I grew up on the science-fiction greats: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury. I’d been hankering for science-fiction like this for some time, and then I discovered Murderbot.
It’s all here—the innovation, imagination, humanity, and economy of language—but it’s that little something else that made me swoon for Murderbot. Murderbot is a sensitive neurodivergent. It speaks to every one of us who’s ever wished for an Owner’s Manual to explain the overwhelming feelings and sensations.
As I embrace my own newfound identity as a sensitive neurodivergent, Murderbot’s journey resonates with me: that isolating sense of uniqueness, escaping from harsh reality through fantasy, finding humans both infuriating and endearing. Murderbot is more human than most humans I read about nowadays, and that is refreshing.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells begins The Murderbot Diaries, a new science fiction action and adventure series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or lain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. In a corporate dominated s pa cef a ring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by…
TV can lead me to great music and books. I’d heard from a well-read friend that the Gamache books were better than the Prime series. I wasn’t surprised by this statement; I was surprised because I liked the Prime series.
I didn’t think it was possible for Armand Gamache to be richer or more complex than in the series. I didn’t think Canada -- its environment, its culture, its history -- would be cast as prominently in the books. I didn’t believe the translation to film could be faithful, the tone as authentic, or the characters as humane. TV led me to these beautiful books, and I am glad. The Prime series was cancelled, but the books and Gamache will remain in my life.
'Outstanding ... a constantly surprising series' THE NEW YORK TIMES
There is more to solving a crime than following the clues. Welcome to Chief Inspector Gamache's world of facts and feelings.
As Quebec City shivers in the grip of winter, its ancient stone walls cracking in the cold, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache plunges into the strangest case of his celebrated career.
A man has been brutally murdered in one of the city's oldest buildings - a library where the English citizens of Quebec safeguard their history. And the death opens a door into the past, exposing a mystery that has…
Character-driven novels are like deep, rich, organic 80% dark chocolate to me. When I want to delve headlong into a character and pull them on like a second skin, I pull out a Tana French novel. I was so deep into Cassie Maddox that I didn’t see the clues, didn’t pick up on the cues from the bad guy, and found myself on the same inevitable path as Cassie.
This book threw me into rural Ireland, back into the graduate student lifestyle, and into the insular little group that had enveloped Cassie during her investigation. I felt equally terrified at how intimate I’d become with Cassie yet comforted by how I was invited into her life, into her skin.
It was delicious and over too quickly, just like dark chocolate.
Still traumatised by her brush with a psychopath, Detective Cassie Maddox transfers out of the Murder squad and starts a relationship with fellow detective Sam O'Neill. When he calls her to the scene of his new case, she is shocked to find that the murdered girl is her double. What's more, her ID shows she is Lexie Madison - the identity Cassie used, years ago, as an undercover detective. With no leads, no suspects and no clues to Lexie's real identity, Cassie's old boss spots the opportunity of a lifetime: send Cassie undercover in her place, to tempt the killer…
Elise Marquette likes dead people but digging up the dead doesn't pay. Consulting Archaeology does. Her desperate need for money has biological anthropologist Elise stuck in a mundane job working for greedy, callous oil companies. It's a soul-sucking existence and she can't see a way out.
As if that wasn't enough, Elise's family is a disaster, and she's given up on love and romance. Just when she'd resigned herself to torturous family dinners, cheap comfort food, safety forms and steel-toed boots, she meets an archaeologist during a brief respite to Ireland. The attractive Gavin Cleary has Elise re-evaluating what happiness is and what it's truly worth.
Get ready to join Elise Marquette on a wild ride full of adventure, heart, and a healthy dose of humour. Eat your heart out, Indiana Jones - Elise is the new queen of archaeology!
