A bit later in the day than I'd anticipated, due to this being a rather cruddy and annoying month in many respects (not necessarily related to reading), but the month's reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
The Poodle of Doom (Susan Tan)
The Poodle of Doom
The Pets Rule! series, Book 2
Susan Tan, illustrations by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei
Scholastic
Fiction, CH Action/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since arriving at the Chin household (ostensibly as a pet for the girl Lucy), Ember the rescue Chihuahua has worked single-mindedly toward his destiny: to rule the world as its evil overlord. He already has the loyalty of the other household pets, and is working on the rest of the neighborhood. When he hears that Lucy's grandmother Poh Poh is coming to visit with her pet poodle Fluffy, Ember hopes to find an ally. Instead he finds an enemy determined to destroy the world Ember hopes to rule.
REVIEW: I normally don't read second entries in series before I read the first, but we had some down time at work today and this one was on top of the tote, and my audiobook for the day had already ended. I also have to admit that the title made me chuckle. (In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up knowing two Standard Poodles, one of which could definitely edge into "grumpy" territory.) So, I figured it was worth a quick read. It turned out to be a fun little adventure. Ember is a determined would-be overlord, but finds a cunning enemy in Fluffy, whose first evil act is trying to replace the chocolate chips in a batch of brownies with raisins. When Fluffy then turns on the terrifying dryer all by himself, and even spouts his own catchphrase, Ember realizes that he's underestimated the danger significantly... but his efforts to thwart Fluffy's foul plot are tripped up by his own inability to listen to his friends/minions. Yes, it's a silly story, but Ember learns important lessons and Fluffy's schemes had me chuckling, plus the illustrations were fun. It made for an enjoyable distraction.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (Drew Daywalt) - My Review
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Carnivores (Aaron Reynolds) - My Review
The Pets Rule! series, Book 2
Susan Tan, illustrations by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei
Scholastic
Fiction, CH Action/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since arriving at the Chin household (ostensibly as a pet for the girl Lucy), Ember the rescue Chihuahua has worked single-mindedly toward his destiny: to rule the world as its evil overlord. He already has the loyalty of the other household pets, and is working on the rest of the neighborhood. When he hears that Lucy's grandmother Poh Poh is coming to visit with her pet poodle Fluffy, Ember hopes to find an ally. Instead he finds an enemy determined to destroy the world Ember hopes to rule.
REVIEW: I normally don't read second entries in series before I read the first, but we had some down time at work today and this one was on top of the tote, and my audiobook for the day had already ended. I also have to admit that the title made me chuckle. (In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up knowing two Standard Poodles, one of which could definitely edge into "grumpy" territory.) So, I figured it was worth a quick read. It turned out to be a fun little adventure. Ember is a determined would-be overlord, but finds a cunning enemy in Fluffy, whose first evil act is trying to replace the chocolate chips in a batch of brownies with raisins. When Fluffy then turns on the terrifying dryer all by himself, and even spouts his own catchphrase, Ember realizes that he's underestimated the danger significantly... but his efforts to thwart Fluffy's foul plot are tripped up by his own inability to listen to his friends/minions. Yes, it's a silly story, but Ember learns important lessons and Fluffy's schemes had me chuckling, plus the illustrations were fun. It made for an enjoyable distraction.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (Drew Daywalt) - My Review
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Carnivores (Aaron Reynolds) - My Review
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L'Engle)
A Wrinkle in Time
The Time Quintet, Book 1
Madeline L'Engle
Listening Library
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Everything about teenage Meg Murry's life is going wrong, from her grades (even though both her parents are scientists) to her looks (plain, bespectacled, and wearing braces, as opposed to her beautiful mother) to her attitude (when are people going to stop telling her to be positive when there's nothing good to be positive about?). The worst, however, is the fact that it's been years and her father is still missing, and the small town rumor mill won't stop their whispering, muttering, or outright telling the Murry children to their faces what they think about that. There's only so much a girl can take, and certainly Meg's at her limit. Then things take a very strange turn. Her odd little brother, Charles Wallace, starts talking about "friends" in the old abandoned house in the woods. Then one of those friends comes to visit, and a very odd person Mrs. Whatsit turns out to be, indeed. Then fate seems to conspire to bring Meg, Charles, and classmate Calvin together, just in time to be whisked away on a dangerous journey across space and time. At the other end, Meg may finally find answers about her father... or she might find nothing but ultimate darkness.
