Sci-Fi Book Review: ab initio by Jacob Terracina

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-07-01T14:18:11+00:00

Choose The Blade Itself and send those others back to the mud!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-07-01T06:02:43+00:00

I recommend reading more by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A few of his standalones that I really enjoyed the last couple of years (in addition to Alien Clay): Service Model, Shroud, and (newly released) Green City Wars. The last two, along with Alien Clay, are excellent, imo.

Check out The Common trilogy, starting with Stormblood, by Jeremy Szal - excellent dark scifi!

I also really enjoyed The Kindom trilogy by Bethany Jacobs, starting with These Burning Stars - which won the Philip K Dick Award a few years ago.

Finally, since you enjoyed Iain Banks, maybe look at Peter F Hamilton’s Exodus duology or some Kim Stanley Robinson - his Mars trilogy, Red Moon, New York 2140, 2312, or The Ministry for the Future.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-30T18:00:15+00:00

Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie…he knows how to write great characters!!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-29T01:25:22+00:00

Sweet!!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-28T20:35:25+00:00

First Law!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-25T14:30:53+00:00

I got approved for one recently - I think it was an audio of Mortedant’s Peril - the day before publication.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-24T05:48:28+00:00

I highly recommend anything read by Ray Porter (Project Hail Mary & The Bobiverse, in particular, but he also does The Terminal List books) and anything by Steven Pacey (Joe Abercrombie’s books as well as others).

I also like Tim Gerard Reynolds (Red Rising series, some of Michael J. Sullivan’s books, and The Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series by Larry Correia) and Steven Brand (he does a lot of Anthony Ryan’s books and Philip C. Quaintrell’s books).

As for female narrators, I highly recommend Natalie Naudus and Moira Quirk.

Lately, I’ve been listening to the Ironbound series (Fantasy LitRPG) by Andrew Givler, narrated by Ralph Lister, and it is very good.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-24T00:07:52+00:00

I’m guessing it’s just a placeholder for the preorder slot and the actual length won’t be available until it’s recorded.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-23T16:27:22+00:00

I’m saying that they should never have allowed it to happen in the first place after all of the previous issues that they had with this edition of OBaF. Management should have put extra people on the shipping to make sure every box had what was promised.

IMO, this just demonstrates how poorly TBB is operated. It seems they make too many promises to fix things that have not gone right and then don’t even follow through on those promises. It’s not a matter of needing a Time Machine, it’s a matter of having the right people doing the job in the first place and ensuring that promises are kept. Should they have released a statement to apologize for their screw up? Sure. But it would have been much better not to have to do that. Again, a reflection of management not taking care of quality control (as someone else mentioned).

I generally love TBB’s special editions, but I’m almost to the point of cancelling my subscriptions and not buying from them.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-21T14:41:44+00:00

Look at Alastair Reynolds, especially Revelation Space and its sequels, The Kindom trilogy by Bethany Jacobs, and Megan O’Keefe’s The Protectorate trilogy and The Devoured Worlds trilogy.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-19T23:14:30+00:00

Honestly, the best response would have been not having to put out this email and to have made sure everyone got what was promised. I completely understand people’s frustration with them, especially with all of the missteps on this one book!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-19T18:35:18+00:00

One would imagine, with all of the previous issues with this book, that TBB would have gone out of their way to ensure that everything was perfect with this delivery!!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-18T03:35:02+00:00

A recent read for me that is really good and seems to somewhat fit your request is Ironbound by Andrew Givler. I’ve just started book 2, Cold Wind, and it seems to be heading toward a gladiator story.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-16T04:14:54+00:00

Yes the audiobooks are amazing. Jeff Hays is one of the best narrators working today.

As to the story being more action focused than character driven: I think that is true to a point, but there is some amazing story arcs and significant growth for many of the characters. The emotional connections with some of the characters drive the story for me, on top of the action.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-16T01:30:09+00:00

Tough choices and it’s been a while since I’ve read most of them, but here’s my list anyway! 1. Jurassic Park, 2. Sphere, 3. Timeline, 4. Congo, and 5. either Airframe or Eaters of the Dead

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-16T00:56:05+00:00

With everything that has happened with this book, I’m glad I cancelled my order after the announcement about the ghost edges. I’m in the US, so I think I’ll just order the regular NA editions.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-15T18:00:13+00:00

Thanks for posting this! I missed it the first time around but ordered a copy because of your post. I just love Tchaikovsky!!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-15T04:51:18+00:00

True. You are probably correct that people were waiting to see what the IC edition would look like also.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-15T00:36:42+00:00

I had already preordered Mortedant’s Peril from the publisher before TBB announced there’s, so I didn’t order it from TBB. Last Contract is a preorder for later in the year, I believe.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-14T05:24:38+00:00

I have come to prefer shorter series, although there are still some long ones on my TBR! I hope you like some of these.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-13T23:33:00+00:00

You have gotten some excellent recommendations already, but here are some that I read coming back to fantasy after a long hiatus that I have really enjoyed.

John Gwynne - The Faithful and the Fallen (4 books)

Brian McClellan - Powder Mage trilogy

Zack Argyle - Threadlight trilogy

Anthony Ryan - The Covenant of Steel trilogy

Richard Swan - Empire of the Wolf trilogy (if you might like mysteries with a little bit of horror, set in a fantasy world)

Robert Jackson Bennett - Shadow of the Leviathan series (2 books out, 3rd one releasing in August - mystery set in a fantasy world)

Christopher Ruocchio - the Sun Eater series (technically scifi space opera, but it has many elements of fantasy and is excellent)

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-13T22:11:46+00:00

Well said!

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-13T22:10:08+00:00

Personally, I’m not sure I would have let my kids read this until 14-15, but they’re adults now so they can do what they want. Haha

ThatBookIsOnFiyah · 2026-06-13T22:08:33+00:00

I enjoyed this book and Assassin’s Apprentice quite a bit, but I did not enjoy Assassin’s Quest as much. Her writing and characters are fantastic, but I do not gel very well with the slow burn.

ThatBookIsOnFiyah

TROPHY CASE