Book Blog #327: Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

 

Title: Land of Milk and Honey 

Author: C Pam Zhang

# of Pages: 240 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch, and her own body. In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Review: What a whirlwind. This could be anywhere from a 2 star to a 4 star.

I thought this would be a quick read, but the "abstract"/"artsy" writing style really slowed me down. I had to carefully read each passage to make sure I didn't miss anything amongst the rambling comparisons with food (be prepared for sex and food references to be intertwined - was not expecting to read about cooking and lesbian sex at the same time). 

I liked how the book tackles the topic of what dystopia our world would be in with climate change + pollution. I could really feel the desperation and despair, and the ending was much more readable and not too predictable. This made me consider even giving it 4 stars. However, Zhang also addresses topics such as rich vs poor, family, and identity which cluttered the story - I would have preferred Zhang to dive into one or two of these "deep" topics rather than try to address them all.

The progression of the plot slowed a lot in the middle - this already short book could probably be even shorter.

I don't think this book is worth the read. 

Book Blog #308: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

Title: Project Hail Mary

Author: Andy Weir

# of Pages: 476 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Adventure

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Review: I loved The Martian, so I was really looking forward to this book! 

The story is told in first person - I've come to realize this is the perfect POV for Weir's books because it's the only way for the protagonists humorous internal thoughts to shine through. The only aspect of this that I didn't like was the time skipping that happened throughout the entire book. The time skips worked out a little better in this book than others since the reader gets to truly experience Grace's POV and his experience of recalling his lost memories. However, the classic problem still stands where I want to learn more about the main plot but end up having to trudge through pages of a flashback.

This leads to the second problem; the first 100-150 pages were really hard for me to get through. I started reading this book a while ago, but it ended up sitting around untouched for long stretches of time just because the beginning part of the book wasn't interesting enough for me to really get into the book. If anyone else has the same problem, I encourage you to push through because the rest of the book went REALLY fast. It's a very gripping story that has a good mix of suspense, despair, humor, and camaraderie.

A lot of the science went over my head; I'm not sure if it's just because this book is longer, but it seemed like there were more scientific explanations in Project Hail Mary than The Martian. I have to admit there was a lot I ended up skimming over (some parts I just wanted to know what happens next, with less interest on the exact science behind how it's happening). 

Highly recommend giving this book a read. Although it's not my favorite book, I definitely enjoyed it. 

Book Blog #306: Severance by Ling Ma

 

Title: Severance

Author: Ling Ma

# of Pages: 291 (hardback)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

Review: I'm surprised thriller wasn't a top genre for this book. 

It's interesting because this book felt like a cross between the last two books I read: Migrations and Beautiful World, Where Are You. This is probably me noticing small similarities; Ma also doesn't use quotation marks around dialogue like in Beautiful World, Where Are You. Both Severance and Migrations were told in first person with time skipping (something I don't enjoy). However, where Severance and Migrations differ is that Migration's time skips helped build suspense and slowly unveiled a mystery while as Severance attempted to do a lower scale version of this with Candace's life during the Shen Fever, but it's much less exciting.

Beautiful World, Where Are You and Migrations also differ from this book in another major way; these books made me feel something - they touched my heart or evoked emotion (usually sympathy/sadness) at least once throughout their stories. For Severance, I was just scared during some parts (there's always a bit of a thrill when characters are exploring an apocalyptic world and the suspense of what would happen/show up). Candace might have been a more realistic protagonist than Franny in Migrations (and this might have been because Ma may have drawn from her experiences to develop this character since they have similarities in their backgrounds), but when it came down to who's story was more interesting, I would have to say it was Franny's.

This story actually is a little too real; it was written pre-pandemic, but there are some startling similarities between how this dystopian world was impacted by the Shen Fever and how the real world was affected by COVID-19. This is no fault on the author/book, but since everyone has lived through the pandemic, Severance didn't offer much unique perspective in terms of dystopian world building (thus making it less of an interesting story to read). Considering that she wrote this before knowing how COVID was to be handled in our past and present, I do still applaud her unintentional prediction of how the world would respond to a pandemic/epidemic. 

