Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Finally! A book that I loved. (My reading slump continues and wasn't helped by the fact that prior to this one, I quit on a book that I had read 50%. Ugghhh. I'm so frustrated!) But...I couldn't put Project Hail Mary down. If you enjoyed The Martian, then you will want to read Weir's latest.

The main character wakes up, after what seems to be a very long sleep, and is alone. He soon realizes he's on a spaceship. Why is he here? What is he supposed to be doing? Why is he alone? And...what is his name?

Weir is so creative in his ideas about survival in what seems to be an unsurvivable situation--much like The Martian. The main character has a unique and entertaining voice, although different than The Martian. I really love how he uses his characters to tell the story -- even though they are alone and most of the "dialog" is just their thoughts. It is unique, and I can't get enough. 

I don't want to say any more about what happens. It's wonderful -- it will get you thinking. And you won't believe what he comes up with this time! My husband is reading it now, and I can't wait to discuss it with him. Project Hail Mary is highly recommended.

Published by Ballentine, May 4, 2021
eARC obtained from NetGalley
496 pages

Rating: 5/5

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Book Review: Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus

Bent Heavens is a strangely weird, macabre science fiction story. I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

Liv's father, Lee, has been missing for a couple of years after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens and returned. The reader is taken back to find out what happened after the abduction and before he disappeared.

Lee became obsessed with protecting his loved ones from aliens. He spent all his time in the shed on the back of the property making elaborate traps to catch them and weapons to defend against them. Liv and a good friend, Doug, were in on Lee's plans. Ever since Lee has disappeared, Liv and Doug go out to the woods behind her house to check the traps every Sunday. Liv just believes her father was mentally ill, but Doug believes in the aliens and takes their preparations very seriously.

Everything changes in a hurry when Liv finds an alien stuck in one of the traps.

Sooooo, I had a hard time believing what these teens did after they found the alien. I couldn't believe the lack of compassion. And that lack is what led me to figure out the twist almost immediately. The story got so gory that I had to skim those sections.

There was a big climactic event at the end, and I also had difficulty believing that Liv would do what she did. That's all I'm going to say.

A pretty gruesome, depressing story that is well written, with well-developed characters and settings. It was just the story that I couldn't get into. So, science fiction fans may enjoy Bent Heavens a lot. There's nothing wrong with the execution. I just could buy it (and really didn't want to.)

Published by Henry Holt & Co. BYR, February 25, 2020
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
304 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review: Nyxia Unleashed by Scott Reintgen @Scott_Thought

Nyxia Unleashed is an exciting continuation of the story began in Nyxia (click here and read my review of the original if you don't want any spoilers.)

Emmett and the others are now on the planet trying to make nice with the Adamites and do their job -- mining Nyxia -- so they can go home. But all is not as it seems.

There are a lot of surprises. They make some discoveries about Babel's true intentions, which are devastating.  They've been lied to (saw that one coming, did you?) over an over again.

And, the Adamites have secrets of their own which will change everything for these kids. Almost nothing we learned from the first book (about the Adamites or Babel) is true.

While these secrets are startling and game-changing, I didn't feel the tension -- the nonstop fight for survival -- that I did in Nyxia.  Although be prepared, because Reintgen isn't afraid to kill off characters. The plot is clever, the character growth is well done, and I definitely want the third book.  Nyxia Unleashed is more about revelations than ultimate peril. But that is okay.

If you've read Nyxia, I highly recommend you continue with Nyxia Unleashed.  If not, those fans of interplanetary science fiction should begin with Nyxia.

Published by Crown BFYR, July 17, 2018
eARC obtained from NetGalley
400 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

I've completed another classic novel using my Serial Reader, and this time it was The War of the Worlds. This novel holds up surprisingly well for something that was written in the 1800s.

Most of you know the premise, I'm sure.  Martians land on earth and begin the wanton destruction of England. The first person narrator is unnamed, but he's a writer and a philosopher.  So he gives a "factual" narration of what happened to him and his brother, who was in a different part of England.

