#41 [2025/CBR17] In Ascension by Martin MacInnes

President Obama and I don't always have the same taste in literature, but I still anticipate his list of favorite books of the year more than any other list out there (although NPR's list is a close second). I only heard of and read In Ascension (2023) by Martin MacInnes because of Obama, and now that I've read it, I'm not quite sure what to think. It is definitely like nothing I've ever read before, and it was sometimes very moving. However, it could also be a bit of a slog, and there were a number of points where I was just confused. In Ascension sometimes felt unfocused to me. However, it could also feel deeply emotional. Even thinking back on this book now makes me feel sad. Spoilers follow.

Leigh grew up in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Her mother was distant and her father was turbulent and violent towards her. Leigh did what she could to protect her little sister from him. She used the water and swimming as a way to get away from her home and her father. And once she was old enough, she stayed away--going to school as soon as she could. Leigh got a degree in marine biology and was researching all over the world. She was lucky enough to get onboard a boat that was sent to explore a newly discovered trench in the ocean. The trench was deeper than had ever been known before. The Captain of the boat and a man who had become a mentor to Leigh swam into the trench and disappeared, right before they were supposed to turn back.

After the boat expedition, Leigh was invited to work in Southern California on a very secret project that involved space travel. Leigh was working on growing plankton that could be eaten and grown in space for long-distance space travel. At some point, she is made the backup to the backup space mission and begins training. Because of the distance, the secrecy of the mission, and the demands of Leigh's work, Leigh is not able to go home. So, even as her mother loses her memories and her sister gets more frustrated, Leigh distances herself farther.

After named as the backup to the backup, it was inevitable that Leigh and her two partners would end up going to space. The three of them leave Earth, using borrowed technology that they don't understand to go farther and faster than human beings ever have before. At first things go well, but then their bodies start to fall apart, and it is a slow decline.

The end of the book suddenly and unexpectedly switches perspectives to Leigh's younger sister, Helena. Helena is trying to find out what has happened to her sister. The spaceship lost contact and Helena was informed that her sister was dead. But she knows nothing else. Many years later Helena is able to visit the island where Leigh was supposed to have returned, and she finds the building that had been set up for the astronauts to quarantine.

The final scene of the book is a bit of a mystery. Leigh splashes back down on Earth. She is the only one alive. She kicks open her space capsule and there is only water. She saw on the way down that the entire Earth is covered in water. My guess on what happened here, is that Leigh was traveling faster than the speed of light, which does something with time. She comes back to Earth after many decades or centuries to discover what havoc climate change has wrought.

Perhaps the theme of this book is a frustrating lack of closure on any story line. Whether it's Leigh's family, the Captain of the boat at the trench, or even what happened at the end--it all feels very open ended. Perhaps this lack of closure more closely resembles real life even if it's not what we expect in literature, and maybe that's why I can't forget about it. Although this book was a bit of a struggle at times, and I sometimes wished MacInnes would explain things a little more, I'm glad I read it.

#25 [2025/CBR17] Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

CBR17Bingo - "Recommended" because this book was recommended to my by my friend.

Most of my book club is composed of a bunch of lawyers. However, there is one, lonely electrical engineer among us who is constantly recommending science-fiction novels that are met with a varying amount of acceptance. She has recommended a number of Hugo-award-winning novels to me that I have intensely disliked, so I don't completely trust her judgment. So, when she loaned me another science-fiction book to read and said she didn't care when she got it back, I put it on my shelf for a number of years and forgot about it.

Then came the day when I needed a book to read, and my library books were all on hold. In my desperation, I turned to the rejects on my bookshelf. And there it was, Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) by Ted Chiang. This book contains eight short stories. Chiang seems to be a very well-respected writer of science-fiction. On the whole, these stories were unique and interesting, although some of them were a more painful plod than others. I tended to lose interest in the stories that focused more on religion, but that's just my preference. 

Below is a short blurb about each story in the order they appeared. The starred stories were my favorite.

"Tower of Babylon" - This story explains the building of the Tower of Babylon. Just bringing bricks up to the highest level takes months. People live up there, while they work, growing plants where they can. The sun is especially intense near the top. When they reach the top, they bring a team to drill through to heaven. They are flooded with water and end up back on the ground. It turns out Heaven and Earth were much closer than they had thought. It's like a cylinder with drawings imprinted on it rolled onto the Earth. They might appear far apart if you only look at the impressions from the cylinder on the ground. But they're right next to each other on the actual cylinder. 

*"Understand" - The main character is a subject of an experimental drug that helps him recover from a coma after a near-drowning incident. His brain had been pretty much destroyed, but the drug makes him smarter than he was before. And he keeps taking it, and then he goes rogue and steals another dose. He's smarter than ever, and then he runs into Reynolds, someone else from the program. Their brains are beyond powerful, but they have different ideals and eventually seek to destroy each other. Interesting.

"Division by Zero" - Carl and Renee are an older couple. Renee is a mathematical genius and she discovers a theorem that disproves the very building blocks of Math that are the cornerstone of Renee's entire life. It ruins math for her completely. Her husband realizes that he doesn't love Renee anymore, and it's a similar realization for him. I thought this one was okay, but it wasn't my favorite.

*"Story of Your Life" - I did not know that this eponymous story was the basis for the movie, Arrival. I have not seen Arrival, but I did think this story was good. There is a linguist, and she is brought in by the army to try to communicate with aliens who have appeared in locations around the Earth. In the process, she learns a new language and a new way to think, which allows her to know what is going to happen in the future. ***SPOILER*** She learns that she will have a daughter who will die young, and she has to decide if she wants to have her daughter knowing what's going to happen. This was one of my favorite stories. The details of learning to communicate with the aliens as well as the emotional punch of her discovery was very well done.

"Seventy-Two Letters" - You can create a kind of living automaton with certain combinations of letters. One scientist wanted to create beings that were able to create others. This was seen as a huge threat to the people who already created the automatons. This story was not my favorite. It felt very long and religious-y

"The Evolution of Human Science" - This entire short story is written as an article in Nature magazine. Apparently there are metahumans (something like AI, I think). These metahumans make all the advancements in the world while humans are left just trying to understand it. I found this one short and interesting. I liked that it was written as a magazine article, and it may hit a little too close to home.

