Pros: great characters, interesting plot, complex issues
Cons: some interactions annoyed me, a bit heavy handed at times
Note: This review contains spoiPros: great characters, interesting plot, complex issues
Cons: some interactions annoyed me, a bit heavy handed at times
Note: This review contains spoilers for Dreadnought, the first book in this series.
Nine months have passed since the events of Dreadnought, and Danielle has a contract to protect New Port City. She’s begun to love the feeling of power being a superhero provides, beating supervillians into submission in ways that Doc Impossible finds worrisome. Her relationship with Calamity has soured, though she’s not sure why, and multiple work and family issues occupy her thoughts. Soon after she hears news that Nemesis, the asteroid that creates quantum instabilities, is nearing Earth, a new supervillian emerges with a plan to harness its power for nefarious purposes.
I have mixed feelings about this book. There were several opening scenes that annoyed and/or made me uneasy. While some of these were dealt with in detail and worked out later on, others didn’t get much attention beyond the initial mentions.
In the first book Danielle was predominately characterized by optimism. Though her life was pretty terrible, when things got tough she constantly believed they would get better again. Dreadnought focused very specifically on Danielle’s concerns as a young woman coming of age in challenging circumstances. Sovereign broadens the outlook to show that most issues in life are complex and people can’t always be characterized as simply good or evil. Her sudden liking of violence and her enjoyment of beating people up was a little scary to read. While she’s in the pay of the government, she goes outside that purview on more than one occasion. The idea that might makes right is not ok, even if you’re the hero. Some would say, especially then. The book does deal with this, and I was happy with how the ending focused on the fact that emotional trauma doesn’t just go away with time.
I was impressed with how the author handled Sarah and Danielle’s relationship. I loved seeing young people talk frankly about their feelings and fears instead of drawing out the misunderstandings.
I enjoyed Kinetiq’s group work, but her first interaction with Danielle in the book kind of annoyed me. While I understand Kinetiq’s annoyance/anger that Dreadnought took credit for a group fight, their lack of consideration for Dreadnought’s age or current circumstances and insistence that she use every public appearance to push the transgender agenda ignores the fact that Dreadnought, as an acknowledged transgender superhero, already pushes that agenda.
Graywytch was an even more horrible character in this book than the last, though she doesn’t spout slurs this time. Reading about a TERF (Trans-exclusionary radical feminist) was painful. I find it hard to attach the label ‘feminist’ to women who believe transwomen aren’t ‘real’ women, as if there’s only one experience of womanhood and all ‘real’ women share it. But it’s good to face it in fiction, as it’s often through fiction (and other types of media) that people learn empathy and compassion, and that society collectively becomes more socially aware.
I didn’t think the book dealt with the Magma and Doc issue well. Both characters have valid complaints about what happened to the Legion, and sometimes there’s no right answer that pleases everyone. While Doc was under outside control and therefore wasn’t personally responsible for the murders her body committed, Magma does have the right be angry that Doc’s lies left the Legion at a disadvantage, and feel betrayed that she never shared who her mother was. The book takes Danielle’s POV that Doc wasn’t to blame and Magma should just get over it. But this ignores that he and Chlorophyll were left permanently disabled because of that attack. I think it’s understandable that they don’t want anything to do with Doc anymore.
In terms of world-building, the author mentions several of the laws that govern superhero work. Things like the ability to buy bystander insurance and that there are legal work limits for superhero minors. One issue that wasn’t mentioned, that I’d be curious to learn the answer to, is whether superheroes have to pay for property damage incurred during their legally sanctioned missions.
The book has a lot of excellent fight scenes, in a variety of settings. They propel the plot along and keep the pacing quick.
The plot itself was quite interesting. There’s a lot of different super powered people in this one, on all sides of the fence, and it was fun learning their different powers and where they land on the varied political spectrums.
While I didn’t like this book as fully as I did the first one, I was impressed that the author dealt with some difficult issues that many superhero books ignore. I thought Danielle’s development made sense given her life experiences, and am curious to see what the next book has in store for her. ...more
Cons: Ana angered, frustrated, and annoyed me; lots of major and minor irritants towards the end of the book
SePros: some good twists; complex language
Cons: Ana angered, frustrated, and annoyed me; lots of major and minor irritants towards the end of the book
Severe earthquakes hit Heart and free Deborl and his followers. Ana and Sam call a group together and decide to escape the city and see if they can end Janan and the threat of Soul Night.
The book is quite exciting, with the characters finally meeting several more of the dangerous creatures living around Range. You also learn the answers to more of Ana’s questions about the temple books, sylph, and Janan.
I thought the complexity of the language in the temple books was great. I appreciated that each symbol could mean several things, creating a number of possible interpretations.
