Return to Pulp: A Review of Fury of the Tomb, by S. A. Sidor

Pulp fiction is a relatively new genre of fiction, originating in the late eighteen-hundreds, at the height of Western colonization.  The sun never set on the British empire, and they (along with the Americans) ransacked the world in an endless hunt for artifacts and remnants and ancient civilizations.  None of them held a greater allure than Egypt.  While the genre was popularized by Indiana Jones, it predates the archaeologist by many years.  The tales of Allan Quartermain and She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard really brought pulp fiction into prominence.  Ancient tombs and treasures were being discovered every day, and the world was much larger than it is today.  At the turn of the century, the Western world became obsessed.

Insurrection: A Review of Tiamat’s Wrath, by James S. A. Corey

This month we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, where the first humans in history stepped foot on the Moon.  The first steps a human took on a celestial body other than the Earth.  For all of known history, we have looked to the stars and wondered what was out there.  Today, we know more than we ever have about the worlds beyond our own, but that has does nothing to stop people’s imaginations from filling in the blanks.  Tiamat’s Wrath is the latest novel in James S. A. Corey’s ground-breaking science fiction series, The Expanse.  Beginning in 2011 with Leviathan Wakes, these books have taken a realistic approach to fictional space travel, using the technology of today to extrapolate and imagine what space exploration may look like in the future.  It is not an exaggeration to say that The Expanse is one of the greatest works of modern science-fiction.

A Note about Tomorrow’s Review: Tiamat’s Wrath

Tomorrow morning I will be posting a review of James S. A. Corey’s Tiamat’s Wrath, book 8 in one of my favorite works of modern science-fiction, The Expanse.  This eventual 9 book series has been released almost every year since 2011, and even spawned The Expanse tv series, recently purchased by Amazon.  As this review is concerning a sequel, much of what I discuss may not make sense to someone who is not familiar with the story.  Unfortunately, this is not a series I would recommend jumping into partway through.

If you have not read The Expanse series yet, I highly suggest catching up on this excellent work of science-fiction.  I consider this series to be one of the defining works of modern science-fiction.  To see my thoughts on the series until now, check out my previous posts “2017 Reading List Part 5” which talks about the first 6 books in the series, and “The Art of Empire Building,” my review of book 7.

https://cityonthemoonblog.com/2017/12/15/2017-reading-list-part-5/

https://cityonthemoonblog.com/2017/12/27/the-art-of-empire-building-a-review-of-persepolis-rising-by-james-s-a-corey/