Review: Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charlie Jane Anders returns with the second of her admittedly weird YA sci-fi trilogy, and as she promised in a recent series of tweets about the ways that middle entries of trilogies tend too often to be More of the Same (I'll forgive her for naming one of my favorite middle entries, Catching Fire, as an example), this second book is pretty well different from its predecessor. For one thing, Tina is no longer the primary POV character - Anders instead toggles, every four chapters or so, between third person present tense POVs from Tina's friend Rachel and girlfriend Elza, with occasional interspersions of emails of various length from Tina and other characters. This time, we're not quite as concerned with building the universe as we are with destroying it - and there's a truly existential threat on the horizon that looms larger and larger as this book progresses, and it's not just the encroaching fascist movement rising higher and higher each day. More than before, this really does feel like part of something bigger, with a pretty diabolical cliffhanger leading into the upcoming third and final novel. I do wish that this book was bigger in and of itself, because (and this is a flaw I found with the first book too), it's really just too short (and, dare I say, a tad unfocused story-wise) to encompass all the complexities of this diverse array of alien and human civilizations. But again, Anders delivers on that diversity and delightful detail but good, from the distinct backgrounds of our three protagonists and all their assorted friends to the ways these friends all struggle to balance communications between themselves both in person and virtual. (And express some shared love for Olivia Rodrigo, proving that even if they're in the future, they're still Gen Z kids at heart.) But yeah...that cliffhanger. Charlie Jane Anders, how very dare you.

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Review: Youngbloods

Youngbloods by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I...guess that this fourth and final novel of Westerfeld's second cycle of the Uglies world is taking things full circle back to the original? After all, it gets its name from original protagonist Tally, who makes a return as the leader of an ongoing rebel faction roping Frey into the mission to eliminate the last vestiges of the old families...or something like that. One thing I thought was sad about the first book of this new series was how thin the world building was, and I feel like that thinness, even if it was somewhat corrected in the intervening novels, kinda makes this finale fall flat a bit. Granted, it's every bit as action-packed as one can expect from Westerfeld, but it still feels like...what even is going on most of the time? Especially in the end, which is surprisingly open and yet loaded with Mind Screw almost to the very last page. Well, to this finale, I now say ave atque vale, though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Westerfeld decided to do a third series in this same world. Hopefully one with more engaging characters and world-building next time. And please God, no more Tally, not after this one...

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Review: Crimson Reign

Crimson Reign by Amélie Wen Zhao
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three years ago, it seemed like, thanks to one of the most ludicrous cancellation campaigns in YA Twitter history, this book would never even be published, and neither would its two predecessors. Ironic, then, that Zhao has gotten the glorious chance to finish her debut trilogy, while I've noticed a few of those who spoke out against her and her first novel have had their own careers sidelined in recent years. No new publications, their own series on indefinite hold, that sort of thing. Perhaps karma does exist in the YA sphere after all, and the voices constantly trying to make enemies and cancel people will finally burn out as I've been hoping for for quite a while. 

But I digress.