You can feel the mounting tension and at times panic of the narrator and those he encounters.  The story is brutal and doesn't pull any punches. The descriptions of the Martians and their fighting machines are vivid and many artists have attempted to depict scenes from The War of the Worlds.

As with most classic novels, the descriptions are at times a bit wordy, although I probably would have gotten more out of them if I were more familiar with that area of England. The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest science fictions works, and if you are a fan of the genre, you should not miss it.

Published by William Heinemann, 1898 (published in serial form in 1897)
eBook obtained from Serial Reader
287 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Last Chance, by Gregg Hurwitz

For teens who can't get enough of books with non-stop action, Last Chance will be sure to please.

 Last Chance is the sequel to The Rains, so you may want to read that review first.  There may be spoilers ahead...

We pick up where we left off in The Rains. Chance, Patrick, and Alex are trying to survive while trying to save the world.  It is one ordeal for them after another.

I feel pretty much the same about Last Chance as I did The Rains. Here's what I said: For the young adult intended audience, The Rains is a non-stop thriller.  For a somewhat jaded adult reader like myself, it was just kind of "more of the same."

Last Chance is just one near-death, thrilling escape after another.  It does keep you turning pages, but for me, there was a bit too much of that and not enough plot movement.  The teens just get way too many lucky breaks. When the plot does move, it's a good one with more unexpected twists and turns than The Rains, which is why I actually liked Last Chance better.

I like the premise, the apocalyptic tension, and Horowitz gives pretty good explanations, reasons, and solutions for the situation. I thought the "bullying" aspects were also overdone.  How many times did Ben and his gang attack one of the main characters?  (Too many...)

Hurwitz isn't afraid to kill off characters -- in horribly gruesome ways. So be warned. No one is safe.

There is a not-entirely-happy but hopeful resolution. This series (a duology!) is a good one for reluctant readers who love action and can handle the gore.  They should start with The Rains first.

Published by Tor Teen, October 17, 2017
ARC obtained from the publisher
384 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Hunt, by Megan Shepherd @megan_shepherd

The Hunt is even more exciting than the first book, The Cage.

The characters are all separated in different parts of the colony serving the Kindred in different ways. Cora, Lucky, and Mali are part of a safari attraction where the Kindred come to hunt. They take care of the wild animals and Cora also entertains the guests. Cassian is secretly training Cora to compete in an event called The Gauntlet where, if she survives, she can prove that humans are an intelligent species and they will all be freed.

Things don't go smoothly, of course. I enjoyed The Hunt because we get several different areas in which all of our characters are in danger in different ways. The tension mounts for each of them, and in the end they all come together to try to escape from their captors.

If there's any complaint about The Hunt it would be the characterizations. We get a few different POVs, but besides Cora, I didn't really feel like we got to know the others any better. Well, maybe Leon. All of them contributed, and because of the different settings maybe it was just difficult to connect. This is a very minor complaint though.

The ending is definitely an "out of the frying pan..." situation. There is a pretty brutal cliff hanger, so beware. I'm desperately wanting more....

You will want to read The Cage first, but this is a worthwhile series that I'm going to be recommending to my dystopian/adventure lovers. And I have a lot of those.

Published by Balzer + Bray, May 24, 2016
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Armada by Ernest Cline

Cline has captured the science fiction fan in me again with Armada.

Zach loves to play video games. In particular, Armada, a flight simulation game where aliens are invading the earth. He's become very good at the game, and is ranked sixth among all players.

Everything changes when Zach sees a flying saucer out the school window. He believes he is going crazy. He's starting to think like his deceased father, who left notebooks about how he believed aliens ARE coming to earth to destroy us and that video games and science fiction stories are being created to prepare humans for the attack.

The following day, an aircraft, right out of Armada, comes to Zach's school to recruit him to be in the Earth Defense Alliance, a secret army that has designed video games to ferret out people who can actually pilot the drones that must defend the earth from a very real threat from an alien life form.

