From which you may gather that self has been obsessively re-reading Shards of Earth, by British writer Adrian Tchaikovsky (She is also still reading — and hugely enjoying — Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson). From which you may gather that, yes, self did actually buy herself a copy (it was for a good cause, she supports her local independent bookstore)
Below, a very exciting scene: Solace point of view, p. 218
The laser caught her as she swooped down on the Tothiat, and her entire world dissolved into danger warnings and error messages. Solace aborted the attack instantly, using the gravity handles to scrabble backwards through the air, bobbing erratically. She had lost all the servos down one side, the plates of her armor half melted together by the heat. There was also a great deal of pain and blistered skin on the inside. But you could only heal from that if someone didn’t kill you first, so she put it out of her mind. She swung around, trying to handle Mr. Punch one-handed, trying to find her new enemy.
She found him just as he rammed a new cell into his exhausted laser and levelled it at her, faceless behind his visor.
Damn, she thought, and Rollo shot him, shattering that plastic mask and sending the man pitching backwards.
— Shards of Earth, p. 218
Solace is fighting a Tothiat, which is just about the nastiest creature alive in any galaxy. Solace is a warrior, bred from a vat. But she has feelings. (Why? They shouldn’t have bred warriors with feelings — what good are they? Nevertheless. She is one of self’s favorite characters in Shards of Earth. She and the Int, Idris Telemmier)
Tchaivosky is not known for writing action scenes, but self is so grateful that he tried it with The Final Architecture. Of course, he excels.
Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 