Review of "Exodus The Helium Sea: Archimedes Engine #2" by Peter F. Hamilton

  

Exodus The Helium Sea, the second book in a duology, picks up from the end of Exodus The Archimedes Engine. This is my review of the first book.
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*****

As Exodus The Helium Sea opens, we get a flashback to Kelowan 7,000 years ago. Queen Zuberi has instituted an Evolution Project headed by her daughter Countess Liliana, that will result in Zuberi’s granddaughter Khepri (who will have Zuberi's mindline) becoming the Eternal Empress of the Crown Dominion and elevate Celestials to (essentially) god-like status.



Just as the project seems to have achieved success, the other queens unite to kill Zuberi and her entire family, but - unknown to them - Zuberi's son, daughter, and granddaughter escape.

It's now 7,000 years later, and Queen Helena-Thyra of Wynid has murdered and manipulated her way into becoming the current Empress of the Crown Dominion.



Queen Helena-Thyra plans to kill the other four queens, so she can be the empress forever. Queen Helena-Thyra doesn't realize it, but she's part of Queen Zuberi's long-term plan, currently being carried out by Zuberi's son Dagon, daughter Liliana, and granddaughter Kephri.....and their minions.

Meanwhile, there's plenty more going on. The Archimedes Engine has been used to fling a small lifeless world called Boksrock at Kelowan, destroying Kelowan and forcing a mass evacuation. The Human Liberation Movement is blamed for the incident, though they're not REALLY responsible. Regardless, Finn Jalgori-Tobu, Josias Alponi, Terence Wilson-Fisher and their allies are on the run. Their ultimate plan is to prove their innocence and get the Crown Dominion to stop treating humans as servants and workers and give them autonomy over their own lives.



As things play out, the humans manage to steal thousands of tons of antimatter, used to fuel powerful weapons, from a cadre of Celestials. The Celestials planned to use the antimatter for their own nefarious purposes, and chase the humans all over the universe to kill them and retrieve the fuel. This leads to one epic battle after another, scenes that are described in rich detail.



On the part of the humans, Josias Alponi plans to use the antimatter to negotiate better treatment, essentially freedom, for the humans living among the Celestials.



A part of the book I especially liked were the depictions of exotic weapons, like the Álogo suit, a Remnant Era armor suit that's described as big, very big...a walking building that has flight; artificial intelligence; responds to thoughts; has life support; has missiles that can take out a couple of squads of knights on its own; and more.



Another remnant era weapon is the Crystal Gun, which is operated by a living intelligence called Dohl’Kol. The Crystal Gun is extraordinarily powerful, and can work at great distances; destroy fleets; annihilate planets; target individuals; and more. It's used to great effect in the story.



An additonal interesting aspect of the novel is the ability of the protagonists to 'disguise' themselves in various ways. For example, Neusch, the son of Archon Makaio-Faraji - who was assassinated in book one - creates a bio-andy that looks like him and which he operates remotely. Neusch is continuing his father's investigation into the conspiracy surrounding Queen Helena-Thyra, and is in secret communication with Clavissa, Queen Helena-Thyra's companion and aide. So Neusch and Clavissa are among the 'good guys' working against the 'eternal empress' wannabes.



At the same time, the 'bad guys' have camouflage of their own. Zuberi's son Dagon has taken on the appearance of the deceased human Gyvoy Enfoe, and manipulated Finn Jalgori-Tobu into doing terrible things;



and Zuberi's daughter Liliana, a supposed supporter of Queen Helena-Thyra, is pretending to be a human mercenary. All this is meant to result in Zuberi becoming the eternal empress (after she pushes Queen Helena-Thyra aside).



There'a a great deal of political maneuvering, mind control, deception, lying, murder, and so on as the story's diverse factions try to fulfill their conflicting agendas. To me, the narcissistic Celestials who plan to live forever and control everything are insufferable. I hate to think humans evolved into these creatures.