This audiobook presentation also features an introduction by Ava DuVernay, the director of the 2018 theatrical film, a foreward by the author, and an afterword by Madeline L'Engle's granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis.
REVIEW: I've been meaning to get around to this classic for a while, but I was leery after my first childhood introduction to the Time Quintet: a teacher in third grade read us part of another story in the Time Quintet (which I remember as being A Swiftly Tilting Planet, but the plot summary sounds more like A Wind in the Door), and without context my chief memory of the experience was being bored to tears. But I finally got around to giving the first installment a try. While I wasn't bored to tears this time around, I can't say I was as blown away by it as many people seem to be.
Published in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time challenged what many publishers thought was "appropriate" material for children, even older children (the middle-grade distinction, separating younger from older children and both from the yet-to-be-created young adult/teen category, not being a thing yet). It still does, as witness the many challenges and bans aimed at it. While I can appreciate that it intentionally pushes at boundaries, I still found myself grinding my teeth now and again as I was bludgeoned with Lessons, not to mention casual assumption of (white) Christianity as the default human baseline culture (despite some lip service to other cultures existing) and galactic norm. While there's talk of advanced physics and metaphysics, the story leans far more on spirituality and religion; the Murry father vanished because he ran afoul of the malevolent "Black Thing" which already shadows Earth and has consumed whole worlds, the mysterious Mrs. Whatsit and her companions are clearly angels working for a masculine divine creator in the ongoing war against the darkness, and the whole tale is punctuated by Bible quotations. (There are also some elements that just plain don't age well; the focus on Meg's looks as a reflection of her self-worth, particularly how she needs a handsome boy to validate her existence - validation that comes in the form of Calvin telling her her eyes look pretty, so maybe she should stop wearing glasses, but then deciding that he'd rather she wear glasses so no other boy notices she has pretty eyes, which totally isn't creepily possessive for a veritable stranger to say to a girl at all - not to mention the slang that almost had me snickering it was so out of date and stilted.) As with most books that focus on Lessons, characters could sometimes take a back seat. Meg starts an emotional, somewhat whiny teenager - not entirely without cause, given what she's going through - but she leans awful hard into the role and only belatedly makes any effort to stand up, despite the whole of Creation evidently going out of its way to teach her personally. Her kid brother Charles Wallace is an unbelievably advanced five year old who almost shouldn't even need his sister's help (or Calvin's, though it's pretty clear the main reason Calvin is part of the trio is because of Meg, because heavens forfend a female find her own validation for existence or an independent future or actually be important save how she can help males who are her clear superiors succeed). In any event, many strange, sometimes beautiful and sometimes scary (and often eye-rollingly allegorical) things happen as Meg, Charles, and Calvin pursue Meg's father and confront an avatar of the foul Black Thing on a planet that has succumbed to its power.
While the plot doesn't drag overmuch, I have a low tolerance for preaching. That, plus aforementioned parts that don't age well (plus some irritation with the audiobook narrator's delivery), held it back in the ratings. I can still see the appeal, though, and how it changed the landscape of children's literature. (And the fact that people are still trying to ban it and rip it out of children's hands says it's still striking a nerve that needs to be struck, because I've yet to encounter a book banner who actually had the well-being of children and society at large in mind, despite their pearl-clutching rhetoric... but I digress.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper) - My Review
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis) - My Review
When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead) - My Review
The Time Quintet, Book 1
Madeline L'Engle
Listening Library
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Everything about teenage Meg Murry's life is going wrong, from her grades (even though both her parents are scientists) to her looks (plain, bespectacled, and wearing braces, as opposed to her beautiful mother) to her attitude (when are people going to stop telling her to be positive when there's nothing good to be positive about?). The worst, however, is the fact that it's been years and her father is still missing, and the small town rumor mill won't stop their whispering, muttering, or outright telling the Murry children to their faces what they think about that. There's only so much a girl can take, and certainly Meg's at her limit. Then things take a very strange turn. Her odd little brother, Charles Wallace, starts talking about "friends" in the old abandoned house in the woods. Then one of those friends comes to visit, and a very odd person Mrs. Whatsit turns out to be, indeed. Then fate seems to conspire to bring Meg, Charles, and classmate Calvin together, just in time to be whisked away on a dangerous journey across space and time. At the other end, Meg may finally find answers about her father... or she might find nothing but ultimate darkness.