"Hell is the Absence of God" - This story also felt very long and religious-y. We are in a world where angels come to Earth, sometimes (accidentally?) bringing death and destruction with them. Surviving these experiences means something and some people chase this experience trying to change their lives. Not my favorite.

*"Liking What You See: A Documentary" - This was one of my favorite stories. The story is written from a bunch of different perspectives. Science has come up with a thing where you can alter your brain so that you are not aware of beauty. It affects the way you see faces, and makes everyone look kind of bland. In this context a college is trying to decide whether they should require and/or encourage everyone on campus to undergo the procedure. This issue is pretty controversial, and the story consists of the many different opinions and perspectives on the matter. There are students who grew up with it, who both like it and dislike it. There are people who want looks to not matter so much. There are the advertisers who desperately need people to see beauty in order to sell their products, and many more. 

This story probably gave me the most to think about. First, this wouldn't realistically work unless it affected our views of bodies as well. Of course beautiful faces are important, but people definitely look at the whole body when determining beauty and attraction. Second, it's fascinating to imagine a world where people were not treated differently based on their looks. Finally, it was both interesting and realistic to see how the competing interests handled this proposal at the college. Inevitably money got involved and people were paid to endorse certain points of view. I think this was my favorite story, and I'm glad the book ended with this one.

#25 [2024/CBR16] Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

I'm slowly working my way through the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I think Fugitive Telemetry (2021) is the fourth or fifth Murderbot novella that I've read. Even though science-fiction is not my favorite genre, I've definitely enjoyed reading these books. They are funny, creative and exciting. The Murderbot is both impressive and relatable, and my science-fiction, loving friend is so happy that I continue to read these. On the other hand, I have a hard time remembering the details in these books, and especially keeping the different novellas straight. Granted, I read Fugitive Telemetry many months ago at this point, but I have already forgotten most of the details of the people involved and the plot.

So after a quick google search, I refreshed my recollection for a quick summary. The Murderbot is on Preservation when it discovers a dead body. It is par for the course that security on Preservation do not trust Murderbot, but in the end Dr. Mensa encourages them to work together to discover what is going on. 

Murderbot uses its tools and tricks to link the body back to a ship, and they learn more details from there. It is fun to see how reluctant Murderbot is to work with others and to see others come to trust and rely on him. In the end, the murdered man was helping refugees from a slave-like planet escape to their freedom. Now the refugees are in danger, and Murderbot uses its considerable skill to find them and go after them--even when the very sight of the Murderbot is terrifying to them. 

The themes of loneliness and not fitting in continue to be strong in this novella. The Murderbot is still a fun and engaging narrator. I enjoyed reading this book, and I'm pretty sure I will move on to the first full-length Murderbot book, The Network Effect, at some point next year.

#46 [2022/CBR14] Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

My friend used to get (pre-Covid) backstage passes to an author series at the local university. Before the presentation in the auditorium, we got to meet with the author backstage. And there was even wine and appetizers! We always got a chance to talk with the author and get a signed book. It's really very cool and not something I would be able to get tickets to by myself. Anyway, maybe the first one I went to with her was with Anthony Doerr when he talked about All the Light You Cannot See. We'd read the book for book club, and it was very exciting to meet a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. I remember Doerr being interesting and friendly and his talk was excellent. So when I saw he had a new book out--even though the title was weird and the description didn't immediately grab me--I knew I would read it eventually. That is how I found myself reading Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021).

Cloud Cuckoo Land has a number of stories, all connected by a book--the story of Aethon who wants to be turned into a bird so he can fly to a paradise in the sky. Anna lives in Constantinople in the mid-1400's, stuck in a sewing commune with her sister. She longs for more and eventually learns how to read, but the siege of Constantinople is right around the corner.

Omeir lives in the same time period as Anna, and he was born with a cleft lip. Superstitions almost killed the newborn and his family was driven from the village, but he grew up with his loving grandfather, mother, and sisters and he always had a gift with animals. He is only a young teenager when he and the family's pair of oxen are conscripted to join the massive army marching toward Constantinople.

Zeno is 80 years old on February 20, 2020 when he is practicing a performance of the ancient story of Aethon with some children at the public library. Throughout the book we learn about Zeno's childhood, years spent in the war, and the people he's loved. But at this point he's an old man sharing his love of this story with the neighborhood children.

Seymour is only seventeen and is possibly autistic(?). He's been drawn into some dark depths of the internet and has brought a bomb and a gun into the library on the evening of February 20, 2020. 

Finally, Constance lives sometime in the future on a spaceship that is headed away from Earth and towards a new planet that is still hundreds of years away. She has her adoring parents and an unlimited, interactive library stored in the ship's computer. But when people start getting sick, her life changes dramatically.

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure all the storylines would interest me, but Doerr does such a good job with his characters that I was drawn into each person's life and really felt like I understood them. I love the idea that a book can bring hope to people in such different circumstances, and I love the idea that a book could last so long. This is a very complex book with many connections and intertwined themes. I don't know how Doerr manages to create things like this. Recommended.

***SPOILERS***

The characters do all connect in some way. Anna finds the remnants of the story of Aethon in an old library in Constantinople and smuggles it out of the city. Many years later, after she dies, her husband Omeir brings it to a city of learning where it is protected. Zeno is a homosexual in a time when it is still very difficult to be out. He loves a man he met in a prisoner of war camp who teaches him how to translate the ancient languages. Zeno translates what he can of the story of Aethon and prints out his own small book, which he gives to the children at the library when they are working on the play.

Seymour goes to jail for his actions at the library. But when he gets out, he begins to work for a computer company that maps the entire world. It is his job to censor anything that they don't want seen, which includes: protests, death, ugliness, etc. He does his job, but instead of whitewashing everything, he puts little keys into the program, so that someone after him could see more than is allowed.

