Spiderlight

It's an interesting experience going back to a much-admired author's earlier works when you've got used to reading their more recent stuff. This is a relatively early one from Adrian Tchaikovsky, but it's still easy to see his voice coming through in the way he describes and defines the characters, and the way he builds the narrative scene by scene.

Even though it was published nine years ago, this is still an excellent short novel, and while it's clear that he's matured and improved as a writer in the intervening years, I'm still giving this one four and a half stars. If you haven't sampled any of Tchaikovsky's work yet and want a good book to test the waters with, I'd say this is a good one to choose.