STG's

Dreamships - by Melissa Scott - is an SF cyberpunk book. In the book's universe, humankind spread through other worlds using the Drive, a kind of hyperspace that requires pilots to have implants and AIs that helps them (very cyberpunk, of course). Now people are starting to believe that one of those AIs is alive, but they are willing to fight for its rights... while other humans have no rights at all. Overall, the book was OK, but in some parts you really feel its age (1992) - for example, no wireless connections. Funnily enough, I already read the sequel back in the 90s but I didn't realize it. I only got this book as part of a StoryBundle cyberpunk bundle.

Exo: A Novel (Jumper) - by Steven Gould - is the latest book in the Jumper series - where a group of people can teleport (Jump) at will using their minds. This time around, Cent has her sights much higher - into space. There was very little hard SF in the previous Jumper books, but I just loved the way the ideas and tech for the jumper space program were developed throughout the book. Very good, this is the one I liked the most in the series so far.

The Expandabros is pure marketing genius - a special version of Broforce tailored to have special characters based on The Expendables 3 as well as vague references on the actual levels. Broforce (which is early access which is mostly why I didn't review it) is an interesting 2D platform retro title where you play as one of many action heroes (bros). As you go on, you can release other bros, which changes which character you play as well as unlocks new ones. Actual play is in the form a shooter, with pretty cool explosions and destructible terrain. The Expandabros is just like that, except with just with the characters of Expendables 3, and also free. My main peeve with both games is that the weapons of each bro are different, and sometimes you will get into annoying situations (such as facing an enemy with a long shot while only having a sword). Overall, though, this game is very much worth trying, specially since it is free.

OTTTD is a Tower Defense (TD) game. I played the demo only. The main twist between OTTTD and generic TD is that you have heroes, which you have to command around the battlefield. It starts with an engineer (who can fix towers) and continues with a soldier, sniper, etc. You can not only get them general upgrades from a large skill tower, but also buy armor and weapons upgrades. Towers are more or less the usual types - cannons, rockets, precision, stunners, etc. Overall, I think the towers upgrade should be clearer in-game, and sometimes I felt the interface to be clumsy (possibly from its mobile game origins?). Gameplay was almost good enough to make it great, but in the end it was just midly entertaining for me.

American Craftsmen, by Tom Doyle, is another fantasy book with a popular theme - military fantasy where the military has super or magical powers. In this world, there are people with magical powers (the main character - Dale Morton - has the ever popular weather powers, among minor others). Those are required to work for their countries or be considered renegades and hunted down. Real magic is not know to the public. Dale is cursed during a mission, and ends up in a major conspiracy against all the magical families. Pretty nice, with plenty of fun battles and twists in the story.

Revenge of Seven is another SF/fantasy book in the very long (by now) I am Number Four series. These each consist of small volumes with novels and smaller volumes with short stories. The story consists of a group of alien superheroes fighting evil aliens who apparently are resource hungry and don't recycle (there seems to be a hidden message here :-) ). In this installment, there are the usual battles, but at last the real endgame with Lorien is revealed (although the very end is probably guessable by anyone from the middle of the book). Of course following this, the book ends. Argh. Still good if you are following the series.

Lock In - by John Scalzi - is a SF book that takes place in a world where a disease (Haden) locked in millions of people inside their bodies. Technology was created that allows them to remotely control robot bodies or live in a VR world (there is a short prequel -  Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome  - the writing style is unrelated to Lock in). I've read the novella, which had a teaser of this book. I remember being quite disappointed when I realized it was not available yet. It was as good as I thought it would be. What takes place is a series of murders, viewed through a Haden FBI agent, which just started on the job. Very much recommended for SF fans.