It says something about this series that this heart-wrenching volume of storytelling is a relief after the last one. Oy, that last one was rough. But this was one was more bittersweet than bitter. Something that I have always appreciated about this series is its tone. Like real life, everything isn’t all bad or all good all the time. Real life is messy, and you can feel many things at once. Real life has hills and valleys, and flat plains. One of the reasons I […]
“I actually read history. It’s like reading prophecy, you know.”
A fun thing to do with this series is to predict the way the story will go based on the piece of mythology, history or religion featured in each title. Another fun thing to do is realize how wrong you were in your predictions, after the book has had its way with you. It’s still fun afterwards, though. I bet the authors have a grand ole time coming up with these titles. Some spoilies below, so if you want to go in blind, maybe don’t […]
Liked, not loved.
Okay, so, luckily I read some mediocre reviews of this before starting it and I adjusted my expectations accordingly. I was way too pumped for this book, and frankly, my expectations for it were unrealistically high. Books that you ALL CAPS LOVE don’t come along that often, and the chances that an author will deliver a second one, particularly after the first was a debut novel, aren’t super high. I ALL CAPS LOVED The Martian, but I just had a pretty good time with this book. […]
Young Princess Leia backstory, thumbs up.
Claudia Gray is three for three with Star Wars books. I’ve been reading Star Wars books for over half my life now (!) and she is probably the best, most consistent author of these books that I have any experience of. She brings such a nice sense of nuance and character depth. And she really gets Leia, as she proved in her adult novel, Bloodline (which is probably my favorite Star Wars book), and as she proves again here in this young adult take on […]
The DODO Doorstopper
‘My name is Melisande Stokes and this is my story. I am writing in July 1851 (Common Era, or – let’s face it – Anno Domini) in the guest chamber of a middle-class home in Kensington, London, England. But I am not a native of this place or time. In fact, I am quite fucking desperate to get out of here.’ Having never read anything by Nicole Galland before, I may be speculating, but her influence on Neal Stephenson’s infodump tendencies seems to be a positive […]
In which I call Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi classic ‘hella baller’
Are you feeling hopeless at the prospect of 2018? Boy do I have the book for you. In childhood’s end the world is ruled by “overlords,” who clean up the world and end wars and bring peace to mankind – ain’t it swell? There can’t possibly be a caveat – – oh wait there is? [redacted for spoilers] Nevermind then. Right, so read this book, because at least we humans, as a species, are still kinda autonomous? “Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could […]
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