Escape Velocity

A curated Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Media

More Posts By Peter

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.

Review: The Brides of High Hill – Nghi Vo

Chih is a cleric from the Singing Hills monastery, travelling the world gathering stories. When they arrive at a great lord’s estate to attend a wedding, they are surprised at the little tensions they find. And what to think of the lord’s son being kept away from the guests? When Chih starts exploring, things quickly take a dark and mysterious turn.

Review: Mammoths at the Gates – Nghi Vo

Chih is a cleric from the Singing Hills monastery, travelling the world gathering stories. When at long last they return home to Singing Hills to enter their stories into the archives, they find the monastery in a curious crisis: mammoths have come down from the north, the empty halls echo as the divine and most of the clerics are off on a mission, and the neixin aviary is in uproar over the grief of one of their number.

Review: Into the Riverlands – Nghi Vo

Chih is a cleric from the Singing Hills monastery, travelling the world gathering stories. When they cross the Riverlands, their travelling companions tell them stories of legendary bandits and martial arts masters, while philosophising on the origin of those stories and what the stories say about the people that tell them. But as they tell tales of bandits, they better look over their shoulders on the road…

Review: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain – Nghi Vo

Chih is a cleric from the Singing Hills monastery, travelling the world gathering stories. When a pack of tigers threatens to eat them while they are on their way to a mammoth waystation, Chih offers to tell the tigers the tale of the scholar Dieu and her tiger wife Ho Thi Thao instead. Whether the tigers like Chih’s version of the tale remains to be seen.

Review: Mortal Engines – Christian Rivers

Tom Natsworthy is an apprentice historian in the traction city of London – a mobile metropolis chasing other traction settlements across the hunting grounds to devour their resources and enslave their people. Tom’s life is turned upside down when he meets heroic explorer and head historian Thaddeus Valentine – and witnesses a failed attempt to assassinate him.