Ivy
I knew of Virginia Hall via the Rejected Princesses series, which gives a good overview of her life and how utterly badass this woman was. This book pays effective tribute to her, and gives a better view of her life, including just how frustrated this poor woman must have been on such a regular basis.
I bought this book years ago on the basis of the author-Van Eekhout also wrote Voyage of the Dogs, one of the most heartwrenching books I've ever read-and the fact that the character sounded incredibly autistic. And then I proceeded to never, ever read it, and probably passed it along. Found it in my library's ebook collection, and lo and behold, I was right! The character sounds incredibly autistic. I'm a big fan of found-family stories, even middle grade ones, so this was a fun read and very sweet.
I miss working at a library. Even all the irritating ridiculous regulars. This was a fun fluff read for the strange and delightful moments that come in a library every single day. I did also genuinely enjoy learning about some of the behind the scenes jobs, as I was a front-desk employee and never really got to do any of the back end work.
Reread, though Goodreads is somehow unaware of that. Having just finished The Echo Wife, I wanted to come back and read this one, because I remembered enjoying it much more than I did Echo Wife. Maybe Gailey just struggles in writing likable heterosexual characters? Because even the jerks in Upright Women Wanted are delightful and kick all the ass, and Magic for Liars is just one big gay love story.
I strongly enjoyed this book, but at the same time, I feel vaguely unsatisfied by it.
The story itself, the plot and concept, is great. I like the cloning aspect and the bit of me that reads true crime is fascinated by ‘conditioning', because of course you'd need to do that but also, oh my god. This is a book that pitches itself, you just read the description and grab it up in a second because how can you not?!
However, the execution, the specifics of the characters and their interactions, I wish I knew more about them. I wish Evelyn were able to sit down with her mother at some point and just like, gently doubletalk around their similar experiences with regards to the men they married. I had honestly expected Martine and Evelyn to use the killswitch almost immediately-I fully thought that they were making 2.0 just so he can die ‘naturally', sobbing wife at the funeral, etc. I wanted Evelyn to examine her own issues more strongly, she's sitting on the fence as it relates to the humanity of Martine and their sisters and it feels like she never really came to terms on either side of that fence.
Of the Bayern books, this one is the hardest for me to finish reading, even though it's a reread. I enjoy Hale's system of magics, the concept of having the language of an inanimate or natural phenomenon and thus being able to ‘speak' with it. For a whole lot of reasons, though, people speaking feels very personal to me, and Rin's journey always makes me take a deep breath and step back from the story for a bit.
Oof. I've read a couple of Kline's other novels, both Orphan Train and A Piece of the World, and deeply enjoyed both, so I'm not surprised to have enjoyed this one. Nor am I surprised that it gave me so many feelings. I love well written historical fiction, and Kline is a master of the genre-I think she's going to go into my list of authors I'll read without question.
Comfort reread.
I like pretty much all of Levine's work, but she doesn't skip the rough bits. This might not be a book to read if you're currently dealing with body image stuff. Like, the ending message of “you're beautiful how you are!” is great, but uh. There's a lot of internal monologue of self hatred before we get to that bit. I would love to have learned more about Aza's specific history and how she came to be a foundling, though, I think that would be fascinating.
Cool, now I'm pissed. If you're using something that came from a person for science stuff-or using a person themselves to freaking experiment on-you explain until they understand, and you get permission to do so. This is like, Ethics 101. And if there's a Major Scientific Breakthrough from what you took from that person, you may not be obligated to compensate them, but frankly you're kind of a monster if you don't. Even the most basic human decency says you let them know, and you don't leave their family to die in poverty while you get awards and grants.
Hm. Read a book that's uncomfortably prescient and fairly terrifying, given our current situation. Gave me some solid secondhand anxiety, again, reasonable given the world in 2021. I enjoyed it, but was glad to close the book and return to the slightly-less-terrifying real world.
Oh there's a sequel? Well now I gotta read it!
Great character development, terrifying story, and I am very worried about how this is all going to end, because of course there's another book, and of course I'm going to read it.
This was lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's some bits where the concept gets a little tiring-dad speaks mostly in Shakespeare references and the characters hammer in their love of books at least once every few pages, but overall, this was a gentle novel of siblings growing and learning about themselves and each other and mutually supporting one another, and it's nice to read.
Published in 2012 are you KIDDING ME?? I did not realize this was about a deadly flu when I picked it up, I expected a bomb thriller...not a medical thriller with death and quarantine and hand sanitizer. I genuinely expected to see this had been published in late 2020/early 2021. It was good, but uh, accidentally timely.
I honestly think Weir is the best science fiction writer I have ever encountered. I know next to nothing about actual science, and he gives clear, clever explanations for just about everything happening in his stories, to the point that even I can understand what's going on. Most of the sci-fi I read, I mentally substitute “magic” for any sciencey thing happening. Making an explanation clear, and funny, and engaging? That is a hell of a talent.
Screeching delight. Favorite book of the year. Ten stars. That may just be my currently-more-angry-than-usual joints (courtesy of the stupid miserable weather we keep getting lately) speaking, or it could be the character with my same joint disorder, or it could genuinely just be an amazing book.
If you're not here for stupid in-jokes and group chats, you probably won't like this one, but I super loved it.
Wow.
I read this while whispering “Oh no” to myself, in horror and fascination, and then at one point I looked at how much I had left and it was 50 pages to go and it became a much louder “OH NO” because how are we going to find out what happens in that little space? But it's a great space feelings book, and one of the best I've read with regards to the dangers and problems of space travel (or of sending young people as astronauts, the way so many books do!).