#J.S. Dewes

[belghast]

I Love Murderbot!

I Love Murderbot! - Reading update talking about Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, Divide Series by J.S. Dewes, and Sworn Soldier Series by T. Kingfisher

Hey Folks! I appear to be on this short book kick right now. One of my goals for this year was to not have this massive gulf where I was not really reading anything. Essentially last year I went through this period from the launch of Dawntrail in the summer through to November where I was not consuming books at all. I am really happier when I am actively reading things, and as such one of my big…

[libertyreads]

Starting my next read on a lazy Sunday.

[neptunesenceladus]

yj98 x rubicon fusion centered around bart where thad is his rubicon is where my minds at rn

[itspronouncedtessa]

2025 Reading Journal

January 23

Book 6 - The Relentless Legion - 3.5⭐

My review

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Rubicon | Author: J.S. Dewes | Publisher: Tor (2023)

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: Rubicon by J.S. Dewes

Author: J.S. DewesPublisher: Tor BooksReleased: March 28, 2023Received: NetGalley Goodreads | More Science Fiction Reviews Book Summary: The face of war changes once resurrection becomes a possibility. Unfortunately, that means soldiers such as Sergeant Adrienne Valero can’t earn their peace, no matter how desperately they may crave it. Valero has been resurrected ninety-six times. But this…

[libertyreads]

This was so good! I definitely recommend for fans of Sci-Fi.

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[itspileofgoodthings]

Great nature is more wise than I / I will not tell you not to weep.

[bloodgulchblog]

Finished Rubicon by J.S. Dewes.

Plot: Protagonist Adriene Valero has died 96 times in a war with hivemind space robots, and each time the chip in her brain has rezoned her into a new husk: a cloned copy of her body that lets her continue carrying on as a soldier. And each time, the trauma and numbness and apathy get worse.

After her latest disastrous mission, she is reassigned to a new posting where she isn't cannon fodder. Instead, she's now working with some of the fleet's best on a critical campaign to combat the Mechan threat, and has been given top-of-the-line equipment she'd never dreamed of.

It's also a chance to recover and start to feel like a human being again, and to remember how to make friends.

...Including the developing fully sapient AI in her new implant and the secret, unsanctioned opportunity it represents. Valero can make a difference in this war, but more importantly she might also be able to get what she wants more than anything else:

The deactivation of her rezone chip.

Opinion: Hell yeah, I had a great time (with like one major caveat.) You guys know me, I'm a character-focused person and I loooooove thoroughly-explored suffering.

Things to know that might matter to various friends and acquaintances and various opinions:

While Valero's insane reboot-after-death circumstances make her preoccupation with her own mortality into a fantasy problem I could handle cause it wasn't 2real, be aware that Valero spends a lot of time thinking about the ability to die for good and how bad she wants it back. It's one of the pieces of her humanity she feels has been taken from her.

Valero's trauma is excellent.

Nobody's gay and it doesn't do anything with gender. (I can generally tolerate that because I'm used to reading 50 year old cishet whiteguy SF anyway and let's be real this is a Halo blog, but I'm not everyone.)

This is not A Romance. There's a subplot and it's important because it illustrates the protagonist's recovering ability to feel emotions/give a shit, but this isn't romantic sf and doesn't follow genre conventions for romance. (I did appreciate how attraction-and-sexuality-as-evidence-of-recovery worked out as being very specifically about Valero and wasn't universalized as a ~human experience everyone must have or they're broken~ though so thanks for that, Dewes.)

The romantic subplot is not with the AI (but honestly that's a good thing imo because he's like 5 minutes old and doesn't have any other friends).

I wish there was more of the AI, we do get a lot but there's a time skip in the book that makes me feel like there wasn't enough.

Hopefully this isn't saying too much, but the ending is the kind of thing that is going to require a sequel in order to not feel like shit, for me. The last chapter hits like a gutpunch. It's interesting and I think the whole rest of the book is worth it and pretty well done, but god damn.

If you want actual spoilers feel free to ask and I'll dish, but I think it's a cool book so I will leave it vague here.

[zitasaurusrex]

An attempt to recall every book I read in 2024 (not in the order i read them, and i'm sure i'm missing some)

Rubicon - J.S. Dewes Halo: Epitaph - Kelly Gay Underland: A Deep Time Journey - Robert Macfarlane 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke Foundation - Isaac Asimov All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, System Collapse - Martha Wells Exordia - Seth Dickinson Startide Rising - David Brinn Dragonflight, Dragonquest, The White Dragon, Moreta Dragonlady of Pern, Dragonsdawn, All the Weyrs of Pern, Dragonseye, The Skies of Pern - Anne McCaffrey Joust - Mercedes Lackey To Shape A Dragon's Breath - Moniquill Blackgoose The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros (did not finish) Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman An Indigenous People's History of the United States - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia - Elizabeth Catte Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown The Myth of American Idealism - Nathan J. Robinson and Noam Chomsky Entangled Life - Merlin Sheldrake ADHD 2.0 - Hallowell and Ratey The Bezzle, Information Doesn't Want to be Free - Cory Doctorow A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn Dragonlance: Dragons of Eternity - Weiss and Hickmann Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer The Elements of Eloquence - Mark Forsyth

Honorable mentions because I started them but did not finish them before year end: 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (finished) Dog Country - Malcolm F Cross (not yet) Doom: Knee Deep in the Dead (i forgor)

[jtownnn]

3. and 4. for the book ask!

eeeee thank you for asking!

