Emma Goto

Basically the plot of the story is that there's an alternate reality earth with huge kaiju (think Godzilla) and it's the Kaiju Preservation Society's job to look after them.

The main character is a fan of sci-fi novels, so as a fellow sci-fi fan it was fun picking up on the references (is this what it's like to read and actually enjoy Ready Player One??).

However I did feel like the climax/resolution was a bit of a letdown, a bit too much of an invincible, main characters can do no wrong, vibe. But otherwise fun if you don't take it too seriously. Hence why I couldn't give it a 5 star!

The book breaks the cliche of “city girl moves to a small town and meets a country boy” in a really nice way.

Multi-POV book following the stories of Native Americans, some struggling with their identity of what it means to be a Native American, as they come together for a powwow in Oakland. I found it a bit hard at times to keep up with the different characters and how they are all connected to each other. Perhaps it would have been better as a longer book, or with less characters, but nonetheless pretty solid.

After their father dies, two brothers set out on a journey across America to find their mother who walked out on their family 10 years prior. The elder brother, Emmett, spent some time in a juvenile prison so we are introduced to some of his dodgy acquaintances along the way. The book jumps between all these perspectives and eventually comes to a finish that left me a bit shook.

While the book was interesting to read I wouldn't say that I loved it, hence the 4 star rating!

I really struggled to get into this one. I found the story quite hard to follow, because of how many different characters get introduced throughout the book. It's a pity because there's a lot of cool sci-fi concepts here (i.e. uploading your brain to another body). Also this guy is horny AF, there is random unnecessary sex everywhere (aren't you a trained soldier, just do your job!) and sometimes it just doesn't make sense when the woman jumps on him like it's very male fantasy. So if you're a dude and you're into sex and violence this may be the sci-fi novel for you.

For a book published in 1891 I actually found it to be quite spicy (compared to something like Pride and Prejudice). It makes commentary on the double standard when it comes to a woman having to be “pure” while men get to go and sow their wild oats, which I was surprised by and thought was quite progressive (for its time) especially considering the book was written by a man. Unfortunately a lot of misfortune befalls the main character Tess so don't go into this if you want a wholesome read.

A collection of Asian-inspired short stories. My personal favourite was “State Change”, where everyone's soul manifests as an object such as an ice cube or a candle, and you have to focus on keeping it intact to stay alive. Another standout was “Mono no aware”, a heartwarming story about Go and being the last Japanese person aboard a spaceship. Some of the stories are inspired by more serious topics from history such as the discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants during the 1850s American gold rush and Japan's WW2 war crimes.

Rex is a Bioform, a dog-like killing machine sent out to obey his master's orders because he is a Good Boy. But when he is freed from the innate need to listen to a master, he must decide on his own who is the enemy, and who must be killed.

Another excellent sci-fi from Tchaikovsky that's quite “out there” in terms of its concept. Also very cute because there are dogs involved (albeit murderous ones).

Unlike a traditional self-help book where the author gives you direct advice on how to improve your life and attain happiness, Christensen uses examples and lessons learned from business, that you can then use as an analogy to apply to your own life. With the mention of Harvard reunions and the assumption that you are working long hours (and should consider cutting back if you want to spend more time with family) I think I'm not quite the target audience for this one.

I read this after I read the quite excellent Netflix adaptation, so I went into it expecting good things but I felt.. underwhelmed? I'm not sure if it's because I knew what was going to happen, but the first person writing style didn't really grip me, it felt a bit dry and the main character Alina was a little bit annoying too (well, just like a real snarky teenager to be fair).

Lee and her girlfriend Mal are investigating an alleged monster sighting when Mal suddenly disappears in a blizzard. Mal's mysterious return 4 years later is of interest to MI5 agent Julian Sabreur. He's investigating a crime committed by a group of people who don't quite look human, and Mal is somehow involved.

Then the sci-fi aspect of this novel kicks in as it's revealed there are worlds parallel to our own Earth. Evolution has diverged at a different point in each world and created a different dominant species. As cracks form between worlds and monsters slip through, humanity may lose its position at the top of the food chain.

I would have preferred to see more of Lee and Mal, and less of the MI5 agent Julian. He's less of a suave James Bond type and more of a grumpy everyday man with a struggling marriage. How much you like him probably depends on how well you can relate to him.

The parts of the other parallel worlds that we did get to see were excellent, and I would have loved to read more about that. For me the best part of sci-fi is reading about a completely different setting - whether that's the future or somewhere in space. So the bits set in “present day” Earth weren't as interesting to me.

