Books: Tatja, Han, Berserkers, And More

Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge

Interesting SF novel about technological development and first contact on an alien world. Our protagonist is a teenage girl from a "barbarian" tribe, who makes her way to "civilization" in search of someone her intellectual equal, because she's a genius beyond measure, and is desperate to find someone who understands her. She fails, and decides to bootstrap her world into a space program, and damn the cost. Interesting questions of ethics arise. Recommended.

Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older

A Han and Lando novel by famed SFF author Older. This story interweaves between four different timeframes (three pre-A New Hope, one post-Return Of The Jedi) showing us the rise of a galaxy-spanning threat. It takes time to give us character development for Han and Lando, though Han's realization that he's not a great father is alternately funny and tragic. Recommended.

Berserker and Berserker Man by Fred Saberhagen

A collection, and a novel, set in Saberhagen's Berserker-verse, where ancient machines scour the stars seeking to eliminate all life. The tone varies a lot, from military SF to teen coming-of-age to cosmic weirdness. They have also dated in a tiresome manner.

Behind The Walls Of Terra by Philip José Farmer

Fourth in his World Of Tiers series, this is one not set on the Tiers, but rather on Earth, in the 1970s. About half the plot is our hero sneering at how the world has changed since the 1940s, and half is discovering that an interdimensional god with access to superscience can't seem to buy decent security for his California hacienda. Kind of tedious.

The Lost Valley Of Iskander by Robert E. Howard

Three adventures of one of Howard's minor creations, Francis Xavier Gordon, in the Middle East. Solid adventure, though often racist and predictably sexist.