I didn’t like Ana as much in this book. She had a streak of selfishness (thinking of her own emotional needs and ignoring those of others) in the previous books, that stemmed from her emotional abuse at Li’s hands. As the books progressed she seemed to slowly learn how to open up and give emotional support as well as take it. But in this book she makes several decisions that cause deep pain in others later on simply because they help her avoid temporary pain in the moment. She ends up with an overinflated sense of her own importance and stops the reciprocal empathy that friendships and relationships require. I really wanted her to ask the others for advice, to help them through the guilt and sorrow they felt at things she reveals about their past. Basically, I wanted her to show them the love and support they’d given her, welcoming her into their lives, teaching her, guiding her. I mention more about this in the spoiler section below.
While the ending had a lot of twists and turns, by that point I was so frustrated by Ana and so many of the things that were happening that I didn’t really feel emotionally invested anymore.
***SPOILERS***
Half way through the book, after following her for weeks through snow to find dragons for Ana’s insane plan, Ana leaves her friends behind with only a passive aggressive note telling them how they used to believe in her and now she’s going off on her own, for them to find when they wake up. There’s no acknowledgment of the sacrifices they’ve made or the fact that they FOLLOWED her all that way because they BELIEVED in her. Because it’s all about her at this point. Bare paragraphs later she comments on how the sylph give her the feeling of companionship the others didn’t anymore (because she wasn’t asking for or accepting advice, because she was hiding things from them, because she didn’t want to be burdened with their sorrow or guilt or help them work through it, etc). She strangely comes to the conclusion that she can succeed simply by believing in herself. She doesn’t NEED other people to believe in her, despite that feeling coming because she felt the COMPANIONSHIP of the sylph! Despite the fact that the sylph continue to help her by melting snow and ice so she can walk easier. She ignores the aid her friends gave her to get her to this point, including the large amount of help and protection the sylph provided. It’s only after she cheers herself up that she realizes that the sylph have also felt lonely, and determines she won’t ignore them again. But what about the friends she’s just left? What about their needs and the fact that they’ll wake up and feel even worse because after all their sacrifices for her it wasn’t enough? How much are they expected to give just to make her feel better about herself? When do they get something from this relationship?
When the group gets back together, once again it’s up to Sam to reconcile things. Which made me think that perhaps his friends are right and having a relationship with Ana’s not the right move. She’s obviously not ready for a romantic relationship. Maybe the best thing to do would be to give her a few years to find herself, grow up a little, see how other - healthy - relationships work and then try again if they both still want to. Going from an abusive mother to an overly loving and caring psudo-boyfriend may be too much of an extreme for her to dealt with.
The last half of the book contained so many irritating things. If the dragons could communicate with humans, why didn’t they? Did Sam use his song against them at some point creating that enmity or were they just unreasonably afraid of him? How big were everyone’s packs? (Apparently they had blankets in addition to their sleeping bags, books, enough clothes for Ana to wear 3 hats, etc when flying.) Why did they wait until Soul Night to attack? Couldn’t they have tried to kill Janan BEFORE the eruptions, etc? (There didn’t seem to be a reason to wait. That’s when Janan would be at his most powerful. And I would have thought stopping the eruptions would be just as important as killing Janan. If he’s dead, then Soul Night isn’t a problem. And if they fail, they have more time to figure something out before Soul Night.) How did Sarit forget why she and Stef left Sam and Ana alone when they hadn’t been gone that long? Why did Stef make the distraction explosions have separate detonation devices instead of tying that into their SEDs (like cellphone triggers)? Why didn’t Sam want his burns treated before they had sex? (It would have made him more comfortable.) How could they have sex at such a time, after such personal tragedies? (They’d have a lot of distracting thoughts, given what they had to do later that night and having just watched their friends die. I’d think it would be hard to get in the mood under such conditions.) Did everyone’s last reincarnation push other newsouls out of the way again? Why did Ana wait until she was in her teens to let Sam know she’d been reborn? (Ok, I know the answer to this one, selfishness. She wanted him to prove he could find her in her new body, like the Masquerade. Because she needed him to prove that he could pick her out of a crowd, or else how would she know he really loved her?). What ultimately happened to Janan? He gave them all one last reincarnation and then … leaves? He spent 1000 years in a prison to become a god and then lets his followers all abandon him?...more
This is book two of the Incarnate series, and as such this review contains spoilers fPros: interesting plot, fun characters
Cons: relationship waffling
This is book two of the Incarnate series, and as such this review contains spoilers for book one.
Some time has passed since Templedark consigned dozens of souls to a permanent death. Sam and Ana rest away from Heart for a time. A new gift and Menehem’s notebooks indicate that Sylphs may be more intelligent than previously believed. Meanwhile, back in Heart, fears of more newsoul births and an inability to punish Menehem for his actions turns popular anger towards Ana.
I really enjoyed the plot in this book and the fact that things went in directions I did not predict. You learn answers to some of Ana’s questions, which was great.
The ‘will they won’t they’ aspect of their relationship got frustrating, as after a year of being together Ana seemed to still get defensive a lot and misconstrue things easily, regardless of how open and loving Sam was. While I appreciated the question of whether it’s appropriate for a 5000 year old soul to have a relationship with an 18 year old soul, that’s a question that should have been addressed by Sam much, much earlier.