When Constance finds herself as the only person left alive on the ship, she becomes obsessed with that computer program and discovers the little keys that allow her to see "the real world." Also, her father has told her the story of Aethon, and when she is by herself she tries to remember it, so she has something to hold onto. Because Constance can eventually see where the spaceship launched, she gets suspicious. Eventually she tricks the main computer and breaks out of the spaceship to discover that they'd been living in something more like a biodome than a spaceship. They'd never left Earth. We eventually discover that one of the children in the library was the grandparent of Constance's father, and that's how he knew the story of Aethon. 

Nitpicks: I only had a couple problems with believability at the very end of this novel. First, I could not imagine that a child with almost no air left would be able to break through the walls of a "spaceship." Unfortunately, she would run out of air and die. Second, police would not let someone run out of a building during a hostage situation without stopping him. At the very least, a number of police officers would have died in that situation.

***END SPOILERS***

#25 [2022/CBR14] Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition (2018) by Martha Wells is the second novella in her "Murderbot" series. I read the first book, All Systems Red when my science-fiction-loving friend made me--by choosing it for book club. She will be thrilled to learn that I voluntarily read Artificial Condition, and I'm now planning on reading the third. 

The "murderbot," or Sec-unit, is a robot with some amount of organic parts. The bot is incredibly smart, powerful, and expensive. Sec-units are usually rented out for various security jobs, and they are controlled with governors that keep them from going rogue. Well, the Murderbot was able to hack its governor and is now an independent thinker. Even though it generally follows company guidelines, it likes to spend whatever free time it can find watching television dramas.

In the first novella, the Sec-unit has more interaction with humans than it's ever had before. The humans find out that his governor is hacked but don't tell anyone, and they buy him when everything is done. The Murderbot appreciated its freedom but wanted to strike out on its own to figure things out. Also, Murderbot has some vague memories of a previous job where something happened and the Murderbot slaughtered all the humans around. Murderbot thinks it could have been hacked but wants to figure it out. In Artificial Condition, Murderbot heads back to the mining planet where the massacre happened.

Murderbot is able to sneak on an empty cargo transport by promising the transport (ART) media to watch, but ART is usually a research lab, and ART is much smarter than Murderbot expected. ART helps Murderbot get to the mining installation, helps Murderbot look more like an augmented human than a Sec-unit, and assists him throughout the book.

In order to gain access, Murderbot needs a work order, so on ART's suggestion, it takes a security job for some humans who had been cheated and are trying to get their research back. Murderbot sees immediately that the humans are walking into a trap, but they're not ready to listen and Murderbot needs to get over there. While helping the humans, Murderbot is able to get to the scene of the massacre that it can barely remember. There are still a lot of questions, but it's a start.

I enjoyed this novella, and I'm enjoying this series. Wells left a number of unanswered questions, and I'm eager to find out what will happen. I liked the interaction between Murderbot and ART, Murderbot's discovery that it can make decisions for itself, and Murderbot's interaction with humans. My only nitpick is that I sometimes felt that the Murderbot and ART are too invincible. They can do almost anything and control almost anything with little to no effort. It's fun to read but sometimes I wonder how that could actually work in the real world of the book.

"I didn't care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn't have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it." (9)

"So they made us smarter. The anxiety and depression were side effects." (20)

"Sometimes people do things to you that you can't do anything about. You just have to survive it and go on." (103)

"If the humans were dead, who would make the media?" (132)

#9 [2022/CBR14] All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

A friend from my book club is constantly recommending science-fiction novels that I strongly dislike. It's not that I hate science fiction, but it's not my go-to genre, and she has honestly picked some very bad books. So when she recommended All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (2017) by Martha Wells, I began it with more than a little trepidation.

All Systems Red is a novella about a "Secunit," basically a robot with some organic parts that is built and rented out to be used for security. The Secunit at the center of this story has hacked its governor, so it's able to think and make decisions for itself. The first decision it made as a free Secunit was to watch as many hours on the entertainment feed as it could get away with.

Currently, the Secunit is working on a remote planet with a small research group. It had been an uneventful job until they are attacked by a monster that claws through the earth. Suddenly, the Secunit is using all of his knowledge and ingenuity to keep himself and the group alive. 

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. Because I was listening to it on audiobook, I had a difficult time with the names of the humans at first. I'm very visual, and when I don't know how to spell something, I have a hard time remembering it. So, until I actually took a look at the Kindle version of the book, most of the human characters just ran together.

What made this book fun was the character of the Secunit, who calls himself Murderbot. He is funny and relatable, but also powerful and resourceful. Although he is treated like a commodity, he seems to have deep feelings. He's uncomfortable with intimacy, though, because he's always stayed away from people. He comes to like the research group and their leader, Dr. Mensah, and goes out of his way to protect them. However, he is not developed enough to have real relationships. Wells does a great job with Murderbot's personality and development. She is subtle with Murderbot's uncertainty and yearning for more, which makes it feel even more relatable.

I'm sure my friend will be happy that I finally liked one of her recommendations. In fact, I liked it so much that I plan on reading the next book in the series. This time, though, I'm reading it on my Kindle, so I get the full reading experience.

#39 [2021/CBR13] Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I'm not a big reader of science fiction, but when I stumbled on The Martian by Andy Weir about six years ago I was more than pleasantly surprised. I loved that book. So, when I eagerly picked up his second book, Artemis, I was disappointed. Thus it was with some trepidation that I started reading Project Hail Mary (2021)--Weir's latest novel set in space. Fortunately, I'm putting Project Hail Mary firmly in second place. It's not nearly as good as The Martian, but it's much better than Artemis. 

Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship. There are two long-dead people on the beds next to him. He doesn't know where he is, why he is there, or what's happened to the others. Ryland slowly regains his memory in short flashbacks as he explores the ship and figures out what he needs to do. He discovers that he is on a desperate mission to save the Earth. There is a tiny organism that is eating up the energy of the sun. In a surprisingly short time, the Earth will be too cold for crops and there will be mass starvation, death, and upheaval. Their only chance is to travel millions of miles away to the one star that seems unaffected by the organism. If they can figure out what is saving that star, maybe they can use it to save their own star.

