Emma Goto

So this won Goodreads scifi award for 2024. I was a bit iffy at first, since Goodreads is the kind of place where ACOTAR wins awards, and so I wasn't sure if this book just won the scifi award on a technicality because although it has time travel it didn't sound very scifi-y. But I was pleasantly surprised!

The story centres around people who were destined to die in their original timeline, but instead brought out before this happens to live in 21st century London. The secretive Ministry that brings them out obviously doesn't have altruism in mind when they do this, though. As they struggle to adjust, the Ministry also comes under fire from enemy spies. And there's a (good) romance side plot too.

There's a lot happening in this book, and I almost feel like it could have been simplified a bit by removing a side plot or two. Also time travel is always a confusing topic to write about with changing timelines and the like. But overall a really great read.

So this won Goodreads scifi award for 2024. I was a bit iffy at first, since Goodreads is the kind of place where ACOTAR wins awards, and so I wasn't sure if this book just won the scifi award on a technicality because although it has time travel it didn't sound very scifi-y. But I was pleasantly surprised!

The story centres around people who were destined to die in their original timeline, but instead brought out before this happens to live in 21st century London. The secretive Ministry that brings them out obviously doesn't have altruism in mind when they do this, though. As they struggle to adjust, the Ministry also comes under fire from enemy spies. And there's a (good) romance side plot too.

There's a lot happening in this book, and I almost feel like it could have been simplified a bit by removing a side plot or two. Also time travel is always a confusing topic to write about with changing timelines and the like. But overall a really great read.

3.5/5 stars

The book's plot summary hooked me - the pair meet via a Reddit "Am I The Asshole" thread, and it turns out to they are both similarly cursed with having their exes immediately found "the one" right after their breakup.

As well as the romance itself, there's a side plot surrounding some mental health issues and unresolved drama with their family.

I think what makes a good romance for me is the buildup and the "pining" stage but it's mostly skips that and instead the main complication is the character's childhood trauma and issues with forming relationships with other people which is kinda meh to read about (sorry).

Loosely based on a true story, about Black women and girls in 1970s America who were given birth control without being properly informed of the risks and side effects, and/or being sterilised without actually realising it.

The story follows Civil, a nurse who helps two of these girls, and ends up becoming almost like a member of their family - which is quite emotionally conflicting for both her and the family as she see-saws between her role as nurse and pseudo-mother figure.

Overall it’s quite an unsettling book.

A story that follows a three different people and eras. First we have Lily, a girl born in America to Chinese immigrant parents. As someone who can’t even speak Mandarin, she struggles with feeling like an American yet not being perceived as one by the people around her.

The story then jumps forward to Lily’s son, Noah, who looks identical to his white Dad. He identifies as half-Chinese, but everyone only sees him as an American, and he struggles with this gap in his identity.

The third character is Lily’s mother, May, who takes us on a time-skip back to 1950s China. May’s struggles are more real and immediate as she lives through the harsh poverty caused by the Cultural Revolution.

There’s a secondary plot around genetic engineering, and developing the ability for certain genes to be more dominant when giving birth, as well as this weird magical ability the characters have to (occasionally) slow down time - although they don't really use it much at all. I think that magical side-plot should either have been expanded upon more, or cut out altogether, because I didn’t feel like it added much to the story.

As a fellow half-Asian I related the most to Noah’s story. We have Lily who so desperately wants to fit in and feel included as an American by her peers, and yet Noah, who has the comfort of already being accepted, instead wants to be recognized for his differences. Is your identify something that you decide for yourself, or is partially influenced or constructed by the people around you?

A story that follows a three different people and eras. First we have Lily, a girl born in America to Chinese immigrant parents. As someone who can’t even speak Mandarin, she struggles with feeling like an American yet not being perceived as one by the people around her.

The story then jumps forward to Lily’s son, Noah, who looks identical to his white Dad. He identifies as half-Chinese, but everyone only sees him as an American, and he struggles with this gap in his identity.

The third character is Lily’s mother, May, who takes us on a time-skip back to 1950s China. May’s struggles are more real and immediate as she lives through the harsh poverty caused by the Cultural Revolution.

There’s a secondary plot around genetic engineering, and developing the ability for certain genes to be more dominant when giving birth, as well as this weird magical ability the characters have to (occasionally) slow down time - although they don't really use it much at all. I think that magical side-plot should either have been expanded upon more, or cut out altogether, because I didn’t feel like it added much to the story.

As a fellow half-Asian I related the most to Noah’s story. We have Lily who so desperately wants to fit in and feel included as an American by her peers, and yet Noah, who has the comfort of already being accepted, instead wants to be recognized for his differences. Is your identify something that you decide for yourself, or is partially influenced or constructed by the people around you?

This one's been on my list for a good couple of years now, and I finally got around to reading it. Basically it tries to dispel some of the myths around the Columbine school shooting. The shooters weren't loners - they had friends, went to prom, and they weren't the trench coat-wearing, loner goths that the media initially painted them to be.

I'm a fan of true crime and I'm not sure if this technically falls into this category, but this one felt really heavy to read. Maybe because it spends a lot more time with the survivors and victims of the shooting? Or maybe because it's a more recent event that I was already aware of, the book felt a little bit less interesting to read.

I thought this book started off quite strong with an alternative history plot line, where a meteorite hitting earth and the threat of an extinction event kickstarts the space program in the 1950s.

However I felt it went a little downhill a bit from there as we got stuck into the plot line of the discrimination women faced in the 1960s in the workplace (and their lack of place within it as equals). Which yes, is real and happened and it sucks but I guess it didn't feel quite uplifting to read at times..

