May's ten reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Network Effect (Martha Wells)
Network Effect
The Murderbot Diaries, Book 5
Martha Wells
Tor.com
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A lot has happened since the half-organic, half-artificial security construct SecUnit, who still calls itself Murderbot, hacked its governor module to attain free will. At first, it mostly used its freedom to stream media and silently judge the stupidity of its clients, until it was found out. It finally has nominal freedom under the protection of Preservation, humans outside the powerful Corporate Rim that runs much of the known galaxy... but even an artificial being has to be useful, so it still works security for Dr. Mensah and her family. (Even in Preservation, humans are incredibly bad at keeping themselves alive without a SecUnit on hand.) What started as a routine survey mission goes wildly askew, however, when the return trip is interrupted by unknown hostiles - hostiles who have apparently taken over and destroyed an old friend, ART, the AI pilot of the university ship Perihelion. Now, in addition to keeping his human charges safe, SecUnit has another objective: figure out who these unknown people are, and make them pay in blood. Fortunately, as a self-described Murderbot, making humans bleed should be easy. Figuring out what's behind the unusual attackers will be the hard part. Hard, and potentially lethal...
REVIEW: The first novel-length adventure of SecUnit, a.k.a Murderbot, maintains the snarky narrative voice and breakneck action of the rest of the series. SecUnit is still figuring out what it wants to do with its freedom, and whom - if anyone - it wants to serve. It still isn't used to being cared about or having friends, and its reaction to ART's presumed deletion drives home just how deeply it has learned to care for others... and how dangerous it can be when those others come to harm. Hints have been dropped throughout the series of the dangers inherent in "alien remnant" tech and contamination, but not a lot has been mentioned about specifics; this adventure deals more with that aspect of Wells's future world, and just how dangerous the remnants can be. As in previous installments, sometimes the names and tangled loyalties and relations can be a bit thick, as can the action (given that SecUnit can monitor multiple situations simultaneously thanks to drone feeds, events can be complicated), but it sorts itself out by the end, as SecUnit takes another step toward creating its own path in a complicated universe.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Ancillary Justice (Ann Leckie) - My Review
Embers of War (Gareth L. Powell) - My Review
All Systems Red (Martha Wells) - My Review
The Murderbot Diaries, Book 5
Martha Wells
Tor.com
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A lot has happened since the half-organic, half-artificial security construct SecUnit, who still calls itself Murderbot, hacked its governor module to attain free will. At first, it mostly used its freedom to stream media and silently judge the stupidity of its clients, until it was found out. It finally has nominal freedom under the protection of Preservation, humans outside the powerful Corporate Rim that runs much of the known galaxy... but even an artificial being has to be useful, so it still works security for Dr. Mensah and her family. (Even in Preservation, humans are incredibly bad at keeping themselves alive without a SecUnit on hand.) What started as a routine survey mission goes wildly askew, however, when the return trip is interrupted by unknown hostiles - hostiles who have apparently taken over and destroyed an old friend, ART, the AI pilot of the university ship Perihelion. Now, in addition to keeping his human charges safe, SecUnit has another objective: figure out who these unknown people are, and make them pay in blood. Fortunately, as a self-described Murderbot, making humans bleed should be easy. Figuring out what's behind the unusual attackers will be the hard part. Hard, and potentially lethal...
REVIEW: The first novel-length adventure of SecUnit, a.k.a Murderbot, maintains the snarky narrative voice and breakneck action of the rest of the series. SecUnit is still figuring out what it wants to do with its freedom, and whom - if anyone - it wants to serve. It still isn't used to being cared about or having friends, and its reaction to ART's presumed deletion drives home just how deeply it has learned to care for others... and how dangerous it can be when those others come to harm. Hints have been dropped throughout the series of the dangers inherent in "alien remnant" tech and contamination, but not a lot has been mentioned about specifics; this adventure deals more with that aspect of Wells's future world, and just how dangerous the remnants can be. As in previous installments, sometimes the names and tangled loyalties and relations can be a bit thick, as can the action (given that SecUnit can monitor multiple situations simultaneously thanks to drone feeds, events can be complicated), but it sorts itself out by the end, as SecUnit takes another step toward creating its own path in a complicated universe.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Ancillary Justice (Ann Leckie) - My Review
Embers of War (Gareth L. Powell) - My Review
All Systems Red (Martha Wells) - My Review
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Hench (Natalie Zina Walschots)
Hench
Natalie Zina Walschots
William Morrow
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Behind every superhero is a support team, and villains are no different. From hired muscle (or "meat") to research and development to data entry, every villain needs henchpeople to keep the wheels of their various schemes rolling. Anna had been temping as a hench for years, generally for low-level baddies, when she wound up working for Electric Eel - which is how she found herself on the wrong side of a casual backhand from invulnerable hero Supercollider. The blow shattered her leg, leaving her in permanent pain, and cost her her job. The incident left her numbers-focused mind obsessed with how many other people, from low-level henches like herself to completely innocent bystanders, have had their lives ruined by the so-called good guys, for all that their PR teams hush up talk of collateral damage. The results astound her: the average hero's collateral damage is on par with a natural disaster, and none are nearly as destructive as the lauded hero Supercollider himself. As Anna's research gains notoriety through her blog, she comes to the attention of Leviathan, the legendary supervillain. With his backing and blessing, she develops a scheme of her own: using spreadsheets and data processing and statistics to meddle with the heroes' daily lives and reputations, she will get her revenge on the one-man hurricane of destruction named Supercollider. But villainy, even justified villainy, never comes without cost, and Anna is about to learn the hard way just how much she still has to lose.