I liked this book. I found it interesting, and it kept me reading. Like The Martian, Ryland is faced with a number of obstacles that he has to "science" his way out of. I liked reading the science and the problem-solving that comes with it. I also enjoyed reading the flashbacks and found the discovery of the organism and the subsequent planning of Project Hail Mary absorbing. It was a way to introduce other people into the story. Finally, I did not anticipate where this book was going or where it ended up. I appreciate that it took me a little by surprise.

Unfortunately, I did feel that many of the characters felt a little flat. Ryland is another form of Mark Watney, but not quite as likable, and I did not feel much of a connection to any of the characters on Earth. I didn't understand their motivations, and I didn't really care when something happened to them. I also found a number of things in Project Hail Mary to be unbelievable,* which sometimes took me out of the story. On the whole, though, I found it entertaining and memorable. 

I also just read that Ryan Gosling might star in the upcoming movie. I hope they do a good job with it because I'm going to be watching it.

*Things I found unbelievable (SPOILERS): 

Ryland kept mentioning how buff he was in the beginning of the book, even though he'd been lying in bed in a coma for over three years. Apparently the computer medic had stimulated his muscles with electricity while he was asleep. I call bullshit. If this were a possibility, everyone would be using it because only masochists really like working out.

In addition, everything with Ryland's new alien friend was a little too easy. It was more than convenient that Rocky could create anything he wanted with ease--and he had the materials for it in his ship. This included: an airtight tunnel to connect the two ships; a ten-kilometers long, unbreakable chain where he had already brought all the raw materials needed from his own ship; and an entirely new habitat in Ryland's own spacecraft. These were necessary for the plot, but they took me out of the story a little bit.

Things being too easy with Rocky also included learning each other's languages. I liked the discussion of how they initially communicated, but they were fluent in each other's languages almost immediately. Learning languages is incredibly complicated and that's here on Earth! When you have someone with nothing but different experiences than you, that would be reflected in the words/sounds. It would have taken a lot longer and been much more rudimentary.

The courtroom scene drove me crazy! I assumed that the science is somewhat believable because I don't know much about science, but I am a lawyer. I've seen a number of trials and I know the Rules of Civil Procedure. Nothing about that courtroom scene made sense. The woman in charge of Project Hail Mary would not have shown up, by herself, in person. Her lawyers would have filed for a Motion to Dismiss long before trial. Jury selection is a long process that involves the judge and both sides. How could they already have a jury when the judge had not yet interacted with the Defendant? The paper she waves around apparently gives her immunity from criminal prosecution. But even if that paper was valid, this was a civil matter where it wouldn't apply. Finally, why would companies care if one copy of their book was sent to space in order to save Earth? Is the whole point that publishing companies are pure evil? Drove me crazy!

Finally, Ryland Grace feels like a made-up hero name.

#28 [2016/CBR8] "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer

Yeah, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've read all four Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. I was curious what all the fuss was about--both positive and negative--and they were easy to read. The Host (2008), on the other hand, was a selection by my book club. It wasn't something I would have chosen to read on my own, but I was also curious to see Meyer's take on science fiction. ***Beware of spoilers ahead. I believe that anyone who was actually interested in this book must have read it ages ago.***

The human bodies on Earth have been overcome by alien parasites. They call themselves "souls" as they infiltrate their hosts' brains and bodies. The souls take on the life and habits of their hosts, and the only sign that the humans are not humans anymore is a silvery shine in their eyes when in direct light. Souls are much more cooperative than individualist humans, and once they've taken over, there is no violence, poverty, or hunger. Everyone works for the good of the community and everyone has a place. Defected bodies and minds are either fixed (with unrealistic--even by alien standards--technology) or discarded.

Melanie Stryder is one of the few real humans left on Earth. She and her little brother, Jamie, were on their own before they ran into Jared while breaking into a house for supplies. Jared is, of course, Melanie's true love, even though he is in his twenties and she is seventeen (if I'm remembering correctly). Things are going relatively great for the trio until Melanie sees her cousin on television and decides she has to travel across the country in order to try to find her. What!?! I allowed the coincidence of Jared and Melanie happening to break into the same house at the same time in order for their meet cute, which is ridiculous if you think about it for more than one second. But Melanie is a fugitive, living out in the woods and scavenging for food. How often is she hanging out watching television? And her cousin is hiding on the other side of the country. What is she doing running around in front of news cameras?

However unrealistic, Meyer needed a reason for Melanie to leave Jamie and Jared, so that she can be captured by the souls. But when the aliens insert a new "soul" into Melanie, Melanie is strong and knowledgeable enough to not lose herself entirely. Wanderer, a soul whose lived in a number of drastically different bodies and worlds, without finding a place where she wants to stay, is the new soul in Melanie. And although Wanderer controls Melanie's body, she quickly discovers that Melanie is not gone from her mind. Melanie is able to convince Wanderer through her memories and force of will to look for an enclave of humans out in the desert, where she knows Jamie and Jared were heading.

So, Melanie/Wanderer make it out there, but the humans, not understanding that a part of Melanie has survived are not particularly friendly. Some of them want to kill her and some want to experiment on her. And some are just really angry and beat her up. Eventually, Ian, one of the gang who tried to kill her at first, decides that he likes her. And so begins one of the weirdest love triangles/squares in literature. Melanie loves Jared. Wanderer loves Jared because of Melanie's memories. Melanie cannot stand Jared and Wanderer getting close. Jared is kind of attracted to Wanderer because she's nice and looks like his old girlfriend. Ian begins to love Wanderer. Wanderer cannot fully love Ian because of Melanie's memories, but she does like him. Melanie does not like Ian.

There were a couple of things I liked about this book. First, it was an interesting idea to do an invasion of the body snatcher story from the point of view of the body snatcher. Meyer brought up the idea that two souls would have a human child and love it so much that they would keep it human. I also appreciated how the "souls" justified their occupation and murder of an entire species through their cooperative and enlightened living. In many ways, humans and the Earth were better off with the souls, but you can't ignore what it cost to get them there.