Despite their relationship woes, I love Sam and Ana. Ana remains passionate about helping other newsouls and discovering more about how she came to be.
As with the first book, it was a very quick and enjoyable read....more
The people of Heart have been reincarnated hundreds of times, some believe by the will of Janan. When Li and Menehem’s child was not the reincarnation of Ciana, people feared what it meant for them. Eighteen years later, Ana wants to leave the cottage she was raised as a nosoul by her hateful mother and find answers regarding her birth in Heart. After a terrible night, she’s rescued by Sam, who becomes her friend with the possibility of more.
I really liked Ana. I liked how conflicted she was, uncertain of the world after the physical and mental abuse she suffered under her mother. I liked that she constantly questioned Sam’s motivations, constantly waiting for things to go bad. It showed real, persistent, trauma. I also liked that Sam’s previous deaths bring their own form of trauma for him to overcome later in the book.
The premise, of people who all know each other because they’ve been reborn together over and over again, was great. Throw in the possibility that they could die and not return, and their fear of Ana and what she represents is understandable.
The characters - Ana in particular - were often very passionate about life. Towards the end this got to be a bit much for me. It’s understandable in Ana, but the others are all old enough to be past the vagaries of first youth. While Sam’s age (and subsequent hormones) could account for some of his issues, he should have had an easier time coming to a decision about what sort of relationship he wanted with Ana.
The world was pretty interesting, but not developed very much. The author lists several creatures that live in the world, but you only actually see two of them. And the way they’re mentioned, always as a list, makes them feel more like window dressing than actual inhabitants of the world. Having said that, I greatly enjoyed what I learned but hope the later books explain more of the wider world.
This was a very quick read that kept me turning pages. And while the book ended up going in wildly different directions from what I’d expected, I really enjoyed it. ...more
Pros: excellent world-building, interconnected plot, great characters
Cons:
Grappoli is invading more native territory, sending refugees fleeing to thePros: excellent world-building, interconnected plot, great characters
Cons:
Grappoli is invading more native territory, sending refugees fleeing to the city of their enemy, Bar-Selehm. But Bar-Selehm’s politicians aren’t sympathetic to the refugees’ plight, and some believe the time to unite with their white brothers of Grappoli, at the expense of the black and brown lower classes of their own city, has arrived. When important military papers are stolen, a clue sends Anglet Sutonga to an exclusive club, where she investigates the connections of its members.
This is the second book set in this faux 19th Century South Africa. While you can read this without having read Steeplejack, characters are reintroduced without preamble, so you may find yourself confused by some of the relationships. The plot is self-contained and while the politics carry on from the previous book, it’s easy to figure out what’s happening in that respect. Some of the world-building assumes you’ve read Steeplejack, so there’s little explanation of the Drowning and the racial divisions of the city, though those come up a lot in the story.
The world-building on the whole is excellent. Again, there’s very little of the book happening outside the city, but the city itself affords lots of conflict. I’m impressed by how detailed and realistic the interconnectedness of everything is in the book.
I really like Anglet. She’s young, passionate, and tries to do the right thing, even when knowing what the right thing to do is difficult. And with the racial and political tensions running through this book, she’s often left unsure of why she feels like she does and whether her work for Willinghouse is achieving any good. I especially liked her confusion over how to best help the refugees, and why she felt a connection to their sorrows despite their differing circumstances.
I appreciated the introduction of a deaf character and the chance to see more of Bar-Selehm’s society (high and otherwise). I liked the fact that characters had differing opinions on the political situation of the city.
Unfortunately I read the book in a disjointed manner, which made it hard for me to recollect who some of the players were. There are certain scenes that require a careful reading, as the cast is fairly large and some seemingly minor details become important later on.
The plot went in several disjointed directions as Anglet slowly figured out what was going on, pulling together for the climax.
I really enjoyed this book, and its discussion of racism, refugees, and colonialism is topical....more
Neverfell was found around the age of five in the tunnels of CheesemasterPros: fascinating world-building, interesting characters, twisting plot
Cons:
Neverfell was found around the age of five in the tunnels of Cheesemaster Grandible. Seven years later, a series of errors has her emerging into the wider world of Caverna and the mysterious Court that rules it. For in a world where Faces must be learned and lying is a fact of life, Neverfell’s face can change expression with her emotions, and lying is beyond her skill.
The world of Caverna is fascinating. You’re introduced to it - and all of its various workings - slowly, through Neverfell’s eyes and experiences. While she’s told early on that everyone lies and manipulates, her own trusting and trustworthy natures make it hard for her to protect herself from the plots of others. As the book progresses, you learn more about the world and the darknesses it’s based on.
The plot takes a lot of turns I wasn’t expecting, which was a real joy. Neverfell’s a great character and her constant curiosity has her acting in unpredictable ways. She starts off hopelessly naive, but over the course of the book learns what society is like, and that not everyone she meets has her best interests in mind. The Kleptomancer is really fun, and I’d have loved seeing more of him and of the brilliantly insane cryptomancers.
