January 2025 Reading Reflections

Ever since I finished Generation Ship by Michael Mammay, I've been on a bit of a author kick. Several of the blurbs about Generation Ship mentioned Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, so of course I had to read that. I do see the connection, in that Heart of Darkness provides a candid view into colonialism in Africa in the late nineteenth century, while Generation Ship also explores themes of colonialism in the far future.

I hadn't heard of [https://www.michaelmammay.com](Michael Mammay) before now. Generation Ship tells its story from several different perspectives, some of which I'm very familiar with, others that are very different from my way of thinking. At first it was a little to real, in the sense that as I was reading I would thing "Yep, I've had that conversation before". As I continued to read, though, I was both caught up in the journey and fascinated by perspectives I had never really considered before.

After reading Michael's background and learning that he's an Army veteran, I was particularly impressed that the military didn't play a bigger role in Generation Ship than it did. I've enjoyed military science fiction in the past, so I decided to read his https://app.thestorygraph.com/series/23949 series next. I'm currently on the third book and enjoying the series so far. The main character, Carl Butler, is an interesting and complicated person. I particularly appreciate his awareness of his own faults, even if he (like most of us) tends to forget or downplay his strengths.

I'm still chugging through the audiobook version of The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. This is probably the third time I've taken a stab at The Wheel of Time series. I do enjoy fantasy, if not as much as science fiction. I struggle with how complex the world-building can be; I've tended to lose interested when reading in book form, so I'm attempting it in audiobook form this time.

I was spoiled by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosamund_Pike](Rosamund Pike)'s narration of the first three books. I couldn't get my hands on the fourth book narrated by her, while the narrators of The Shadow Rising are quite good, Rosamund does excel at bringing th characters to life. I may have to take a break from the series and wait for her narration of future books if they aren't available yet. That said, I do find it interesting that that the edition of The Shadow Rising that I'm currently listening to is narrated by both a male and a female narrator, depending on the gender of the character whose point of view we're hearing from.