Intense, memorable, and deeply captivating, Planetfall manages to be character-driven and idea-filled without sacrificing action and suspense. The story involves space travel, an off-Earth colony 20-some years after its establishment in the shadows of a (mostly) abandoned alien structure, the biology-linked religious beliefs that inspired the colony’s creation, a first person narrator coping with and trying to hide her anxious obsessions, and life enhanced (or maybe diminished) by advanced technology that includes 3D printers, which create everything the colony needs from homes to cups, and implanted chips, which connect every person to the web and each other--making it difficult for the main character to keep her psychological challenges off the grid and out of sight. Being inside the head of a character struggling with compulsive behaviors was unsettling and fascinating, and felt uncomfortably close to some of my own mental processes. The ending is unlike anything I’ve read, savage, visceral, cosmic and sublime.

Spoken by Lovey, the ships's AI, in a moment of friendly bantering with a tech on the crew who's sweet on her. (The feeling is mutual.)

Earth Flight is the third book in this series featuring Jarra, a feisty, junk food loving, slang savvy, far-in-the-future girl who’s handicapped by having an immune system that won’t allow her to portal off of the home planet, so if you haven’t read the first two books, this isn’t the place to start, but if you’ve enjoyed the others it would be nardle to miss this one because it’s a totally zan conclusion. At least I think it’s the close of a trilogy, but I’d love another book and this one ends with Jarra still having lots left to do. If this is the end I’m going to hate leaving this totally amaz universe behind.

In the previous book Jarra and her twoing partner Fian managed to send a message to the alien ship parked just above Earth, which keeps the young couple involved in the government’s first contact project, so now Jarra is juggling military duties, history of early humanity classes, dangerous dig site field work at the ruins of once magnificent Earth cities, and her relationship with Fian, which goes through a lot of changes in the story.

One of the things I’ve loved best about this series is how thoroughly Janet Edwards has developed the diverse cultures of the far flung off-Earth settlements, and we learn more them all in this book, especially the somewhat notorious Beta clans since Jarra has discovered she’s one of them. This isn’t a perfectly written series, but it’s “flaws” have actually seemed to enhance my pleasure. There’s info dumping, but it’s fascinating since the future Edwards imagines is so detailed and interesting, and Jarra can be a bit of a Mary Sue (though that’s less in this third book), but she’s utterly charming anyway because she’s so good natured and full of enthusiasm.

If you love this series check out Janet Edwards’s website for 8 free prequel stories that further explore all the off-Earth colonies.  Link here 

Created as a radio series in 1982, this humor filled, fast paced, outer space, sci-fi adventure really jazzed up my daily commute. Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe is hired to find out who’s been manipulating the media on the 6-mooned planet Summa Nulla (crossroads of the galaxy, highpoint of nothing), and she’s just the dame for the job. Savvy, tough, and with a well developed sense of irony, none of the weird planetary inhabitants faze her--not the mustachioed informant with tentacle appendages who wants to shake “hands”, not the pun-loving mole creatures who excavate ancient underground cities that keep caving in whenever she’s around, and not the sexy android who sicced slimey genetically engineered assassins on her. Actually Angel Lips (the sexy android) and the slime assassins do exasperate Ruby, but Ruby handles them all with her usual sharp witted determination.

There’s about  three hours of audio story with very cool high-tech sound effects, stunning other-world “visuals”, occasional musical interludes by the Android Sisters, and witty repartee worthy of a movie comedy from the 1930’s-40’s. It’s broken up into 3 or 4 minute sections and there’s sometimes a little repetition of plot points since it was originally broadcast in a serial format, but if you also have to keep your mind on something else--like driving--that’s actually an advantage. The Adventures of Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe and its nine or so sequels(!) are available on the ZBS website and Audible.

Just as brilliant, mind-bending, and paradigm busting as its predecessor Ancillary Justice (my review here ), this second book of the trilogy has a social justice theme running through it that felt heavy handed to me at times and a main character who came a little too close to being an AI version of an all perfect Mary Sue, but the sophisticated world building, can’t-put-it-down storyline, and diverse, well developed characters kept me enthralled. I loved the first book so much, and its story is so complex, that I reread it--no skimming--before starting this one, even though my original reading was this summer. Can’t wait for the final book.