This audiobook presentation also features an introduction by Ava DuVernay, the director of the 2018 theatrical film, a foreward by the author, and an afterword by Madeline L'Engle's granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis.
REVIEW: I've been meaning to get around to this classic for a while, but I was leery after my first childhood introduction to the Time Quintet: a teacher in third grade read us part of another story in the Time Quintet (which I remember as being A Swiftly Tilting Planet, but the plot summary sounds more like A Wind in the Door), and without context my chief memory of the experience was being bored to tears. But I finally got around to giving the first installment a try. While I wasn't bored to tears this time around, I can't say I was as blown away by it as many people seem to be.
Published in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time challenged what many publishers thought was "appropriate" material for children, even older children (the middle-grade distinction, separating younger from older children and both from the yet-to-be-created young adult/teen category, not being a thing yet). It still does, as witness the many challenges and bans aimed at it. While I can appreciate that it intentionally pushes at boundaries, I still found myself grinding my teeth now and again as I was bludgeoned with Lessons, not to mention casual assumption of (white) Christianity as the default human baseline culture (despite some lip service to other cultures existing) and galactic norm. While there's talk of advanced physics and metaphysics, the story leans far more on spirituality and religion; the Murry father vanished because he ran afoul of the malevolent "Black Thing" which already shadows Earth and has consumed whole worlds, the mysterious Mrs. Whatsit and her companions are clearly angels working for a masculine divine creator in the ongoing war against the darkness, and the whole tale is punctuated by Bible quotations. (There are also some elements that just plain don't age well; the focus on Meg's looks as a reflection of her self-worth, particularly how she needs a handsome boy to validate her existence - validation that comes in the form of Calvin telling her her eyes look pretty, so maybe she should stop wearing glasses, but then deciding that he'd rather she wear glasses so no other boy notices she has pretty eyes, which totally isn't creepily possessive for a veritable stranger to say to a girl at all - not to mention the slang that almost had me snickering it was so out of date and stilted.) As with most books that focus on Lessons, characters could sometimes take a back seat. Meg starts an emotional, somewhat whiny teenager - not entirely without cause, given what she's going through - but she leans awful hard into the role and only belatedly makes any effort to stand up, despite the whole of Creation evidently going out of its way to teach her personally. Her kid brother Charles Wallace is an unbelievably advanced five year old who almost shouldn't even need his sister's help (or Calvin's, though it's pretty clear the main reason Calvin is part of the trio is because of Meg, because heavens forfend a female find her own validation for existence or an independent future or actually be important save how she can help males who are her clear superiors succeed). In any event, many strange, sometimes beautiful and sometimes scary (and often eye-rollingly allegorical) things happen as Meg, Charles, and Calvin pursue Meg's father and confront an avatar of the foul Black Thing on a planet that has succumbed to its power.