On the other hand, there were many things that irritated me while reading this book:

-When Jared first runs into Melanie at the house he kisses her, a stranger, with no warning. It was a little creepy for a hero.

-Speaking of creepy, Meyer seems to have a thing for sticking her heroines with older guys. So, Jared is a little older than Melanie, which probably isn't that big of a deal in the scheme of things when you're the only two humans left on Earth and you're trying to survive. But Meyer emphasizes the age difference, and Jared makes sure he waits until Melanie is eighteen before they have sex. Then, when Wanderer comes back (spoiler), she is sixteen and the first thing she thinks is that she'll have to lie to Ian about her age, so they can have sex right away. Ewww. Why can't Meyer just make her heroines a little older? What made this even squickier is that Meyer's descriptions always focus on how small Wanderer is, like she's describing a child--how Wanderer's hand disappears inside of Ian's.

-Wanderer is an incredibly frustrating character whose primary/only traits are fear and selflessness. She spends a large portion of the book cowering and being attacked. She never does anything to defend herself and only acts heroically when she is protecting Jared or Jamie. A number of male characters in the book beat her, and she immediately forgives them and/or tries to protect them. Even in the end, her final decision is that she should just die. It's the humans who create the happy ending for her. She never goes after anything for herself.

-The male characters in this book have an amazing urge and capacity for running along dark tunnels carrying women in their arms. (I'm very glad they did not try to replicate these scenes in the movie).

Okay, that's all I can come up with right now. I did read this book quickly, wanting to figure out how this narrative could possibly resolve itself, and there were those couple of things I found interesting. On the whole, however, (and I'm not sure if it's just because I read it so long ago) I think I prefer Twilight.

#44 [2015/CBR7] "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen

My book club gets me to read a number of books I would have never read otherwise, and One Second After (2009) by William Forstchen is one of them. On the one hand, this book is a bestseller, with 4.5 stars on Amazon and over five thousand reviews! That's a good sign. On the other hand, this book begins with a foreword by Newt Gingrich. Eww, please don't mix my fiction with politics, especially politicians I don't particularly like.

One Second After is a post-apocalyptic tale set primarily in the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. The country is attacked by an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), which can occur when a nuclear weapon is set off a couple hundred miles above the ground. In this novel, the EMP disables anything with a computer chip, knocking out the electrical grid, radios, phones, and even most cars. In one second and with no warning, the entire country is set back hundreds of years.

It's an interesting premise, and despite Newt Gingrich, I started the book optimistically. Thirty pages in, I e-mailed one of my book club friends, despairing that I had another three hundred pages to go. The writing was painfully bad, and Forstchen took every opportunity to snidely push his political agenda while living out his own personal fantasy. The author is a history professor at a small college in North Carolina and father to one daughter. John Matherson, our protagonist, is a retired colonel turned history professor at a small college in North Carolina. His wife has recently died and he cares for his two teenage daughters. His daughters act like they are straight out of a Nick at Nite show.

Fortunately, once the EMP went off, the book picked up a little bit. Unfortunately, Forstchen focused his story on exactly what I found the least interesting. Instead of day-to-day survival, Matherson becomes something of a de facto leader for the town, and they dig into the business of who is allowed to stay in town, restrictions on food, dealing with the dying, and protecting their town from roving bands of criminals. I was much more interested in how Matherson's family was getting food. About two thirds into the book, Matherson finally mentions that he's been hunting for food, but he's so busy running around town, I have a hard time believing it. There are a lot of fascinating survival and ethical issues that come up when a society is trying to continue with scarce resources and outside threats. Unfortunately, Forstchen is very inconsistent in his world view and it's hard to take anything away from it.

I did not like John Matherson. Although he is written as the unabashed hero, he is an arrogant asshole. He smokes (personal pet peeve), orders people around, and ignores his own rules. Everyone has to give up their vehicles for the good of the town, but Matherson--the big man he is--says the Sheriff will take his car over his dead body. The first full day of the EMP, he charges into the Mayor's office, ordering her around and demanding breakfast. SPOILERS His sixteen-year-old daughter falls in love with a neighbor boy. Instead of teaching her about safe sex, he refuses to talk to her about it. When she winds up pregnant, Forstchen acts like Matherson is some kind of hero for forgiving her. Also, it was almost creepy to read a book where I imagined the author as the protagonist, writing a story where his daughter becomes pregnant at sixteen, her boyfriend tragically dead from a huge battle, so his daughter and her new child live indefinitely with him. Also, John Matherson meets a sexy nurse on the road into town at the time of the EMP. It was not romantic. "It's an insult if you check her out, an insult if you don't." (76) [Um, no. It's creepy if you're an asshole who does not respect boundaries.] Fortunately the sexy nurse liked that Matherson was checking her out.

I feel like I'm having a hard time conveying just how irritated this book made me. In addition to the many typos and the general tone, here are some specific instances that had me shaking my head. I had to return the book from the library, so some of these quotes may be paraphrased.

-"the old-boy network, though disdained as politically incorrect, did exist, and it did help at times when needed." (18) Yes, the whole point of the old-boy network is that they help other people also in that network. Thank you for explaining that that to me. I'm not sure I'd call it politically incorrect but an example of how those not in the old-boys network are often working at a disadvantage.

-"a woman with a gun--the most dangerous thing." (54) Really? Right after you tell a story about how you were shooting warning shots with a rifle at a bunch of armed hoodlums when you were a drunk college student. That's some responsible gun ownership right there.

-"global warming--though a lot say it wasn't a threat" (67) How is this even relevant?

-"all those peace loving liberal arts colleges are dying because they don't have the weapons to protect themselves." Nice try, Forstchen. Try reading World War Z, where the Claremont Colleges totally kicked some zombie ass.

It's frustrating because it could have been good.

#23 [2015/CBR7] "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner

The Maze Runner (2010) by James Dashner sounded kind of interesting at first. Mysterious mazes and unexplained girls showing up--both curious and exciting. But then I read a couple of reviews and decided it wasn't worth reading. That decision held until my book club picked The Maze Runner for our next book. I could have easily skipped the reading. We usually spend more time catching up than talking about the book anyway, but my conscience wouldn't let me slack off.

