Fantasy

After reading Exhalation , I found myself in search of more stories by Ted Chiang. This led me to Stories of Your Life and Others. Partly because this collection included many of Chiang’s earlier stories, not all of them were great pieces of literature like the ones in Exhalation. I could tell that Chiang was still trying to find his voice as a writer as he explored many science fiction topics common to the genre. While not all of the stories are fantastic, there are enough good ones to warrant reading this collection.

What’s a little disappointing is how some of the ideas Chiang explores in this book are truly interesting topics, but the execution of these stories feels a little too erudite for the common reader. I appreciate Chiang’s later ability to humanize these ideas (as shown by my love of Exhalation), but he just wasn’t quite there yet with these early works. Still, there are a handful of award-winning stories in this book, including “Tower of Babylon” and “Hell Is the Absence of God.” Chiang’s ability to combine science and religion is second to none, and these stories prove as much.

One story in this book stands out from the rest. It makes sense that “Story of Your Life” was the titular choice for this book. For those unaware, the movie Arrival (2016) is based on this short story (and is a pretty close adaptation). Even if you only read “Story of Your Life,” I think you’ll get something out of this collection. It is by far the most approachable of these stories, and it deserved all of the awards bestowed upon it when it was originally published in the late 1990s.

A good collection of Ted Chiang’s early works that contains a few sparkling gems, I give Stories of Your Life and Others 4.0 stars out of 5.

One of the things I like about James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series is how these books focus on the crew of the Rocinante. Many hard sci-fi writers try to show how smart they are by making it obvious how much math they did to explain how their sci-fi universe works. While The Expanse certainly has these moments, they’re fit in between the human drama that follows James Holden and his crew. Trouble seems to follow them wherever they go, and in Caliban’s War, they’re pulled into a political conflict that spans the solar system.

I appreciate how an overarching plot with the protomolecule connects Leviathan Wakes to Caliban’s War. While the first book in the series took some time ramping up into having a cohesive collection of characters, Caliban’s War uses all four members of Rocinante’s crew in a new way that felt more interesting. Of course, this book also contains my favorite “character of the day” with Chrisjen Avasarala as the U.N. ambassador. Her calculated political ambitions were fun to watch as they unfolded, and she tried to keep on top of all the chaos that was happening.

Caliban’s War also benefits from plenty of action and tense moments. What could easily be confusing and hard to follow was well written and engaging. My heart was racing as these exciting sequences took the political drama and made it explode in a way that was both expected and fun to read. Ultimately, the emotional connection to the characters—both continuing from book one and exclusive to this book—is what made everything click for me in this novel. Granted, I would have liked a little more continuity between the two books by bringing over more characters from Leviathan Wakes. Still, sometimes a long-running series has to focus on bite-size stories instead of carrying a huge and unwieldy plot throughout.

An exciting, political, and action-filled hard sci-fi gem, I give Caliban’s War 4.0 stars out of 5.

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed with The Stone Sky. It took me some time to get used to the way the author wrote the Broken Earth trilogy, but by the end of the second book, The Obelisk Gate , I had bought into the premise. The fact that this book had a lot to live up to with the foreshadowing presented in the second book might be why I’m disappointed with the result. After all, I was looking forward to some epic moments involving the moon, which didn’t seem to materialize for me. Now that I’ve finished this trilogy, I’m starting to wonder if the reason it didn’t quite fully click for me was because I was reading it via audiobook. There seemed to be a lot that I missed that would leave me confused about who the characters were, what they were doing, and why they were doing it. Perhaps if I had dedicated time to focusing on these audiobooks instead of listening while I was doing other things, I would have liked the series more. As it stands though, I probably couldn’t tell you what the point of this book was without going back and rereading it.

Ultimately, the Broken Earth trilogy is well written. The language might be a little too poetic at times and the fantasy setting introduces a lot of terminology that was difficult to keep track of, but I can see the appeal of it. The magic system is truly unique, even if the explanation for its origins made less sense than if it was just an unexplainable magic force. I do appreciate that most of the loose ends were wrapped up and either explained or made into moot points by the series’ conclusion. And while the resolution of this trilogy felt a little cliché, at least it provided an ending that most would come to expect from this type of sub-genre.

A pretty good trilogy wrap-up that might need a second read-through, I give The Stone Sky 3.5 stars out of 5.