Exodus The Helium Sea is an interesting story, but there's a lot going on. The novel has a cornucopia of characters with long names; there are huge battles every few chapters; a cadre of factions are maneuvering to outsmart each other; etc. That said, the story comes to a more or less satisfying ending. I say more or less because it’s hard to root for any of these Celestials.

For gamers, the Exodus video game is slated for release in 2027.

Thanks to Netgalley, Peter F. Hamilton, and Random House for an ARC of the book.

Rating: 4 stars 

Review of: The Hostess With The Ghostess: A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery" by E.J. Copperman

  

In this 9th book in the "Haunted Guesthouse Mystery' series, Alison Kerby helps investigate two murders. The book has a "Cast of Characters' at the beginning and can be read as a standalone.

Background: When Alison Kerby was renovating a Victorian house in Harbor Haven on the Jersey Shore - to use it as a guesthouse - she discovered the home was occupied by two ghosts: private detective Paul Harrison and interior designer Maxie Malone.



Paul and Maxie are only visible to Alison and her mother, father, and daughter.....but Alison's husband Josh and most of Alison's friends acknowledge the spirits' presence.



Since meeting Paul and Maxie's ghosts, Alison acquired a private investigator license to help Paul solve mysteries; and Paul and Maxie agreed to put on spook shows for senior citizen tours that book vacations at Alison's 'Haunted Guesthouse'.



A spook show might include things like a flying teenager, when Maxie (who's invisible to the guests) picks up Alison's 13-year-old daughter Melissa and flies her around; an imperceptible guitarist; a moving hat; roving artwork; and so on. These shows greatly entertain the visitors.



*****

As the story opens, the ghost of Paul Harrison's brother, Richard Harrison, shows up at the Haunted Guesthouse and speaks to innkeeper Alison Kerby. Richard was murdered only days ago, and he wants to speak to his brother. Paul is having a vacation at the moment, and Alison goes to some trouble to message him to return.



When Paul gets back, Richard - a criminal defense lawyer - explains he was killed in the midst of representing Cassidy Van Doren, who's on trial for drowning her stepfather, Keith Barent Johnson. Richard insists Cassidy is innocent, and he wants Paul to help uncover the real killer.



Private investigators Paul and Alison speculate that Richard was getting close to exposing Keith's REAL murderer, who then clunked Richard on the head with a clothes iron. So the detectives agree to make inquiries, and are assisted by Alison's teenage daughter Melissa, who's clever and insightful. Alison - with 'invisible Paul' standing by - interviews people who knew Keith, including Keith's wife Adrian, his children Braden and Erika, and his business partner Hunter Evans. Cassidy's relatives insist she's guilty, and belongs in prison.

The detectives also speak to Cassidy, who's out on parole. Cassidy insists she's innocent, and is frustrated by her family's accusations. Paul and Alison tentatively believe Cassidy because additional evidence points in various other directions.



After Paul and Alison question people and collect information, odd things start to happen at the guesthouse. Paul obtains Keith's business files and puts them on a computer at the inn. The laptop vanishes and a note is pinned to the wall with a knife. The message reads 'DON'T LOOK FOR ME'. Later on a knife is thrown at Alison's head and barely misses. It's clear someone has something to hide!!



While the murder inquiries proceed, life goes on at the inn. Alison's mother and father (who's a ghost) visit and ghost dad barbecues a brisket in the backyard; a senior citizen group vacations at the guesthouse, and Alison is asked to be a matchmaker; Alison's friends Jeannie and Tony, and their toddler Oliver and baby Molly, come over for dinner. Alison speculates babies can see ghosts, because Molly is delighted when spirits pass by; and more.



Alison's neighbors have learned to ignore the odd things that happen at the Haunted Guesthouse, and Anita McElone, chief of detectives at the Harbor Haven police department, won't even set foot inside...though she's willing to share information with Alison.



It's fun to see ghosts mingle with humans who can't see them. Ghosts enter through walls; sink down through the floor; watch Gray's Anatomy; kibitz each other; and go about their lives almost as if they're still alive.

