Review

A review blog

The Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) in Space Babies (Image courtesy BBC / Disney+)

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“Space Babies” is an episode of the 14th season of the new “Doctor Who” series, also indicated as season 1, and follows “The Church on Ruby Road”. It’s available in the UK and Ireland on BBC channels and in many other countries on the Disney+ platform.

The Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) takes Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) on a trip to the age of dinosaurs, with some unexpected side effects. After fine-tuning some Tardis settings, he takes her to the future, to a space station where they find a monster and children who were supposed to be part of a colony project but were abandoned.

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The novella “Exit Strategy” by Martha Wells was published for the first time in 2018. It’s the fourth work of “The Murderbot Diaries” series and follows “Rogue Protocol”.

When the spaceship taken by Murderbot is arriving at its destination, it’s rerouted towards the security area. SecUnit realizes that they’re looking for it and it’s forced to sneak out of the spaceship to prevent the heavily armed security forces from finding it.

Murderbot quickly discovers that Dr. Mensah was accused of corporate espionage by GrayCris and disappeared. Suspecting a kidnapping, it contacts her team, knowing full well that they know its identity and therefore that it’s a SecUnit.

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

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The novel “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon was published for the first time in 1937.

When an Englishman’s consciousness is transported out of his body, a limitless journey into deep space begins. He arrives on a planet inhabited by intelligent humanoids, which he calls the Other Earth, where his consciousness merges with that of one of the natives. This is just the first stage of a much longer journey.

Together with his new traveling companion, to whom he remains attached, the man travels to other planets inhabited by sentient beings. Civilizations with similarities and differences compared to the human one are observed during their technological, social, and spiritual evolution up to a cosmic scale made up of various dimensions.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal-El Mohtar and Max Gladstone

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The novella “This is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal-El Mohtar and Max Gladstone was published for the first time in 2019. It won the Hugo, Nebula, and BSFA Awards as the best novella of the year.

When Red, an agent of the Commandant’s team, finds a message from Blue, a rival in the Time War, she gets intrigued despite knowing that it might be hiding a trap. She decides to respond and this leads to an exchange of messages that begins with mutual teasing and challenges and becomes something else.

Red and Blue find a mutual understanding that deepens their bond even though the Agency and the Garden are enemies. This prevents them from meeting in person and actually makes even exchanging messages dangerous, yet this doesn’t stop their feelings.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

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The novel “The City We Became” by N.K. Jemisin was published for the first time in 2020. It’s the first book of the Great Cities series. It won the Locus and BSFA Awards.

Various people discover that they are the avatars of certain boroughs of New York while an artist discovers that he’s the avatar of the entire city from the avatar of Sao Paulo. Some of them are attacked by shapeshifters and strange tendrils but manage to repel those attacks.

Manny, the avatar of Manhattan, is confronted by a mysterious woman but manages to defeat her thanks to the help of the avatar of Brooklyn. Various types of attacks follow, not always direct because in some cases, they exploit corruption and fascist groups.