Hi friends,
This month seemed to fly by, and we all enjoyed our first fall since moving back to Colorado. I got some good reading in, including another two Wheel of Time books, two new Sanderson novellas, and the classic sci fi epic Dune. As always, let me know what you think about these books and if you have suggestions for further reading.
Happy Halloween!
Tonya
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, but you have to read the other Skyward books first
Review: I have read most of Sanderson’s books, and I’ve really enjoyed this YA sci fi series and the world that he’s created, so I wasn’t at all sad to hear that he had teamed up with a YA author to expand the Skyward universe even more. The first two Skyward books were all told from the first person point-of-view (POV) of Spensa, our main protagonist, but in the second -- and apparently in the upcoming third -- Spensa leaves her home and her flight team to go on a new adventure. Sanderson said that he considered telling the third book from multiple points of view so that we would know what’s going on with Skyward flight while Spensa was elsewhere, but in the end decided to bring in his good friend and YA fantasy author, Patterson to co-write three novellas from the POV of the other members of Skyward flight and a new alien friend. This one follows FM, who, to be honest, I didn’t even remember from the first book. I had to look her up on the wiki and read a few chapter summaries to remember her. I liked learning more about FM and experiencing the Skyward universe from another POV. Despite this installment being mostly written by a new author, I didn’t notice a lot of differences in tone and voice. I remember reading some of the action sequences and thinking that they read just like the ones from the first two books. I enjoyed the subplots focusing on our favorite slug animal companions as well. The only thing that felt a little non-Sanderson was the romance plotline, but that’s a minor nitpick, and I thought it fit the more YA feeling of the novella. The majority of Sanderson’s work is Adult fantasy, so his YA feels a little more adult in general, but my understanding is that Patterson is mainly a YA author, so that could explain the difference. All in all, I’m enjoying the extra novella approach and hope that Sanderson can include spin-offs like this in this other series too.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes! If you’ve read the rest of the series
Review: This is the second of three novellas that Sanderson and Patterson wrote in the Skyward universe surrounding the events that happen in the upcoming third Skyward book. This one focuses on a fairly new character, the UrDail alien, Alanik. I really enjoyed getting to explore and learn more about Alanik’s people and see a new world. The concept of a people living on giant trees in the atmosphere of a gas giant was neat! To be honest, I found Alanik’s character a little jarring. She came off as kind of radical, and while her actions were justified in the end, I’m always wary of characters who think they’re right and everyone else is wrong -- and people too. The action sequences were pretty cool, and it was fun to learn more about the cytonic abilities and the slugs, who I think win the title for my favorite animal companion in any story ever. I was kind of surprised by the ending and looking forward to the third Skyward installment and third novella, both due out in less than a month!
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, for those who have dedicated a significant portion of their lives to this world
Review: A lot of fans say that this installment is part of the “slog,” referring to Wheel of Time books 8-10, which advance the plot at a glacial pace and seem to be nothing but excessive detail of people frowning at each other, smoothing their clothing, and scheming. I thought it was actually pretty good, and at least it ended with a bang! Seriously, so cool. Before that, we had to endure Rand being dumb, dumb, dumb AGAIN for his entire plot line. At least Mat returned in this book, and while his plot also moved at a sluggish pace, his POV is always a pleasure to read. Egwene was notable absent from this one, and Elayne’s plot revolved around her STILL scheming to claim and scheming about how to get laid by you know who. (No, not that You Know Who from the Harry Potter universe. Just trying to keep it relatively spoiler free.) Yeah, the Wheel of Time sounds weird out of context.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: see above
Review: This was the worst Wheel of Time installment so far. It took 60% of the book just to bring everyone up-to-date at what happened at the end of the last book! I am so frustrated with Perrin’s plotline. I feel like he peaked in book 4 and since then, Jordan has just sent him on pointless side journeys. I’m super sick of the Shaido Aiel plotline, and the never-ending chase after Faile and her captors. Maybe he can go back to being awesome again after he finally catches her, literally 3 books after she was taken captive. Rand isn’t in this book very much at all, and we get more of Elayne being handled delicately due to her newly impregnated state. There was literally no action in this one, and the book ends on a cliffhanger right when the action was about to start! At least Mat’s plotline is entertaining as he tries to court his prophesied wife-to-be, which for a classic rogue and ladies man proves to be more difficult than anticipated. I’ve heard good things about some of these obnoxious plotlines finally getting resolved in the next book. I’m definitely committed at this point, so I’ll keep reading even though this one was a struggle to get through.
