase, and literary references a-plenty (which are easy to ignore if
one wishes to), BUT?friends, this is a tragedy, in the essential sense >>>> of Greek Tragedy. And I spoil nothing by telling you so, since it?s in >>>> the title, it?s on the back cover, and from about page 20 onward (if not >>>> before!) it is clear to every reader that things will neither go well
nor end well. All of the characters are broken in some way, they make
both heroic and stupid choices, the miscommunications are numerous, and >>>> the consequences are dire?and the readers sees almost all of it.
Absolutely magnificent, and painful to observe.
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm
wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same
universe.
The second, at most. FF seems to think it's in the same universe as Flynn's Firestar books. However, the ISFDB, SFE, and Wikipedia do not.
(I am setting for checking online sources because I found the Firestar
books literally unreadable, and only got through the followup January
Dancer series because I was paid)
On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 10:41:50 -0500, Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
wrote:
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
<snippo -- book is /The Wreck of The River of Stars/ by Michael Flynn>
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5. Did
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm
wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same
universe.
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/michael-flynn/ gives such a
collection.
The Amazon hardcover for book 2 claims on the cover shown on Amazon to
be the sequel to book 1. The description says nothing about this
possibility.
Books 3 and 4 are said on the covers shown on Amazon to be "the new
novel" and "the Triumphant Conclusion" of the Future-History epic of
the space age".
The book-in-question does not claim, on the cover shown on Amazon, to
be related to anything. It's description describes Flynn by "[h]is
major work was the Firestar sequence, a four-book future history". It
itself is described as a "sweeping stand-alone epic of the spaceways".
Doesn't look like an official series to me. But I haven't read any of
them.
On 1/5/26 11:44 AM, Paul S Person wrote:Did
On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 10:41:50 -0500, Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
wrote:
On 1/2/26 9:19 PM, Titus G wrote:
<snippo -- book is /The Wreck of The River of Stars/ by Michael Flynn>
I see from Fantastic Fiction that it is number 5 in a series of 5.
you read the first four?
I have not. In fact, I didn't know this one was part of a series. I'm
wondering if it's actually a series, or a group of novels in the same
universe.
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/michael-flynn/ gives such a
collection.
Interesting! Much of the verbiage comes straight from Wikipedia, but >Wikipedia doesn't think Wreck is #5 in a series.[1]
The Amazon hardcover for book 2 claims on the cover shown on Amazon to
be the sequel to book 1. The description says nothing about this
possibility.
Books 3 and 4 are said on the covers shown on Amazon to be "the new
novel" and "the Triumphant Conclusion" of the Future-History epic of
the space age".
The book-in-question does not claim, on the cover shown on Amazon, to
be related to anything. It's description describes Flynn by "[h]is
major work was the Firestar sequence, a four-book future history". It
itself is described as a "sweeping stand-alone epic of the spaceways".
Doesn't look like an official series to me. But I haven't read any of
them.
Interesting - thanks for the info.
- Tony
[1] In fact, Wikipedia doesn't seem to know "The Wreck..." exists.
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