Book reviews of new and old, local, national and international books. Anything goes.
The Rise of the Boe is is the second book in The Tinker and the Fold series by father and son team Evan and Scott Gordon. This scifi adventure is meant for middle school and young adult readers. There will be some spoilers in this review on the first book, so if you’re planning on…
Problem with Solaris 3 is the first book in The Tinker and the Fold series by Evan and Scott Gordon, a father and son duo. I was intrigued by the reviews from Kirkus and California Bookwatch, and even more curious when I discovered that Evan (the son) is only in middle school. Could we have another Christopher…
The Fireman is Joe Hill’s latest horror/scfi thriller where a deadly infection has set the world ablaze and toxic ashes fall day and night. It recently won the GoodRead’s Choice Awards for Best Horror (2016) and has excited fans with its similarities to Firestarter. Local readers will be excited to know that The Fireman is set in…
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, senior editor for The Atlantic, is an essay written to his son on growing up black, specifically on the subjugation and the preservation of ‘black bodies’. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2015), an ALA Alex Award (2016), the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction (2015), a Pulitzer…
Ignite Me is the conclusion to Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series, a young adult dystopian romance. If you haven’t read the series but plan to, skip to the review of the first book in the series because this review will contain major spoilers. Harper Collins | Kindle Edition | 2014 | 421 pp Shatter Me (Shatter…
Unravel Me is the second in Mafi’s Shatter Me series, a young adult dystopia filled with science fiction, paranormal powers, and bittersweet romance. This review will contain spoilers for the first book in the series in case you have this one still on your to-read list. Harper Collins | Kindle Edition | 2013 | 480…
Since it was first published in 1965, The Magus by John Fowles has long been considered a literary masterpiece and one of the first true psychological suspense thrillers. Beset with literary eroticism and a labyrinthine plot that changes with each page, this tome feels like a black and white version of The Matrix. Do you take…
Shatter Me is the first in the Shatter Me trilogy, a series that was incredibly popular a few years back. It’s still fairly popular among the teen fantasy lit readers. There are plenty of similar series out there, but I’ve had this particular one on the radar for a long time due to the number…
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory is the memoir and critical analysis of modern death customs by first-time author Caitlin Doughty. After witnessing a tragic accident that involved a young child, Caitlin developed an obsession with the macabre which evolved into a passion for dark history and a little bit of death. Her…
The City of Mirrors concludes The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin, an epic saga on the struggle for mankind, humanity, and a fight against extinction. In the futuristic landscape of a barren world, the remaining survivors of a pandemic that unleashed lab-engineered vampires into North America fight to stay alive by killing the source. The main story line…