Welcome to Litsy!

Scalzi returns to the world of Hadens for another near future sci fi mystery masterpiece, this time turning his attention to corruption in sports, and further, just industries where people are commodities and the almighty dollar always comes first.

Great characters, quick pacing, and a unique storyline come together with Scalzi's signature humor to make for a stellar read!

A Hayden player, of the only league game Haydens can play, is killed during a game - it cannot have been the deliberate decapitation of his Threep. Chris and Vance start to investigate and in true fashion Chris soon needs a new Threep.

Liked this second book and wouldn't mind another book.

#SeriesLove2024 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

Listened to these back to back and as always love Scalzi and Wheaton as narrator ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really hope we get another book in the series.

I usually try to avoid dropping into a series after the first installment, but Scalzi delineates his world of “threeps“ so well that it was easily to be swept away in a murder mystery involving investigators, suspects, and victims whose consciousnesses reside in artificial bodies. So far, Scalzi has ever disappointed.

June was a decent month for me. 21 books total (4 were audio rereads). My favorite for the month was Head On by Scalzi. I do hope he writes more in that series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I liked Lock In quite a lot, but I loved this one. I wish Scalzi would write more of these.

#TBRPile 📚 “By the time Duane Chapman died on the Hilketa field, his head had already been torn off twice.”

I enjoyed this follow up to “Lock In”. Chris and Vann are simply fun characters to follow through an investigation. Also, the world created by Scalzi is still interesting to me. I‘m already on the list at the library for “Unlocked” 😊

So good! These books really had a lot of twists and were really interesting. I loved all the robots and such! Would recommend! Hope there is another in the future! 🤩

Only available on Audible which only downside. Will Wheaton does excellent job with narration too.

#TBRPile 📚 A daring new sport is taking the US by storm. It‘s frenetic, violent, and the aim is to obtain your opponent‘s head and carry it through the goalposts. The players use robot bodies which are operated mentally, so no one gets hurt - and the crowds love it. Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field ... ☠️

Friday evening back porch reading. This is a great book so far!

📕 Head On by John Scalzi
✒️ Drew Hayes
🎥 Holes
🎶 Higher by The Score

#manicmonday #letterH @JoScho

📖 Tagged
📖 Robert Heinlein
📺 Heroes
📽 Howard The Duck (so sue me, it makes me laugh 🤣)
🎤 Don Henley
🎶 Hard Act To Follow - Split Enz

#manicmonday #LetterH @JoScho

Just the diverting entertainment I was looking for. Another fast and furious case exploring the criminal abuses of the post Haden‘s Syndrome world. Chris is an easy narrator (I love keeping score of threep collateral damage) and Agent Vann is peak awesome. Plus they get a cat. What‘s not to like?

I really enjoyed the mix of mystery and scifi in this sequel. Getting a deeper look into the worldbuilding and seeing more of all the characters was great. I like how the advanced technology makes it both easier and harder to investigate and solve the case. Plus there's a cat named Donut, so how can anything not be amazing about this book?

4.5 of 5 stars. Not quite as immersive as Lock In but still compulsively readable - I really liked the introduction of franchise sports as a way to drive the crime procedural plot forward. And the humor. It scratches a few of those Thursday Next itches I have. If Scalzi wanted to make this an ongoing series I would totally read it.

Took me two books to figure out that Chris, being a first-person narrator, is never referred to in any gendered way.

This one is book 2 yet it can totally stand alone. If you like elements of sci fi, detective stories and mysteries, with a touch of humor, definitely read these books.

I gave it 3 stars due to not enough character development surrounding the mystery. The mains are all good and solid, but lacking something in the story overall. It was readable and light but honestly, nothing thrilling.

The great world building of the previous book continues in Head On. I liked the characters interaction and if there are going to be more books in this world, I'll definitely give them a shot.

Good but not as good as the first one.

Library books FTW.

First book finished in this readathon. I loved this series. The second was just as good as the first. The blending of murder mystery and Sci-Fi worked so well. Usually one or the other suffers but not so here. A world in which people have to use avatars due to an illness is plausible and how humans interacted was spot on. I could eadily see more books in this series.
#24B4Monday #24IN48 @TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

📖 Tagged. BTW, I am loving it!❤
📖 Gryffindor
📖 Young Sheldon

Here is my planned reading for this #24B4Monday readathon. I have started Ensnare and Head On and should finish those. Then I will move on to The Blameless Dead and The Wolf and The Watchman after that if I can. 🤞

A sport played by human brains piloting replaceable android bodies is legit terrifying. I appreciate the world building, but good lord.

