reviews

‘Playground’ Review: A Journey Through Technology and Humanity

by Stefani

Playground by Richard Powers

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Robin Siegerman, Eunice Wong, Run Bandhu, Krys Janae, Kevin R Free

Published: September 24, 2024 by W.W. Norton & Company

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A magisterial new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory and Bewilderment.

Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.

Rating:

Review:

This book drew me in months ago with its beautiful cover. The reef, the colors, the manta ray, all of it was gorgeous. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I am a sucker for a pretty cover. I was also intrigued by the synopsis of this book. This seems to be a trend in literary fiction at the moment. To use individual stories to weave together a larger story. This book does it very well.

I genuinely enjoyed all of the characters and all of their narratives. I felt empathy and compassion for them, I understood their motives and I wanted to cheer them on. Rafi and Todd were the highlights though. Their stories were intertwined from the beginning. I loved watching them bond over their games, and their competitive natures sometimes at odds with their friendship. It was deep and genuine. I hoped that they would remain friends forever, but I also recognized that eventually their differences would probably drive them apart.

The stories were also well done, albeit slow to advance sometimes. This was, perhaps, one of the only drawbacks to this book is that the plot started to drag a little in the middle. I wanted the story to get moving and it just didn’t happen for awhile. But when it did, it took me in a place that I never expected. I found the weaving of humans and their love of play very charming. The theme of playfulness is woven into every line of this book, and it’s wonderful. Up until one specific sentence I was fully prepared to give this book 3 stars and talk about how I enjoyed it, but it just moved too slowly.

One specific line that Rafi emailed to Todd. My jaw dropped to the floor. I could not believe it. I never expected a twist in this book, and I never imagined the twist to encompass one singular line. All at once the entire trajectory of the book was different. Not just the trajectory of the book though, it changed the entire premise of the beginning of the book too. I was glued to this book from that moment. I couldn’t stop listening. It was truly masterful. I’ve read a lot of books where the author attempts to do what Powers did, but none have done it as smoothly and perfectly as he did.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s beautiful. It’s tragic. It’s hopeful. It’s playful. It’s probably my book of the year.

Secrets and Thrills in The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Published: June 25, 2024 by Dafina

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her baffled: Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

Rating:

Review:

***Disclaimer*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Dafina and Edelweiss!***

This book was a fun little popcorn thriller. Like I said in one of my progress update posts, if you wants to read this in an afternoon then you easily could. I also like that the book delivers exactly what this synopsis sells. That doesn’t always happen so I appreciate it even more when it does. Political thriller, check. Shocking secrets, double check. Revenge on the bad guy, check.

The characters in this book were well fleshed out and felt like real, genuine people. Jo was smart and canny, you got the sense from her early on that while she may trust easily she isn’t going to be anyone’s fool. I liked that about her. Of course, we know from the beginning that her husband is a piece of garbage, that’s the whole point, but I also felt like we got a glimpse of why Jo loved him enough to marry him. At this point in the story she is finished with the marriage, but recognizes that they need to remain a united front for the sake of his political office. The political marriage in full display. She spends her time focusing on her tea shop, in between campaign events. Dominic spends his time campaigning. At least until the threatening messages start arriving.

This book sold me on secrets, and boy, are there secrets! A lot of them. And some of them get really dark. Frankly, I didn’t quite expect how dark this book went. But I loved it. It made things much more sinister and desperate. No wonder Dominic got so desperate to cover up the past. However, I did feel like some of the twists and secrets were easy to guess. To avoid giving away too big of a spoiler, typically if a character can narrate it means they aren’t really gone. Typically.

The only other thing that brought down this rating for me was the ending. It was just rather unnecessarily complicated. The “stalkers” had a plan, Jo had a plan, everyone had a plan. And the plans were intertwined, but then at a certain point there was an entirely different secret plan. It was too much. After everything in the book, Dominic isn’t that smart. We didn’t need a CIA level takedown here. That and the obvious twists brought this to a 3 star or me. I enjoyed it, and it was exactly what it was supposed to be as a popcorn thriller.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer: A Tale of Friendship and Secrets

by Stefani

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

Published: July 16, 2024 by Random House Audio

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Rating:

Review:

I had very high hopes about this book. The concept of bringing me a grown up fairytale akin to the Chronicles of Narnia was highly appealing. In a lot of ways this book met those expectations. And in some ways it didn’t. So ultimately my feelings about this book are that it was good but not great.

The brightest point of this book was the relationship between Jeremy and Rafe. It was so tortured and complicated and beautiful. I found myself angry at Jeremy for lying to Rafe. I found myself angry at Rafe for rejecting Jeremy. And when the full story of their relationship was revealed, I cried like a baby. It was a slow burn of a relationship and I loved it. I was rooting for them so hard, and I ended up in a puddle of tears in the end.

I have to admit that I didn’t have a single idea what was going on for a large part of this book. That’s what brought the rating down to a three star for me honestly. I said in my progress update last week that I thought I had missed something important and went back to listen again only to discover that I hadn’t missed something, it was just very jarring. It took a long time for me to find my footing in the story. The parts I did understand were amazing. This was a pretty short audiobook at just over 10 hours long, it could have used just a little more length to smooth out some of those transitions to make the story flow better. There was also a lot of missing world building. The author just thrust us into this fantastical world but didn’t give us too many details about it, which was disappointing.

In the end, when it was great it was amazing and when it wasn’t it was okay.

Audiobook review: There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

by Stefani

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Narrated by: Olivia Vinall and Elif Shafak

Published: August 20, 2024 by Knopf

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, erudite but ruthless, built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives.

In 1840 London, Arthur is born beside the stinking, sewage-filled River Thames. With an abusive, alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother, Arthur’s only chance of escaping destitution is his brilliant memory. When his gift earns him a spot as an apprentice at a leading publisher, Arthur’s world opens up far beyond the slums, and one book in particular catches his interest: Nineveh and Its Remains.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a ten-year-old Yazidi girl, is diagnosed with a rare disorder that will soon cause her to go deaf. Before that happens, her grandmother is determined to baptize her in a sacred Iraqi temple. But with the rising presence of ISIS and the destruction of the family’s ancestral lands along the Tigris, Narin is running out of time.

In 2018 London, the newly divorced Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband. Orphaned and raised by her wealthy uncle, Zaleekah had made the decision to take her own life in one month, until a curious book about her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling, There Are Rivers in the Sky entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop which remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and harbinger of death, rivers—the Tigris and the Thames—transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”

Rating:

Review:

This book was written beautifully. I was interested by the idea of all of these stories being intertwined by water. Water that affects the lives of these people across centuries as it goes through its cycle over and over again. It’s such a beautiful idea and an ingenuous storytelling device if you can pull it off. The author definitely pulled it off. These stories intertwined in ways I didn’t see coming and I loved it. The narrator did a wonderful job of telling these stories, her voice was so soothing that I almost fell asleep a few times. She was the perfect choice for this book.

I have to say that my favorite of these four stories was Arthur. I felt like he had the most depth and that we explored his world more deeply than the others. We explore his entire world and as he became more intrigued by the cuneiform tablets and the ancient city. I was so wrapped up with him that I got a little disappointed when we switched to another narrative. This was another piece that the author got right. We didn’t switch POV often. We spent considerable time with each of these people before switching, so it was easier to empathize and connect with them.

Narin was a heartbreaking story. From the very beginning of her diagnosis and her grandmother’s desperation to baptize her in their sacred river, despite knowing that they would likely be slaughtered by ISIS if they were caught. Or worse. As her story played out I found myself even more heartbroken. I won’t say too much more or it would give away the plot.

Zaleekah was probably the weakest narrative of the book. I had a hard time connecting with her because the glimpses we get of her life seemed so unimportant. I wasn’t sure what she was there for until the very end. Eventually that story tied together with the others just as seamlessly but overall her story seemed like an afterthought.

My biggest negative of this book was the length. There were a lot of things that happen that didn’t feel necessary. There were long stretches where nothing happens at all. The middle of the book dragged on and on. I honestly considered putting the book down because it was just so dull. But I decided to soldier on, and I’m glad I did because the ending was magnificent. I certainly recommend this book, but just be aware that the middle is not as interesting as the beginning and end.

Progress Updates Friday – October 4, 2024

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Progress: Page 200 of 320

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

An upstanding political candidate. A determined stalker. A shattering lost weekend. Now, when his worst secret comes calling, how far will one man’s elegant, all-too-devoted wife go to uncover the truth . . . or bury it?

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

How it’s going:

So I was right about who the stalker is. And I was right about Brynn’s fate…sort of, it didn’t quite happen in the way I expected. Jo actually seems to be finding some answers and strength, which is a positive development. Still liking it pretty well.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Progress: 4.5 of 10.25 hours

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

How it’s going:

So far it’s going just okay. I love the idea, I love the interactions between the characters. But the story moves in strange ways. I went back an hour or two because all of a sudden we were talking about unicorns and valkeries and I had no idea what I missed. But, as it turned out, I missed nothing. It really did just jump that quickly from walking through a forest to being enmeshed in a world of magic. I’ve heard that the story really picks up steam at the halfway point, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s a fairly short audiobook at a little over 10 hours.

Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

by Stefani

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Published: September 17, 2007 by Listening Library

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Harry returns to Hogwarts with nightmares about Voldemort looming in his head. This year, there is an exciting event at Hogwarts, but will it be more dangerous than fun? Between the weird dreams Harry’s been having, his scar hurting, and rumors of the Dark Lord’s return, Harry’s godfather Sirius Black grows increasingly concerned as he tries to ensure Harry’s safety. Will Harry’s nightmares come true? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an exciting story you won’t want to put down with surprises you wouldn’t expect.

Rating:

Review:

I have always remembered this book as being the weakest one in the series. But I found new levels of depth when I re-listened to it. Jim Dale is still the absolute perfect narrator, no one else could have done what he did with these audiobooks. He brought them to life in such a cool way.

This book is not just a simple story about a boy and a tournament at school. In this book we dive to the depths of some of the hypocrisy in the wizarding world. I had forgotten how much focus we give to how house elves are treated in this book. Most decent wizards abhor how some wizards view themselves as superior to Muggles, but those same wizards who see the bigotry on that front, utterly fail to see it with house elves. At one point Ron, who managed to accidentally curse himself retaliating on Hermoine’s behalf, actually says that house elves enjoy being enslaved. Astounding blind spot. It was fascinating to see Rowling explore this interesting dynamic. Unfortunately, I seem to remember that this largely gets abandoned after this book and I think that’s a shame.

It’s funny when you spend a lot of time watching the movies for these books and then come back to the books, there’s a lot of things you’ve forgotten. I completely forgot all of the interesting little side stories we get adjacent to the tournament. This book is a really good mystery. And Rowling lays out so many clues about the identity of the dark wizard along the way. It was very well done. Honestly, at a certain point the tournament is a minor side plot, more of a vehicle to introduce all of these other stories. I think I may have to retract my statement about this being the weakest book in the series. There’s too many gigantically important things that happen.

The Archived: A Unique Take on Life and Death

by Stefani

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Published: January 22, 2013 by Hyperion

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost, Da’s death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself may crumble and fall.

Rating:

Review:

The synopsis for this book drew me in immediately. I loved the idea of it. Where a person’s life isn’t recorded in memories or pictures but in a flesh and blood embodiment of their life. And they can wake up and become dangerous and disturbed. It was giving me haunting vibes and zombie vibes all at once. And really it was a perfect combination of both of those things. It was an utterly unique idea that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

I got a little worried when I started this book because I noticed it was the first in a series. The second book was published shortly after the first, in 2014. Then an adjacent short story that acts as a 2.5 in the series was published in 2015. But nothing since then. The third book in the series is just noted as “having been outlined and plotted but with no timeline for completion”. Uh oh. Did I really want to get invested in a series that will likely never be finished? I decided to finish this one because I had already started it, and my answer is yet. I am totally willing to be invested in this series. Even if it will never be finished.

Mac was a great character. She is a young woman in the midst of dealing with immense grief. She has been given the knowledge of the Archive from her grandfather, knowing that when he was ready to pass away that the job would pass to her. So she’s grieving her grandfather and then her younger brother dies. And her family, in their grief, is determined to get a new start in a new city. They purge the home of all of her brother’s belongings and refuse to speak about him. Which is devastating for Mac because she KNOWS what happens when someone dies. She KNOWS that her brother’s History is sitting on a shelf somewhere. She knows that if she tried to wake him that it wouldn’t really be him. But at the same time, she is mourning his loss and has nothing else to remind her of him. I identified with her grief in so many profound ways.

I loved the story and the mystery of this book too. At first it seemed like Mac was trying to invent a mystery so that she didn’t have to think about her grief. But soon it became apparent that all of this was intentional, all of this is part of a larger plan, and that she is one of few who can figure out what that plan is.

My only complaint about this book is that I didn’t understand why Mac being a Keeper was such a big secret. So much of a secret that she couldn’t even tell her parents. As far as I understood, the ability to “read” things is what makes a good Keeper, and it’s genetic. Her grandfather says that her father had the ability too, he just didn’t think that his son has the temperament to be a Keeper. So, it seems like this should be able to be known to other people in the family. All those generations of it being passed down in the family and nobody ever knew except the person who was chosen? Keeping it a secret from the rest of the world made sense, but it didn’t make sense that it had to be a secret from her parents. That confused me and I couldn’t see a purpose behind it.

The ending of this book was an adventure filled ride. I read the last 125 pages in a single sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I never saw it coming. It was fantastic! It sold me on reading the next story, but I would also be content with the ending even if I never read the second book. I am hoping that the second book ends in a similar way, just in case this series never sees a third book.

‘Red River Road’: A Gripping Tale of Mystery and Vanlife

by Stefani

Red River Road by Anna Downes

Published: August 27, 2024 by Minotaur Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.

Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?

And then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best—and only—chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.

Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory.

Rating:

Review:

Like a lot of people, I have been intrigued by this sudden explosion of “vanlife” influencers on social media. It seems to be this interesting mixture of people who love to travel, people who can’t afford a home and are forced to live on the road, and people who love adventure. And, naturally, we’ve all heard the media stories of times it has gone very badly in the last few years too. So, with that in mind, I was intrigued by this book. The premise sounded very promising, a girl looking for her missing sister. I expected that the mystery would be finding out what happened to her, it was….in a way.

My biggest complaint with this book is that it seems to be described by a lot of people as a “slow burn”. Normally I am fine with a slow burn of a book. But this book is only 369 pages. That’s a pretty average sized book. And the pace of this book, plus the length of the overall book, led me to feel like this was less of a slow burn and more like a book where nothing happens. It felt like nothing happened for SO LONG. The best part of the book was the last 25% because things actually happened.

I also didn’t like how many characters and POVs this book had. We have Katy, Phoebe, Beth, and Wyatt. And just for fun, sometimes Beth goes by several other names, so it’s virtually impossible to figure out who all these people are. I kept forgetting who we were talking about when Katy would mention Lily…who the hell is Lily? Oh right, Lily is Beth. I had to go back and re-listen to whole chapters because I couldn’t remember which POV we were in because all of the characters sound exactly the same. It was so confusing. I felt like I had no idea what was going on for most of the book.

The twist at the end of the book was okay. It wasn’t what I expected, which was a nice touch. But as more information kept spilling out it started to get a bit silly. It felt like a Billy Mays commercial. “Just when you thought the twists were done..wait there’s more! And for only $14.95 shipping and handling you can have yet another twist on the house!” It was too much. All of the characters were unreliable narrators, none of them were telling me a truthful or accurate story. So, by the end of the book it felt a bit pointless. I am no stranger to unreliable narrators but when it turns out that all 500 narrating characters are lying and have ulterior motives…well…what did I just read?

I did appreciate the beautiful writing about the scenery of Australia. This author has a beautiful way of describing things. I liked the narration of Phoebe’s social media posts, they were whimsical and captivating. I also appreciated the book’s discussion about domestic violence and how it intersects with the “vanlife” community. In the end this book had some redeeming qualities, but it just wasn’t my jam.

Review of Ink Blood Sister Scribe: Magic, Sisters, and Secrets

by Stefani

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs

Published: May 30, 2023 by William Morrow

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .

Rating:

Review:

I am in love with the idea of this book. It’s a book that’s about books. In this world, blood can be used as ink to create magical tomes that enact specific spells. Seemingly these spells are limitless, or at least we aren’t told much about the limits of the spells. There is even an immortality spell, so at the very least we can say that the limit is far reaching. Later, we find out that some spells even go further than just blood. They have inscribed onto skin, bound with hair and glued together with fat. Some of the darkest spells require a connection to the body of the person who wrote it. And two of our main characters have just recently lost their father to one of these books. He put his hand to it and it took his blood, all of it. That is a terrifying and amazing idea. It was that idea that interested me in this book to begin with.

This book was the very definition of “okay.” The characters weren’t interesting but there were too many of them. We spend a lot of time head hopping to the POV of different characters but there’s so many of them that I couldn’t keep track of who was who. It took me until about 30% of the book to figure out how everyone was related to the story. It would have been better to spend more consistent time with just a few characters so I could get to know them better. There was a few superb relationships in this book. The sister relationship and mother/daughter relationship were excellently written. But I had a hard time empathizing with the characters generally because we didn’t spend enough time with them. I couldn’t get to know them enough to care about them.

The story really picks up about halfway through. I really loved the adventure after that point. It was fast paced and horrifying. I loved it and got swept away in the ride. The ending was a little bit confusing, I actually went back and read the last chapter again because I thought I missed something. It ends on a cliffhanger….sort of. It is a well contained story but there’s definitely a “what happens next” vibe to the ending.

The biggest problem this book had was that the characters didn’t seem to have any agency. No one actually makes any decisions. They are set along a plot path and they just move along that pre-determined path. And they talk about making decisions. A LOT. But they don’t actually make any. At one point it felt like the main characters would be forced into making a decision. They were being left clues but were concerned about whether they could trust the person leaving the clues, or if it was a trap. They needed to decide whether to trust the clues or not. It took about 30 seconds for them to just blindly decide to trust the clue giver without any discussion or dissent. And back on the pre-determined path we went. It was frustrating. I wanted them to actually decide things. I think that might be the result of this being a debut novel. Sometimes it’s difficult to write to a planned plot without making it feel planned. That’s a very specific skill and sometimes it takes time to develop. Overall there was a lot of good things here, and I am glad that I read it. It was a solid debut novel

Dystopian Climate Crisis Fiction: ‘American War’ by Omar El Akkad

by Stefani

American War by Omar El Akkad

Published: April 4, 2017 by Knopf

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself

Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned drones fill the sky. When her father is killed and her family is forced into Camp Patience for displaced persons, she begins to grow up shaped by her particular time and place. But not everyone at Camp Patience is who they claim to be. Eventually Sarat is befriended by a mysterious functionary, under whose influence she is turned into a deadly instrument of war. The decisions that she makes will have tremendous consequences not just for Sarat but for her family and her country, rippling through generations of strangers and kin alike.