This is a fun book, one that briefly touches on numerous discussion points, so it would make a great book club novel....more
Pros: complex issues, great world-building, transgender protagonist
Cons: a few minor complaints
When the superhero Dreadnought dies in front of Danny, Pros: complex issues, great world-building, transgender protagonist
Cons: a few minor complaints
When the superhero Dreadnought dies in front of Danny, he gives the teen his mantel, which changes Danny’s body from male to female. Now in the body she’s always wanted, Danny’s never been happier, though she feels guilty about how she got it. Her new body also causes her new problems, as her parents and schoolmates finally see the real her, and not everyone’s happy with her transition. The superhero community is different from what Danny’s always believed, and she faces several difficult choices - including whether to go after the supervillain who killed Dreadnought.
The book deals with several complex issues, not the least of which is Danny’s gender transition. I appreciated that the author didn’t pull punches, and showed Danny’s conflicted emotions and real consequences for both long term and short term actions.
It was great seeing a transgender protagonist, and the author showed how difficult things are: from coming out to friends and family, dealing with opposition, and learning to feel good in your skin. I especially appreciated the scenes where Danny learns about make-up and gets her first bra. While the book didn’t make me cry, I did feel for Danny on multiple occasions and was frankly shocked by a lot of the things that happened.
While Dreadnought is described as being invincible - his death notwithstanding, Danny quickly realizes she has limitations and can still feel pain and hurt herself. So there was tension and actual concern during fights that things might not go well for her.
I also appreciated that there was no romance in the book. There were times I thought the author was heading in that direction, but Danny had so much to deal with already, I think a love interest would have been too much. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind seeing a romance develop in later books.
The world-building is quite good, with some basic history into where super humans come from and how they’ve impacted recent history. While you don’t learn everyone’s backstories, some of them - specifically Calamity’s - are very realistic. Others are brushed off as comic book style transformations (specifically ones dealing with mythological or mystical origins).
The plot is great. while I saw one or two of the complications that cropped up, I was blindsided by most of the plot twists. The mystery of Utopia’s identity kept me guessing, and I enjoyed seeing Calamity teach Danny the ropes of ‘caping’.
I had a few minor complaints, like Danny’s insistence that her best friend would come around to her new body quickly. Considering the fact that Danny didn’t feel she could share that she was transgender with him, something about her friend must have tipped her off to the fact that she couldn’t trust him with the news.
I also had trouble picturing the action in some of the airplane rescue scenes, though the author did a great job explaining Danny’s powers in other scenes.
This is a fantastic debut and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the series progresses....more
Cons: fairly predictable, created swear words are more distracting than useful
For Parents: non-graphic gun andPros: engaging story, feisty protagonist
Cons: fairly predictable, created swear words are more distracting than useful
For Parents: non-graphic gun and knife violence, torture scenes, some kissing, fake swearing
Eden is a closed world created when humanity was on the brink of destruction to save at least a few people until the ruined world was again fit for habitation. Rowan is a second child, illegal in Eden. Hidden by her family, she’s finally going to get a new identity and eye implants that will let her become a part of society. But she’ll also have to leave her family - and never return or see them again. In a fit of anger, she climbs the walls of her family home and escapes to the outside world, for a few hours of freedom. What happens during those hours creates rippling consequences that haunt the days that follow.
If you’ve read a lot of dystopian YA none of this will be particularly new to you. The story runs in fairly predictable ways. The characters are generally what makes these books different and Rowan is a wonderful protagonist. She’s willful and determined, scared when out of her depth but able to push past her fear. She causes a few of her own problems, so it’s a good thing she’s resilient. Making her bi, or at least uncertain about her sexuality (without making a big deal out of it) was wonderfully refreshing. I liked both Lark and Lachlan as supporting characters, though Lark’s got my vote if the story develops more of a romance in later books.
The story is quick and engaging. The world is well constructed. I thought it clever that there’s a fair amount of pre-Eden history but no Eden history. It gives the author options for the following books and I’m curious what he’ll do.
I found the created swear words rather distracting and unnecessary. Instead of coming off as expletives, they confused me and bumped me out of the narrative.
There’s a fair bit of violence including two torture scenes. Nothing is particularly graphic, and most of the violence has either a detached sense to it or is accompanied by the protagonist questioning the need for it and how the world should be better than this. There are a few kisses, but no other sexual content.
While this isn’t highly original, it is a fun, quick read that will have you turning pages. It’s set-up for a series, and leaves you interested in the world and what’s going to happen next to the characters....more
Anglet Sutonga is a steeplejack. When she was younger she cleaned chimnePros: brilliant world-building, fascinating protagonist, complex mystery
Cons:
Anglet Sutonga is a steeplejack. When she was younger she cleaned chimneys. At 17 she’s too big for that, so now she works the factory stacks. After a series of events, including the theft of a city landmark, she’s hired to investigate a series of crimes that the police are ignoring. Meanwhile race relations in the city of Bar-Selehm are breaking down between the white upper class, the black Mahweni (those assimilated to city life as well as the tribesmen living traditional lifestyles outside of it) and the brown Lani, brought to the city by the whites as indentured servants and still not much better off, making her job urgent. And as tensions rise in the city, war between their northwest neighbours, the Grappoli, seems increasingly likely.