REVIEW: Hench isn't the first story to explore and subvert popular tropes of heroes and villains and how blurry the line between the two can become, with monsters hiding behind capes and public adoration. It also isn't the first to explore the life of an office lackey. Walschots brings darkly subversive humor to bear on the subject, with office politics and struggling temp workers who don't really care that their bosses are technically evil so long as the pay and benefits are good. When Anna's life is ruined by a heroic encounter, she starts examining her employers' enemies as something other than a nuisance to her struggling career, determining the ultimate cost of heroism to be far greater than the damage done by the villains they purport to oppose - especially when one takes into account how many villains are created as direct results of poor interactions with heroes. Anna claims to have given up any youthful ambitions toward supervillainy herself, but it's clear that her encounter with Supercollider has provided the necessary spark, even as Leviathan feeds that spark with near-unlimited resources as he pursues his own vendetta against the hero. The more one sees behind the masks, the more one comes to see Anna's point, even if the means by which she pursues her goals are generously described as gray.
The reason this book dropped in the ratings has a little to do with a sense of meandering that settles in once the premise becomes clear, but more to do with the final third or so of the book, when the big encounter goes awry and Anna is left to pick up the pieces and pursue justice (or revenge) on her own. The climax itself has an unsettling, drawn out and grotesque element to it that I found increasingly repulsive the longer it drug on, grinding my virtual face in its depravity. The finale also failed to provide the emotional catharsis the story had been building toward; it felt more like it was almost (but not quite) setting up a sequel than anything else, ending on a vaguely unsatisfying tone where one wonders whether anyone learned or gained anything from the whole affair... which I suppose may well have been the overall point, the futility of fighting evil with evil and the unsatisfactory feeling when one realises one's many sacrifices haven't bought you at all what you were hoping for, but which still left me cold. I did enjoy several parts of this tale, and understand what Walschots was going for; it just left me too unsatisfied and repulsed by the end for me to say I enjoyed the experience.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The School for Good and Evil (Soman Chainani) - My Review
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson) - My Review
Nimona (Noelle Stevenson) - My Review
Natalie Zina Walschots
William Morrow
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Behind every superhero is a support team, and villains are no different. From hired muscle (or "meat") to research and development to data entry, every villain needs henchpeople to keep the wheels of their various schemes rolling. Anna had been temping as a hench for years, generally for low-level baddies, when she wound up working for Electric Eel - which is how she found herself on the wrong side of a casual backhand from invulnerable hero Supercollider. The blow shattered her leg, leaving her in permanent pain, and cost her her job. The incident left her numbers-focused mind obsessed with how many other people, from low-level henches like herself to completely innocent bystanders, have had their lives ruined by the so-called good guys, for all that their PR teams hush up talk of collateral damage. The results astound her: the average hero's collateral damage is on par with a natural disaster, and none are nearly as destructive as the lauded hero Supercollider himself. As Anna's research gains notoriety through her blog, she comes to the attention of Leviathan, the legendary supervillain. With his backing and blessing, she develops a scheme of her own: using spreadsheets and data processing and statistics to meddle with the heroes' daily lives and reputations, she will get her revenge on the one-man hurricane of destruction named Supercollider. But villainy, even justified villainy, never comes without cost, and Anna is about to learn the hard way just how much she still has to lose.
REVIEW: Hench isn't the first story to explore and subvert popular tropes of heroes and villains and how blurry the line between the two can become, with monsters hiding behind capes and public adoration. It also isn't the first to explore the life of an office lackey. Walschots brings darkly subversive humor to bear on the subject, with office politics and struggling temp workers who don't really care that their bosses are technically evil so long as the pay and benefits are good. When Anna's life is ruined by a heroic encounter, she starts examining her employers' enemies as something other than a nuisance to her struggling career, determining the ultimate cost of heroism to be far greater than the damage done by the villains they purport to oppose - especially when one takes into account how many villains are created as direct results of poor interactions with heroes. Anna claims to have given up any youthful ambitions toward supervillainy herself, but it's clear that her encounter with Supercollider has provided the necessary spark, even as Leviathan feeds that spark with near-unlimited resources as he pursues his own vendetta against the hero. The more one sees behind the masks, the more one comes to see Anna's point, even if the means by which she pursues her goals are generously described as gray.
The reason this book dropped in the ratings has a little to do with a sense of meandering that settles in once the premise becomes clear, but more to do with the final third or so of the book, when the big encounter goes awry and Anna is left to pick up the pieces and pursue justice (or revenge) on her own. The climax itself has an unsettling, drawn out and grotesque element to it that I found increasingly repulsive the longer it drug on, grinding my virtual face in its depravity. The finale also failed to provide the emotional catharsis the story had been building toward; it felt more like it was almost (but not quite) setting up a sequel than anything else, ending on a vaguely unsatisfying tone where one wonders whether anyone learned or gained anything from the whole affair... which I suppose may well have been the overall point, the futility of fighting evil with evil and the unsatisfactory feeling when one realises one's many sacrifices haven't bought you at all what you were hoping for, but which still left me cold. I did enjoy several parts of this tale, and understand what Walschots was going for; it just left me too unsatisfied and repulsed by the end for me to say I enjoyed the experience.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The School for Good and Evil (Soman Chainani) - My Review
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson) - My Review
Nimona (Noelle Stevenson) - My Review
Friday, May 20, 2022
Escape (Gordon Korman)
Escape
The Island trilogy, Book 3
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: First the storm and explosion destroyed the schooner Phoenix, where their parents had sent the six troubled youth to learn life skills. Then the island that was their salvation from death at sea turns out to be a meeting spot for dangerous smugglers. Now they've discovered a new danger - a top secret atomic bomb from World War II - hidden on the island. Plus one of their own, Will, has a bullet wound to the leg, which could easily turn septic in the tropical heat and germ-ridden jungle. With odds of rescue via passing ship or plane essentially nil and Will getting sicker by the day, Luke and the others are pushed to a desperate plan, a Hail Mary plan that will either get them help, or get them all killed.