While the plot doesn't drag overmuch, I have a low tolerance for preaching. That, plus aforementioned parts that don't age well (plus some irritation with the audiobook narrator's delivery), held it back in the ratings. I can still see the appeal, though, and how it changed the landscape of children's literature. (And the fact that people are still trying to ban it and rip it out of children's hands says it's still striking a nerve that needs to be struck, because I've yet to encounter a book banner who actually had the well-being of children and society at large in mind, despite their pearl-clutching rhetoric... but I digress.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper) - My Review
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis) - My Review
When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead) - My Review
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
There There (Tommy Orange)
There There
Tommy Orange
Knopf
Fiction, General Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Despite what popular media likes to show, Native Americans exist in places beyond the "rez", in suburbs and cities. Here, as everwhere, the scars of historic and ongoing mistreatment and prejudices linger and fester, and even as they reach for a connection and a future, too often it's snatched away. The city of Oakland is one such place, where Natives have gathered and been pushed into the cracks. From a young man branded by his mother's alcohol abuse to a woman fleeing an abusive relationship, from an aging ex-con to a boy trying to connect with something greater than himself, even to the lens of a would-be filmmmaker trying to document lives the world seems bound and determined to not see, numerous Native stories weave through the city's streets. At the coming Big Oakland Powwow, lives and generations will come together - and a terrible tragedy will play out.
REVIEW: If the description seems a bit vague, it's because this story is more a collection of stories and lives than a single cohesive arc. Orange jumps from character to character, often with tangential relations to each other that become apparent to the reader (if often not the people) as their tales unfurl. Nobody here is happy or thriving, but the back-breaking weights of history and living in a dominant culture that's still bound and determined to stuff Natives into ever-smaller boxes for ultimate disposal stack the odds against happiness or thriving for everyone here. Abuse, from alcohol to harder stuff (and from emotional to physical and worse), runs rampant, unhealthy coping mechanisms at best but about the only relief some can find. With the powwow, the characters try to recreate lost connections and save fading cultural values and memories, but even in these places nobody is safe from the tragedies all around them.
While the various lives examined show different aspects of modern urban Native American life with an insider's nuance and insight, sometimes the stories feel meandering and tangled. What ultimately cost it a half-star was the climax and ending, which felt rushed and incomplete; I almost wondered if the audiobook I listened to had been abridged, especially given how much time and attention went into setting everything up and putting every character into position for the violence at the end. But apparently it does just end like that, almost mid-thought, with no wrapup or examination of the fallout. That aside, it's a solid, often harrowing portrayal of lives and cultures too many have learned not to care about and pain too many have learned not to see.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Firekeeper's Daughter (Angeline Boulley) - My Review
The Very Best of Charles de Lint (Charles de Lint) - My Review
The Marrow Thieves (Cherie Dimaline) - My Review
Tommy Orange
Knopf
Fiction, General Fiction
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Despite what popular media likes to show, Native Americans exist in places beyond the "rez", in suburbs and cities. Here, as everwhere, the scars of historic and ongoing mistreatment and prejudices linger and fester, and even as they reach for a connection and a future, too often it's snatched away. The city of Oakland is one such place, where Natives have gathered and been pushed into the cracks. From a young man branded by his mother's alcohol abuse to a woman fleeing an abusive relationship, from an aging ex-con to a boy trying to connect with something greater than himself, even to the lens of a would-be filmmmaker trying to document lives the world seems bound and determined to not see, numerous Native stories weave through the city's streets. At the coming Big Oakland Powwow, lives and generations will come together - and a terrible tragedy will play out.
REVIEW: If the description seems a bit vague, it's because this story is more a collection of stories and lives than a single cohesive arc. Orange jumps from character to character, often with tangential relations to each other that become apparent to the reader (if often not the people) as their tales unfurl. Nobody here is happy or thriving, but the back-breaking weights of history and living in a dominant culture that's still bound and determined to stuff Natives into ever-smaller boxes for ultimate disposal stack the odds against happiness or thriving for everyone here. Abuse, from alcohol to harder stuff (and from emotional to physical and worse), runs rampant, unhealthy coping mechanisms at best but about the only relief some can find. With the powwow, the characters try to recreate lost connections and save fading cultural values and memories, but even in these places nobody is safe from the tragedies all around them.