Bar-Selehm is a unique setting based on 19th Century South Africa but with fantasy overtones. The book is very contained to the city and its immediate surroundings, only mentioning Grappoli but not the wider politics of the outside world. Which keeps the book focused on the city and its problems. I loved that Anglet was able to mix with people of different races in different ways - depending on their social status, and how status and race were shown to be holdovers from the past, despite the current ideology that everyone is equal. There’s a great quote later in the book which sums up a lot of modern racism - and blindness towards it:
“We say we are all equal in Bar-Selehm, but you know as well as I do that that is not even close to being true. You cannot simply take people’s land, property, freedom from them and then, a couple of hundred years later, when you have built up your industries and your schools and your armies, pronounce them equals. And even when you pretend it is true, you do not change the hearts of men, and a great deal of small horrors have to be ignored, hidden, if the myth of equality is to be sustained.”
When going to the Drowning, where most of the Lani live, Anglet encounters hippos, monkeys, an ibex, and other creatures. She also mentions a few things that are made up, like weancats, which make the world feel both real and other at the same time. Similarly, the mineral that Bar-Selehm was built up on, luxorite, is made up, but the trade concerns, her brother-in-law’s stubborn effort to pan more, and how society interacts with the mineral is explored in some depth.
The author brings in just enough minor details of taste, smell, sight, and touch to make the world feel 100% genuine without bogging down the narrative at all.
I loved Anglet as a character. She’s necessarily tough and has to make a series of difficult decisions that change her life. I loved that her choices had consequences, and that as the book went on she often questioned the decisions she’d made. In several situations there was no good outcome, just the best she could do for now.
I liked that she encountered a wide variety of people during her investigation. The paper girl was probably my favourite, but Anglet meets people from several levels of society and cleverly finds ways to interact with them.
The murder mystery was tightly twisted so that while I figured out two of the twists at the end, several others were complete revelations. Looking back on the book as a whole the clues were there, but you take such a roundabout way to the end that it’s hard figuring out everything that’s going on. I found the ending quite a shock and really felt for Anglet.
It’s the first in a trilogy, but can easily be read as a standalone as the mystery is entirely wrapped up at the end. This a great novel with all the things people in SFF circles have been asking for. I can’t believe it’s not being more widely read and talked about. ...more
Pros: great premise, interesting characters, mostly set in Hawaii, creative use of mythologies
Cons: drags a bit
Nix has lived her 16 years on the TemptPros: great premise, interesting characters, mostly set in Hawaii, creative use of mythologies
Cons: drags a bit
Nix has lived her 16 years on the Temptation, sailing to any map - real or imagined - using her father’s special navigation abilities. Slate is looking for a map that will allow them to travel back to the time just before the death of Nix’s mother. But Nix is afraid that saving her mother will un-write her own life.
The characters are all somewhat conflicted in their desires. This makes them feel like real people, with their own hopes and fears, clashing with others. I loved that the characters were all from different backgrounds too. Nix is half Chines and half American, Kashmir is from a Persian map, etc.
Hawaii before the American takeover is a fascinating setting, and I was impressed at how closely the author kept to the history of the period (as relayed in the author’s note). it was also wonderful learning about some Hawaiian myths.
The use of mythology was pretty clever. I loved the premise of the book and how belief is the most important factor in how the ‘magic’ works.
I did find that the book dragged a bit. When they first land in Hawaii it took a while for things to get going.
This is a fun book, with a unique perspective. ...more
Pros: several fight scenes, more background, quick moving plot
Cons:
For Parents: some sexual content (nothing graphic), some swearing, some violence
MPros: several fight scenes, more background, quick moving plot
Cons:
For Parents: some sexual content (nothing graphic), some swearing, some violence
Mere weeks have passed since John’s airship home crashed and Shinobu is slowly healing. When he and Quin are attacked by two feral boys and her father, they head for safety in Hong Kong. The Middle Dread’s plans put them in danger and they search the diary of John’s mother for clues to what’s happened to Seekers in the past in order to avoid the same fate. Meanwhile, John has found someone willing to finish his Seeker training.
The book alternates through several viewpoints, including the new point of view of Catherine, John’s mother, from the time of her training until her pregnancy with John. I personally found her chapters the most interesting, as they shined light on what the previous generation of Seekers were up to, and showed how she’d changed - or warped - into the woman John remembered. She begins her scenes quite like Quin, idealistic and believing in the nobility of the Seekers. It’s her research into the actions of the Middle Dread and the journal she writes about it, that guides this book, as both Quin/Shinobu and John search through the entries for clues in the present.
I really liked all of the protagonists in this book. Shinobu’s arc made me a little sad at times, given the substance abuse he fell into in the first book. John’s training was interesting and I would have liked to see more of it. Quin doesn’t change much, but I suspect that’s because she started this book in a better place than the other two.