Comparisons to Ender's Game are inevitable and correct. But Armada strands on its own as well. Also, comparisons to Ready Player One must be considered. There are just as many references to cultural icons, although not necessarily from the 80s, and most of them are science fiction related.

I won't say too much more about the plot. Zach and his friends are thrown into the fire, and their daunting task turns out to be pretty exciting. Suspension of disbelief is necessary, but given the premise that's expected. I did think the beginning took a while to get exciting -- LOTS of technical talks about gaming that at times had me skimming.

While I didn't like Armada as much as Ready Player One, I would still recommend it to fans of the genre. The tension builds nicely, and the ending is satisfying. The characters are a bit thin, but the action is what's important.

Published by Crown, July 14, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review: The Cage by Megan Shepherd @megan_shepherd

I really enjoyed Megan Shepherd's The Cage for its unique premise and variant characterizations.

Cora wakes up in a strange place--a place where the land changes from desert to ocean to mountains very quickly. She discovers a boy, Lucky, and they explore together and find a bizarre, primitive town. And three other teens in the same situation.

It doesn't matter where they explore, they always end up back where they started. There are puzzles to solve in each store and they are awarded tokens that allow them to buy things. When the music starts playing in the diner, food appears.

They are visited by a strange humanoid person, who is most definitely not human. They are given three rules. They must solve the puzzles. They must stay healthy by eating, sleeping, and participating in health assessments. And...they must procreate. For the third rule, they are given 21 days to comply.

The reader feels the confusion of these teens. You want to scream, "Why??" right along with them. The characters all react very differently to this new situation. Some are more easily accepting and try to be happy. Some continue to explore and withdraw from the group. Most of them have secrets. But Cora simply cannot accept her fate and will do anything to find a way to escape, even when she has no idea what is outside their enclosure or how she will get back to Earth.

Cora eventually establishes a relationship with one of her captors. He tries to convince her that she has it pretty good compared to other humans in captivity. She tries to convince him that she can never be happy in this situation.

The beginning is a bit slow, and for a while I felt we were spinning our wheels. But about halfway through, things begin to move and get very interesting.

The ending leaves very little resolved as far as the big picture. But there are some stunning revelations that made me very anxious for the next installment.

The Cage has a bit of a sci-fi vibe, but there's not too much technical information to really make it hard science fiction. It has been compared to The Maze Runner, and I can relate to that comparison, but The Cage is unique enough and adds some additional elements. The Cage is mostly a tale of survival, and it takes everything they have because they are up against seemingly insurmountable odds.  I think a lot of teens are going to love this one.

Published by Balzer + Bray, May 26, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
400 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: The Replaced by Kimberly Derting

I was kind of mixed about The Taking, but I liked it enough to give The Replaced a chance. Turns out my feelings about this series are still pretty much the same.

We pick up right where we left off, with Kyra hiding out at the refugee camp for the Returned. Once again, all Kyra can think of is finding her beloved Tyler, no matter what the risks. When the leader of the camp decides they should go to a secret NSA building where he thinks they are holding Tyler, Kyra is ready.

Things don't go as planned, and the group ends up on the run unable to return. They head for a very different camp for the Returned. They are mostly treated as prisoners and no one trusts anyone. Turns out maybe that's a good idea. There are a few revelations and a huge cliffhanger that made the ending exciting, but I found myself skimming through the middle.

I just can't get a hold of any of these characters. I'm sorry, but Kyra is a snot. I just wish she'd do some growing up. Her attitude just doesn't mesh with the gravity of their situation. Pretty much the same complaints that I had about The Taking. 

The premise is interesting, the prose is easy, and there is a nice build up of tension at the end. But I don't like the characters and the changing attitudes towards each other. I can't understand the relationships, especially when you add in the leaders of this new camp. Even with the cliffhanger, I think this may be the end of this series for me.

However, if you enjoyed The Taking, you will most likely enjoy The Replaced.

Published by HarperTeen, April 28, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages

Rating: 2.5/5

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