While the various lives examined show different aspects of modern urban Native American life with an insider's nuance and insight, sometimes the stories feel meandering and tangled. What ultimately cost it a half-star was the climax and ending, which felt rushed and incomplete; I almost wondered if the audiobook I listened to had been abridged, especially given how much time and attention went into setting everything up and putting every character into position for the violence at the end. But apparently it does just end like that, almost mid-thought, with no wrapup or examination of the fallout. That aside, it's a solid, often harrowing portrayal of lives and cultures too many have learned not to care about and pain too many have learned not to see.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Firekeeper's Daughter (Angeline Boulley) - My Review
The Very Best of Charles de Lint (Charles de Lint) - My Review
The Marrow Thieves (Cherie Dimaline) - My Review
Sunday, November 20, 2022
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 (N. K. Jemisin, editor)
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
N. K. Jemisin, editor (John Joseph Adams, series editor)
Mariner
Fiction, Anthology/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rivers take human form to escape captivity... a young woman discovers a dark family secret in the worst possible way... a robot on a galactic spaceship is forced into an impossible choice by a stowaway... These and more stories are collected in this volume, edited by author N. K. Jemisin.
REVIEW: Yes, it's a few years old, but I keep meaning to read more short stories, and this book was free to me. (I also, as I've noted in previous reviews, have somewhat iffy luck with anthologies, but I like what I've read of Jemisin's work and decided to trust her judgement... and, again, free to me.) As with the majority of anthologies and collections I've read, the results are a bit of a mixed bag. A few I thoroughly enjoyed, some others were decent explorations of their concepts (if not quite my cup of cocoa), a few more I just could not connect with, and one I admittedly had to resort to skimming to get through. More than one of these seemed a bit long, not just for the anthology but for the stories they were telling. Many of the tales reflect the year in which they were written, the tumultuous gut-punch fallout of events in 2016 that continue to resonate unpleasantly through the nation and greater world; not surprisingly, the overall tone of the anthology leans dark and bleak and more than a little angry. At the end, information about the authors is presented, along with statements about the tales included, their inspirations and influences. I wish the stories had been more clearly connected, or at least the author notes had been presented in the same order as the stories appeared instead of just alphabetically; by the time I reached the afterword, I had to flip back and forth to even try matching up who had written what. This extra behind-the-scenes discussion helped lift the volume to a solid four stars. Overall, it's a decent assortment of tales reflecting the modern state of the genre.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (John Joseph Adams, editor) - My Review
Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2012 Edition (Liz Gorinsky, David G. Hartwell, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editors) - My Review
N. K. Jemisin, editor (John Joseph Adams, series editor)
Mariner
Fiction, Anthology/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rivers take human form to escape captivity... a young woman discovers a dark family secret in the worst possible way... a robot on a galactic spaceship is forced into an impossible choice by a stowaway... These and more stories are collected in this volume, edited by author N. K. Jemisin.
REVIEW: Yes, it's a few years old, but I keep meaning to read more short stories, and this book was free to me. (I also, as I've noted in previous reviews, have somewhat iffy luck with anthologies, but I like what I've read of Jemisin's work and decided to trust her judgement... and, again, free to me.) As with the majority of anthologies and collections I've read, the results are a bit of a mixed bag. A few I thoroughly enjoyed, some others were decent explorations of their concepts (if not quite my cup of cocoa), a few more I just could not connect with, and one I admittedly had to resort to skimming to get through. More than one of these seemed a bit long, not just for the anthology but for the stories they were telling. Many of the tales reflect the year in which they were written, the tumultuous gut-punch fallout of events in 2016 that continue to resonate unpleasantly through the nation and greater world; not surprisingly, the overall tone of the anthology leans dark and bleak and more than a little angry. At the end, information about the authors is presented, along with statements about the tales included, their inspirations and influences. I wish the stories had been more clearly connected, or at least the author notes had been presented in the same order as the stories appeared instead of just alphabetically; by the time I reached the afterword, I had to flip back and forth to even try matching up who had written what. This extra behind-the-scenes discussion helped lift the volume to a solid four stars. Overall, it's a decent assortment of tales reflecting the modern state of the genre.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (John Joseph Adams, editor) - My Review
Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2012 Edition (Liz Gorinsky, David G. Hartwell, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editors) - My Review
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