The bad guys, while somewhat comical in their ineptitude, are also kind of terrifying with regards to the implications surrounding them. The Middle Dread has, apparently, been busy while the Old Dread slept.
There are a couple of good fight scenes as the plot speeds along. There’s just enough down time to appreciate the revelations that come before the characters head to the next problem or the point of view changes.
I liked that more of the Seeker families make an appearance, and that their history feels more grounded in this book. I also liked that a few more Seeker tools make their appearance. From the sounds of it, there are a couple more to discover in the last book as well.
Traveler’s a fun book. It’s a quick read that builds on everything that was good about the first book, and then adds more to it. While it’s not a cliffhanger ending, it did leave me wishing the third book, Disruptor, came out this year rather than next year....more
For parents: no content (swearing, sex, drugs), minor gun violence
Fifteen year old Ann Burden has been living - alone - in her family’s farmhouse for the past year. Her family - and as far as she knows everyone else in the world - is dead, victims of the war and the bombs that fell. So she has mixed emotions when she sees a column of smoke each night, getting closer to the valley that’s protected her. She knows someone is coming. But what does this arrival mean for her?
This is a short novel, told through Ann’s journal entries starting when she first realizes someone is coming. It details his arrival and the slowly unfolding drama that occurs afterwards. It’s a tight, tense story, that slowly becomes dreadful as you wonder how everything will play out.
It’s a story worth coming to with little advance knowledge, as it really depends on learning things with the character. I really liked Ann. She’s a farm girl - and so knows how to do things that are useful in a post-apocalyptic survival situation, like catch, prepare and cook fish, plogh a field, etc.
There’s very little backstory. We learn where Ann’s family has gone and how the stranger arrives, but little else. There’s no information about what the war was about or who it was with or what kinds of bombs were dropped, beyond that they were highly radioactive.
It’s a great story that kept me on the edge of my seat. ...more
Pros: well developed characters, godmarks, clever twists on the referenced mythology
Cons: slow moving
Ariadne is an unmarked daughter of King Minos anPros: well developed characters, godmarks, clever twists on the referenced mythology
Cons: slow moving
Ariadne is an unmarked daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae of Crete. As she grows up between the summer and winter palaces, surpassed in attention by her god-sired younger brother, Asterion, she becomes more and more selfish, cruel and bitter.
Chara, child of a slave and happily unmarked by the gods, befriends Asterion and helps him after the difficult and painful transformations into a bull that he must undergo to honour his father. She witnesses first hand Ariadne’s cruelties as the princess vies for power. And as time passes, she vows to save Asterion from his sister’s schemes.
Lovers of Greek mythology will find this a creative retelling of the minotaur and the labyrinth. Though the gist is the same and many familiar names come up (including Daedalus and Icarus), the author takes some liberties with the plot, increasing the suspense of the story. There were several twists I did not see coming.
I particularly loved the concept of the godmarks, magic bestowed by various gods on their subjects that allow them to do unique things. One character can communicate with animals, one can sprout wings, one can cry wine, and another commands all things dealing with water (rain, waves). I liked how the god who bestows the gift isn’t necessarily known, but can sometimes be guessed based on the nature of the gift.
The author spends a lot of time explaining Ariadne’s character. She begins the book as a child, desperately wishing for a godmark like the others in her family and feeling afraid and upset that she’s disappointing her parents. She hates and resents her younger brother and creates a veneer of calm strength to protect herself. This care makes it hard to hate her as she grows older and becomes more bitter and cruel. While I hated what she did, I found myself somewhat pitying her, which is ironic as she’d hate the idea that she could be pitied. Then she makes some horrible decisions and the pity left. I still kind of liked her, but I could no longer sympathize with her pain.
Chara on the other hand is the kind of friend you’d love to have. She’s generous, considerate, and clever. Like Ariadne she’s forced to hide her feelings but for different reasons, and she never forgets her friends.
The dynamics between the king and queen were also very interesting to read.
The story is fairly slow moving. While this does allow the author time to focus a lot on the characters, the ending dragged a little bit.
I didn’t realize this was the first book in a duology, so I was surprised when I came across the epilogue. While there’s an important event at the end of this book, it’s very much the first half of the story, and you’ll be reaching for the next volume when it comes out....more
Cons: takes Tula a long time to figure out something fairly obvious
For parents: kissing, some Pros: fun, engaging protagonist, interesting alien races
Cons: takes Tula a long time to figure out something fairly obvious
For parents: kissing, some violence
Sixteen year old Tula Bane arrives on the Yertina Feray as a member of the Children of Earth on their way to colonize a new world. But when her questioning puts her at odds with their leader, Brother Blue, she’s left for dead on the station as they move on.
Surrounded by numerous alien species who think little of isolationist humans, and with only limited knowledge of Universal Galactic, she wonders how she’ll survive, let alone get her revenge on Brother Blue.
