Escape Velocity

A curated Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Media

More Posts By Peter

Review: Master of the Revels – Nicole Galland

After their falling out with the powers that be at D.O.D.O., our protagonists set up an independent diachronic operation with the help of the mysterious Fugger banking family – and soon find themselves embroiled in a deadly conflict with the witch Gráinne to save the world’s technology from being retconned out of existence.

Review: Castle in the Air – Diana Wynne Jones

Abdullah lives a simple life selling carpets from his stand in the bazaar in Zanzib. His main worry is the unwanted attention from his father’s first wife’s relations. Abdullah spends his days daydreaming he were a kidnapped prince from a far-away land, destined to marry a princess. All that is nought but a dream, until one day a strange man comes to the bazaar and sells Abdullah a magic flying carpet. When Abdullah falls asleep on top of the carpet one day, he dreams the strangest, most real dream he has ever dreamed…

Review: Network Effect – Martha Wells

Part 5 in the Murderbot Diaries – The Murderbot is hired as security for a Preservation survey. When their ship comes under attack from mysterious raiders that appear infected with alien remnants, the Murderbot is shocked to find that the raiders’ transport appears familiar.

Review: The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

Patroclos, exiled as a boy to the court of King Peleus, meets Peleus’ son Achilles. Half god and half man, Achilles is so far above his peers that a gulf seems to exist between him and the other boys his age. When Patroclos crosses that gulf, his fate becomes intertwined with that of the god’s son, and the tragedy all readers will know becomes inevitable.

Review: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. – Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland

When junior academic linguist Dr. Melisande Stokes is recruited by a shady government agency to translate a number of shockingly well-preserved ancient texts, she does not realise that it is the beginning of her involvement with the death and rebirth of magic, quantum mechanics-based time travel, and lots of dangerous adventures in the now and the past.

Review: Prospect – Zeek Earl & Chris Caldwell

Cee and her dad detach from the last ride back to inhabited space for a risky job on the Green Moon that, if successful, will make them wealthy enough to leave their dangerous job on the fringes of human colonisation behind. From the very beginning, the job does not go according to plan, and catching their ride back home on the sling back suddenly seems to become very difficult indeed.

Review: Ik kom hier nog op terug – Rob van Essen

As a kid, young Rob Hollander is fascinated by another boy going door to door alongside his mom with an evangelical message. As an adult, Rob is a journalist who sets out to write a piece on what became of his university class mates. Little does Rob know that his childhood, his time as a student and his present are intertwined in many mysterious ways – which becomes apparent when he meets a man with a time machine.

Review: Old Man’s War – John Scalzi

On his 75th birthday, John Perry leaves Earth to sign up for the Colonial Defence Forces – the mysterious military organisation promising retirees a new start as a foot soldier in the everlasting war to protect humanity’s colonies from various alien threats.

Review: Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke

Mankind is on the verge of nuclear disaster when huge ships appear over Earth’s great cities and the alien Overlords assume benevolent control over the human race, guiding it firmly away from self-destruction, but from artistic and scientific ambition as well. Among the masses, there are a few who rebel against the kind but firm alien dictatorship, each in their own way.

Review: The Sands of Mars – Arthur C. Clarke

Famous science fiction author Martin Gibson is invited to board the Ares, the first large-scale space passenger liner, on its maiden voyage to humanity’s experimental colony on Mars. As he befriends the crew of the space ship and explores the small settlements on the red planet, Martin Gibson quickly finds that his previous works were rather less accurate than he had hoped – and that there are all kinds of plans in motion behind his back.

Review: Children of Dune – Frank Herbert

Part three in the Dune Chronicles – the Known Universe is ruled from the temples of Arrakis by Alia, the sister of Paul “Muad’Dib” Atreides, the Fremen messiah who walked off to disappear into the desert. But the the Atreides’ hold on power is not a secure as it seems, and enemies old and new stir. Meanwhile, the pre-born children of Muad’Dib, who combine the knowledge and experience of all their ancestors in the body of a 9-year-old child, are moving to exert their own influence and claim their place at the halls of power in Arrakeen.