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James Ravenscroft

jamesravey@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years ago

Tech professional, science fiction and fantasy nerd - I read the odd non-fic pop sci book too.

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James Ravenscroft's books

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Sleeping giants (2016) 4 stars

"17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up …

Giant Robot Sci-fi with an unusual narrative style

4 stars

What I didn't realise before I picked this book up is that the story is told via a series of fictional interview transcripts and news articles.

The book doesn't take itself too seriously and features a few cliches but it's generally a good sci-fi action romp.

A Memory Called Empire (Paperback, 2020, Pan Macmillan) 4 stars

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover …

The slow-burning love-child of House of Cards and The Expanse

4 stars

If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.

The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.

There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, …