Tin Star is a fun, quick read. The protagonist is intelligent and quickly makes a place for herself on the station, with the help of another alien. It’s interesting watching her interact with the various alien races and, when some humans arrive on the station, realize how little she now knows about her own kind.
The different alien races are only loosely described, allowing you some freedom in creating your mental image of them. Similarly, while it’s clear that Tula learns how to understand them for trade purposes, a lot of their habits, customs, etc, are also left to your imagination. I personally enjoyed this, though I imagine some readers will wish for more descriptive and explanatory passages. The same goes for the political intrigues of the universe at large. Changes in the outside world affect the station, but - due to problems with their communications array - the station’s information about the outside world is minimal.
There are minor romantic elements towards the middle of the book but the focus remains on Tula and her mission to get off the station.
My only complaint is that it takes Tula rather a long time to figure out something that seemed pretty obvious early on in the book. And that’s a mild complaint as it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book nor did it seem the author was purposely making her blind. It’s something a person in her circumstances wouldn’t consider.
For parents wondering about content issues, there’s no language or sex (though some scenes suggest sex may be happening off page, those passages can be interpreted either way). There’s a little kissing and some minor violence (the protagonist is beaten in the first chapter).
The book is self-contained, but set up for a sequel. I really enjoyed this book and hope there’s more to come....more
Pros: compelling story, political machinations, minor romantic elements
Cons: slow opening
Conquest takes place roughly 16 years after the Illyri, a racPros: compelling story, political machinations, minor romantic elements
Cons: slow opening
Conquest takes place roughly 16 years after the Illyri, a race similar to humans, take over the Earth. Syl, conceived among the stars and the first Illyri born on Earth, lives with her father, the governor of Britain and Ireland, in Edinburgh castle. On her 16th birthday she and a friend sneak out of the castle and encounter two human teenagers, members of the Resistance just as a bomb goes off on the Royal Mile. Events spiral into a series of political machinations that change the world as these 4 youths know it.
The book gets off to a slow start, as there’s a lot of background information the reader needs to know in order to follow what happens after the bombing in Edinburgh. Once things start happening they happen fast. By page 100 I found that I couldn’t put the book down, I was so invested in the characters and what was happening.
While a lot of the politics happen off stage, given the ages of the protagonist, there’s still a fair amount of political maneuvering, among the humans (different resistance groups) but mainly among the Illyri (the sisterhood, the military and the diplomatic corps). It’s the alien politics that fascinate, and I’m hoping the next book includes more information about the sisterhood.
There are a lot of SF elements borrowed from other sources, but the authors do a great job of using those elements in new ways. The addition of a burgeoning romance between one of the humans and Syl only enhances the difficulties the two races face. And the ending contained some great twists.
This book is more complex than humans: good, aliens: bad. Having protagonists on both sides makes both sides partly sympathetic. And partly not. It’s a great start to a series....more
Pros: thought-provoking, characters are three dimensional, shows war for what it is
Cons: Southside people accept Nik's story too readily, some names aPros: thought-provoking, characters are three dimensional, shows war for what it is
Cons: Southside people accept Nik's story too readily, some names are mentioned without context so when they're mentioned again it's hard to remember who the person was
For Parents: minor swearing, violence (not excessive, but it's a war situation, so: assassination, bombs, beatings, minor torture etc.), no sexual content
Seventeen year old Nik's brown skin marks him as a Southsider, though he's attended school on Cityside since he was 5. His intelligence has him earmarked for the Internal Security and Intelligence Services (ISIS), so no one understands why they pass on recuiting him. When the school is bombed he's suspected by ISIS of collaborating with the enemy. In an attempt to leave the city with friends from school, one of them is kidnapped by Southsiders and Nik and a girl team up to get him back. Knowing only the language and anti-Southside propoganda, the two have no idea what they're walking into.
The story focuses on their search for the boy in Southside. There are elements here that are hard to believe at first, as the two are obviously unaware of local customs and the girl's language skills are minimal (I'm calling her 'the girl' to avoid spoiling the first 75 pages of the book more than necessary). Nik lands in a position where he's privy to sensitive information, something that's hard to credit given his refusal to give more than his name and place of origin (one real, the other a lie). When his high intelligence is revealed, the characters start to question how a barely educated teen (as would be the case if his story were true) broke encrypted codes and then just accept his information with only a little hesitation.
That issue aside though, the book is brilliant. The pacing is fast, though the characters don't know how to go about looking for the boy, enough is happening with regards to Southside politics that the book never drags. Soon enough the teens learn information of value and events spiral out of their control as they're drawn deeper into a faction war among the Southsiders.
The political manuverings and history of the war are interesting, though the history isn't dealt with in as much detail as this reviewer would have like. Higgins' world-building is solid, with a bloody past, religious rituals, class and economic troubles, etc. It's obvious she's considered aspects of society that are never fully mentioned, but season the story nonetheless.