REVIEW: The third and final Island installment finally brings all the kids together in the same reality; Will rejoins his sister and the others after his self-imposed exile and J.J. finally has to shake off his persistent belief in "rigged" events and hidden cameras (which even he was starting to admit to himself was more about the fantasy of safety just around the corner than actually believing some hidden camera crew and project director would let them nearly die on multiple occasions to build character in wayward children) and step up to the plate to help his fellow castaways. Using equipment and drugs scavenged from the old military base, the kids struggle to survive, but each of them understands that they're only putting off the inevitable if they can't find a way off this island. Their plan involves putting one of them in immediate peril in the off chance that doing so will result in survival for all, but it's a long shot, and they all know it. The stakes have never been higher, and it comes together in a thrill ride of a climax and a conclusion that doesn't overstay its welcome. Overall, the Island trilogy's a decent, fast-reading tale of survival and danger.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant) - My Review
Nation (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Island trilogy, Book 3
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: First the storm and explosion destroyed the schooner Phoenix, where their parents had sent the six troubled youth to learn life skills. Then the island that was their salvation from death at sea turns out to be a meeting spot for dangerous smugglers. Now they've discovered a new danger - a top secret atomic bomb from World War II - hidden on the island. Plus one of their own, Will, has a bullet wound to the leg, which could easily turn septic in the tropical heat and germ-ridden jungle. With odds of rescue via passing ship or plane essentially nil and Will getting sicker by the day, Luke and the others are pushed to a desperate plan, a Hail Mary plan that will either get them help, or get them all killed.
REVIEW: The third and final Island installment finally brings all the kids together in the same reality; Will rejoins his sister and the others after his self-imposed exile and J.J. finally has to shake off his persistent belief in "rigged" events and hidden cameras (which even he was starting to admit to himself was more about the fantasy of safety just around the corner than actually believing some hidden camera crew and project director would let them nearly die on multiple occasions to build character in wayward children) and step up to the plate to help his fellow castaways. Using equipment and drugs scavenged from the old military base, the kids struggle to survive, but each of them understands that they're only putting off the inevitable if they can't find a way off this island. Their plan involves putting one of them in immediate peril in the off chance that doing so will result in survival for all, but it's a long shot, and they all know it. The stakes have never been higher, and it comes together in a thrill ride of a climax and a conclusion that doesn't overstay its welcome. Overall, the Island trilogy's a decent, fast-reading tale of survival and danger.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant) - My Review
Nation (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Survival (Gordon Korman)
Survival
The Island trilogy, Book 2
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Not long ago, they were six strangers, sent on a "character building" adventure aboard the schooner Phoenix in the Pacific Ocean. Now, stranded on an uncharted island, they're each other's only chance at survival. It seemed that getting off the deadly waters would improve their situation, but while there's food aplenty to be scrounged in the jungles and lagoons, there's no fresh water... and, worse, no sign of boats or planes or anyone else passing near enough to signal for help. Will is also suffering a form of amnesiac delusion, convinced he's been abducted and the others are out to get him. Then they learn that they aren't, in fact, the only people who know about the island - and the people who do know about it are not the kind of people they want to be found by. They're the kind of people who shoot companions in cold blood, let alone perfect strangers.
REVIEW: This continues the Island trilogy on the unnamed, uncharted desert island. The kids start coming together into a group for mutual survival, though friction still lies just under the surface. TV addict Ian finds his knowledge from endless hours parked in front of documentary TV shows coming in handy, while Charla's athleticism comes in very handy for snagging fish and knocking down coconuts and Luke finds himself thrust into a leadership role. The arrival of bad guys adds an extra layer of danger and dread, if a mildly contrived one. (One starts to wonder if J.J. has a bit of a point about it maybe all being staged.) It loses a half-mark for that sense of contrivance, plus drawing out Will's delusional isolation and J.J.'s obnoxious insistence on none of it being real. Still, it keeps the tension pretty high and sets up even more trouble going into the final volume.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
The Island trilogy, Book 2
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Not long ago, they were six strangers, sent on a "character building" adventure aboard the schooner Phoenix in the Pacific Ocean. Now, stranded on an uncharted island, they're each other's only chance at survival. It seemed that getting off the deadly waters would improve their situation, but while there's food aplenty to be scrounged in the jungles and lagoons, there's no fresh water... and, worse, no sign of boats or planes or anyone else passing near enough to signal for help. Will is also suffering a form of amnesiac delusion, convinced he's been abducted and the others are out to get him. Then they learn that they aren't, in fact, the only people who know about the island - and the people who do know about it are not the kind of people they want to be found by. They're the kind of people who shoot companions in cold blood, let alone perfect strangers.
REVIEW: This continues the Island trilogy on the unnamed, uncharted desert island. The kids start coming together into a group for mutual survival, though friction still lies just under the surface. TV addict Ian finds his knowledge from endless hours parked in front of documentary TV shows coming in handy, while Charla's athleticism comes in very handy for snagging fish and knocking down coconuts and Luke finds himself thrust into a leadership role. The arrival of bad guys adds an extra layer of danger and dread, if a mildly contrived one. (One starts to wonder if J.J. has a bit of a point about it maybe all being staged.) It loses a half-mark for that sense of contrivance, plus drawing out Will's delusional isolation and J.J.'s obnoxious insistence on none of it being real. Still, it keeps the tension pretty high and sets up even more trouble going into the final volume.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
Shipwreck (Gordon Korman)
Shipwreck
The Island trilogy, Book 1
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Charting New Courses advertised itself as a life-changing experience for troubled youth, taking them aboard the working schooner Phoenix in the Pacific Ocean to teach them teamwork and discipline and other life skills. Nobody asked the "troubled youth" what they thought of the plan, though of course none of them have a say in the matter. Luke is here as part of a plea deal after being caught with a firearm in his school locker. J.J.'s increasingly dramatic stunts to get his actor father's attention ended with a motorcycle flying through an art gallery window and Dad finally running out of patience. Will and Lyssa's sibling rivalry culminated in violence that landed them both in the hospital. Charla's athletic talent became an obsession, while Ian's parents just wanted to force him out of the house and away from the TV and internet that absorbed all of his time. None of them really expect anything like what Charting New Courses promised their parents; it's just going to be a few weeks of misery and drudgery and seasickness, then back to their normal lives.