I should preface this review with the fact that I came into it with a bad attitude. I'd already heard it wasn't a good book and was only reading it because I was being forced into it. For what it's worth, most members of my book club liked it. I think the mystery and excitement distracted them from the writing, although one of my friends said it was much worse when she went back to read it a second time.

Spoilers ahead--just in case. So, Thomas wakes up in an elevator that takes him up to a mysterious glade with about fifty teenage boys. He remembers almost nothing about his life before the maze. The boys are surrounded by huge walls that open during the day, leading out into a giant maze. Thomas quickly becomes acquainted with the run of the place. The boys are sent supplies once a week, a new boy is sent every month, the weather is always perfect, and the boys have split up into different work groups, including: farming, slaughtering, building, etc. to keep up their survival. One of these groups is called Runners. The runners go out into the maze every day to record changes in it and try to find a way out.

The boys' lives in this maze world has been pretty predictable for the last two years, but after Thomas arrives, things begin to change. The next day a girl arrives! And then she promptly faints and falls into a coma. But then the supplies stop coming and the sun turns off. When the walls don't close and the monsters in the maze start coming in the night to take and kill one boy per night, the urgency to find a way out increases.

I had a number of problems with this book, but my main issues boil down to the lack of characters' development or motivation, and the lack of--or confusing--world building. We don't know anything about Thomas except that he is very smart, the loss of his memory is weird, and almost all of his actions are either motivated by nothing or weird thoughts pushing him in that direction. He feels like he should be a runner because it feels familiar. He thinks he should tell the others what he knows, but he doesn't.

It might have been interesting to see how 25 boys thrown into such an odd situation manage to turn their world into such an orderly and productive place (which I thought was kind of unrealistic). But we never see how this maze society was built, It felt lazy to not give the readers some background or explanation.

In addition, Theresa's character and her relationship to Thomas have no substance. She shows up, mumbles some words and faints. Thomas likes her because she's beautiful, she seems familiar, and they can talk to each other psychically. They don't get to know each other, they are simply immediately attached.

Finally, this book makes no sense. I have not, and will not be reading the rest of the books in this series. It is possible some of my questions are resolved in later books, but we did touch on the later books in book club, and it didn't shed any light on what the hell was going on. Where exactly is this miles-long maze? Thomas rode up in an elevator for a half hour before coming out. Someone has control of the climate and the entire sky. Was a maze at least 25 miles in diameter built in the sky? Is the rest of the world living underground? The monsters in the maze made no sense to me, part rolling slug, and part metal arms with needles and saws. They can climb walls but apparently can't climb the walls that would get them into the glade at night. What is the point of the grievers and the "antidote" besides the vague "it was part of the test?" Apparently this incredible "experiment" was done to test the boys and see how their brains were different. Isn't there an easier way to test brains than to build this whole, ridiculous thing?

#17 [2015/CBR7] "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.

Doesn't that sound fascinating? I'm not a huge science-fiction reader, but that premise sucked me in like you wouldn't believe. I guess I like survival stories. The Martian by Andy Weir was published back in 2011, but I hadn't heard anything about it until recently. Now I think they're even making it into a movie with Matt Damon.

The hype and the promising blurb did not disappoint. I was immediately sucked into this story and couldn't stop reading. According to the back cover of the book, the author "is a lifelong space nerd and devoted hobbyist of subjects like relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight." And it shows. Weir has found the perfect balance between believable scientific details of living on Mars with a suspenseful survival story. Watney is an admirable character: smart, funny, and a man of great ingenuity and optimism. I enjoyed reading about him and wanted him to succeed.

I went into this book knowing very little about its structure or what was going to happen, and I think that was a good thing. So, if you haven't read The Martian yet but want to, then I'd recommend that you stop reading my review right now and go read the book. If not, then be warned that there are spoilers ahead.

There are a lot of details when it comes to keeping Mark Watney alive, so Weir did not have a lot of time to develop other characters in the book, but he does a remarkable and creative job with the space he uses. Watney's team on the ship heading back to Earth are introduced primarily through a short letter Watney sends to them. In addition, the prominent players at NASA are all memorable and unique.

Because Mark is such a positive character, Weir does not delve too deeply into the psychological trauma and fear that is bound to come with being alone on Mars for such a long time. However, there are still a number of moments that are deeply touching. When NASA first discovers that Mark is alive and when Mark finally makes contact with NASA are the two that first come to mind, although there are others. I got so involved in Mark's life that I didn't want the book to end. I could have easily read another hundred pages. I hope the movie does this book justice.

#8 [2014/CBR6] "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis

"I dared to speak the truth to you because I felt you were deserving of it." (374)

It's probably not surprising to anyone that I heard about To Say Nothing of the Dog [Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump At Last] (1998) by Connie Willis from another Cannoball review. Time travel and science fiction aren't my go-to genres but the review was more than convincing enough for me to expand my normal boundaries. This was an impressive work: a mixture of romance, mystery, and science-fiction with the clever, lighthearted feeling of a P.G. Wodehouse novel.

After traveling back to 1940 to try to locate the bishop's bird stump, Ned Henry finds himself ordered back to Victorian times. He needs to recover from his excessive time traveling and return something that was accidentally brought back into the future. The entire space-time continuum depends upon him not messing this up.

Ned Henry travels to Victorian times unprepared, not knowing where he is or what's expected of him. He blunders through his encounters, making the best of his situation while he tries to figure out what is required of him. There is a cat, a partner, a very quirky professor, a suitor, unrequited love, and lots and lots of history. The characters are fun and memorable although a couple of them seem a little over the top.

