Books Received in July, 2018

Many thanks as always to the publishers who sent me books this past month.

City of Lies by Sam Hawke - I was really excited about this book as it sounded incredible, but in the end it wasn't for me. I loved the main characters and the between chapters info on poisons, but the way background information was revealed (first in tiny, tiny portions, and then in a giant info dump) frustrated me too much.

I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me... 

Outwardly, Jovan is the lifelong friend of the Chancellor's charming, irresponsible Heir. Quiet. Forgettable. In secret, he's a master of poisons and chemicals, trained to protect the Chancellor's family from treachery. When the Chancellor succumbs to an unknown poison and an army lays siege to the city, Jovan and his sister Kalina must protect the Heir and save their city-state.

But treachery lurks in every corner, and the ancient spirits of the land are rising...and angry.

Gate Crashers by Patrick Tomlinson - This sounds like a fun SF novel.

The only thing as infinite and expansive as the universe is humanity's unquestionable ability to make bad decisions.

Humankind ventures further into the galaxy than ever before. and immediately causes an intergalactic incident. In their infinite wisdom, the crew of the exploration vessel Magellan, or as she prefers "Maggie," decides to bring the alien structure they just found back to Earth. The only problem? The aliens are awfully fond of that structure.

A planet full of bumbling, highly evolved primates has just put itself on a collision course with a far wider, and more hostile, galaxy that is stranger than anyone can possibly imagine.

Zero Sum Game by S. L. Huang - This book sounds amazing.

Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right price.

As far as Cas knows, she's the only person around with a superpower...until she discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people's minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world's puppet master.

Cas should run, like she usually does, but for once she's involved. There's only one problem...

She doesn't know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.