Currently Reading:

Ragamuffin - Tobias S. Bucknell

I was turned on to this author after signing up for the Watch the Skies promotion (free e-books) that Tor is putting on. I hate reading books through a screen, but I could barely tear my eyes away from Crystal Rain, the precursor to Ragamuffin, which I am currently reading. There is an additional book coming out soon, (Sly Mongoose) which I anticipate eagerly.

This guy really knows how to set the hook. The books are short, and definitely nothing awe-inspiring in terms of deep philosophy, but I'll be damned if they aren't some of the most fun that I have ever had with a novel. The characters are fantastically realized, and their environments would please even the most hard-minded SciFi fan.

More intriguing than all of this, however, is the universe that these books are set in. As one finds out quickly, the human race is not is a great position. We have been pretty late in the game as far as colonization goes, and most of the planets that we have found have already been settled by other intelligent species. Our species has already gone through a few cycles of slavery and emancipation, and when these books take place, things are looking pretty grim.

I've come across a great host of fun new authors in the past few months, and Tobias is perhaps the best of them. I am definitely hooked.

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