Paul and Alison continue their inquiries and reach a conclusion about the killer. When the murderer is exposed at the guesthouse, there's gunplay, fighting, yelling, and all manner of ruckus. The inn's visitors are delighted, thinking this is an especially lively spook show. You have to laugh at that. 😊



If you like humorous cozy mysteries with ghosts, you'll like this book. 

Rating: 3.5 stars 

Review of "The Three-Body Problem: Remembrance of Earth's Past #1" by Cixin LIu

This is the first book of a trilogy.

Note: I initially read a hard copy of this book and recently listened to the audiobook, which became available on Netgalley. I especially appreciated hearing the pronunciation of Chinese names and words. The book is narrated by Rosalind Chao, who does a fine job.

The story begins during the early years of China's 'Cultural Revolution.' Ye Wenjie, a young astrophysicist, sees her father - a physics professor - tortured and murdered by a group of young Red Guards.



Like many educated citizens Ye Wenjie is labeled a 'counter-revolutionary' and sent to cut trees for the Construction Corps before being recruited to work at a secret facility called Red Coast Base.

At first Ye Wenjie has limited access to the base's surreptitious activities but in time her abilities and intelligence give her wide access to the installation. Over time Ye Wenjie makes some startling discoveries and engages in some questionable behavior. (To say more would lead to spoiler territory.)



Some years later, when the Cultural Revolution wanes, Ye Wenjie is allowed to return home and become a university professor.



In current times an applied physicist named Wang Miao - who's developed a very strong nanomaterial - is recruited by a committee composed of military officers/police. They ask Wang to help investigate a rash of physicist suicides.



Wang reluctantly agrees and is assisted by a suspended cop called Da Shi - a disheveled, abrasive, pushy, off-putting guy.

>

As things turn out though, Da Shi's ability to think outside the box is useful and his common sense is comforting....so I developed quite a liking for the fellow.

While Wang Miao is looking into the physicist suicides he develops peculiar/frightening 'vision problems' and starts to play an immersive computer game called "Three Body."



The game is set on Trisolaris, a distant planet inhabited by extraterrestrials. Trisolaris has a very unstable environment. During 'chaotic periods' (extremely hot or cold) most Trisolarans are dehydrated, rolled up, and stored in dehydratories. During 'stable periods' (mild weather) the Trisolarans are rehydrated and go about their business. Still, there are frequent 'crashes' when the entire Trisolaran civilization is destroyed and has to start over.



The shifts between chaotic and stable periods on Trisolaris are completely random and abrupt. Thus the player's goal is to discover why they happen and to predict long-term stable periods. Wang determines that the chaos occurs because the planet has three suns....thus the 'three-body problem.' [Note: On the internet the three-body problem is defined as follows: "the problem of taking an initial set of data that specifies the positions, masses and velocities of three bodies for some particular point in time and then determining the motions of the three bodies, in accordance with Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation."] In essence it's almost impossible to accurately predict the motion of Trisolaris' three suns.....but Wang Miao thinks he can do it.

As the story continues to unfold it turns out that Ye Wenjie's experiences at Red Coast Base, the physicist suicides, Wang Miao's nanomaterial research, and the three-body game are all connected. And they have something to do with the fact that humans have managed to contact an alien civilization. (Again, more information would be a spoiler.)



The story addresses an interesting topic: how would people react if they knew there were other intelligent beings in the universe? And what would happen if the other beings were on their way here? (I've always thought extraterrestrials - if they found out about Earth - might come here, wipe us out, and move in. But maybe that's just me....LOL)

There's a lot of physics jargon in the book and some fancy shenanigans with protons that stretch suspension of disbelief to the max...even for sci-fi.



In the end, though, I enjoyed the book very much. China provides a great (and unusual) background for a science fiction book and the story is riveting, with interesting characters. Highly recommended to fans of science fiction.

I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

The story is being adapted for a series on Netflix.



Thanks to Netgalley, Cixin Liu, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the audiobook.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review of "Bark Humbug: An Andy Carpenter Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

  

In this 34th book in the 'Andy Carpenter' series, Andy defends a man accused of murdering a gubernatorial candidate.

*****

Ever since he inherited a large fortune, New Jersey defense lawyer Andy Carpenter takes very few cases.