3. what were your top five books of the year?

oh man, okay. not in order, but -

the blighted stars by megan e. o'keefe

wind and truth by brandon sanderson

midnight in chernobyl by adam higginbotham

the will of the many by james islington

the wings upon her back by samantha mills

honorable mention to foundryside by robert jackson bennett and the last watch by j.s. dewes and tadek and the princess by alexandra rowland.

4. did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

i will read anything and everything that megan e. o'keefe writes FOREVER. the devoured worlds trilogy changed me at a molecular level

the book ask

[belghast]

Ancestors Atlas Complete

Ancestors Atlas Complete - I finish my Atlas of Worlds in Path of Exile and talk about the redemption arc for Storm Brand Inquisitor as well as finishing Old Man's War.

Friends! I have completed my Atlas! I have essentially resorted to the behavior that I always end up resorting to, and purchased the last 5 unique maps from the trade market. There are two that are always grossly expensive because they unlock two exceptionally powerful meta-crafting recipes, so combined they were around 100 Chaos. The rest were dirt cheap in the 2-5 Chaos range, but having them…

[libertyreads]

Starting my next read of the year tomorrow morning.

[reading-cat]

Top 5 Best Books of 2023

Because I smh read 106 books this year and I need to scream about this.

1. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Do I even need to explain? It’s the Stormlight Archive. It’s Kaladin.

2. The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Omg. Oh. My. God. This book was made for me. Time travel shenanigans? Check. Non-linear narration? Check. Assembling the story piece by piece until you realise that everything you’ve been told is a lie? Check! And off course a casually queer protagonist. What else could you possibly want.

3. Vicious by V. E. Schwab

The atmosphere was immaculate. The characters absolutely unhinged. I have a couple of complaints about the sequel, but this first book was exactly what I want from a story about villains. Does anyone want to experiment on ourselves in the name of science and then go absolutely batshit crazy and try to murder each other? No?

4. Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I really wasn’t expecting to like this book so much. I’m not usually one for romance, but this hit me like a bag of bricks. I wanna have what they have (politically, that is).

5. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

My favourite book in the series, thought I haven’t finished Return of the Thief yet. As a big lover of the POV Outsider tag on ao3, The Queen’s Thief books give me so much joy.

Honorary mentions: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, The Divide series by J.S. Dewes, Первая Печать by Natalia Osoianu, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

[actuallyitsstar]

1, 2, 3, 13, 16, and 26 for music asks?

✨ send me a number & i'll answer w/ a song + my fav. lyrics! ✨

a song you like with a color in the title

there just has to be a fob song in here doesn't there! it has pretty lyrics and melodies and i just think it's neat <3

jet pack blues // fall out boy

she's in a long black coat tonight waiting for me in the downpour outside she's singing baby come home in a melody of tears while the rhythm of the rain keeps time

2. a song you like with a number in the title

this in my top five from marina's debut album!

seventeen // marina

i never fell down like a princess i used to kid myself in distress that it was just how things were meant to be seventeen, seventeen

3. a song that reminds you of summertime

the summer after my partner and i met we went halvsies on a season pass to a nearby amusement park and went like every weekend. it was a hot, sticky summer, and it seemed that in the queue line for every single coaster, the tvs that played songs and stuff were always playing this song. it's the only thing i can think about when i hear it.

bellyache // billie eilish

everything i do, the way i wear my noose like a necklace i wanna make 'em scared, like i could be anywhere like i'm reckless

13. one of your favorite 80s songs

i grew up listening to a lot of 70s and 80s music due to the age of my parents, and styx was a big household favorite. they have a lot of songs i like but this one is a weird deepcut that i've always rly liked and also, it's just relatable, lol.

just get through this night // styx

i could be a novelist, tell secrets never heard pour my soul into each and every sentence but i just can't find the words still i know that you're out there, and you can relate to it all and i could bear this cold and stormy winter if i could just get through this fall

16. one of your favorite classical songs

i'll be honest i'm a basic bitch for this but it's pretty. it's also used to haunting effect in the soundtrack of the mentalist, i think in season 3?

prelude in c major as performed by sébastien ridé, by j.s. bach

26. a song that makes you want to fall in love

as a known aromantic i'm not exactly the biggest proponent of on-the-nose love songs but this is an atmospheric one that i've always liked (tho i know it's overplayed, especially recently on tik tok).

just the two of us // grover washington jr. ft. bill withers

i hear the crystal raindrops fall on the window down the hall and it becomes the morning dew and darling, when the morning comes and i see the morning sun i want to be the one with you

[madamairlock]

I should be asleep but I ADHD lost track of time while writing and @slippery-domjot-balls tagged me, so I'm honor-bound to answer.

Last song I listened to:

-Right Where You Left Me--Taylor Swift

Currently reading:

Crimson Death by Laurell K. Hamilton

Rubicon by J.S Dewes

Currently watching:

Strange New Worlds season one!

Current obsession:

Major Crimes and BSG right now, but I'm hoping to deep dive back into Star Trek soon. It's honestly just a cycle of these three at any given moment.

Tagging mutuals I would enjoy hearing from: I'm sure you guys have done this before, but I love to see how your answers change! And of course, no obligation to do it. @allatariel, @holy-ships-x-red-lips, @caitylove, @themagicm (since she's returned to tumblr-land and I've missed her greatly), @bizships, @theshadowsedges, and @ltcommanderkathrynjaneway :)