A few years ago, gigantic circular portals opened up across the Earth and for the first few months they did nothing. Then suddenly they released hordes of monsters and millions died. Since that time we've learned that the portals lead to world fragments with a core that can be destroyed before the monsters reach critical mass and invade Earth. We've also learned that these fragments are rich in valuable minerals and plants, which is a huge help in fighting the monsters, but our best weapons are actually the few humans who have developed Talents. Talents are superpowers that can grow more powerful with use or even gain additional skills. Some can summon an invulnerable shield once a day, manipulate lightning, or move with amazing speed and make up strike teams to destroy the cores. Other Talents aren't combat related, but might be even more valuable, like Adaline's ability to evaluate the importance of what she sees, which allows teams to extract rare minerals and plants. For ten years she has risked her life in the Breaches, but today is her unlucky day. Alone and wounded, she still tries to help a dying humanoid who passes on an unusual inheritance.

Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the king of apocalyptic story telling, with a portfolio of series that range from realistic to fantastic. This one definitely falls on the realistic side of the scale, so much so that classifying it as science fiction isn't exactly accurate. Ten years ago it might have felt pretty fictional, but in the current tribal political climate in the US it now feels way too possible. The US National Guard is rebranded as the American Military Patriots (AMP) and these federal troops are used to invade various states that are branded as rebels. The US Marines are blamed for some of the chaos going on in the country and before we know it, we have US troops fighting against each other on American soil. With infrastructure crumbling, the environment is ripe for gangs and crime families to prosper, and within this turmoil the Moretti family sets its sights on taking over the city of Los Angeles. With good cops fighting corrupt ones, Latino gangs fighting the mafia, and the marines fighting against AMP, Los Angeles becomes the battleground of an apocalyptic future.

In a Fleet full of "throw-backs", gifted descendants of genetically enhanced soldiers, none are more valued than those who can pilot a ship through the shunt of hyperspace. It takes special vision to see the golden light of the shunt and skill to find the thin blue lines leading to an exit. Dan was the best pilot in the Fleet until he refused to sleep with a Colonel and they used his addiction to the drug Haze as an excuse to kick him out. Now the Fleet wants him back to pilot a covert mission investigating rumors that the shunts are collapsing. In addition to a regular supply of Haze, they offer him the only other thing he wants, to be back in the shunt riding the blue. It's a risky mission. Not only is someone causing panic by spreading rumors about the shunts, but there's a hate group trying to discredit the throw-backs and the Fleet so many of them serve. Is it one of the four alien races not part of their alliance? How is a shipping company and its investors involved? But most importantly, what is Dan's connection to the pilot who recorded the only collapse of a shunt 180 years ago?

Up until now, each book of the Street Rats of Aramoor series has focused on different tribe of kids, and the time has come focus on Ayrion's own tribe, Avalanche. Yes, technically Ayrion started in a different tribe that has already had a book, but let's not quibble right off the bat. This is the finale of the series and Michael Wisehart uses it to bring back some key characters from prior books into one final adventure before Ayrion moves on to become the Guardian Protector of the King. Like a meal full of comfort food in front of a warm fire, this book seems to have everything a fan of the series would want in a finale, but how is the story itself?

This is a long series, and sometimes it gets bogged down in details about cultivation and/or blow by blow action scenes. However, every once in a while Zac learns a bit more about his origins and his connections to both the ancient Limitless Empire, which created the System, and the Technocrats, that would prefer to destroy it. This fifteenth book in the series spends much less time on cultivation and instead makes major advances in both the main plot as well as secondary characters and sub-plots, which has reignited my interest in this series, especially after book fourteen wasn't as exciting as I had hoped it would be.

God's attention seems to be elsewhere and as Lucifer unleashes his minions on Earth, God makes no answer. The year is 1348 and the Black Death is rampant, but that's just a small part of the problem. The war between heaven and hell has spilled over on to Earth and a young girl rich in faith tries to fight back against the horrors. Is it her faith that makes this possible, or is she just as mad as everyone else? Thomas isn't sure, but as a fallen knight who dreams of redemption, he can't help but take up her cause, no matter how annoying she happens to be. This unlikely duo travels around medieval France coming up against one horror after another, and while Thomas tries to solve every problem through killing, Delphine urges peace. They may disagree on the methods for fighting back against Hell's minions, but why is it up to them in the first place? Where is God and why is he allowing this to happen?

The mercenary wonderist Cade, a great term for various forms of magician, and his friend, frenemies, as well as a few random add-ons stepped up to prevent an extra-planar invasion of their world. Too bad they were being used and now instead of a simple invasion the Celestine Plane and Infernal Plane have access to Cade's world and angels and demons are wreaking havoc using mortal lives to keep score. Angry at being tricked, and just angry with everyone in general, the Malevolent Seven have sworn to kick out the celestines and infernals with their newly coined motto "Peace at any price, no matter how many people we have to kill". Does this sequel live up to dark irreverent humor of the original?

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 Chronicles of Elantra is one of my favorite series thanks to the colorful variety of races, but Shards of Glass, the first book of the Academia Chronicles, was not my favorite because it focused so much on one of Sagara's creative arcane puzzles and this was one I couldn't quite grasp. So I was pleasantly surprised that Raven and her special "glass" were only a tiny part of this book and that it was much less complicated and made a lot more sense. There are no arcane mysteries here, just Robin attending classes in between dodging assassination attempts while the Chancellor Lanagaros, a dragon, and Teela a Barrani try to figure out how to expose his murderous uncle and get him safely in charge of the potentially world ending Gardianno legacy. Poor Robin would rather just forget all of that and attend classes even if Teela is now one of his instructors.