Instead, Andy spends time with his wife Laurie; plays video games with his 16-year-old son Ricky; visits his dog rescue operation called the Tara Foundation;



and plays with his three pooches - golden retriever Tara; basset hound Sebastian; and pug Hunter. Andy takes Tara and Hunter for long walks every morning and evening, but lazy Sebastian prefers to do his business in the yard, between naps



In his spare time, Andy also likes watching sports on TV and hanging out with his friends, newspaper editor Vince Sanders and Homicide Captain Pete Stanton, at Charlie's Sports Bar. Since Andy is a millionaire, he always pays the bill - and sometimes gets useful information in return.



When Andy agrees to be part of a photospread profiling area celebrities and their dogs, he doesn't realize it's a ploy to get him to represent murder suspect Jon Lowery, who got his dog Luna from the Tara Foundation a couple of years ago.



Andy reluctantly signs on to defend Lowery, and learns Jon is a former Marine Raider and expert sniper. Jon is accused of shooting Paterson mayor - and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate - Craig Henley, and political donor Steven Tiller. Jon got on police radar because he excoriated Henley at a town hall meeting, cursing the candidate for his plans to cut drug addiction programs.



Evidence implicating Jon includes spent rifle shells, X posts threatening the mayor, footprints, hairs from Jon's pooch Luna, and more. With all that 'proof', Andy knows this will be a tough case, and as always, he decides to use the SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense. Andy assembles his team, which includes 'The K Team' detective agency, whose investigators are: Andy's wife Laurie Collins - a former police officer;



Corey Douglas - a retired cop; Simon Garfunkel - a K-9 German shepherd who worked with Corey at the Paterson Police Department;



and Marcus Clark - the toughest, scariest guy on the planet.



In addition to The K Team, Andy calls in his accountant Sam Willis - who can hack into any computer anywhere;



his assistant attorney Eddie Dowd - who's especially good with paperwork and motions;



and his secretary Edna - who doesn't like to do any work. This time Edna 'gets the flu', which doesn't prevent her from cashing her weekly paycheck.



Andy's search for alternative suspects turns up mobster Vinnie Esposito - who was accused of crimes when Mayor Henley was a prosecutor; Albanian mobsters running drugs and small arms; contractors who lost business because Henley was on the take; and others.

Author David Rosenfelt follows his usual formula for these mysteries, and Andy is followed and threatened; Marcus Clark beats people up and extracts information from them; Sam hacks into websites and tracks the location of cell phones; Laurie helps with the case and prepares scrumptious pancakes for Sam (who's addicted to them); etc.



As he always does, Andy makes sarcastic remarks and fun quips throughout. This book has some extra laughs when Sam enlists the help of his golden age friends, called the Bubelah Brigade, to help with computer searches. One member of the brigade, Hilda, bakes the best rugelach on the planet. This leads Andy to threaten Sam, "If there are none saved for me...I will put your head in the oven." And Sam replies, "Then you'd better get here soon. Because there are worse ways to go than death by rugelach."



In another amusing passage, Andy talks about Christmas. Laurie plays Christmas music from Halloween on, and Andy remarks, "I am bombarded with the gooey music for months, and I literally spent an hour the other day listening to a Lawrence Welk Christmas album. I would have preferred to be waterboarded." And speaking of gifts, Andy says, "Laurie bought some shirts and a book for me. The book was by her favorite author David Rosenfelt. For some reason, he includes dogs in all his books, so she thinks that will cause me to like his writing. No chance of that. I tried reading his books a couple of times and it put me to sleep. The guy is the Ambien of authors."



As per usual, the trial scenes have Andy poking holes in the testimony of prosecution witnesses, and presenting his 'alternative killer' defense. The novel has some surprises, and - for me - Andy's ethics aren't quite up to par in this book.

This is an enjoyable story, recommended to fans of the series.



I had a copy of the digital book and the audiobook, narrated by Grover Gardner, who always does an excellent job.

Thanks to Netgalley, David Rosenfelt, and Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for ARCs of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars