Artemis by Andy Weir

My Rating 4.6

Artemis is the first and only city on the moon. Life is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

I enjoyed this a lot but could have done without the excessive swearing. Jazz was a fun character that you are rooting for, despite her being implausibly intelligent. Just go with it!

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

 My Rating: 4.9

This opens on a contented scene of quiet domesticity. Jason is at home with his beautiful wife enjoying a glass of Pinot Noir while she cooks dinner. Their 15 year old son is doing his homework at the kitchen table. At his wife's prompting, Jason pops around the corner to celebrate his college room mate. On his walk back home to his family for dinner, Jason is kidnapped at gun point. He is taken to a remote power plant where he is beaten. The last words he hears are "Are you happy in your life?" before he loses consciousness. When he wakes up, he is surrounded by strangers who all seem to know him and are so excited that he is "back". What unfolds next is a wild ride of Jason struggling to reconnect with his family.

I don't remember how this ended up in my queue. I am not a big sci-fi fan but, from the very beginning, this book reeled me in. I thoroughly enjoyed this read with great writing, excellent character development and such a unique plot line.

Wool by Hugh Howey

My rating:  4.8

I kept hearing about this very short (<50 pages) story.  It is a dystopian sci-fi so I didn't think it would appeal to me.  I was wrong.  This was a fabulous novel.  I can see why Amazon is giving it away for free as they want to hook you to buy the rest of the books!  <grin>   Well, it worked.  I have to find out what happens so, I bought the Omnibus Series which is books 1 to 5 of the 9 book series.  Do not read too much about this book as it is better to just let it unfold.  Very enjoyable little read.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4.6 of 5 stars

It is so difficult to believe that the author came up with this book in 1967. Wow. It is an amazing book - picture a combination Twilight Zone episode with and a Paolo Coelho novel. Again, I am not a Sci-Fi fan but, this is so well told and the characters and their world come to life.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My rating: 4.8 of 5 stars

This is an extremely creative dystopian novel that takes place in 2045. Cline describes the world of high school student, Wade Watts, and the virtual reality world of OASIS in an easy way to make it reality for anyone (not just gamers). This is a sci-fantasy/treasure hunt that pulls you into the simulated world of OASIS where the creator of OASIS has recently died and left his entire fortune to the first person who is able to find the easter egg. I don’t like sci-fi, I am not a gaming addict and am not a child of the 80’s and yet I found this book extremely entertaining and intelligent and the characters real and likeable. Wade is a great protagonist and I laughed out loud frequently at Aech. Yes, there were times when this got a bit geeky and far-fetched for me but, you just have to go with it. I loved all the 80’s references (books, movies, music, tv shows). In the hands of a great producer (Spielberg or Lucas) I could easily see this becoming a cult classic movie. My hats off to Cline for such an original piece of work. Amazing that this is his first novel. I can’t wait for his next book!