The final gripe I have with this book is that the ending was incredibly unsatisfying to me. It feels like this book should be part of a series, but at the same time I don't know how interested I would be in reading the rest of the series. The ending felt like Ma was tired of writing and left a lot of questions unanswered. Sometimes there's an art of leaving the reader wondering, but in this case it felt like the story barely got anywhere when it suddenly ended.

On a more positive note, I really liked the theme of change vs routine that Ma decided to explore with this book. Set in New York, one of the most upbeat and diverse cities where things seem to be full of change - everything is happening in New York. This backdrop was an interesting choice to show how the people within can still be stuck in a monotonous lifestyle. While Severance's plot an overdone apocalyptic journey, it still sends a powerful message on how a capitalistic society can negatively affect our values and in turn affect how we lead our lives. 

This book had potential, but it falls short. It's a quick read, but I would not be recommending it in a hurry; the theme is worth reading about, but I feel like there are other books out there that will have a similar message AND everything that this book was missing. 

Book Blog #305: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

 

Title: Migrations

Author: Charlotte McConaghy

# of Pages: 256 (hardback)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool—a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime—it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny's dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?

Review: This book was so CONFUSING.

Not confusing in the sense that I didn't understand what was going on in the story, although there is a fair bit of that as you peel the onion on our protagonist's life. I didn't realize that this book would be written in first person, which means she's a bit of an unreliable narrator at times. The story is also presented in slices from her life; sometimes you'll be reading about her present as she follows the terns on their migration to Antarctica, sometimes you are thrown a snippet of her life from her childhood, sometimes you're given a memory from somewhere in between. 

Time skips are always annoying to me as a reader because I always find myself wanting to learn more about a different slice of time but have to read through more boring time slices first before going back to the interesting part. It's frustrating, but I can understand why McConaghy decided to tell this story this way; it adds to the mystery. 

I was honestly surprised that mystery wasn't one of the genres for this book because I think that aspect of it is what kept me coming back to this book. It reminded me a bit of Silent Patient, which also time skipped around. Migrations differs however because I was not completely blindsided as I was in Silent Patient; although I could not predict everything that happened in Migrations, everything was not entirely unexpected either which weakened the shock value upon the big reveals. 

I was almost going to give this book four stars because it had me feeling emotional, especially at the end. When a book makes me FEEL something, that usually means it's a pretty good book. However, I didn't love the McConaghy's writing; the way she portrayed her characters felt unrealistic to me. For example, something felt off with the way she portrayed children; they way they acted seemed exaggerated, like how people would imagine a child would act instead of how they actually are. 

Another aspect I did not like was the first person narrative from Franny; she is such an extreme character since she is a huge environmentalist. It's difficult to be able to read from her perspective and hear her internal thoughts when she's not relatable (I want to help the planet and save the animals as much as the next person, but her love for birds and other creatures goes above and beyond). 

I was also shocked to find that this was basically a dystopia. The world isn't too different from the present, and I don't think this was clearly described in the synopsis. However, this was basically a cautionary tale on what could happen if we are not mindful of human impact on the Earth and other species. While this is a great message, it does come off as preachy since the characters were such extremists. 

So why was this book confusing? I don't know how to feel about it. I was emotionally affected, and even though I cannot relate to Fanny's personality, I still felt sympathy toward her and wanted to know more about her story. This alone would have led me to give it four stars at least, but there were so many other issues that I mentioned above that forced me to dock off an additional star; I think the story is good but the execution could have been better (such as in developing the characters to be more realistic). 

Although it wouldn't be at the top of my list, I would actually recommend this book; it's not that long of a read, and I'd advertise it as a mystery around our protagonist - who is Franny Stone, what is she doing, and why is she doing it? Framed as a mystery, it's actually a pretty gripping story. 

