Women Shall Inherit the Earth
ANNIHILATION (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff Vandermeer
Women have long held an important place in the Sci-Fi genre. Since Mary Shelly created a living corpse, women have dominated despite what critics would have you believe. It is still a rare treasure to find a Sci-Fi novel that not only has a Female MC, but an all Female ensemble! And another shocker about ANNIHILATION by Jeff Vandermeer is that the Female characters are actually written well. Believable even, which is a surprise coming from a Male author.
Dinosaurs are Corporate Greed’s Lovechild
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
WARNING: Book contains graphic imagery of violent dinosaurs attacks.
Nothing fascinates a five year old quite like dinosaurs and no franchise in history has cornered the market on these bird/reptile beings quite like Jurassic Park . I’m sure there are very few people in the world today who haven’t seen Spielberg’s 1993 movie masterpiece Jurassic Park. When I was a kid that theme song was fire (honestly it still is). I’m normally not one who would watch a film before reading the book. However Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton did come out when I was attending kindergarten, so I’m going to cut myself some slack.
Bees, You Don’t Know Earth’s Crazy Pollinators
The Bees by Laline Paull
I used to think I knew what bees were about. Little buzzy insects whose life purpose is to gather pollen, make honey, and protect their queen who keeps pumping out replacement bees. While all of this is true, I had no idea the socio-implications that brew under the surface of every bee hive. The Bees by Laline Paull does a fantastic job of bringing you into the world of bees and for the first time you see just what the world is actually like for them.
When The Third Policeman Tells You About a Bicycle
The Third Policeman: A Novel by Flann O’Brien
There are books that exist to confuse and bemuse and I find it a treat whenever I encounter just such a book. The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien was not at all what I had expected and I mean that in a good way…I think.
F/K/A USA by Reed King
***Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review***
There was a time that I was really into Dystopian Novels. They presented a “world after” that could be either horrifying, struggling, or uplifting in the face of change. (Most were horrifying). I can understand that and find the entertainment/learning value in novels that represent all that is bad about our world eventually destroying it. What makes F/K/A USA by Reed King different from these is that it adds a touch of humor and, for lack of a better way to describe it, a sense of the humanity the characters are striving to save.
February BoTM & Gallifrey One Haul (Book Mail #4)
It is such a cliche to say that it’s been a rough two weeks, but for me it has been a rough two weeks.
Two weeks ago I attended the Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One in Los Angeles and if you are a Doctor Who fan and have never been to this amazing experience I would suggest re-evaluating your priorities and try to attend next year. It truly is the place to be for all American fans of the beloved BBC show.
Following that terrific weekend I was put out with a hard case of Con Crud (the cold that proceeds a non-stop nerd convention). To be honest I am still not completely over it, coughs linger. This is the main reason that the last two weeks have been rough, that and other personal reasons that I won’t go into here.
The point I am trying to make is that during this two week time period I have acquired a stack of books and I now have the energy to post and share them with you.
Warden’s Will: The Will and the Way (Tyranny Cycle Book #1) by Heath Pfaff, narrated by Amy Landon
***Thank you goes directly to Amy Landon, the narrator of the audio book, for an ARC to review the book and her performance***
WARNING: Book contains violent imagery and death.
I was honored and excited when Amy Landon agreed to have me review her audio book performance for Warden’s Will by Heath Pfaff. It was a first for me and I of course jumped at the chance. I’ll admit I was skeptical at first mainly due to my realization that I am not fond of audio books that are fiction. The ones I have listened to prove to me that it is hard for a narrator to know exactly what the author set out to do in terms of voice and making the characters sound a certain way, making most of my experiences disappointing. It probably didn’t help that the two fantasy novels I listened to before this was from the Mortal Instruments series and I doubt I would have liked those books in any format.
But I digress.
January Book of the Month! (Book mail #3)
It was at the end of the Month of December that I finally decided that I was going to join a book subscription service, just to see what I would get out of it besides a pile of books. This was of course before the Marie Kondo “30 books” controversy, but I don’t think I’ll let this get too out of hand…I hope.
The premise of Book of the Month is, each month they give you a selection of books and each month you get 1 credit towards any of the books you want. You then can add on additional books either from the current month’s selection or from previous months. They then pack those beauties in a box and ship them to you! It’s like my dream service to be honest.
One of the best things though is that they give you a selection of books that are about to be released. It’s like you get dibs on books before everyone else (though I think the difference in receiving them is roughly a couple of days).
I had been going to their website for a while, but never was quite ready to take that next step and sign up for the service. That changed in January when I had to announce my GoodReads reading goal and decided in order to meet and potentially surpass that goal, I needed many books to choose from. (This is a straight up excuse, I have unread books currently on my shelf, just waiting for me).
The Skylark’s Song (The Skylark Saga #1) by J.M. Frey
**A HUGE shout out and thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**
I am so thankful for this book, truly. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever read, but it did something for me that I will be forever thankful for. It pulled me out of a most dreadful reading rut; specifically when it came to reading young adult fantasy. I can’t deny that the last few fantasy books I’ve read have not been anything but less than stellar and that has been so heartbreaking for me. I want my fellow authors to succeed, but as a reader I want unbelievably good content as well. While it has its flaws, The Skylark’s Song by J.M. Frey was the hero I needed.
August Sipsby Box Reveal!
Another month has come and gone and with it a new Sipsby box has arrived on my doorstep. Now I know that I am tragically behind in tasting/pairing these teas off, but I can’t help but be overjoyed at adding even more teas to my collection. Though this month will tragically only add 3 versus the standard 4 due to a recall that the great people at Sipsby were kind enough to inform me of. Despite that I will however still list the entirety of the box for fun.