The sea has its own agenda, however, and soon drudgery's the last of their worries, when a storm takes out their engines, their captain, and their hopes of survival.
REVIEW: While it may not break new ground in the survival/thriller subgenre, Shipwreck takes a credible turn at a familiar idea, with a cast of kids carrying personal baggage into a situation that's literally life and death. Friction flies between them almost from the start; Will and Lyssa can't go five seconds without antagonizing each other, while J.J.'s spoiled brat persona (and conviction that the dangers they face are just part of the program, rigged or arranged by CNC for "character building") gets on everyone's nerves. The first mate, dubbed Ratface, doesn't help much, his antipathy towards the troubled youth clear from the outset; he doesn't even bother learning names, just calling all males "Archie" and females "Veronica". The storm, naturally, levels the playing field, a situation made worse by one character's impulsive and ill-thought actions and another's rank cowardice in the face of calamity. Given that this is the first in a trilogy, it goes without saying that they're still in a decent level of danger by the end... those who get through the storm, at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
The Island trilogy, Book 1
Gordon Korman
Scholastic
Fiction, MG Action/Thriller
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Charting New Courses advertised itself as a life-changing experience for troubled youth, taking them aboard the working schooner Phoenix in the Pacific Ocean to teach them teamwork and discipline and other life skills. Nobody asked the "troubled youth" what they thought of the plan, though of course none of them have a say in the matter. Luke is here as part of a plea deal after being caught with a firearm in his school locker. J.J.'s increasingly dramatic stunts to get his actor father's attention ended with a motorcycle flying through an art gallery window and Dad finally running out of patience. Will and Lyssa's sibling rivalry culminated in violence that landed them both in the hospital. Charla's athletic talent became an obsession, while Ian's parents just wanted to force him out of the house and away from the TV and internet that absorbed all of his time. None of them really expect anything like what Charting New Courses promised their parents; it's just going to be a few weeks of misery and drudgery and seasickness, then back to their normal lives.
The sea has its own agenda, however, and soon drudgery's the last of their worries, when a storm takes out their engines, their captain, and their hopes of survival.
REVIEW: While it may not break new ground in the survival/thriller subgenre, Shipwreck takes a credible turn at a familiar idea, with a cast of kids carrying personal baggage into a situation that's literally life and death. Friction flies between them almost from the start; Will and Lyssa can't go five seconds without antagonizing each other, while J.J.'s spoiled brat persona (and conviction that the dangers they face are just part of the program, rigged or arranged by CNC for "character building") gets on everyone's nerves. The first mate, dubbed Ratface, doesn't help much, his antipathy towards the troubled youth clear from the outset; he doesn't even bother learning names, just calling all males "Archie" and females "Veronica". The storm, naturally, levels the playing field, a situation made worse by one character's impulsive and ill-thought actions and another's rank cowardice in the face of calamity. Given that this is the first in a trilogy, it goes without saying that they're still in a decent level of danger by the end... those who get through the storm, at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase) - My Review
Adrift (Paul Griffin) - My Review
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Unflappable (Suzie Gilbert)
Unflappable
Suzie Gilbert
Perch Press
Fiction, General Fiction/Humor/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When environmental activist and animal lover Lune Burke's marriage hit the rocks, her billionaire magnate husband Adam decided to try wooing her back to their Florida estate with a gift: Mars, the male bald eagle she helped rehabilitate as a teenager in Pennsylvania. In taking the animal from its sanctuary home, he callously and unthinkingly separated the bird from Banshee, its mate... and ended any chance of reconciliation with Lune. Rather than let Adam hold the eagle hostage to get her to come back home, Lune reaches out to her friends in the animal rehabilitation community, plotting a daring birdnapping that breaks at least a dozen state and federal laws as she seeks to get Mars back to Banshee and both out of Adam's reach. All she needs is an accomplice, at least for the first leg of the trip - someone with a car big enough to hold a bald eagle-sized animal cage. Someone like Ned, the tech nerd who only showed up at the animal rehabilitation facility where she volunteers because his company forces their employees to do community service activities, but who happens to drive a classic convertible with the perfect back seat for Mars. Thus begins a cross-country flight from the law and from Adam's goons, and one nerd's baptism by fire into the close-knit world of wildlife activism.
REVIEW: Unflappable is just what it promises: a road trip romance starring a misfit couple who inevitably develop feelings for each other, a grasping man whose definition of love is possession, and a colorful cast of side characters (and animals), with an animal rehabilitation and conservation theme.
Lune is much like the eagle she loves: mishandled as a child in ways that leave her psychologically scarred, longing for nothing but a freedom that the world in general and her husband in particular seem determined to deny her. Like a wild animal, even the threat of a cage is enough to send her on the attack, be that cage tangible or intangible. Ned, her companion of circumstance, doesn't know or particularly care about animals in general or birds in particular; he was just at the rehab clinic to check off a box of his employment requirement, not to get roped into a crazy cross-country trek with a razor-clawed protected species in the back seat of his classic car. Along the way, he inevitably comes to understand just what all these strange people he meets are fighting for, if largely driven by his growing feelings for the peculiar Lune, and finds himself taking risks he never imagined for a bird he only ever develops a grudging tolerance of. They find themselves on the wrong side of the law, though the agent pursuing them can't help having mixed feelings about the whole affair, and on the wrong side of Adam, who never met an obstacle he couldn't outspend or outbludgeon. In a way, Adam's obsession with Lune is almost tragic; by his selfish, materialistic standards, what he feels and does for her count as love, and he just cannot comprehend how Lune is never going to be the pretty pet on the diamond leash and pedestal that he wants her to be. The very thing about her that first attracted him - her wild freedom and complete defiance of his expectations, her rejection of the money and the lifestyle he leads - is the very thing that's in their way, the very thing he keeps trying to destroy with his possessive behavior.