Book Blog #299: The Emissary by Yoko Tawada

 

Title: The Emissary

Author: Yoko Tawada

# of Pages: 138 (paperback)

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly. They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient—frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise. Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism. Yoshiro concentrates on nourishing Mumei, a strangely wonderful boy who offers “the beauty of the time that is yet to come.”

Review: Even though this book is so short, it took me FOREVER to get through it. 

Like many dystopian science fiction, this alternate version of Japan experience environmental disaster where many food sources are contaminated, the youth are sickly, and the elderly live forever. This quirky story is told in the third person (and a couple of times switched to first person without warning) that does third POV switching quite often. To make it more confusing, there is a decent amount of time skipping as well, especially at the end. 

All the characters have some sort of stream of consciousness where they reflect on themselves and the world around them in most artful and, to me, drawn out and boring way possible. There wasn't much of a plot; it's more like a slice of life with no clear direction on where the story is going, which in term made me very disinterested in the book in general.

I was debating on whether to give this book three stars just because I feel like I am missing something here. But based on a single pass through alone (and how long it took me to finish the book), I was not entertained, and this book was overall burdensome for me to read. I would not recommend this book.

Book Blog #298: The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

 

Title: The Memory Police

Author: Yōko Ogawa

# of Pages: 274 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

Review: Despite a slow start, The Memory Police ended up being better than I expected. 

Although the material is adult, the writing style was simplistic. I am not sure if this is because of the translation, or if this is just how the book was written. The concept of people being able to just lose their memories was a hard one to wrap by brain around at first. While this got as I progressed through the book, there was some time skipping in the beginning between the protagonist's past and present, which was sometimes confusing. There is also skipping between excerpts of the novel the protagonist is writing and the main story, but this is less confusing after the first time it happens. 

While the concept is incredibly unrealistic and a lot of the "science" behind HOW people lose memories of certain things is not focused on, this is not the point of the book. Rather, it appears to be an extreme representation on how some governments encourage somethings to be forgotten. While governments/institutions are not yet able to enforce the kind of memory loss seen in this book (yet), they can suppress anything (or anyone) that makes people remember said thing, not that much unlike the Memory Police.

Overall, a thought provoking and even somewhat emotion-evoking book. It is not that long, so if you had a chance, it is a good read. I don't know if it would be my first choice, but I am definitely glad that I read it.

Book Blog #289: The Testament by Margaret Atwood

 

Title: The Testament

Author: Margaret Atwood

# of Pages: 13 hours and 18 minutes (audiobook)

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her – freedom, prison or death. With The Testaments, the wait is over. Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story 15 years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

Review: This is the sequel no one ACTUALLY asked for. 

The ambiguous ending of The Handmaid's Tale was GREAT. Just because it leaves readers wondering doesn't mean the author should actually "give the readers what they want." In fact, it's usually better to leave things up to interpretation. But what can you do? Giving people what they want sells (take the Star Wars movies by Disney for example). 

Honestly, I didn't listen too closely to this book. Once I realized there were three different POV, I became incredibly exasperated. There are two perspectives (Agnes and Daisy) who sound very similar (the only difference is one lives in Gilead and the other lives in Canada) at least in the audiobook. 

The plot was not interesting, the organization of the three POVs was poor. I would not recommend this book. 

Book Blog #270: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 

Author: Suzanne Collins

# of Pages: 517 (hardback)

Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute . . . and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Review: This is the prequel no one ever asked for.

I was surprised to see that this book existed. Another book in The Hunger Games series? But like any wildly successful series, those involved in making this book come into existence probably couldn't let a good thing just end. 

When I was scrolling though the reviews, I was apprehensive to give this book a shot. The good reviews seemed to be hardcore Hunger Games fans who hadn't even read the book yet. The bad reviews were evidence of the worst case scenario: the book was unfinishable for some. However,  after finishing, I don't think it's as bad as people say. I was even tempted to rate it four stars because I was fully immersed at the end. Here's why I decided to only give it three:

1. There's a lot of fluff. A lot of eating, a lot of characters introduced with little significance. This book didn't have to be as long as it was (and it was undoubtably made longer by the repeated inclusion of mentor and tributes lists and song lyrics).

