While I enjoyed learning more about Catherine the Great, I did not enjoy this particular book very much. The author was clearly totally in the bag for Catherine which, while understandable (Elizabeth I is my homegirl, yo), does not make for the most well balanced of books. I mean, he seemed to take as gospel everything Catherine had to say about her husband, but it was in Catherine’s best interest that Peter III be seen as an idiot, no? I’m not saying he wasn’t, because […]
If I ever meet her, I will embarrass Ursula K. Le Guin with my fangirl weeping.
The Tombs of Atuan is the story of Tenar. According to the Priestesses of the Tombs, Tenar was the reborn spirit of the First Priestess. Tenar is taken from her family at five years old and sent to the Tombs, where no man, not even the Godking himself, can enter, to train to serve the Nameless Ones, to live the life she has lived hundreds of times previously. After a year her name is taken from her and she is only ever to be Ahra, […]
If negative stars were possible, that’s what I would give this book.
A brief summary of the plot. An asteroid hits the moon and moves it closer to Earth, causing swelling tides which flood the coasts, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that put massive amounts of ash into the air, turning summer into winter. The story is told through the diary entries of the sixteen-year-old Miranda, who goes from a normal high school student to a person fighting, with her family, for survival. If you’re like me and you love YA speculative fiction, that sounds good, right? And […]
Close but no cigar.
This book made me sad because I wanted to love it and I couldn’t so more than like it. The characters were solid and the dialogue wasn’t bad but everything else was lacking. I mean, I enjoyed the plot, but I can’t really give Lev AC Rosen credit for that, since All Men of Genius is a retelling of Twelfth Night. A Victorian era, steampunk retelling of Twelfth Night with a dash of The Importance of Being Earnest* thrown in, to be exact. Violet and […]
They never say the word “zombie.”
Some time in the not too distant future, a virus sweeps across America. It can be deadly but isn’t always. Those who die sometimes come back as “Reboots,” especially the young. Broken bones now heal in minutes, senses are faster, better, and the Reboots still age and can have babies. There is chaos and panic and hysteria, of course, and eventually a war between the Reboots and the humans. It seems most of America, between the virus and the war, are wiped out. All that’s […]
Even more badass than Ripley?
Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is the baddest of bad asses. She strictly follows military protocol but can make a general feel like an idiot and a new second lieutenant toe her line while doing so. She is competent and smart and snarky and fucking wonderful. She’s got no time for your bullshit and it’s the best. If you read Valor’s Choice and don’t love Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, we can’t be friends any more. “But, Amanda, what is Valor’s Choice about?” you might ask. Well, […]