Rhino: The Rise of a Warrior tells the story of the Cazador soldier Rhino, from his childhood through his rise in the ranks, right up until the start of the main Hell Divers series. For me, the deck was certainly stacked against this book even though it is a spin off from a series that I really enjoyed. I rarely like side stories that focus on one of the supporting characters in a series, and I absolutely hate it when when an audiobook series changes narrators. However, Ray Porter is an excellent narrator, and the main PoV character of the original series is not in this book at all, so I decided to give it a shot.. The ratings on this one are pretty high, and I have to say, they are completely justified.

There was a time that people said the moon looked like it was made of cheese. Why? Who knows, it never looked much like cheese to me but in Scalzi's latest walk on the ridiculous side of science fiction the moon suddenly morphs into actual cheese. So do all of the moon rocks that have been collected on Earth. Politicians panic and demand answers of scientists, who are mostly stupefied, to calm the bewildered public. A few lives are more directly impacted by the change including the astronauts scheduled to make a lunar landing and the billionaire holding the government contract to build and test the new space shuttles that will take them there. It's a wild ride through the ridiculous, the impossible, and even the existential but where does it end?

The Santa Mica is an out of date ship kept running through the hard work and innovation of its crew, while hauling cargo and serving as a training ship for newly commissioned Captains. These captains are typically scions from wealthy corporations, which is why the crew is baffled by their latest Captain, Cirilo Webster, who earned his rank serving several years in the corporation's "security" division. Everyone knows the security division primarily exists to maintain Santiago Corporation's monopoly on FTL ships if bribes and threats fail. No one trusts them, least of all other former members like the Santa Mica's Security Chief. Webster finds earning the trust of the crew tough going, especially the Shipmind Nephil, an artificial intelligence so old they're the only one in Santiago that has managed to pay off the "debt" of their creation. A trip to a remote planetary system after their usual cargo hauler failed to arrive leads to a pirate trap, a cybernetic combat robot that might be developing a personality, and ferrying a group of Santiago hating academics to a planet with mysterious alien ruins. Forget the secrets, explosions, and aliens, never set out on a six month trip with a malfunctioning coffee machine.

Prior to this finale, the scope of the Library Trilogy has been continually increasing, consistently adding new characters and races, then spanning worlds, and even spanning multiple timelines. All part of a rather brutal and bloody conflict, the latest chapter of an eternal war over the right to share knowledge. The time spanning library at the center of this battle has made for a unique backdrop, and three different factions have been built up all striving for different outcomes. There are those who want to preserve the library and ensure that the knowledge within it remains freely accessible to all, there are those that want to destroy it and force the knowledge to be properly earned rather than given, and there is the middle ground that want to preserve the library and make the knowledge available in a more controlled way. So did all this set up from the first two books adequately set the stage for this grand finale where we ultimately learn the outcome of this eternal battle?

Michael is a thirteen year old foster child fighting for his life in the slums of Baltimore when his Earth power emerges. Given that he was busy killing gang members, mostly in self defense on this occasion, prosecution is waived, but he has to join the Junior Super Corps until he's eighteen. You'd think that gaining super powers and moving to New York City would bring positive changes into his life but not so much. Most of the hierarchy think he's a vulgar loose cannon, which he is, but they're mostly concerned that he might say the wrong thing in public and for an organization with such a shiny image they definitely have things to hide. Their few secrets that Michael doesn't already know, such as the government is really run behind the scenes by a secret group called The Society, he will know soon enough because he's a hacker working for an opposing secret group that takes very seriously the words all Supers hear when they gain their powers....the storm is coming.

The first book of this series focused on the relationship between the two main PoV characters, Livira and Evar, and the conflict between their respective races. Eventually that became intermingled with the eternal conflict taking place within the library itself and things got complicated. The trend of continually expanding the scope continues here and this book starts by introducing two new characters at an unknown point in the timeline of the characters from the first book. These new characters are Ganar, a new race that gets woven into the same eternal conflict, and one that will forever change the nature of the battle. With even more PoV characters in this book you would expect it be just as character driven, but the opposite is actually true. Mark Lawrence instead leans into the brain-burning, timeline twisting eternal library battle and the characters take a bit more a back seat. Is this a change for the better or is this another case of an author letting the big picture story getting in the way of the characters?

This second book of Tandemstar takes us to Kingdoms, where the five gods of the Pantheon blessed a family line as living avatars to rule and technology is restricted. Enter Battine Alconnot, the -not denoting that she did not inherit the blessing of the god Ho, whose childhood sweetheart inherited the throne, but because Battine is Unblessed had to marry her sister instead. She usually avoids the court and her family, but promised her sister to attend this festival. The King tries to talk to Battine alone, saying that she is owed an apology, but before he can explain they are interrupted by the queen and later that night he is found dead. The murderer has unfortunately framed Battine, so with the help of an outsider and a servant ,she sneaks around the castle while looking for the truth. The shocking truth makes no sense to Battine but sends her to an ancient temple seeking the deepest secret of the Blessed.

This is a very unique concept coming from author Mark Lawrence, and I gave it a shot even though I've bounced off some of his stuff in the past, like Prince of Thorns. This time around he was able to grab me though, with a story that builds up in a very interesting way. The world is exposed to you through the eyes of two children, Livira and Evar, and their very different lives. Livira is a duster, who winds up being captured as a child when sabbers invade her meager desert settlement and kill all the adults. She is rescued from that situation and brought to Crath city, which is a wondrous place to a juvenile duster, and home of the Athenaeum, the great library. It is this library that is the centerpiece of the series, and it is a place so large it is impossible to ever explore it all. Evar is a 20 year old who was also orphaned as a child, and he has grown up within the library itself, trapped there with his siblings. As Livira and Evar explore the world around them, we learn about the library from two very different angles, and a multi-layered story begins to unfold.

If my life was on the line and I needed a fictional character to rescue me, Joe Ledger would have to be near the top of my preferred list. This ex-Baltimore cop is the stereotypical killer that fights on the side of good, and he is more than willing to do some very evil things to make sure he accomplishes the mission. He never monologues with the bad guy, he just gets the job done no matter how bad the odds are. So it's always an exciting day when a new Joe Ledger book comes out and offers a chance to spend more time with Joe and the rest of Havoc Team as they save the world from yet another existential threat. This time a number of old threats are back to sow chaos and it is going to take all of RTI's resources to keep them at bay. Is there anything new to be found here or this just old material that's been recycled to feed the hungry fans of the series?

Makk had the misfortune to be born on a day believed to be so unlucky that his parents barely paused long enough to get him tattooed with the outcast mark before dumping him at an orphanage. The stigma of that mark is so strong that before becoming a cop Makk considered joining the House, planet Dib's religious organization, simply because some of the monks wear concealing robes that would hide it. The city of Velon's best detective also grew up in an orphanage and is therefore familiar with their compound when a scholarly monk is found murdered. Almost from the beginning this isn't a typical case. The monk, Orno, is the younger brother of Velon's most notorious criminal. Orno had recently stolen a priceless ancient religious text that no one can read, but it appears to discuss the Culling, when the god known as the Outcast will return and bring about the apocalypse. Then, just to really annoy Makk, he gets saddled with a shiny new detective as a partner. Everyone wants the case solved without any secrets being revealed, but in a world where independent reporters record everything with drones and conspiracy theories are more common than facts, Makk will have difficulty distinguishing the possible from the impossible.