2. Snow's character development throughout the book could have been more convincing. We all know how this book is going to end (assuming the reader has read The Hunger Games series). President (Coriolanus) Snow is not exactly a likable character in the main books. What makes the premise of this story interesting it that it takes the reader back to when Coriolanus Snow was 18, a time when he was no more or less evil than any other person just entering adulthood. He's presented as our protagonist but some how has to become the antagonist that is present in The Hunger Games series. I was expecting to be able to sympathize with Snow and understand how his life events turned him into the man he eventually became, but the execution of this change (or revelation) of his character felt too sudden. 

If you are a hardcore fan of The Hunger Games series and were already excited for this book, go ahead and give it a read. I was a big fan of the main books, but didn't have much interest in reading this book other than out of curiosity on what story there was to be told in a prequel. I don't regret reading it, but I don't think I needed to read this book either. Would only recommend to those who are genuinely interested. 

Book Blog #257: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
# of Pages: 382 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
Review: “I would work. I would bow. Let me wash dirt from my hands instead of blood. I want only to live with my family. We were happy enough. Freedom costs too much.” 

The critics are right. This book is VERY much like Hunger Games. Readers who LOVE The Hunger Games and want to read more that are VERY similar to The Hunger Games (or any cliché dystopian YA), this is exactly the book for you.

I loved The Hunger Games, but I also read THG before dystopian YA became a huge fad. This story is nothing new, and it is very clearly only the first book of a whole series. You can't read this book and expect most of the major loose ends to be tied up; Brown knew he was making this a whole saga.

Honestly, a lot of scenes lacked a lot fo detail. Since this is a dystopian world, I would love more world building details. Brown provides the bare minimum to get by with telling the story, which might be fine for some younger readers.

If you are the correct audience for YA books, go ahead and give this book a try. However, you won't get anything from this book that you wouldn't get from tons of YA dystopian books out there.

Book Blog #243: Three Worlds Collide by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Title: Three Worlds Collide
Author: Eliezer Yudkowsky
# of Pages: ~100 (ebook)
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Three Worlds Collide is a story written to illustrate some points on naturalistic metaethics and diverse other issues of rational conduct. It grew, as such things do, into a small novella. On publication, it proved widely popular and widely criticized. Be warned that the story, as it wrote itself, ended up containing some profanity and PG-13 content.
Review: I read (and listened to the audiobook version of) this because I loved Yudkowsky's HPMOR.

Unlike HPMOR, this book cannot be categorized as "fanfiction" because it is not based off of an existing story (although it has a bit of a Star Trek/Star Wars vibe simply because it takes place in space). Unlike HPMOR, this is obviously something that is very unpolished and not even close to being ready for publication (by traditional means). Although the concepts are interesting, and I can appreciate how Yudkowsky went about presenting such a moral dilemma, the story is all over the place.

Enjoying HPMOR does not necessarily mean you will enjoy this work from Yudkowsky. However, it is a short read, so if you are curious, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

Book Blog #240: Light from Other Stars by Erika Swyler

Title: Light from Other Stars
Author: Erika Swyler
# of Pages: 320 (ebook)
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach—if she can just grow up fast enough. Theo, the scientist father she idolizes, is consumed by his own obsessions. Laid off from his job at NASA and still reeling from the loss of Nedda’s newborn brother several years before, Theo turns to the dangerous dream of extending his living daughter's childhood just a little longer. The result is an invention that alters the fabric of time.
Review: I received an advanced copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Although I am writing this review after the book has been published, I read the pre-release version.

What at first sounded like a touching historical fiction story turned out to be a strange science fiction novel.

The book confusingly switches between past and future in an attempt to tell both parts of Nedda’s (the protagonist’s) life story at the same time. Although this might be a better story telling choice than if both parts were told in series, the way it was told was definitely not the best choice.

This book is advertised to be about “fathers and daughters, women and the forces that hold them back,” but I found it was more about the complexity of relationship in a family and that there was more growth between Nedda and her mother than Nedda and her father.