Our FBI duo is back, investigating the suspicious death of a Haden athlete, uncovering vast conspiracies and dealing with the repercussions from last book.

One of the things I love the most about this series is the gender neutral language, not only about the narrator, but from all other characters. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Today's book haul from Book Outlet. I managed to snag a signed first edition of Head On. 🧡📚

At times the plot became a bit too convoluted for my tastes, but overall it was an entertaining mystery with a satisfying conclusion that tied everything up with a nice bow. 4 💥💥💥💥 out of 5

I hadn't planned to read this next, but it came from the library hold today so I want to start asap....

Today's book mail! I loved the first book Lock In. Found this used hardcover at Thrift Books. Can't wait to read!

Turns out disability problems don't go away even with magical future neural net tech.

I enjoyed Lock In, so hopefully will enjoy this one too

A detective story combined with a well fleshed out sci fi world in which disabled people pilot robots for accessibility. One fascinating feature is that the protagonist's gender is never revealed. It doesn't turn out to be relevant to the story. I think that says a lot about the creative open-mindedness of the author.
The book is snarky, intriguing, unique, and the audio I had was narrated by Wil Wheaton. What could be better?

I absolutely loved Lock In when I read it earlier this year, so I can't wait to dive back into this world!

Done! A good SF murder mystery. Like the first, it had some inconsistencies with names (book 1: Janis or Janice? book 2: Elise or Elsie?), but I notice these things because, hi, hello, I used to be a copy editor. This book was a blast, though—and this from someone who doesn‘t usually enjoy mysteries. Recommend! #24in48

Sequel time! #24in48

This was a random pick-up in the library, so I didn't have high expectations since I'd never heard anyone mention the title or author. It was amazing though! I love the world Scalzi has built and the characters he's created. I didn't realize this was a follow-up book, but now I get to go back and read the first one and couldn't be happier! 😍

Is this a regional construction, maybe? I‘ve never heard it. I like it, though. Anyway, a third through this one already, and I think I started about ten minutes ago. Scalzi always reads fast: good exposition handling, dialogue-driven story, and all the surprises and reversals we need to keep us turning the page. Funny, too.

Great sequel! I look forward to more books set in this world he has created.

Scalzi and cold brew. Two great things on a Sunday morning.

“It‘s a cat,” I said. “If Donut wants to spend time with you, he‘ll show up in your room and sit on your important things.” #CatsofLitsy

Okay so idk what it‘s about but I love my hair so much that I‘m taking a lot of selfies? While listening to my audiobook, of course.
I‘m reminded that Scalzi uses a lot of dialog tags, which annoys me: can we not adjust audio, especially to accommodate those details?

#audiowalk to the Dykes on Bikes fundraiser. Happy #Pride Month! #glitter #femmeAF

As usual with Scalzi the book was fun, smoothly paced, and entertaining. I always look forward to Scalzi's banter and this doesn't disappoint. It works well as a sequel to Lock In as it expands the world and gives hadens more agency. Our viewpoint character continues to illustrate that wealth is a super power of its own, particularly when combined with a disability that grants him disposable bodies.

#audiogardening

“Basically, Hilketa is both representation, and alienation, for Hadens. So, it‘s complicated. Well, for a Haden. For non-Hadens, it‘s just cool to see threeps pull off each other‘s heads.”

In one of only two deliberate exceptions to the “no cishet white dudes” reading rule, I‘m ready for this one. #audiobooks

Elevengeddon! I was specially invited to hang out in the ‘Green Room‘ prior to the event and got to hang out (more like observe in awe) the authors just chatting and chillin. So awesome!

Top photo (left to right)
John Scalzi
Scott Sigler
Peter Clines
Myke Cole(sitting on table)
(Don‘t recognize the lady with the sunglasses and white collar)
Cory Doctorow
Sylvain Neuvel
Aaron Mahnke
Tom Leveen

Bottom left
Me
+K Arsenault Rivera
V. E. SCHWAB!!!

This latest Scalzi novel did nothing for me. Even Wil Wheaton‘s entertaining narration could not save this reading experience. While the opening chapters pulled me back into Chris‘ world, I just could not get into this murder mystery. Maybe it was the sports angle or the corporate greed. Maybe it was the mix of characters. I did like the cat. For the last few chapters, I found myself not truly paying attention. Total meh.