This was a bit of an unexpected one while I was looking up recent sci-fi. I was vaguely aware that a writer on SCP had published some of their work as a book - There is No Anti-Mimetics Division". I wasn't aware they'd written some other stuff, with pretty decent reviews. So, I bought Ra.
It's yet another magic as engineering/science/computing story, which, while a bit of a cliché, is also something I tend to enjoy. I very much enjoyed the start of the book. However, I could see a few traces of SCP-ness poking through - there were a number of places where it felt like a bunch of short stories bolted together, and obviously the ending couldn't be a straightforward victory!
If you like Charlie Stross, you'd probably like this. It has traces of both the Laundry series and Accelerando in it. Indeed, just like Accelerando, it goes exponential. If you want a twisty story, this will do it. Me? I was looking for some fun light reading. :)
In the end, I found it a really interesting book, but my initial enjoyment wore off as things moved on. It was neither a straightforward light read, nor deeply original/interesting. I can't really fault it, beyond saying it's not really to my taste.
Posted 2021-09-07.