If you are interested from the synopsis, go ahead and give it a read. However, if it sounds like a disorganized read, I would recommend against it.

Book Blog #237: Diary of an AssCan by Andy Weir

Title: Diary of an AssCan: A Mark Watney Short Story
Author: Andy Weir
# of Pages: 4 (ebook)
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: This short story gives us a glimpse into Mark Watney’s world just before taking off on his mission for Mars. Read on for more from this exceptional character.
Review: Since I just finished reading The Martian, I was really excited to see there was a free prequel (read it yourself here: https://blog.whsmith.co.uk/andy-weir-the-short-story-prequel-to-the-martian/).

I knew it was going to be a short story, but I didn't realize it was going to be THIS short. Even when I saw that it was about 4 pages long, I was expecting a dense set of 4 pages containing the unknown part of Mark story leading up to his mission on Mars. However, these three short entries reveal nothing the reader doesn't already know.

It will literally take a couple minutes tops to read it, but there's pretty much nothing to this story. If you're interested, I'd say go for it because you're not wasting a lot of time. But afterward you'll understand that what is labelled as a short story is actually no story at all.

Book Blog #236: The Martian by Andy Weir

Title: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir
# of Pages: 369 (paperback)
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Review: I was very surprised by how much I was able to enjoy this book.

By no means am I a science fiction buff (the opposite actually, aside from a brief obsession with dystopian YA books). However, since this book was so popular, and there was even a movie based on it, I decided to give it a shot.

Weir does a great job making a likable protagonist; his log entries are fun, so the reader actually wants him to survive. The biggest drag on the story is how much science there is. While I appreciate a well researched book, even the dumbed down science in Mark's log entries force readers to slow down to understand what exactly is going on.

This story is told in first person (the log entries) with the occasional section of third person narration and third person POV from the people at NASA. In this case, jumping between log entries and NASA is fine since there is a clear distinction between these two perspectives and they give a clear picture of what is going on at that moment. However, there still was some overlap between NASA's perspective and Mark's log entries that could have been eliminated to make the way the story was told perfect.

I enjoyed the read and would recommend it to those interested in the book. If you are scared of there being too much science, trying reading an excerpt and see how you fare; it doesn't get much more technical than it is in the beginning.

Book Blog #224: Dune by Frank Herbert

Title: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
# of Pages: 512 (paperback)
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the 'spice' melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.
Review: This is not the type of book that would usually draw my attention. In the past, I've read science fiction books, but these are more along the Divergent and Hunger Games variety. I've read some similar to Ender's Game (which I think has a similar writing style as used in the book I'm reviewing now), but I had very little interest in that.

I picked this book up because it was popular (so much for being hipster). I knew immediately after starting that it was going to take me a while to get through it (and I wasn't wrong). This is the type of book where the reader would most enjoy the story if it is read in big blocks of time (versus reading it for 10 minutes in between activities).

Part of what makes this book so difficult to read is because the reader is thrown straight into the world with very little context. The world Herbert created is so intricate, he had to include appendices (yup, multiple ones) just so the reader could keep up with the lingo.  The only character provided to the reader to learn about the strange-ties of this different world is Paul, the story's fifteen year old protagonist. Although he has already grown to adolescence in this world,  he is more ignorant than the other characters who's perspectives the reader gets to hear the story from (thankfully in third person). Most of the other characters (Jessica, his mother, or the Baron) are well-versed in certain sets of Dune specific vocabulary, it makes it difficult to stay immersed in the book because of the constant flipping to the appendices.

However, once having the time to sit down and read it, Dune was a very interesting book. Once getting past "Book 1" (after which I was mostly accustom to how the world operates), I was gripped up the tale of Paul as he grows up and struggles with those in power. The ending did not feel like an ending, but this is probably because there are other books in the series.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested but not to those who do not think they can handle a dense science fiction story.

Book Blog #215: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
# of Pages: 384 (ebook)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
Review: Although it took me a long time to finish this book (partially because of school), it was a very enjoyable read.