I was impressed by Willis's ability to thread so many things together and keep the book not only understandable but interesting. The more I think back on it, the more I appreciate what she was able to accomplish. BUT, and I'm sorry I have to add this, but after reading the glowing reviews I was a little disappointed. A couple things kept me from feeling too involved with the plot or characters. First, the story sets itself up as a mystery about the Bishop's bird stump along with the mystery of what's going on with the time traveling. The problem I had was that I was not particularly interested in either--especially the bird stump. I didn't know what the bird stump was and I didn't really care whether it was found or not. More than anything I was surprised that the historians were risking so much for the whim of one crazy, rich lady.

The other issue I had was that the mystery felt primarily propelled by the author coyly keeping information from me. I was irritated initially when I was introduced to this new world by a man who was so out of it he had no idea what was going on. I also got a little tired of the odd professor lecturing me about history when I was more interested in the story. I did not fully appreciate how the Professor's musings about history informed the time travelers and how they were affecting history themselves. Despite these minor complaints, I did enjoy this book. It was well-written, original, and clever.

#25 (cbriv-2012) "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead

I vaguely remember first hearing about When You Reach Me (2009) by Rebecca Stead, I think from another Cannonball review. It's probably not a book I would have found on my own, but it ended up on my kindle, so I read it. And it turned out to be a quick read: a well-written novel with a mix of growing pains, friendships, mystery, and science fiction.

Miranda is a sixth grader in New York City. She is smart and insightful and lives with her single mom in a rather rundown apartment building. Miranda's favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time, which she reads over and over again. Her mother was almost finished with her first year of law school when Miranda was born--derailing that dream before it began. When Miranda begins receiving mysterious notes that predict the future, the mystery of the novel is hatched.

I enjoyed reading this one--it took less than a day, but it wasn't the science-fiction and mystery that I remember at the end. The description of Miranda's thoughts and perspective was what impressed me most. Stead brought such realism to the angsty life of a pre-teen. Miranda's struggles of avoiding the homeless guy and boys on the street on her walk home, her concern of what her friends would think of her apartment, her first crush, and her realization of how she had the power to make others' lives better or worse were all very relatable and felt very true. The mystery kept the story moving, but almost felt out of place in this very normal, sixth-graders life. I guess I've just rarely seen such great characterization in a science-fiction novel.

And now I feel like I should re-read A Wrinkle in Time. I know I read it in elementary school, but besides thinking it was kind of confusing at the time, I can't remember anything about it.

#22 (cbriv-2012) "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (2012) is Veronica Roth's second book in her Divergent trilogy. I had some issues with Roth's character and plot development in Divergent (2011), but it was still interesting enough that I knew I would finish this series. And so what do I think of this second novel? The thing is, this is another one of those books that I read months ago. I can barely remember it. In order to recall my thoughts, I read through some Amazon reviews and hunted up some spoilers on the internet. It's kind of coming back to me, but Divergent certainly made more of an impression on me than this second novel.

Tris is a teenager living in a dystopian world comprised of five factions: the smart people (erudite), the selfless (abnegation), the friendly (amity), the honest (candor), and the daredevil/warmongers (dauntless). Each faction contributes something important to society. Divergent focused on Tris coming of age in her faction with an enormous upset at the end. Roth's second book deals with the fall out from the uprising/fight at the end of her first book.

In trying to probe back into my mind, I think I enjoyed reading this one because I was curious what would happen. I do think I got a little bored with Tris constantly complaining and making stupid, risky decisions. I stopped really caring about the characters because I could not always understand their motives. In looking over the Amazon reviews, almost all mentioned an amazing revelation at the end. And I had no idea what they were talking about. I think that sums up my experience of this book pretty succinctly. I read it quickly to find out what was going to happen. However, I never really felt moved, and I quickly forgot the entire plot. Entertaining fare, but it just didn't stick. I still remember most of the first book in this series better than any scene in Insurgent. However, even with this rather lackluster review, I'm sure I'll be reading the third book.

#12 (2012-cbriv) "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

And just like that, I am addicted to yet another young-adult series. I think it was a fellow Cannonballer who first recommended Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth, so I dutifully found it in the library and started reading. And I found an exciting, violent story that kept me from doing more productive things this weekend.

In some ways, Divergent is very comparable to The Hunger Games. There is a dystopian society, threatening rebellion; there is a young woman, kicking some ass; and, of course, there is a love triangle. Beatrice is sixteen years old and lives in a post-war world that has split itself into five separate factions. These factions include: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. Beatrice grew up in Abnegation but is now of the age where she must choose where she will live for her adult life. And if she doesn't make it through the initiation process for her chosen faction, she will be stuck homeless between factions.

Roth creates a pretty exciting story that follows Beatrice into her new faction and her struggles there. A number of things about Beatrice I could relate to personally or reminded me of our world. In the beginning of the book, the separate factions felt very much like high school cliques. In addition, most everyone can understand the yearning to belong, the feeling that you don't, and the urge to find the right path in life. I also appreciated that even though Beatrice is small and a girl, she is one of the toughest characters in the story. Apparently the second book comes out in May, and I will definitely be picking it up to see what happens next.

However, even though it was an easy and exciting read, I still had some problems with the story. I guess I'm kind of picky about consistency and realism in whatever world an author creates. I find it difficult to believe that a world would set itself up in factions, although I can overlook it since it was an intriguing idea. Where I had more problems was what seemed to me a lack of consistency with the characters, a lack of consequences for some of the action, and what sometimes felt like a manipulated plot in order to hit some specific dramatic points.

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND FOR THE REST OF THIS REVIEW

1) I don't believe that Al would have turned on Tris and teamed up with his enemy to attack her--even if he thought it was just to scare her. Al was the only one that was uncomfortable with beating people up in the first stage of initiation, and he was strong enough to ignore the wishes of his trainers and deliberately lose fights--even though it hurt his standings. Al is the last person who would deliberately torment anyone, whether he was rejected or not. How he hooked up with Peter is not explained. Although it is nicely dramatic that Tris's friend betrays her and Four has to come save her, I didn't buy it.