The road trip involves numerous encounters with numerous eccentric characters, some more helpful than others, and close scrapes with both the wildlife agent and Adam's thugs. The plot moves pretty well, with few people being outright obtuse to prolong or complicate things, and some memorable wildlife encounters. The weakest part, though, is the ending, which feels a little too drawn out and loses some of its impact. I also found the audiobook presentation, which changes off between male and female narrators almost at random, a bit odd, but I got used to it. All in all, I got what I expected out of this story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
City of the Beasts (Isabel Allende) - My Review
Scat (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
Never Cry Wolf (Farley Mowat) - My Review
Suzie Gilbert
Perch Press
Fiction, General Fiction/Humor/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When environmental activist and animal lover Lune Burke's marriage hit the rocks, her billionaire magnate husband Adam decided to try wooing her back to their Florida estate with a gift: Mars, the male bald eagle she helped rehabilitate as a teenager in Pennsylvania. In taking the animal from its sanctuary home, he callously and unthinkingly separated the bird from Banshee, its mate... and ended any chance of reconciliation with Lune. Rather than let Adam hold the eagle hostage to get her to come back home, Lune reaches out to her friends in the animal rehabilitation community, plotting a daring birdnapping that breaks at least a dozen state and federal laws as she seeks to get Mars back to Banshee and both out of Adam's reach. All she needs is an accomplice, at least for the first leg of the trip - someone with a car big enough to hold a bald eagle-sized animal cage. Someone like Ned, the tech nerd who only showed up at the animal rehabilitation facility where she volunteers because his company forces their employees to do community service activities, but who happens to drive a classic convertible with the perfect back seat for Mars. Thus begins a cross-country flight from the law and from Adam's goons, and one nerd's baptism by fire into the close-knit world of wildlife activism.
REVIEW: Unflappable is just what it promises: a road trip romance starring a misfit couple who inevitably develop feelings for each other, a grasping man whose definition of love is possession, and a colorful cast of side characters (and animals), with an animal rehabilitation and conservation theme.
Lune is much like the eagle she loves: mishandled as a child in ways that leave her psychologically scarred, longing for nothing but a freedom that the world in general and her husband in particular seem determined to deny her. Like a wild animal, even the threat of a cage is enough to send her on the attack, be that cage tangible or intangible. Ned, her companion of circumstance, doesn't know or particularly care about animals in general or birds in particular; he was just at the rehab clinic to check off a box of his employment requirement, not to get roped into a crazy cross-country trek with a razor-clawed protected species in the back seat of his classic car. Along the way, he inevitably comes to understand just what all these strange people he meets are fighting for, if largely driven by his growing feelings for the peculiar Lune, and finds himself taking risks he never imagined for a bird he only ever develops a grudging tolerance of. They find themselves on the wrong side of the law, though the agent pursuing them can't help having mixed feelings about the whole affair, and on the wrong side of Adam, who never met an obstacle he couldn't outspend or outbludgeon. In a way, Adam's obsession with Lune is almost tragic; by his selfish, materialistic standards, what he feels and does for her count as love, and he just cannot comprehend how Lune is never going to be the pretty pet on the diamond leash and pedestal that he wants her to be. The very thing about her that first attracted him - her wild freedom and complete defiance of his expectations, her rejection of the money and the lifestyle he leads - is the very thing that's in their way, the very thing he keeps trying to destroy with his possessive behavior.
The road trip involves numerous encounters with numerous eccentric characters, some more helpful than others, and close scrapes with both the wildlife agent and Adam's thugs. The plot moves pretty well, with few people being outright obtuse to prolong or complicate things, and some memorable wildlife encounters. The weakest part, though, is the ending, which feels a little too drawn out and loses some of its impact. I also found the audiobook presentation, which changes off between male and female narrators almost at random, a bit odd, but I got used to it. All in all, I got what I expected out of this story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
City of the Beasts (Isabel Allende) - My Review
Scat (Carl Hiaasen) - My Review
Never Cry Wolf (Farley Mowat) - My Review
Friday, May 13, 2022
Willodeen (Katherine Applegate)
Willodeen
Katherine Applegate
Feiwell and Friends
Fiction, MG Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Screechers are ugly. Screechers are loud. Worst of all, screechers are so stinky they'd make a skunk smell sweet as a rose. That's why the people of Perchance treat them like pests, even as they welcome other creatures like the beautiful little hummingbears, whose glowing bubble nests fill the blue willow trees by the river every autumn (and whose annual migration draws tourist money to boost the small town's economy). As the numbers of screechers dwindle, thanks to the town council putting a five-copper bounty on their hides, only one person seems to care: eleven-year-old Willodeen. Like screechers, she feels unwanted and misunderstood, especially since she lost her family in a wildfire many years ago. She rarely talks to anyone but the old women who took her in, spending her days roaming the woods and hills with her notebook instead of going to school. So she is the only one to notice that, as the screecher population drops, so do the number of returning hummingbears - threatening Perchance's lifeline. When the last old screecher in the woods is shot by hunters before her eyes, it may spell the end of the hummingbears and Perchance... unless one shy girl can find her voice in time.
