Tag: scifi

Book Review | Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Posted October 11, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

We are coming apart. We’re a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.

America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to feel the pain of others as her own, records everything she sees of this broken world in her journal.

Then, one terrible night, everything alters beyond recognition, and Lauren must make her voice heard for the sake of those she loves.

Soon, her vision becomes reality and her dreams of a better way to live gain the power to change humanity forever.

All that you touch,
You Change.
All that you Change,
Changes you.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge

The Reason

I’ve been wanting to read Octavia E. Butler and this was a buddy read!

The Quotes

“The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren’t any other kind and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful that glint of water was through the trees.”

“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.”

“Freedom is dangerous but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and pottage.”

“We’ll have to be very careful how we allow our needs to shape us.”

The Narrator(s)

Lynne Thigpen. No complaints, I enjoyed the narration.

My Thoughts

I am conflicted on what I think about this book. On the one hand, it was a really great story and so well-written. I’m also discovering that I love on-the-road stories. I also love that it was first published in 1993 but set in our current times. It’s so interesting to see what the author thought 2024 would look like, and frankly she wasn’t far off. I loved most of the story, I loved the characters, I love seeing how everyone and everything changed as they went, to the theme of the story. It was brilliant!

On the other hand, it went into preachy territory for me and I don’t like that. To be clear, I have no issues with the beliefs presented in the book, in fact, I agree with a lot of them. I also have no issues with religious and spiritual preaching being a part of the story for the purpose of the story, but I don’t like when it feels like the story was written for the purpose of the preaching, unless the story is upfront about it, that is. As it is, it feels like a bait and switch; promise me a good story but preach me a sermon instead.

As mentioned earlier, it is still a good story and I have to give it props, and to be fair, this book isn’t the worst offender for preachiness – it just barely straddles the line – but that makes me conflicted and I guess I don’t like it enough to overlook the preaching and continue with the next book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. It’s a good story and well-written.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Posted October 11, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve read this book before and loved it. And it’s a buddy read in my online bookclub so I thought it was a great time to reread!

The Quotes

“Acting all sanctimonious while spouting bad info was a terrible way to win a debate, but a great way to piss people off.”

“No good can come from a species at war with itself.”

“That’s such an incredibly organic bias, the idea that your squishy physical existence is some sort of pinnacle that all programs aspire to.”

“Do not judge other species by your own social norms”

The Narrator(s)

Patricia Rodriguez. She was great! I got really immersed in the book.

My Thoughts

I want to share my review from my first read of the book in February 2021:

You know what I love most about this book? The way the people in this world handled race relations. The whole time I was reading this book and watching how the different races interacted with each other, being respectful of their different customs and um…body parts, asking questions when they weren’t sure, educating each other about their respective cultures and beliefs so patiently… I was thinking, this is the way.

Of course there were also hostile people and races in the story; I’m not so naive and/or ethnocentric as to think that there wouldn’t be those who believe in violence/war as part of their culture, but the point is that there is something important to be learned from this book. In fact, there were so many profound things that could be learned from this book, on so many different levels.

I just finished reading a book where I did not connect to the characters at all, and this book is the total opposite. I loved ALL the characters. The whole crew of the Wayfarer was just… they are now my people. My feather family. And that says a lot (both about this book and the other) because we’re talking about a crew of not just humans, but also three other “alien” races, AND an AI. I loved how different they were, the dynamics between them, how they fought and got on each other’s nerves but also stood by each other and had each other’s backs, because at the end of the day, they were a family. I related to them so much, and I loved them all. I grieved when they grieved, I loved when they loved, and seriously, to have a family like this would be my privilege.

There are other books in the series, and of course I’m going to read them all, but from what I understand, they are standalones in the same universe. That’s fine. I’m looking forward to getting to know more interesting people in this universe. You can never have too much family.

