theblackdog

After Wool and Shift, everything comes together. Juliette is digging towards Silo 17, while Donald and Charlotte are trying to work in secret to discover what’s beyond the hills where the silos have been built. There’s tension everywhere, even after Silo 18 breaks through to 17 and they start looking at the possibility of using both silos.

However, it doesn’t last long as the orders to “shut down” 18 are given, forcing an evacuation of those who are fortunate enough to be in the lower levels.

Some of the folks who get their comeuppance get a well deserved one, especially Thurman. Darcy earns a partial redemption but it was also his ambitions that got Silo 18 killed so he deserves his death.

What we are left with is Juliette and those who are bold enough to venture out being rewarded with the chance to make a life outside the silo. Surprisingly they aren’t being taken apart by the nanobots that apparently killed the world. My hypothesis is the nanobots went with the bodies of whatever they killed and perhaps they broke down as well, but there’s a chance they’re just inert. It doesn’t matter as much as the story ends here.

I don’t think Juliette expected to change the world like this, and she lost a lot of friends along the way, but now they all have a second chance.

What a world that was built here. Taking the legend of the Phantom Prom Date and giving her an afterlife beyond her inciting incident. There’s lots of rules, defined and undefined, but it fits well. Of course it’s unfortunate that the man who sent her to the afterlife is now one who harasses her. Damn that Bobby Cross.

Playing around with different forms and beliefs in death and the supernatural all fits together. The final death I saw in the book I knew was coming, but I didn’t expect the actual circumstances behind it. Thankfully Rose gets what she desires here, but the rest of the ending did feel a little unfinished. I wanted to know what happened as Rose finally returned to The Last Dance, what will she tell Apple? What happens with her and Gary from here? What will be done with the Barrowmans, and who betrayed their kind and tattled to Bobby Cross in the first place?

I realize this was the second in the series but I’ll definitely be on the lookout to grab the others as it was still good.

Oh, my heart. A romance that has a well crafted B plot and the realistic awkwardness between two folks who were supposed to meet, life went horribly wrong, but now there’s a potential second chance. This hit all the right parts. Additionally the sex scenes nailed it. The initial hesitation, actually working up to certain acts and the descriptions and dirty talk that didn’t feel like a broken record. This was so fun to read.

An editor, my kingdom for an editor.

I want to like this story. It’s been rare to see a poly relationship and there’s definitely the seeds of good ideas here. Unfortunately the story also suffers from Mary Sue Syndrome. With the exception of the inciting incident for Eve that leads to her saviors finding her, nothing bad happens to her or her partners or anyone she meets after that. Everyone is able to explain themselves and it’s just accepted.

Even the climax of the book is just a basic misunderstanding and it’s immediately resolved with one conversation. I know as much as we joke that a lot of things could be fixed if people actually talked, just one conversation and it’s almost never mentioned again isn’t compelling.

Speaking of climaxes, the sex scenes were hot at first, but they get repetitive. Every orgasm rips through her, and her partners don’t seem to know any phrase to describe her other than “fucking beautiful.” Also she has some amazing compartmentalization of past trauma because folks who went through what she did probably wouldn’t be eagerly participating in certain sex acts only a week or two after a particularly traumatic incident.

One point I will give that’s realistic is the individual dates with each of her partners are different activities and they are enjoyed for different reasons.

There were a few spots where this book fell victim to auto correct, another reason why I cry out for an editor.

Overall, this book and their characters were very much on easy mode and it brings down the entertainment value.

A great fantasy story involving dealing with various fey creatures and a thin place in the world. It’s a good establishing book to start a series and it’s clearly meant to be that. We learn much about Veris, but other characters have a mostly superficial development. If there’s a sequel I expect we will get a lot more development about Eleonor. The Tyrant is who he is and as for Aram, you’ll have to read to find out.

What a story! Cities being born into a self sustaining life, but others who want to stop it because it threatens their perfect vision of how a city should look and feel. It’s all been a great metaphor for gentrification. New York and the distinctive personalities of its boroughs are well fleshed out and the conflicts and pride between them are spot on. I can’t help but love Bronca and Brooklyn and both the borough and the personal clashes they work through. I didn’t expect the twist in how they deal with the Woman in White and I look forward into opening the next book to see what happens.

Also I absolutely love the queer representation throughout the book and how it’s just another part of the city and its people.

The backstory is finally answered, for the most part, as to how the silos were created and why. There’s one question that nags at me, if the inciting event was truly done by the given enemy at the time or if it was friendly fire to give an excuse for it to happen.

I enjoyed the book, though it also serves as a reminder about what happens when a group of people think they know best.

James Herriott’s books were a favorite of mine and to get to read about the life of the man was a treasure. His son Jim does and excellent job putting together the stories that we didn’t get to read about that brought Alf to Yorkshire and later inspired him to write his books.

This was a fun world-building book. I loved watching the relationship develop between Flora/Florian and Evelyn, while dealing with the background of an empire of colonizers vs the natives and the world itself. I thought learning of why the mermaids are so important to the sea was a clever way to give them more agency than them just existing.

