Bogormen

Title: This Time Tomorrow
Author: Emma Straub
Genre: Sci-fi, time-travel, chick-lit
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 320
Date read: July, 2022

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn't just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it's her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?


I usually love books that involve time-travel, so it seemed like this one would be right up my aisle. And I did enjoy it, it just didn't blow me away the way I had expected it to. It was a pleasant read, and I definitely don't regret having used my precious reading time on it, but it also left me complete unmoved. I guess somehow the stakes were too low? Not sure.

I definitely preferred reading about "back then" to reading about "now" though. I loved seeing Alice interact with her dad, and that she and Sam had always been ride and die friends :-)

Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 5/5
# pages: Audiobook ~16hrs, 476 pages
Date read: November 2021, May 2023, April 2025

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission -- and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.


Without a doubt the best book I've read so far this year. Andy Weir blew me away with this one. I loved "The Martian" but thought "Artemis" was only okay, so was a bit hesitant to start this one, but oh wow! I was hooked from the very start, and listened to it at every chance I got. The audiobook was narrated by Ray Porter who did an amazing job.

It's best not to know too much about the story going into it, so I'll just leave it at that I loved Grace, I loved Rocky and I wish the book had been much, much longer than it was. I couldn't put it down, but didn't want to see it end.

Awesome book!

Title: Ready Player Two
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~14hrs
Date read: January 2021

An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?

Days after Oasis founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday's vault, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the Oasis thousand times more wondrous, and addictive, than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle and a new quest. The last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who will kill millions to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of the Oasis are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.


Surprisingly enough, I think I actually preferred this one to the first one. I thought part of the first one dragged, but didn't have the same problem with this one at all! Of course, that might also have been because I listened to this as an audiobook, and as always, Wil Wheaton did a brilliant job narrating it!

I will have to agree with the people who complain that it follows the exact same formula as the first one (that's never stopped anybody before though - "Catching Fire", I'm looking at you!), but I appreciated that the High Five immediately banded together again, and listened to each others' strengths depending on the world in question. It's really difficult to review this book without spoiling it though, so will leave it at that I thought it brought some interesting ethical issues to light.

However, at the end of the day it was very obviously a sequel written to appease the fans, and I hope that Ernest Cline will let the world rest here.

Title: The Calculating Stars
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Genre: Historical fiction, sci-fi
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 431
Date read: August, 2020

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.


Very slow-moving, yet utterly unputdownable. It's an interesting mix of historical fiction and sci-fi. I found it absolutely captivating, but also very self-contained, so I don't quite know how Mary Kowal is going to continue the series.

I would not be at all surprised if this is turned into a movie at some point though!

Title: The Institute
Author: Stephen King
Genre: sci-fi, suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 576
Date read: December 2019

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.


It took me a few tries to get into it, because the first few chapters had NOTHING to do with the blurb on the back of the book which confused me. However, once I got past that initial hangup I couldn't put it down, and pretty much finished the book over the weekend.

It didn't blow me away in quite the same fashion as some of Stephen King's other books, but I really enjoyed it just the same. I loved both Luke and Tim and was more than a little surprised when what I'd expected to be the climax of the book came already about half-way through! I should know Stephen King better than that though, and he followed through quite nicely.

But at the end of the day, it was missing... something. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly, but the end seemed strangely unsatisfying. Still, it was an enjoyable journey to get there, so while I'm in no rush to add this to my physical library, I'm still glad to have read it.

Title: Visitors (Pathfinder #3)
Author: Orson Scott Card
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 608
Date read: April, 2019

Rigg’s journey comes to an epic and explosive conclusion as everything that has been building up finally comes to pass, and Rigg is forced to put his powers to the test in order to save his world and end the war once and for all.


Definitely the weakest of the lot. As always when it comes to time-travel it ends up getting rather messy and confusing with all the different time-streams. Still very much worth reading though, and a very fitting conclusion to the trilogy. I was not disappointed by the resolution to their problems - and that's always the most important thing. I did think there were a few plotholes along the way though - especially with regards to what happened to Param and Rigg's mother (trying to stay vague here...), but again - that seems to be a very common issue with time-travel novels.

All in all I enjoyed it, and it kept me nicely entertained. I still think "Ruins" is my favourite of the lot though.

Title: Portal
Author: Fred Alvrez
Genre: Sci-fi, arc
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 286
Date read: January, 2019

The military wants them dead. They shouldn’t be here.

Nate isn’t your average post-apocalyptic heroic archetype, since he can’t bench-press anything heavier than his Star Wars coffee mug. He gets out of bed to find a city that’s empty of anything with a pulse. Accompanied by a lone dog, Nate must overcome the fear keeping him in a chokehold to navigate this strange, and sometimes dangerous, new world.

As a plumber, Casey is used to crappy situations. Everyone in her small New Zealand country town disappearing is even crappier and not even a spanner nor plunger will help her find answers to the burning question of why. Should she trust an IT helpdesk guy and his dog when she encounters them on the road, when the man is likely mentally deranged?