I starting reading Ready Player One after I watched the movie and realized it was based off a book. The movie was thrilling, but I had my suspicions that it deviated from the original story since many movies glamorize characters for the big screen.

These suspicions proved to be correct; the way the main characters are described in the book are much closer to what I'd expect characters like them to look like in their situation rather than the beautiful actors they used in the movie.

It's been over-said, but it's definitely applicable here: the book is better than the movie. I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the characters experiences a different series of events than they do in the movie, and what happens to them in the book has a greater impact than the character did as a whole in the movie. (I know I'm being vague, but it's the best I can do).

I would 100% recommend this book. While it took me a while to finish it, it should be a very quick read; once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down.

Book Blog #214: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
# of Pages: 311 (paperback)
Genre: Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...
Review: For a classic, this book is very easy to read.

Yes, The Handmaid's Tale is definitely a more modern classic than most, yet it is refreshing to be able to read something higher on the respectability scale than your run-of-the-mill YA book with such ease. This is not to say Atwood's writing style is simply written, rather, she is a good storyteller. For the most part, her writing flows very naturally. However, not using quotation marks when Offred is recalling a memory is bothersome; although it may aid in separating actual speech and thought, it doesn't make it any less difficult to distinguish the dialogue.

I nearly gave this book three stars because I didn't like how exaggerated the dystopian world Atwood created is. Although there are instances of woman subjugation in this book that parallel situations in real life, the United States is warped into such a strange and unrealistic state that the story seems more like a tall tale you'd tell children rather than a warning against an undesirable yet probable future.

I was worried about how this book would portray sex and was impressed with how desexualize "The Ceremony" is portrayed. There is nothing romantic with how the society forces women to reproduce, and I was glad Atwood didn't make it that way.

The book held my interest the whole way through, and the ending leaves me thinking about it still. I would highly recommend this book!

Book Blog #209: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Title: Monsters of Men
Author: Patrick Ness
# of Pages: 603 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered?
Review: This is yet another book I meant to read three to four years ago but never got the chance to.

In the midst of my reading frenzy to finish the books on my to-read shelf I bought but no longer have a strong interest in, I was trying to put off this book as much as possible. It's the third book of a series I haven't read in years,  and I could remember the book that preceded it was lack-luster. To top it off, the book is relatively longer than the rest of the books on my to-read shelf. With these factors in mind, I knew this read would take around a week (it ended up only taking 5-6 days), and I wasn't sure if this book was worth my time.

But I decided to stop putting it off; the sooner I read it and got it over with the better off I would be. Grudgingly, I began reading this over 600 page book...

Which presents us with the first problem with Monsters of Men; it's unnecessarily long. Part of the book's lengthiness comes from the point-of-view switching, an aspect of the book that has carried over from the second book. Although there are some authors who can tell a story from different first person perspectives effectively, Ness makes each point of view overlap with one another which means the reader has to hear about each event at least twice.

Sure, some may say the POV switching is as important in this book as it is in Allegiant (Divergent #3). Yes, some events in the book may depend appear to rely on a POV switch to be able to be told at all. But both Monsters of Men and Allegiant could have been told from one perspective and still include all the important parts of the plot; it is up to the author to figure out how it can be done. To me, first person POV switching is a sign of sloppy writing and immediately weakens the immersion into the story.

The struggle between war and peace is central to the plot but the constant back-and-forth between the two drags on for way too long. Ness takes his time developing relationships and resolving conflicts between different characters which just drags the book on even longer. Not to mention how the book comes to an end, only for there to be an "additional side story!" that goes on for another 40 pages from yet ANOTHER perspective.

However, there are still some good themes in this book.

I almost didn’t want to read the Snowscape side story. I had finished reading Todd’s story; I don’t carry about the secondary characters. But Ness wrote this additional story to make his revenge theme even clearer. Dawson felt “the act of firing the middle” did not compensate for the loss of her husband” (p.641).