Nonetheless an interesting book though.

Follows the story of two sisters living through Germany's invasion of France during WW2.

Isabelle starts off as a reckless, fairly unlikeable character who thinks she can get out of any situation with her beauty and charm. She redeems herself with her heroics and bravery, and seems to grow up, however it seems like she never really faced consequences for her initial naive and impulsive behaviour and got away with everything.I did like the sort-of twist where you hope that it might be Isabelle who's the elderly woman in the present day and then it turns out that she passed away fairly soon after the end of the war, and that it is in fact her sister. That present day reveal in Paris was probably the best bit of the novel.

Plot tl;dr - the main character, Genly, is on a planet where everyone is is neither male or female. It reminds me of the Ancillary Justice series where everyone is referred to as a “she” (although this book came 40 years earlier!)

The book defaults to “he” pronouns for everyone. I wish it used “she” instead, since it becomes very easy when reading to just imagine all the genderless people as men, since Genly does a lot of interacting with people in power who are traditionally men e.g. a prime minister and a king. However this can be explained away by Genly being a male and being biased towards choosing “he”.

A couple of times Genly gender stereotypes (“he was graceful as a girl”) and even right at the end of the book he mentions that a child must be a boy because “no girl could keep a grim a silence as he did”. I guess the author was trying to prove a point by being overtly obvious with the stereotyping but at the same time it's kind of frustrating to read since Genly is a likeable main character otherwise and it's not really pointed out that he's doing it.

I wish we could have seen some more growth from Genly and for him to move away from gender stereotyping as the book progressed.

Still it's a 50 year old book so considering its age, it's pretty good!

I wouldn't go into the Night Circus expecting a lot of action or a well-explained magic system, it's a lot more vague than that. But I did enjoy the author's writing style and the mysterious/magical vibe I got from reading it.

It's interesting to see how divisive this book is, looking at the Goodreads reviews, so I guess you'll either like it or you won't.

I had a couple of nitpicks:

Tsukiko felt too much like a stereotype of a Japanese person, doing a tea ceremony, etc. and it feels like the author chucked her in for the exotic-ness of it, or made her Japanese to make her seem more mysterious.There was no depth to the love story either - there's not really any reason for Marco and Celia to fall in love, other than that both are strong magicians dueling against each other. You could also see it coming from a mile away, so I was confused that Marco initially got together with Isobel, and stayed together with her for a long time. The break up between them didn't end up being that big of a deal either so it felt a bit pointless.

The Raven Tower tells the story of a god who lives in a rock. These small gods take the forms of forests, animals and other entities and are sustained by the prayers and offerings from people.

This particular god narrates its own story, as well as the story of Eolo, who visits the town of Vastai, where the Raven god lives. It's an interesting concept but also a bit tiring to read because the rock god narrates it as though it is talking to Eolo with a lot of “you did this, you did that”.

While it is quite unique, for that reason I will give it a 4/5 since it did make it feel like it was dragging a bit at times.

Really liked the contrast between Bebe - a Chinese immigrant who wants her biological child back from her new adoptive (white) parents, and Mia, who has essentially stolen and raised a child that she gave birth to, but was not biologically hers.

I was rooting for both of these mothers, and they both come out on top - but who should a child belong to? The parents most equipped to care for them? The biological mother? The woman that physically gives birth to the child? I wanted Bebe to get her child back but at the same time I didn't see Mia as a “bad” character even though she's stolen a child from her biological parents.

The fact that the author grew up where the novel was set, Shaker Heights, makes the subtle racism you encounter throughout the book even more impactful since it probably comes from direct experience.

A fun YA sci-fi book with some good world-building.

To me it felt a bit stupid that Spensa would go to her enemy's space school, proceed to show off her skills as a pilot (these aliens have seen her skills in combat, couldn't that blow her cover?) and teach them the best way to train their pilots.. so that they could come and kill some humans. Of course through the power of friendship it all works out in the end. She didn't really try and blend in and try to pretend to be a different alien race either - she was her usual loud/angry self, with a lot of human mannerisms.Feels like throughout the book there wasn't really many consequences for her actions. Maybe I've read too many depressing adult sci-fi/fantasy books lately (looking at you, The Fifth Season) and this is just how YA is.

Short story anthology. I really loved Ted's other book of short stories so I decided to give this one a read. These contain his earlier works (from the 90s) as well as the short story that inspired the acclaimed sci-fi movie Arrival.

I think he's definitely improved in his storytelling over time, so some of his earlier work is boring in comparison (one was very mathy and about how 1+1=2, another where a guy became a super genius and then it was just explaining how he was outwitting the government, felt kind of dry).

The movie Arrival I enjoyed more than the actual short story as well, it had more of an emotional impact but definitely big kudos for inspiring such an awesome movie.

The last couple were the best. Like one where all of humankind technically already “exists” in an unborn state, because if you zoomed in on sperm close enough, you could see the sperm for its children, and so on (sounds stupid but I think it's partially based on what people used to think). Also one where angels literally walk the earth and people chase them around like storm seekers chase after tornados, often with dangerous consequences.

I'll give this one a 4 overall since it does have some good stories.

A very melancholy “will they or won't they” book about two people dipping in and out of each other's lives. It could have been very frustrating, since a lot of their issues boil down to miscommunication but I think the author pulled off the reasons for their breakups really well.

I do like that the ending is ambiguous, I don't think I could have been satisfied if they did end up together with a fairytale happy ending. If anything I would have been fine with an ending where they don't end up staying together at all (seems more realistic).