Books on ❯ terminal velocity_

Children of Time

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alternating chapters follow the cultural evolution of Portia labiata spiders over generations and the desperate human crew of a generation ship running out of options. A nanovirus accelerates spider intelligence through millennia of civilisational development. First contact between species who are both “children” of Old Earth.

Review

If you are an arachnophobe, you should not read this book under any circumstance. I mean it. If that does not bother you, it is definitely a fascinating thought experiment of evolutionary pathways. For me the end - first contact of 2 different species - was a bit weak.

The Rise of Endymion

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Aenea grows into her role as architect of humanity’s next evolution. Raul narrates from a Schrodinger cat box. The TechnoCore, the Shrike, the Lions and Tigers and Bears – all threads converge. A bittersweet conclusion that recontextualises the entire saga.

Review

For me personally the weakest of them all, even though it gives a nice conclusion to the entire story. The weakness is mostly rooted in the way Simmons wrote the main protagonist Raul, who at times is much more stupid than the reader observing the world through his eyes.

Endymion

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Raul Endymion must shepherd Aenea – daughter of two Hyperion pilgrims – across worlds while the Catholic Church’s Pax hunts her. The farcaster network is gone, the universe has changed, and the cruciforms that once horrified now form the basis of civilisation. A chase narrative across exotic worlds.

Review

Road trip through the Galaxy - at different speeds. Also, the best chapter of the original Hyperion makes a fascinating return here.

The Fall of Hyperion

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Direct continuation of Hyperion. The Hegemony goes to war, the AI TechnoCore’s conspiracy unfolds, and each pilgrim faces the Shrike. Told through the eyes of a cybrid clone of John Keats. Grand-scale space opera that resolves (most of) the first book’s mysteries.

Review

An absolute banger, and next to the original Hyperion the most fun to read. The end is fascinating and unmistakably alludes to certain real-life things.

Hyperion

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Canterbury Tales in space. Seven pilgrims on a last voyage to Hyperion each tell their story – a priest’s encounter with parasitic resurrection, a soldier’s love affair across time, a poet’s Faustian bargain. The Shrike awaits. Structured as a frame narrative that ends on a devastating cliffhanger.

Review

If you don’t hate cliffhangers (though I am not sure we can call this one, since it is obvious from a mile away) this book is an absolute must-read. I have procrastinated reading anything Simmons, and especially the Hyperion Cantos for ages, but this first book is definitely the masterpiece of the series.

Between Two Fires

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

France, 1348. A fallen knight and a peasant girl who sees angels must reach Avignon to deliver a message to the Pope. The plague is no natural disaster – it’s cover for a war in heaven, and the demons stalking them are terrifyingly real. Dark medieval horror that reads like Cormac McCarthy writing Dante’s Inferno.

Review

I don’t have many words to waste: this book kept me glued to my e-reader and was one of the best medieval horror fantasy books I have ever read. If you haven’t read it, you should have FOMO.

Mona Lisa Overdrive

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Four narratives converge: a prostitute surgically altered to look like a simstim star, a young girl who can perceive cyberspace without jacking in, a yakuza-connected art dealer, and returning character Molly Millions. The AIs from Neuromancer reach their endgame.

Review

Personally a slight improvement from Count Zero, as the stories start converging into a satisfying end of the trilogy.

Count Zero

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Set seven years after Neuromancer. Three narratives – a rookie hacker, a corporate mercenary, and an art dealer – intersect around strange entities haunting the Matrix. The fragmented Wintermute AI has evolved into something resembling voodoo loa.

Review

A bit weaker than its predecessor, and for me personally Gibson’s (deliberately) chaotic writing style manifests even more here - I know some critics might say that it’s on purpose, but I simply don’t like it.

Neuromancer

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A burned-out console cowboy named Case is hired by a shadowy ex-military officer to pull off the ultimate hack – merging two AIs into a superintelligence. Gibson’s debut novel defined the cyberpunk genre and gave us the word “cyberspace.”

Review

Yeah, I was late to a classic, so what. Great book, you should read it, shockingly relevant and the basis for the Cyberpunk genre as we know it. Not a 10 out of 10, because I really struggle with Gibson’s writing style.