Light Chaser

Are you looking for science fiction that has a female lead written like a human being? This is a good one! The authors, despite being male scifi authors, did not spend a lot of time writing about Amahle's boobs! This is far from the only strength of the book but oh, how refreshing. She is a wonderful character, extraordinarily capable, and fun to follow.

Despite technically being in the novella category, this definitely reads as a well-written short story - and I'm not complaining! The world-building is dropped in pretty naturally and you get a good sense of what's going on, while also feeling that you only scrape the surface. The concept is really cool - it's so nice to read scifi that doesn't hold AI/AGI on a pedestal, given the current situation - although it would have been nice to see it developed a bit more. My biggest complaint is that some jumps in plot/logic were very sudden - Amahle figuring out things that she shouldn't be able to figure out.

Her and Carloman were sweet together - a nice undertone to the plot. And the way the prologue ties to the ending? Gorgeous. It's the kind of ending that leaves you with questions.