Reading this book a second time. I feel the same way, and even more so. The thing I remembered most about the book was how great it was at portraying interpersonal relationships between people of different cultures, beliefs, and species. And I continue to love it this time around, but I also paid a little more attention to the conflicts that arose because of the differences in opinions, beliefs, and cultures. Not just between the characters on the Wayfarer, but between worlds and species in the galaxy as well. It won’t surprise anyone to know that wars happen when there is an inability to accept each other’s beliefs and cultures or to be respectful towards people who are different from you. And feather family happens when you choose to love and respect each other despite your differences.

I still love this book, more now than ever, and it continues to make an impression on me.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Posted September 13, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

“As far back as I can recall, I have been in the bunker.”

A young woman is kept in a cage underground with thirty-nine other females, guarded by armed men who never speak; her crimes unremembered… if indeed there were crimes.

The youngest of forty—a child with no name and no past—she survives for some purpose long forgotten in a world ravaged and wasted. In this reality where intimacy is forbidden—in the unrelenting sameness of the artificial days and nights—she knows nothing of books and time, of needs and feelings.

Then everything changes… and nothing changes.

A young woman who has never known men—a child who knows of no history before the bars and restraints—must now reinvent herself, piece by piece, in a place she has never been… and in the face of the most challenging and terrifying of unknowns: freedom.

The Reason

This was my online bookclub’s BOTM and one of the other bookclub members said it was really good so I got curious and excited!

The Quotes

“If you do something that is forbidden, it is the action that is the target. If you do something that isn’t forbidden, and they intervene, then it’s not the activity that’s attracting the attention, it is you yourself.”

“By remaining silent, they were creating a girl who didn’t know and who would regard them as the custodians of a treasure. Did they only keep me in ignorance so they could pretend they weren’t entirely powerless?”

“I understood that, alone and terrified, anger was my only weapon against the horror.”

“Sometimes, you can use what you know, but that’s not what counts most. I want to know everything there is to know. Not because it’s any use, but purely for the pleasure of knowing, and now I demand that you teach me everything you know, even if I’ll never be able to use it.”

My Thoughts

I loved this book! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to talk about what I loved most about it without giving away spoilers, but I’ll try.

This book is written without chapter breaks, and yet somehow it felt interesting enough that I kept reading, on print, without feeling bored or needed to take breaks. The lack of chapter breaks also corresponds to the story itself because the women’s imprisonment not being marked by any sort of time-keeping felt parallel to the story not being marked by chapters. There were also some other parallels to later parts of the story about not having markers. I loved that!

It’s a very thought-provoking read and I love that it had so much fodder for speculation and uncertainty. Definitely worth reading!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Posted August 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve read this book in print but people keep saying how good it is on audio and FOMO got me, so I signed up for Audible just to get the audiobook.

The Quotes

“Human beings have a remarkable ability to accept the abnormal and make it normal.”

“Fist my bump.”

“Grumpy. Angry. Stupid. How long since last sleep, question?”

“Good. Proud. I am scary space monster. You are leaky space blob.”

The Narrator(s)

Ray Porter. He has been praised so much as a narrator and I can certainly see what the fuss is about. He’s great!

My Thoughts

It hasn’t been that long since I read this book the first time, but I am blessed/cursed with a short-term memory when it comes to book details so I had forgotten a lot of what happens and how. I did remember some of the big details though, and as I was reading I kept looking forward to them, and was still very delighted to be reminded of how it all happens.

Since I’ve read this before I’ll also add my initial thoughts here for reference, written July 2021:

I loved this book so much! I loved The Martian, but this one completely surpasses it in so many ways. I feel like I cannot write a review that adequately describes my feelings right now. The Martian was a really smart book, and hilarious, and it appealed to me because of all the problems Mark Watney faced and the innovative solutions he came up with – and Andy Weir is also such a great writer in the way he makes it easy to understand all the science-y stuff.

But this book. This book has got all of that – the science-y stuff, the life-threatening problems, the innovative solutions, the humor… but it has also got feels! So much feels. ALL the feels! How do I even start?

The mystery he woke up with, the confusion of how everything worked, the loneliness, the excitement, the frustration, the friendship, the camaraderie, the anguish, the acceptance, the bittersweetness, the determination, the trust, the betrayal, the love, the fear, the choices… (no spoilers – it’s just how good the book is!)

