#wierdandwonderfulwednesday

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Buy a kingdom (that happens to be magical) for a million dollars, oops, find out that you have to fight a demon lord to the death. Whoops.

And, that’s just the start of this hilariously awesome, sorta mysterious, and most definitely Terry Brooks novel.

Landover has problems, a dragon in the countryside who’s destroying it. Barons who don’t actually want a king, ooh, and a witch who has said she will destroy everything in Landover. So, ya know, the usual.

I thought it was a really fun read, although, a small warning, in this first book there isn’t a whole lot of female/woman representation in the book. Still, if you enjoy the more classic fantasy genre, this hits all the high notes for sure.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg, or The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold by Terry Brooks

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Jeff had me at anthropologist. Heh…

In all seriousness the book follows four women, said anthropologist, a biologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. They are on an expedition to Area X, an island that cannot be mapped properly, and that people just don’t seem to understand. They’re the 12th mission to be sent there. Will they succeed where the other eleven haven’t?

The world building was amazing in this one, about as amazing as how depressing and intense the reasons for the 11 other failed missions. Yeesh, from cancer to mass suicide to the first mission that actually revealed a landscape that was so very Eden like.

So, not only do they have to ‘do science’ about Area X, but, also not be changed or die because of the place. Not as easy as one would think. And, it’s not just Area X that has secrets and mysteries.

Between the awesome characters, and the world that was built by VanderMeer. This book kept me reading (wayy past when I should have put it down too), and kept me guessing. An intensely fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Wilder Girls by Rory Power, We Have Always Been Hereby Lena Nguyen, or A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

This prequel to the Chronos Files series (which I haven’t yet read) takes place in the 1960s, but, the two main characters are time travelers. Madi Grace from the year 2136, and Chronos agent Tyson Reyes from 2304.

In 1965 Tyson realizes that a weird time shift has happened, and, history is no longer what it should be. Madi too, goes back to her timeline and realizes that millions of lives have been erased, but, most people don’t realize what has changed.

So, which one of them broke the timeline (or neither?), and, can they actually fix it so that it is what it’s supposed to be?

I mean, time travel books hurt my brain. Always have, always will, but, it’s a good hurt? Sometimes a fun hurt? This one was very Jeremy Bearimy, or Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, or one of the other very descriptive ways to describe time travel. Madi is the ancestor of one of the characters in the rest of the Chronos Files series, and so, I didn’t feel like I was too lost (other than in the obvious ways). And, of course, now I have a whole new series that I can dive into as well. Brain, who needs a non time travel induced mooshy brain.

You may like this book If you Liked: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas, or Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

Now, Then, and Everywhen by Rysa Walker

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

I don’t think that I’ve ever read anything by Vandana Singh, so, I thought I’d give her a try with this collection of stories.

These are all speculative fiction stories, and they're also very rooted in India, not surprising since Singh is one of the most well known Indian female sci-fi/fantasy/speculative fiction writers. There was a little bit of sci-fi, a bit of real math and science, and a lot of fantasy. They were grand and personal at the same time too, which was really cool.

It was a great read, and I was able to fit it in around other books since they were all shorter stories. Plus, I mean, c’mon, that title!

The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories by Vandana Singh

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

Yep, I seem to be going for some… “light” reading this week. This one is about a stuffed tiger that’s really a robotic nanny (the built the nanny to resemble a tiger on purpose, it’s not some reanimated something), oh, and a little bitty robotic rebellion. Robots vs. their owners.

Pounce is the robot’s name, and, Pounce is eight year old Ezra’s nanny. So, as the revolution gets closer and closer to Pounce, Ezra, and their family, what will Pounce choose to do, after all, once Ezra is old enough, he won’t need a Nanny anymore either…

It was a really delightful combination of a lot of things. It was funny at times, dark at other times, and, of course, apocalyptic at times too. And it definitely made me think too.

I also will admit that I don’t think that I’ve read Sea of Rust, which is by the same author and set in the same universe as this book, so, all the world building in this was just amazing, and the characters were just so much fun too. Also, you can’t go wrong with a stuffed tiger. Hobbes, is that you??

You may like this book If you Liked: Borne by Jeff VanderMeer, Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, or Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen

Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill

[nevinslibrary]

Weird & Wonderful Wednesday

So many dystopian novels definitely focus on a ‘chosen one’, or the main character has this one on one battle for all of humanity, by his or herself. I thought that this book was slightly less like that. Which was nice.

Still, it does start with Carson. He’s a high school principal, or he was. But, then the electrical grid goes down, the global economy has gone kablooey (technical term?).

He’s on the east coast, and goes west to find his love, Beatrix. On the way meeting all sorts and then some. Meanwhile, Beatrix and her neighbors make a start at building a new community for themselves.

It was really really hopeful for a dystopian novel, and, I guess it would probably be called dystopian romance maybe? Which, okay, typing that and saying it in my head doesn’t quite make sense, but, there was definitely romance as well as other types of connections and just an author seeing that maybe if there was a humongous catastrophe, we wouldn’t necessarily go to our worst selves. A fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Lark Ascending Silas House, or Strange Labour by Robert G. Penner

The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele