Latest Review: Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Summary Blurb:
A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

In Sally Gardner’s stunning novel, set in a ruthless regime, an unlikely teenager risks all to expose the truth about a heralded moon landing.

What if the football hadn’t gone over the wall. On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know. But Standish Treadwell — who has different-colored eyes, who can’t read, can’t write, Standish Treadwell isn’t bright — sees things differently than the rest of the "train-track thinkers." So when Standish and his only friend and neighbor, Hector, make their way to the other side of the wall, they see what the Motherland has been hiding. And it’s big...One hundred very short chapters, told in an utterly original first-person voice, propel readers through a narrative that is by turns gripping and darkly humorous, bleak and chilling, tender and transporting.

My Blabberings:
I love, love, loved this book!  It was a strange but beautiful little tale that stays with you long after you finish the last page.  I'm going to have to buy a copy so I can lend it out to as many friends as I can!

Maggot Moon defies category conventions.  Due to the book's short length and the age of the protagonist, I think this is marketed as a YA/MG book, but there's some very adult events that transpire.  It is also a mixture of historical fiction and science fiction as it is set in an alternate Big Brother-esque past.

I admire that the author created a main character, Standish Treadwell, that is not conventionally smart or handsome.  Despite these handicaps he is one of the most loveable protagonists I've come across in my reading.

Bottom line: the writing is beautiful, the characters captivating, and the story memorable.  Highly recommended - go read this book!

5/5 stars

Latest Review: To Say Nothing of the Dog

Goodreads Summary:
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest.  He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump.  It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.

But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past.  Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.

My thoughts:
I looooved this book!  Part time-traveling sci-fi, part mystery, part romance, part Victorian comedy - what's not to like??  Also, To Say Nothing of the Dog has bookish references galore!  Not only do the main characters mention the obvious allusion to Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome, they also discuss a variety of Agatha Christie novels, Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and Dorothy Sayers books.  I absolutely want to read the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers ASAP thanks to Verity's descriptions of the dashing Lord Wimsey.

While some of the mystery elements and outcomes of the romantic entanglements were quite obvious to me, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the novel.  All of the characters were extremely endearing and many of them were quite silly (and thereby hilarious).  The (mainly) Victorian setting was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book - it really added to the absurdity of the many unfortunate predicaments Ned and Verity find themselves in.  Connie Willis is now one of my new favorite authors and I'll definitely be reading from her backlist!  I recommend this to everyone - especially those who enjoy Victorian settings, elements of time-travel and books bursting with humor!

4.5/5 stars

This fulfills my Science Fiction entry for the Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge!

Friday Finds: The House of Tomorrow & Gun, with Occasional Music

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading and allows readers to showcase books they have discovered over the past week.  This week I found a literary fiction book and a sci-fi/mystery/farce novel.

First up, a book about outsiders trying to find their place in the world The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni...here's the super-fun trailer:



I also heard of a unique book called Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem (I love the title)!

Goodreads Summary:

Conrad Metcalf has problems. He has a monkey on his back, a rabbit in his waiting room, and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. (Maybe evolution therapy is not such a good idea.)
He's been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent Oakland urologist. Maybe falling in love with her a little at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the inquisitor's Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse.

Gotta love a quirky sci-fi mystery!

Latest Read: Across the Universe

Goodreads Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

What a unique premise and a fun read!  Here's my super-shorty review :)

The good:
I loved reading the cryogenics scenes...the descriptions really allowed you to visualize the entire experience.  Blargh does it sound painful!  I also really enjoyed the political cautionary layer to this novel.  As a reader, you easily empathize with Amy and Elder's frustration as they try to wade through the lies that have been fed to the entire society on the ship.  Additionally, there are some unexpected twists and turns towards the end that really threw me for a loop.

The bad:
I was bored with Amy's convoluted "dream" sequences in the beginning, it made the first part of the book drag a little.  Another aspect that bothered me was that the romance felt a bit unrealistic. It seemed almost automatic...there was no foundation nor buildup for the relationship.

In sum:
Despite having a few qualms, I greatly enjoyed Across the Universe and recommend it to those with a penchant for sci-fi/dystopian books.  Also, if you've already read and really liked this book, I highly recommend reading Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy...it's amazing and deals with a lot of the same issues and themes (see my reviews of the first two books here and here).

4/5 stars

Waiting on Wednesday: Leviathan Wakes

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I love reading from a variety of genres so I thought I'd spice it up with a SF/Fantasy pick this week.  When I heard that George R.R. Martin called it a "kick-ass space opera" I was sold!  Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is the newest addition to my TBR list although, luckily, I will only have to wait until mid-June to get my hands on it!

Goodreads Summary:
Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

Wow!  Sounds epic, no?

Latest Read: The Ask and the Answer

Wow...again.  The second book in the Chaos Walking Trilogy surprised me in a completely wonderful way.

Instead of maintaining the same level of depth as The Knife of Never Letting Go Patrick Ness delves further into the meaty themes of this story.  The Ask and the Answer is definitely a more complex novel than the first and tensions and twists abound.

As usual...no spoilers so I can't talk plot.  I can say that it's almost torturous to watch beloved characters get manipulated by the whims of others.  The reader wonders along with the characters who Todd and his friends can trust.  This book alternates between Todd's perspective and another character's (if you've read the first book you'll know who it is).  The dual perspective really assists the story in attaining some serious tension and revealing the gruesomeness of war.  Yet again, Ness ends the book with a cliffhanger; however, due to the dark and intense nature of The Ask and the Answer, I think that I'm going to soak it in a bit before moving on to the conclusion of the series.  I highly recommend this trilogy to all readers!

5/5 stars.

Latest Read: The Knife of Never Letting Go

Wow.
This is such a great book and unique concept for a story...

What a cliffhanger ending...jeebus!  I don't think I can avoid reading this whole series ASAP.

Summary from Booklist:
Chased by a madman preacher and possibly the rest of his townsfolk as well, young Todd Hewitt flees his settlement on a planet where war with the natives has killed all the women and infected the men with a germ that broadcasts their thoughts aloud for all to hear. This cacophanous thought-cloud is known as Noise and is rendered with startling effectiveness on the page. The first of many secrets is revealed when Todd discovers an unsettling hole in the Noise, and quickly realizes that he lives in a much different world than the one he thought he did. Some of the central conceits of the drama can be hard to swallow, but the pure inventiveness and excitement of the telling more than make up for it. Narrated in a sort of pidgin English with crack dramatic and comic timing by Todd and featuring one of the finest talking-dog characters anywhere, this troubling, unforgettable opener to the Chaos Walking trilogy is a penetrating look at the ways in which we reveal ourselves to one another, and what it takes to be a man in a society gone horribly wrong. The cliffhanger ending is as effective as a shot to the gut.

I've heard so many great things about this series (and the premise was so intriguing) that when trying to decide what to read next, this was the first book that popped into my mind.  The story is told from Todd's perspective and in his own voice - which is one of my favorite things about the book.  Todd is an incredibly endearing character and has such a colorful way of describing his world and the Noise.

You will feel deeply for Todd and his companions as they embark on this hair-raising adventure.  It'll make you laugh, raise your eyebrows, and if you don't get a little misty-eyed at least once...you may want to get your tear ducts checked out.  There are some great themes in this novel: hold onto hope in impossible situations, that prejudice is dangerous and can be used as a weapon, and that communication goes beyond what you can hear.  That's really all I want to say because I don't want to spoil any of the plot...it's best that readers discover things as Todd discovers them.  Oh, but please read this book - and then read the rest of The Chaos Walking Trilogy (as I plan to do).

**Sidenote: while this is a YA novel, be advised that - no matter the reading level of your youngin' - it should probably only be recommended to mature teens and up.  There is quite a bit of graphic violence and a smidgen of language (mostly Todd saying "effing" but the actual "f-word" does make an appearance along with a few other swears).

5/5 stars.

Latest Read: The Hunger Games Trilogy

It's been awhile since I've read a YA novel...I think the last time was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (which I highly recommend).  I was drawn to The Hunger Games series due to the vast amount of adoration and raving over this trilogy.  I feared that I would once again fall prey to having my expectations too high to be met...but thankfully, I feel these books more than fully deserve their praise!

 

I really can't reveal too much plot without spoiling it for those who haven't read it.   I knew nothing about the books except for their praise and I liked it that way...so I'd rather not talk plot.  I will say that this is a really easy trilogy to read.  Sometimes I'm hesitant to start a series due to the time commitment required...but don't worry about that with these books.  All of the novels are relatively short and incredibly quick reads due to the amount of action packed into their pages.  My favorite book of the three was the first (but all are great...and you won't be able to resist picking up the following novels in the series).  My only complaint about the trilogy is that I wish the author had fleshed out the ending of the last book a bit more...it seemed a tad abrupt (but I still liked it).  Overall, I really recommend...such a fun read, interesting premise, and wonderful characters!

4.5/5 stars.

Latest Read - The Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair...what can I say but, what a fun read!  This is science fiction for the book-lover and Jasper Fforde's imaginative alternate world made me laugh out loud several times!

How to describe this book...hmmm.  Well, despite being written in 2001, the novel takes place in a futuristic 1985 (I like to think of it more as an alternate reality) where the Crimean War has waged for hundreds of years and time-travel - and much stranger things - are commonplace.  

The story follows a female protagonist named Thursday Next who is a "Literatec Operative," meaning...she investigates literary crimes.  In this alternate reality, literature is taken as seriously (if not more) than religion...for example "Baconites" go door to door trying to convince people that it was Bacon who actually wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare.  As you may be able to guess, the literary crime in question involves Jane Eyre...for the rest of the story you'll have to read it yourself!

After finishing this fun read, I was delighted to discover that this is actually the first book in a series following Thursday Next.  Needless to say, I recommend this book to those who can suspend disbelief and the subsequent sequels will definitely be on my "To-Read" list!

FYI...Sequels are: Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, First Among Sequels,  and coming next year...One of Our Thursdays is Missing

3.5/5 stars.