REVIEW: Willodeen is clearly a message about threatened biodiversity and the need for everyone to pay attention to something other than their own self interest, as well as species that may not be deemed "cute" or profitable but which are essential threads in the life web, but it's more than that. It's also the story of a traumatized girl who finds her purpose and her place, and a town that learns to listen. Willodeen struggles with shyness, not neurotypical by implication if not explicit statement, and suffers both with post-traumatic stress and being mocked as the "screecher girl" by children and adults alike. It takes making a friend, and having something to say that needs to be heard, to coax her out of her shell and out of the woods where she prefers to spend her time. There aren't any real villains here, just people who aren't listening and don't see the bigger picture beyond their own concerns, nor are there easy answers; Willodeen's search for the connection between the screechers and the hummingbears is not straightforward, and even knowing something of what's gone wrong in the ecosystem only raises more questions. Applegate is not an author who offers clean and easy answers in her writing, and doesn't start here, but she does offer solid characters and a decent arc, tackling issues in a way that doesn't talk down to the reader. There's a bit of a worldbuilding disconnect, where this fantasy world (which has just a touch of magic in it, as well as impending industrialization with steam engine railways and gas lighting in the bigger cities) also has Shakespeare, but the target audience likely won't scrutinize that closely. The story as a whole is enjoyable, offering hope that is sadly lacking in our own world.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Endling #1: The Last (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
No Such Thing as Dragons (Philip Reeve) - My Review
The Dream of the Thylacine (Margaret Wild) - My Review
Katherine Applegate
Feiwell and Friends
Fiction, MG Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Screechers are ugly. Screechers are loud. Worst of all, screechers are so stinky they'd make a skunk smell sweet as a rose. That's why the people of Perchance treat them like pests, even as they welcome other creatures like the beautiful little hummingbears, whose glowing bubble nests fill the blue willow trees by the river every autumn (and whose annual migration draws tourist money to boost the small town's economy). As the numbers of screechers dwindle, thanks to the town council putting a five-copper bounty on their hides, only one person seems to care: eleven-year-old Willodeen. Like screechers, she feels unwanted and misunderstood, especially since she lost her family in a wildfire many years ago. She rarely talks to anyone but the old women who took her in, spending her days roaming the woods and hills with her notebook instead of going to school. So she is the only one to notice that, as the screecher population drops, so do the number of returning hummingbears - threatening Perchance's lifeline. When the last old screecher in the woods is shot by hunters before her eyes, it may spell the end of the hummingbears and Perchance... unless one shy girl can find her voice in time.
REVIEW: Willodeen is clearly a message about threatened biodiversity and the need for everyone to pay attention to something other than their own self interest, as well as species that may not be deemed "cute" or profitable but which are essential threads in the life web, but it's more than that. It's also the story of a traumatized girl who finds her purpose and her place, and a town that learns to listen. Willodeen struggles with shyness, not neurotypical by implication if not explicit statement, and suffers both with post-traumatic stress and being mocked as the "screecher girl" by children and adults alike. It takes making a friend, and having something to say that needs to be heard, to coax her out of her shell and out of the woods where she prefers to spend her time. There aren't any real villains here, just people who aren't listening and don't see the bigger picture beyond their own concerns, nor are there easy answers; Willodeen's search for the connection between the screechers and the hummingbears is not straightforward, and even knowing something of what's gone wrong in the ecosystem only raises more questions. Applegate is not an author who offers clean and easy answers in her writing, and doesn't start here, but she does offer solid characters and a decent arc, tackling issues in a way that doesn't talk down to the reader. There's a bit of a worldbuilding disconnect, where this fantasy world (which has just a touch of magic in it, as well as impending industrialization with steam engine railways and gas lighting in the bigger cities) also has Shakespeare, but the target audience likely won't scrutinize that closely. The story as a whole is enjoyable, offering hope that is sadly lacking in our own world.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Endling #1: The Last (Katherine Applegate) - My Review
No Such Thing as Dragons (Philip Reeve) - My Review
The Dream of the Thylacine (Margaret Wild) - My Review
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Fortune's Pawn (Rachel Bach)
Fortune's Pawn
The Paradox series, Book 1
Rachel Bach
Orbit
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In the interstellar kingdom of Paradox, obedience to the blessed king and service in the military are compulsory honors, and few embrace them like Devi Morris. Though she was born a lowly peasant, she has a dream: to serve as one of the king's elite Devastator soldiers. Her military service and years with the reputable mercenary company the Blackbirds have taken her high and far, but she needs something truly exceptional on her resume before the Devastators will even consider looking at her. That will mean either another twenty years in the field, or taking on an assignment that's so risky that each year counts as five, easily: service aboard the Glorious Fool, a private trader widely considered the most cursed vessel in the universe for the rate at which it burns through crewmembers. She's hesitant, not just because the captain's a Terran and not a Paradoxian; though both are still human, there's little love lost between her kingdom and their republic. It's also pretty clear from early on that this is anything but a routine trading ship, with its eclectic and eccentric crew. But Devi didn't get this far in her career by avoiding risks, and the opportunity to cut decades off her plans is simply too tempting to pass up. Before long, she realizes she's in way over her head, not only with the too-handsome and enigmatic shipboard cook, Rupert, but with dangerous secrets that the captain may well kill to protect, even from his own hired security specialists.
REVIEW: I've seen this book recommended more than once as an action-filled space adventure with a strong heroine and fast plot, so I decided to give it a shot. At first, I got what I expected from those recommendations. Devi's a soldier to her bones, dedicated to making a career in her combat suit (which she lovingly has named Lady Gray; she also has named each of the deadly weapons with which she's carved her ambitious reputation). The Glorious Fool is your standard space opera trading vessel (that's very obviously not a standard trading vessel), a patched up ship with the requisite oddball crew (including a largely inert preteen girl, who is so clearly not the "captain's daughter" she's presented to Devi as being that I had to wonder what the point of the attempted subterfuge was) and a particular love interest for our heroine (who hits an eleven on the broody Forbidden Love meter, also clearly not at all the simple "cook" he claims to be; one wonders if the captain really thinks his mercenaries are imbeciles, to be honest, with the obvious lies he pitches them, though Devi's somewhat lunkish partner on the security team seems entirely fooled). We get some basic alien races to widen the political and societal tensions beyond the intrahuman rivalries. There's even something akin to the Force at play. So, so far, nothing too bad, if nothing hugely original.