The characters are all three dimensional, with often tragic pasts, reasons for their actions and motivations, and difficult decisions to make. Though the book is from Nik's point of view, there are several strong female characters, and several characters of colour (including him). Discussion of race doesn't come into the book much, beyond Nik's fitting in better - with regards to looks - on Southside than his companion. But it is somewhat problematic as Citysiders are described as being predominantly white, while Southsiders are mixed (easterners being white and southsiders being black). This reviewer would have liked learning more about where the Southsiders came from (it's explained that they're refugees coming up from the South and East but Nik doesn't know more than that). Instead, class distinction is used for the reason for the hostilities between Southside and Cityside. And when it comes to positions of power, men and women are treated equally - on both sides.
The only problem with the characters, beyond the Southsider's easy acceptance of Nik, was that a few of them, like Commander Vega, are occasionally referred to by their first names rather than their titles. It's realistic, but the extra names were hard to remember. Similarly there were a few times when a character was mentioned briefly by name and then mentioned again a few chapters later and it was hard to remember who they were referring to.
While many teen dystopian books take a sort of Stockholm syndrome approach, with the protagonist learning that their way is wrong and the other side's better, this one does something different, and more realistic. It shows how both sides in war use propoganda to control their people. It brings home how ideology, fanaticism and the belief in one's cause can blind people to the reality of war - that people are dying. War is horrifying and no amount of 'an eye for an eye' will bring it to an end. The book is about how regular people - children even - get dragged into the fighting, as the war kills their loved ones, destroys their homes, limits food and medicine, and leaves them with nothing but ashes. It's about the choice every person in a war torn area makes, to continue the fighting in an attempt to utterly defeat the enemy or to try to work towards peace.
This theme, that both sides in a conflict can be evil, was used in Mockingjay (by Suzanne Collins). In that book, the rebel leadership is shown to be just a bad as the learders of Panem. Putting them in charge would not have changed anything but whose kids competed in the Hunger Games.
We're used to having one good side and one evil side when we think of war. The idea that both sides do evil things is something we prefer to hide and forget. Everyone knows that the Axis in World War II did horrible things. But how many attrocities did the Allies commit? There were internment camps, boats full of Jews turned back at North American ports, with nowhere left to go but back to Germany. There was rioting and rape. Horrific bombs were dropped not only on Hiroshima, but also on Nagasaki. This novel acknowledges that by the end of hostilities, neither side in war is 'right', regardless of who started it and why. It's a bold position to take and the message of the book really hits home. War is evil and there has to be a better way.
It's a powerful, moving story. And this reviewer can't recommend it enough....more
Pros: well drawn characters, interesting world, some great twists, thought provoking
Cons: despite his job, Erin's father seems clueless regarding her Pros: well drawn characters, interesting world, some great twists, thought provoking
Cons: despite his job, Erin's father seems clueless regarding her intelligence and snooping
For Parents: no swearing, no sexual content, little violence (a few people get punched / hit with items, but nothing graphic)
Logan's been paranoid since his older sister died during her Pledging. His thirteenth birthday, and the day of his own Pledging, is only a few months away and he's terrified of the same thing happening to him. But Pledging means getting his Mark. And only the Marked can hold jobs and buy things. Then he discovers that his paranoia is justified, and his entire life changes.
Erin doesn't want to leave Beacon for Spokie. But her dad's been transferred there for his job doing 'government work', whatever that means. Her decision to snoop into her father's private papers opens her eyes to his purpose in Spokie; to stop a man kidnapping local children before they can take the Pledge. She decides that the sooner this man is caught, the sooner she can return home.
The two kids team up to keep Logan from being the next to disappear.
Swipe tells of a future where global war has caused such problems that large parts of the US, Canada and Mexico - now called the American Union - are uninhabitable. There are no religions. The AU and the European Union are close to creating a Global Union. Part of this new union required the Marking of all AU citizens. Indeed, the only way to be a citizen and benefit from its privileges requires getting the Mark. Those who choose not to get the mark are either servants, have someone with a Mark to support them or live in slums.
The world has some interesting new technologies to replace the more wasteful items of today. Few people use paper anymore, tablets being mainstream. Similarly, since air travel is now so expensive and cars the luxury of the super rich, people cross the country (if they need to) by magnetrain and get around cities by electrobuses and rollersticks (a device the size of a skateboard with a handle that works like a segway).
Logan is a great character. He's introduced as the boy who cried wolf, being convinced for years that someone's watching him. He's neither popular nor friendless. He's a pushover until he finds a reason to fight back.
Erin on the other hand is very brave and bold, coming up with new plans for how to catch the kidnappers. Not always good plans, mind you, she's only 13, but she is quite clever.
The book has some great twists, heading in directions I didn't expect. I especially liked that there were no easy answers for the protagonists. They make mistakes and at the end they each make decisions that work for them - and their view of events. The book is fast paced and a quick read.
My only complaint was with how long it took Erin's dad to figure out what she was up to. He seemed surprisingly clueless as to her keen intelligence.
A great book for adults, teens and maybe even younger kids - with some interesting discussion possibilities....more
Loading...
