Tier Ranking the 11 science fiction books I read in May 2025

I haven't yet read one that I didn't enjoy, and Chaga was no exception.

I did really enjoy it. I give The Color of Distance by Amy Thompson 8 and a half out of 10.

I enjoyed it. I didn't knock my socks off, but I did enjoy it.

I enjoyed it. I give Eiffelheheim eight out of 10.

So, unlike Sirens of Titan, I did not hate this book. I was happy to have it read to me.

I enjoyed Jensen's pro style in this book. It's very light in tone, but also quite ornate, narrated, as it is by Charlotte, who's a product of the late 19th century.

So overall, I think I admired it more than I enjoyed it. Neesse is rather long. It's a chunky book, maybe even a little bit bloated, and it's not an effortless read.

I liked Reese as a character and and there was a lot to like in his setting. The high gravity was mindbending.

I quite enjoyed the bootstrapping of the spaceships, and that part reminded me of the opening section of 70s, but without the imminent jeopardy of planetary destruction. I did find the stakes were a bit lower. I thought that the eventual arrival at Saturn was a bit of a damp squib, and the interaction with the alien tech was a bit simplistic, almost a bit of an afterthought really.

Overall I thought it was a fun cast of characters. So it's a complex interesting setting. the author sets a rollicking pace.

The first being Sirens of Titan, which is, you know, many people think a classic science fiction, but mine was not a happy experience. It was just too absurd for me. And I didn't get on with Vonagut's humor, at least as it was as it appeared in The Sirens of Titan.

I would describe it as something along the lines of a of a fun beach read, the kind of book that you might pick up in an airport. It it didn't engage too much in my brain, but it was fun while it lasted. I would describe it as sort of disposable or forgettable.