I love this book so F**KING much!

My Feels

I will never not love Rocky and Ryland’s relationship. I love seeing how their relationship develops, how they learn from each other, how they communicate about cultural stuff, laugh with each other, respect each other.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. Of course 5 stars, and yes, the audiobook was such a great way to experience the book the second time around!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Posted April 8, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow, an astonishing literary debut, takes you on a journey to a distant planet and to the center of the human soul. It is the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a twenty-first-century scientific mission to a newly discovered extraterrestrial culture. Sandoz and his companions are prepared to endure isolation, hardship and death, but nothing can prepare them for the civilization they encounter, or for the tragic misunderstanding that brings the mission to a catastrophic end. Once considered a living saint, Sandoz returns alone to Earth physically and spiritually maimed, the mission’s sole survivor–only to be accused of heinous crimes and blamed for the mission’s failure.

In clean, effortless prose and with captivating flashes of wit, Russell creates memorable characters who navigate a world of exciting ideas and disturbing moral issues without ever losing their humanity or humor. Both heartbreaking and triumphant, and rich in literary pleasures great and small, The Sparrow is a powerful and haunting book. It is a magical novel, as literate as The Name of the Rose, as farsighted as The Handmaid’s Tale and as readable as The Thorn Birds.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #44: Includes a wedding)
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

It was the book chosen for my in-person book club for March. I don’t think I would have chosen to read it otherwise. At least not any time soon, but I’m glad it was chosen and I’m glad I read it, it gave me a lot of food for thought.

The Quotes

“I do what I do without hope of reward or fear of punishment. I do not require Heaven or Hell to bribe or scare me into acting decently.”

“…I begin with songs. They provide a sort of skeleton grammar for me to flesh out. Songs of longing for future tense, songs of regret for past tense, and songs of love for present tense.”

“I believe in God the way I believe in quarks. People whose business it is to know about quantum physics or religion tell me they have good reason to believe that quarks and God exist. And they tell me that if I wanted to devote my life to learning what they’ve learned, I’d find quarks and God just like they did.”

“See that’s where it falls apart for me!” Anne cried. “What sticks in my throat is that God gets the credit but never the blame. I just can’t swallow that kind of theological candy. Either God’s in charge or he’s not…”

My Thoughts

This was brilliantly written book, and so far ahead of its time. I had to remind myself constantly that it was written in 1996, because the story is set in 2019 to 2060, and a lot of the topics talked about seemed so relevant today. I love the deep dive into faith and belief, what it means to be human, and finding purpose and meaning in the things you do.

There were a lot of philosophical arguments that came into mind; the ethics of colonization, making contact with alien species, the food we eat and how we raise them, cultural practices that are different than ours, indoctrinated gender roles, our views on sex work, and so much more. My book club had a lot to discuss, and it was really interesting to see the different perspectives.

My Feels

We know from the beginning that Emilio is the sole survivor, so it’s not a spoiler, but then we start getting to know the other characters; we start to like them, to root for them, to fall in love with them, all the while knowing that they never make it back alive. There’s a pall of doom hanging over everything that happens, and even when you celebrate the triumphs, you know it’s going to end badly. And yet, it’s such a beautiful story and a beautiful journey. I have so many complex feelings about this book. It’s been a couple of weeks and I’m still processing. I think this story will stay with me for a while.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. It’s incredibly beautiful and haunting.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Posted March 5, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 4 Comments

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid–a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #36: Has futuristic technology)
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I’ve been seeing so many recommendations for the Murderbot Diaries everywhere, and always in conjunction with a few other books I’ve loved. Everyone who talks about it says how much they loved it, and it just got to a point where it seemed like everyone has read it except me. So I got on the bandwagon!

The Quotes

“I liked the imaginary people on the entertainment feed way more than I liked real ones, but you can’t have one without the other.”

“Yes, talk to Murderbot about its feelings. The idea was so painful I dropped to 97 percent efficiency. I’d rather climb back into Hostile One’s mouth.”