“But then, revenge never does, does it? Because everything you buy has a price that someone, somewhere has to pay” -p.642

Like in the book The Revenant, Monsters of Men reveals the negative aspects of revenge. However, while The Revenant focused on the damaging effects in the pursuit of revenge, MoM concentrated on displaying the effect during and after the revenge (not only shown during the side story but also through 1017 and his ongoing desire for revenge against Todd).

In the main part of the book, when Viola is pondering whether people’s Noise should be opened to everyone or closed within individuals, she suddenly thinks:

“Why can’t we learn to live with how we are? And whatever anybody chooses is okay by the rest of us?” -p.590

Viola’s thought applies to those beyond the New World. From his series consisting of both inner and outer species conflict and homosexual relationships such as 1017 with his one and Ben with Cillian in raising Todd, Ness’s message is clear: despite people’s differences, everyone should be able to live their lives as they truly are, not by how others believe lives should be led.

If you are okay with POV switching (which I clearly am not) and have already enjoyed the first two books, you will probably enjoy this book. However, although I cannot remember much of the first two books, Monsters of Men seems to be the weakest book in the trilogy.

Book Blog #203: Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne

Title: Savage Drift
Author: Emmy Laybourne
# of Pages: 305 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: It's over. Dean, Alex, and the other survivors of the Monument 14 have escaped the disaster zone and made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Some of the kids have been reunited with their families, and everyone is making tentative plans for the future. And then, Niko learns that his lost love, Josie, has survived! Or is it? For Josie, separated from the group and presumed dead, life has gone from bad to worse. Trapped in a terrible prison camp with other exposed O’s and traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue. Meanwhile, scared by the government’s unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid—along with her two protectors, Dean and Jake—joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with Josie.
Review: I read the first two books of the Monument 14 trilogy almost three years ago. In this time, not only have I forgotten most of the characters and the whole plot, but also my love, and the main stream audience's love, for dystopian science fiction has drastically dwindled. However, since I owned a copy of this book for some reason or another three years ago (I didn't like the preceding two book very much - what made me think this one would be any better?), I decided to read it regardless if I'd be able to follow the story or not.

What I do applaud Laybourne for is how quickly she was able to summarize the plot of Monument 14 and Sky on Fire. At the very beginning of the book, Laybourne includes Alex's letter to the editors of a newspaper which succinctly retells the story of how the survivors of the Monument 14 made it to the Canadian camp and conveniently lists all of the main and supporting characters' names and ages. While I would otherwise find this method irritatingly sloppy, I appreciated the refresher and how Laybourne craftily incorporated the letter into the plot.

More characters are introduced than were necessary, especially the younger children. Characters such as Chloe, Caroline, and Henry, the children who were part of the trilogy since book one could have easily been condensed into one character. The same could be said of Heather, Aiden, and Freddy; one child would have been sufficient in revealing Josie's cold yet protective nature. Developing so many different characters was overkill.

While every teenager mentally develops at their own pace, I expected more maturity from the older characters, especially Dean and Jake. Their constant bickering may have meant to come off as childish, but I was never sympathetic with either of them, only annoyed. I would rather have felt Dean's frustrations with having to deal with the loser baby father hanging around his girlfriend, but Laybourne made his narrative sound immature and even a little creepy (he wanted to play with Astrid's bellybutton? Seriously?).

Laybourne is constantly using labels to describe side characters: a Latino man, a Chinese nurse, a man with a "Jersey-gangster" accent. I've never been so aware of the race/ethnicity/origin of the characters in a book until now. Laybourne uses these stereotypes to shortcut her way through describing insignificant characters even though most of the time these labels are not even relevant to the character's development nor the story. It would be better if Laybourne left these details up for interpretation.

Most reader who have made it to the third book already like Laybourne's writing style. To these people, I would recommend this book to because from what I can tell, this story is just as enjoyable as the others. To those who are still on the fence, if you are interested in a low-level YA read that is short and shallow, this is your book.