I did take off half a star because I felt there was a plot thread that wasn’t well resolved and that was the story of Xenobia. It felt incomplete. There’s events and stories told that could have led to her regaining some of what she lost. It’s possible we will see more of her in a future book.

I am thrilled to get to see queer representation and love in here, even if the dominant society does not approve. I thought the handling of genderqueer characters was done well for the setting.

For a heads up, there are references to an incident of sexual assault. However, this is definitely worth reading if you’re into queer romance, magic, action, and seeing some later justice in the world.

The Obelisk Gate defies what often happens in trilogies in that all of the characters must have major setbacks that could break them and things must seem very bleak. Essen does have some losses along the way, but she experiences so much growth in her abilities and herself that there’s a much more hopeful tone by the end.

We also finally dive into Nassun and her current situation. It’s better than expected but not without its risks. I do see a very good setup for a clash later because of some of the people from Essun’s past making a connection with Nassun. There’s also going to be a clash over methods, but there’s hopefully going to be a realization that they’re working towards the same goal. There’s so much character growth from Nassun as well, and we see Jija get his deserved fate.

I look forward to reading the next book.

Another great book, and I did not expect the reveal near the end. Jamesin has crafted another rich world much like she did with the Inheritance series. I am drawing parallels with who the Stills, Orogenes, and Guardians represent. I look forward to seeing further development of some of the other named groups in the next books.

Hollywood if it was run by fae, when queerness had to be kept secret, and it was hard as heck to make it if you were not white. It makes for a great story as we watch Luli Wei go from being a kid who loves movies to a teen who is an extra on set before taking her ambitions to the studio. Along the way she makes some friends, plenty of enemies, and she will start to learn a few things about herself.

There’s a lot to take in here, and the setting is rich for other stories in this world. It would not surprise me if Vo intended for this book and The Chosen and the Beautiful to take place in the same time. There are so many things about this version of Hollywood that get treated as normal but are strange that I would have liked more detail. Machines that are alive, similar fey experiences for writers? I want to see more!

I was happy to see positive queer representation, even if this is at a time when Hollywood and the world views queerness in a negative light. Luli has to be careful with her activities, but she’s never depicted as a monster for it.

I got this from my library but I’ll probably buy a copy because I’ll want to read it again.

Plot wise, this was one of King's better books. There was good pacing in building up to the climax and its resolution. It also had very realistic issues that some folks face in their lives and antagonists that reflect actual fears that other folks have.

One issue I did have is one of the antagonists having a name reference that is an ethnic slur. No one else in the True Knot had a similar degrading name and it's not the kind of word that was once considered to be okay but now it's not.

Setting that aside though, it was a good story on just what happened to Dan Torrance and also how trauma and later addiction can affect someone. Abra having a powerful shine was fun and one of the twists was something I did not expect.

Meh.

This is one of the few books where as it turns out, the movie was better. There's some action, and you get a bit of hearing about the neat equipment that gets to be used, but that's really it. The rest of the book is more the internal journey of someone who joined the military because his buddy and the hot girl from his school were joining, to getting through basic, and then deciding to make a career of it during the bug war.

One thing I did notice was as soon as Rico got over his hump, from then on out the government and military could do no wrong. In fact, that's what it seemed the system was set up to be, that if you wanted a right such as voting, you would need to buy into complete and utter loyalty to the government no matter what. The attitudes from the higher-ups to both soldiers and even to civilians seems to be “You're too stupid to understand this so just let us handle all the big thinking for you, okay?” That's where the book loses me, making the assumption that anyone not at a certain level in the system is just stupid.

I don't think I'll be reading this one again anytime soon.

This is one of the best follow up books I have read. As much as I wanted to keep reading as soon as I started, I made myself take it slow and it was needed. Storm of Locusts takes off running and doesn't stop until the end.

Just because Maggie had her showdown at Black Mesa doesn't mean things are over for her. A lot is going to change and not all for the better. I found myself at the first act just wanting Maggie to catch a break because she's going to deal with some terrible events. However, I was cheering for her and for Kai and the others as they finally get some resolution. There is also some real growth from Maggie here as she's brought further out of her past isolation.

There is one thread that seems to be unresolved at the end, and that's what the Cletus Goodacre had been doing in his life. There's a major hint he was into some not so great activities, but I suspect the known truth will come in a future book.

I have found myself wanting to learn more about the Diné gods and their stories because there's a character introduced that I think I would have clued in about his full nature before Maggie and Kai did. However, the journey to get to that realization was still worth taking.

Of course, Ma'ii is back and he's the same as ever. I know he knows more about the long game than he's letting on, but he'll reveal it when he feels like it.

Anyway, this is definitely worth a read especially because unlike some sequel to the first book in other series that I have read, this one did not feel like a slog.

This was kind of a miss for me. I enjoyed the Keep and I enjoy the Repairman Jack series but this one felt off. I think it was some of the pacing that did it. We had a lot of build up going on of events going on with Jim, Carol, and Bill, but then the third act of the book was just one event stacked up on another. It was almost as if Wilson realized he needed to get to the planned ending and had to tie a lot of threads together.

