The Light Brigade | 
pickThrough most of the book, I was thinking I‘d describe it like so: “The Light Brigade is to Starship Troopers as The Black Company is to The Lord of the Rings.” And that‘s true. It‘s also true that this story contains all of the brutality that I have come to associate with Hurley‘s work. But in the end I think this might also be the most hopeful book of Hurley‘s I‘ve read. I liked it quite a bit.
pick🎧 Thank you Libby.
2 things. The sci-fi in this story comes from converting soldiers to light & beaming them to Mars to fight a war & time travel. Neither of these things are explained in any way.
Other than that & if you can overlook it ... the rest of the story is a bit IDK maybe YA and preachy. Neither bothered me that much.
OK if you can get beyond all of that then what‘s left is a great dystopian story with a twist at the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️7/8
pickI'm starting to realise that I dislike re-imagings. The basis of this story is very Starship Troopers and I found it very difficult to get excited about the first 15%. However once it started to diverge into the original part, an interesting time travel story, I found it a very enjoyable read. A 4 out of 5.
April books read, only four. There were some beefier titles this month and I‘m in the midst of the chunky Ducks, Newburyport on audio. Those are my excuses, professor! #aprilwrapup
I had a few minutes left in THE LIGHT BRIGADE after Casey‘s walk last night, so I did some #audiocrafting! My reusable face pads now live in a nice origami box instead or an ugly glass jar.
On the whole, I enjoyed TLB a lot. Hurley takes the story in some interesting directions as it barrels toward a great ending. I still liked THE CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT better, but I won‘t be upset if this wins the Hugo.
I did a bunch of #audiobaking for people and dogs.
I‘m glad I read some Heinlein last year, because in many ways THE LIGHT BRIGADE is in conversation with him—particularly with STARSHIP TROOPERS. I don‘t think I‘ll end up loving it, but at 62% it definitely feels like a worthy Hugo nominee.
pickI found the book hard to put down and the ending was full of revelations and great twists. I‘m not a big fan of military science fiction as I can do without the graphic violence and gore but the mind-bending, rapid-fire plot and payoff were worth wading through the severed limbs. I put it with other military science fiction I liked such as Forever War and Starship Troopers. It was recently nominated for the Hugo Award, so good luck to Ms. Hurley!
I can‘t recall ever seeing this word in my life, and I‘ve read in twice so far in this book!
noun:
a pouting expression used to convey annoyance or distaste.
They said the war would turn us into light.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pickThis novel was the March pick for The Sword and Laser book club. It is military science fiction with a twist of time travel that adds complexity to the story and characters. Well-written and intricately plotted, it also has broader themes of the relationship between labor and corporation, between rulers and the ruled. I am going to look for Hurley‘s previous novel, The Stars Are Legion.
bailedThis one was a nope for me. The tone of voice just didn't work at all. It came across melodramatic and way too over the top.
pickLast year I read Hurley's short story collection, MEET ME IN THE FUTURE, which has a short story with the same name. That's the story that grew into this novel. Interestingly last year, I also read Carlo Rovelli's THE ORDER OF TIME, and some of his ideas based in theoretical physics undergird the plot, timeline, and travel abilities in this novel. ⤵️
pickI have many feelings about this book. Not least of which is anger at the last five minutes!! Still a pick, though. 💡💡💡💡
13 books in January.
The Light Brigade was the stand out favourite!
Lots of variety of genres to start out the year.
#january2020 #readjanuary
The comparisons to Starship Troopers are spot on. This is scratching the same itch, and I dig it. Here‘s hoping it is above freezing out tomorrow so I get some listening time while the dog takes me for a walk!
pickThis was the most fascinating and mind bending time travel book I have ever read. When people go to war with martians, one girl can jump out of order to different battles in her timeline and she begins to realize everything is not as it seems. The story was complex and so well organized that while I was jumping around time with her I was never lost. I can't recommend this book enough! First 5 star of 2020. #highlyrecommend #mustread 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
pickI didn‘t enjoy this at all, but I can appreciate it - Starship Troopers by way of Jarhead with an unexpected sideswipe of bootstrap paradox. This is fierce in its rage to the extent of preaching in places, and visceral in the literal sense of slopping them over the page in its violence. Nonetheless, it‘s well done and I admire it - and could even see myself rereading it in future. #LitsyAToZ
picka smart, compassionate story about terrible things and deeds. lots of familiar tropes esp. if you‘ve read The Forever War. i also liked the hidden homages to it plus other similar novels like Starship Troopers and Armor. and, like i posted earlier, the end made me cry.
[edited to add mention of homages cuz i was in a rush yesterday!]
pickAHHHH I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT TIME TRAVEL AND THAT ENDING SO MANY. A lot of, uh, characters magically Speaking The Thoughts of The Writer (& a lot of philosophy too), and some grim images, but nothing like Stars are Legion or the originals Nyx books. So many SF references as well (my fave, perhaps, being the soldier called Omelas). 4⭐️, maybe like 4.25⭐️. #sciencefiction
Just starting this new Kameron Hurley book. The last few Hurley books have been a little too gross or grim for me; we‘ll see how I feel about this one. #sciencefiction #kobo
#BookMail Pt22 I read Kameron Hurley‘s debut novel, Stars Are Legion,over a year ago now & it was the strangest story I have ever read.And I‘ve read a lot of strange stories.So I‘m hoping she lives up to the Hugo Award winning nuttiness of that.This one is about a war between us & Mars, how to get soldiers to the frontlines, they‘re broken down into light. But sometimes, they don‘t come back right. Those, the other soldiers call The Light Brigade.
Going sci-fi for one of my last reads of 2018 - an ARC of Kameron Hurley's March release. I ❤️ the cover very much. #currentlyreading