Captain Brian Sanderson is counting down the days to retirement. A few more tests of the experimental portals, then he can leave this top secret branch of the military - as long as there’s no more glitches.

In a David vs Goliath battle, Nate, Casey and a dog called Kevin take on military forces in a bid to get home.


This book was right up my aisle, and I devoured it in just two days. A sort-of post-apocalyptic story set in New Zealand? What's not to like!! I was sold just by hearing the concept, and fortunately, the book completely lived up to my expectations.

One morning, strangers Casey and Nate wake up to discover that the world as they know it has changed, and that they're pretty much the only living creatures around. Even birds and insects seem to have disappeared! What has happened? And why do shimmering portals appear in some JETs (gas stations) that seem to show a glimpse of the world as they knew it?

I was hooked from the very first chapter, and had difficulties putting the book down. I'm a sucker for a good apocalyptic tale and just hoped Fred Alvrez could keep it up, and supply a satisfying resolution to the mystery that would neither seem like a cop-out, nor require too much suspension of disbelief.

Fortunately he delivered, and we're left with an absolutely brilliant sort-of post-apocalyptic, sort-of sci-fi, sort-of suspense novel that completely captured my attention. It's even a stand-alone novel, which is a nice change in these series-crazy times.

Title: Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2)
Author: Amie Kaufmann & Jay Kristoff
Genre: Sci-fi, epistolary
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 500
Date read: October, 2018

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.


Soooooo, I may have read this book in a day :-D Well, it IS a quick read, thanks to its unique writing style, and now that I knew what I was in for, I didn't have the same issues getting into the book as I had with the first one. I really liked both Hanna and Nik, and didn't miss Kady and Ezra as much as I had expected to (although I'm really looking forward to seeing them all together in the next and final book in the series). Once again, there were twists and turns I hadn't expected, and though I'm not sure I really got all of the pseudo-science behind some of them, I don't care :-P My favourite part of Gemina were Hanna's journal entries. Great addition to the chat / radio logs and surveillance cameras.

Can't wait to pick up the last book and see how everything works out.

Title: Only Human (Themis Files 3)
Author: Sylvain Neuvel
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 336
Date read: June, 2018

In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin. She, along with linguist Vincent, pilot Kara, and the unnamed Interviewer, protected the Earth from geopolitical conflict and alien invasion alike. Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find her old alliances forfeit and the planet in shambles. And she must pick up the pieces of the Earth Defense Corps as her own friends turn against each other.

Unfortunately not quite as good as the first two books in the series. It was still well-written, and a good conclusion to the story. But it was too bleak for my tastes. I knew already from the previous books that Sylvain Neuvel isn't afraid to kill his darlings, but it has to serve some sort of purpose for me to be on board with it.

Title: The Tuscon Time-Traveler and Other Stories
Author: Claus Holm
Genre: short stories, sci-fi
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 186
Date read: April, 2018

"I'd be shooting someone who hasn't done anything yet." Professor Wells put his hand on my shoulder. "Such is the dilemma of time travel, Ted. A world where reaction comes before action. Where you as the chrononaut knows what the future will be like because you've lived it, even if it hasn't happened yet."

If you could go back in time and change the course of history, would you do it? Even if you could never be sure what the change would lead to? Can any of us really foresee the impact our actions have on history and the future?

Through ten independent stories, Claus Holm explores the world of time travel, dimensional changes, and new technology. He shows us a world where Germany won World War II, introduces us to people who can cast minds from the future to the past, and takes us to a future where an earthquake has destroyed our civilization beyond repair. Each story treats the question of how people deal with challenges that change their view of life.


It's funny - I'm usually not a big fan of short stories. Unless I'm already familiar with the universe, it seems like too much investment for too small an output. Which means that as a rule, I tend to stay away from short story collections.

Claus Holm is one of the few exceptions, and with this short story collection he has published his best works yet. "The Tuscon Time-Traveler" is a collection of 10 short stories, all involving time-travel in some way or the other. I'll state my bias up front - as a rule I love stories involving time-travel (as long as it's done well), so I knew ahead of time that this would probably be right up my wheelhouse, and I was right.

Of course with short story collections there will always be some that you love and some you care less for, and that was also the case here. My two absolute favourites were "The Hitler Dilemma" (could you save Hitler's life if the alternative was worse?) and "I Love Her From the Mirror" (a man "accidentally" spies on his neighbour through a one-way mirror), with "Tamagotchi" and "The Tuscon Time-Traveler" as close seconds, but they all tickled my fancy in some way or the other. Some of them seemed to end a bit abruptly (which is so often the case with short stories), but I appreciated that others were given enough page-time to really explore the premise of the story.

I almost wish I'd saved reading this for the readathon... Being short, approachable and engaging it would have made for the perfect readathon material.