2) Although I appreciate how tough Tris and the other women in Dauntless are, the violence did get to me at points. Specifically, sometimes it felt unnecessary and glorified. In addition, I don't like it when there aren't any consequences for violence. These kids were beating each other until they were unconscious. They were kicking each other in the head. That is not something that you can shake off in a day with a couple of bruises. That's the kind of thing that can cause brain damage or kill someone. And I don't understand how Peter got away with stabbing someone in the eye! I know the Dauntless are supposed to be tough and fearless but anarchy is not part of an effective and disciplined army. Peter took out the best initiate Dauntless had and no one cares enough to look into it?

3) And that brings me to another issue. The fact that almost half of the initiates were cut and forced to become factionless certainly added some tension to Tris's journey through Dauntless's initiation process. However, why wouldn't Dauntless want all the good initiates they could get? I understand them kicking people out who could not hold to their standards but arbitrarily kicking everyone in the bottom half out? What if they had a really good group of initiates one year? Also, it is inevitable that word would get around and fewer people would start choosing Dauntless because they would know they had a 50% chance of becoming factionless at sixteen years old. They could choose Amity, which would be less exciting, but at least they wouldn't be homeless and alone for the rest of their life. Roth describes the final initiation as a great, drunken celebration, but where are the initiates who have been kicked out of their homes? Where are the families of the initiates who are being torn from their children? That would have to be heart wrenching, but we hear nothing of it.

4) Finally, there is the love story between Tris and Tobias. I like Tobias and thought he was an interesting character, helping and supporting Tris without treating her like a weakling. I did feel the book focused too much on the relationship between Tris and Tobias and somewhat ignored all of her other relationships. Although the book says that Tris cares about her family and friends, she doesn't really seem to show it. For instance, at the end of the book, Tris and Caleb have just lost both of their parents to unimaginable violence in one day. Tris even speaks earlier of her strong relationship with Caleb and how he is in all of her memories. He is the only one that can really understand the loss of their parents. Yet Tris doesn't even talk to Caleb. Instead she sits across from him in the train and makes out with her new boyfriend. I can see how audiences might like a final scene between the two love birds, but this felt out of place. Also, why did Tris have to shoot Will in the head when she managed to shoot everyone else who was threatening her in the arm?

5) Finally, Tobias tells Tris that she can't manipulate the simulations or people will find out she's divergent and kill her. He goes so far as to erase the simulation that she manipulated in front of him. But at the end of her initiation she goes in and manipulates all of her fears with all the bigwigs watching and they are nothing but pleased at how well she does. It didn't make any sense.

Redux #13 - "Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell

I really enjoyed Mary Doria Russell's introduction to the story of Father Emilio Sandoz and his travels to a distant planet in The Sparrow, so I knew I would eventually get around to reading the sequel, Children of God (1998). I enjoyed reading this book and was very impressed by the originality of the story, but it didn't quite have the same magic, mystery, and comradeship between the characters that sucked me so deeply into the first book. It's definitely still worth reading if you liked The Sparrow, but it doesn't quite live up to the original.

Children of God starts out almost immediately after The Sparrow ends. Father Emilio Sandoz is on Earth, still recovering from the emotional scars and loss of religion stemming from the inaugural and doomed voyage to Rakhat--a far-off planet that boasts a lot of life similar to Earth's. Emilio wants to let go of Rakhat and get on with his life, but a number of circumstances combine to keep him involved. And with Rakhat in the midst of political turmoil and civil war, a lot is changing.

I'm a bit concerned about going more into the plot because it's really better the less you know, so here's a warning that the rest of the review might contain some SPOILERS as I randomly discuss different parts of the book.

Things I liked: I very much appreciated the originality of the story, I continued to like the writing style and the details, and Russell brings up a lot of interesting issues. I really didn't know where the book was going until the very end, which I appreciated.

Things I'm unsure about: Sometimes I felt vaguely uncomfortable while reading this book but I was often unsure why. I had trouble believing some of the story and sometimes the plot felt somewhat manufactured. For instance, I had trouble believing that Sandoz was captured by the Italian mafia and dragged off to Rakhat--with the blessing and encouragement of the pope and the father-general. Also, while reading the interactions between humans and the Jana'ata, the two species were so similar that I often forgot that they came from different planets. And then I had trouble believing that such similar species would have developed on planets so far apart. I'm just being picky here, but I also would have loved a map of the major cities and areas on Rakhat as well as a portrait of the two major species--just because I'm a visual person.

I was a little disappointed in the ending as well. I thought that Russell had presented a fascinating question about faith and religion in The Sparrow, without answering it, when Sandoz put all his trust in God and then literally everything was taken from him. But instead of allowing the question to linger, she answered it with some idea that all of this was God's way of creating the most beautiful music ever? (at least that was my interpretation). The simple, consoling answer is that we poor humans can't understand God's plan, but it's all for the best in the end. I don't believe that for a minute; the fact that everything that's happened in the last two books was leading to some new, wonderful kind of music was a letdown. For one thing, you can't hear music in a book; the description of this new music didn't fascinate me, and I couldn't imagine a new kind of music that could be so beautiful that it would make such a difference--either in the world or in Sandoz's life.

I also found the moral dilemma of the Jana'ata eating the Runa very interesting, and I kind of wished that Russell had expanded on that idea a little more. The characters are all comfortable in their conclusions that it's evil to eat the Runa, but there is no ethical problem on Earth because "the animals are dumb on Earth so we can eat them." Having been a vegetarian for ten years who has just recently started eating fish and poultry, I don't think the answer is that easy. Pigs are smarter than dogs. At what level of intelligence is it not okay to farm and eat another species? Something like the relationship between humans and chimpanzees might be a close analogy to the Jana'ata and Runa on Rakhat. Chimps are so similar to us genetically that it would almost feel like cannibalism to eat one, but where do you draw the line? We use chimps for medical testing. Is that okay? And I just finished watching The Cove (which I thought was really good); is it okay to eat dolphins because they're so different from us we don't really understand their intelligence? What if eating the Runa were the only way the Jana'ata could continue to survive? Why shouldn't the idea of survival of the fittest apply? Or should we look at how much suffering we're imposing on other species? But how can we really measure suffering? Anyway, this is obviously a question I'm struggling with, and I think it's a lot more complicated than "the animals on Earth are dumb."