Others: Positive Two hundred years after the Forbidding was broken, Santhenar is locked in war with the lyrinx - intelligent, winged predators who will do anything to gain their own world. Despite the development of battle clankers and mastery of the crystals that power them, humanity is losing. Tiaan, a lonely crystal worker in a clanker manufactory, is experimenting with an entirely new kind of crystal when she begins to have extraordinary visions. The crystal has woken her latent talent for geomancy, the most powerful of all the Secret Arts - and the most perilous. Falsely accused of sabotage by her rival, Irisis, Tiaan flees for her life. Struggling to control her talent and hunted by the lyrinx, Tiaan follows her visions all the way to Tirthrax, greatest peak on all the Three Worlds, where a nightmare awaits her.
Genres: fantasy, science fiction
Lists: …
Thomas M. Disch
1978 · 142 pages · 1 review
Others: MixedEver since the alien Masters had taken control, domesticating mankind with their energy-technology and the all-powerful mental Leash, the human condition had changed from toil and trouble to Total Wish Fulfillment. Only the Dingoes, the obstinate ones who resisted the Masters' Leash, weren't invited to the cosmic party. Poor Dingoes!
What made the match, strongest first
Edward E. Smith
1950 · 255 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly negativeFrom back cover of Jove/HBJ paperback February 1979: terror from space The pirates of Boskone raided at will, menacing the whole structure of interstellar civilization. Masterminded by a super-scientist, their fleets outgunned even the mighty space cruisers of the Galactic Patrol. When lensman Kim Kinnison of the Patrol found the secret Boskonian base, it was impregnable to outside attack. But a single infiltrator might penetrate its defenses -- if he wanted to take on million-to-one odds! Kinnison took them -- with the future of the civilized Universe riding on his shoulders!
What made the match, strongest first
Iain Banks
1988 · 352 pages · 3 reviews
Others: PositiveIn the winter palace, the King’s new physician has more enemies than she at first realises. But then she also has more remedies to hand than those who wish her ill can know about. In another palace across the mountains, in the service of the regicidal Protector General, the chief bodyguard, too, has his enemies. But his enemies strike more swiftly, and his means of combating them are more traditional.
What made the match, strongest first
Vernor Vinge
1984 · 317 pages · 3 reviews
Others: PositiveFirst in a quintessential hard-science fiction adventure, Hugo Award-winning author Vernor Vinge's The Peace War follows a scientist determined to put an end to the militarization of his greatest invention--and of the government behind it. The Peace Authority conquered the world with a weapon that never should have been a weapon--the "bobble," a spherical force-field impenetrable by any force known to mankind. Encasing governmental installations and military bases in bobbles, the Authority becomes virtually omnipotent. But they've never caught Paul Hoehler, the maverick who invented the technology, and who has been working quietly for decades to develop a way to defeat the Authority. With the help of an underground network of determined, independent scientists and a teenager who may be the apprentice genius he's needed for so long, he will shake the world.
What made the match, strongest first
James S. A. Corey
2024 · 496 pages · 10 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveA spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old as the universe itself. How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin. Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.
What made the match, strongest first
Robert E. Howard
1975 · 94 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Mostly negative18 original Conan Stories by Robert E. Howard Cimmeria - A Poem The Phoenix on the Sword The Scarlet Citadel The Tower of the Elephant Black Colossus The Slithering Shadow or Xuthal of the Dusk The Pool of the Black One Rogues in the House Gods of the North Iron Shadows in the Moon or Shadows in the Moonlight Queen of the Black Coast The Devil in Iron The People of the Black Circle A Witch Shall be Born Jewels of Gwahlur Beyond the Black River Shadows in Zamboula or Man-Eaters of Zamboula Conan the Conqueror or The Hour of the Dragon Red Nails The Hyborian Age Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.
What made the match, strongest first
Loved itThis is a historical novel with some fantasy elements, some romantic elements, but at its heart this is a story about the church's impact on especially women at this time and not being able to do what they want and not being recognized for their scientific contributions.