Maybe if I had read this after reading The Tomb and The Touch first I might have liked it better. However it does look like this was planned as a middle of the series book as the ending doesn't have a full resolution so I may try to give Reprisal a shot in the future.

This book is a decent continuation of the Monolith story but it feels incomplete. We learn more about Europa after a forced landing by Galaxy is caused by what appears to be a terrorist act but that gets wrapped up without much talk about potential motivations other than possible greed. Heywood Floyd is back and ends up going to be a part of the rescue as he happens to be on Galaxy's sister ship, the Universe. You get some bits about his life since 2010 and he reconnects with his grandson but that's about it. Not much else that I can really say other than it's a quick read but not a huge progression in the story.

This was always one I enjoyed. We finally get some developments regarding the monolith and why HAL seemed to break down in 2001.

This isn't my first time reading it but I learn something new every time. This time I noticed two of the characters are bisexual. The scene where it comes up is handled well in that it's not a big deal, other than said character being dense that a love triangle is beginning to form so the rest of the crew kind of wants to nip it in the bud before it becomes a problem. It would have been cool if it was a little more open, but hey, this was written in 82 when bisexuality just wasn't discussed as much.

Clarke comes up with some fantastic worlds here and the plot moves well, though it begins to drag for a bit when they accomplish one primary task and now want to investigate the floating monolith. Then again, it's reflecting what's going on at the ship, which is waiting and testing but no reaction from the object. Still, it is satisfying how it wraps up.

It's been years since I saw the movies but this was a great read.

This contained some very good lessons for each day of the challenge. I found it worked really well as a group reading as each of us had different ideas and insights from what we read. Food security was something I had not thought about in depth before but this helped bring that and some other issues to the forefront that perhaps can be worked on in my local community.

The Great Gatsby is one of those books that high schools like to make their students read but somehow I dodged that so I finally read it this year.

Frankly I found the characters pretty unlikable, especially Tom Buchanan. I recognize this takes place in the early 1920's but his racism and abusiveness is still jarring to read. I really wish he had gotten some sort of comeuppance at the end but he didn't.

Nick is so generic; we know barely anything about him other than he decided to go to NY to try his hand at selling bonds for an investment firm. He also is engaged and there's a bit about how he's trying to break it but we never get a resolution to that thread. He feels forgettable despite being the narrator.

Gatsby himself, he could have gotten what he wanted if he had been more subtle, but then again he was being almost as brutish as Tom towards Daisy, just in a more charming way.

I just didn't feel satisfied reading this story and if I were a teacher I'd probably refer to this book as “The Great Gatsby, or Terrible People Being Terrible.”

Summerhill was one of those books where once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. I got into learning about as much as I could about what Summerhill is and how his mission to “Stick with Katherine” takes him across several fantastic worlds and realities. The pacing is good and you're never left feeling like you need to slog past this part to get to the action again.

Despite the fact that Summerhill himself has an ability to make things work out, he manages to make some blunders along the way. In the end it does work out but it's like he decided in his journey to try to swim across a river fully clothed instead of a proper swimsuit. Maybe as an anthropomorphic canine he won't have as much of a problem as a human would. Still, he figures out a lot and it opens the door to a futher adventure. I would love to see how he takes on the Consortium in the future.

The thing to remember is that while Bladerunner is based on this story, it was used for setting and a few of the characters, but a number of the details and plot are loosely used or discarded. However, it is a very good story and it leaves you considering what is real, what isn't, and whether or not that is okay. Deckard and Rachel are about the same as their characters, same with Pris, though the final battle against Roy is not as climactic. We at least get a little more detail of why the world is the way it is, though you don't get the sense of a crowded place. It feels largely abandoned and there are good reasons for it. You do get more of a settled ending here but it also left open the possibility of further writing in this universe.

Now I understand what people are referring to when they say that this administration is trying to bring about The Handmaid's Tale. I feel for Offred as she now is unable to have her own life and she tries to push the boundaries wherever she can. The ending feels a bit abrupt and a little unsatisfying. She is talking about how she probably got a bit reckless because of some special treatment she was getting but all we know is she either got caught and removed, or was brought underground and maybe she escaped.

What is a bit more disturbing is the description of the events that led to the suspension of the US Constitution and the creation of Gilead. It feels a little too close to home right now as some are clearly itching for this catalyst to occur.

Devin is one of the most interesting characters that I have read in recent memory. He appears to be living the good life as the son of rich and well-connected parents, plus he is about to marry the most famous singer in the galaxy. However, from the beginning there are hints he has a darker past. At first it sounds like he got into the standard teenage rebellion but then it went way beyond anything he could handle. You will be reading to the end to find out just what really happened with him then and how it could have been a way to haunt him but instead he uses it to his advantage. I appreciate that his reveals and our discoveries about him were well-paced throughout the story.

Jane was a little slower to get going for me though there was a lot to establish with her. Yet when I expected a decision she made to turn into a damsel in distress situation later, thankfully that didn't happen.

There are lots of twists and turns throughout but they feel natural and it does keep you engaged, plus no character feels unnecessary here. Of course, with what has been revealed, there is a lot of places where it can go for the next book.