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: if you’re into classic sci fi, or modern sci fi, and want to understand the origins of the genre
Review: There were things that I really liked and things that I didn’t like about this book, which I confess I read in advance of the movie adaptation coming out. I can understand why it’s a classic and can definitely see its influence in other scifi books that I’ve read. Everything from Star Wars to Avatar and Red Rising have echoes and borrow tropes from Dune. I really liked how immersive the world was. I felt like I was on Arrakis, surrounded by dunes and endless sand. I also really liked the sand worms and the Fremen’s use of desert power. (Side note: this is what I’m most excited for in Dune Part 2 the movie adaptation. Seeing that on the big screen is going to be amazing!) Herbert also knows how to write excellent political scheming and action scenes. Things I didn’t like: some of the spice-induced vision sequences were just a bit too weird for my taste, especially the ceremony with Lady Jessica and her fetal daughter. Maybe some of them just went over my head because I wasn’t paying attention, but I had trouble following some of the longer ones. This is a problem that might be solved if I ever decide to read it again. I also didn’t like the arrangement he reached at the end with the emperor’s daughter and Chandi. I feel like she got the short end of that stick, and I wanted to see her be more of a protagonist instead of just a love interest. By the way, Herbert does almost nothing to develop that relationship. Boop! They meet, and Bop! They’re in love. I don’t think writing romances was one of his skills. I can’t complain too much about lack of strong female characters though, because Lady Jessice is the bomb. She was honestly my favorite character. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue on with the series. My understanding is that it doesn’t end well. Since one of Herbert’s major themes is that power corrupts and eventually Paul has ALL the power, I guess this makes sense.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: if you’re interested in popular science books and political activism
Review: I can’t really decide how I feel about this book. It’s a unique combination of popular science and antiracism. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is the first black female particle physicist to receive tenure at a university, among other notable firsts. This book explores her fascination and love for particle physics and cosmology beautifully. The first third of the book is a wonderful explanation of the cosmos. I loved learning about how gravity isn’t real! I think I’d read this elsewhere, but it hit me a little different this time. As she says, “Gravity is not a force but rather an artefact of a curved spacetime. Matter causes spacetime to bend around it, and we experience this bending of spacetime as a force, gravity.” Which is pretty mind-blowing. The remainder of the book is pretty heavy -- gravity puns aside -- and she talks a lot about how science, and physics in particular, isn’t immune from the racism, sexism, etc. that pervade our society. She says that scientists just claim objectivity and deny that these things influence their work. I highly recommend that anyone involved in or thinking of pursuing a career in science read this book and think about how this affects them and how they can act to help change things. Considering the many diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in workplaces everywhere, I thought this insight was interesting, “It is destructive and dehumanizing to work in a community that values diversity for the “sake of science,” but doesn’t value equal opportunity for the sake of respecting other people’s fundamental humanity. The implication is that it would be fine to treat people like me badly if we aren’t providing valuable intellectual capital.” Something to keep in mind no matter what field you work in when working on these issues.
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, a great Young Adult/ Adult fantasy boarding school novel, but have to read the first one before
Review: This is the second book in a trilogy, and true to form for all second installments, the ending is a cliffhanger, and now I have to wait a year -- more?! -- for the next book to come out! Regardless, I liked this book a lot and don’t regret reading it even with so much time to wait for the resolution. Happily, it was much better than the original, which suffered from long info-dump sections to help bring the reader up to speed on the nightmarish magical school world that Novik created. Think Harry Potter but with more monsters and no grandfatherly-type teachers looking out for you. I really liked El’s character arc over this book. It was really well-developed and cool to see her grow from focusing solely on her survival to becoming the hero she always accused Orion of being. I do wish we could have seen more of Orion in this book. His character felt kind of flat, to be honest, and while I understand there are limits on how much the author can pack into one book, I think that his character could benefit from some more page time. The action was great, the plot moved quickly, and it was fun to see the whole school come together and break down some of the classist rules and norms. Highly recommend. |
| Our neighbors let us come and pick some apples from their trees. In Maryland, we would go to a pick-you-own orchard every year, so we were glad we were able to continue the tradition here in Colorado. |
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| We drove up to the Estes Park Elk Fest, and it was incredibly disappointing. We saw 0 elk. All we heard was people imitating elk calls. The drive was still beautiful, and I would visit again in the fall, just not for the Elk Fest. |
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| We went to a fall festival with our cousins, and the kids had fun playing in the corn. |
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| Maya has a great sense of style. |
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| Chloe always gets excited when she gets to present the calendar in school and talk about the weather. This is also the only picture I got of her in her Halloween costume because to be honest, I really don't care about Halloween. |
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| The girls had fun playing in the leaves in our backyard. |
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| This is also one of the only pictures I got of Maya in her costume. She was pretty cute. We basically did Halloween all weekend with a school party on Friday, a church party on Saturday, and trick-or-treating on Sunday. We have way too much candy. |
