Synopsis:
When a teenage boy gets a copy of a contraband video game, he soon learns that Erebos and the real world are bleeding together with deadly results.
Review:
Erebos was a fun, fast read with good plotting and a well-realized game world. It was pretty straightforward in its execution and I’m not sure I’m totally satisfied by the ending but it was a fun read nonetheless.
Synopsis:
A schoolteacher travels through a wormhole to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK.
Review:
11/22/63 started out really strong. I loved the premise and knew that Stephen King would do a lot more than just tell the A-story of Jake Epping, time traveler and would-be history changer. The historical aspects were really well done, particularly through the life Jake builds in small town Jodie, Texas, and the love story is poignant.
However, I felt like the ending was a foregone conclusion, and I didn’t feel like King delivered on the promise he made by setting the opening horror sequence in Derry right at the same time as It. I was expecting a lot more than I got.
Synopsis:
When the eccentric creator of the virtual reality world that has become more real than the real world dies without an heir, the nerds of the world race to discover a hidden easter egg that will unlock his fortune.
Review:
So. Fun. Ready Player One was an absolute treat of a book–compulsively readable and fabulously geeky. The hero is Wade, known in the virtual world called OASIS as “Parzival,” a high school student who has dedicated his whole life to hunting for the hidden easter egg within OASIS that will unlock creator James Halliday’s fortune. He wants the fame, the glory, and the money, but he also wants to save OASIS from the “Sixers,” egg hunters controlled by an evil conglomerate that wants to monetize OASIS thereby destroying all that is good about it.
It gets even better. Halliday was an 80s freak, so in order to find the egg everyone has to become experts on all the pop culture from that misbegotten decade. We’re talking WarGames, Adventure, Zork!, D&D, and so much more. I loved all the references, both big (Pac Man) and obscure (The Plimsoulls) and how they were integrated into the world and into the plot. Yum!
Wade is basically living the dream–what if you could actually become a gazillionaire by playing video games all day long? What if you got to step inside and live the game itself? I don’t just mean that your life becomes a game. I mean, instead of typing in the text commands for Zork you’re actually doing them in a virtual reality that is more real than real. That’s what this book gives you, from the POV of a character who isn’t just a gamer.
Wade has all kinds of conflicts to deal with that distract him from the task at hand, and he has to decide which is more important, the real world or OASIS. He’s in love with a girl who insists he can’t love her because they’ve only ever met online. But it seems like the real thing, too, and he spends the book trying to get her to see it his way. All this, and Mechagodzilla, too!
Lest you think this is just a lark, the book also offers some pretty keen commentary on technology today. It’s not for nothing he name checks Cory Doctorow. I was also reminded of Scott Westerfeld’s Extras, another book that seems quite prescient to me.
Synopsis:
Aliens take over the world with nothing but benevolence and peace, but are the changes they bring ultimately good for the human race?
Review:
I listened to the audio version of Childhood’s End thanks to a sale on Audible. I was really hooked the whole time, despite Clarke’s detached style. I felt the story held up mostly well, some 60 years after publication. However, Clarke was unable to imagine how radically sexual and gender politics would change in that time, and so the personal relationships between the characters felt dated and hard to connect with. I felt he tied everything together well and I’ll be mulling on it for a while.
Synopsis:
Gifted a belt that allows him to time travel, a man reorders the universe to suit himself.
Review:
I checked out The Man Who Folded Himself because the Kindle version is only $2.99. I am really glad that I did, because I was totally riveted by this book. The book really exploits the time travel premise to a brain-busting extent, but also maintains a solid emotional core. David Gerrold holds nothing back, and the result is just fascinating.
Synopsis:
A set of stories by two authors sharing one body: edgy sci fi by Megan Lindholm and longer fantasy by Robin Hobb.
Review:
I really enjoyed almost all of the stories in The Inheritance. I liked returning to the Rain Wilds in Hobb’s stories, especially because these stories were longer. But the Lindholm stories have an edge to them that I miss in Hobb’s works, and I yearn to see more of that anger and complexity in the Six Duchies stories.
This is definitely a must-read for any Hobb/Lindholm fan, and a good introduction to anyone who wants to check either of them out. (And by the way, they are the same person!)
Synopsis:
Graham Smith notices that his world shifts every now and again, but when a sexy woman claiming to be a psychic tells him that he’s at the nexus of a vast conspiracy, he has to break from routine and maybe just save the universe.
Review:
I picked up Resonance as a free e-book with no idea what to expect. It was quite a head trip and a very fun ride. Chris Dolley did a great job of keeping the plot moving while still allowing for some wonderfully wonky digressions. And the love story really sucked me in–it wasn’t just perfunctory. This book really snuck up on me and I have to say I really enjoyed it.
Synopsis:
Incarceron is a living prison from which no one can escape, but when the warden’s daughter makes a shocking discovery, she works to break Incarceron’s protections with the aid of a boy who believes he was born on the outside.
Review:
I attempted to listen to the audio book of Incarceron, but the late stages of pregnancy has made it impossible for me to concentrate on anything more complicated than nursery rhymes. But the concept really grabbed me, so I snagged a copy through Interlibrary Loan–and devoured it in just a few short hours (thanks to some free babysitting by visiting Grandma). I literally read the last 10 pages standing up while setting the table for lunch–that’s how badly I wanted to know the ending.
I have complained in the past about lack of originality in speculative fiction for young adults. I am too easily wearied by the stock characters and unoriginal plot elements. Incarceron stands up there with the best in the genre, like the Atherton series for middle grade and Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies sequence.
The core concept is that Incarceron was designed to be a utopia, and that’s how it was portrayed to the world. It would be a place where criminals would be reformed by a perfect society. From page 1 we know that it didn’t work out that way, but Claudia, the warden’s daughter, and her tutor believe the myth to be true. On the inside, Finn lives the reality. Incarceron is dangerous, not only because its social structure is based around warring clans who think nothing of murdering to achieve their goals, but also because Incarceron itself has a consciousness, one that isn’t benevolent.
There were two big plot twists that I foresaw, but that didn’t take away from my pleasure in reading the book, because there was so much going on that kept me really interested. I’m eagerly looking forward to the release of Sapphique, the next in the series, because I can’t figure out where Catherine Fisher plans to take us–but I know it will be good!
Synopsis:
Recruited by an elite medical society, an idealistic doctor discovers dark plans at odds with their stated mission to heal.
Review:
When I tell you that the secret of The Healers is Nazis, don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away–it’s right on the spine of the book. Set in the year 2021, the book posits a worst-case scenario where rising health costs have put medical care in the hands of only the wealthy. There are a lot of scenes where one character lectures another one about how things ended up this way. Plot-wise, this is just a run-of-the-mill thriller with adequate characters, a somewhat titillating premise, and some relevance to the world we live in today. I wasn’t really blown away but I did keep the pages turning for the most part.
Synopsis:
In the near future, a high-functioning autistic man is presented with the opportunity to be “fixed,” causing him to wonder if he was ever really broken.
Review:
I first read Speed of Dark a few years ago, on the recommendation of a friend. I really enjoyed revisiting it, especially now that I’m a mom and have friends who have kids on the autism spectrum.
I really loved how Elizabeth Moon made Leo a real, relatable character, to the point where I really wanted him to stay just as he was. I grew to love him, including his autism, because she made him a person to me. She skillfully integrated the futuristic elements with a really compelling emotional journey. Definitely recommended!