What let this story down, unfortunately, was the execution. Devi tries, for the sake of her future career, not to dig into the myriad mysteries about the Fool and the crew, but her gut instincts for danger keep compelling her... all while she's coming down hormonal over Rupert the "cook", to the point where I had to keep reminding myself she was a grown adult and experienced mercenary and not a teenager in the throes of puppy love. Each discovery she makes only invites more blowback from Rupert and the increasingly stern captain, even when it is beyond clear that not only is she far more likely to be an asset in whatever they're doing than a liability (if they'd only let their security people know something about the things that are direct threats to their security - perish that silly thought), but the lies are growing far too flimsy to stand up to her soldier's instincts and scrutiny. Nevertheless, things keep moving well enough, even though I found myself growing increasingly annoyed by how much of the plot was Bach deliberately dangling a mystery in front of me without actually telling me anything relevant about it, dancing and pointing to the thing to remind me that, yes, something Very Mysterious and Dangerous and Big is going on, but, nah, not gonna tell you about it, reader. This dancing made certain events read as implausible rather than tension-building, as a lack of answers on the big mystery made me scrutinize other elements of the story and characters more closely. I remained somewhat intrigued and interested, though, if in spite of myself, and even was considering seeing whether the second installment was available on Overdrive as I neared the climax... and then the climax and its resolution happened.
Without getting into spoiler territory, I can't go into details, but suffice it to say that it yanked the rug out of that consideration and managed to drop the rating to a flat Okay in one fell swoop. I've read worse drops and rug-yanks, but this one was sufficient to cool my interest in the remainder of the Paradox series, for all that - aside from that - it wasn't that bad of a space opera adventure.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Crownchasers (Rebecca Coffindaffer) - My Review
Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey) - My Review
Embers of War (Gareth L. Powell) - My Review
The Paradox series, Book 1
Rachel Bach
Orbit
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In the interstellar kingdom of Paradox, obedience to the blessed king and service in the military are compulsory honors, and few embrace them like Devi Morris. Though she was born a lowly peasant, she has a dream: to serve as one of the king's elite Devastator soldiers. Her military service and years with the reputable mercenary company the Blackbirds have taken her high and far, but she needs something truly exceptional on her resume before the Devastators will even consider looking at her. That will mean either another twenty years in the field, or taking on an assignment that's so risky that each year counts as five, easily: service aboard the Glorious Fool, a private trader widely considered the most cursed vessel in the universe for the rate at which it burns through crewmembers. She's hesitant, not just because the captain's a Terran and not a Paradoxian; though both are still human, there's little love lost between her kingdom and their republic. It's also pretty clear from early on that this is anything but a routine trading ship, with its eclectic and eccentric crew. But Devi didn't get this far in her career by avoiding risks, and the opportunity to cut decades off her plans is simply too tempting to pass up. Before long, she realizes she's in way over her head, not only with the too-handsome and enigmatic shipboard cook, Rupert, but with dangerous secrets that the captain may well kill to protect, even from his own hired security specialists.
REVIEW: I've seen this book recommended more than once as an action-filled space adventure with a strong heroine and fast plot, so I decided to give it a shot. At first, I got what I expected from those recommendations. Devi's a soldier to her bones, dedicated to making a career in her combat suit (which she lovingly has named Lady Gray; she also has named each of the deadly weapons with which she's carved her ambitious reputation). The Glorious Fool is your standard space opera trading vessel (that's very obviously not a standard trading vessel), a patched up ship with the requisite oddball crew (including a largely inert preteen girl, who is so clearly not the "captain's daughter" she's presented to Devi as being that I had to wonder what the point of the attempted subterfuge was) and a particular love interest for our heroine (who hits an eleven on the broody Forbidden Love meter, also clearly not at all the simple "cook" he claims to be; one wonders if the captain really thinks his mercenaries are imbeciles, to be honest, with the obvious lies he pitches them, though Devi's somewhat lunkish partner on the security team seems entirely fooled). We get some basic alien races to widen the political and societal tensions beyond the intrahuman rivalries. There's even something akin to the Force at play. So, so far, nothing too bad, if nothing hugely original.
What let this story down, unfortunately, was the execution. Devi tries, for the sake of her future career, not to dig into the myriad mysteries about the Fool and the crew, but her gut instincts for danger keep compelling her... all while she's coming down hormonal over Rupert the "cook", to the point where I had to keep reminding myself she was a grown adult and experienced mercenary and not a teenager in the throes of puppy love. Each discovery she makes only invites more blowback from Rupert and the increasingly stern captain, even when it is beyond clear that not only is she far more likely to be an asset in whatever they're doing than a liability (if they'd only let their security people know something about the things that are direct threats to their security - perish that silly thought), but the lies are growing far too flimsy to stand up to her soldier's instincts and scrutiny. Nevertheless, things keep moving well enough, even though I found myself growing increasingly annoyed by how much of the plot was Bach deliberately dangling a mystery in front of me without actually telling me anything relevant about it, dancing and pointing to the thing to remind me that, yes, something Very Mysterious and Dangerous and Big is going on, but, nah, not gonna tell you about it, reader. This dancing made certain events read as implausible rather than tension-building, as a lack of answers on the big mystery made me scrutinize other elements of the story and characters more closely. I remained somewhat intrigued and interested, though, if in spite of myself, and even was considering seeing whether the second installment was available on Overdrive as I neared the climax... and then the climax and its resolution happened.
