Review of Braking Day

Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I found out about Braking Day via John Scalzi's blog "Whatever." He has a segment called "The Big Idea" where authors talk about, well, the big idea around their book. In that article, Adam Oyebanji, the author, tells us that he wanted to write a science fiction story in which people travel to another star "like, for realz." That meant no faster-than-light, which meant large ships in which the crew is born and dies on the way.

Okay, that sounded interesting. Then I read the back-of-the-book blurb where our hero sees a woman in vacuum not wearing a spacesuit but definitely alive. That sounded really interesting.

The book lived up to the promise. In Braking Day, we have a high-stakes drama with believable characters and realistic science. I also liked how Adam captured the cultural developments of his 132 year trip. Our lead character is on the good ship Archimedes and one of a crew of 10,000 or so. That sounds like a lot, but it's really a small town on Earth. Much like a small town, everybody knows everybody else, and people's perception of you is based on your family history. In our hero's case, his family is a bunch of outlaws. The ship is traveling in a convoy with two others, and each ship has developed their own accent, slang and dialect.

In short, Oyebanji tells an interesting and well-thought out tale. I highly recommend this novel.



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Review of Terminal Peace

Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I've known Jim Hines since his first book came out, and I think I've read all of his fiction. This book like the previous two in the trilogy went on my automatic to-buy list as soon as it was possible. I read the book and am glad to report that he did not disappoint.

Jim's had some personal issues the past couple of years, on top of COVID-19 which affected us all, so this book was delayed. I can also see that these personal issues led to a darker book than the previous two, starting with a problem affecting a main character almost from page 1. But all is not lost, either in life or in the book.

Overall, a very fine conclusion to another fun series by Jim C. Hines.



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