Review: A History of What Comes Next

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



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Review: Unconquerable Sun

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I started this book thinking it was going to be a damn good one - a lavishly designed space opera in a pseudo-Asian setting, with the main character's nation being pretty clearly China-inspired (Elliott apparently got a lot of early readers across numerous Asian cultures, if the acknowledgments are anything to go by), and a lot of promising comparisons to Princess Leia, Alexander the Great, etc. But then, as the book goes on, we get introduced to a second POV. And while Sun herself is a pretty nice and engaging character, Elliott gives the privilege of first-person POV to Persephone instead, and repeatedly tries to hype her up with every chapter she's in being headed with some variation of "In which the wily Persephone..." Honestly, the ridiculous shilling of a character I couldn't bloodydamn stand made me want to quit the book half the time, and really dragged down my enjoyment of the story single-handedly. If this had just been Sun's story, maybe I'd be a lot more hyped for the promised two sequels listed on one of the book's early pages. But now I just feel like this one was more hype-damaged than anything else.

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Review: Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Andy Weir returns with his first novel in four years, his third overall, and to my mind, his best one yet. Long and sprawling and immense in its scope, Weir here channels a lot of Blake Crouch's penchant for twisty, nonlinear sci-fi adventure, as well as elements of The Expanse, Interstellar, and Arrival. And, of course, he keeps things light with protagonist Ryland Grace managing to be both a genius engineer who knows his shit and a First Person Smartass par excellence who isn't afraid to talk shit on anything and anyone that pisses him off, whether it be international bureaucracy on Earth or the overly inquisitive ship's computer that keeps trying to knock him out when he can't remember anything as the book begins. I was lucky enough to go into this book entirely spoiler free - with almost no hint as to what the story was really about - and I highly encourage all readers to do the same, if only to fully, truly enjoy the ways Weir slings all the twists and imperils his poor protagonist.

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Review: Realm Breaker

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a minute since Victoria Aveyard - who established me as a lifetime passenger aboard her hype train with the Red Queen series - published a full-length novel, and once again, she shows just how many leaps and bounds she's made in her craft since she started publishing six years ago. Though this story has a few pebbles in its path, and does tend to feel a bit like so much Prolonged Prologue, it's still pretty easy to round the 3.5 up to a 4 for this one.

Review: The Gilded Ones

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picking this book up from the hold shelf at the White Salmon Library, the librarian told me that this wasn't the first time she'd seen this particular book cross her shelf. As well it shouldn't, given how well-done Namina Forna's debut is, following a lot of the most relevant trends in fantasy with powerful results. Rooted in a world with numerous cultural and ethnic groups that serve as parallels to real ones, protagonist Deka not only faces god-awful racist taunts from white Northerners, but also sees just how quickly her theocratic society turns against her when her blood turns gold and she fails a ritual test of "purity." Blood indicating her magical skills, which to the priests and royal forces, only mark her as serviceable to the Emperor, not as a human with her own strengths and destiny. Forna, in her writing, holds up a sharply critical mirror against our society and all its real, bigoted ills - and unless I'm reading the entries on her Goodreads page wrong, it's only the beginning of what promises to be a trilogy for the ages.

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Review: Burn

Burn by Patrick Ness
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I guess I'd just missed that Patrick Ness came out with another book? At least I got to pick it up as one of the first reads I found at the library in my new hometown in Oregon, a town not too dissimilar to the fictional setting of this book in Frome, WA. Rooted in an alternate 1957 - Eisenhower is still president, and the book begins on the day of his second inauguration no less - Ness clearly takes a lot of inspiration from E.K. Johnston's most underrated Story of Owen duology, with the heavy emphasis on dragons having their own territory in Canada, as well as Russia. The Cold War setting informs this book very well with the dual threats of not only nuclear war, but dragon war as well. Being set in 1957 also helps Ness emphasize the ongoing issue of racism as a mirror against our present day, with Sarah as a biracial protagonist (Black mom, white dad) feeling a lack of belonging in both communities, and her best friend Jason, being Japanese-American (he has to repeatedly mention that he was born in Tacoma), was sent to Minidoka internment camp as a baby. Then there's the parallel storyline (a feature Ness has used before, but now to its best level yet - unlike the deliberate detachment of the "indie kids" chapter headers in The Rest of Us Just Live Here or the weird juxtaposition of real issues and magical shenanigans in Release, Ness now has the parallel storylines so closely entwined that building a single book around them is entirely justified) about a guy named Malcolm on a religious pilgrimage of sorts from a dragon-worshipping cult in Canada, taking rides across the border (and trying to fend off strange advances from too many men, while there's one guy in particular with whom he's fallen head over heels in love.) Though Ness has always been a real hit-or-miss writer for me, I'm happy to say that this one's a hit - though a heavy hit at that, for a lot of the reasons outlined above. Consider yourselves warned.

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