Without getting into spoiler territory, I can't go into details, but suffice it to say that it yanked the rug out of that consideration and managed to drop the rating to a flat Okay in one fell swoop. I've read worse drops and rug-yanks, but this one was sufficient to cool my interest in the remainder of the Paradox series, for all that - aside from that - it wasn't that bad of a space opera adventure.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Crownchasers (Rebecca Coffindaffer) - My Review
Leviathan Wakes (James S. A. Corey) - My Review
Embers of War (Gareth L. Powell) - My Review
Friday, May 6, 2022
The Nonexistent Knight (Italo Calvino)
The Nonexistent Knight
The Our Ancestors series, Book 3
Italo Calvino, translated by Archibald Calhoun
Mariner Books
Fiction, Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In her abbey cell, the nun Theodora writes the extraordinary story of the most chivalrous knight who never existed. Sir Agilulf, paladin under King Charlemagne in his campaigns against the Moors, is an empty suit of armor - literally. Though he knows every aspect of knighthood to the letter and performs his every duty perfectly (far moreso than his flesh-and-blood peers, as he does not hesitate to let them know), he has no physical form, seeming to exist by sheer will alone. When he encounters a young man new to the field of battle, bent on exacting vengeance for his fallen father, it sets in motion a chain of events that will see his reputation - and, thus, his very existence - called into question, demanding a quest of great daring and skill to determine that the act for which he was knighted, namely saving the virtue of a fair maiden, was legitimate.
REVIEW: This allegorical work of satire takes on the emptiness and lies behind the idealized concepts of knighthood and chivalry, and indeed the often-ugly truths beneath the shining legends; the paladins are slovenly and almost animalistic at mealtimes, even the lauded King Charlemagne, and a later encounter with the remnants of the Round Table reveals something far less noble than imagined. The war in which Agilulf is engaged is run with bureaucratic regularity on both sides, a grisly yet entirely performative conflict in which even a young man's thirst for vengeance against the Moor who killed his father must go through the proper channels, with negotiations about whether killing three or four lesser-ranked enemies would be equal to the one high-ranked man he wishes to slay (but whose death would throw all the battle calculations out of kilter). Through it all, the empty suit of armor that is Agilulf performs with clockwork efficiency and propriety, incapable of the grandiosity or embellishment or just plain humanity of relaxation that the other knights engage in, and if he is vaguely aware of any deficiency in not having a body or actually existing, he manages to keep his mind occupied to avoid dwelling on his condition. His presence and personality cause resentment and uneasiness all around, but one does not simply dismiss a man of his rank just because he's not really there; that's just not how things are done, especially not when he's so good at his job.
On his journeys, he encounters his counterpart, a madman who doesn't seem to believe he himself exists, prone to flights of fancy and confusion; King Charlemagne decides that this would be the perfect squire for the pompous empty suit. Meanwhile, a vengeance-driven boy becomes disillusioned by his first taste of war, another young man challenges Agilulf's legitimacy by questioning whether the "maiden" he rescued fifteen years ago was actually a virgin (because only rescuing a virgin from ravishment is worthy of instant knighthood; rescuing a non-virgin only earns extra pay and a small note of achievement), and a warrior princess falls for the ideal man who literally does not exist. Nobody here is entirely laudable or blameless in their motivations or actions, deliberate caricatures styled on chivalrous archetypes, but they all work within their context. There is some indication that the narrator, Theodora, isn't entirely reliable or objective as a chronicler, as Agilulf and the others go through journeys with all the convoluted and unlikely encounters as any old tale of knightly derring-do, down to the ending that doesn't make a lick of sense but resolves most everything to everyone's satisfaction, mostly through out-of-the-blue plot twists and revelations. All taken, it's a reasonably amusing tale that successfully killed some time at work.
(And, yes, though it's called Book 3 of a series, it's basically a standalone. It's what was available on Overdrive when I was looking for something to listen to.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes) - My Review
The Princess Bride (William Goldman) - My Review
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore) - My Review
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Beowulf (Stephen Mitchell)
Beowulf
Stephen Mitchell
Yale University Press
Fiction, Fantasy/Poetry
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rediscovered in the 19th century after hundreds of years in obscurity, the Scandinavian epic poem Beowulf tells a classic story of heroism and loyalty and the sometimes kind, sometimes cruel whims of divine fate. When the monstrous Grendel preys upon the shining great hall of the good king Hrothgar of the Danes, slaughtering his people in their sleep, the brave warrior Beowulf of the Geats comes to fulfill the pact of alliance between the nations and stop the threat, the first of three beastly encounters that will earn him eternal glory - and end in his doom.
This rendering is presented by Stephen Mitchell.
REVIEW: On an academic level, it's amazing that this story has survived at all, given its sheer age and at least one brush with destruction. On a storytelling level, allowing for the style of the day (which, while lyrical, can't help but feel stiff and overly formal and reliant on cultural assumptions and conventions that are no longer common), the tale remains compelling, a clear ancestor to modern epic fantasies with its larger-than-life hero (protected, when needed, by a certain amount of plot armor dressed up as "God's will" or "fate") and monstrous foes and backstories of tangled clan relations and rivalries and treasures from lost eras. The whole, even in moments of triumph, has a certain air of melancholy and loss, how peace and prosperity and alliances will inevitably fall back into blood-rivalries and chaos once the heroes and the good rulers can no longer defend the land from evil's forces, within and without. There is even a hint of sadness for the death of the dragon that ends Beowulf, despite its demonic origins and the destruction its rage wrought.
The author notes in the introduction are interesting, though I personally prefer such things at the end, even on classics: don't assume the reader knows everything (or remembers it if they've been exposed to it before), especially if you're doing your own translation, and let them refresh their memories before diving into trivia and analyses and such. But apparently that's just me, because every classic out there seems intent on front-loading the story with all the notes that would have much more relevance after a refresher... In any event, I enjoyed it for what it was.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon Magic (Andre Norton) - My Review
The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien) - My Review
The Once and Future King (T. H. White) - My Review
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