Rating:

Review:

I believe that there are two ways to write a really great dystopian novel. First, you set the book so far into the future that it doesn’t really matter how outlandish the world building or the situation are. Readers will look at it and think “Well, it’s 400 years in the future, I guess that could happen.” Second, you base it in a more recent reality, but change a few key situations or circumstances that logically explain how the world got to this state in the near future.

Unfortunately, this book doesn’t convincingly do either one. The premise of this book is that in 2074 the United States has a second Civil War. Ostensibly, the war is over oil. Oil has been outlawed due to climate change and some states decide that they want to continue using it and so they engage in a Civil War. After the war ends (about 20 years), there was a devastating plague that swept the nation and things have been in a state of crisis ever since. This book is set somewhere in the midst of the war when the main character and her family flee to a refuge camp to escape the war and the plague. I really wanted a better explanation for how the United States gets to a Civil War just 50 years from now. I simply didn’t understand how the conflicts about climate change and oil reach that boiling point so soon.

WARNING: From here on out there will probably be spoilers. But I find this book to be crap that I would recommend to no one, so feel free to continue at your leisure.

So, ostensibly this war is about oil. Except that doesn’t make any sense. Apparently climate change has gotten so bad that most of the American Southwest is just perpetually on fire and unlivable, and half of Louisiana is permanently underwater, and the ice caps no longer exist. I find it hard to believe that in the face of such catastrophic changes to the world that there would be so much climate change skepticism left to start a war over. Currently there’s a lot of nuance to climate change opinions. People who believe that it is entirely man made and we have to do something about it. People who believe it is a natural cycle of the earth that we have little to no influence over. People who believe it’s all made up and not actually happening. People who believe that it is happening, humans are responsible, but we’ll find ways to innovate solutions as times goes on. But despite this diversity of opinions, in 50 years time everyone either boils down into “let’s ban oil to help climate change” or “we want oil, because….we want it.” I find that difficult to imagine. I also find it hard to believe that there would be enough people who feel strongly enough about oil to start a war over it. Apparently there’s three states that started the war, and a few others joined along the way. Texas was part of it at one point, but it’s now part of Mexico for some reason. So they are kind of affiliated, but not really. It’s confusing. Let’s also ignore that even the most catastrophic climate change predictions state that the temperature difference will be about 1 degree in 100 years….

Really, what this author does it just replace slavery with oil and utilize all the same tropes and circumstances of the first civil war and overlaid it into the book. But instead of the Union we have “the blues”, instead of the Confederacy we have “the reds”. It was not well done. The author tells us the war is about oil but it isn’t. It’s about typical Old South tropes of racism, misogyny, and classism. It also doesn’t seem like this is even a world that can survive without oil in the first place. For example, “the blues” have warships that are supposed to enforce the oil ban, they have solar panels. But the solar panels are so inefficient that the ships regularly use their diesel engines to get things done….the author tells us this as an aside, like it’s a normal course of business. That was so weird. You ban oil but still haven’t advanced alternative energy sources enough to actually be useable? What?

Speaking of oil, apparently in this book the “Middle East” and “North Africa” decided to put aside thousands of years of conflict and culture differences to form a new world superpower. Where apparently everything is sunshine and rainbows. And things are so good that everyone in Europe is fleeing to this new land on boats as refugees. No explanation is given for how this happens, nor why. Just that it happened. Some of these countries have been having continued conflicts over religion, race, class, culture, etc for literally thousands of years. But, everything is cool now? In 50 years? That doesn’t seem likely either.

It also isn’t difficult to figure out that the author has overlaid current political differences (and his own political opinions) onto this book. “The reds” are bad people. They like guns, and oil, and hate women and gay people. “The blues” believe in trying to help the world, and love everyone, and want to save the planet. Huh, that sounds very 2016 to me. It’s egotistical and ridiculous. To think that the political stage wouldn’t have advanced past the tropes and stereotypes that the two sides throw at each other in current times is laughable.

There were a lot of other things that were laughable and ridiculous about this book but I just can’t devote more time to it. I only got halfway through and that was already a waste of my time. The next “great American novel” this is not.