A book that's a mix of a memoir and a tribute to five men in the author's life that died too soon. I really fell in love with her writing style, and it was especially tragic and touching to read how she imagined what they might have been thinking about or doing in the moments leading up to their deaths.

This was a really surreal take on a pandemic that wipes out a good portion of the Earth. One example being that they decided to build rollercoasters that would euthanize sick kids that were strapped in without them realising (?!) The first half was pretty depressing because it was just death, death and more death but the second half felt a bit more hopeful.

Giving it a 3.5 since it was written well but felt uncomfortable to read at times, and took me a couple of weeks to come back and finish.

A book about a team reintroducing wolves back into Scotland to help restore the ecosystem. It's fiction, but does take real-life inspiration from how wolves were successfully reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park. The story comes with a side of romance and murder mystery which is not quite as compelling as the wolves, though.

Not a big fan of the ending - it felt absurd that the sister was responsible for killing a grown man, nearly killing another, and killing a dog (the biggest crime of all, tbh) and then she gets away with it, no psychiatric treatment necessary, and conveniently goes off to die in the forest on her own.

Yet another comfy read from Becky Chambers. Pity it is only a novella - is it quite short. This was my first time reading solarpunk and I want to read more of it! Robots don't want to work in factories anymore because they've developed consciousness? No problems, just shut down your factories, send them on their way and work around it. It's a very utopian-seeming future, unlike steampunk/sci-fi which is usually quite gritty and dark. I guess it's almost like a fantasy in how unrealistic it is lol.

A wholesome romance about a girl meeting a sort-of-ghost girl that has been stuck on a New York subway train for 30 years. I liked the fantasy element, it made it more interesting to read than a regular romance book.

A YA Knives Out just about sums it up (without the amazing Daniel Craig and his southern accent). Of course throw in a stupid love triangle like you get in any YA novel (girl you're about to be a billionaire, keep it in your pants!)

I was expecting a continuation from the first Wayfarers book but this can almost be read as a standalone. A ship AI struggles with finding her identity and sense of purpose after being placed (illegally) in a human-like body. At the same time we follow the story of a genetically modified girl, Jane 23, destined to spend her life working in a factory, who escapes and has to figure out how to live in the outside world. Even though it tackles some heavy subjects, it's just such a cozy, comfy sci-fi thanks to the relationships the different aliens and AIs build with each other.

A solid sequel, although unfortunately since there was a big gap between me reading the first and the second book, I was quite confused at what was happening for a while. I'm not too sure if reading the books back to back would have helped or if it would have been confusing either way.

Cute fantasy story about a princess who has to break a curse to save her brothers who have been turned into cranes.

Nothing groundbreaking, but it is a YA so I won't go too hard on it. The book cover is gorgeous too.

The general premise of this book is that two “best friends” are secretly in love with each other for 10+ years. Maybe that's romantic for some people but I found the way it was written was just frustrating, like surely after a couple of years you'd get your shit together!!

I'll give it a 3.5 rounded up to a 4/5 since I didn't find it too be too bad for a romance novel, otherwise.

Beautiful, drug-addicted singer Daisy and the band The Six come together to write an album in the 70s. The entire book is told in an interview format, which I think works really well, since it lets the different characters give their own (slightly different) perspectives on certain events.

The author tried to incorporate some sort of twist to the ending but it wasn't a particularly revelatory or “wow” moment for me. Nonetheless, Taylor Jenkins Reid has once again done a really good job with writing out a cast of believable, very human characters.

So I knew this book was originally a Kylo Ren / Rey fanfic before I started reading it. Which made things unintentionally funny because you can't help but imagine Kylo Ren doing all this weird romance novel shit (pushing a car shirtless across a carpark? Ok). And when he repeatedly gets described as being “broad” and “massive” (kind of cringey tbh) all I could think of was that Ben swolo meme which made me laugh too.



The author made 0 effort to change the physical appearances of the characters - she literally named the guy Adam. Because she's just straight up describing Adam Driver in the book it's almost creepy. I feel like there's a difference between gushing over the physical appearance of a fictional person versus a real-life person?

Gotta give it a 4/5 though because the Reylo stan in me just wants a happy Reylo ending for once.

Murder mystery set in a small Australian town.

From the title I thought it was going to be a quirky story about housewives banding together to kill off a vampire (or something like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) but honestly this was straight up a horror book.

Giving it a 4/5 because although it made my skin crawl and I never want to read it again, it wasn't poorly written and if you're a horror fan you might enjoy it (definitely not me!!)