This book is the story of Patroclus and Achilles and what their lives were like. They meet each other at a young age and soon become fast friends. They go to train with the Centaur Chiron in the mountains, but soon the call of war comes knocking. Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, has been kidnapped and taken to Troy. This causes the heroes of Greece to rally together to fight, including Achilles. Achilles desires the promise of glory, so he joins, and Patroclus, who can't bear to leave him, follows. This war will challenge of how far some will go for the promise of glory even at the cost of love. This book is told through Patroclus' perspective and gives a unique inside into what the Trojan War was like.

I've heard amazing things about this book, and I was not disappointed when I sat down to read it. Both of these characters were so lovable, I soon became invested in the story. I didn't know a lot about the Trojan War other than the wooden horse. I loved learning more about the history while following the boys' lives. This story was an emotional roller coaster for me. Be prepared to shed some tears and yell if you hop onto this wild ride. I loved this book so much and would recommend it to many. Every character had depth and played an impacting role in some way. It was beautiful. Here is one of my favorite quotes: "He is half of my soul, as the poet say." Song of Achilles.

-10th

Red is a tree. A red oak tree, to be precise. Red has helped and befriended many animals, and even a human! But as all trees know, it is forbidden to speak to them. That changes when a Muslim family moves in nextto Red. The next thing Red knows, a very bad message is carved into the wood. Red must decide whether it would be better to destroy the rule that trees have had for centuries, or to destroy a little girl’s hope.
I liked the way the author showed Red's thought process and Red's decision making. I also liked the names for the animals, especially the raccoons. The forgetful raccoon mom's name was Big You and her three kids were all named You. I think the humor added to the book so it was not all about hardship.

Percy Jackson, a teenage demigod, is the son of Poseidon. He is on the lookout for Nico, who has no idea what he's gotten into, and who blames Percy for his sister's death. And, of course, on the lookout for Luke, who has been aiding the evil titan Kronos in his quest to destroy the gods, and who does not care if innocent people die in this quest. But even more problems come into view when an entrance to the Labyrinth (a maze that is quite capable of killing Percy and his friends) is found in the center of Camp Half-Blood. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson must enter the maze and convince Daedalus to help them before Luke gets there first.

This book is just amazing. I loved the balance between action, humor, ( I even had to stop reading at some points, to show my family the excellent jokes) suspense, and mystery. The book, being based on Greek mythology, has lots and lots of references to the Greek gods and goddesses, myths, and some of the heroes. And yet, it manages to have a unique plot, despite all of the other stories inside it. Rick Riordan did an excellent job of this, and the book is just amazing. However, I would recommend reading the first books in the series before this one, as it is a continuation of that story. It was great, and an especially good read for people who are bored out of their minds, because it was long and filled with great writing.

Lia is escaping from her future. Marrying the Prince of Dalbreck is not what she had in mind for the rest of her life. Fleeing Morrighan, Lia and her best friend, Pauline, rush to Terrivan. The undercover princess is at peace until two mysterious gentleman show up in her town. Little does she know one is an assassin, and another is none the than her betrothed. Lia finds out her escape isn't as discreet as she thought. The disorder she left behind is only getting worse.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down and found myself finishing it within days. Pearson has a perfect flow for the story and keeps you wondering what's next.

Children of Blood and Bone takes place in Orisha, a place where magic used to thrive before a ruthless king came to power. The king was afraid of magic, so he killed the people who used it. The story follows a girl named Zelie who goes on a quest to restore magic in Orisha. I really enjoyed reading this book because there were lots of plot twists and it was very surprising. I also really liked the setting! The only thing I didn't like very much was that it was slow paced. This is one of my favorite books!

The Screaming Staircase takes place in London, where suddenly, ghosts have been popping up all around the country. For some reason, only kids can see and hear the ghosts. I decided to read this book because it was a part of a school project. I really enjoyed this book because it was full of suspense and mystery. I thought the characters were very well written and they all felt genuine. This book is in a series, so I have recently started the second book. The only thing I didn't like very much was that there were lots of different terms that the author used to name the ghosts, so sometimes I got a little confused. I give this book an 8;10 because it was one of the most interesting books I have read this year!

The second book in the series A Dragon's Guide switches perspectives between Winnie, a human girl, and Miss Drake, a dragon. Winnie is sent to a fabulous school of magic, and makes friends and enemies. Meanwhile, her dragon tries to save her from her nefarious grandfather, Jarvis.

This book is very well written, tying in the supernatural with the familiar, like the difference in the attitude of sorcerers and witches. I liked how the authors made the reader identify with both Winnie and Miss Drake, even though they don't always see eye to eye. This book has some suspense, but it also manages to be very lighthearted. (Also, even though this is the second book in the
series, and there are references to things that happened in the first book, you don't need to read it to understand what is going on in THIS book.)