Well, I tried. DNF, bailing at 38%, having been buried in another pile of minutia. But also, the MC is kind of Mary Sue sometimes (too perfect), but then compromised by past traumas. I feel like I am watching at a distance, and that adds to the boredom. Additionally, this author uses last names and first names randomly, which makes it harder to follow who's doing what.

If you like action adventure, this isn't that. ( )

"I" bluffs her way onto a military space ship, and she's riddled with imposter syndrome.

In space, the Moon is always full, because it always has one side completely illuminated by the Sun. Viewed from Earth, one side of the Moon is always facing us, the other side always faces away. What we call a full moon is the small part of the Moon's orbit when the 'near' side is completely illuminated (when the Moon is diametrically opposite to the Sun). So for a werewolf, it depends if it's transformation is due to the position of the Moon, or does it depend on being exposed to the level of moonlight from a whole lunar hemisphere? (And sometimes both, in the films where the full moon is obscured by clouds). Forgive me. It's just that, whenever I attend something which ends with "Any questions?" I like to ask, "Any questions?" When they nod yes, I ask "What would happen if a werewolf and a vampire bit each other?" or "if a crappy fantasy author suddenly decides to write SF how crappy it'd be?"

After reading this “Rosy Space Junk Space Opera” I miss the old Star Trek series. In the first ten minutes Sulu would be controlling a Star Ship sitting at a console with seven pilot lights and twelve toggle switches. By the end of the episode he would be in a sword fight, and Kirk would be snogging an alien woman! And what is our reality? F***ing Elon Musk constantly exaggerating about his plans, about 1% of which ever comes close to fruition and crappy fantasy writers thinking they can write SF (no starship Enterprise for me, not with my potty mouth. You never hear Scotty exclaim "The engine's fucked, Captain!").

It seems to me that the last thing a space-travelling person wants is "excitement". Just as with terrestrial traveling: foot, car, bus, train, plane - excitement is definitely bad. And by bad, I mean the possibility of it ending in death. But many space-based SF novels are merely allegories for far more mundane stories: colonisation, WW1 dog fights, YA rosy space romances (“Artifact Space”), girl from orphanage (“Artifact Space”), westerns with rockets, foreigners as thinly-disguised monsters and most of the seven basic plots that almost all shitty SF stories boil down to.

True and Good SF is not about spaceships, girls from orphanages, or aliens; it is about ideas. How to deal with situations that have never arisen before. Not merely actors dressed up and with green-painted faces.

Move on. Nothing new here. ( )

Cameron, Miles. Artifact Space. Arcana Imperii No. 1. Gollancz, 2021.
Miles Cameron has three substantial series of fantasy books to his credit, but Artifact Space is his first foray into military space opera. Cameron is a good storyteller. He has created a well-detailed future empire with believable human politics and several creative alien species that should be capable of sustaining any stories he wants to set in it. His heroine, Marca Nbaro, is especially impressive. The last surviving member of an almost forgotten military family, she has been robbed of her inheritance and raised in an orphanage that is a Dickensian horror. When we meet her, she is making her way through the mean streets of a large orbital habitat to meet a hacker to fake her credentials as an ensign, which have been wrongly denied her. Her street creds give her an edginess that most heroines in the Honor Harrington tradition cannot match. I admire Cameron’s skill at giving us a clear picture of his universe without engaging in dull infodumps. As Marca learns about the world she inhabits, so do we. Its tight focus on a well-rounded character and its refreshingly clear plot make Artifact Space a satisfying read. I look forward to reading more of Cameron’s work. 4 Stars ( )

Brilliant ( )