“You may have noticed that when I do manage to care, I’m a pessimist.”

“All right,” she said, and looked at me for what objectively I knew was 2.4 seconds and subjectively about twenty excruciating minutes.”

The Narrator

Kevin R. Free. He did a great job! No complaints there. My only issue with this being an audiobook is that I often don’t get the characters’ names, and/or location names, mission names, etc., but that’s a common issue with scifi and fantasy and made-up names. I heard the series was good on audio, so I’ll continue it on audio, but I might check out a print copy just to see the names written out.

The Characters

The Murderbot – I don’t think we ever find out its name, unless I missed it. But I love it! It may be a murderbot, but it’s one of the funniest, most relatable characters I’ve ever read about, and ironically, so humanly-flawed! I love it!

The other characters are interesting too, or rather, have the potential to be interesting. Their personalities are quite distinct, but we don’t find out a lot about them. Some readers have criticized this aspect of the book, saying that the characters fell flat, but to me, it seemed like a deliberate decision. We see the story through the Murderbot’s POV, and the Murderbot tells us repeatedly that it doesn’t care to know anything about the other characters. I thought it made perfect sense.

My Thoughts

I’ll be honest and say that half the time I had no idea what was going on in terms of plot. The beauty of this book is in the Murderbot’s thought processes, and again, the Murderbot admits it has no interest in information about the crew or their missions, or anything to do with why it’s there, and it certainly shows through how the story is told. I think that it’s just brilliantly written, how Martha Wells managed to write a story where we don’t get a lot of clear information, but we get to know the Murderbot, and how invested we can become in a story like that.

My Feels

I want more. I started the book knowing that it’s the first book in a series, and I think I might not like it as much if it stopped here because while I enjoyed getting to know the Murderbot, I feel like this book was just an introduction and I need to see its character develop and grow. So I’m looking forward to the next books!

My Rating

4/5 stars. I’m hooked, but I need more!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

Posted February 26, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 48 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

Most of these are books I’ve read, but there are a couple that I haven’t yet read – The Priory of the Orange Tree, and The Fox Wife. All the ones I’ve read are books I’ve loved, and I have high expectations for the two I haven’t read.

Top Ten Covers/Titles with Things Found In Nature

  1. Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher – This is probably the most recent book I’ve read out of this list. I love T. Kingfisher and I love fairytale retellings, this one is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story.
  2. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I have not read this one. I have been wanting to, but the size of it is daunting! One of these days, though!
  3. Grass by Sheri S. Tepper – This is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi stories. It’s been a while since I read it, so it’s probably time for a reread, but I remember being fascinated by the alien world, alien beings, and the incredible world-building.
  4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – A heist story, a group of people with different skills brought together, found family. How could I not love this?
  5. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black – Holly Black is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are so good, so simple, and yet so rich. This book is about the fae, the changeling, but told from a different POV.
  6. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – Some have said that this book is boring because it’s only about a man fishing, but for me, it’s thrilling because I used to go fishing with my father when I was young, and there’s nothing like the thrill of having a fish caught on the hook but not yet landed. This book describes that feeling so vividly and I love that it was able to put into words what I never could.
  7. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Neil Gaiman is another one of my favorite authors and I would read anything he writes. I read this book for the second time a couple of years ago, and it was so much better the second time around. It was much scarier, and more horrifying, and so wonderful.
  8. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel – This is an old book I haven’t revisited in a while. There have been some new books in the series since, but I haven’t read them. It’s probably time to reread from the beginning. All I can say is that I loved the story, and the wonderment of discovering things along with the characters.
  9. The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo – This is the newest book on this list, and that’s the only reason I haven’t read it. It was just released two weeks ago, and I’m impatiently waiting until I can read it! I’ve loved the author’s two other books, and I expect to love this one too!
  10. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi – This book is set during WW2, and it’s one of the most heartbreaking books I’ve read. I probably read it around 20 years ago and I’ve forgotten most of the details, but that feeling of heartache still lingers even after all these years.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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