Book Blog #194: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

Title: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
# of Pages: 4 (pdf)
Genre: Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In this short story, Le Guin describes the utopian city of Omelas during the Festival of Summer.
Review: "If the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specific and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain?" - William James

This question is what The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is based upon.

(Since this book is so short, the whole review beyond this point will be a spoiler.)

Yet another book inexplicably recommended by BTS,  I was surprised to find this book significantly shorter than Demian. However, don't be fooled by its size; it is just as thought-provoking as many other books.

The narration is refreshing; I felt like I was sitting with a new acquaintance trying to convince me of the beauty and peacefulness of this unknown Omelas city. Not knowing at all what this short story was going to be about, I was perfectly willing to accept the fact that Omelas was the definition of perfection, but the narrator's insistence that my imagination was not doing this fictional city justice was amusing.

But my favorite part was the tonal shift when the narrator finally drops the strangely pushy positivity to reveal the city's sole imperfection; the lonely child who's suffering allows everyone else to live in their utopia. The fact that it is a child who seems to be forced to sacrifice "it's" (as it is referred to in story) happiness gave me chills up my spine. While Le Guin most likely uses the it pronoun to keep the child gender neutral, I found it interesting how dehumanizing is was. The child used to be able to talk, but its seclusion has degraded its speech to animalistic noises. This dehumanization of the child makes it easier for the Omelas to let go of their guilt and live happily.

This brings us back to the question of whether it is right to sacrifice one person's happiness for the greater good of others. The people who live in Omelas seem to think so, especially since the child is out of sight and out of mind. As a reader, this does not feel the right choice; if I were in the child's shoes, I would not want to be the one chosen to suffer while everyone else to live prosperously. Leaving the Omelas does not feel like the right choice either; while it lessens the person's guilt, it does not end the paradox. The best option would be never to agree to the conditions in the first place, assuming the people of the city would live similarly to how we are today. Yes, there would be a greater amount of suffering, but at least everyone would have free will (which opens up a different can of worms, but we won't get into that).

We can find that this situation exists in real life; the wealthy upper class is living the high life while the lower classes struggle and suffer for their benefit. The prosperous may visit the poor, but more often than not, nothing is done to fix their difference.

There's no clear right answer. It's been almost 24 hours since I read this story, and I'm still wrestling with the question is presents. I recommend you read the story for yourself and form your own opinion.

Book Blog #192: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Title: A Thousand Pieces of You
Author: Claudia Gray
# of Pages: 373 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him. Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.
Review: You've got to admit: the cover is gorgeous.

When I started to read this book, I had no idea what it was about. All I knew was that I had to read this book with the beautiful cover that a few of my friends were reading.

The book got off on a rocky start with, with some small inaccurate details annoying the heck out of me.

"I’d come in from piano lessons, and I quickly ditched my sheet music so I’d look less like a kid. "

Since when does sheet music make a person look like a kid? Even professionals use sheet music sometimes, depending on what they're working on. Details like this one is what make the book unrealistic; someone who is learning music wouldn't find holding sheeting music embarrassing. Like in the quote, the protagonist's feelings/reactions aren't realistic enough as the author is probably not writing from experience and isn't able to fake the details.

"We don’t have much family aside from Aunt Susannah, who seems to think Thanksgiving is some barbaric American custom that would give her the cooties."

Here's another example of where the author seems to get the idea wrong. As an adult, Aunt Susannah probably doesn't dislike Thanksgiving for the cooties - that's a very five year- old thing to say. In the same manner, Meg, a young adult, would probably not use cooties as a justification for her Aunt's displeasure with the holiday, even if she were saying so mindlessly. Sure, the author can make her characters say and think how she wants. But it's uncharacteristic for them to have cooties in their vocabulary.

What freaked me out about this book was that I had actually thought up a similar concept of multiple dimensions being created for a every possible decision. I was shocked that for the second time in my life, someone thought up the same concept as me.

However the story improved overtime as the plot thickened, and of course I'm can't resist a good love triangle.

If you're looking for a light, easy about a unique concept paired with a cliché love triangle, this is the book for you.