sciencefiction

Of Monsters and Mainframes | Barbara Truelove

Let's start the 2025 favourites recaps with my favourite genre: sci-fi.
Top row = best of the best,
Middle row = more robot-forward picks,
Bottom row= sci-fi horror and sci-fi mystery

3 likes

Robotswithpersonality

The Seep | Chana Porter

pick

A fantastic final read for 2025. Unusually for a novella, I think it was just the right amount of plot for the page count. There are aspects to this science fictional world that I'd love to explore further, side characters I wish we'd spent a bit more time with, but the main arc for the protagonist is satisfying, and still leaves room for things to be weird and wonderful and truly eerie. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? For most of this book I would give equal weight to sci-fi and horror, but that last bit definitely leans weird lit fic.
Certain things are resolved, but Porter doesn't make the mistake of trying to wrap everything up regarding what might be termed the larger threat, because the concepts introduced are, I'm gonna say purposefully messy, a reflection of life, and it works all the better for letting it be. 7h

Robotswithpersonality 3/? Touches on themes of transformation, I was honestly surprised transgender identity was not a bigger part of the narrative. There's something about the larger ideas of bodily autonomy in regards to the alien presence that feel like a reflection of modern anxieties around gender identity and expression, the right to choose, the notion that you can't make other people's choices for them, and if they're happy, you love by letting them BE. 7h

Robotswithpersonality 4/? The rumination on immortality, on genetic manipulation, if you take the possibilities of the human body beyond the limits of the current science, how long before the euphoria of freedom becomes the hunger for something even more extreme?
Stagnation in loss, grief, for a way of life, for a loved one, for an old self that resists change, is perhaps the strongest theme for the main character. 7h

Robotswithpersonality 5/5 think between the Compound and the Seep, I had reservations about whether it would be a brittle rebellion or a bitter assimilation, and by the end it was neither and I'm glad.
A strong sense of self even if things don't work out how you planned, a recognition of the process required to acknowledge what you have to let go of.
Good lessons to take into the new year.

⚠️suicide 7h

5 likes4 comments

Eggs

Across the Universe | Beth Revis

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me 🎶

#TitleBasedOnSong

#Celebrate

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

22 likes

RamsFan1963

Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny

July was back to a 5 🌟 read. I've said before that Lord of Light is one of my favorite books of all time, and the reread was just as enjoyable as the first time.

#12Booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

TheEllieMo This is not a genre I‘ve read much (if at all), but this one has popped up a couple of times now, so it must be worth checking out 22m

34 likes1 comment

Andrea313

The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century | Olga Ravn

pick

Sneaking in one last read to end 2025, and holy shit, is it a banger. Inspired by artwork from Lea Gulditte Hestelund and by conversations with the artist, this novella is ostensibly a sci-fi story about a crew on board a ship millions of miles from earth. Of course, it's really about so much more - humanity and technology; the nature of art; memory and nostalgia; the passage of time and mortality; and the insidious nature of corporations. 👇👇👇

Andrea313 Though it was written more than five years ago, I couldn't help but read it through the lens of what AI is doing, unchecked, to our own humanity, to art and artists, to creativity, connection, and our general perception of reality, and it was both fascinating and downright fucking chilling. Kudos to Ravn for what she's created in a short but powerful work. 11h

sarahbarnes Agreed - I loved this one. 10h

22 likes2 stack adds2 comments

merelybookish

The Chrysalids | John Wyndham

Missed yesterday so here are my June & July picks.
June - I read a lot but didn't love many. But tagged classic by John Wyndham has stayed with me.
July - was captivated by this somewhat creepy YA tale by Mahy

@theEllieMo #12Daysof2025

TheEllieMo The only Wyndham I‘ve read is Day of the Triffids! 12h

34 likes1 comment

rabbitprincess

Doctor Who, the Time Monster: Based on the BBC Television Serial by Robert Sloman by Arrangement with the British Broadcasting Corporation | Terrance Dicks

so-so

A fast read with the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. Adapted from the TV serial. The way it was written suggested some interesting cuts between POVs and conversations. I'll have to watch the serial and see how it compares with the book.

12 likes

CSeydel

Passage | Connie Willis

December‘s winner is PASSAGE by Connie Willis.

This isn‘t my favorite Willis — not even top 3, honestly — but it was still entertaining and thought-provoking and full of all the Willis-isms we have come to expect. Speaking of which, I kept having to remind myself when it was written, since people kept getting “busy signals” when they tried to call each other, which is super anachronistic even for 2001 (sorry Connie).

CSeydel Oh yeah and my 2025 winner is (no surprise here)

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

15h

CSeydel #bookbracket2025 #bookbracket #readingbracket2025 #readingbracket 15h

Amiable “Challenger” was my bracket winner in 2024 and “Hellhound” won it all in 2023! I‘m so glad I didn‘t have to choose between them like you did! 😀 (Although if I did, I think “Hellhound” would come out on top.) 9h

CSeydel @Amiable It was a coin flip for sure! 7h

33 likes4 comments

Robotswithpersonality

The Seep | Chana Porter

I identify as zero chill. This is indeed intrinsic to my sense of self. 😅

8 likes

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